Been too busy to write because I had to keep up with my reading, as well as it being the school holidays (spending more time with the kids) and certain other obligations (which has finally been sent to the printers - Yay!). This CNY has been a very nice relaxing day of doing one of my favourite activities - transcribing Paris Reidhead's sermons!
This is Part 3 of the series "Evidences of Eternal Life" - Loving One's Brother.
Download the mp3 file: Evidences of Eternal Life - 03 - Loving One's Brother by Paris ReidheadWill you turn, please, to First John? I would like, very much, to have you follow as I read several scriptures there. It's most important that we understand the Word of God is the Scriptures; what God said. And the message, at the most, is what the speaker thinks God meant. And if you have to remember one or the other, always remember the Scripture, because that's what God said.
Now I have three portions today dealing with our theme "Evidences of Eternal Life". Number 3 - if you've followed the suggestions I've made, you've put a "1" in front of 1 John 1:6 - that's the first evidence. And you've put a "2" in 1 John 2:3 - the second evidence. Now I'm asking you to put three "3"s, and you'll notice why, understand why, after I've finished reading.
I begin with 1 John 2:9-11: "He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."
So I suggest you put the first "3" opposite the 9th verse.
The second portion is 1 John 3:11-19: "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's were righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you."
And then I put a "3" (I have) just opposite verse 14: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him."
And now to 1 John 4:20-21. And I would put the third "3" just opposite verse 20: "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this is the commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."
The importance of loving one's brotherMust be very important, that God should have moved upon John by the Holy Ghost to give us those three passages in this very short letter. Now, you see, the apostle's argument is clear - we've seen it in these last two services. Since God is light, to the exclusion of all darkness, then fellowship with darkness excludes fellowship with God. I want you to hear that. I want you to get hold of that. Since God is light, to the exclusion of all darkness, then fellowship with darkness excludes fellowship with God.
Since God loved the world (the second of his arguments is) and gave His Son, His Son loved the world and gave himself to the death of the cross, all who are born of Him and thus become partakers of His love and grace will love God's will as it's revealed in the commandments. I closed yesterday with a quotation from John Wesley. It's John Wesley who said: "The commandment of the sinner - "Thou SHALT NOT" - becomes the promise to the saint - "THOU shalt not". The emphasis makes all the difference. You see, the saint wants to obey God, and the sinner hates the infringement of his rights and privileges - he views them as God's commandments imposed upon him.
And the third argument is, since being and abiding in the light requires loving one's brother, he that hateth his brother is in darkness and abides in death. That's the third principle that we're dealing with.
Now, if truth were confined to language and not to be exhibited in life, then when you said the word, you've performed the act. But, you see, the profession of life in Christ involves the obligation to live and to walk in accordance with that profession. Obedience, not words or feelings, is the test of union with Christ. Those are important to you. You've got to understand it. Now you see why it's so important.
Bring them to the Word!Here is this friend, a neighbour that's come to you and said: "I'm not sure I'm a child of God. Please help me." Now of course what they'd like is for you to give them assurance. But if you give it to them and they lose it, then you're obligated to go back and give them another dose. They have a right to sort of come, cling to you like an oyster does to a rock. You gave it to them, and they lose it, well, that's your responsibility.
But if you bring them to the Word, and the Spirit of God works in the Word, into their heart to show them where they are… that's not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to bring them the Word. Your responsibility is to pray for them, not to give them assurance. You're to bring them up… you know, it's not the doctors' and the nurses' responsibility to, for the tuberculosis that's shown, when they stand up in front of the fluoroscope or the xray machine, all they're doing is just bringing the person to the place where they can discover what their true condition is.
And so when you bring someone to the Word of God, and they stand before that Word, and God begins to work in their heart, you're performing the greatest service that you can. It's important for you, in doing that, to understand that death and life are two very distinct territories, or states, or kingdoms, if you wish.
