00:00:00.000 - 00:00:16.480

[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:16.480 - 00:01:15.480

[MUSIC] [ Music ] A pilgrim was I and a wandering In the cold night of sin I did roam

00:01:15.480 - 00:02:33.180

♪ When Jesus, the kind shepherd, found me ♪ ♪ And now I am on my way home ♪ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me over days, over days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days,

00:02:33.180 - 00:03:25.020

All the days of my life. He restoreth my soul when I'm weary. He giveth me grace day by day. He leads me beside the still waters.

00:03:30.520 - 00:04:01.240

♪ And guards me each step of the way ♪ ♪ Surely goodness and mercy ♪ ♪ Shall follow me ♪ ♪ For me ♪

00:04:01.240 - 00:04:25.860

♪ All the days ♪ ♪ All the days of my life ♪ ♪ Surely goodness and mercy ♪ ♪ Shall follow ♪

00:04:25.860 - 00:04:51.060

♪ Follow me ♪ ♪ All the days ♪ ♪ All the days of my life ♪ ♪ And I shall drive ♪

00:04:51.140 - 00:05:13.620

♪ I have sung alone ♪ ♪ Forever a nation ♪ ♪ First at the table ♪ ♪ Spread for me ♪

00:05:18.240 - 00:05:43.260

♪ Surely goodness and mercy ♪ ♪ Shall follow me ♪ ♪ All the days ♪ ♪ All the days of my life ♪

00:05:43.260 - 00:06:09.780

♪ Of my life ♪ ♪ And I shall dwell ♪ ♪ In the house of the Lord ♪ ♪ Forever ♪

00:06:09.780 - 00:06:37.040

♪ And I shall fast ♪ ♪ When the table ♪ ♪ Spread for me ♪ ♪ Surely goodness ♪

00:06:38.180 - 00:07:11.820

♪ And mercy shall follow me ♪ ♪ All the days ♪ ♪ All the days of my life ♪ [MUSIC]

00:07:11.820 - 00:07:32.500

Thank you, Pastor. It's good to be with you today. That's more than just a figure of speech. been wanting to be with you a long time to thank you for what you mean not only

00:07:32.500 - 00:07:56.460

to Baptists but to citizens of all sorts in the state of Texas for your patience, your support, your prayers, your giving, your lending Marvin Griffin to Texans and to others as your pastor because from this platform, from this base of prayer support and giving support and warmth of fellowship that keeps him

00:07:56.460 - 00:08:16.620

going. His service on the board of Texas Southern University and the school board here in Austin and on the Christian Life Commission which he just described a while ago. He's one of my bosses. He's on my board of 15 members and has been for the last nearly six years now. He was our vice chairman last

00:08:16.620 - 00:08:38.940

year of the Christian Life Commission. The ministry of Ebenezer Baptist Church is extended in ways that it literally could not be extended if you did not give him the prayers, the fellowship, the warmth, the support, the sustenance of all sorts that you do to the patience to let him be gone so much. I don't know how

00:08:38.940 - 00:09:03.460

anybody puts up with a guy running around all over the country as much as this one does, but you're bound to be a wonderful, patient, long-suffering people and we're grateful to you because in all that long suffering Marvin's contribution, Marvin Griffin has meant a great deal to a great many people over a

00:09:03.460 - 00:09:26.460

long period of time with his calm judgment and his forward-looking decision-making that somehow still doesn't ruffle the waters all the time and we're grateful to you for loaning him to us. I'm also glad to be here when the pastor is in because most often it's the role of the denominational worker to

00:09:26.460 - 00:09:48.520

be the visiting fireman and to come in and go out and never see the pastor and never have any time with him and so it's a signal honor to be privileged to be in Ebenezer Church today when the pastor is here and I'm especially appreciative of that, Brother Griffin. If you have your Bibles would you turn with me to the

00:09:48.520 - 00:10:09.620

twelfth chapter of Mark and I want us to look with a fresh look at an old passage of Scripture that we're very familiar with. Mark 12 verse 28 and following. Mark 12 verses 28 and following. We did not plan this. If it were planned, the Lord planned it. It's the New Testament parallel of the passage that was printed

00:10:09.620 - 00:10:30.700

in the bulletin and when your bulletin was printed your pastor didn't know that this was my text for this morning. Mark 12 28 and following and one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he'd answered them well asked him which is the first commandment of all and

