DISCIPLE

by Donald Norbie I n years past there was much personal exercise of heart about giving. Individuals prayed specifically for certain home workers and missionaries and gave to them personally. After a meeting a worker might receive a warm handshake with words of appreciation and find in his hand a bill or check. Or else he would receive an encouraging letter with some funds enclosed. Today this custom is dying out in many areas and all giving is done to the assembly.      One can remember receiving a check and a letter from a missionary in New Guinea. "You taught me the Word in years past and I have been convicted that I have never shared with you financially. The Word states, ‘Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches’ ” (Galatians 6:6). Such personal exercise of heart is tremendously encouraging to the worker and also blesses the giver. It is true that much of one’s giving will be through the local assembly (1 Corinthians ...

This book should be read by every believer, and probably more than once. It is a classic.  Here is chapter one. I. Obedience: Its place In Holy Scripture. In undertaking the study of a Bible word, or of a truth of the Christian life, it is a great help to take a survey of the place it takes in Scripture. As we see where, and how often, and in what connections it is found, its relative importance may be apprehended as well as its bearing on the whole of revelation. Let me try in this first chapter to prepare the way for the study of what obedience is, by showing you where to go in God's Word to find the mind of God concerning it. 1. TAKE SCRIPTURE AS A WHOLE. We begin with Paradise. In Gen. 2:16, we read: 'And the Lord God commanded the man, saying.' And later (3:11), 'Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?' Note how obedience to the command is the one virtue of Paradise, the one condition of man's abiding the...

Donald L. Norbie Society and culture seem to be in a process of constant change. To be contemporary and in step with the times is almost to be dated, because very soon change will come, especially in a culture which denies absolute truth and believes all is relative. Styles of clothing change from season to season. Advertising and sales feed on change. The message is that one must keep up with the times and the latest trends. To appear old-fashioned is a cardinal sin. But, is all change good? Many such changes may be largely cosmetic, but who wants to drive a car that looks old? Ethical values are changing, fuelled by a philosophy of relativism. Society used to frown on divorce; marriage was honourable and should be preserved. A sexual liaison outside of marriage was condemned. Abortion and homosexuality were viewed as criminal acts. That which was once abhorred by decent society is now accepted and legal. Similarly, churches are under pressure to change and to become con...

The following letter was written by an American college student who had been converted to Communism in Mexico. The purpose of the letter was to explain to his fiance why he must bread off their engagement:  "We Communists have a high casualty rate. We're the ones who get slandered and ridiculed and fired from our jobs and in every other way made as uncomfortable as possible. A certain percentage of us get killed or imprisoned. We live in virtual poverty. We turn back to the Party every penny we make above what is absolutely necessary to keep us alive. We Communists don't have time or the money for many movies or concerts or T-bone steaks or decent homes and new cars. We've been described as fanatics. We are fanatics! Our lives are dominated by one great overshadowing factor, the struggle for World Communism. "We Communists have a philosophy of life which no amount of money could buy. We have a cause to fight for, a definite purpose in life. We subordinate ou...

or "Heroism—The Lost Chord of Christianity" by C. T. Studd HEROISM is the lost chord; the missing note of present-day Christianity! Every true soldier is a hero! A SOLDIER WITHOUT HEROISM IS A CHOCOLATE SOLDIER! Who has not been stirred to scorn and mirth at the very thought of a Chocolate Soldier? In peace true soldiers are captive lions, fretting in their cages. War gives them their liberty and sends them, like boys bounding out of school, to obtain their heart's desire or perish in the attempt. Battle is the soldier's vital breath! Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic. War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigour of a hero. EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A SOLDIER—of Christ—a hero "par excellence!" Braver than the bravest—scorning the soft seductions of peace and her oft-repeated warnings against hardship, disease, danger, and death, whom he counts among his bosom friends. THE OTHERWISE CHRISTIAN IS A C...