“And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 10:7).
“And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him” (Matt. 28:7).
When the Master gave His great commission, “as ye go, preach,” He meant by it—as ye go, shine; as ye go, testify of Me; as ye go, heal the sick body and the sick soul; as ye go, bear fruit, and live out the Gospel entrusted to you! It was the sermons of heroic and holy living that shook the world and have come down ringing and resounding through the centuries. And the preaching which this sinning and sobbing old world of ours needs today is of the same character. The only way in which we can hope to reproduce, in any good degree, the glory of that apostolic era is by the same living manifestation of Jesus Christ. The best sermon that you and I can furnish is: Christ liveth in me.
To you in these pews comes the command as directly as to me in this pulpit, “Go ye and preach!” It comes to every child of converting grace with the gift of that grace. No sooner does our Lord, by His Spirit, make you Christians than He bids you become soul-winners also. “Let him that heareth say, Come.”—Theodore Cuyler.
I confess that I do not see how Christianity is ever to carry the day unless the great bulk of our church membership becomes also a ministry. Is it possible for any man to be a true Christian himself, and yet to be doing nothing to make other men Christians too? Who, if he could, would like to be plodding heavenward in a path only wide enough for one?—Hitchcock.
In His furrowed fields around us,
God has work for all who will;
Those who may not scatter broadcast,
Yet may plant it hill by hill.
Yearning hearts are often near us,
Conscious of their Spirit-need;
These are hills prepared by Heaven
To receive the precious seed.
Shall we find these hills, and plant them?
Shall we scatter when we may?
Or with idle hands stand waiting
Till the seed-time pass away?
Glory waits the faithful workmen
Who perform their Master’s will:
Then, O Christians! will ye weary
Of this planting hill by hill?
—A. T. Allis.