The Work of Soul-Saving No. I

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If any work is more precious than another, it is the work of soul-saving. The same intensity of desire for the salvation of souls that marked the life of the Saviour, marks the life of His true follower. He has no desire to live for self. He delights to consecrate all he has and is to the Master’s service. He is filled with an inexpressible desire to win souls to Christ. Those who have nothing of this desire might better begin to feel concerned for their own soul’s salvation. Let them wrestle with God in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth for the spirit of labor.

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To secure your present and future good, Christ gave Himself as a sacrifice. Will you draw back from making a covenant with God by sacrifice? Christ died on the cross to save the world from perishing in sin. He asks your cooperation in His work of soul-saving. You are to be His helping hand, to do in this world the work that needs to be done, to place the truth before as many as possible. «Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.»

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Refuse to admit the worldly interests that strive for supremacy in your life. Regard yourself as pledged to Christ’s service for time and for eternity. Enter into no business that will make you indifferent to His claims. Say to those who seek to draw you from His work: «I am not my own; Jesus has bought me. I belong to Him. Every particle of my influence is to be used to magnify the principles of His law. God is mine, and I am His, united to Him by a perpetual covenant of service. I must devote myself wholly to the service of the Lord God of hosts. He has put it out of my power to give Him anything that is not already His. Every part of my being, every talent, every faculty, belongs to Him. If I had more than one life, I would give it to Him; for it would be His. My children belong to God. From their birth I must do all in my power to train them for Him, that in their lives He may be glorified.»

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I have a message for all our people. They must awaken, spread their tents, and enlarge their borders. Men and women must act an earnest part in saving souls. The present state of things must be changed. Our church-members must awake to the situation, and begin work where they are. Everywhere are persons who know not the truth.

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We are living in solemn times. The world is to be warned. Workers are needed. The money God has entrusted to men of the world, is needed. The truth is to be taken to these men, that they may see the duty the Lord has placed on them. Those belonging to the class called moneyed men have been neglected. God says, «Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled.»

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Christ said to Nicodemus: «Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.» «God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.» Well may the apostle say, «Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price.»

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Do those who present the truth to the people fasten the faith of their hearers to Christ? Do they make the Saviour the most prominent figure? He whose faith is not firmly fastened to Christ is far from being what God desires him to be. He whose faith centers in any human being is converted to a man, not to Christ. He needs a reconversion.

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The Lord calls for self-sacrificing workers, who will labor quietly and unobtrusively, living so close to the Lord that they continually receive grace to impart.

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Let not church-members wait for a verbal command to enter God’s service. They know their duty. Let them do it in humility and quietness. There are hundreds who should be at work, who need to be encouraged to make a beginning.

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Every new-found power is to be held as a precious trust, for use in God’s service. Remember that it was your sins that made the cross necessary. When you accepted Christ as your personal Saviour, you pledged yourself to unite with Him in bearing the cross. You are to unite with Him in carrying out the great plan of redemption. For life and for death you are bound up with the Saviour. You are a part of His great scheme of mercy and love. Your knowledge and wisdom will increase as you seek to grasp the great science of salvation. Before the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds and before fallen human beings you are to live the life of Christ, that unbelievers may be constrained to acknowledge, «He has been with Christ, and has learned of Him.» The purity of your language and the unselfishness of your actions are to bear witness to the power of Christ’s grace. Ellen G. White. —