1. When you grow bolder with sin, or with temptations to sin, than you were in your more watchful state- then be sure something is wrong.

2. When you make a small matter of those sins and infirmities which once seemed grievous to you and almost intolerable.

3. When you settle down to a course of religion that gives you but little labor, and leave out the hard and costly part.

4. When your God and Saviour grows a little strange to you, and your religion consists in conversing with men and their books and not with God and His Book.

5. When you delight more in hearing and talking, than in secret prayer and the Word.

6. When you use the means of grace more as a matter of duty, than as food in which your soul delights.

7. When you regard too much the eye of man, and too little the eye of God.

8. When you grow hot and eager about some disputed point, or in forwarding the interests of some party of Christians, more than about those matters which concern the great cause of Christ.

9. When you grow harsh and bitter towards those who differ from you, instead of feeling tenderly towards all who love Christ.

10. When you make light of preparing for the Lord’s day and the Lord’s table, and think more of outward ordinances than you do of heart work.

11. When the hopes of Heaven and the love of God do not interest you, but you are thirsting after some worldly enjoyment and grow eager for it.

12. When the world grows sweeter to you, and death and eternity are distasteful subjects.

“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls …” (Jeremiah 6: 16).

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13).

Change is one of the laws of life. Birth, growth, decay, and death are all part of a flow that never ends. No one can escape that fact of change, though some have tried.

Pyramids, that are still the wonder of the world, have been built in order to insure lasting fame. These people have sought to write their names on the page of human history with indelible ink. Yet the pyramids have crumbled and the writing has grown dim with age. We cannot escape the winds of change that blow across the human scene.

One ancient thinker was so impressed with the ceaseless flux and flow of existence that he declared change to be the essence of all things. The only thing that never changes, he said, is the unchanging law of change. Life is like the restless waters of a river: you cannot step into the same river twice for the water into which you stepped the first time has gone on to the seas, and even you are changed, for it is not the same to step into the river the second time as it was to step into it the first time! Still we long for permanence. We instinctively seek the permanent in the passing. We cannot escape the conviction that what is real must in some way be lasting.

When we look at the passing and the permanent, we begin to see something very important, everything does not change. If it did, we would not recognize change itself. The only way we know the river is flowing is because there are trees and rocks along the bank that do not flow. We see change only by comparing it with the changeless.

So we have not only laws of change; we also find changing laws. Nothing has contributed more to changes in the circumstances of human life than the growth of modern science. Yet science has gained its understanding and control of change by the discovery of what is really unchanging.

If and when men go to Mars, a new thing will have happened; but that new thing will happen, if it does, because scientists have discovered principles and laws which are as old as the universe itself laws of energy and inertia which are not created by man but are found at the heart of reality. All of this has great meaning for the kind of men or women we are. Just as in the world about us the scientist gains his understanding and control of change by the discovery of the abiding and the permanent, so we need to meet the changes of life from a point of reference that is fixed and eternal.

Where is the permanent in human life? It is certainly not in external conditions. It is not in political institutions. It is not in the works of men’s hands. It is not in the customs of society. It is in the reality of a divine Person, “O Thou who changest not, abide with me!”

The apostle triumphantly points to “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). All that will hold for time and eternity is an anchor in the Rock of Ages.

God will not change; the restless years may bring

Sunlight and shade -the glories of the spring

And silent gloom of winter hours –

Joy mixed with grief-sharp thorns with fragrant flowers.

Earth’s lights may shine awhile, and then grow dim,

But God is true; there is no change in Him.

-Edith Hickman Dival

Nor does the Gospel of Christ change. It is, as it was, the great good news of redemption and meaning and purpose in human life. The greatest problems we have are not the problems of poverty or race or disease or war. The greatest problems we have come because we are “aliens by birth and sinners by choice,” the moral twist of the human spirit. The beginning of the solution to all human problems is offered in the everlasting Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.

The good news for people living in a changing world is the old news of the unchanging grace of God. Whatever your past and whatever the circumstances of your present, you can find forgiveness and peace in repentance, prayer, and faith.