00:10:30.700 - 00:10:53.060

Jesus answered him the first of all the commandments is and then he quotes the passage from Deuteronomy 6 known as the Shema. "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength." This is the first

00:10:53.060 - 00:11:19.000

commandment. And the second is like, namely this, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There's none other commandment greater than these." A Presbyterian preacher-poet Henry Van Dyck a long time ago inspired by this verse, penned by these verses here, penned a little poem that I had to

00:11:19.000 - 00:11:40.980

memorize when I was in junior high and if you remember your junior high school days you don't appreciate having to memorize poetry then, but as you look back on it years later sometimes it catches on a long time after you had to forcibly memorize it in order to spew it back for a grade. Henry Van Dyke's little

00:11:40.980 - 00:12:13.180

poem is simple but profound. Four things a man must learn to do if he'd make his record true. To think without confusion clearly. To love his fellow man sincerely. to act from honest motives purely, to trust in God and heaven securely. And he parallels the emphasis that Jesus made in Mark 12 28 and following when he said

00:12:13.180 - 00:12:47.860

"Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind and soul and strength." Van Dyck picks up on the four ideas, this Presbyterian preacher. I don't think Jesus was trying to do a sort of first century psychoanalysis of the aspects of human nature. I don't believe he was trying to say to us, man is heart or emotion and mind or intellect and soul or spirit and strength or volitional or active dimension.

00:12:47.860 - 00:13:04.380

I don't think that's what he was trying to say so much as he was saying simply What God wants of us is love But it's love that comes from all of our being all that we are

00:13:04.380 - 00:13:22.580

He asked of us He asked that we return to him every dimension of our personality. I Believe that van Dyck had caught it right when he said Four things a man must learn to do if he is make his record true to think without confusion clearly

00:13:22.580 - 00:13:40.940

Love the Lord thy God with all by mine Somehow there have been times when we've acted as if It were more Christian just to throw our mind out of gear and get shoved around in holy neutral But that's not so

00:13:40.940 - 00:14:02.480

He expects us to give our mind our intellect to him to do the best we can with whatever mind He's given us the New Testament has a good deal to say about how we use our mind In the first chapter of James it indicates that God expects us to be single-minded That he does not want us to be

00:14:02.480 - 00:14:19.060

Indecisive or double-minded never certain of where we're going In fact, James one makes it clear that the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways tossed about like a chip of wood on a seed uncertain and unsure

00:14:19.060 - 00:14:46.060

He expects us to be single-minded. In other words, he expects us to know where we're going and why He asked of us that we have some single-mindedness in the direction of life. I I know I'm reminded sometimes when I'm indecisive of the woman who went to see the psychiatrist because she needed help and He said do you have trouble making decisions making up your mind about things and she said well

00:14:46.060 - 00:15:05.560

Yes, and no and That's kind of where I am sometimes in my double-mindedness and most of us tend to have that trouble at least at times But God expects a certain single-mindedness because our commitment to him gives us direction he expects us kind of pure mindedness a

00:15:05.560 - 00:15:25.820

Pure mindedness that is that which is spoken of in Philippians 4 Where we're reminded that whatsoever things are just or lovely or pure or a good report We're to think on those things. He expects a pure mindedness from us He expects a certain kind of open mindedness from us and I Marvin

00:15:25.820 - 00:15:51.100

Your pastor brother Griffin didn't know that I was going to quote this passage either as he cited the passage from Matthew 19 a few Moments ago when he said suffer the little children to come under me for of such is the kingdom of heaven What was it about the little child and the little child's attitude that so attracted Jesus to them and attracted them to Jesus? It was that innocence of open-mindedness

00:15:51.980 - 00:16:11.580

That readiness to ask wine to be taught that teachable ness that readiness to learn That's the stuff of the kingdom of heaven That kind of pure mindedness is the very essence of what it takes for us to enter into the spirit of Jesus Christ Because it's only when we come to him

00:16:11.580 - 00:16:27.820

open-minded Willing to be taught ready to learn that he can teach us anything The Bible has a good deal to say about how we use our minds He expects us God expects us to use our minds for him to dedicate whatever intellect we have to him

00:16:27.820 - 00:16:40.620

Love the Lord thy God with all thy mind the first To think without confusion Clearly, I don't know. We have some evidence today brother Griffin that in the United States of America

00:16:40.620 - 00:16:57.100

Christian people are not using their minds like they could and should when When the statistical averages for the nation as a whole include half of Americans who call themselves Christians Do you know that the average American last year?

