Christ the Sum and Substance
199
above the minds of the common people so that they cannot follow you,
and if they did follow you, would neither be benefited nor blessed.
Teach the simple lessons of Christ. Tell the touching story of His life
of self-denial and sacrifice. Tell of His humiliation and death. Tell
of His resurrection and ascension, of His intercession for them in the
courts of God. Tell them that “God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
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perish, but have everlasting life” [
John 3:16
].—
Manuscript 38, 1894
.
Spiritual Nourishment—Of all professed Christians, Seventh-
day Adventists should be foremost in uplifting Christ before the world.
Our ministers should ever be able to direct men and women to Christ,
to the One who Himself declared, “I am the Bread of life.” Let those
who minister to the spiritual necessities of the people, read to them
the words of Christ: “I am the living Bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever: and the
Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world.” ...
Often there are delivered to the people discourses destitute of the
Bread of life, the food essential for spiritual growth. Those who have
been appropriating for themselves the Bread of life, will be able to
break it to others....
I have felt very sad as I have seen ministers walking and working
in the light of the sparks of their own kindling; ministers who were not
obtaining spiritual nourishment from Christ, the Bread of life. Their
own souls were as destitute of the heavenly manna as the hills of
Gilboa were destitute of dew and rain. In their hearts Christ was not an
abiding Presence. How could they speak intelligently of Him whom
they had never known by experimental knowledge?—
Manuscript 21,
1891
.
Practical Lessons Along With the Prophecies—A few forcible
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remarks upon some point of doctrine will fasten in the mind much
more firmly, than to bring in a mass of matter where nothing lays out
clear and distinct in the mind of those ignorant of our faith. There
should be interspersed with the prophecies, practical lessons of the
teachings of Christ. There should ever be the softening, subduing
influence of the Spirit of God upon our own heart. The self-denial
and the sufferings of Christ should be brought into our labors, and the