Always at hand in the changing ways of life is the cleansing of the heart that goes “deeper that the stain has gone.” We cannot stop with pardon for the past, we must have power for the present and prospect for the future. God’s call to every Christian is not a call to an uncleaned way or will, but a call to holiness. “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” (1 Peter 1: 15).

John saw it clearly, and said it well, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2: 17). Change is real, and we must live with it; but beyond and above the passing is the permanent, and we must live in it. Only in God himself does the heart find its home.

It is impossible for the scriptural observer to watch God’s church today without deepening alarm and even heart-breaking sorrow. The efforts of the Roman priests to rule, and undermine, and destroy; the appalling abandonment of belief in the Word of God; the flippant worldliness of method, walk, and heart; the church divisions, jealousies, quarrels; the open backsliding over which we seem absolutely powerless; above all, our own failure to meet it all with our faces in the dust- we begin faintly to understand Jeremiah when he said, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jeremiah 9:1).

Now observe: Out of this black disaster arises one of the most exquisite privileges of the Christian. The Holy Ghost has drawn a parallel from the revolted people of Jehovah (read Numbers 16:41),“Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition … “ (1 Corinthians 10:10-11). Ponder the scene to which the Holy Ghost thus draws our attention: Moses is the mediator, the type of Christ (Hebrews 3: 1-2), and Aaron is the priest; and we are priests. Priests sometimes have to intercede for priests. The incense is prayer (Psalm 141 :2; Revelation 5: 8). We are priests come up white from the laver, with command over the incense, equipped for the intercessions of God.

Nearly all the great prayers of the Bible are intercessions: Abraham for Sodom; Moses for Israel; Solomon for the temple; Daniel for the captivity; our Lord and Paul for the church.

The action opens with God; ” … the Glory of the LORD appeared” in the cloud (Numbers 16:42). ” … they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” Psalm 42:3). God is here. God is in the world; God is in the cloud; God is among His people; God is not far from any one of us; and God does not leave the consciences of His people untroubled. Instinctively, they tum their faces to the cloud, but God responds with a vision of devouring fire.

This is the purging terror needed by the modem church. We have forgotten the sword in the mouth of Christ. We have forgotten that even on Jesus rested the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11 :2). The awful certainty is that, sooner or later, God is bound to deal with His people. The blessed certainty is that God is in the Holy of Holies, waiting for intercessions. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, “Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.” (Numbers 16:45).

CHRIST COMMANDS NOT DENUNCIATION BUT INTERCESSION

Mark the tender marvel of it all. 1) The Mediator directs the priest to rush in with the incense. Moses said unto Aaron, ” … Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun” (Numbers 16:46).

Christ commands not denunciation but intercession for the people of God. The Judge is at the door, and Aaron ran (Numbers 16:47). The merely critical spirit ends at last in criticism of Christ. “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door” (James 5:9).

2) Intercession is the function of a priest. The plague was deserved. The sin of God’s people is rightly punished. But it is for a priest to reconcile God and man, not to estrange them. “Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O LORD … “ (Joel 2: 17).

3) Incense is pounded spice. So heartbroken intercessions are the most odorous on the altars of God. ” … And they fell upon their faces” (Numbers 16:45). (See also Psalm 44:24-25.)

4) Intercession demands a forgiving spirit. ” … the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD,” (Numbers 16:41). It was an unjust, cruel, wanton charge. On the contrary, Aaron might have replied, “The Lord judge between us. If we be guilty, let the plague strike us.” But God’s priest ran into the plague-laden air, careless of life, and braved the still more dangerous wrath of the Cloud for his wanton accusers. This is the Spirit of Christ (Mark 11 :25). We must be great forgivers before we can become great intercessors. If the heart on the throne forgives, shall not this heart in the dust?

INTERCESSION REACHES THE JUDGMENT SEAT

Now observe the magnificent results. 1) The plague was stayed. The people were no worthier, but the prayer was accepted. Two men saved two million. God’s judgments are actually stayed by the intercessions of His priests.

2) Prayer can remove sin, as well as revoke the plague. Let them pray for him; ” … and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5: 15). It is an amazing fact that intercession can reach even to the Judgment Seat. “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge” (2 Timothy 4: 16).

