PERSONAL,VALUE,
CONTENTS
I. Our Future Home the Place Where He Is 7
II. This Earth-Life Our Preparation for Being Where He Is 15
III. The Personal Value of Being Where He Is . . .29
IV. Life Consummated in Being Where He Is 37
I. Our Future Home the Place
Where He Is 7
II. This Earth-Life Our Preparation for Being Where He Is 15
III. The Personal Value of Being Where He Is . . .29
IV. Life Consummated in Being Where He Is 37
IT is frequently related of Moses that he
went up from the plain on which the
thousands of Israel were assembled and
hid himself in the solitudes of Mount Sinai.
Down below, he had on his shoulders the bur
den of a nation; to him every dispute which
might occur in the utmost corner of the camp
was brought ; and he was fretted with a thou
sand cares. But the weight lifted off him as he
climbed the steep and got out of sight ; peace
came to him in the lofty valleys where no
human eye followed him; and there he held
communion with God.
1. ALONE IN PARADISE Based on Gen. 2:18
2. THE CELEBRATION OF LOVE Based on Gen. 29:1-30
3. INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE based on Num. 12
4. RUTH'S ROMANCE Based on Ruth 2:1f
5. THE CLEVER COUPLE Based on Ruth 3:1-4, 4:1-10
6. THE POWER OF BEAUTY Based on Esther 2:5-18
7. PRAISE AND ROMANCE Based on Prov. 31:10-31
8. THE PRAISES OF LOVE Based on Song of Songs
9. THE FRAGRANCE OF LOVE Based on Song of Songs 1:1-17
10. ROMANTIC AND RELIGIOUS FRAGRANCE Based on Song of Songs 1:3
11. ROMANTIC AND RELIGIOUS LOVE Based on Song of Songs 1:1f
12. ROMANTIC AND RELIGIOUS KISSES Based on Song of Songs 1:2
13. LOVE AND LUST Based on Song of Songs 1:4
14. WHAT IS BEAUTY Based on Song of Songs 1:15-16
15. ROMANTIC AND RELIGIOUS ROSES Based on Song of Songs 2:1
16. SEX AND THE CHURCH based on I Cor. 7:1-6
17. THE GIFT OF MARRIAGE Based on I Cor. 7:1-7
18. THE SINGLE SAINT Based on I Cor. 7:1-7
19. HOW TO LOVE YOUR WIFE Based on Eph. 5:22-33
20. MAKING MARRIAGE MARVELOUS Based on I Pet. 3:1-7
21. HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL HUSBAND Based on I Pet. 3:7
The Comfort of God's Omnipresence
" If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utter-
most parts of the sea : even there Thy right hand shall hold
me." — Psalm cxxxix. 9, 10.
I. Making Ready for Life
II. Character Building
III. Growing like Christ
IV. Ministering by the Way
V. Serving the Lord
VI. Ourselves and Others
VII. Helping by Unselfishness
VIII. Home Lessons
IX. Life among the Lowly
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.
I. Our Future Home the Place
Where He Is 7
II. This Earth-Life Our Preparation for Being Where He Is 15
III. The Personal Value of Being Where He Is . . .29
IV. Life Consummated in Being Where He Is 37
IT is frequently related of Moses that he
went up from the plain on which the
thousands of Israel were assembled and
hid himself in the solitudes of Mount Sinai.
Down below, he had on his shoulders the bur
den of a nation; to him every dispute which
might occur in the utmost corner of the camp
was brought ; and he was fretted with a thou
sand cares. But the weight lifted off him as he
climbed the steep and got out of sight ; peace
came to him in the lofty valleys where no
human eye followed him; and there he held
communion with God.
1. ALONE IN PARADISE Based on Gen. 2:18
2. THE CELEBRATION OF LOVE Based on Gen. 29:1-30
3. INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE based on Num. 12
4. RUTH'S ROMANCE Based on Ruth 2:1f
5. THE CLEVER COUPLE Based on Ruth 3:1-4, 4:1-10
6. THE POWER OF BEAUTY Based on Esther 2:5-18
7. PRAISE AND ROMANCE Based on Prov. 31:10-31
8. THE PRAISES OF LOVE Based on Song of Songs
9. THE FRAGRANCE OF LOVE Based on Song of Songs 1:1-17
10. ROMANTIC AND RELIGIOUS FRAGRANCE Based on Song of Songs 1:3
11. ROMANTIC AND RELIGIOUS LOVE Based on Song of Songs 1:1f
12. ROMANTIC AND RELIGIOUS KISSES Based on Song of Songs 1:2
13. LOVE AND LUST Based on Song of Songs 1:4
14. WHAT IS BEAUTY Based on Song of Songs 1:15-16
15. ROMANTIC AND RELIGIOUS ROSES Based on Song of Songs 2:1
16. SEX AND THE CHURCH based on I Cor. 7:1-6
17. THE GIFT OF MARRIAGE Based on I Cor. 7:1-7
18. THE SINGLE SAINT Based on I Cor. 7:1-7
19. HOW TO LOVE YOUR WIFE Based on Eph. 5:22-33
20. MAKING MARRIAGE MARVELOUS Based on I Pet. 3:1-7
21. HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL HUSBAND Based on I Pet. 3:7
The Comfort of God's Omnipresence
" If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utter-
most parts of the sea : even there Thy right hand shall hold
me." — Psalm cxxxix. 9, 10.
I. Making Ready for Life
II. Character Building
III. Growing like Christ
IV. Ministering by the Way
V. Serving the Lord
VI. Ourselves and Others
VII. Helping by Unselfishness
VIII. Home Lessons
IX. Life among the Lowly
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.
Why Would a Cosmologist Care about UFOs?
