by E.M. Bounds
“Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
WE are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.” The dispensation that heralded and prepared the way for Christ was bound up in that man John. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” The world’s salvation comes out of that cradled Son. When Paul appeals to the personal character of the men who rooted the gospel in the world, he solves the mystery of their success. The glory and efficiency of the gospel is staked on the men who proclaim it. When God declares that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him,” he declares the necessity of men and his dependence on them as a channel through which to exert his power upon the world. This vital, urgent truth is one that this age of machinery is apt to forget. The forgetting of it is as baneful on the work of God as would be the striking of the sun from his sphere. Darkness, confusion, and death would ensue.
What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use — men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men — men of prayer.
An eminent historian has said that the accidents of personal character have more to do with the revolutions of nations than either philosophic historians or democratic politicians will allow. This truth has its application in full to the gospel of Christ, the character and conduct of the followers of Christ — Christianize the world, transfigure nations and individuals. Of the preachers of the gospel it is eminently true.
The character as well as the fortunes of the gospel is committed to the preacher. He makes or mars the message from God to man. The preacher is the golden pipe through which the divine oil flows. The pipe must not only be golden, but open and flawless, that the oil may have a full, unhindered, unwasted flow.
The man makes the preacher. God must make the man. The messenger is, if possible, more than the message. The preacher is more than the sermon. The preacher makes the sermon. As the life-giving milk from the mother’s bosom is but the mother’s life, so all the preacher says is tinctured, impregnated by what the preacher is. The treasure is in earthen vessels, and the taste of the vessel impregnates and may discolor. The man, the whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows. The sermon is forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is full of the divine unction because the man is full of the divine unction.
Paul termed it “My gospel;” not that he had degraded it by his personal eccentricities or diverted it by selfish appropriation, but the gospel was put into the heart and lifeblood of the man Paul, as a personal trust to be executed by his Pauline traits, to be set aflame and empowered by the fiery energy of his fiery soul. Paul’s sermons — what were they? Where are they? Skeletons, scattered fragments, afloat on the sea of inspiration! But the man Paul, greater than his sermons, lives forever, in full form, feature and stature, with his molding hand on the Church. The preaching is but a voice. The voice in silence dies, the text is forgotten, the sermon fades from memory; the preacher lives.
The sermon cannot rise in its life-giving forces above the man. Dead men give out dead sermons, and dead sermons kill. Everything depends on the spiritual character of the preacher. Under the Jewish dispensation the high priest had inscribed in jeweled letters on a golden frontlet: “Holiness to the Lord.” So every preacher in Christ’s ministry must be molded into and mastered by this same holy motto. It is a crying shame for the Christian ministry to fall lower in holiness of character and holiness of aim than the Jewish priesthood. Jonathan Edwards said: “I went on with my eager pursuit after more holiness and conformity to Christ. The heaven I desired was a heaven of holiness.” The gospel of Christ does not move by popular waves. It has no self-propagating power. It moves as the men who have charge of it move. The preacher must impersonate the gospel. Its divine, most distinctive features must be embodied in him. The constraining power of love must be in the preacher as a projecting, eccentric, an all-commanding, self-oblivious force. The energy of self-denial must be his being, his heart and blood and bones. He must go forth as a man among men, clothed with humility, abiding in meekness, wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove; the bonds of a servant with the spirit of a king, a king in high, royal, in dependent bearing, with the simplicity and sweetness of a child. The preacher must throw himself, with all the abandon of a perfect, self-emptying faith and a self-consuming zeal, into his work for the salvation of men. Hearty, heroic, compassionate, fearless martyrs must the men be who take hold of and shape a generation for God. If they be timid time servers, place seekers, if they be men pleasers or men fearers, if their faith has a weak hold on God or his Word, if their denial be broken by any phase of self or the world, they cannot take hold of the Church nor the world for God.
The preacher’s sharpest and strongest preaching should be to himself. His most difficult, delicate, laborious, and thorough work must be with himself. The training of the twelve was the great, difficult, and enduring work of Christ. Preachers are not sermon makers, but men makers and saint makers, and he only is well-trained for this business who has made himself a man and a saint. It is not great talents nor great learning nor great preachers that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God — men always preaching by holy sermons in the pulpit, by holy lives out of it. These can mold a generation for God.
