The Savour Of Death Or Life

2Co 2:16  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

2Co 2:17  For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

The Lord has not called upon us to form churches. That is not our business. Would to God men had recognized the fact! A very different situation would obtain today from what exists, if that had been recognized.

It is the Lord Who expands His Church, Who governs its growth. What we have to do is to live in the place of His appointment in the power of His resurrection.

If, in the midst of others, the Lord can get but two of His children, in whom His Life is full and free, to live on the basis of that Life, and not to seek to gather others to themselves or to get them to congregate together on the basis of their acceptance of certain truths or teaching, but simply to witness to what Christ means and is to them, then He has an open way....

The Church is not increased by your going and taking a building and trying to get people to come to it, and to your meetings, and then forming them, by a church roll, into a local church. That is not the way.

Growth is by Life, and this, to begin with, may be by the entering into Life of but one soul, and then after a long waiting time of another; or it may be more rapid. But the point is that it is increase because of Life. That is the growth of the Church.

For the growth of His Church, the Lord must have Life channels, Life centers. I believe that, given a Life center, sooner or later one of two things will happen, that it will be abundantly manifest that Christ is fully and finally rejected there, or else there will be an adding, a growth.

There is tremendous power in Life, and the Life of the Lord either kills or quickens. It depends on the attitude taken toward it. He is a savor of Life unto Life, or of death unto death.

Things can never remain neutral.

~T. Austin Sparks~ 

Forsake The Foolish And Live

Pro 9:6  Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 

Forsake (leave,to loosen,relinquish,forsake,refuse) the foolish(silly,seducable,unwise,marked by folly) and live(alive,life,recover,repair,save), and go in the way of understanding(wisdom)

Break off from all bad company: “Forsake the foolish, converse not with them, conform not to their ways, have no fellowship with the works of darkness, or with those that deal in such works.”  

The first step towards virtue is to shun vice, and therefore to shun the vicious. Depart from me, you evil-doers. They must awake and arise from the dead; they must live, not in pleasure (for those that do so are dead while they live), but in the service of God; for those only that do so live indeed,

                                                                      

GOD Accomplishes Your SURRENDER

 

                                                                            
I am sure there is many a heart that says: "Ah, but that absolute surrender implies so much!" Someone says: "Oh, I have passed through so much trial and suffering, and there is so much of the self-life still remaining. I dare not face entirely giving it up because I know it will cause so much trouble and agony."

Alas! alas! that God's children have such thoughts of Him, such cruel thoughts. I come with a message to those who are fearful and anxious. God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you. Do we not read: "it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13)? 

And that is what we should seek-to go on our faces before God, until our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong. He will conquer what is evil, and work what is well pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you.

Look at the men in the Old Testament, like Abraham. Do you think it was by accident that God found that man, the father of the faithful and the friend of God? Do you think that it was Abraham himself, apart from God, who had such faith and such obedience and such devotion? You know it is not so. God raised him up and prepared him as an instrument for His glory.

Did God not say to Pharaoh: "For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power" (Exodus 9:16)? And if God said that of him, will God not say it far more of every child of His?

Oh, I want to encourage you, and I want you to cast away every fear. Come with that feeble desire. If there is the fear which says-"Oh, my desire is not strong enough. I am not willing for everything that maycome , and I do not feel bold enough to say I can conquer everything"-l implore you, learn to know and trust your God now. Say: "My God, I am willing that You should make me willing." If there is anything holding you back, or any sacrifice you are afraid of making, come to God now and prove how gracious your God is. Do not be afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.

God comes and offers to work this absolute surrender in you. All these searchings and hungerings and longings that are in your heart, I tell you, they are the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus. He lived a life of absolute surrender. He has possession of you; He is living in your heart by His Holy Spirit.

You have hindered and hindered Him terribly, but He desires to help you to get a hold of Him entirely.

And He comes and draws you now by His message and words. 

Will you not come and trust God to work in you that absolute surrender to Himself Yes, blessed be God! He can do it, and He will do it.

God not only claims it and works it, but God accepts it when we bring it to Him. 

~Andrew Murray~

Heart Burden

                            

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

Paul knew something of that "suffering for His Body's sake"; "filling up that which was lacking of the sufferings of Christ." We must face that! The thing that is going to count for God is the sharing in His travail.

There is all the romance of Christian work but, that is mere glamor; all the enthusiasm and interest of organized Christian activity; but it is not what we are before men in this matter that counts, but what we are before God in the secret place, having heart concern for the Lord's testimony.

Have you a burden, a passion?

Is the breakdown in the Lord's testimony in the earth among those upon whom His Name is called a heartbreak to you?

We shall never get anywhere till, in measure, His travail is entered into by us.

Ministry, in its real, abiding, eternal value, will depend upon the measure in which the travail is entered into by us. 

This is a day for travail: whether it be a travail for the unsaved or for the Lord's people; every true spiritual activity is born out of travail, 

And those who have been most used of God in every time have been men and women who had this travail in their soul, in their secret life with God.

Have you got it? Perhaps you say no. Then ask the Lord to bring you into His concern; stretch yourself out before God to be brought into His burden for the time in which you live.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Do You Want To Know GOD?