By Dr. John G. Hartnett, who received his Ph.D. in physics, with distinction, from the
University of Western Australia, where he currently teaches and is a research fellow. At the time
of writing, he is a collaborator in developing ultra-precise technology for atomic clocks that will
be used on board the International Space Station. His other research includes ultra–low-noise
radar; tests of fundamental theories of physics, such as general relativity; and measurement of
drift in fundamental constants and their cosmological implications. He has published more than
40 papers in scientific journals and holds two patents.
THE BATTLE THAT RAGES FOR YOUR MIND
WAKE UP WARNING 2019
Message by Pastor Carter Conlon,
Spoken on March 8, 2015
Spoken at Times Square Church, New York City
Publshed on YouTube January 2019
Transcribed by James E. Barbush
"I want to talk to you this morning about THE BATTLE THAT RAGES FOR YOUR MIND. And you have to be aware that Satan is coming against this generation in an unprecedented measure.
He is attacking this generation to take the thoughts of God out of the minds of an entire society.
He's doing it through the school system.
He's doing it in our colleges.
He's doing it in the marketplace.
He's doing it in the halls of government.
And he's even doing it in the house of God.
Trying to eradicate everything that comes from the mind of God, to blind an entire generation, to take captives, as many as he can, for the scripture says, he knows that his time is short.
CHRISTIAN SUPERNATURAL TEACHINGS, BIBLE CLASS LESSONS, GOSPELS BY LEADER OLUMBA OLUMBA OBU, THE SUPERNATURAL TEACHER AND SOLE SPIRITUAL HEAD, BROTHERHOOD OF THE CROSS AND STAR
Commentators have been at a loss for words to praise the worth of this chapter. Almost every sentence is filled with essential doctrine. A. T. Pierson wrote, “This eighth chapter of Romans is one of the mountaintops of the New Testament. It is the grandest thing Paul ever wrote, and if he had written nothing else, he has here given us a continent of thought, broad as the grace of God; and we might spend eternity in exploring it and still feel that we had touched but the borders of this wondrous theme.”
I. Death, the Ceaseless Tragedy of Life 11
II. Those in Touch of Heart with
God Who Have Died — What Can
We Know Certainly About Them? ..^ 17
III. The Others Who Have Died —
What Can We Know Certainly
About Them? .... 93
IV. Can We Have Communication With the Dead? .... 124
The purpose of this work is to save Bible students the enormous amount of time to research all of these resources. I have brought them together in one place for a
quick grasp of what each proverb is saying. You will note that some commentators are using an old translation, and it does not seem like the same proverb we are dealing with in the NIV.
In not a few respects Job is the most remarkable
book either in the Bible or out of it. Looked at
merely as an effort of genius, apart altogether from
inspiration, it is allowed by the best judges to have
no equal in the profundity of its ideas, the sublimity
of its imagery, or the abundance and variety of the
materials which it has built' up into a perfect whole.
" It will one day perhaps," says a secular writer,
" when it is allowed to stand on its own merit, be
seen towering up alone, far away above all the poetry
of the world."
In Darkness 25
The Light-Bringer 41
The First-Fruits of Them that Slept 55
God Shall Give It a Body ... 69
How Shall We Think of the Dead ? 79
The Practice of Immortality . . 97
Picture-Teaching 109
I. About Our Lord Jesus 9
1. A Brief Continuous Biography . • ii
2. His Return, — The Centre and Climax
of All His Plannings • . • i6
n. On the Knees, with the Book, Finding out
Just What It Teaches About His Return . 19
Why Would a Cosmologist Care about UFOs?
By Dr. John G. Hartnett, who received his Ph.D. in physics, with distinction, from the
University of Western Australia, where he currently teaches and is a research fellow. At the time
of writing, he is a collaborator in developing ultra-precise technology for atomic clocks that will
be used on board the International Space Station. His other research includes ultra–low-noise
radar; tests of fundamental theories of physics, such as general relativity; and measurement of
drift in fundamental constants and their cosmological implications. He has published more than
40 papers in scientific journals and holds two patents.
THE BATTLE THAT RAGES FOR YOUR MIND
WAKE UP WARNING 2019
Message by Pastor Carter Conlon,
Spoken on March 8, 2015
Spoken at Times Square Church, New York City
Publshed on YouTube January 2019
Transcribed by James E. Barbush
"I want to talk to you this morning about THE BATTLE THAT RAGES FOR YOUR MIND. And you have to be aware that Satan is coming against this generation in an unprecedented measure.
He is attacking this generation to take the thoughts of God out of the minds of an entire society.
He's doing it through the school system.
He's doing it in our colleges.
He's doing it in the marketplace.
He's doing it in the halls of government.
And he's even doing it in the house of God.
Trying to eradicate everything that comes from the mind of God, to blind an entire generation, to take captives, as many as he can, for the scripture says, he knows that his time is short.
CHRISTIAN SUPERNATURAL TEACHINGS, BIBLE CLASS LESSONS, GOSPELS BY LEADER OLUMBA OLUMBA OBU, THE SUPERNATURAL TEACHER AND SOLE SPIRITUAL HEAD, BROTHERHOOD OF THE CROSS AND STAR
Commentators have been at a loss for words to praise the worth of this chapter. Almost every sentence is filled with essential doctrine. A. T. Pierson wrote, “This eighth chapter of Romans is one of the mountaintops of the New Testament. It is the grandest thing Paul ever wrote, and if he had written nothing else, he has here given us a continent of thought, broad as the grace of God; and we might spend eternity in exploring it and still feel that we had touched but the borders of this wondrous theme.”
I. Death, the Ceaseless Tragedy of Life 11
II. Those in Touch of Heart with
God Who Have Died — What Can
We Know Certainly About Them? ..^ 17
III. The Others Who Have Died —
What Can We Know Certainly
About Them? .... 93
IV. Can We Have Communication With the Dead? .... 124
The purpose of this work is to save Bible students the enormous amount of time to research all of these resources. I have brought them together in one place for a
quick grasp of what each proverb is saying. You will note that some commentators are using an old translation, and it does not seem like the same proverb we are dealing with in the NIV.