00:16:57.100 - 00:17:12.100

That average American read one book one book Why if we had the capacity to take our mind out and play with it, apparently we would Because we read one book last year

00:17:12.380 - 00:17:36.980

But the same statistics about the average American and how we use our minds Indicates that we watched 30 hours of television the average American. I know that's all right in football season But with just the ordinary run-of-the-mill stuff like soap operas, you know That couldn't be I hear some hissing from some corners when I talk about soap

00:17:36.980 - 00:17:56.040

That couldn't be all right for us to watch the bland Mindless junk that is most of television for 30 hours a week and yet the average American did that last year We've got it backwards One Christian of 200 years ago said yes God expects us to be

00:17:56.040 - 00:18:12.660

Tenderhearted yes, but tough minded Tough-minded we've got it backwards Because too many times we're tough-hearted and tender headed [audience laughter]

00:18:12.660 - 00:18:31.100

"Love the Lord thy God with all thy mind" indicates to me simply that he expects us to be good stewards, good managers of whatever brain power he's given us, and that means getting into his Word. That means being single-minded in that we know where we're going. That means being pure-minded,

00:18:31.100 - 00:18:47.020

and that's not easy in a world that bombards us with sex and violence. That means being Dedicated to him with a kind of open-mindedness that is ready to learn Love the Lord thy God with all thy mind

00:18:47.020 - 00:19:05.620

for things to think without confusion clearly To love one's fellow man sincerely in the second One of those commandments that Jesus mentioned likened to the first and that it's a love commandment likened to the first and that it's a that it's a commandment of importance and significance

00:19:06.300 - 00:19:24.660

likened to the first in that it demands our all is that we love our neighbors as ourselves totally and wholly For things a man must learn to do if he'd make his record true to think without confusion clearly to love one's fellow man sincerely

00:19:24.660 - 00:19:42.540

You know, it's it's possible to have a mind Christianity in which we're simply on a head trip as the young people say today We're on a head trip and never really put our heart into our faith One of the great joys of being with you today is the obvious

00:19:42.540 - 00:20:02.580

warmth of your involvement in the music in the prayer and the work of this church and In our church life as well as in our personal life It's not enough just to put our head into our faith to think without confusion clearly, God asked of us that we give him our emotions, that we give him our lives,

00:20:02.580 - 00:20:31.940

in our loving as well, that we be good lovers for God and lovers of God. Someone, it was Reinhold Niebuhr, I think, Dr. Griffin, who said, I think he was right, that Germany going into World War II had more education per square head than any other country in the history of the world. You know we're

00:20:31.940 - 00:20:49.900

still learning from the Barts and the Bruners and the Bonhoeffers and the Moltmanns and the Tillichs that were the great religious leaders of the day in Germany. We're still learning and Werner von Braun who is the pioneer in our missile program and our rocket program learned his

00:20:49.900 - 00:21:03.980

science in Germany before World War II. We're still learning in this great land of America from the pre-World War II Germans. They had the mind and they had the religion. Statistically, they were more Christian than America is today

00:21:03.980 - 00:21:16.980

in terms of church members. And yet, how could a country like that plunge the world into World War II? Because it was, in fact, education per square head.

00:21:16.980 - 00:21:30.860

It was education without a heart. It was a head religion. It was a head intelligence that lacked heart and feeling. And so indeed, Germany could do that.

00:21:30.860 - 00:21:43.840

It was Colin Morris, the great Methodist preacher in Africa today, who's been exiled because of his championing of a holistic religion that takes in all of mankind.

00:21:43.840 - 00:22:04.100

It was Colin Morris who said, "Too often we've been scratching our heads when we should have been clutching our belly. Too often we've been proud of thinking straight when what we needed to do was to feel deep instead of simply think straight. I don't know what

00:22:04.100 - 00:22:31.340

it means to you to get your heart and gear with your head to love one's fellow man sincerely, but I think of this passage in the book of James when I I think of that. The passage in beginning in James 2 15, "If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace

00:22:31.340 - 00:23:04.280

be warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone." It's entirely possible for us to claim that we know Christ, to have even a kind of faith relationship with God, a sort of faith, to trust him,

00:23:04.280 - 00:23:28.880

at least in a way, and not translate that into genuine emotion. "Be warmed and filled" is not good enough. You know, one of the great theological commentators of today, at least at times, is to be found not in the great heavy books of commentaries, but on the funny page. The man named Charles Shultz, who is a

00:23:28.880 - 00:23:42.180

Christian that draws peanuts every once in a while, makes a very pointed Christian truth in his Peanuts cartoon. And I remember one time, you read the little cartoon Peanuts, don't you, at least occasionally, do you see it?