                                                        

Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

I am the Alpha. The very first syllable of the knowledge of God is the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

It begins with "A"; it is the first lisp of a babe. God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6). 

The first syllable of the Christian life begins with "A" – "Father." We do not know the Father until we know Jesus Christ: He it is Who has revealed the Father. The beginning of all knowledge of God as Father comes to us through Jesus Christ.

What He said in His prayer was indeed true: "I have manifested unto them Thy name" (John 17:6) – and that name was "Father."

Do you want to know God?

Do you want to know Him as Father?

Do you want to know what He has to say to you, to make known to you?

Do you want to know all or any of the vast wealth God would reveal to you? You can only know it in Jesus Christ; you can only know it in Him Who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. 

There is no knowledge without words made up of letters (except perhaps for our Chinese friends!), and all the letters are between these two. 

There is no knowledge that is knowledge indeed, knowledge that is Life eternal, except in Jesus Christ. "This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him Whom Thou didst send... Jesus Christ" (John 17:3).

There is no knowledge outside of Jesus Christ.

And there is no communication from God outside of Jesus Christ. 

Set Jesus Christ aside, and God is silent – He has nothing to say to you.

If you fail to give His Son His place, God is just mute; He will communicate nothing.

The more you honor the Son, the more the Father will come out to you and communicate with you.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Christ's Estimate Of Money

                                                                               
Jesus watched how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And a certain poor widow came, and cast in a farthing. Jesus called His disciples, and said to them, This poor widow has cast more in than all the others: for all they cast in out of their abundance; but she in her lack cast in all that she had, even all her living.Mark 12: 41.

In all our religion and our Bible study, it is of the greatest consequence to find out what the mind of Christ is, to think as He thought, and to feel just as He felt. There is not a question that concerns us, not a single matter that ever comes before us, but we find in the words of Christ something for our guidance and help.

We want today to get at the mind of Christ about money; to know exactly what he thought, and then to think and act just as He would do. This is not an easy thing. We are so under the influence of the world around us, that the fear of becoming utterly unpractical if we thought and acted just like Christ easily comes upon us

Let us not be afraid; if we really desire to find out what is His mind, He will guide us to what He wants us to think and do.

Only be honest in the thought: I want to have Christ teach me how to possess and how to use my money. 

Look at Him for a moment sitting here over against the treasury, watching the people putting in their gifts. Thinking about money in the church, looking after the collection: we often connect that with Judas, or some hard-worked deacon, or the treasurer or collector of some society.

But see here -- Jesus sits and watches the collection. And as He does it, He weighs each gift in the balance of God, and puts its value on it.

In heaven He does this still.

Not a gift for any part of God's work, great or small, but He notices it, and puts its value on it for the blessing, if any, that it is to bring in time or eternity.

And He is willing, even here on earth in the waiting heart, to let us know what He thinks of our giving. 

Giving money, is a part of our religious life, is watched over by Christ, and must be regulated by His word. Let us try and discover what the scriptures have to teach us.

Money giving a sure test of character.

In the world money is the standard of value. It is difficult to express all that money means. It is the symbol of labor and enterprise and cleverness. It is often the token of God's blessing on diligent effort. It is the equivalent of all that it can procure of the service of mind or body, of property or comfort or luxury, of influence and power. No wonder that the world loves it, seeks it above everything, and often worships it. 

No wonder that it is the standard of value not only for material things, but for man himself, and that a man is too often valued according to his money.

It is, however, not only thus in the kingdom of this world, but in the kingdom of heaven too, that a man is judged by his money, and yet on a different principle.

The world asks, what does a man own? Christ, how does he use it?

The world thinks more about the money getting; Christ about the money giving.

And when a man gives, the world still asks, what does he give? Christ asks, how does he give? The world looks at the money and its amount, Christ at the man and his motive.

See this in the story of the poor widow. Many that were rich cast in much; but it was out of their abundance; there was no real sacrifice in it; their life was as full and comfortable as ever, it cost them nothing. There was no special love or devotion to God in it; part of an easy and traditional religion.

The widow cast in a farthing. Out of her want she cast in all that she had, even all her living.

She gave all to God without reserve, without holding back anything, she gave all.

How different our standard and Christ's. We ask how much a man gives. Christ asks, how much he keeps. We look at the gift. Christ asks whether the gift was a sacrifice.

The widow kept nothing over, she gave all; the gift won His heart and approval, for it was in the spirit of His own self-sacrifice, who, being rich, became poor for our own sakes. They out of their abundance cast in much: She, out of her want all that she had.

But if our Lord wanted us to do as she did, why did He not leave a clear command about it? How gladly we then would do it.

Ah! there you have it. You want a command to make you do it: that would just be the spirit of the world in the church looking at what we give, at our giving all.

And that is just what Christ does not wish and will not have. He wants the generous love that does it unbidden. He wants every gift to be a gift warm and bright with love, a true free will offering. If you want the Master's approval as the poor widow had it, remember one thing: You must put all at his feet, hold all at his disposal.

And that, as the spontaneous expression of a love that, like Mary, cannot help giving, just because it loves.
All my money giving -- what a test of character! Lord Jesus! Oh give me grace to love Thee intently, that I may know how to give. 

~Andrew Murray~