In not a few respects Job is the most remarkable
book either in the Bible or out of it. Looked at
merely as an effort of genius, apart altogether from
inspiration, it is allowed by the best judges to have
no equal in the profundity of its ideas, the sublimity
of its imagery, or the abundance and variety of the
materials which it has built' up into a perfect whole.
" It will one day perhaps," says a secular writer,
" when it is allowed to stand on its own merit, be
seen towering up alone, far away above all the poetry
of the world."
In Darkness 25
The Light-Bringer 41
The First-Fruits of Them that Slept 55
God Shall Give It a Body ... 69
How Shall We Think of the Dead ? 79
The Practice of Immortality . . 97
Picture-Teaching 109
I. About Our Lord Jesus 9
1. A Brief Continuous Biography . • ii
2. His Return, — The Centre and Climax
of All His Plannings • . • i6
n. On the Knees, with the Book, Finding out
Just What It Teaches About His Return . 19
Our theories about God are our theology.
It is well to value them, to try our best to
keep them pure and high. But the deeper
question is. What is our religion? What are
our real thoughts of God ? In that deep and
secret place of our inmost consciousness, where
all our desires and feelings and hopes and
aspirations are born, what is God to us ? This
is the great question, the searching question.
And on the answer to it our peace, our happi-
ness, our usefulness depend.
This magazine is dedicated to all expecting fathers; new fathers; growing fathers and well seasoned fathers. Hopefully in you fathers you will allow the daddy to shine.
I. God the God of the Living
11. Believing and Becoming
III. Gleaming as Crystal .
IV. Heart Enlargement .
V. He Restoreth my Soul
VI. Addition and Multiplication
VII. A Conference on Death
VIII. Christ will take All .
IX. Strong Crying ....
X. The Sentinel of the Heart
To have God as our eternal dwelling-place
we must find Him our dwelling-place here.
If He is worth possessing when we die, He is
worth possessing while we live; if He is the
one eternal home. He will be the truest home
while we are here. Some of us have found
Him, trusted and tried Him, and in our turn
endorse the words of the text written so many
centuries ago. Some have not yet found Him.
Remember this — he only builds his true home,
who builds for eternity.
Jesus was all about his father's businessGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus being all about His Father's business. He was in the temple with the scholars interacting with them at age 12 and was impressive.
Surpassing Love Ephesians 3:14-21 Adapted from a Jim Black sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/surpassing-love-jim-black-sermon-on-gods-love-55127.asp
CONTENTS
1. THE LORD'S PRAYER PART I Based on Matt. 6:7-15
2. OUR FATHER Based on Matt. 6:9-15
3. DESIRE DETERMINES DESTINY Based on Matt. 6:7-15
4. THE ETERNAL DESIRE Based on Matt. 6:7-15
5. THE KING AND THE KINGDOM Based on Matt. 6:7-15
6. THE TRINITY OF DESIRES Based on Matt. 6:7-15
7. THE DEBT DISSOLVING DESIRE Based on Matt. 6:7-15
8. THE DESIRE FOR DELIVERANCE Based on Matt. 6:7-15
Hampton Keathley, “Psalm one is a wisdom Psalm. There are praise Psalms, lament Psalms, and enthronement Psalms and all contain wisdom, of course, but as an introduction and door to the rest of the Psalms, this Psalm declares in just a few words some of the most basic but
profound truths and propositions of the Bible. In essence, God says there are two ways of life open to us: one means blessedness, happiness, and fruitfulness, but the other means cursedness, unhappiness, and judgment. The choice is ours.
XIV. HELPING BY PRAYER 158
XV. THE COST OF PRAYING 168
XVI. MAKING FRIENDSHIP HARD 179
XVII. " GIVE YE THEM TO EAT " 192
XVIII. ON JUDGING OTHERS 202
XIX. CHRIST'S WITHHELD LESSONS . . . . 217
XX. FOR THE DAYS OF DARKNESS .... 228
XXI. HIDDEN WORDS IN THE BIBLE .... 239
XXII. GETTING THE JOY OF CHRIST .... 253
XXIII. THE NEED OF THE AFTERLOOK . . . 264
This is a study of the parable of the prodigal son and how it ended so happily. Many bad situations end happily, and that is true for the story of life if people will put there trust in Jesus as Savior.
How to Add 10 Years to Your Life... by Samuel Silas CurryFarrah Grant
Support New Wellness Living & this 'New Thought Series'❣
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=F5RD4Y6P7HGZ8
How much stress are you putting on your body and mind by bottling up all of your anger, fear, and resentment? Have you ever wondered how your life might change for the better if you made a practice of freely expressing your feelings, positive and negative? In How to Add Ten Years to Your Life and to Double Its Satisfactions, author S.S. Curry expounds on the virtues of self-expression and gives readers valuable advice on how best to communicate with their friends, family member, and loved ones.
Source: Google Books
Ever wonder why people are always speaking to us as if there is a magical formula to life? Well there is'nt. Our life has purpose and that purpose is all in JESUS; HE is our key to a fulfilling life. JESUS is the only formula any of us will ever need.
What would you give to have Jesus with you — with you as He once was with people in the long ago? When reading about Him have you not felt that you were reading of an absent person — one whom you would see in the next life, but not here?
If you love a person very dearly you cannot bear to be away from him; you feel that by staying away you wrong the loved one as well as yourself. I do not see how Jesus could love me very much and willingly be absent from me. I do not feel satisfied when told that He sees me; I want to see Him.
CONTENTS
XII. "Thy Commandment Is Exceeding Broad" 186
XIII. The Whisper of the Lord 201
XIV. Journeying with God 218
XV. The Great Companion 234
XVI. The Blessing of God Almighty 250
XVII. In the Sight of Jesus Christ 269
XVIII. Life's Criminal Agnosticism 284
XIX. The Unknown Girding of God 297
XX. The Beautiful Vocation 313
Jesus was urging us to pray and never give upGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus urging us to pray and never give up. He uses a widow who kept coming to a judge for help and she was so persistent he had to give her the justice she sought. God will do the same for us if we never give up but keep on praying.
