This is long but it is an interesting read about…

This is long but it is an interesting read about the 1927 perspective of the need of the COG!

11:OO. Sermon by J. S. Llewellyn.

The General Overseer announced that we had reached the
place and time on t%e program for Brother Llewellyn to speak
on, The Need of the Hour.
NOTES FROM HIS ADDRESS
Text, “The hour cometh and now is.” John 4:21.
All of the saints are earnestly requested to pray while I
speak to you on the subject announced. It is my undkrstanding
that this is not intended especially for a sermon but I quote
this text to you for the reason that I feel that we should always
honor the Word of God, and that it should be Arst, or take the
lead in everyhing.
(1.) We will consider the importance of the hour. We are
moving up t6 some of the greatest times in the history of the
Church. The Church of God is making itself known to this lost
world as never before. There never was an age that is more
important than this hour. I look on this great Assembly as an
eventful occassion. We will never be the same after this Assembly.
Our spiritual qualiflcations for t+he past year will not
suffice for the coming year. While the church makes her wonderful
developments in its various departments it becomes
necessary for us to wait before God for a special anointing for
the work to which H:FL has called us. It requires an additional
supply of divine grace to make us equal to the increased responsibilities.
This is not only an important hour in the history
of the Church but it is an important hour in our lives. Oh, we
must be true to the trust that He has committed to us.
(2) Review the Past.-We do not deem it necessary to take
your time in reviewing the past. With this, we are all somewhat
familiar. We might very briefly take a general survey
of the situation. The Lord has done wonderful things for us in
the past. We have gone through many hard fought battles, but
thank God for the victories. We have suffered many heart
aches, burdens almost too heavy to bear. The briny tears coursed
down our cheeks many times, but God heard the cries of His
children and has given wonderful victories and brought us
safe to this good hour. The Lord has especially poured out His
Spirit tho, past year, thousands of souls have found the Lord,
many sick bodies have been marvelously healed. Surely the
hour has come that we may worship Him in spirit and in truth.
(3) Greater Visions of the Future & Its Possibilities-The
hour has come that we should get a greater vision of the future
and its possibilities for the Church of God. The pioneers of our
country strolled through the palmettos and other shrubbery,
they viewed the waste land, they looked on the deserts; there
was nothing visible in the way of a City or apparently nothing
to indicate the wonderful possibili’ties, but they got a vision of
the possibilities of the country, and today on the same land that
Was once waste land are beautiful highways, boulevards and
cities. This would never have been if some one had not gotten
a glimpse of the future and the unlimited possibilities for development.