00:23:42.180 - 00:23:53.660

I remember one time Charlie Brown and Linus were coming through the snow and there was Snoopy shivering in the snow. Now Charlie Brown had on a nice little warm cap

00:23:53.660 - 00:24:16.560

and mittens and a muffler and big boots and an overcoat. And Linus following along behind him was also warmly dressed. And they say to Snoopy, "Snoopy, be warmed and filled. Be of good cheer." And then Linus echoes like Charlie Brown, because that's what Linus always does. He just kind of echoes.

00:24:16.560 - 00:24:40.480

He said, "Yes, be of good cheer." Then they walk on off in the snow and they're still dressed up nice and warm and Snoopy's still shivering. But now there's a great big question mark over Snoopy's head. I thought of this passage of Scripture because that's exactly, precisely what Charles Hughes was illustrating that passage from James 2.

00:24:40.480 - 00:25:01.720

I'm afraid that we, just like Linus and Charlie Brown, leave the world wondering about our faith a lot of times, leave the world with a great big question mark over their head. If we could take a snapshot and see what they were thinking we'd see a great big question mark because we say be warmed and filled Jesus saves Christ is the answer come to the Lord and

00:25:01.720 - 00:25:20.320

Don't do a thing in the world to demonstrate that we love the Lord thy God with all our heart That we love our fellow man sincerely So it's not enough just to love him with our heads. We have to love him with our hearts, but that's still not enough

00:25:21.440 - 00:25:44.360

Four things a man must learn to do if he'd make his record true to think without confusion clearly. That's right to love one's fellow man sincerely But to act from honest motives purely The scripture says love the Lord thy God with all thy strength or the Old Testament translation is with all thy might

00:25:44.360 - 00:26:09.360

And it indicates that somewhere along the line. We've got to put our bodies on the line for him We've got to put our hands, as well as our heads and our hearts, we've got to put our hands into the task of doing what it would he'd have us, what it is he would have us to do. I grew up in a big old poor church, a people's church. It's

00:26:09.360 - 00:26:31.800

now the building in which I worshipped as a child growing up is now the Greater Mount Gilead Church on Evans Avenue in Fort Worth. I grew up in that church and it was we had a good crowd a good bunch of folks and a good spirit but we weren't doing what we ought to do about winning others to Jesus Christ we

00:26:31.800 - 00:26:48.100

had come and sit in church and go through a week without ever telling anyone about Jesus we weren't doing what we ought to do about giving the church budget was just struggling and faltering because dozens of us in that church We're not really giving as we could have.

00:26:48.100 - 00:27:02.840

Oh, some of us said we tithed, but maybe we didn't really. I was just a teenager, and I remember the uncomfortable time in that church when we were just kind of on a plateau. Have you seen churches that just kind of, eh, level off and are not going anywhere at

00:27:02.840 - 00:27:15.840

all and sort of just kind of rock along? Well, that's the way we were doing. We couldn't even get Sunday school teachers and workers for all the classes. And we didn't have any real witnessing, and we didn't have what we ought to be doing about

00:27:15.840 - 00:27:35.760

the budget and my pastor was just pouring his heart out. Dr. Woody Phelps, he was a great guy, but he had low blood pressure. What does that have to do with it? Well, he had low blood pressure. When his blood pressure would go down, his irritability quotient would go up. And the more down his blood pressure was, the

00:27:35.760 - 00:27:54.520

more irritable he was. And I don't know if that's the way blood pressure, low blood pressure always works, but it's the way it worked with Dr. Phelps. And one Sunday particularly he just preached his heart out. He'd given everything and you knew by sitting there in the pew that the Lord was in that place and that the

00:27:54.520 - 00:28:18.200

Lord had laid that message on his heart. It was one of those Sundays when anyone no matter how cold or falling away from the church you were you could feel the Spirit of God in that worship service and yet when it came the time of invitation, nothing, nothing. Just a terrible tension. He'd spoken to us the

00:28:18.200 - 00:28:39.160

Word of the Lord and we knew it, but we didn't respond. There was no movement. It was kind of sad when the invitation closed. And as we went out that day, he did what I suppose every Baptist pastor has one time or another wanted to do, but never been quite brave enough and his blood pressure was just low enough that

00:28:39.160 - 00:29:00.720

he didn't care, you know, he just didn't care at all. And so as we went out that day, you know, you shake the preacher, the preacher shakes the congregation out on Sunday. I guess you do that here, I don't know. We always do with someone at the back door. You shake them out and there's a sort of awkward moment there.