This is a study of Jesus being questioned about fasting. His disciples were not doing it like John's disciples and the Pharisees. Jesus gives His answer that gets Him into the time of celebration with new wineskins that do away with the old ones. Jesus says we do not fast at a party and a celebration.
This is a study of Jesus being scoffed at by the Pharisees. Jesus told a parable about loving money more than God, and it hit them hard. They in anger just turned up their noses and made fun of His foolish teaching.
Jesus was clear you cannot serve two mastersGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus being clear on the issue, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and money at the same time because you will love one and hate the other. You have to make a choice and a commitment.
Jesus was saying what the kingdom is likeGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus saying what the kingdom is like. He does so by telling the Parable of the growing seed. It just grows by itself by nature and man just harvests it when ripe. There is mystery here.
Jesus was telling a story of good fish and badGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus telling a story of good fish and bad fish. He illustrates the final separation of true believers from false believers by the way fishermen separate good and bad fish.
Jesus was comparing the kingdom of god to yeastGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus comparing the kingdom of God to yeast. A little can go a long way, and the yeast fills the whole of the large dough, and so the kingdom of God will fill all nations of the earth.
This is a study of Jesus telling a shocking parable. It has some terrible words at the end, but it is all about being faithful with what our Lord has given us. We need to make whatever has been given us to count for our Lord.
Jesus was telling the parable of the talentsGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus telling the parable of the talents, There are a variety of talents given and whatever the talent we get we are to do our best for the Master, for He requires fruit or judgment.
Jesus was explaining the parable of the sowerGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus explaining the parable of the sower. It is all about the seed and the soil and the fruitfulness of the combination. The Word is the seed and we need it in our lives to bear fruit for God.
This is a study of Jesus warning against covetousness. Greed actually will lead to spiritual poverty, so Jesus says do not live to get, but develop a spirit of giving instead,
Jesus was explaining the parable of the weedsGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus explaining the parable of the weeds. The disciples did not understand the parable and so Jesus gave them a clear commentary to help them grasp what it was saying.
This is a study of Jesus being radical. He was radical in His claims, and in His teaching, and in the language He used, and in His actions. He was clearly radical.
This is a study of Jesus laughing in time and in eternity. He promised we would laugh with Him in heaven, and most agree that Jesus often laughed with His followers in His earthly ministry. Jesus was a laugher by nature being He was God, and God did laugh, and being man, who by nature does laugh. Look at the masses of little babies that laugh on the internet. It is natural to being human.
This is a study of Jesus as our protector. He will strengthen and protect from the evil one. We need His protection for we are not always aware of the snares of the evil one.
This is a study of Jesus not being a self pleaser. He looked to helping and pleasing others and was an example for all believers to look to others need and not focus on self.
This is a study of Jesus being the clothing we are to wear. To be clothed in Jesus is to be like Jesus in the way we look and how our life is to appear before the world.
This is a study of Jesus being our liberator. By His death He set us free from the law of sin and death. We are under no condemnation when we trust Him as our Savior and Liberator.
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way.pptxCelso Napoleon
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way
SBs – Sunday Bible School
Adult Bible Lessons 2nd quarter 2024 CPAD
MAGAZINE: THE CAREER THAT IS PROPOSED TO US: The Path of Salvation, Holiness and Perseverance to Reach Heaven
Commentator: Pastor Osiel Gomes
Presentation: Missionary Celso Napoleon
Renewed in Grace
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile.
Homily: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Sunday 2024.docxJames Knipper
Countless volumes have been written trying to explain the mystery of three persons in one true God, leaving us to resort to metaphors such as the three-leaf clover to try to comprehend the Divinity. Many of us grew up with the quintessential pyramidal Trinity structure of God at the top and Son and Spirit in opposite corners. But what if we looked at this ‘mystery’ from a different perspective? What if we shifted our language of God as a being towards the concept of God as love? What if we focused more on the relationship within the Trinity versus the persons of the Trinity? What if stopped looking at God as a noun…and instead considered God as a verb? Check it out…
The Good News, newsletter for June 2024 is hereNoHo FUMC
Our monthly newsletter is available to read online. We hope you will join us each Sunday in person for our worship service. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on YouTube and social media.
What Should be the Christian View of Anime?Joe Muraguri
We will learn what Anime is and see what a Christian should consider before watching anime movies? We will also learn a little bit of Shintoism religion and hentai (the craze of internet pornography today).
The Chakra System in our body - A Portal to Interdimensional Consciousness.pptxBharat Technology
each chakra is studied in greater detail, several steps have been included to
strengthen your personal intention to open each chakra more fully. These are designed
to draw forth the highest benefit for your spiritual growth.
In Jude 17-23 Jude shifts from piling up examples of false teachers from the Old Testament to a series of practical exhortations that flow from apostolic instruction. He preserves for us what may well have been part of the apostolic catechism for the first generation of Christ-followers. In these instructions Jude exhorts the believer to deal with 3 different groups of people: scoffers who are "devoid of the Spirit", believers who have come under the influence of scoffers and believers who are so entrenched in false teaching that they need rescue and pose some real spiritual risk for the rescuer. In all of this Jude emphasizes Jesus' call to rescue straying sheep, leaving the 99 safely behind and pursuing the 1.
The PBHP DYC ~ Reflections on The Dhamma (English).pptxOH TEIK BIN
A PowerPoint Presentation based on the Dhamma Reflections for the PBHP DYC for the years 1993 – 2012. To motivate and inspire DYC members to keep on practicing the Dhamma and to do the meritorious deed of Dhammaduta work.
The texts are in English.
