“I know that,” he said; “he died in my stead. Many a man will sell his reputation, his home, his wife, his children, everything he has, for rum. This is likely why D. L. Moody never advanced beyond the fifth grade; however, at age 17, Moody began a short but successful career selling shoes. “I am glad.” There I first found Christ, and I have often said since: Unbelief is telling God He is a liar. A little child is the most dependent thing on earth. “Can you read?” Choose Book of Bible to StudyGenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SolomonIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Search Wikipedia using spiritual discretion, Anecdotes and Illustrations-Dwight L. Moody, Anecdotes, Incidents and Illustrations-D L Moody, One Thousand and One Thoughts from My Library-D L Moody. I have an idea that when we get to heaven, or into eternity, we will find that recording angel has been ourselves. In our army in the Civil War there were some whose presence sent a cheer all along the line. Why don’t some of these merchants say: “If God is going to make me a successful merchant in Chicago, I will be one whether I like it or not, and if He isn’t I won’t.” There is an old fable that a doe that had but one eye used to graze near the sea; and in order to be safe, she kept her blind eye toward the water, from which side she expected no danger, while with the good eye she watched the country. When He enlists a man in His service, He shows him the dark side; He lets him know that he must live a life of self-denial. Pastor Kirk emphasized the sinfulness of man and man’s inability to save himself. Christians should live in the world, but not be filled with it. result is lack of power in testimony and work. When you come and say you are not fit, haven’t got good clothes, haven’t got righteousness enough to be a Christian, remember that Christ will furnish you with the uniform of heaven, and you will be set down at the marriage feast of the Lamb. The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.”. If you are slave to some vile habit, you must either slay that habit, or it will slay you. Let a covetous person see something that he desires very much; let an opportunity of taking it be offered; how very soon he will break through the shell and come out in his true character as a thief.” The Greek word translated “covetousness” means—an inordinate desire of getting. Good-bye, Lord Jesus Christ!” The young man said: “No; but my father and grandfather and myself were brought up infidels, and for the last two or three years this thought has been haunting me, ‘Where shall I spend eternity?’ And the thought of it follows me day and night.” “Well,” replied the gentleman, “I have been sitting under your preaching for five years, and when you said that a thing in the Bible was not authentic, I cut it out.” The idea that the God who made the ass couldn’t speak through his mouth! “Charlie, do you know what that word means?” I was once preaching in Chicago, and a woman who was nearly out of her mind came to me. It is the old power that the apostles had. I know a man who used to be the terror of his neighborhood. “Yes,” he said, “and a curious thing happened that night; this hymn recalled it to my mind. It is the same with the Sun of Righteousness. I’ve got one man in my mind now who ruined nearly all the sons in his neighborhood. That was the big thing, you know. That is a mother’s love! A man was taken into one of our insane asylums a few years ago from one of the Western cities. Go to the nearest town and get all the food you want.” “Look here,” they said, “you didn’t die; you must have got some one to go for you; it must have been your substitute.” That is what people do who criticise. Cut the cord! “Opportunity,” was the reply. “Well,” she said, “my father was a doctor, and had a large practice, and he used to get so tired that he used to take us to the theater. When they were talking a young man from the high school came up the street, and this boy walked away from his mother. “What day’s to-morrow?” he would ask. “Well, I don’t know.” Hudson Taylor Links. The idea of a number of men standing there singing, “Come! I said to a man one day: Sixty years gone, millions of money, and in a mad-house; and he died there. You may be a Pharisee; if so, turn to the third chapter of John, and see what Christ said to the Pharisee: “Except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” But you may say: “I am not a Pharisee; I am a poor, miserable sinner, too bad to come to Him.” Well, turn to the woman of Samaria, and see what Christ said to her. I didn’t understand it. He accepted Christ, and that man came to the station when I was coming away and blessed me for coming to that place. pretty!” But he began to cry, and I could not convince him that he was dirty. Is this illness to prove serious?” Said he: “Oh, Mr. Moody, it has been the most wretched day in my life.” “Do you know where the snags and sand-bars are?” He didn’t worship God, but he worshiped that boy. He is the author of it, and we find our joy in Him. Unity is one thing that we must have if we are to have the Holy Spirit of God to work in our midst. They had just come to a place where there was a fork in the road, and there was a sign-post which read, “Forty miles to Liberty.” “Next day?” Moody, if you knew me, you would understand. When the neighbors found out that the Arnot children could not climb