The kingdom of deathWhat is the state of death? We've got to go back to Ephesians 2:1-4 in order to understand what the Scripture teaches regarding this territory, this state, this kingdom, this place where darkness reigns, where the God of this world controls. "And you," said the apostle, writing to that church in Ephesus, "who were dead in trespasses and sins, who walked according to the course of this world, according to prince and the powers of the air, that same spirit which now works in the children of disobedience, among whom we all had our manner of life in times past, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
Now that's the territory, the state, the kingdom of death, ruled over by the god of this world, the prince of this world, the prince of darkness. In the Bible, death always implies separation, not annihilation. The person who's dead in his tresspasses and sins is geographically just as close to God as the most devout believer. You see, when Paul, on Mars Hill, made that declaration that "in Him (in God) we live and we move and have our being," he was making a statement so profound in its implications that it's been easy to overlook. It's hard for us to realize, isn't it? That God was just as near to Hitler with all of his brutalities, as he was to the most devout believer that you've known? True. And you name any other person in history, and it was equally true.
Death is separationYou see, "dead in trespasses and sins" does not mean that there's been an annihilation of the capacities of that individual. Now we've so often taught, I guess, and preached about the effects of sin, that we've almost given the impression that to be dead in trespasses and sins makes a human being something of a sub-species to the human family, as though there's been an annihilation of certain capacities. I've used the illustration in the past, I think it's appropriate today: You go to put on your radio or your television set, and nothing happens. And someone says: "What's the matter?" And you reply: "Well, the set seems to be dead!"
Now what does that mean? That overnight, or the period since you last used it, that all of those intricate little pieces and parts inside the box have turned to rust and to dust, and they've just sort of been annihilated? Is that what it means? No, not at all. It just means that something is disconnected. Something is not operating. Maybe it's just a loose wire or some wire that's been disconnected or broken. Whatever it is, it has the effect that that which was invented or manufactured to pick the sound (and in the case of the television, the picture) out of the air, and make it available to you - it isn't working. It's dead. There's a separation somewhere in it, and it doesn't function. And so with people. Those that are dead in trespasses and sins are those who have committed their will, made the supreme choice of their life to please themselves. And as long as that choice prevails, God will not reveal Himself to them. Their receiving set is dead.
You know we have three different atmospheres in which we live. We have the atmosphere of air, and the receiving set of our lungs, that we take through mouth or nostril. We have an atmosphere of sound and the receiving set is our ears. We have an atmosphere of electronic impulse, and the receiving set is the radio or the television set. Well, there's a third atmosphere, and that atmosphere of God, and the receiving set is the human spirit. But in the traitor and the rebel and the anarchist, it isn't operating. It's disconnected. We say it's dead.
Now, in repentance and in saving faith, that is reconnected, and the first broadcast that one gets is from the antenna of Calvary that you can call Almighty God "Abba, Father." The witness of the Spirit. But you've got to understand that in this kingdom of death, this kingdom of this world, this kingdom controlled by Sata, there is no contact with God, though they're close to God geographically. All the control that's brought about is brought about by the prince of this world, the god of darkness, Satan.
Well, if we understand the state of death, and we understand that those that are in this kingdom walk according to the prince and the power of the air, then we realize how important it is that those who name the name of Christ should indeed have been born into the family of God. Otherwise, what you're going to have in the church are people that are still under the control of Satan, claiming to be the children of God. And the book of Revelation tells us about that. It says that they "claim to have life but have not, and are of the synagogue of Satan." So you can see how very important this is to God.
Light vs darknessNow, against the kingdom of darkness is the kingdom of light. In Colossians 1:12-13 we read: "Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Translated into the kingdom of his dear Son. Now can you see the grave implications, the dangerous implications? If those who are still walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air, somehow sneak into the church? Fifth columnists for hell?
You can see the danger that that's gonna do. You see the effect that it's going to have in the long term. True believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, those that have eternal life, have chosen to leave the realm of darkness. They have renounced the prince of this world. They have committed themselves to the Prince and the Author of life; to the Lord Jesus Christ. In His kingdom, all is liberty and happiness. In Satan's kingdom, all is bondage and misery. In Christ's kingdom, all is life and love - universally prevalent, in everyone that's there. In Satan's kingdom, all is death and hatred.