3) Plead blessings on others, and we invoke blessings on ourselves (James 5 :20). In the next chapter, Aaron’s rod blooms alone: he and his house are made perpetual intercessors before Jehovah (Numbers 18:1; Numbers 18:7). In one of his last addresses, Dr. Pierson said at Mildmay, “I say to you with the solemnity of a dying man, that no man has ever yet laid hold on the supernatural power of God as it is possible to lay hold on that power.”

It is the spirit of intercession which produced, in a closely allied incident, one of the most wonderful occurrences in the history of the world. “I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and I will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they” (Numbers 14:12). Never before or since has such an offer been made. It was an offer made directly by God Himself. It involved the destruction of all His people, leaving Moses God’s sole representative on the globe. It promised a mightier nation through Moses. It offered him the holiest and most enduring of all dynasties and by far the most wonderful throne in the world, and it involved the transmission of Messiah to Moses line.

Moses was never greater than in this supreme crisis in his life. He, who was tried so sorely as to lose the Holy Land through the infidelities of this very people, is as silent as the grave on the offer. He will never raise his house on the ruins of God’s people. His one cry is, “Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people …. “ (Numbers 14:19). Oh, that the very sins of the church, and the anger of God, may now awake such God-like intercession and such Gethsemane intercessors!

Moses casts everything on the character of God, “Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them … ” (Numbers 14: 15-16). Think it either weakness or malignity? Exactly so today God is so identified with His church that for the church to be wiped out would be the death of the very idea of God. We must plead to God when we pray now for the people of God. Moses loves God and the honour of God too much to accept the offer. God’s glory is at stake, God’s repute among the nations, God’s power and grace and love.

Hear the solemn word of Christ,  “And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works” (Revelation 2:23).

But meanwhile, the door of intercession stands opens. God’s heart is just one great sob over a lost world. Our hearts are to be one great sob over an errant church. “O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face … because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses … “ (Daniel 9:8-9). “O my God, incline thine ear, and hear … for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God … “ (Daniel 9: 18-19).

The glorious message of our Saviour’s birth was announced by the angels, when the darkness of night overshadowed the world. Sorrowing hearts found a healing balm when the promised Redeemer came.

The world was again left in darkness when they crucified our Lord, and put out the light. Even those who loved Him were left in the gloom, because they were ” … slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25).

The women who loved Him stood at the sepulcher weeping, and again a heavenly messenger was sent to say to sorrowing hearts, ” ... Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:5-6).

Death laid its cold hand upon the dear Son of God. He ” … died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). He ” … bare our sins in his own body on the tree … ” (1 Peter 2:24). Hallelujah, Jesus triumphed over death and the grave, and as He arose, we also shall rise, and live to die no more!

The final victory will take place when we can look into all the empty tombs where the saints have slept, and cry, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

If you have never done so, put your faith in the Saviour today. ” … he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Text:               Luke 22:7-18

Intro:

I want us to focus on verse 10.

What I find interesting is that the man who was to meet Peter and John was to be bearing a picture of water.

This man could have been bearing something else or involved in a number of activities.

I believe that there are no accidents with God.

I believe that it was no accident that the man Peter and John were to meet would be bearing a pitcher of water.

If we examine the ministry of Jesus Christ  we will find throughout His ministry that water is strongly connected with our Saviour and presents many wonderful pictures and types.

Today I would like us to examine some of those instances where water plays a part the ministry of our Lord.

The Water of Submission – Mt. 3:13-17

Jesus public ministry began with His baptism by John, the Baptist.

Jesus said that He came to do the will of the Father.

Here at His baptism begins a ministry of 3 ½ years that will always be in submission to the will of the Father.

A ministry that will end with Jesus being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

The Water of Miracles – John 2:6-9,11

We see manifested by one of commonest elements found on this earth, water.

Our Saviour’s omnipotence.

The changing of the water into wine showed our Lord to be all powerful.

A power reserved only for the Creator, Himself.

The Water of the Physical Birth – John 3:1-7

Our Lord explains to a religious Jew named Nicodemus how a man can enter into the Kingdom of God.

And it is not by our natural birth, “born of water”

But by the Spirit of God.