trees, they began to tell them about the wonderful things they could see from the tops of the trees. “Mr. “Willie, jump.” While he was sleeping his child had wandered over the precipice. One day he saw an officer riding by. “Well, I’m afraid I haven’t got much up there.” As soon as she got home, she sent some flowers out of her garden. With out this power, our work will be drudgery. When the meeting broke up, an officer was at the door to arrest him. That man has set out a hundred trees, and you have set out only ten. So off he ran to watch for me. You know we were accustomed to hear the fire-bell often, and it didn’t disturb us much when it sounded. He picked up the Bible, and laid it on the table. “Oh, no,” said I, “it is going to last forever.” Why, it is salvation by doubts nowadays, instead of by faith; there are so few that dare to say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth; I know in whom I have believed.” We find most Christians nowadays shivering and trembling from head to foot—they do not know whether they are saved or not. I was preaching in Chicago to a hall full of women one Sunday afternoon, and after the meeting was over a lady came to me and said she wanted to talk to me. The religion that has no fire is like painted fire. This was her eldest son, and I thought that he was going to redeem the whole family. A mere knowledge of the historical events of Christ’s life, or a simple intellectual assent to His teachings and His mission, will be of no help in a man’s life unless he adds to them a trustful surrender to the Lord’s loving kindness. He was very anxious that all his employés should be reached, and he used to send them one by one to the meetings. The first game of chance; the first betting transaction; the first false entry in the books; the first quarter-dollar taken from the cash-box or the till; the first night spent in evil company—either of these may prove the turning-point; either of these may represent a wrong start. But day after day the grace of God had been granted to him, and when I was in his chamber it seemed as if I was as near heaven as I could get on earth. He has given us the privilege of drawing on Him day by day—not “forty days after sight.” There is plenty of grace in the bank of heaven; we need not be afraid of its becoming exhausted. “Easily enough,” I replied; “I just telegraphed on before that I was coming, to have a room ready for me.” “Well,” I said, “when the Holy Spirit kindles love in your heart, you can not help loving God; it will be spontaneous.” I have kept my eye on him. A party of gentlemen in Scotland wanted to get some eggs from a nest on the side of a precipice, and they tried to persuade a poor boy that lived near to go over and get them, saying they would hold him by a rope. The teacher readily put down “gold,” and they all comprehended it, for all had run to that country in hope of finding it. “I have been near You for ten years. They had Egyptians who could be as eloquent as Moses. I think he would turn me out.” One day the two sisters were together, and the other said, “Now what have you got at those meetings that you didn’t have in the first place?” “Yes; there are some things in the Bible not very plain, I admit; but the seventh commandment is very plain.”. The father was quite grieved and shocked. Are there not many who have become alienated from the Church of God and from the house of the Lord, who are forming an attachment to the saloon? I said, “Suppose we write upon that board some of the earthly treasures? “Well, I want it; but I’d like to give you something for it. come! “Here, mother, here is the prize! A friend of mine went to teach in Natchez before the war. I suppose they missed the tenderness and love of the mother. He took a chestnut leaf and told me to put my tongue to it. “Bless the Lord, I am so full of joy!” All its resources are in its parents’ love; all it can do is to cry; and its necessities explain the meaning to the mother’s heart. Their voice was like the air—there wasn’t any power back of it; they trusted in their eloquence and their fine speeches. So we, if we want to rise nearer heaven, must just throw out some of the sand, and cast aside every weight. He opened it, went down, and found the miser lying dead on the ground, in the midst of his riches. Why have you planted all of these trees without roots?” In giving his testimony, he said he had been in the habit of attending church for a great many years, but he could not say that he had really heard a sermon all the time. The Life & Times of D. L. Moody. “Many conversions?” “Ah,” said my friend, “but you’ve got to die, to leave this world; what will you take with you of all these things? In fact we might add lying, and make them triplets. The dying man sprang up from his cot, and said, “What do you say? Some say, “Hitch on, hitch on”; others, “Cut behind, cut behind.” The hitch-on people fill the churches, and the cut-behind ones empty them. That great Christian leader, the late Rev. God has put salvation so simply that young and old, wise and foolish, rich and poor, can all believe if they will. When he got to the meeting, they were singing the chorus of a hymn: Come! If his heart is in lands, it won’t be long before he’s talking about real estate, improvements, houses, and so on. Down in the valley a terrible storm raged; they could hear the thunder rolling, and see the lightning’s flash; but all was