After this order, the early Christians were formed. Men they were of solid mold, preachers after the heavenly type — heroic, stalwart, soldierly, saintly. Preaching with them meant self-denying, self-crucifying, serious, toilsome, martyr business. They applied themselves to it in a way that told on their generation, and formed in its womb a generation yet unborn for God. The preaching man is to be the praying man. Prayer is the preacher’s mightiest weapon. An almighty force in itself, it gives life and force to all.
The real sermon is made in the closet. The man — God’s man — is made in the closet. His life and his profoundest convictions were born in his secret communion with God. The burdened and tearful agony of his spirit, his weightiest and sweetest messages were got when alone with God. Prayer makes the man; prayer makes the preacher; prayer makes the pastor.
The pulpit of this day is weak in praying. The pride of learning is against the dependent humility of prayer. Prayer is with the pulpit too often only official — a performance for the routine of service. Prayer is not to the modern pulpit the mighty force it was in Paul’s life or Paul’s ministry. Every preacher who does not make prayer a mighty factor in his own life and ministry is weak as a factor in God’s work and is powerless to project God’s cause in this world.
Sign up for free email devotional HERE... The Moments with My Master email is sent out for the edification of the body of Christ.
Apostasy
Beware of the Crown Stealers! [video]

by Glenn and Dezi Langohr
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Revelation 3:11
In the next teaching we are going to go over all of PAUL’S WRITINGS that false teachers manipulate.
False teachers today — OSAS, Hyper-Dispensationalists, Free Gracers, and Pretribbers — are crown stealers . They twist Paul’s writings to promise a salvation that requires no endurance, obedience, or holiness. But Jesus and Paul speak the same Gospel . Jesus warned through parables: some hear the Word with joy but fall away in tribulation ; servants who neglect their calling are cut off ; virgins without oil are shut out of the wedding feast ; unprofitable servants are cast into outer darkness . These mysteries of the Kingdom reveal that salvation is conditional — not “once saved, always saved.”
Paul confirmed the same truth . He warned believers not to believe in vain (1 Cor 15:2), to run the race and fight the good fight of faith (1 Cor 9:24; 1 Tim 6:12), to hold faith with a good conscience or risk shipwreck , and to lay hold of eternal life through endurance. He declared that believers can be cut off if they do not continue in God’s goodness (Rom 11:22). He said Christ could be hindered from being fully formed in the heart (Gal 4:19). He exhorted believers to test themselves to see if they were truly in the faith, warning that without Christ in them, they would be reprobates (2 Cor 13:5). He even named names FOR CAUSING OTHERS TO SHIPWRECK THEIR FAITH LIKE PRETRIBBERS DO— Hymenaeus, Philetus, and Demas FOR FORSAKING PAUL DURING PERSECUTION FOR A LOVE OF THIS PRESENT WORLD — DEMAS was a fellow laborer with Paul so let that sink in. Paul preached the full counsel of God (Acts 20:27), the same Kingdom Gospel Jesus proclaimed, not a new “Paul’s gospel.”
Revelation seals the testimony . Jesus calls His churches to repent, endure, and overcome — warning that names can be blotted from the Book of Life (Rev 3:5) , crowns can be stolen (Rev 3:11) , and lukewarm believers will be rejected (Rev 3:16). Seven blessings are promised to the faithful: eating of the Tree of Life, the crown of life, hidden manna, authority to reign, the first resurrection, entering New Jerusalem, and eternal life with God. But alongside these blessings are terrifying judgments : beast worshippers tormented forever, Babylon’s fall, the great white throne, and the fearful and unbelieving cast into the lake of fire. The conclusion is clear: endure, overcome, hold fast — let no man steal your crown .