For the Video with audio narration, comments and texts in English, please check out the Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF2g_43NEa0
1. Where He Is
'That where I am, there ye may be also."
" Lo, I am with you alway. "
BY CLELAND B. McAFEE
Copyright, 1899
by Fleming H. Revell Company
CONTENTS
I. Our Future Home the Place Where He Is 7
II. This Earth-Life Our Preparation for Being Where He Is 15
III. The Personal Value of Being Where He Is . . .29
IV. Life Consummated in Being Where He Is 37
OUR FUTURE HOME THE PLACE
WHERE HE IS
"That where I am, there ye may be also."
One Sabbath evening, after a sul-
try day, I sat tinder the open sky
with a small circle of friends trying
to catch some of the coolness which
the night brought. Among us was a
famous theologian, dean of a divinity
faculty, scholarly and refined in
2. taste, and spiritually sensitive. He
had preached that day and so had I,
and out of sheer weariness, neither
had taken much part in the conver-
sation. Presently, in a lull of talk,
he turned to me and asked, "What
do you think is the greatest hymn in
the English language?" Almost
7
WHERE HE IS
immediately I replied, "Rock of
Ages, cleft for me/' "No," he said,
"that is great, but there is a
greater." Others suggested other
hymns, until each member of the
company had named one. Then we
turned upon him, and asked his
opinion. With a quiet eloquence
that thrilled us and a tremor in the
voice that added meaning to the
words, he repeated the whole of the
hymn beginning:
"When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride."
There was no argument when he
had finished.
After a moment's stillness, I asked
the veteran preacher and scholar a
question which I have asked other
men in other places, "What is the
best prospect held before the Chris-
3. WHERE HE IS
tian for eternity?" In the same
subdued voice, but now with a ring
of exultation in it, he answered,
44 And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive
you unto Myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also." There was
a sermon in the slight pause he made
before the word "Myself," and
before the word "ye." Read it
again and stop an instant before
each word. Do you not see that He
is drawing our hearts to Himself
and not to a place and not to a
thing? Does not His infinite com-
passion come into view in saying
that we are to be with Him?
The Christian's passing out of life
is being received not into a place,
nor unto a condition, but unto Him-
self — Heaven is "where He is."
How like Jesus it is to make com-
panionship the chief attraction of
heaven ! There are many things we
9
WHERE HE IS
shall want. Sometimes we are
allowed to see what a royal condition
awaits us. But it is not things that
make a home. There is a touch that
only a personality can put on things
that turns a house into a home. Do
you not remember how the new
4. house is made homelike by the old
faces? Surely you have noticed how
the old house ceases to be home
when a dear presence is gone out
from it. The little ones wander
about lonesomely among the familiar
things, calling mother, and not find-
ing her find not home. Just a while
ago I passed the hours of sorrow
with some dear friends who had
seen a lad and a lassie carried out of
their beautiful, almost palatial, resi-
dence. When some remarked upon
the home, the stricken mother
replied, "It is only a house now."
And we understood her heart. The
personal presence was gone.
10
WHERE HE IS
In his last book, Dr. George Fred-
erick Wright has reminded us that
the world cannot be mere mechan-
ism — "The universe to be a perfect
home requires the presence of the
heavenly Father. " It is absurd, he
thinks, that any loving earthly
father should attempt to build so
commodious and beautiful a palace,
that his children shall not care for
his personal presence. So it is, and
our Father has not so made heaven.
Its chief attraction is, that it is
where He is.
Sometimes older brothers get
engrossed in such large affairs and
have such great enterprises on hand
that younger ones annoy them. A
5. moment ago a lad outside my win-
dow sent his little brother back from
some expedition lest he should be in
the way. He loved his brother, but
he did not want him about. We
ii
WHERE HE IS
fathers tell our little ones to run
away and play; we are busy. And
the little ones look longingly around
at the books and the manuscripts,
but most of all at ourselves, and
want to be with us, feel lonesome
without us, just because they love
us. We love them, too, but we are
engrossed with large duties, ser-
mons, books and the like. We can-
not have them where we are all the
time. After a while, when we
throw the door wide open and call
the little ones, how the feet come
pattering!
Our older Brother, our Father,
will not shut us out from any of His
great enterprises. We shall not be
44 in the way. " He has room enough
in His heart for the care of the
worlds and of us who are children of
His. Plato said the gods could care
for the great things, but not for the
small. Jesus shows us that all
12
WHERE HE IS
6. things are great with God when
they touch His loved ones. What-
ever marvellous works He may do in
the future, whatever worlds may
spring into being through His word,
He has not forgotten us, but holds
before us this as the eternal future —
that we shall be where He is.
13
II
THIS EARTH-LIFE OUR PREPARATION
FOR BEING WHERE HE IS
"Lo, I am with you alway."
We are to spend our future where
He is. Do you remember He says
that He will be where we are until
that time? It is a most notable
reversal. "I am with you alway."
"When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee." "I
will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. " Yonder, it is our compan-
ionship with Him. Here, it is His
companionship with us. And if
one companionship makes heaven
worth while, the other makes earth
worth while.
In our busy, grown-up lives we
15
7. WHERE HE IS
forget how much this higher com-
panionship of love means to us.
Learn it again from the unspoiled
child life. A certain little one,
whom I have watched, often stops in
her play and calls her father or
mother only to hear an answer,
when she goes on contentedly with
her play again. She does not want
anything, just wants to know
whether the companionship is still
unbroken. At times I have seen
her carry all her playthings labor-
iously out of a pleasanter room into
the one where her mother lay ill or
sat sewing, not because the play
would be pleasanter, but because it
was in a loved presence.