So it's a great contrast between these two kingdoms. Now, the hallmark, that mark of genuineness, that mark that can't be imitated… You know, there was a time, another century, when anything that was made in metal or glass had to be stamped in the material, so people could collect glass and could collect certain metal items, and could know that they had antiques. But, a few decades ago, a law here in this country was changed. And all they had to do was put a sticker on the bottom of the piece of glass that looked like an antique, made as an imitation of an antique. Well, a great many unsuspecting people bought what they thought was an antique for antique prices, only to find that what they had were Japanese imitations, that had come into this country with a sticker on the bottom, that could be washed off, and even though because it wasn't truly an antique.
The hallmark of a Christian - loving one's brotherNow, in days gone by, perhaps in the New Testament, there was a mark of genuineness. I'm afraid we've been willing to have a little sticker put on to those that come now, and if they know the plan of salvation and say certain words, we're prepared to accept them. But I think we've still got to go recognize that the hallmark of true and real citizens of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ hasn't been changed. It's still there. This is how one knows about himself. "We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." There's the hallmark. That can't be imitated. That can't be put on. And this is how you discern others and verify their claims to be part of the kingdom of Christ. "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
Recently a situation developed with some associates of mine, about one of whom a statement was made by a very active church member. He said: "If this proves to be what I think it is, I am going to kill that person! They don't want to go out in the dark, they don't want to turn their back, they'll want eyes in the back of their head, because if it's what I think it is, I will kill him!" And it was one professing Christian speaking about another. And they didn't seem to think there was anything wrong about it. But the Scripture says, "He that hates his brother is a murderer." And you know that a murderer does not have eternal life abiding in him.
Now this is a mark of genuineness, and so it is more than just words, it's more than just a verse of Scripture. God says that loving our brethren has to be in reality. He says this in a very precise way. Our concern for our brethren has to be practical as well as emotional. You know that first and great commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind and soul and (elsewhere) with strength. And thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself." We've used, as a definition of love there, because it is in the imperative mood, and our emotions are not under the control of our will, that this love, so commanded, has to be "a committal of the will to seek the highest good and blessedness and joy and happiness and well being and fulfillment and satisfaction of God, and of our neighbours."
What it means to love your neighbourAnd so I can put it this way: There are certain things you have a right to want. You should be… it says to love thy neighbour as thyself. There are certain things that you have a right to want. And want for you, because you're important to God, and God loves you. That's the measure of the love of your neighbour. You know, if you hate yourself, I just I'm never forced to be your neighbour, because, according to the Scripture, it might be worked out that you could treat me the way you treat you, and that might not be so comfortable. No, I suggest that we understand that there are certain things that it's appropriate for you to want for you. You ought to want to live in an environment where law prevails - not the law of a gun on your hip, but where there are courts by which contracts can be enforced, and agreements can be maintained.You ought to want to have the fruit of your labour, some portion of it, at least, that the IRS will let you keep, that you can dispose of as you wish, as you see fit. You ought to want to be able to develop your potential, to have an opportunity for education. You ought to want to have an income sufficient so you can live with a measure of dignity, make contribution to those institutions you consider important, and to help get the message of God's redeeming love out to the ends of the earth. You ought to want to opportunity to use your skill and talent where you think it will be to the best advantage for you and yours and others. All these are right. Make that list as long as you want it. Put into it everything you think is right, everything that you think you can have without robbing God, and ensuring that God gets the glory out of your life He deserves, without robbing your neighbour. You see, when you've made this list of things you feel you are entitled to, and you have a right to want, and you put your name at the bottom, you're obligated to put my name right under it. I'm your neighbour. Or anyone else, you see. What you want for you, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." And if you are committed to seek the highest good and blessedness and happiness and well being of yourself with respect and concern for that same interest on the part of God, you must have it also for your neighbour. And so he is making it quite clear that to love our brethren is to be practical, not just emotional.
Love in practiceIf you're not willing to divide your bread with the hungry, do you think there's much possibility that you're going to be willing to lay down your life for the brethren, if you aren't willing to lay down some of your bread for them? The Scripture's pretty clear, isn't it? Gives you a little test. You see your brother hungry, and you go, you say: "Be warmed, be clothed, be fed…" How does the love of God dwell in that man?
