The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-09-29
IA SUNDAY SERMON
fBy Rev G. Greenway Of the Baptist d this cy)

was looking far deeper than his dis.
ciples. They were looking forward
to the harvest time when The new
garnered grain perhaps would estab-
lish cheaper bread line. Character
istic Of human life they were think
ing more Of their immediate wants
than Of the real needs Of their fellow
man. Our thoughts Of life are too
superficial. We think too much in
the terms Of the material and tenn
poral and too little Of the spiritual
and eternal. We feed the body and
starve the soul. Thus / think Jesus
wished his disciples to get vision of
what men were and what they may
become.
(. When we see men as they are, de-
graded and ruined by sin until every
power to respond to the call of God
seems to have been deadened, then
it is that we come to have vision of
the needs of man. This is what Je-
sus saw in the woman at the we'll;
soul ruined by sin. He saw her need,
not to drink at the we'll Of Jacob, but
to drink deep at the fountain of eter-
nal life. This, too, is perhaps the
reason he calls the attention Of his
disciples to the crowd which was now
coming out Of the city, that they
might get vision Of the needs of
men.
But the vision of the disciple of
Christ should not stop when he has
seen men as they are in their ruined
condition. Let us catch vision of
what men can become. Jesus saw in
Peter and John rough and untutored
| fishermen; but also the possibilities
of loyal and courageous apostles. He
saw Levi, not only as the despised
| tax gatherer, but as one with poverty
of spirit and a hunger after better
life, that would make him true dis
ciple. He saw Saul, the conscien-
tious Pharisee, the religious zealot,
but also one of profound conviction,
sustained enthusiasm, and unwear-
led laborer as missionary, who
through a vision of human need
changed the face of Europe. Look
at the church at Corinth formed of
the people of the most corrupt city
of the world. Their faith was weak,
their lives were imperfect; none of
them, as We are, as good as they
might be; they were factous, selfish
and worldly; yet Paul calls them
saints. He peers through their
stained and crippled lives and sees
; what men can become Well did Paul
know what Christ had for him and
what he could do and was doing for
1 Others.
A pastor Of one Of our city church,
es, in the days of the open saloon,
passed by its door each day on his
way from his home to- his study. He
had often seen a handsome, well
dressed young man standing at the
door of this saloon. whose chief bus
mess seemed to be to invite every one
who passed to come in for a drink,
One day the young man got upon the
heart of the preacher. He determin-
ed to set about the task of winning
this young man to Christi; not an
easy task but worthy one. After
many conversations with the young
man about his soul, the preacher be-
gan to have vision of the possibil.
tiles. of this young man for the King
dom. One day in his conversation
with the young man he said, II wish
that | had young man to stand al
the door Of my church and welcome
people as you do here" This seemed
to grip the heart of the young man
The next Sunday morning this young
man gave his heart to Christ and to,
day he is standing at the door of the
house of God and makes welcome
his people. The preacher had the vi
sion that Jesus wished his disciple!
to have, vision of what men ar,
and can become through the surren
der Of their lives into the hands o.
; him who loved us and gave himself
for us.
But where are we to go for thi
vision?
. We need not go anywhere to ge
this vision, get it right where you are
Jesus did not say we will go down t,
Jerusalem or to Galilee, but said
"Lift up your eyes" right where yol
are and catch vision Of the trans
forming power of Coda vision o
redeemed humanity, Isiah said, Z"
,, , am man of unclean lips and dwell
among people of unclean lips.
There was no committee sent from
Macedonia with an urgent appeal fo
Paul to come over and help them il
revival. Then, as now, men wer
.. Indifferent or ignorant of their high
|, er calling. God sent a vision and no
a man, and it came just where he was
The best way for a preacher to fin,
, bigger field is to make the one h
. has bigger, by seeing and fndini
{ more in it, Thus one way of havinl
i a greater place is seeing the great
! ness of the place you now have. Thi
i was the failure Of the Indians VIII
, sat at1the foot Of the Niagara. The,
, heard it's Geafening roar and saw tn
beauty of its rainbow but not its pos
sibilities. The man that sits at tn
I foot of the Niagara for a thousan
! years and grinds his corn by han
i has little vision. ~
A little girl said to her mothe
, that there was nothing interesting
: The mother declared that the Who'll
! garden and yard and orchard wer
] full of interesting things. But sh
I'll replied, ,gIbaan't see them. TIL
mother said, GO bring in the mos
! lsninteresting thing you can find an
| we win see. The little girl brough
} lin. aIdead, dry twig fallen from tn
! oak tree and threw it down saying