The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-12
continues in the Antioch in Asia

continues in the Antioch in Asia
Minor.
In the Old Church.
Anybody who spent Sunday in a
hotel knows the problem of Sunday
as it confronts the traveller A few
there are who. like Saul and Barna-
bas and like Jesus before them. go to
the old church on Sunday. These
Christians had not outgrown the
synagogue. 1t was not adequate, and
they had a bigger and better gospel
than it knew, yet it was the best rep
resentative of the religion of the true
God to be found in these heather
cities, and they stood by it
A popular pastime of today is to
many faults she hasI Yet after all
has been said, the church is the best
representative of God on earth and
the best agency for the service of
man. 1 question the judgment of the
person who is too big to go to
church, an especially of the Chris
tan who thinks that the church is
not holy enough to satisfy his pious
soul.
1 met man of that sort in China
city. He had tried all the churches
of the city and had even started one
of his own. But when I knew him
he had separated from them all and
was conducting his own religious ex-
ercises in his home. 1t perhaps would
not be chat itabie to quote what the
members of the churches said about
this man, but I myself found that
despite his overpowering piosity he
was a little sharper in business than
L had expected even a cranky Chris
tan to be, and it cost me a consider
able sum to learn that a man may
be entirely too pious to go to church,
4 ..<.ks.
sharp deals on unsuspecting custom
ers on week days.
The "go-to-church movement"
which has sprung out of the modern
publicity propaganda, is big and wise
and all good citizens should be
squarely behind it. There is a place
for everybody in a church of his
choice. and it is true service of God
and a sign of good citizenship to ebe
found regularly in that place.
The First Missionary Sermon.
When in the synagogue the .strang
ers were invited to speak to the con-
gregation, Paul stood up-he is here
first called Paul, rather than Saul
and began on the common ground
where they stood to tell the familiar
story of Gods dealings with the Chos-
Ell people. From every standpoint the
sermon, which was the first missionary
discourse on record, was a good one.
1t was full OF scripture. GU can not
have a first-c class and effective sermon
if it does not abound in the living word
of Holy Writ. Every minister must
constantly watch himself lest his SER
mon contain too much of the daily
newspaper and not enough of the In
spired Word. 1t was a sermon full of
facts and not all exhortation. No a6-
dress really has power that does not
marshal definite information. The
merely hortatorical discourse is usu-
ally ephemeral. Beginning far back
in the Old Testament, the sermon
steered straight course to Calvary
Like every Gospel message, it led
straight to presentation of the Good
News of the Messiah come. with free
offer Of salvation to all men.
So stirred were the hearers that
they wanted Paul to preach again,
and between whites he was thronged
with inquirers eager to hear more
about this Way. The popularity of
the Message provoked the jealousy of
the Jews, and the missionaries were
driven from the synagogue, but not
until Paul had announced the mo-
mentousF decision. I'VE turn to the
Gentiles." That marked the Rubfconi
of Christianity. The new wine of
the living gospel could not be con-,
tanned in the old wineskins Of the
Jewish order From that day to this
the Gospel has been preached to every
nation even as Paul and Barnabas
preach it to the Jews.