5277<\/b> Retroactive To Eden<\/b><\/p>\n
Statesman Bernard Baruch was appearing as a witness before the Senate Finance Committee. He was asked to suggest what Congress could do to prevent periodic ups and downs in the nation\u2019s economy. <\/p>\n
Said Baruch: \u201cYes, pass a law changing human nature, and make it retroactive to the Garden of Eden.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Christianity Today<\/i><\/p>\n
5278<\/b> Cop\u2019s Radical \u201cReversal\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Police Chief Donald Wolford of Spencer, Iowa, believes that \u201cwhen anyone has a complete reversal of character from one week to the next there is something wrong with him.\u201d The man he has in mind is Officer Kenneth Trevithick, 25, a formerly foul-mouthed boozer who got converted while vacationing in California. <\/p>\n
Trevithick came back to work with a Bible and plenty of Jesus-talk for speechless fellow officers. No profanity. No booze. <\/p>\n
Wolford suspended him for alleged \u201cdisobedience of orders\u201d and \u201cfailure to properly perform duties.\u201d But the Civil Service Commission reinstated him, scolding the city for improperly obtaining reports of his mental condition. <\/p>\n
The commission then ordered a new brief suspension, saying the policeman should have obeyed an order not to read the Bible while on duty. <\/p>\n
Trevithick concedes he may have been a little too zealous on the job. <\/p>\n
5279<\/b> Whitefield\u2019s Recommendation<\/b><\/p>\n
In 1752 Whitefield wrote to Benjamin Franklin: \u201cAs I find you growing more and more famous in the world of letters I recommend to your unprejudiced study the mystery of the New Birth. It is a most important study and if mastered will abundantly repay you. I bid you, dear friend, remember that He before whose bar we must both soon appear has solemnly declared that without it we shall in no wise see His Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
5280<\/b> MacArthur On Armageddon<\/b><\/p>\n
Standing on the battleship U.S.S. Missouri<\/i> in Tokyo harbor, September 2, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur uttered a profound warning. \u201cWe have had our last chance,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our \u2026 advance in science, \u2026 material and cultural developments. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n
5281<\/b> \u201cEven An Archdeacon\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Bishop John Taylor Smith, former Chaplain General of the British Army, was preaching in a large cathedral on this text: \u201cExcept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d In order to drive it home, he said: \u201cMy dear people, do not substitute anything for the new birth. You may be a member of a church, but church membership is not new birth, and \u201cexcept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n
On the left sat the archdeacon in his stall. Pointing directly at him, he said, \u201cYou might even be an archdeacon like my friend in his stall and not be born again, and \u201cexcept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d You might even be a bishop like myself, and not be born again, and \u201cexcept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n
A day or so later he received a letter from the archdeacon, in which he wrote: \u201cMy dear Bishop: You have found me out. I have found me out. I have been a clergyman for over thirty years, but I had never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of. I never could understand it. Mine has been hard, legal service. I did not know what was the matter with me, but when you pointed directly to me, and said, \u201cYou might even be an archdeacon and not be born again,\u201d I realized in a moment what the trouble was. I had never known anything of the new birth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to say that he was wretched and miserable, had been unable to sleep all night, and begged for a conference, if the bishop could spare the time to talk with him. \u201cOf course, I could spare the time,\u201d said Bishop Smith, \u201cand the next day we went over the Word of God, and, after some hours, we were both on our knees, the archdeacon taking his place before God as a poor, lost sinner, and telling the Lord Jesus he would trust Him as his Saviour. From that time on everything has been different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Harry A. Ironside<\/p>\n
5282<\/b> Whitefield\u2019s Conversion<\/b><\/p>\n
George Whitefield at the age of 16 became deeply convicted of sin. He tried everything possible to erase his guilt through religious activity. He wrote, \u201cI fasted for 36 hours twice a week. I prayed formal prayers several times a day and almost starved myself to death during Lent, but only felt more miserable. Then by God\u2019s grace I met Charles Wesley who put a book in my hand which showed me from the Scriptures that I must be \u201cborn again\u201d or be eternally lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, by the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, Whitefield came to understand Jesus\u2019 words in John 3. He believed and was gloriously saved. After he became a preacher, he spoke at least a thousand times on the subject, \u201cYe must be born again.\u201d He fervently desired that all who heard him might experience the transforming power of God\u2019s grace. <\/p>\n
\u2014Our Daily Bread<\/i><\/p>\n
5283<\/b> Not Moody But God Said So<\/b><\/p>\n