Now this is a very practical test that we've been born of God. Whatsoever love we may profess for people is proven to be a lie if we're not charitable and benevolent and concerned and willing to the degree that we're able to bear one another's burdens. If we shut out concern for the poor, then we shut Christ out of our hearts, and we shut ourselves out of heaven. It's that simple. It's what the Word says. I didn't write it. You have this world's good, the means of life in this world, and if we refuse to care, we demonstrate that we are not His. Isn't that interesting? Very very simple. Can I go back? Now look, I didn't write it. I'm only trying to tell you what Scripture says. And the Scripture says that love for brethren is to be in deed and truth, not just in word: "Be warmed, be clothed, be fed," means nothing when the person to whom you say that has not the means of being warmed and clothed and fed. And it's therefore our responsibility.
You know, it's quite amazing to me. Who's our neighbour? Who are our brothers? Back when my ancestors came into Minneapolis - wasn't Minneapolis, it was Saint Anthony - and they could have homesteaded where Seventh and Hamilton and Nicola's is, but with great foresight, they said: "Hmm, that's too far from the water, from the river." So they went five miles up the river to 55th and Lyndale and homesteaded there. It's hard to forgive them, but we've done it, by dint of sheer effort. The fact of the matter is that there were reasons for wanting to be close to the river - it was a highway. And north of 55th, where the Reidheads from Maine settled, there was Aham Cooker and his wife Esther, and then there was my grandfather, and from Lyndale back to Logan, and from 55th to 57th was all Reidhead homestead, or Redihead family homestead.
On the other side, southside of 55th, the Perkins settled. One one occasion, they looked across, and they saw that over on the south side of 55th, they opened the shutter in the loghouse, the first they had, looked across and there, the Perkins house was on fire. Now, you see, they were neighbours. Later my father married Ruby Perkins across the road (but that was much later), but here's what I'm trying to have you understand: Because they could open the shutter and could see across the road, and see the smoke and the flame and see the fire, the people over on the north side of the 55th had to go down and help the people on the south side of the 55th, because there weren't any fire departments, and the only one that could help were the neighbours. And who's the neighbour? The person who sees the need! That's who your neighbour is. The person whose need you see.
I was sitting in our living room one day, watching a news broadcast from Guatemala. And they were telling about the earthquake occurring in Guatemala. And it showed some mud, showed some wrecked buildings behind. And the camera started to tilt, and the mud had started to run, and the excited reporter said: "Oh, there's another tremblor! It's going again!" And here, sitting in my living room, I could see an earthquake shaking down the houses and frightening the mothers with their children down in Guatemala! Oh, don't you see the strategy of God? He put that funny little box in the living room, and you know what it did? It became a window on the world. And it made you neighbour to everyone who breathes the breath of human life.
That's what it did. Made you neighbour to the world, because it put a window on the world right there where you could see it. That person who's been born of God, who's passed from death unto life, is going to feel the same way about those in distant lands as he feels about his brother in the flesh, and his neighbours and those that are one with him in Christ. Because when God brings us out of death into life, from the kingdom of death and darkness and hatred into the kingdom of light and life and love, then those that are members of that kingdom are going to feel about it the way the King feels. And He loved the world and gave Himself for it. And you find someone who names the name of Christ, and I care not how much theology he can recite - he may have memorised all of Berkhof and Shedd and Hodge, and give them all the same way a tape recorder would, that you had read those books into, but if he doesn't have a heart of compassion for the lost and those that have never heard the name of Christ, how does the love of God dwell in such a person? How much theology does it take to exchange for the love of God shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost? There isn't any exchange that rational men could make. Now he that hateth his brother is a murderer. And to see a brother's need and not to care is to designate one to be dead in trespasses and sin.
What is this love we're to have to our brethren? Well, we've already defined it. Love is a supreme choice of the life to seek, the full commitment of the will to bring the greatest good and blessing and happiness to God and to all men. And, in contrast, hatred is the decision of the will, a choice of the life, to bring harm and happiness lost and pain. Not necessarily by a direct choice, but by a choice that withholds the means by which those that are in need might be helped. Now love is love, and hate is hate, and between these two there is no mutual ground. If you can suppose for a moment that hatred is compatible with light and life and love, it just proves that, as far as you're concerned, you would still be dead in your trespasses and sins.
