The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1918-10-12

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are in tune with Almighty God! Oh, how
much there is to learn; and may God help us
to seek out His hidden truths
''NoW the best of us are not perfect, but we
can strive toward perfection. | ask the ques-
ton, Do you know what the New Birth means?
'We may have man who has quit smoking
and gambling and drinking, who never fire.
quents the dance hall, but that does not prove
that he has ever experienced the New Birth.
Some men quit those things for sheer self-pro-
lection, but that is not conversion. There
must be radical, revolutionary change of
heart. We must become new men and women
in Christ Jesus
"We are all the sons and daughters Of
Adam, but we must put off the old man
Adam was the head Of old or natural creation,
and as sons and daughters of Adam you are a
bad lot; but when you have experienced the
New Birth you have lost the desire for the
things that you once loved.
"Instead Of oaths, your voice is heard in
prayer; instead of the dance hall and the sa-
loon, you love the house of God When you
become a new man in Christ Jesus you can
pray, you can talk and think in new lang
uage. When man is converted and born
again it is impossibility for him to stay
away from the house Of God. He looks for
ward to the meetings with an indescribable JOY
He loves his Bible, and he loves to gather his
wife and children around him in family wor-
ship.
''Zion has become great power. Every de-
partment of the work is organized. and it
would be far easier for me to sit down and lull
myself with the thought that everything is all
right and that there is no danger; but it is
the person who neglects the means of grace
who neglects to pay his tithes, who lives the
double life that makes the trouble One rot
ten apple will spoil the whole barrel One
hypocrite will do great harm and start fire
that will take all | can do to put it out
May God help you to get up on the higher
plane and stay there. Then, there will be no
impurity of thought and there will be no de-
sire for the things Of the world Then, your
hearts and lives will be in tune with God and
when you pray there will be an instant answer
1T is these faithful people here who have
made it possible for the officers to go about.
day and night, praying for the sick and min
istering to their needs. If they had not been
faithful in tithing and in supporting the work
there would be no Zion; there would be no
Elder to offer prayer for the sick one; we
would have no place of worship
SsSome people have not responded to this
call in answering these questions. Why's Be-
cause they are living away off from God
'Now, how about you? It is a hard thing
for man to do in thirty minutes, when the
icy fingers of death gripping at his throat,
what he should have taken thirty years to do.
Get close to God now; live close to God -
then, when the battle comes, you are in a
position to fight it.
EDO not go to looking after your neighbor
how about yourself? Don't go picking a
speck OF sawdust out of your brothers eye
when you have a saw log in your own eye.
Everyone is accountable to God for his own
Life Before we can have church without
spot or wrinkle, each one must make right the
wrongs Of the past and be something more
than nominal Christian. He must be truly
converted and show the genuiness Of his Chris
tianity by his daily life
What | believe in is consistent Christian
lty faith that never wavers, that never
Weakens. When man is converted he will
be Christian if I send him to Chicago or
London or anywhere else. The vices and sins
around him will have no effect upon him
no temptation for him. You don't have to put
him in bandbox and pack him in cotton and
have his wife sit down on the lid and hold it
down, to keep him close to God
double minded man is unstable in all his
ways.-James 1:8
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you
Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to
you-James 4:7-8.
Let no man say when he is tempted. am
tempted of Cod for God cannot be tempted with
evil neither tempteth he any man.
But every is tempted, when he is drawn
away of his own lust, and enticed.
Ihen when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth
SIM: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
death-James 1:13-15.
L will guarantee that thousand could
stand up here in this audience and say they
have no temptation to drink a glass of liquor
or to use tobacco. They are thinking about
God-not plug of tobacco Our last thought
at night should be, Lord Jesus, come; and our
first thought when we awaken in the morning
should be, Lord Jesus, come.