The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-03-05
Gypsy Smith, Jr,
Delivers First Sermon
Continued From Page one)
John 1:43. He said in part:

John 1:43. He said in part:
these words are among the first
utterances of the Son of God record
ed. They are also found in the last
words recorded of the Son of God.
and you will find them in the last
chapter of this wonderful gospel,
where he says in reply to Peters
question, "and what shall this man
do?" Jesus said, will that he tarry
till 1 come. what is that to thee?
Follow thou Me? In the first and last
utterances of Jesus Christ you have
these words and all along through
His ministry, He was constantly say
ing to men, Follow Me-" 1t is the
one great, clear, personal, urgent
command of the Son of God to man.
You can remember, many of you,
when you first heard that command,
for most of US present would call
ourselves Christians, that is we are
linked up in some way with the
church, and if I came to you and
knew your life and your profession
and knew that it was not in keeping
with the New Testament, and asked
you if you were a Christian, can
| imagine l see the flush rise in your
| cheeks and flash in your eye as you
| would reply: What do you take me
for?' And yet there are thousands
in your city who have no use for the
title. Calling myself a Christian
does not make me one.
$50 want to draw alongside of
this text another one, and I want you
to test your life by it, as r do mine,
and l pray the Holy Spirit will apply
the truth as I proceed. This is the
text, IF any man have not the spirit
of Christ, he is none of His It is
not what 1 call myself but have /
got His spirit? Are my words and
thoughts and actions controlled, dom
mated by the spirit of Jesus? Be-
J cause I have no right to cali myself
a follower of Christ unless that is so,
J and if do call myself follower of
Christ and have not the spirit, I am
J a fraud. A lie, says the book, 'and
! the truth is not in me- If we say
: we have fellowship with him, anC
walk in darkness we lie and do moi
; tell the truth. 1t is Christ in NJ
| and in you that makes US Christians
= "And one of the reasons why SC
} many men and women do not darker
E our church doors, and that so many
e of our pews are empty on Sundays
!, is because the world sees so little o.
:. the spirit of Christ in US. l am pre-
pared to hold brief for the people
who are abused as non-churchgoers
We use the term blindly, ignorantly
What about the non-churchgoins
folks? 1t isn't true that they do no
admire Christ.
Il have discovered, in dealing Will
= men and women, no low ideals O
= goodness; they admire Christ, the,
revere goodness, but what they hat
is the caricature of Christ they Sc
in so many of US. If we had NOR
of the spirit of Christ, they woul,
come to church; if we had more o
L the spirit that made Christ so at
- tractive, they would come TIL
trouble is, we have been playing a
religion; our religion has been sickly
sentimental, instead of vital, and
r. rebuke to evil doors.
2 care you following Him? Yo
say you are not sure, then let m
help you If I can. We used to pla
/ an old game in England when I wa
y boy, follow your leader We use
;e to pick some pieces of grass and GU
# them to different lengths, and tn
boy that picked the longest straw be
d came the leader; and whatever tn
p leader did we had to attempt. If h
E jumped fence, we had to make tn
id attempt. If he tried to jump a ditc
ID and fell in the middle, we had to d
1t the same, or we soon became unpor
st ular with our fellows. We were quit
It ters. And so l dare to say I
J. you. IF you are not making who'll
Id hearted honest attempt to folio
s. Jesus. you are not playing the gam
s, "Are you following Him? The onl
way to be sure is to turn to His lif
5 And again we read words, somethin
e. like this, Don't you know that
rs must be about my fathers business
Id He placed God first, before His mot
o. er. His father, His relatives, Fl
re friends, and when he began
y, preach, he said: Seek We first Il
so kingdom of God The secret of H
r life was God first, enthroning God.
as He first in your life? First