Why Did They Go to Church?

Lyman Beecher Stowe, in "Saints, Sinners, and Beechers," tells of one occasion when Thomas K. Beecher substituted for his famous brother, Henry Ward Beecher, at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn.

Many curiosity seekers came to see & hear Henry Ward Beecher. Upon Thomas K. Beecher's appearance in the pulpit the sightseers started for the doors. Thomas K. raised his hand for attention, and made this announcement:

"All those who came here this morning to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church; all who came to worship God may remain."

- Christian Beacon. (moreillustrations.com)

“To have a faith, therefore, or a trust in any thing, where God hath not promised, is plain idolatry, and a worshipping of thine own imagination instead of God.” -  William Tyndale

Ps 118:8 (GNV): “It is better to trust in the Lord, than to have confidence in man.”

CONSCIENCE

The deputies of a great metropolis in Germany, once offered the great Turenne one hundred thousand crowns not to pass with his army through their city. 

 

"Gentlemen," said he, "I cannot in conscience accept your money, as I had no intention to pass that way."

- (moreillustrations.com)

“Good conscience is sometimes sold for money, but never bought with it.” -  James H. Aughey.

1 Tim 1:19 (NLT): “Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.”

“Conscience is the voice of God in the soul.” -  James H. Aughey.

‘BUT’

"But" is a little word, but my, what a big word it is!

Some years ago, when Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes of the United States Supreme Court was the United States delegate to the Pan-American conference at Havana,  an interpreter was whispering into Mr. Hughes' ear the flowery introduction by a local orator.

Mr. Hughes stopped his aide, saying:

"Don't bother about interpreting anything until he says `but.' Give me everything after that."

- Buffalo Evening News. (moreillustrations.com)

Rev 2:3-4 (GNT): “You are patient, you have suffered for my sake, and you have not given up. BUT this is what I have against you: you do not love me now as you did at first.”

Pro 12:1 (ERV): “Fools always think their own way is best, BUT wise people listen to what others tell them.”

“A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, BUT a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.” -  A.W. Tozer.

DEATH

One of the finest passages in English poetry are the lines in Byron's "Cain" where he describes Cain standing over the body of the murdered Abel, astonished at death, then new in the world & now so old.

The old, old fashion -  and yet something which comes with new wonder & shock to the men of each new generation.

Death in some other city, or in some other house down the street, is one thing; but when death invades our own house & family we are forced to look on it with the same awe & surprise & wonder which Byron so splendidly imagines in the mind of Cain.

- (moreillustrations.com)

“Through the death of Christ on the cross making atonement for sin, we get a perfect standing before God. That is justification, and it puts us, in God's sight, back in Eden before sin entered. God looks upon us and treats us as if we had never sinned.” -  A.C. Dixon.

Lord Jesus said: “I am telling you the truth: whoever obeys my teaching will never die.” (Jn 8:51 GNT)

“When the time comes for you to die, you need not be afraid, because death cannot separate you from God's love.” -  Charles Spurgeon.

THE BLOOD

A Presbyterian minister in Ireland told of an incident which took place at an after meeting in his church at Belfast. It was during the days of the strife between Catholics & Protestants, when murder & outrage were everyday & commonplace facts.

A young man came into the inquiry room, where faithful Christians talked with him & prayed with him. But no one was able to do anything or say anything which helped him or relieved him of the distress under which he was laboring.

Then this minister was called in to see him. He told him to put his trust in Christ for forgiveness.

"But how can I," he said - "one who has shot down nine persons in cold blood?"

Then there came to the mind of the minister that great verse of John's: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1:7).

This was the word that the young man's troubled soul was waiting to hear & casting himself on the mercy of Christ, he found peace.

- (moreillustrations.com)

“The most solemn truth in the gospel is that the only thing Christ left down here is His blood.” -  D.L. Moody.

“If not washed in Christ's blood and clothed in his righteousness, no heaven for you, no heaven for me.” -  William Tiptaft.

POLITICS

"Many a man," remarked the milk toast philosopher, "has gone into politics with a fine future, and come out with a terrible past." Lord Dufferin delivered an address before the Greek class of the McGill University about which a reporter wrote:
 
"His lordship spoke to the class in the purest ancient Greek, without mispronouncing a word or making the slightest grammatical solecism."
 
"Good heavens!" remarked Sir Hector Langevin to the late Sir John A. Macdonald, "how did the reporter know that!"
 
"I told him," was the Conservative statesman's answer.
 
"But you don't know Greek."
 
"True; but I know a little about politics."
 
- moreillustrations.com)
 
“The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.” -  Jerry Falwell.
 
Rom 13:6 (ICB): “And this is also why you pay taxes. Rulers are working for God and give their time to their work.”

GOAL

The heavenly lanes are open to airplane travel in every direction.

Like wise the lanes of life are wide open to him who would attain unto the highest life, for we are called, as Paul so splendidly puts it, unto nothing less than "glory and honor and immortality" (Rom. 2:7), or again, "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13).

How faithful are you to your goal? Is your motto that of Paul, "This one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.” (Phil. 3:13)?

- (moreillustrations.com)

“God's ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants you to grow up spiritually and become like Christ.” -  Rick Warren.

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” -  Zig Ziglar.