(Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers 111, 150, 160, 378)
It is impossible for any mind to comprehend all the richness and greatness of even one promise of God. One catches the glory of one point of view, another the beauty and grace from another point, and the soul is filled with the heavenly light. If we saw all the glory, the spirit would faint. But we can bear far greater revelations from God’s abundant promises than we now enjoy. It makes my heart sad to think how we lose sight of the fullness of blessing designed for us. We content ourselves with momentary flashes of spiritual illumination, when we might walk day after day in the light of His presence.
(TM 111.1)
MC
VC
Dear brethren, pray as you never before prayed for beams from the Sun of Righteousness to shine upon the word, that you may be able to understand its true meaning. Jesus pleaded that His disciples might be sanctified through the truth—the word of God. Then how earnestly should we pray that He who “searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God,”1 Corinthians 2:10. He whose office it is to bring all things to the remembrance of God’s people, and to guide them into all truth, may be with us in the investigation of His Holy Word.
(TM 111.2)
MC
VC
God wants us to depend upon Him, and not upon man. He desires us to have a new heart; He would give us revealings of light from the throne of God.—The Review and Herald, February 18, 1890.
(TM 111.3)
MC
VC
We are God’s servants, and to each of us He has given talents, both natural and spiritual. As children of God, we should be constantly gaining in fitness for the heavenly mansions which Christ told His disciples He was going away to prepare for them. He who lays hold upon the righteousness of Christ may become a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Working from a high standpoint, seeking to follow the example of Christ, we shall grow up into His likeness, possessing more and more refinement.
(TM 150.1)
MC
VC
The Saviour prayed, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.”John 17:17. Those who are disciplined by the truth will be doers of the word; they will be diligent Bible readers, searching the Scriptures with an earnest desire to understand the will of God, and to do His will intelligently.
(TM 150.2)
MC
VC
The ministers in our conferences need to walk carefully before God. The apostle’s injunction, “Be courteous,”(1 Peter 3:8) is greatly needed in their ministering, in watching for souls as those who must give account, in seeking to save the erring. You may be true to principle, you may be just, honest, and religious; but with it all you must cultivate true tenderness of heart, kindness, and courtesy. If a person is in error, be the more kind to him; if you are not courteous, you may drive him away from Christ. Let every word you speak, even the tones of your voice, express your interest in, and sympathy for, the souls that are in peril. If you are harsh, denunciatory, and impatient with them, you are doing the work of the enemy. You are opening a door of temptation to them, and Satan will represent you to them as one who knows not the Lord Jesus. They will think their own way is right, and that they are better than you. How, then, can you win the erring? They can recognize genuine piety, expressed in words and character. If you would teach repentance, faith, and humility, you must have the love of Jesus in your own hearts. The truth you believe is able to sanctify the soul and to fashion and mold the whole man, not only to change his words and deportment, but to abase pride and purify the soul temple from all defilement.
(TM 150.3)
MC
VC
The Saviour prayed for His disciples, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.”John 17:17. But if the receiver of Bible knowledge makes no change in his habits or practices to correspond to the light of truth, what then? The spirit is warring against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit; and one of these must conquer. If the truth sanctifies the soul, sin is hated and shunned, because Christ is accepted as an honored guest. But Christ cannot share a divided heart; sin and Jesus are never in copartnership. He who accepts the truth in sincerity, who eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God, has eternal life. “The words that I speak unto you,” said Jesus, “they are spirit, and they are life.”John 6:63. When the receiver of truth cooperates with the Holy Spirit, he will go weighted with the burden of the message to souls; he will never be merely a sermonizer. He will enter heart and soul into the great work of seeking and saving that which is lost. Practicing the religion of Christ, he will accomplish a good work in winning souls.
(TM 160.1)
MC
VC
Every believer is under bonds to God to be spiritually minded, keeping himself in the channel of light, that he may let his light shine to the world. When all those who are engaged in the sacred work of the ministry shall grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, they will hate sin and all selfishness. A moral renovation is constantly going on; as they continue looking to Jesus, they become conformed to His image, and are found complete in Him, not having their own righteousness, but the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(TM 160.2)
MC
VC
The great advantage of the ministerial institutes [See Appendix.] is not half appreciated. They are rich in opportunities, but do not accomplish half what they should because those who attend them do not practice the truth which is presented before them in clear lines. Many who are explaining the Scriptures to others have not conscientiously and entirely surrendered mind and heart and life to the control of the Holy Spirit. They love sin and cling to it. I have been shown that impure practices, pride, selfishness, self-glorying, have closed the door of the heart even of those who teach the truth to others, so that the frown of God is upon them. Cannot some renovating power take hold of them? Have they fallen a prey to a moral disease which is incurable because they themselves refuse to be cured? Oh, that everyone who labors in word and doctrine would heed the words of Paul, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”Romans 12:1.
(TM 160.3)
MC
VC
God is the author of all truth; and truth practiced prepares the way for more advanced truth. When God’s delegated servants proclaim fresh truth, the Holy Spirit moves upon the mind which has been prepared by walking in the light, quickening the perceptive faculties to discern the beauty and majesty of truth.
(TM 378.1)
MC
VC
But the truth is no truth to the one who does not reveal, by his elevated spiritual character, a power beyond that which the world can give, an influence corresponding in its sacred, peculiar character to the truth itself. He who is sanctified by the truth will exert a saving, vital influence upon all with whom he comes in contact. This is Bible religion.
(TM 378.2)
MC
VC
Men, saved only by the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus, have no right to seek to exalt themselves above their fellowmen. Let them sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn of Him, striving not to make themselves shine. If the love of Jesus Christ abides in them, they will shine unconsciously, diffusing the light of the glory of Christ through the world. “I, if I be lifted up,” Christ said, “will draw all men unto Me.”John 12:32. If a minister makes Christ his hope, his trust, his dependence, he is one with Christ, a laborer together with God; and by his ministry, souls are converted to Christ.
(TM 378.3)
MC
VC