- Foreword
- Preparation for the Final Crisis
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- Christ in All the Bible
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- Lessons from the Church at Ephesus
- The Result of Inaction
- Winning Souls the Chief Aim
- Begin with Those Nearest
- The Example of Philip with Nathanael
- The Family a Missionary Field
- Instruct the Church in Missionary Work
- Set the Church Members to Work
- The Uneducated to Be Workers
- Arouse the Idlers
- The Youth to Be Missionaries
- Let the Churches Awake
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- Out of the Cities
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- The Sabbath in Our Restaurants
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- Publishing Houses in Mission Fields
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- Sacredness of God's Instrumentalities
- Co-operation
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- The Work in Europe
- A View of the Conflict
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- The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast
- Our Burden Bearer
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- Homeward Bound
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- Last-day Deceptions
- Pantheistic Theories
- Fanaticism After 1844
- Past Experiences to Be Repeated
- Beware of a Sensational Religion
- A Warning Against False Teaching
- Diverting Minds from Present Duty
- A Renewal of the Straight Testimony
- Seek the First Love
- The Word of God Our Safeguard
- Study the Revelation
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- The Reward of Earnest Effort
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- A Parting Word of Confidence
Our Only Safety
The world is looking with gratification at the disunion amongst Christians. Infidelity is well pleased. God calls for a change among His people. Union with Christ and with one another is our only safety in these last days. Let us not make it possible for Satan to point to our church members, saying: “Behold how these people, standing under the banner of Christ, hate one another. We have nothing to fear from them while they spend more strength fighting one another than in warfare with my forces.”3TT 244.2
After the descent of the Holy Spirit the disciples went forth to proclaim a risen Saviour, their one desire the salvation of souls. They rejoiced in the sweetness of the communion with saints. They were tender, thoughtful, self-denying, willing to make any sacrifice for the truth's sake. In their daily association with one another they revealed the love that Christ had commanded them to reveal. By unselfish words and deeds they strove to kindle this love in other hearts.3TT 244.3
The believers were ever to cherish the love that filled the hearts of the apostles after the descent of the Holy Spirit. They were to go forward in willing obedience to the new commandment: “As I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” John 13:34. So closely were they to be united to Christ that they would be enabled to fulfill His requirements. The power of a Saviour who could justify them by His righteousness was to be magnified.3TT 245.1
But the early Christians began to look for defects in one another. Dwelling upon mistakes, giving place to unkind criticism, they lost sight of the Saviour and of the great love He had revealed for sinners. They became more strict in regard to outward ceremonies, more particular about the theory of the faith, more severe in their criticisms. In their zeal to condemn others they forgot their own errors. They forgot the lesson of brotherly love that Christ had taught. And, saddest of all, they were unconscious of their loss. They did not realize that happiness and joy were going out of their lives, and that soon they would walk in darkness, having shut the love of God out of their hearts.3TT 245.2
The apostle John realized that brotherly love was waning in the church, and he dwelt particularly upon this point. Up to the day of his death he urged upon believers the constant exercise of love for one another. His letters to the churches are filled with this thought. “Beloved, let us love one another,” he writes; “for love is of God. ... God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ... Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” 1 John 4:7-11.3TT 245.3
In the church of God today brotherly love is greatly lacking. Many of those who profess to love the Saviour neglect to love those who are united with them in Christian fellowship. We are of the same faith, members of one family, all children of the same heavenly Father, with the same blessed hope of immortality. How close and tender should be the tie that binds us together. The people of the world are watching us to see if our faith is exerting a sanctifying influence upon our hearts. They are quick to discern every defect in our lives, every inconsistency in our actions. Let us give them no occasion to reproach our faith.3TT 245.4