The
substance of Part I consists of a slightly revised
version of a book which has for some time been out of
print. There has been an increasing urge to renew this
message, and not a small factor in this urge has been the
very definite movement, observable all over the world,
toward a reconsideration of the whole testimony of the
Church. There is a deep and growing dissatisfaction and
disappointment with the spiritual state and impact of the
Church. The rumblings of this are heard everywhere, and
many conferences are being held and books written in
relation to this matter. There is a strong feeling
in many quarters that God must act again and do “a
new thing”. The tremendous emphasis upon 'Revival'
is only one aspect of this.
But it is a
big and open question whether God CAN send the
kind of revival that is sought, without involving the
whole possibility of supporting a false position. So long
as suspicion, rivalry, contention, adverse propaganda,
and all such things continue between Christians, and THINGS
are put in the place of the Lord Himself, how can He
bless? There have always been steps that the people of
God were called upon to take before God would bless them,
and there never was a time when the Church needed more to
look to its own house than it does at present. It might
be that the Lord would do His new thing quite apart from
the established Christian system. This book shows that
this is what He has done on many occasions.
Part II is
the substance of a more recent conference on ministry and
concerns the inner spiritual life which is the nature and
object of all God’s reactions.
The book is
intended to be, neither critical nor censorious, but, if
at all possible, a contribution to the “building up
of the body of Christ, till we all attain unto... the
measure of... the fullness of Christ”.
I am only
too conscious of the many imperfections in the manner of
presentation, but I trust that the Lord may be able to
use these messages to provoke to a greater utterness for
Himself on the part of some, at least, who read.
T.
AUSTIN-SPARKS.
JUNE, 1956.