The Water of Life – John 4:5-15

Jesus makes a contrast between earthly water that will leave you unsatisfied – with  – living water, the water of everlasting life that satisfies the thirsty soul forever.

My dear friend , Jesus is the only source that you can receive this living water.

He invites all – “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”

If you have never come to the water of life, won’t you come today and be saved.

The Water of Spiritual Rivers – John 7:37-39

Jesus promises to all that believe on Him an indwelling Holy Spirit – “rivers of living water”.

The Water of Humility – John 13:12-16

By the washing of the Apostles feet Jesus teaches us a great lesson on humility.

Jesus through His example of foot washing teaches us how we should treat one another and others.

Just as He came not to be ministered unto but to minister to others so are we to do the same.

If Jesus humbled himself in His service to others should we do any less.

The Water of Sacrifice – John 19:31-37

V. 34 – Blood and Water came out of the side of the Saviour.

Our Lord had poured out His life for us at the cruel cross of Calvary so that our sins could be forgiven.

So, that Heaven could be our home.

God sacrificed His only begotten sinless Son to save sinners from a literal eternal burning hell.

The Water of Cleansing – Ephesians 5:25-27

The Word of God here is pictured as water.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is doing something to the church right now so she will be spotless then at the marriage of the Lamb – Rev. 19:7-8.

He is washing the Body of Christ with a kind of water which is “by the word”

In the context of the passage, the Word of God is saying that husbands should minister the word to their wives to keep them clean.

A man takes care to keep his own flesh clean and therefore he should minister to his wife.

Just as in John 13 when our Lord washed the feet of the disciples, he was not only teaching humility but also that they should minister the word to each other to clean each other.

We should do the same to each other as members of the body of Christ.

Conclusion:

We have seen in our study the importance of water in the ministry of our Lord.

The Water of Submission

The Water of Miracles

The Water of the Physical Birth

The Water of Life

The Water of Spiritual Rivers

The Water of Humility

The Water of Sacrifice

The Water of Cleansing

“Afterward he appeared … And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:14-15).

In March 1969, people around the world waited with bated breath for the word from Cape Canaveral for lift-off. During the tense moments, the superstitious crossed their fingers and the godless said a prayer. Everybody was caught up in the earsplitting surge of power which hurls a man skyward toward outer space. Suspense did not lesson, and pulse rates did not drift back to normal until four words come crackling over the airwaves – “All conditions are … GO!” Anxiety then gave way to jubilation.

As if their united voices had been needed to help propel an astronaut into orbit, men and women of every hemisphere picked up the chant, and in their own languages and dialects shouted, “Go! Go! Go!” That one syllable seems to summarize the universal emotions and wishes of that moment.

Borrowing from NASA’s electrifying, newly coined phrase of that time, let us apply it to the spiritual realm, “ALL CONDITIONS ARE … GO!” That two-letter word appears no less than two hundred and fifty-two times in the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, with one hundred and fifty-two of the usages attributed to Christ Himself by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Went, the past of go, is repeated three hundred and forty-nine times.

With Jesus Christ, all conditions were … GO! Jesus Himself moved from place to place. The greatest sentence-biography ever written described Him perfectly, “… who went about doing good … “ (Acts 10:38). So it is not to be wondered at that He frequently used the word go to help move others on course. It was a watchword embodying a principle, a guide to action.

” … go work … “ (Matthew 21:28). ” … go after … “ (Luke 15:4). ” … go quickly … “ (Matthew 28:7). Each was His command. His beneficiaries found that they could not be static, remain in equilibrium, or act by mere weight without motion. Go forth, go show, and go call- these kept His hearers in movement. On one occasion He would be heard saying, “Go preach.” On another it was “go teach” or “go tell.” All conditions were … GO!

To a former adulteress, now forgiven, He said, ” … go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). Bystanders at the tomb of resurrected Lazarus were commanded, ” … Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44). When He dispossessed a demoniac, He ordered the evil spirits to “go,” and then followed through by instructing the redeemed man to “… Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee…” (Mark 5: 19). His disciples He ordained to“… go and bring forth fruit …” (John 15: 16).

