Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1918-01-10
The Living GodlSermon lby
Rev. Gay &. White, M. Z, Church

lite, IN. y. OnuTcn
I~lonica, and again, writing to Timothy,
The Church is the Church Of the
living God, the Pillar and the Ground
Of the truth The Church is not
entirely d human organization. Nei-
ther is it an entirely divine e~cclesias-
|ticism. The Church, like the Bible,
is a human product Of the religious
life Of those who follow and worship
Jehovah. IN the Church, as in the
Bible, there are human elements, but
both represent in a peculiar way the
revelation OF God.
The living God is in His Church
today. We are vastly more than al
lodge or a club or a social fraternity:
we are q part OF that worldwide in
stitution christened as the Bride of
Christ. O what shame it Is for us to
dishonor the Church that bears His
name, even as a maiden bears the
name Of the mar she Weds! o what
shame for us to be disloyal to- the
Church of the living God! O what
shame for us not to have the splendid
visions of service, the prophecies Of
RESTORATION, the confidence of victory!
The thought that comes home with
most solemn meaning today is this:
1T is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands OF the living God" Jonathan
Edwards preached of literal hell-fire,,
the burning pit, and the tortured bod
les of the damned. The Bible teaches
something far more terrible, the.
frightful withering-up of immortal
souls that cannot die, can only suffer
through eternal years. The sunlight
makes the shadows more intense: "the
worm that dieth not and the fire that
is not Quenched.y
People grow careless. God is such.
an amiable deity! No, matter what
you do, he will smile pityingly, spread
out His hands in gentle rebuke and.
turn you loose again! Is that what
it says? Listen: Il am weary of lis
tening to you. I will hide mine eyes
from you; yea, when We make your
prayers, / will not hear: your hands
are full of blood!"
God Viii Win the War.
The love Of God has been so preach
ed in a s~ugarcoated sort of way that
the demands OF righteousness are well
nigh forgotten. Vino will win the
war? God will win the war! And
that nation will win the war that re-
tains the living God within its indi-
yidual and national life. If Belgium
retains faith in the living God, Bel
GUM will win the war, even though
there may never be another Belgium.
If we seem to win the war and hose
God out of our national life, then it
would have been far better for us to
I have suffered the unhappy fate OF Bel
GUM.
AS Christians, we should stand in
holy fear Of and reverence for the
1 living God; in fear but not frightened
/ at Him. Can we appreciate the fact
that the living God walks and talks
with mena It's a fearful thing to
Hive, today; looking forward to the
responsibilities of tomorrow, knowing
that the living God is our constant
lCompanion. Moses at Sinai did not
have any advantage over the Chris
tians Of Watertown. The field in
4 which you toll, sayto yourself, This
lis holy ground, for the living God is
here Every room of the sou be
comes a. holy of holes, for the in
dwelling Of the living God.
What a comfort it is that we do not
have to pass through the portals OF
the tomb to know Him! Because ]
live We shall live also" tells us more
than the single fact Of Immortality;
lit speaks of Fellowship with Him here
lon the earth. The living God is with
lis now.
Fellowship With God.
Lonely missionaries, desert hermits,
social worker inthe city slunls.
WEARY housewives on the frontier have
ian known the joyful experience OF
Il the wondering disciples IN the En-
4maus road. tDidSnot our hearts burn
within us as He walked and talked
with us along the way?" { I know that
my Redeemer liveth' testified the
patriarch Job. How did lie know 1T,
SO long ago? The honest husbandman
Of the Orient had experienced the
presence Of the living God. and that
Twas how he knew.
If lit is q fearful thingsto die. and
4confess that i never think of death
] as 1T shall come to me without q
Il dread of the silence of the tomb. n
4 IS a FAR more fearful thing to live.
How dare we decline this high and
holy fellowship with the living God?
4 How dare we say No to- the Holy
Spirit? III denying the call of God
Ne are inevitably slipping toward the
abyss of the objectionable sin. What
man among us cares this morning to
walk out and away from God?
Let me put 1t this way-Thlnk
what this earth would be il God were
any less the INFINITE Jehovah. Desert
waste and CHASTITY ruin. Denude the
earth Of forests and YOU lock forever
the gates OF the sky. Heaven is deaf
i to the pleading call OF the parched
earth crying for rain. Dives could
see Lazarus, could regret fhe failure
& of his own life, but Lazarus could not
20 TO Dives with cooling drop OF
water. Let q mansr0b himself % the
gracious benefits Of the living Goo
and h~e.Sisoiates himself from AL that
- 1870 sEE 1Ak ~ Hryr ~