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Words of Counsel to Ministers
127
by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and angels of God will put into your
lips words that will reach the hearts of the opposers. If these men
persist in pressing their way in, those who are of a sensible mind in
the congregation will understand that yours is the higher standard.
So speak that it will be known that Jesus Christ is speaking through
you.
The Need of Earnest, Whole-Souled Labor
If our ministers realized how soon the inhabitants of the world
are to be arraigned before the judgment seat of God, to answer for
the deeds done in the body, how earnestly they would work together
with God to present the truth! How untiringly they would labor to
advance God’s cause in the world, proclaiming in word and deed:
“The end of all things is at hand.”
1 Peter 4:7
.
“Prepare to meet thy God” is the message we are everywhere
to proclaim. The trumpet is to give a certain sound. Clearly and
distinctly the warning is to ring out: “Babylon the great is fallen, is
fallen.... Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
Revelation 18:2-4
. The
words of this scripture are to be fulfilled. Soon the last test is to come
to all the inhabitants of the earth. At that time prompt decisions will
be made. Those who have been convicted under the presentation of
the word will range themselves under the blood-stained banner of
Prince Immanuel. They will see and understand as never before they
have missed many opportunities for doing the good they ought to
have done. They will realize that they have not worked as zealously
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as they should, to seek and save the lost, to snatch them, as it were,
out of the fire.
God’s servants are to be “not slothful in business; fervent in
spirit; serving the Lord.” Listlessness and inefficiency are not piety.
When we realize that we are working for God we shall have a higher
sense than we have ever had before of the sacredness of spiritual
service. This realization will put life and vigilance and persevering
energy into the discharge of every duty.
Religion, pure, undefiled religion, is intensely practical. Nothing
but earnest, wholehearted labor will avail in the saving of souls.
We are to make our everyday duties acts of devotion, constantly