00:29:00.720 - 00:29:10.820

You want to say something, but you don't know exactly what to say. Preacher, you sure told them this morning. You really did. They needed that today, Preacher.

00:29:10.820 - 00:29:24.920

You know, you don't know exactly. There's a little tension sometimes, and after that sermon, there was a lot of tension. And he made it worse. Every person as they came by, I remember because I was one of his victims,

00:29:24.920 - 00:29:44.640

every person as they came by, he grasped their hand firmly and said, Whatever we said, that was a good sermon, thank you pastor, good message, fine, you know, whatever they said, he grasped each hand firmly and said, "All right, what are you gonna do about it? All right, what are you gonna do about it?" And he didn't

00:29:44.640 - 00:29:57.100

wait for any comments or any answers, he reached for the next hand. "All right, what are you gonna, all right, what are you gonna do about it?" Looked us in the eye straight as an arrow and said, "All right, what are you gonna do about it?" Now, I'm not recommending that, Marvin.

00:29:57.100 - 00:30:08.140

(audience laughing) Some might say, "I'm gonna go over and join another church." I'm not recommending it, but I believe that at least that morning,

00:30:08.140 - 00:30:19.760

Dr. Phelps illustrated the very point that Jesus was talking about when he said, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy strength," that it's exactly what Henry Van Dyck was picking up on

00:30:19.760 - 00:30:33.040

in his little poem built on this passage of scripture where he said, "Act from honest motives purely," that it could be appropriately emblazoned on a plaque over the back door of every Baptist church

00:30:33.040 - 00:30:47.120

as we go out that would say, "All right, what are you going to do about it?" The Quakers have that kind of little meeting house greeting and blessing as they come and go to church.

00:30:47.120 - 00:31:00.260

As you go into a Quaker meeting house, over the entrance, There are these words that say, "Enter to worship." But as you go out over that same doorpost,

00:31:00.260 - 00:31:11.940

there are these other words that say, "Depart to serve." "Enter to worship." "Depart to serve." All right, what are we going to do about it?

00:31:11.940 - 00:31:24.340

That could be asked at the close of every sermon, appropriately, if it is a sermon from God's Word. What are we going to do about it? Four things a man must learn to do

00:31:24.340 - 00:31:35.960

if he'd make his record true. To think without confusion clearly. To love his fellow man sincerely. To act from honest motives purely.

00:31:35.960 - 00:31:48.260

Bonhoeffer, commenting on James 1.22 said, and that's that passage that all of us know, "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only." Thereby deceiving yourselves

00:31:48.260 - 00:32:01.080

And commenting on that passage, Bonhoeffer said, "No man can possess the Word of God for a single instant "other than in the doing of it." Other than in the doing of it,

00:32:01.080 - 00:32:15.920

to act from honest motives purely. But finally, to trust in God and heaven securely. "Love the Lord thy God with all thy soul." I don't understand that word soul.

00:32:15.920 - 00:32:33.640

It's used in different ways in different parts of the scripture. And there were among them 120 souls. And there it's apparently just numbering. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

00:32:33.640 - 00:32:49.860

And there it's apparently talking about the inner person, the real inner person, that part of one who can live beyond this world. And it's used in different ways, and I don't understand all of the scripture about the word soul,

00:32:49.860 - 00:33:16.840

but I understand it to mean that inner, spiritual, true nature of any person that goes on beyond this life. That inner, spiritual, true nature of any person that is the real you, not just the body or the looks or the money or the status or the reputation or what others think about you. It's the real you, the real inner you.

00:33:16.840 - 00:33:38.160

Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind and soul and strength. I believe he expects us to give him our heads, to get into God's Word and to study it and to study everything we can, as Barth said, with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, to know about the world.