Follow the Langohr’s youtube channel here: Jesus Preachers
Support | STORE | Podcasts | Jail/Prison Ministry | Mexico Mission here | All Ministry Updates | Dispensational Theology Exposed | There’s Only One Gospel of Christ! There Heresy of Pauline Gospel Exclusivity Exploded [podcast] | H.O.T. Bible Study [podcast] | Pastors | Prepared to be Used | Satan’s Seminaries | Support | STORE | Podcasts | Eternal Security/OSAS | Accounted Worthy to Escape [podcast] | Eternal Security Exposed | Sealed? | The Return of Christ | Lie of the Ages [podcast] | 10 Questions about Eternal Security | Is Salvation Eternal? | The Damning Myth of Unconditional Eternal Security [podcast] | The Essential of Fearing God | The KING is Coming [podcast] | Asbury Atrocity Exposed



Audios
The Power of His Might Ephesians 6 [podcast]

Ephesians 6:1-2
CHILDREN AND PARENTS; SERVANTS AND MASTERS by FB Meyer
“Where our religion is true, it will affect every relationship in life. The love of Christ must find its manifestation in nursery and in kitchen, in workshop and in municipal chamber. But notice that its duties are reciprocal. We must give on our side, just as we expect others to give on theirs.
The first duty of children is obedience. They must be taught to obey because it is right, and their conscience bears witness to the rightness. Never plead with a child to do what is right, nor bribe it by a reward. Take your stand on that primeval sense of right and wrong, which is the foundation of morals and will be the stay of the child’s whole after-life, when once its supremacy is established. But parents should help their children by removing irritation or passion from their own speech. Slaves formed a large proportion of the early Church. Their obedience must be explicit, and they were taught to believe that Christ took their faithful service to their earthly owner as service to Himself. But masters must ever deal with their servants as liable to be called to account by the great Master of all. The center of all authority is Christ, and He will demand an account of our treatment of every servant He has sent into our homes.”
Charles Pray writes:
“This is the main thing God wants to teach us-that this is a spiritual battle that we fight. You can read in the King James Bible, in 2 Chronicles 20:1-29: “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” Sometimes if we are to succeed and win victory, the Lord has to be the one to fight the battle. This is the way it must be to win the victory over sins. Only through what God has done can we win the victory. We cannot redeem ourselves from our sins. We have no price we can offer. Amen!”
Biblical Duties for Employees/Bosses
The word “purloining” is a King James Bible word that comes to mind….
“Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; 10 Not purloining (stealing), but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” Titus 2:9-10
Greek for “purloining”
G3557
νοσφίζομαι
nosphizomai
nos-fid’-som-ahee
Middle voice from νοσφί nosphi (apart or clandestinely); to sequestrate for oneself, that is, embezzle: – keep back, purloin.
Total KJV occurrences: 3
Purloin
PURLOIN, verb transitive
1. Literally, to take or carry away for one’s self; hence, to steal; to take by theft.
eg: Your butler purloins your liquor.
2. To take by plagiarism; to steal from books or manuscripts.
Where the Real Battle Rages, Ephesians 6:12
The Whole Armor of God
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” Ephesians 6:10-18
In our country, it’s Satan who wants us defenseless – unable to defend ourselves. In spiritual battle, it’s also Satan who wants nothing more than for believers to leave the house every morning without suiting up with the armor of God!
Defensive and Offensive Weaponry
Our military can defensively strike down missiles etc. There are also many offensive weapons which can blow up enemies as is witnessed by the footage of American fighter pilots targeting terrorist operations by strategically firing and perfectly guiding heavy bombs into enemy targets…buildings. etc.
Hebrews 4:12:
The Word of God, “the sword of the Spirit” is divinely powerful, bringing great destruction (Jer 23:29; 2 Cor 10:3-5); bringing offensive weapons for the inner man (John 15:3; Eph 5:26); and for evangelism) Lk 8:11; 1 Pet 1:23; Is 55:11).
Ephesians Narrated | Bible Books Narrated | Hundreds of Scripture-Rich edifying audios here.