The original twelve were commissioned, “… go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6). Later Christ appointed an additional seventy, whom He sent two by two into every city and place, which was a larger authorization. “Go your ways … “ (Luke 10:3), He told them, for “… The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few …” (Luke 1 0:2). GO has always been an important part of the GOspel. Merely hyphenate the word, add another letter, and it seems to automatically flow, “GO-spell out redemption to all people.”

As it was before Christ’s death, it was even so after His resurrection. The word was still GO! “… Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations … “ (Matthew 28:19). ” … as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21); then He went away, ” … he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9), but all conditions were still … GO!

Following His ascension, Christ reappeared with the very same words on His lips. He was seen and heard by Saul of Tarsus (turned Paul, apostle to the heathen), saying, ” … go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:6).

Quite simultaneously, a devout man, Ananias, enjoyed the same post-ascension visit, the Lord instructing him, ” … go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire … for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth” (Acts 9:11). “… Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles …” (Acts 9:15).

Before and after Christ’s passion, and even following His glorification, all conditions were . . . GO! The message and the direction were the same, whether Christ appeared in person to enunciate them or dispatched an angel with the word.

On one occasion the imprisoned apostles were released by an angelic deliverer, who also commissioned them, “Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20).

Once again the angel of the Lord was sent, this time to Philip, with the message, ” … go toward the south … ” (Acts 8:26). Having arrived, he was instructed by the Holy Spirit to, ” … Go near, and join thyself to this chariot” (Acts 8:29) (the chariot of the eunuch).

At another time, it was this same Spirit who directed Peter to leave the Joppa rooftop and accompany the inquirers to Caesarea. “… get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing …” (Acts 10:20).

Judging by all the evidence – Christ’s own example: His utterances and commands, both before and after His passion; the repeated post-resurrection commissions; and those post-ascension instructions by Christ, angels, and the Holy Spirit; there is no doubt that from the divine viewpoint and intention, all conditions are still …GO!

The great commission included no time limit. It set forth simply, clearly, and with a note of finality what was to be done; by whom, for whom; by what means; where, why, and for how long. It left no room for shilly-shallying. This command has never been rescinded or modified.

It would seem a mistake of the first magnitude for any follower of Christ to be irresolute or be preoccupied with trifles, when commanded to make this world his parish. To see disciples standing idle in the ecclesiastical marketplaces, saying, “… no man hath hired us …” (Matthew 20:7), when fields are ready for the reaping and the Lord is saying, “… Go ye also into the vineyard…” (Matthew 20:7), is indeed a sorry spectacle.

As long as world evangelization is incomplete; as long as Communism continues to enslave; as long as half of mankind languishes in fear and superstition because of ignorance; and as long as heathens need to hear the truth that sets men free, all conditions are to be regarded as … GO!

By the challenge of red atheism and the horrors of paganism; by the command of Christ, and the right of all men to hear the joyful sound that Jesus saves, we must go. Of hindering things to which we cling, we must let go. Those who stand poised and willing, stymied for lack of aid, we must help go.

ALL CONDITIONS ARE … GO!

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Dr. W. C. Alvarez, a stomach specialist at the Mayo Clinic, says that eighty percent of the stomach disorders that come to them are not organic, but functional. Wrong mental and spiritual attitude throw functional disturbances into digestion. Most of our ills are caused by worry and fear, and it is my experience that faith is more important than food in the cure of stomach ulcers.

In order to keep your commission clean, you must be free from worry and fear. Worry is not merely weakness; it is wickedness. It says God has abdicated, and that we have to hold the world together by our worrying, but the opposite happens. Worriers wreck their world as well as their lives. Worry is sin against God and ourselves. Cast it on Christ and His cross; then you will live by cheer, rather than by fear.

“Be careful for nothing … ” (Philippians 4:6). In other words “stop being worried about anything.”

Someone has wisely said, “If we trust we do not worry, and if we worry we do not trust.” “Trust in the LORD, and do good … and verily thou shalt be fed” (Psalm 37:3).

A tax auditor came many years ago to a poor servant of the Lord to determine the amount of taxes he would have to pay.

“What property do you possess?” asked the auditor.

“I am very wealthy,” replied the Christian man.