serene on the mountain top. Out in the Western country, in the autumn, when men go hunting, and there has not been any rain for months, sometimes the prairie grass catches fire, and there comes up a very strong wind, and the flames just roll along twenty feet high, and travel at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour, consuming man and beast. I tell you he is not fit to preach the Word of God. That’s just the way with many who are striving to enter the kingdom of heaven. I got those two rum-sellers down on their knees, one on one side of me and the other on the other side, and I prayed God to save their souls and smite their business. What is the matter with my Christianity?” “No; I can’t tell. One night they came home and told him that a chum of his own, a member of the university, had stood up and confessed Christ, and when he sat down his brother got up and confessed; and so with the third one. If a boy should come down the aisle, bringing a good pail full of clear water and a dipper, we would soon find out who was thirsty. He said “Take,” and I took. Never! Sometimes I feel as if I would rather be the mother of John Wesley or Martin Luther or John Knox than have all the glories in the world. I tell you the true sheep know a true shepherd. Covetousness and stealing are almost like Siamese twins—they go together so often. It’s yours. We see very few illuminated Christians now. come!” Suppose that Moses had prepared a speech for Pharaoh, and had got his hair all smoothly brushed, and had stood before the looking-glass, or had gone to an elocutionist to be taught how to make an oratorical speech and how to make gestures. If you go out to your garden and throw down some sawdust, the birds will not take any notice; but if you throw down some crumbs, you will find they will soon sweep down and pick them up. They went to take him, but he remonstrated. Dwight’s struggle came to a head, and he surrendered his will to God’s will and came to Christ through Kimball’s invitation. They tried it a few years ago. When the meeting broke up, just a little of the prejudice had worn away. They wanted to see their little ones. You do not live as though there were anything beyond this life at all. He didn’t have a perfect one in his flock. A man died in the Columbus penitentiary some years ago who had spent over thirty years in his cell. I looked for her for a whole week, but didn’t see her until the following Sunday afternoon. Now, supposing a slave should have seen a copy of that proclamation and should have learned its contents. We are to sit with Him upon His throne. When we talk to him he laughs at us. When the Spirit of God comes into your heart and mine, it will be easy to love and serve God. Doctor Gordon of Boston used to say that as you passed along Washington street of that city, or Broadway, New York, you might see stores with the card in the window, “To rent, with or without power,” and any one could rent the store, and by paying something extra could have power furnished from the engine in the rear. I told him to get out of the ministry. I knew nothing of it, but the next Sunday when he came into the Sunday-school all over the building the boys cried out: He proves that God can truly use anybody from anywhere; you do not need to be a Bible scholar to be successful in the Lord. “Wealth, wealth, wealth! A star actor came to the city, and he went to see him. “My good friend, you haven’t gone back into darkness again?” I had never said anything about the theater to those children, but they saw that man going in, and called him a hypocrite. Oh, my friends, pull back the bolts, and let the King of glory in! It may be so gentle and faint that you barely recognize it; but if you do, do not disregard it. So there is a scarlet thread running all through the Bible—the whole book points to Christ. “My plea was a very weak one,” Kimball observed later, “but I was sincere.” He also realized, “The young man was just ready for the light that broke upon him. There are a good many persons that are going on without any foundation; they have no faith. Let us look at—. He had to tell his father all about it. I thought if I had the consumption or some lingering disease, I would have plenty of time to become one, and in the meantime I would enjoy the best of the pleasures of the world.”. And it is somewhat similar in regard to gaining admission to heaven. A young minister came to me, and said he couldn’t get along with his wife, and what should he do? Suppose I should meet a man on the street, and he was so full of joy that he should get hold of both my hands and say: I heard a man say that he didn’t want people to throw bouquets to him after he was dead, and say, “There, smell them.” She had a family of children. Do not think that you will have no battles if you follow the Nazarene, because many battles are before you. He was a little fellow about two years old. The young man said he would not call on God, and in that state of mind he passed away. They sat there until tea-time. “Why! Said he: “Well, you’ve all this on earth; but what have you got up there?” They counted the world-famous evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, among their friends. So Christ will carry you and all your burdens, if you will but let Him. Make haste to be wise; for “how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”. 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