Sometimes, when we kneel to
pray, we cannot think of anything
that we want, and we fault our-
selves for it. But may it not be a
child's longing for the companion-
ship of love? Oh, for more hours
16
WHERE HE IS
when we are not asking favors, but
looking into His face, learning to
have Him with us here that we may
revel in the joy of being with Him
there ! A little while ago I read one
of the old traditions of a monk who
was so godly, whose life was so
beautiful, that his comrades won-
dered and asked him what he did to
8. develop in himself such grace of
character. He was unconscious of it,
and thought they misread his life.
He did not pray more than they; he
was not more careful and orderly in
his devotion than were they; he
knew not that his life outshone
theirs. As days went on, they
watched him, but could not learn the
secret of the life he lived. At last it
was observed that he stole away
from the company each evening
after the plain meal and was seen no
more till morning. One day they
followed him, and through the tiny
17
WHERE HE IS
window of his cell they saw him lay
a great volume of devotion before
him, and by the light of a little taper
read page after page. So he sat,
absorbed in thought, until the mid-
night hour struck, when he looked
up as though he saw a familiar
friend close by, and said, "Dear
Lord, there is the same understand-
ing between us." Then he extin-
guished the light and went to his
rest. His fellows caught the secret
of an understanding between him
and his Lord. It was no formal
approach, it was no occasional com-
munion, it was no routine of devo-
tion, that glorified the life. It was
an unbroken understanding between
him and his Lord.
How much nearer our ideal of
living it is to have "the same under-
9. standing" between us and Him! If
we were walking up a mountain-side
with a dear friend, we would often
18
WHERE HE IS
want to exclaim over the beauty of
the scene and the majesty of the
ascent, but there would be little
phrasing of the deepest pleasure of
all, the very presence of the friend
of our hearts. Looking back over
such experiences we say, "The day
was made doubly delightful by such
a companionship." And he under-
stood; he did not need to be told.
Between kindred souls there is a
magnetic sympathy that seeks no
words, but feels more than words
could express, if they were sought.
A true devotion to our Lord is pos-
sible when little vocal prayer is
offered, when few words are said,
when we simply keep the same
understanding between us.
But how do we maintain the
understanding? Is it not by realiz-
ing that He is now with us, and that
the consummation of life is to be
where He is?
19
WHERE HE IS
There is much truth in the song
which says, "I'll go where He wants
10. me to go. " But Jesus offers to go
with us where we want Him to go.
We ask Him to "choose out our
path" for us, and He will do it. He
wants to do it. He does not offer to
take our yoke upon Him, but calls us
to take His yoke instead. Yet, He
does let us choose out His path for
Him here, and goes where His
people go. Not that He gives up
His will always to us. Sometimes
we are about to go where He cannot
go without shame and heartache, and
then how tenderly He tries to hold us
back! How pleadingly He throws
His arm about us and whispers to
us! Have you never noticed how
persistently, almost annoyingly, a
line or a stanza of a hymn, or a verse
of Scripture, rings in your ears when
you are starting astray, or when you
are wandering away from your duty?
20
WHERE HE IS
That is your Companion's voice,
beloved, saying, "I am with you;
take Me not there ; make Me not to
go there. " But He does not leave
us even if we persist in going where
it shames Him to go. Perhaps you
have been protected and restrained
from evil, and do not realize how
lovingly the Lord goes with His
loved ones even into places of shame.
Then hear a story of that love.
It is in a Southern city, and a man
has been over-tempted. Seated in a
11. place of sin, with wine and vulgar
jest passing about, himself among
the bravest and brazenest of all, his
fellows see him leap up, gaze around
startled, and without ceremony rush
from the room out into the night.
He flies along the street as though
hurried by an omnipotent hand, into
his quiet chamber. There the morn-
ing hours find him still weeping out
his repentance in the ears of One
21
WHERE HE IS
who had plucked him by the sleeve
and dragged him out of sin. He
could not tell his pastor what
occurred, but something within him
seemed to wail like a hurt and
shamed companion, and it seemed to
him so shameful that he had brought
Him there — Him who had loved
purity and godliness more than life,
Him who had made heaven attract-
ive by promising that His servant
should be with Him — so shameful
that he could not bear it a moment
longer.
Sometimes this loving Companion
waits long before He is recognized.
Just the other day a man approach-
ing his seventieth year, who had
been straying away from his Lord
for full forty years, remarked to me
how he had never been given up.
His Master had been asserting Him-
self all the time. He had wandered
in many places ; had been where his
12. 22
WHERE HE IS
Master must have been pained to go,
had fallen to depths where his Mas-
ter must have been deeply shamed,
but he had never been forsaken.
The voice of pleading had not been
silenced. He had drifted far, but
never "beyond His love and care."
There is much comfort in this
thought of the persistent purpose of
Jesus to be where we are. An old
philosopher taught that God created
man because among all His other
creatures none could come into per-
sonal relationship with Him and He
was lonely for companionship.
That is fanciful. Does it not, how-
ever, suggest what we know is true,
that Jesus finds such joy in our com-
panionship here that He would be on
the earth lonely without it, as we
would be lonely in heaven if He
were not there?
But may we not flatter ourselves
23
WHERE HE IS
unduly with the thought that Jesus
wants so much to be with us? Per-
haps we might, but there are two
reasons for His being with us, which
will humble us again.
13. First, He is with us to help us. It
is just because we are so weak and
impotent of ourselves and have no
self-sufficiency that He presses on
with us. Shall a cripple feel flat-
tered and proud on his own account,
because a strong man walks by him,
keeping him where he could not go
alone? It is our helplessness that
commends us to God. You remem-
ber that great verse of promise
wherein Jesus says, "Lo, I am with
you alway. " Well, just before it,
He said, "All power is given unto
Me." As though He would say: "I
know the work I give you is too
much for you ; I know the life I offer
is too hard for you ; I know the serv-
ice I demand is too great for you;
24
WHERE HE IS
but look to Me ; I have all authority,
I can bid your foes depart or submit.
Since all power is Mine and you
need Me so much, I am with you
alway. " You see it is a promise
based on our weakness. We would
be strange folk if we read it back-
wards and saw in it a tribute to our
worth !