“List your possessions, please,” the auditor instructed.

“First, I have everlasting life” (John 3: 16).

“Second, I have a mansion in Heaven” (John 14:2).

“Third, I have peace that passes understanding” (Philippians 4: 7).

“Fourth, I have joy unspeakable” (1 Peter 1 :8).

“Fifth, I have divine love that never fails” (1 Corinthians 13 :8).

“Sixth, I have a faithful wife” (Proverbs 31: 1 0).

“Seventh, I have healthy, happy, obedient children” (Exodus 20: 12).

“Eighth, I have true, loyal friends” (Proverbs 18:24).

“Ninth, I have songs in the night” (Psalm 42:8).

“Tenth, I have a crown of life” (James 1: 12).

“Eleventh, I have a Saviour, Jesus Christ, who supplies all my need” (Philippians 4: 19).”

The tax auditor closed his book, and said, “Truly you are a very rich man, but your property is not subject to taxation!”

The outstanding need of the hour is a revival that will stir the nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and that will speedily evangelize the regions beyond. The solution of our problems is an old-fashioned, Heaven-sent, prayed-down, Holy Ghost revival that will make God and eternity real. Even Tolstoi, the humanist, said, “The distinctive mark of the age is its lost sense of God.” Men have forgotten God, and therefore we face a national crises. History teaches us that every nation that forgets God must perish. What we need is a manifestation of the presence and power of God. This divine demonstration can be brought about only through earnest, importune prayer that releases the resources of Heaven and brings back a God-consciousness to the children of men.

God’s challenge in the present crisis is found in Jeremiah 33:3,“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” God will answer prayer if we will meet the conditions. We must be on praying ground by confessing and forsaking every known sin. We must believe God. If we pray according to God’s conditions, marvelous things will take place. Something happens when we pray that would not happen if we neglected to pray. People are depending on our prayers. There will be people in Heaven because we have prayed. Prayer makes it possible for the Holy Ghost to convict of sin. Prayer creates an atmosphere fix the Holy Ghost to convict of sin. Prayer creates an atmosphere in which the third Person in the Trinity can work. Only praying men and women can be used in God’s service.

Prayer is a duty, and to neglect to pray is a sin. The tragedy of the present hour is that there is so little prayer. We have allowed Satan to blind us. We are depending on talents, machinery, and organization instead of depending on God. It is because of spiritual laziness that we neglect to pray. Satan knows that his kingdom loses many subjects whenever God’s people pray earnestly. It is Satan’s strategy to keep the church in a prayerless condition.

We need a revival that will make closet prayer common, restore the family altar, and make the public prayer meeting largely attended. We need a compassion for souls that will give us the burden of prayer. We need to spend hours – yea, whole nights – in prayer. Every true revival that has ever come to this world has come in answer to prayer. Hudson Taylor prayed, and the China Inland Mission was brought into existence. George Mueller prayed, and millions of dollars came into his hands to care for the orphan children. “Prayer moves the arm that moves the world.”

The praying people of the nation must bestir themselves in this hour of crisis and pray persistently, earnestly, with heart yearning and tears, “Lord, send a revival, and let it begin in me.” Will you respond to God’s challenge?”

Some time ago, sixty-six teenagers from a Christian camp visited a small town in Ohio and received the shock of their lives.

They approached 675 of the town’s population and asked just one simple question, “How does a person get to Heaven?” One man said, “Fly.” Some guessed. Some did not try to guess. Only a little over 15 percent knew the answer and said, “Receive Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour.”

Of the 675 queried, 561 gave a wrong answer. The ten most frequent answers were: be good to your neighbor, go to church, read the Bible, work your way, live right, be sincere, be baptized, pay your bills, obey your conscience, hope.

If being good, living right, being sincere, could get us to Heaven, why did Jesus go to the cross and die? Why did God send Him there?

The cross was the only way God could provide a remedy for the sin that all of us have in our lives. If you think for one moment that you do not need cleansing, look to Calvary and see Jesus.

If this were not absolutely the only way there could be salvation for you, Jesus would never have gone there. Receive His salvation, so dearly purchased for you. “… now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” Corinthians 6:2).