Tagged with " RA Torrey"
Dec 28, 2008 - Evangelism, Ministry    No Comments

The Importance of Personal Soul Winning by R. A. Torrey

“He first findeth his own brother Simon….
And he brought him to Jesus.”–John 1:41,42.

The one who brought his brother to Jesus was Andrew. We are not told that Andrew ever preached a sermon. If he did, the Holy Spirit did not think it worth putting on record. But this brother whom he brought to Jesus preached a sermon that led three thousand people to Jesus in one day.

Where would Simon Peter’s sermon have been if it had not been for Andrew’s personal work? The most important kind of Christian work is personal work. We envy the men who stand on the platform and speak to great crowds, but God pays more attention to the man who sits down with a single soul.

A blind woman came to my office in Chicago and said, “You don’t think my blindness will keep me from doing Christian work, do you?”

I replied, “On the contrary. It might be a great help. A great many people, seeing your blindness, will come and sit down with you; then you can talk with them about the Saviour.”

“That is not what I mean. When a woman can talk to five or six hundred, she doesn’t want to spend time talking to one.”

I answered, “Your Master could talk to five thousand at once, for we have it on record; but He didn’t think it beneath His dignity to talk to one at a time.”

Have you ever thought of the tremendous power there is in personal, hand-to-hand work? Read more »

Dec 23, 2008 - Bible Study, Topical    No Comments

The Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit by R. A. Torrey

IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE
One of the most characteristic and distinctive doctrines of the Christian faith is that of the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the personality of the Holy Spirit is of the highest importance from the standpoint of worship. If the Holy Spirit is a divine person, worthy to receive our adoration, our faith and our love, and we do not know and recognize Him as such, then we are robbing a divine Being of the adoration and love and confidence which are His due.
The doctrine of the personality of the Holy Spirit is also of the highest importance from the practical standpoint. If we think of the Holy Spirit only as an impersonal power or influence, then our thought will constantly be, how can I get hold of and use the Holy Spirit; but if we think of Him in the Biblical way as a divine Person, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely tender, then our thought will constantly be, “How can the Holy Spirit get hold of and use me?” Is there no difference between the thought of the worm using God to thrash the mountain, or God using the worm to thrash the mountain? The former conception is low and heathenish, not differing essentially from the thought of the African fetich worshipper who uses his god to do his will. The latter conception is lofty and Christian. If we think of the Holy Spirit merely as a power or influence, our thought will be, “How can I get more of the Holy Spirit?”; but if we think of Him as a divine Person, our thought will be, “How can the Holy Spirit get more of me?” The former conception leads to self-exaltation; the latter conception to self-humiliation, self-emptyings and self-renunciation. If we think of the Holy Spirit merely as a Divine power or influence and then imagine that we have received the Holy Spirit, there will be the temptation to feel as if we belonged to a superior order of Christians. A woman once came to me to ask a question and began by saying, “Before I ask the question, I want you to understand that I am a Holy Ghost woman.” The words and the manner of uttering them made me shudder. I could not believe that they were true.
But if we think of the Holy Spirit in the Biblical way as a divine Being of infinite majesty, condescending to dwell in our hearts and take possession of our lives, it will put us in the dust, and make us walk very softly before God.
It is of the highest importance from an experimental standpoint that we know the Holy Spirit as a person. Many can testify of the blessing that has come into their own lives from coming to know the Holy Spirit, as an ever-present, livings divine Friend and Helper. There are four lines of proof in the Bible that the Holy Spirit is a person. Read more »
Dec 20, 2008 - Bible Study, Topical    No Comments

The Deity of Jesus Christ by R. A. Torrey

 

“While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?…” 
Matthew 22:41,42

The question that our Lord Jesus puts here to the Pharisees is the most fundamental question concerning Christian thought and faith that can be put to anybody in any age. Jesus Christ Himself is the center of Christianity, so the most fundamental questions of faith are those that concern the Person of Christ. If a man really holds to right views concerning the Person of Jesus Christ, he will sooner or later get right views on every other question. If he holds a wrong view concerning the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is pretty sure to go wrong on everything else sooner or later. “What think ye of Christ?” That is the great central question; that is the vital question. Read more »

Dec 19, 2008 - Bible Study, Topical    2 Comments

Beginning Right by R. A. Torrey

There is nothing more important in the Christian life than beginning right. If we begin right, we can go on right. If we begin wrong, the whole life that follows is likely to be wrong. If anyone who reads these pages has begun wrong, it is a very simple matter to begin over again and begin right. What the right beginning in the Christian life is we are told in John 1:12, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” The right way to begin the Christian life is by receiving Jesus Christ. To anyone who receives Him, He at once gives power to become a child of God. If the reader of this book should be the wickedest man on earth and should at this moment receive Jesus Christ, that very instant he would become a child of God. God says so in the most unqualified way in the verse quoted above. No one can become a child of God in any other way. No man, no matter how carefully he has been reared, no matter how well he has been sheltered from the vices and evils of this world, is a child of God until he receives Jesus Christ. We are “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26), and in no other way.

What does it mean to receive Jesus Christ? It means to take Christ to be to yourself all that God offers Him to be to everybody. Jesus Christ is God’s gift. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Some accept this wondrous gift of God. Everyone who does accept this gift becomes a child of God. Many others refuse this wondrous gift of God, and everyone who refuses this gift of God perishes. He is condemned already. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).

What does God offer His Son to be to us? Read more »