Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him

glorify God in this name (I. Pet. iv. 16)---

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

181-211

251-271

[ocr errors]

SERMON I.

THE PLACE AND POWER OF PRAYER IN EVANGELISM.

EVANGELISTIC SERMONS.

I.

THE PLACE AND POWER OF PRAYER IN

EVANGELISM.

"But we will continue steadfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word."— Acts vi. 4.

Prayer has a place, a prominent place, in all true evangelism; it has a power, a divine power, there. In a meeting for the conversion of sinners there ought to be a surcharge of the spirit of prayer, and a great deal of praying; prayerfulness on the part of all the disciples, and the utterance of many prayers in the course of the meeting. Prayer has its place and power in such gatherings, as it is meant to affect both saint and sinner. There should be praying for both the saved and the unsaved. Indeed, it is the condition of the unsaved, their guilt, their misery, their crying needs, that makes a disciple pray not only for himself, but for himself in view of the sad condition of the unsaved, that the blessing of prayer on himself may, in God's providence, be linked to some good for the sheep that are still astray. Do we appreciate the place and power of prayer at such times? Each one of us, let him answer honestly-what are our convictions, our habits, our experiences. in this matter? Do we feel like

praying-do we feel that we ought to pray-do we pray a great deal, in protracted meetings held for the conversion of sinners? Not only do we sing tender songs, inviting sinners to be saved; not only do we preach to sinners, exhorting them to be saved; but do we pray for them, and concerning them, fervently and frequently, that they may be saved?

Let us make no mistakes. Indeed, I think that we need to learn a lesson, get our first light, from a quick look at two blunderings that often happen, one or the other, as to prayers in revival services.

Here is one picture. A meeting is going on. It is a time of excitement-which is all right, if it be a healthy excitement. Crowds are in attendance nightly. Preacher and people are absorbed in the enthusiasm of saving souls. What at once strikes a reverent observer who is also thoughtful? Why, praying seems to be the exercise to which everything else is not only subordinated, but sacrificed. There has been no sermon proper. No Scripture has been directly nor instructively quoted. The Bible even lies unopened. The speaker took what he called a text-took it from memory-some imagery from the Old Testament; and he shifts this in rapid lights to stir the feelings of his audience. He simply talks excitably and excitingly; and at a certain pitch of emotion in himself and his hearers, he falls to praying. There are many prayersone after the other. All the exhortation is to induce sinners to come and kneel at a certain place, or to stand where they are, and the praying goes on. There is no teaching a sinner to do anything with reference to his salvation. He is exhorted to expect to feel his salvation to wait for that, while passively he calls on

« ÎnapoiContinuă »