The third evidenceAnd so, the question you want to ask, when you're bringing someone through the Scripture, and you come to this number "3": How do you feel about your brother in the flesh? How do you feel about your brethren in the Lord? How do you feel about the neighbours in the block where you live, in the town where you reside, in the state where you're a citizen, and the world. What's your concern? What's your measure of burden?
For years I was Deputation Secretary of Sudan Interior Mission, and had the privilege of going into many many Southern Baptist churches and talking to them about missions. At that time I could say that the Southern Baptists gave, on an average, three quarters of a stick of gum per member per week, for foreign missions. You know something? Since gum has become twenty five cents a package, that's still true. Hasn't changed. Price of gum's gone up, and the amount of giving has gone up just about to keep pace with the price of gum, so we could almost say today, that evangelicals as a whole across America (and that includes the Charismatics), give about three quarters of a stick of gum per member per week, for foreign missions. That doesn't really represent what I would call a great degree of love for our neighbours who've never heard the name of Christ.
Why do you say that? Well, because, you see, among that number, there are some who give generously. Some who give because of a great love and longing and burden, who understand something about it. If you are talking to someone who's not sure they are a child of God, if they profess to have entered the company of those who are alive in Christ, but as they come to the Scriptures, these three "3"s we've marked, and the Spirit of God comes to them and tells them: "Now this is you, you've demonstrated no love and no compassion and no concern for your brethren," - don't try to talk them out of it. Let them just be there under the light of the Word of God, because it's God's means of trying to bring them out of death into life.
Salvation is a personNow, I go back to what I said yesterday. Salvation is not a plan. Salvation is not a scheme of doctrine. Salvation is not a list of Scripture verses. Salvation is not something that's performed upon you by religious people. Salvation is not a decision. Salvation is a person! The Lord Jesus Christ. And thus Paul, in 2 Cor 13:5, said: "Examine yourself, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own self. Know you not your own self how that Christ be in you, except you be reprobate?"
Do you not understand, that when the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of God, the life-giving Holy Ghost, comes into your life to bring life, that it is going to be consistent with Himself? And that it's going to be manifest in your life? And thus it is that we have here in v 14 - "We know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
Mrs CorticampWhen I became Deputation Secretary for the Sudan Interior Mission, the one I was assigned to work with was Harold B Street, who lived here in Minneapolis, and I had the privilege of travelling with him for several weeks, to find out how he conducted Bible and Missionary Conferences. And in the course of assisting him and learning from him, he told, on occasion, about various people whom God had touched through that ministry. I'd been a missionary in the Sudan in the company of our field director, we'd gone down along the Sudan-Ethiopian border, we'd seen several tribes that had not had any contact with the Gospel, and we decided that we were going to try to open just a small station in the Abus river area, so that we could reach about three small fragment tribes - there weren't more than a thousand people in the area, but three little tribes that had been decimated over the years. There was a 98% incidence of venereal disease among the people, and we knew there would be only a short time till the tribes were exterminated. And so a letter went back to the home office in New York: "We need $2500 to build two small houses for two families to begin a work among these three tribes of the Abus river."
Well then, by return mail, a cheque came back for $2500, and it said: "Donor: Mrs Corticamp." I didn't know anything about it, other than we had $2500 and Sam Burns went out there and then Chuck Goose came to join him and they started the mission station there. But while I was with Harold Street here in deputation work, he told about Mrs Corticamp. She and her husband had been farmers down in George, Iowa. They'd had a good Iowa farm, and they'd been successful. Back there, some years ago, when the price of land went up, they were able to get a buyer who wanted to buy their farm for somewhere between eight hundred and a thousand dollars an acre, which was a lot of money then. So they sold the farm, they bought a nice house in George on an elm-lined street, put the money in the hands of their banker to invest for them, and they would live off the proceeds. They were going to sit down and say: "Soul, take thy ease."