A woman who was a very busy church worker waited for D. L. Moody after he had told a group of church workers some very plain truths from God\u2019s Word. \u201cMr. Moody,\u201d said the angry woman, \u201cdo you mean to tell me that I, an educated woman, taught from childhood in good ways, and all my life interested in the church and doing good, must enter Heaven the same way as the worst criminals of our day?\u201d \u201cNo, madam,\u201d said Mr. Moody. \u201cI don\u2019t tell you at all: God does. He says everyone who would enter Heaven, no matter how good they think they are, or how well-educated, or zealous in good works, must be born again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Sunday School Times<\/i><\/p>\n
5284<\/b> Land Of Beginning<\/b><\/p>\n
I wish there was some wonderful place<\/p>\n
Called the Land of Beginning Again, <\/p>\n
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches<\/p>\n
And all of our poor, selfish grief<\/p>\n
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat<\/p>\n
At the door<\/p>\n
And never put on again. <\/p>\n
\u2014Louisa Tarkington<\/p>\n
5285<\/b> On Animal Renewals<\/b><\/p>\n
Richard Spruce tells of a Malacca sailor who propounded an interesting question. He said, \u201cHow is it that almost every animal except man renews its beauty and youth at stated seasons? Birds molt their plumage, snakes slugh their skins, even the cockroach casts off its old covering, and all come forth bright and beautiful as in the days of their youth; but we (casting his eyes on his brown, wizened hand) grow uglier and more discolored every year, and the same skin must serve until our dying days.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the advantage of the brute creation is only apparent. If man must wear the same skin, he still must have a new heart, which is of much greater value. This new heart has different quality from the old one. And besides, it lays hold on eternal youth. The new heart is an immortal thing. <\/p>\n
\u2014Al Bryant<\/p>\n
5286<\/b> Ex-Convicts Helped By Surgery<\/b><\/p>\n
A pilot project in plastic surgery has shown that disfigured ex-convicts are less likely to lapse into crime again if their scars and deformities are removed. <\/p>\n
The evidence so far shows that disfigured offenders who do not receive plastic surgery are returned to prison at a rate 10 percent greater than those who do. <\/p>\n
Take the case of a facially-scarred 23-year-old inmate with a long history of arrests who was described as \u201cparticularly vicious, assaultive and one of the most venomous inmates Riker\u2019s Island ever had.\u201d His scar, inflicted by a razor in a fight, began on his right check, slashed across his nose and twisted down across his lips and chin. <\/p>\n
A prison officer took an interest in him and at length persuaded him to agree to plastic surgery. The operation was performed. He immediately settled down, got a job, got married and has not been in any trouble since. <\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
5287<\/b> Wife Of Russian Czar<\/b><\/p>\n
When Czar Peter wished to marry Catherine it was needful to make her of noble birth. So a private person was first converted into her brother, and then into a great lord by birth. Hence Catherine, being the sister of a \u201cgreat lord,\u201d was made fit to be the wife of the Czar. <\/p>\n
\u2014E. Cobham Brewer<\/p>\n
5288<\/b> Thorwaldsen\u2019s New Birth<\/b><\/p>\n
Thorwaldsen, who is said to have been born in Copenhagen, when questioned as to his birthplace, replied, \u201cI don\u2019t know; but I arrived at Rome on the 8th March, 1797,\u201d dating his birth, as it were, from the commencement of his career as an artist. <\/p>\n
\u2014Walter Baxendale<\/p>\n
5289<\/b> New Lock, Stock and Barrel<\/b><\/p>\n
Mr. Spurgeon tells of a simple countryman who took his gun to the gunsmith for repairs. After examining it, the latter said: \u201cYour gun is in a very wornout, ruinous, good-for-nothing condition. What sort of repairing do you want for it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d said the countryman, \u201cI don\u2019t see as I can do with anything short of a new stock, lock, and barrel. That ought to set it up again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy,\u201d said the smith, \u201cyou had better have a new gun altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAh,\u201d was the reply, \u201cI never thought of that. It strikes me that\u2019s just what I do want, a new stock, lock, and barrel. Why, that\u2019s about equal to a new gun altogether, and that\u2019s what I\u2019ll have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Born Crucified<\/p>\n
5290<\/b> Epigram On Salvation (Born Again)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 If you are born once, you are born in the devil\u2019s family, if you are born twice, you are born in God\u2019s family. <\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cOh that a man might arise in me, that the man I am might cease to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Tennyson<\/p>\n
\u2022 You cannot cure a blind man by increasing the light. <\/p>\n
\u2022 It is impossible to get regeneration from reformation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
5277 Retroactive To Eden Statesman Bernard Baruch was appearing as a witness before the Senate Finance Committee. He was asked to suggest what Congress could do to prevent periodic ups and downs in the nation\u2019s economy. Said Baruch: \u201cYes, pass a law changing human nature, and make it retroactive to the Garden of Eden.\u201d \u2014Christianity … Continue reading “SALVATION\u2014BORN AGAIN”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}