The theocrat., 1915-04-24
SUBJECT
Christ Consoles His
Disciples

INVOCATION
Let the words of my mouth and the meditatons of my
heart be acceptable in Thy sight and richly blessed unto this
people; Lord, my Strength, and my Redeemer Amen
he Address
In the Gospel according to St. John the fourteenth chap
ter, will read the first three verses.
Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God be-
ieve also in Me.
"In My Fathers house are many mansions if it were
not SO would have told to prepare place for
And 1t go and prepare place for yOu | will come
again. and receive you unto Myself that where there
we may be ALSO"
You will at recognize that the words have placed
before my address were spoken by Jesus the Christ to His
through the for consolation just much for the
twelve Apostles.
In order to appreciate their force and beauty it will be
necessary for back nearly three years and stand by
the little Sea of Galee which, you will remember
situated in the norhernmos province of the land of Paes
ne there being three great divisions Juea the southern
most, Samara in the CENTER and Gaee in the north. 1t
that little where Jesus found four of the
to whom He addressed the Words Let not your heart be
troubled"
Christs Disciples o Follow Him
Simon Peter and Andrew were fishermen and Jesus
seeing them sad simply, Follow Me, and will make you
fishers of men, and it is written that hey left all and
followed Him."
will remember that on during the ministry of
the Christ Simon Peter said Lord we have left all and
followed You What shall we have? and Jesus said And
every that hath forsaken houses brethren Sis
ters, father mother, wife, children, lands
for My names sake shall receive an hundred fod and shall
inherit life everlasting"
Now, we do not know how much Simon Peter left One
thing we do know he had wife and he had house or home
(Matthew 814) Just how much he had invested in the
fishing business, do not know but he had wife, and
he had home and that he had something invested in boats
and fishing tackle will take for granted (Matthew f.
1879 Now Jesus along and He said to those
Follow Me; and they left all and followed Him. Soon
with their father in boat mendng their nets and
Jesus said to them, Follow Me-, and it is written, They
Immediately left the ship and their father and followed
Him.
Christ,s Call "FoIoy Me-" is Made
wish to point out to you my brothers and sisters that
Jesus the Christ says the very thing you and to
that He said to Peter and Andrew and to James and john
and the who is willing to forsake all and follow the
Lord Jesus Christ is not worthy of Him; and the Savior
disciples by concealng what discpleship meant
He not only told them what meant for the time being but
unfoded before their vision the privations and per-
secuons and suffering which they would have to endure
all the way along lfe's journey.
The preacher who does not faithfully proclaim the
Word is mans enemy. The minister who presents the
Gospel so as to convey impression that the Christian
life is life of ease and of sendulgence and fails
point out that the disciples of Christ will encounter ons
and that satan will constantly fire his darts at
preacher enemy mankind instead of benefactor
will ask the question, Why is it that much of the
socaled Christian work is temporary evanescent lasting
only for short PERIOD and then away? Why is it
that in meetings where hundreds said to be converted
less than six months the spiritual condition of that town
organization is than it was before? The
is simple-The who stood up before those people did
proclaim unto them the whole counsel of God and
and women under the excitement of the moment worked
themselves up into beeveng that they had religion when
fact they knew absolutely nothing, comparatively
and owy Nazarene and to live the meek and owy Christ
life Many and fail to present the full Cos
pei because they want to count the convers and there is
just enough human nature about them to lead them to one
down. the Gospel in order that great numbers of
people may flock around them and they may gain little
temporary notorety.
the Meaning of DscpIeshp
How unlike Jesus Christ! How unlike the Apostles!
All the way through the ministry of the Christ
help seeing clearly that with every He made per-
fectly plain what meant to be of His disciples will
ask you just for minute If all the preachers in the state
of Illinois lined up today and the Son of God could
stand before them and say eco ye into all the world and
preach the Gospel without scrip without purse without
change of rament; go in My Name there is congre-
cation to call you there wealthy board of trustees to
promise pay you you will be persecuted you will be put
into prison; you will be killed for My sake-how many
of them do you think would go? 1t is my candid opinion
that the supply of ministers would suddenly be decreased
That very different thing from receiving call from
large wealthy Influential church, stating, "We will guar
antee you salary of $4,000 $4,000 year, While
in Australia, when certain called to certain
CONGREGATIONAL church he refused to accept the call until
wealthy brewer signed statement guaranteeing that the
stimulated salary would be forthcoming.
But Little is Know of Some of the Apostles
Follow Me-" and they followed Him. Now one of the
others in this group to whom Jesus sad LET not your
heart be troubled Matthew the publican Matthew
tax gatherer, class OF people very much
despsed have found many people that went