The banker came and told what he'd done with the money and they all were pleased. One night they went to bed quite wealthy by Iowa standards, and the next day they woke up to the shocking news that the Samuel Insull empire had collapsed, and all the money they had had been in Samuel Insull stocks and bonds, and all the money they now had was the house they owned free and clear, and less than $1500 in their checking account. Mr Corticamp went to bed that day. Less than six weeks later he had died and was buried - just had no heart to live. Mrs Corticamp didn't have the luxury of doing that - she had to take care of him, and she had to live, and so she decided that she would open her home. She had three bedrooms, she'd bring three public school teachers in, she'd give them board and room. And she curtained off one of the rooms, the old dining room - closed the doors, curtained it off, she stayed there, and she made the living room into a living room / dining room, and there she fed the teachers. And, after two or three years of this, SIM had a conference down at Spirit Lake, Iowa. And notice of it came to Mrs Corticamp, and she went out. At the end of the week she came to Mr Street, she said: "Mr Street, God has burdened me to sell my house, and build a mission station in Nigeria to give the Gospel to 500,000 people you've told about."
"Well, Mrs Corticamp, you can't do that! This is all your living, you can't…"
"Mr Street, you're the servant of God, and if God tells me to give the money, and to give it through you, you're going to build that station. Now don't argue with me."
About three months later he got a cheque for $5000 to build a station. And the station was built in Nigeria, to give the Gospel to 500,000 people. Two years later, she came back to the Bible Conference at Spirit Lake, and she said to Mr Street as she sent the cheque: "Oh, isn't it marvellous? Not only have I got to build a station, but Oak Hills Fellowship up at Bemidji, Larry asked and invited me to come up and be their laundress. And so I got an opportunity to be a missionary! I'm going to be the laundress at Oak Hills!"
And she said, "Now, Mr Street, I'm like Sapphira, I kept back part of the price, in case I got sick, and I just feel if I keep it, I'm going to use it that way, so I just want to have you build a half a station in the Sudan, I've been reading about that." And that's the money we got to build the station.
I was telling this in New Jersey, and when I finished, I stepped down the platform, and a gentleman came, to stand beside me, waited till I was finished talking to other people, and he said: "Brother Reidhead, you only know part of the story about Mrs Corticamp."
"Well," I said, "tell me the other part."
He said, "Yes, it's true, she's a laundress, but she's more than that. You know, up in Bemidji, there's a lot of what we call, some call, 'jack pine savages'. Make their living off a deer and blueberries and it's pretty meagre. Sometimes the men will leave and try to get a job in Twin Cities. Mrs Corticamp has gotten together clothes for all ages of children, and she's gotten sheets and bedding and clothes for women, and her boys, and she darns them. She not only launders them, but she darns them and she stored them. Some time ago, a call came in about a family out there where the father had gone to look for work, and hadn't found any, and the family didn't have any money, and the mother was sick and the children were sick, and we told Mrs Corticamp, she heard about it and she came to me and I was the only one there, to take her and she said, "Now I'll get everything ready," she got boxes of clothes and boxes of bedding and she got a big hot canister with soup and food and her mops and her soap, and she said, "Now, I got everything done here - take me out and come and get me Monday morning." That was Friday afternoon. She went in, she changed the bed and bathed the mother and gave her the medicine that would relieve some of her discomfort, and she cared for the children, she bathed them, she changed their bed, she mopped the floor, she served them all a hot meal, and when she'd done all of that, she sat down by the bed, she said: "I'm not a missionary, I'm just a laundress, but I want to tell you about Jesus, and what He's done for me, and what He'll do for you.""
By this time this tall, dignified man has tears running down his cheeks. What's he saying? "Brother Reidhead, she isn't a missionary, she's a laundress. But she's led more people to Christ in our area than any of our missionaries have. You see, she loves God, and she loves people."
Listen to it: "We know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren."
Closing prayerFather of Jesus, grant that the Spirit of God will apply the Word to our hearts and to our lives. That we'll realize, fresh and new, what it means to have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of They dear Son. In his name and for His sake, we ask it. Amen.
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