Support | STORE | Podcasts | Jail/Prison Ministry | Mexico Mission here | All Ministry Updates | Because You Care Page | The Greatest of these is Charity | Be Ready in the Morning [podcast] | The Sure Mercies of David [podcast] | That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be Preached [podcast] | At His Feet | Prepared to be Used of God | Walking with Jesus on His Stated Terms – the Cross | Fasting and Prayer | The Old Man Must be Put Down [podcast] | The 5 Sins That Keep God’s People Out of Their Promised Land [podcast] | What Did Paul Mean by “I Keep Under My Body”? [podcast] | “Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith” [podcast] | A Living Sacrifice unto God [podcast] | Departing from Hell Beneath | Prayer



Articles
Prepared and Powerful [podcast]

“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and
over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down,
and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to
plant.” Jeremiah 1:10
God has a plan to remove that which does not belong in you
and to establish what does.
- “to root out” (destructive)
- “to pull down” (destructive)
- “to destroy” (destructive)
- “to throw down” (destructive)
- “to build” (constructive)
- “to plant” (constructive)
When Jesus cleansed the temple, after rooting out the evil, He then installed the purity, prayer, praise, and power (Matthew 21; John 2).
God has His order. One thing comes before the other.
Those who submit to death and burial, stripping, will be blessed to be prepared, raised up…..
Root out, pull down – high and low, God’s wants to rid us of the things that do not glorify Him.
2/3rds – Death, burial, then resurrection. As is the case throughout Holy Scripture, the cross is represented here… and then the resurrection. The divine cross economy is represented here. First we must be dead and buried and then the resurrection. Romans 6 He breaks us down before building us up.
I must be dead and buried with Christ in order to then be raised up by Christ.
“Our old man needs demolished! It cannot be reformed! Its whole foundation is rotten! God says it must be plucked up by the roots. Pulled down, destroyed, thrown out! Then He comes in and builds a new foundation. (1 Corinthians 3:11, Col 2:7). Otherwise our foundation is made of only sinking sand! And great will be the fall (Matthew 7:24-27).” Karen Cochran
The Cross Economy Pattern Seen throughout Holy Scripture
“But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10
“Tried” – death and burial
“come forth as gold” – resurrection
God has to do a work in us before He can do a work through us.
Joseph
David
Isaiah
Peter
Paul
John
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:19-22
Jesus had to first be crucified on the cross and buried before the Father raised Him up in resurrection victory. The resurrection is God’s answer to death and burial. The must be a death and burial before there can be a resurrection.
“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:6-10
Read Psalms 51 prayerfully.
WHEN the Word is flowing in and through your life like a river, it will cleanse like a river! A full-scale embarking on studying and walking in God’s Word will cleanse you and establish you in divine truth!
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Psalms 1:2-3
Dabbling in the Word is like a mere trickle in contrast to devouring His Word daily and having His fountain of living waters flowing into your vessel, your life.
“Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Psalms 92:13
God is working in the hearts and lives of each of His people and He requires and expects our personal participation. He has to root things out of us, every one of us, before He begins building and planting in us. Get to know Jeremiah 1:10 closely. “LORD change me” is a great daily prayer.
We didn’t make up the terms. GOD did. We repent and obey or perish. Be engaged in His plan to cleanse you.
Those who are submitted to God truly are bowing down in death and burial and about the Father’s business.
“All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:8-14
If you are not about the Father’s business of the Great Commission, it’s because you are not choosing to be truly submitted to the LORD.
Prayer: Holy Father, I ask You to change me. Do Your deeper work in my life. Here this moment I lay my life in Your hands. Have Your way dear LORD. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Support | STORE | Podcasts | Jail/Prison Ministry | Mexico Mission here | All Ministry Updates | The Return of Christ | Stewardship | Apostate Modern Church Exposed | Beware of the BUZZ WORD Bandits [podcast] | Preach the Word | Wolves Exposed | Giving | Fellowship | Christology = the Study of Christ




-
America6 months ago
The Drugging of America: The Pharmakeia Sorcery Deception [podcast]
-
Articles2 years ago
Children being Rescued in Tunnels: Happening Now – UPDATE!
-
Articles7 years ago
Self-Examination in Preparation for the Lord’s Return
-
Apostasy2 years ago
SHOCKING List of False Prophets Most Believe are True