Sermons on Biblical CharactersChappell, Clovis Gillham
Religion
Sermons on Biblical Characters
Chappell, Clovis Gillham
Bible -- Biography; Sermons, American -- 20th century
You have had a great chance. Is there anybody that believes because of
what you have said? Has any life been transfigured and transformed by
the story that you have told? Will you not give a little more
earnestness and a little more thought and a little more prayer and a
little more effort to the doing of this work that Jesus Christ did not
think was beneath Himself as the King of Heaven and the Savior of the
world?
And if you have never found the fountain that satisfies, if you know
nothing of the spring that flows within--will you not claim that
blessed treasure now? Will you not do so, first of all, because of
your own needs? Then will you not do so not only because of your own
needs but because of the needs of those about you? You are thirsty men
and women, and this is a thirsty world. You need God and God needs
you. Will you give Him a chance at you?
Remember that this well of water is not to be yours on the basis of
merit. It is not to be bought. It is not to be earned. It is not
found in the pathway of the scholar or of the rich or of the great or
of the gifted. It is God's gift. If you want wages serve the devil,
for "the wages of sin is death." "But the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
In oriental cities, where water is often scarce, water carriers go
through the streets selling water at so much per drink. And their cry
is this: "The gift of God, who will buy? Who will buy?" And sometimes
a man will buy the whole supply, and then allow the water carrier to
give it away. And as he goes back down the street, he no longer says,
"The gift of God, who will buy?" but "The gift of God, who will take?
The gift of God, who will take?" That is my message to you: "The gift
of God, who will take?" It is yours for the taking. May God help you
to take it now.
VII
A GOOD MAN--BARNABAS
_Acts 11:24_
This is the text: "He was a good man." Doubtless you think me daring
to the point of rashness to undertake to interest and edify a modern
congregation by talking about a virtue so prosaic as goodness. "He was
a good man." We do not thrill when we hear that. It is not a word
that quickens our pulse beat. We do not sit up and lean forward. We
rather relax and stifle a yawn and look at our watches and wonder how
soon it will be over. We are interested in clever men, in men of
genius. We are interested in bad men, in courageous men, in poor men
and rich men, but good men--our interest lags here, nods, drowses, goes
to sleep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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