Evening journal., 1916-01-15

"In the great revival at Pentecost'
which gave birth to the Christian
church. three human factors were es-
pecially evident; prayer, preaching
and personal work This arrangement
and plan has never been surpassed.
Spiritual laws are just as definite and
certain as natural laws, and the con
ditions that produced great blessings
then will do so now.
"The first of these three great tac-
tors is most important. A true re-
vival cannot be worked up, il must be
prayed down. More things are
wrought bv prayer than the world
dreams Of In Act 1:14; These all
continued with one accord in prayer
and supplication with the women. and
Mary. the mother of Jesus, and with
His brethren
"The second of these factors is just
as important God has seen fit by
the foolishness Of preaching to save
them that believe. Homiletically.
Peters sermon in the second chapter
of the Acts may not seem remarkable,
but the true test of a sermon is the
results. Does it bear fruit2 One can
not Judge a fsherman's success by
. the beauty of his boat. his reel ana
lire. but by the fish he catches. Thus
God will judge all Christians in their
ministry by the fruit they bear, by
the fish they catch.
"The third factor is also most Inn
portant. possibly the greatest Of all.
At Pentecost. in that great audiencs,
before the sermon, the workers had
been speaking to the people in at
least fifteen different languages. There
were an hundred and twenty disciples
that met together and they all did
personal work. The result OF that
day's work was three thousand con-
vorts. This would be twenty-five
for each worker
"I cannot but believe that It took
the combined effort Of all TO reap that
glorious harvest. John and James
must have gone down to work. To
Andrew and Phillip it must have been
a pleasure, for the one had brought
Peter to Christ and the other had
won Nathaniel ! doubt not that the
business man. Matthew. was dealing
with some in a practical way that
others might not have been able "a
reach. Lazarus. of Bethany, was pos
sibly here witnessing for Jesus Chris
and the skeptical Thomas wiz his
new found faith, would be leadini
others out of the labyrinth of doubt
"I feel sure that the women toe
were we'll represented. Mary had
chosen the good part and would sure
" hasten to impart TO others the
good lessons she had learned. ] be
lieve Martha forgot her household
duties and pleaded for her sisters tC
accept her Christ And. methinks th'
mother of Jesus, herself found solac
for her bitter grief in bearing testi
mony to hungry and needy souls o.
the love and power of the divine Son
Such work on the part OF the disci
ples is not substitute for prayer anC
preaching, but it is supplemental
Prayer and scripture stocks armor!
and arsenal for the battle against sin
The sermon is the siege gun that bat
ters down defences and prepares
pathway for advance. but Mt is tn
nersonal work that is in charge o
the infantry and conserves the fruit
OF the victory. A sermon is firing a
long range. II is the hand to han
combat that wins the day. In an
audience. laIge or small. few appl
the whole sermon TO their own lives
If there are a thousand people eacl
takes but thousandth part to him
self. But in the work OF individua
with individual there can be no doub
as to who is meant. Some Of tn
greatest sermons Of Christ were ad
dressed to audiences Of one.
1T IS amazing how small a proper
tion Of the members OF our churche
bring others into the Christian life
So many say to me that they cannc
do II. When asked whether they hav
tried it. they answered mo- A law
YER told me once that for twenty-fv
years he had gone to church and tha
that was the first time in all thos
years that anyone had spoken to hil
about his souls salvation. Is it bC
cause / am so repellent in my mar
ner that my Christian friends hay
never come to me and talked with m
about becoming a Christian?"
There are some qualities absC
lutely essential for the effective PEI
sonal worker. One is that the workC
have some knowledge Of the Word (
God The Lord has promised tn;
His Word shall not return unto Hi
void. II you give to people mere
your own opinions. it will avail littl
A man may reply to you that he
Just as smart as you are; he has ju
as much education as you have; pc
haps his opinion is as good as your
but when you go to him with Il
Word Of God. you are appealing
the court of last resort. You ca
then say Thus saith the Lord TT
next best thing to knowing a thing,
10 know where 10 find it. When yC