Why does Jesus promise to be with
you to-day, my brother? Is it not
because He would give you strength
and grace where your office-work or
your labor becomes wearing and
exhausting? There are problems
for you to solve to-day — "He is
made unto us wisdom." There are
14. old sins that you would gladly for-
get, but they will stare at you to-day
out of accusing eyes — "He is made
unto us righteousness." There are
faults that will catch you unawares
and stain the whiteness of your life
— "He is made unto us sanctifica-
25
WHERE HE IS
tion. ,, There are habits that bind
you down to an unworthy life — u He
is made unto us redemption. ' '
And you, Christian mother, why
does your Master promise to be with
you to-day? Is it not to remind you
that you are dependent on Him?
Days are dreary enough when you
leave Him out, and He has a way of
helping through the most annoying
hours. That is a remarkable phrase :
"The patience of Christ/ ' You
mothers need Him with you that you
may have His patience when little
ones are cross and teasing. You
need the fairness of Jesus with
household help that will blunder and
fail. You need the kindliness of
Jesus to carry you through annoying
social duties. It is because you need
and have not this strength that Jesus
presses along day by day with you.
Let it make us all humble and glad.
The other reason why Jesus wants
26
15. WHERE HE IS
to be with us is that He must some-
how make us fit to be with Him after
a while. Have you ever thought of
the kindliness of His word to the
dying thief: "To-day shalt thou be
with me in Paradise"? Of course,
He might have sent the newly
redeemed man on ahead into the joy-
ful companionships, might have told
him he should be with Abraham and
David and Isaiah. But what a sea
of strange faces would be there!
How unfamiliar it would seem!
And how much sweeter the promise
that he should be introduced into the
unaccustomed presence by the One
whom he already knew and loved!
Jesus does not allow us to come to
that eternal companionship with
Him until He teaches us what it
means. There is no way by which
we can learn it but by His compan-
ionship with us. Some one asked a
philologist how we learn to talk. He
27
WHERE HE IS
replied, * 'By talking. M We learn to
be with Jesus by being with Him.
This earthly walk with Him is His
training course wherein He gets us
ready for our eternal life — the life
where we shall be where He is.
28
16. Ill
THE PERSONAL VALUE OF BEING
WHERE HE IS
"We shall be like Him."
Think what effect that being with
Christ must have on our characters.
Holiness develops by contact. The
very presence of a good man makes
men better. There are birds so
sensitive to their enemies that they
feel their presence before they can
see them. Sometimes waifs are
made heroes by being brought out of
low surroundings and into contact
with large hearts and broad lives.
You remember how Garfield felt
about Mark Hopkins, that merely
being with him was an education.
Of the founder of a western college
29
WHERE HE IS
it was once said that no man could
ever go quite to the bad after a year
under his influence.
But what will it be to be in con-
stant contact with Jesus? His
nobility will lift us out of our mean-
ness. His goodness will burn out
our badness. His brightness will
shame away our dim righteousness.
Ah, best of all, that vision of Him
and contact with Him will transform
us into His likeness!
17. This morning, as I look out of my
window, the snow is falling so
heavily that distant outlines are all
obscured. Generally I can see the
gaunt, ragged trees across yonder on
the hillside. Generally the stony
roadway up the hill, the deep-cut
waterway by it and the washed-out
runs are in plain view. But now
they are all covered with a mantle
of clear white. At first I said, "It
is like the robe of Christ's righteous-
30
WHERE HE IS
ness. " That covers the roughness
and gashes of our lives and char-
acters, and presents us to the eye of
the beholder beautiful and spotless.
Sometimes we think of that word
about presenting us faultless before
the Father, and of that other about
our appearing without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing, and sup-
pose they promise that we are to be
covered with the robe of Christ's
righteousness as the snow covers the
trees and the ruts and makes them
appear beautiful.
But the more I have looked out at
the morning snow-blanket, the more
I have rejoiced that it is not a sym-
bol of the higher fact ; for under the
snow still lie all the stones and the
ruts and the blackness unchanged.
It is only to the eye that they are
hid. The righteousness of Christ is
not only a robe that hides our faults;
18. it is also a life that runs through us
3*
WHERE HE IS
and corrects the faults that mar us.
We are not to enter the presence of
God with our sin merely covered, as
David once expresses it. Rather, it
is to be taken from us. The snow
has not changed the hillside yonder.
Our contact with Jesus is to work a
transformation, not upon us, but in us.
What else does it mean to say:
4 'And hath made us meet to be par-
takers of the inheritance of the saints
in light"? We could have been made
partakers by a mere fiat of God, no
doubt, but no mere fiat could make
us fit to be partakers. That must
be wrought in us by transforming us
and making us like Christ in our
very life. His being with us is His
way of working in us the transfor-
mation.
Years ago some one told me this
parable-story. Two bits of charcoal
lay in the road one day, while a
royal company passed by. They
32
WHERE HE IS
19. noticed a diamond set in the coro-
net of the prince who led the com-
pany, and knew it for a brother of
their own, since it was but carbon,
as were they. Both remarked upon
the fact that they were condemned
to spend their lives on the highway,,
and wished that they too might
adorn a king's brow. A fairy heard
their complaint and asked what each
wished. One said quickly, "Place
me by my brother yonder on the
coronet. ' ' Immediately it was done ;
but a courtier noted it and asked
his master to let him brush away the
bit of dirt that had lodged above his
brow, and presently the charcoal fell
again to the ground. The other
said, "Make me a diamond like my
brother in the crown," and the same
courtier leaped from his horse and
bore the new-found gem to his
master with joy. And the king said,
44 Set it in the front of my crown. "
33
WHERE HE IS
You must have heard it many
times, but we cannot learn the lesson
too clearly — that much of the joy of
being where He is will lie in being
fit to be with Him. He does not
take us, worthless, debased, sinful,
stained, and usher us into royal
presence. He does not even cast
over sin-marked shoulders and
withered arms, His beautiful man-
tle of righteousness. No, He makes
us through and through and in very
20. truth fit for that presence.
