Hearthstone - July 2001


Contents	Volume 16, No. 7	July 2001
Filled Vessels The Secret of Strength Waiting & Working Hugs 'N Tugs by Wendy Greiner Lefko Nothing to Merit His Choice Best of LifeLine by Rev. Larry W. Greiner The Holy Spirit Come, Follow Me Faith	RUNNING ON EMPTY? There is a story of an old Scotsman who bought a car from a friend in order to replace his horse-drawn buggy. One day his friend came over, only to find the new owner struggling to push the car up the road that led to town. He exclaimed, "Sandy—did ye not put gas into the tank?" "Nae," the pusher grunted. "Tis too costly." "And why then did ye buy the car?" "To save feedin' the horses!" Are you trying to lead just as ridiculous a life—on an "empty tank"—without the power and presence of God in your life. It can't be done. When a man exchanges his old way of living for the new, God expects him to take advantage of the available, new source of power — the power of the Holy Spirit. "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20).

FILLED VESSELS
	"God has got a good many children who have just barely got life, but no power for service…. A great many think because they have been filled once with the Holy Spirit, they are going to be full for all time after; but O, my friends, we are leaky vessels, and have to be kept right under the fountain all the time in order to keep full. Let us keep near Him." —D.L.Moody Back to Contents

Believe all that God has said.
Obey all that Christ has commanded.
Expect all that Christ has promised.

THE SECRET OF STRENGTH
	Once when he was asked about the secret of his strength, General Booth revealed how, as a boy, he had knelt at the bare table in the schoolroom of Nottingham's Broad Street Chapel and vowed that "God should have all there was of William Booth." Years later his daughter added something to that answer: "That wasn't really his secret—his secret was that he never took it back." Back to Contents

WAITING & WORKING
	"Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. . . . to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him."(Isaiah 64:1-4). "How long has it been in many of our churches since God "did awesome things that we did not expect"? Maybe it is because we have not been waiting before God as they did in the upper room. The Christian life is a combination of waiting and activity, of prayer and service. We must balance all our activities for Him with time spent with Him, waiting in expectancy, prayer and worship. We must avoid the idea that well-intentioned Christian service and doing things for God will ever amount to much without fresh infillings of the Spirit's power." —Jim Cymbala, Pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, in his book Fresh Power. Back to Contents

HUGS 'N TUGS
By Wendy Greiner Lefko
	I had a scary moment on the road the other day. I was stopped at a red light, with one car in front of me. Waiting for the light to change, my mind was on a hundred different things, and when I saw the car ahead of me begin to move forward, I followed. Suddenly my heart skipped a beat! The traffic light was still red! I slapped my forehead and scolded myself loudly: "What am I doing?" Fortunately I was able to continue safely through the intersection. My glance into the rearview mirror confirmed the fact that I had indeed gone through a complete red light. The cars behind me were obediently staying put, waiting for the light to change to green. While verbally questioning my driving, my mind raced to comprehend what I had just done. The car I had foolishly followed was still in front of me. Why he had not waited for the green light is a mystery, but the sad truth is that I had followed him. I had not been focused. My mind had been elsewhere while my eyes were glued to the other driver's bumper. Instead of obeying the traffic signal, I had blindly followed a stranger. Fortunately God’s hand kept us safe, and I thanked Him for His protection in spite of my absent-mindedness. I learned a valuable driving lesson that day — to watch the light, not just the car in front of me. It impressed me also with the fact that I need to learn that same lesson in life. Too often I find myself following the "person in front of me," instead of looking to the "Light." The tendency is to look to see what other people are doing, what they think is right, how they move and what direction they are going, instead of looking to the true indicator of right and wrong, the Light of the world, Jesus Christ. It seems when I take my eyes off Him and focus on imperfect human beings such as myself, I begin to lose my sense of direction and ultimately my way. It's appropriate and important to view fellow believers as examples of how to live for Christ, or in some cases what pitfalls to avoid. But our main compass for walking the path God has planned for us always needs to be directed to the one true Light, Jesus Christ. Don’t blindly follow the person in front of you, but gaze at the Light that never fails or grows dim. "Then spake Jesus, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men" (John 1:4). Back to Contents

