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Testimonies for the Church Volume 9
still greater light. Church members have not been encouraged to use
spiritual nerve and muscle in the work of advancement. They should
be made to understand that ministers cannot work out their salvation
by hovering over them. It is thus that they are made weaklings when
they ought to be strong men.
In every church young men and young women should be se-
lected to bear responsibilities. Let them make every effort to qualify
themselves to help those who know not the truth. God calls for
earnest, whole-souled workers. The humble and contrite will learn
by personal experience that
beside Him
there is no savior.
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Bible truth must be preached and practiced. Every ray of light
given is to shine forth with clear, distinct brightness. The truth is
to go forth as a lamp that burneth.
There are hundreds of God’s
servants who must respond to this call and take the field as earnest,
soul-saving workers
, coming up to the help of the Lord, to the help
of the Lord against the mighty. God calls for
live men
, men who are
filled with the vivifying influence of His Spirit, men who see God
as the Supreme Ruler and receive from Him abundant proof of the
fulfillment of His promises, men who are not lukewarm, but hot and
fervent with His love.
Should all the labor that has been expended on the churches
during the past twenty years be again expended upon them, it would
fail, as it has failed in the past, of making the members self-denying,
cross-bearing followers of Christ. Many have been overfed with
spiritual food, while in the world thousands are perishing for the
bread of life. Church members must
work
; they must educate them-
selves, striving to reach the high standard set before them. This the
Lord will help them to reach if they will co-operate with Him. If
they keep their own souls in the love of the truth they will not hold
the ministers back from presenting the truth in new fields.
The large cities should have been worked just as soon as the
churches received the light, but many have carried no burden for
souls, and Satan, finding them susceptible to his temptations, has
spoiled their experience. God asks His people to repent, to be
converted, and to return to their first love, which they have lost
by their failure to follow in the footsteps of the self-sacrificing
Redeemer.
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