THINK ABOUT IT             1-31-25

THE SECRET OF A HOLY LIFEI

 remember as a young preacher reading the books by Frederick Marsh. They were to the point and easy reading. I thought of that when I came across the following article which is to the point, yet deserving of deep thought.-HDS

Prayer is a Christ-revealer–for it clarifies our vision and enables us to see the unseen Christ!

Think about it!

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, Tx.

THINK ABOUT IT              1-30-25

The Soul Winning Work of John Vassar

I have often spoken about being encouraged as a young preacher by reading about people who had been greatly used of God. One of those men was Uncle John Vassar. Here is a short account of his dedication to God’s work as told by Billy Sunday:

John Vassar was one of the greatest personal workers of the nineteenth century. He never preached a sermon but that he did personal work. He was a wonder. One time he was going to help a preacher in a town. This preacher met Vassar at the Depot. Walking down to the hotel they went past a blacksmith shop. He said to Vassar, “There’s a blacksmith in there. He’s got a great drag with his crowd but he never comes to church. If we could only win him, then he would win scores in his class.” Vassar asked, “Have you talked to him?” “Oh, we are afraid. He will cuss any preacher who comes near him.” He said, “Wait a minute until I take my turn.” Vassar went in. The man was shoeing a mule—that isn’t a good time to talk religion to a man, take it from me! But Vassar had good sense and waited until the fellow was through and had disarmed his prejudice. In fifteen minutes he had him on his knees weeping like a child.

 
He went up to the hotel where he was to be entertained. He registered, then strolled around, looking for somebody to speak to. He went into a little reception room and there sat a finely dressed lady. He walked up to her and said, “Lady, are you a Christian?” She said, “Yes, I am.” “I beg your pardon,” he said, “I didn’t mean that kind. I mean, have you been born again?”

“Oh,” she said, “we’ve gotten over that here in Boston.” “Well,” he said, “lady, you’ve gotten over Jesus Christ in Boston, too. You’ve gotten over God.” He talked with her until her prejudice was disarmed and tears trickled down her cheeks; then he said, “May I pray for you?” She said, “I wish you would. God knows I need it, although I’m a member of the church.”

He prayed. She wept and he slipped out. Her husband came in and noticed that her eyes were red. He said, “Has anybody insulted you?” She said, “The queerest little man was here a little while ago and he talked so nice to me about Jesus.” He said, “If I had been here I would have told him to go along and mind his business.” She said, “I wish you had been here. You would have thought he was minding his business. His business was a mission for his King, to bring people to Jesus Christ.”

Vassar distributed tracts in the army. He worked with the American Bible Society. When the chaplain died, they wanted Vassar to take the place of the chaplain. He wasn’t ordained and the government law does not allow anybody to be a chaplain who hasn’t been ordained. He came up to Poughkeepsie and they were examining him. One fellow with cinders all over his back, said, “Mr. Vassar, your duty now is to distribute tracts. Your salary is three hundred dollars a year, and you wish to be ordained?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Does that mean an increase of salary?”

“Yes, sir, fifteen hundred dollars a year.”

Then he said, “The increase of salary has allured you and brought you here for us to ordain.”

Vassar said, “Stop where you are! I don’t want it; I won’t take it if you give it to me,” and he wouldn’t. He went back to distributing tracts for three hundred dollars a year, to do something for Jesus Christ. He was a wonder. God did marvelous things through him.

THINK ABOUT IT!

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
Humble, TX. 77346

THINK ABOUT IT              1-28-25

After preparing Morning Manna today, I happened upon a story about the “Larch” tree (member of the Pine family) in “Illustrated Text”, 1876. The story by Dr. Whately, the Archbishop of Dublin,was about the introduction of the larch tree into England. 

He said, “ When the plants were first brought, the gardener, hearing that they came from the south of Europe, and taking it for granted that they would require warmth, forgetting that might grow near the snow line, put them into a hothouse. Day by day they withered, until the gardener in disgust threw them on a dung heap outside; there they began to revive and bud, and at last grew into trees. They needed the cold.”

Even so, sometimes we are mistaken about what we need. When a season of suffering and sorrow comes we want it to pass quickly and then be forgotten. We tend to think of it as a hindrance rather than a help. We prefer comfort- something fun and easy.

At the time we don’t see the value of what we’ve gone through until later. Only then do we finally realize that God used our difficulties and desperation to produce something good. Many never turn to God until they become desperate. As long as life is all sunshine and roses they fail to see that we need what God alone can provide. 

Difficulties aren’t desirable but we serve a God who can use them to transform us, and even use our misery to make a ministry to help others. Think about it! – HDS

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, TX

I have written and spoken about the fact that I do not fear death. However I never thought about qualifying that statement until the dearest person on earth to me, my wife Beverly, left earth for heaven. Had I been forthcoming about my fears I would have confessed that there was a sense in which I feared death. I feared the thought of her leaving me. My fear had nothing to do with fearing for her sake, because I knew she would be with the Lord. My fear was, “What will I do without her?”.

Naturally I could preach a sermon on that subject, but I knew expounding on it and experiencing it is two different things. I had suffered the loss of my parents, a sister, a child, and many dear friends, but I knew this would be different. And indeed it is. The one I love more than any other was ripped out of my  arms on January 6th.

My life is different now and will be until the day that I join her in that heavenly home. I won’t attempt to describe the affect here, but I do want to affirm one fact. As I explained to a dear brother in Christ, “I have experienced that God’s grace is truly sufficient”.

I have always felt that Bev’s death would be the hardest thing I could possibly experience and I still believe that, but now I know from experience what I’ve always preached to others – “ God’s grace is sufficient!”.

I don’t know what you are going through or what great mountain of difficulty you will face in the future, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God’s grace is sufficient, just like He promised.- HDS