NOTHING TO MERIT HIS CHOICE
	An elderly woman, hearing of preachers who dwelt extensively on the subject of predestination, said, "Ah, I have long settled that point, for if God had not chosen me before I was born, I am sure He would have seen nothing in me to have chosen me afterward." Back to Contents

BEST OF LIFELINE
By Rev. Larry W. Greiner
	Dr. Harry Rimmer, Bible expositor and teacher, penned the following letter to Dr. Charles E. Fuller of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. "Next Sunday you are going to talk about Heaven. I am interested in that land because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over fifty years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without price. But the Donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation. It is not a vacant lot. For more than a half a century I have been sending materials up to the greatest Architect of the universe Who has been building a home for me which will never need remodeling or repairing, because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old. Termites can never undermine its foundation, for it rests upon the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon the doors, for no vicious person can enter the land where my dwelling stands, almost completed and almost ready for me to enter in and abide eternally without fear of being ejected. "There’s a valley of a deep shadow between this place where I live and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in that city without passing through this valley, but I am not afraid because the best friend I ever had went through the same valley long, long, long ago and drove away all of its gloom. He has stuck with me through thick and thin since we first became acquainted fifty-five years ago. I own His promise in printed form to never forsake me or leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of the shadow and I shall not lose my way when He is with me. "I hope to hear your sermon on Heaven next Sunday, but I have no assurance I shall be able to do so. My ticket to Heaven has no date mark for the journey, no return coupon and no permit for baggage. Yes, I am ready to go, and I may not be here while you are talking next Sunday, but I will meet you there some day." Harry Rimmer never got to hear Charles E. Fuller’s sermon on Heaven. By the following Sunday he had already moved into the mansion prepared for him in glory. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). Back to Contents

THE HOLY SPIRIT
	John Wesley, in 1744 preached a sermon on Acts 4:31 to an audience at his alma mater, Oxford University. He barraged his listeners with a volley of hard-hitting questions about their spiritual lassitude, rising near the end to this climax: "How few of you spend, from one week to another, a single hour in private prayer? How few have any thought of God in the general tenor of your conversation? Who of you is, in any degree, acquainted with the work of His Spirit, His supernatural work in the souls of men? Can you bear, unless now and then, in a church, any talk of the Holy Ghost? Would you not take it for granted, if one began such a conversation, that it was either hypocrisy or enthusiasm? In the name of the Lord God Almighty, I ask, What religion are you of?" Back to Contents

COME, FOLLOW ME
	He leadeth me, Not with a rope or chain, As cattle go against their will Trying in vain to turn aside To ways they know. He never prods, But in the roughest places stands; And there with hand outstretched He reaches back and says, "I've been this way before; Come, follow Me." —C.C.Miles Back to Contents

FAITH

Lord, give me faith!—to live from day to day,
With tranquil heart to do my simple part,
And, with my hand in Thine, just go Thy way.

Lord, give me faith!—to trust, if not to know;
With quiet mind in all things, Thee to find,
And, child-like,
go where Thou wouldst have me go.

Lord, give me faith!—to leave it all to Thee,
The future is Thy gift, I would not lift
The veil Thy Love has hung 'twixt it and me.

—John Oxenham
Back to Contents

Cling to the whole Bible, not a part of it.
A man is not going to do much with a broken sword.
—D.L. Moody
* * * * *
"I ain't what I oughter be;
and I ain't what I'm gonna be;
but I sure ain't what I was!"
—Testimony of a simple but sincere Christian.

RUNNING ON EMPTY?

By Wendy Greiner Lefko

By Rev. Larry W. Greiner