But, beloved, how shall He do
this marvellous work unless we will
allow Him to be much with us here?
Suppose we do not open our hearts
to Him ; suppose we leave Him out
of our thoughts and purposes — can
He then impress upon us His own
beauty? Or can He then work in us
His own character?
I remarked once to a friend that I
34
WHERE HE IS
would like to meet a certain influ-
ential teacher. He replied that I
had met him already a dozen times,
because I had met his pupils and he
had a knack of duplicating himself
in them. He overpowered them,
made them think his thoughts, made
them accept his philosophy, made
them adopt his theories. Which can
hardly be a safe thing for us humans,
but which suggests the wonderful
possibility of our Teacher duplicat-
ing Himself in us, His scholars in
life's school. He will not run us all
in the same mould and bring us to a
dead level, but He will make us
over into His own likeness by
ennobling us and culturing us.
And He will do it by being with us,
and keeping us where He is.
21. 35
IV
LIFE CONSUMMATED IN BEING
WHERE HE IS
"We shall see Him as He is."
At the end of one of his plays
Sheridan wrote, " Finished, thank
God! Amen!" Not quite so can we
feel about the ending of life. The
presence of Jesus with us here makes
life a royal pleasure. The Christian
wants to live, wants to labor, wants
to suffer with Christ. "Unto you it
is given (as a great privilege) not
only to believe on His name, but also
to suffer with Him. M We must not
lessen the joy of present life by
thought of the greater joy of heaven.
Phillips Brooks used to tell his near
friends that he awoke every morning
37
WHERE HE IS
with a sense of keen joy in the
thought of the labor which he
should that day perform. This is
still God's world and He walks with
us here.
But after we have served Him
here according to the will of God,
and must lay down our earthly life,
can we not say of that in true sense:
22. 44 Finished, thank God!" It will
carry us along the path of Him who
cried down to earth and up to
heaven: 4 4 It is finished. " When it
is finished we can thank God, for we
shall be where He is.
Some one sent me a paper a while
ago that told of a young man so
injured that he suffered intense
agony and could not live. A
watcher said to him, 4t Tom, my lad,
thou art going to die." He replied,
and his face was as of one who saw
the invisible, 44 No, Hannah, not
going to die — going to live, for he
WHERE HE IS
that believeth in Jesus shall never
die."
What else does the Book mean in
saying that God's people only fall
asleep? It was a quaint meaning
some one got out of the old English
expression about Stephen : "He fell
on sleep." "Yes, he fell on sleep,
and before he had time to cry like a
hurt child, his Father had gathered
him up in his arms." Dying is
being gathered up in the Father's
arms. It is going out to meet the
Master's promise that we shall be
where He is.
Pastors are often asked whether
they think we shaL know our friends
in heaven. A mother tells me she is
haunted with a strong desire to enter
heaven where her little one is and
23. with a great dread at the same time
lest she may not know her. I heard
one man, who believed in recogni-
39
WHERE HE IS
tion in heaven, say that he thought
it was not a very important matter,
since he should want to have the
first million years for looking at
Jesus. Many of us, however, would
be desolate at thought of eternity if
it did not contain those whom we
"have loved long since and lost
a while." Well, be sure it does con-
tain them.
What would be the advantage of
being where He is, if we do not
know Him? And we are to see Him
face to face. If our eyes are cleared
for that vision of joy, shall we not
also see clearly the love-light in
familiar eyes?
It is restful to any one who has
been struggling with the complex
expressions of philosophy to read the
simple statement of Jesus regarding
the future life. He uses the per-
sonal pronouns, "where / am" — a
Person here on the earth and still a
40
WHERE HE IS
Person beyond the earth. 44 There
24. ye may be" persons here, persons
there. No loss of personality, no
swallowing up of ourselves in a
mass, no passing out into nothing-
ness. No, here is Person with per-
son, and the relation will be just as
real and definite and natural as the
relation between you and the friend
to whom you are now reading these
lines or to whom you last spoke.
One of our later songs says: "I
shall know Him by the print of the
nails in His hands. ' ' It is a tender
thought, but there is yet a tenderer
one. We shall know Him rather by
the love-light in His eyes. Once
Jesus "looked upon Peter," and the
look broke him down so that he went
out and wept bitterly — poor, sinning
Peter! But when the glory breaks
on us and in presence of the throne
the Savior looks upon us, it will
mean outbursting joy and eternal
41
WHERE HE IS
happiness. We shall not need any
one to tell us who He is. Thomas
thought he might not recognize
Jesus after His resurrection, and
talked a little about needing evi-
dence. Before the evidence could
be presented, the very sight of Jesus
won his recognition and he claimed
Him as Lord and God. Timid
Christians sometimes fear that
heaven may be strange to them, for-
getting that they shall know their
Master as soon as they see Him, and,
25. because they know Him, shall be at
home.
Do you recognize that expression,
"at home," as one of Paul's phrases?
In one of his letters he says he does
not know what he wants to do, to
remain in the body or to be absent
from the body and "at home with
the Lord. M Now, is a man ever "at
home" with a person whom he does
not know? Will heaven be home to
42
WHERE HE IS
us if we do not know our Lord?
and if we know Him, why shall we
not know also those who have gone
before us and shall come after us?
They, as ourselves, will be changed
from glory into glory, transformed
into His likeness, but still them-
selves, with all that makes them
unlike Him taken away, and all that
makes them like Him brought out
into new beauty. Be sure we shall
know them, since we know Him.
In this is life's consummation. It
needs no other. A few years here
in which He walks with us ; then an
eternity in which we walk with Him.
May the dear Savior and Master of
us all bring us in His own good time
to that home which is Home because
it is where He is.