00:33:38.160 - 00:33:49.460

I believe he expects us to love him with all our hearts, compassionately caring for others, and love others as we love ourselves. I believe he expects us to love him with all our hands,

00:33:49.460 - 00:34:00.840

to put to work our faith, because we don't really possess his word until we act on it. But I believe he expects us first and last

00:34:00.840 - 00:34:18.300

to love him with all our soul, to throw ourselves on him. Let me give you an illustration from mission history. One of our early Baptist missionaries to Burma was trying to translate the scripture for

00:34:18.300 - 00:34:46.820

the very first time from a very difficult Burmese dialect into English. That Burmese dialect had never been reduced to writing. he was actually writing out words in that dialect for the first time as he translated it into scripture. And he came to a very tough spot. He could not find a

00:34:46.820 - 00:35:12.500

word for "believe." They didn't have such a word. He could not find a word for "faith," to have faith. He could not find a word for "trust," to believe, to trust, to have faith. There was simply no such word and he searched and he asked questions and he tried to describe to the people in their spoken but not written language

00:35:12.500 - 00:35:34.020

what the word was he was looking for and they couldn't come up with a word for him. Well imagine translating the New Testament without a word for believe, have faith, trust. As often as that idea occurs in God's Word, he couldn't do it. And he was despairing and he prayed and he asked the Lord for

00:35:34.020 - 00:35:56.900

leadership and still no help came. And he was about to give up the difficult task of trying to communicate to a bunch of people in Burma the love of God when God expects us to believe in him, to trust him, to have faith in him, and they didn't even have the concept in their mind. The idea was foreign to him and

00:35:56.900 - 00:36:08.140

And finally one day a runner came in. A runner came in and just threw himself on a cot. He had run a great distance with a message and he was completely exhausted.

00:36:08.140 - 00:36:19.800

You've been there and I've been there. We're out of play, boys and girls, or work, adults. You have just been so exhausted that you just literally took a flying leap.

00:36:19.800 - 00:36:30.260

You just literally collapsed, physically spent. Maybe yesterday, Lois, working in the yard. I don't know. I've worked in the yard that hard.

00:36:30.260 - 00:36:39.860

But I remember when I was a little boy growing up, Dad was a milkman and we'd get up at 4.30 in the morning and be on the job at five and get in about five in the afternoon.

00:36:39.860 - 00:36:51.180

I was carrying those old milk cases full of 12 of those bottles that the children here can't even remember that look like bowling pins, you know? All day long, carrying those things.

00:36:51.180 - 00:37:05.740

And I'd come in and I'd just collapse, and just fall asleep instantly on the floor, on the bed, on the couch, anywhere. Completely exhausted. That was the way the runner was who came in with the message to this missionary's office

00:37:05.740 - 00:37:17.240

and he just collapsed. But before he went to sleep, the missionary said, "What did you do? What did you just do?" And he gave him some unpronounceable Burmese word, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know.

00:37:17.240 - 00:37:31.820

I don't know. I wouldn't try to pronounce it or remember it. that meant I just threw my whole weight. And the missionary saw in that idea the closest thing to the New Testament word

00:37:31.820 - 00:37:55.140

for believe, have faith, trust, and he lifted that Burmese word out of their language and put it into the New Testament as he translated it into the New Testament so they'd have scriptures. Let's just do it together right now. You know, all of us, even the primaries and the beginners know John 3:16, but

00:37:55.140 - 00:38:30.040

where it says, "Believe in John that whosoever believeth," let's substitute the phrase, "throws his whole weight." Got it? Throws his whole weight. All right. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever throws his whole weight on him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's not bad,

00:38:30.040 - 00:38:51.200

is it? I believe that's what the scripture is talking about where it says "Love the Lord thy God with all thy soul." Throw your whole weight on him. I believe it was what Henry Van Dyke understood

00:38:51.200 - 00:39:05.200

when he said, "Four things a man must learn to do if he'd make his record true. To think without confusion, clearly. To love his fellow man sincerely.

00:39:05.200 - 00:39:33.640

to act from honest motives purely, to trust in God and heaven securely, would you throw your whole weight on him? Would you come today at this time of invitation as we stand and sing in a moment and the pastor is here to receive any who've never trusted Jesus as Savior to welcome those who had come to join

00:39:33.640 - 00:39:54.960

in this church to counsel with those who need help, who have a problem, who want to turn to God today, to try God, as Ebenezer's slogan says, to find help in him. Would you throw your whole weight upon him?

00:39:54.960 - 00:40:04.240

As we stand, as we sing, would you come? [applause] Pass me not, O gentle Satan. [applause]

00:40:04.240 - 00:40:36.220

Hymn number 219 [music] [ Silence ]