Retrenchment

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My brethren and sisters, do you plead for retrenchment in evangelical work? Read the closing verses of Matthew’s Gospel, which contain the seal of the worker’s commission. «Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.»

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This commission can not be fulfilled unless workers are educated and sent forth and sustained.

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God’s people are to sit together in heavenly places in Christ. So long as there are souls to save, their interest in the work of soul-saving is to know no abating. If we expect to feel in our lives the moisture and dew of heaven, we must improve every opportunity to strengthen every line of work that will extend the knowledge of God in our world. «Neither pray I for these alone, Christ said, «but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.» The truth for this time must be carried to those who have never heard it. Not all can go as missionaries to foreign lands, but all can do the work waiting for them in their own neighborhood. All can give of their means for the carrying forward of foreign missionary work. All can be partakers of the divine nature.

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There is not a Christian in the world but that is the fruit of Christ’s death. And he gave himself, not only for those now united with him, but for all human beings.

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There are schools and meeting-houses to be built, and sanitariums to be established. There are new fields to be entered, and we must have your help. Shall we ignore the commission given us, and thus forfeit the promise accompanying the commission? Shall the people of God become careless and indifferent, and refuse to lay by of their means for the advancement of his work? Can they do this without severing their connection with him? They may think thus to economize, but it is a fearful economy that places them where they are separated from Christ.

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Let God’s people pay a faithful tithe, and let them also, from parents to children, lay aside for the Lord the money that is so often spent for self-gratification. Practice self-denial in the home, and then, when calls for help are made, you will have something to give. Let those who are poor give what they can. However small the offering may be, the Lord will recognize the self-sacrifice, and will bless the giver. Mrs. E. G. White. —