The thing that we need most at this hour is a greater revelation
of the Church and its unlimited development. When we
consider the object and purpose, yea, God’s divine plan for His
Church which is, that she should pick up the work where her
Divine Head left off and carry forward the great commission
given her, to preach this glorious gospel to the nations of the
earth, to unfold the noble principles of the Church in order
that she might make herself known to all the world. I hope
that the time will soon come that our General Overseer will be
going to England and other European countries ‘to hold conventions
for the Church of God.
We must make necessary improvement in order to keep
pace with the development of the Church of God and this wonderful
Assembly. It looks as though it will be necessary for us
soon to remove the rear of this Auditorium and build an addition
in order to enlarge its capacity to accomodate the thousands
who desire to attend this Assembly. We can not afford
to ask them to stay at home, God would not be pleased. We
can not afford to restrict it to a certain delegation, but we must
remain open hearted and enlarge our quarters and continue to
invite the saints from the North, South, East and West to this
Holy Convocation.
(4) 0rpihanage.-We must pray for God to supply the means
and enlarge the quarters so that we can 5ave an open door and
stretch forth a welcome hand to the hundreds of homeless and
neglected children. Instead of merely giving food, shelter and
a Christian education to from 50 to 60 children we ought to be
able to-receive 500 of the worthy applicants into the Church of
God Orphanage and Childrens Home.
(5) Disabled Ministers.-Many of our ministers are spending
their best days for God and the Church. No dmoubt many
have been tempted to stop and proride something for their declining
years or helpless days, but 0, we cannot afford to do
thi~, the Church of God will awake to her duty toward the aged
and broken down ministers. Our government has homes for the
disabled soldiers. The Church of God is the greatest government
on earth. Why should it not have a name where the old soldiers
of the cross, who have spent their days of manhood, yea, their
best days, may come and rest and spend the evening of life just
before going to the Soldiers Home in the City of gold, where
they will rest from their labors and their works shall follow them.
(6) dormitories.-W; are in urgent need of additional
dormitory quarters. Our people love this sacred pJace, some of
them had rather stay right in this Auditorium all night than
to go 12 or 15 blocks and get a nice room and a good bed; this
has been demonstrated right here in this Assembly. If we had
dormitories right here on this ground so that we could stay here
and worship God until 10:OO at night then go a few steps to
the dormitories and take a good rest and be ready for the services
the following day, how much better it would be. Some may
think that we could! not do all of this, that we are a little folk,
but please remember that we have a great God and He is able to
supply our every need.
(7) Hearty Cooperation.-One of the special needs of to&y
is a more hearty cooperation of the officials, ministry and membership
in every department of the church work. We are aware of
the fact that the success of the Publishing House, Orphanage and
Bible Training School largely depends upon the cooperation of
the overseers and ministers on the fleld. I am reminded of the
story of the General who after being engaged in a Aerce battle,
if he had been successful, he would communicate to his superior
and say, tTVE HXVE WON.” If he had lost the battle he would
say, “I HAVE LOST.” In other words he contributed the honor
of the victories to His valiant soldiers, and if he lost he counted
the failure his own. Every minister and worker should recognize
the fact that he is to be a loyal representative of the
Church in every department or interest, as well as a real soldier
in this mighty conflict for truth and right. If every minister
would put forward a special effort in taking subscriptions for
the EVANGEL we could increase its circulation by leaps and
bounds.
If every church, minister and worker would take the ORPHANAGE
work on their heart and observe the Special Days
advised, we wouuld be able to care for over five hundred children
in the ORPWAGE AND CHILDREN’S HOME. If the
same care and attention would be given to MISSIONS we would
be able to spread this glorious gospel to neglected flelds in our
home land and to the nations of the earth. Oh, the possibility
for almost unlimited development. We should be progressive,
we should enlarge our borders and strengthen our stakes. There
are glorious possibilities to be realized by hearty cooperation.
(8) Better System. Much depends on the system employed
in carrying forward the great work of the Lord and His
Church. Good system brings good results. Bad system produces
wreckage and ruin. We are engaged in the noble work of carrying
the message of Jesus Christ to the nations of eart5. Our
messages should be weighty and powerful. These results can
be obtained by waiting before the Lord for special anointing for
His service. We should not be slothful in business but fervent
in spirit serving the Lord.
(9) Neutrality.-We should maintain the true Spirit of
genuine neutrality on all questions that do not directly concern
us. We should give no aid or comfort to antagonistic forces. We
should at all times be careful and not throw the weight of our
influence against one thing and thereby encourage a worse one.
Many of our ministers have been bothered over the Ku Klux
Klan and other secret societies. Let us henceforth mind our own affairs and preach this glorious gospel far and wide. Personally,
if I should choose to put on a hood at all, I would pvefer
the white one rather than the black one. The Knights of Columbus
are much more distasteful to the Protestant faith than any
of the above mentioned. The latter wears the black cap.
Many have been troubled over the labor union affair. The
question arises, “Which is the lesser evil, organized labor or
organized capital?” One of the worst panics brought on the
country was no more or less than a capital strike. Surely God loves the common people because He made more of them.
(10) More Charitable.-Another need of the hour is that
we should maintain a more charitable attitude toward those
who have not yet connected themselves with us in an organized
way. Some have even been know’n to say, “You are on your way
to hell because you do not belong to the Church of God.” This
is very uncharitable, and evidence of unskillful workmanship,
and even contradicts some of our own sacred principles which
teach that saved people are the only ones eligible for membershp.
Oh! it is the genuine love of God, the true spirit of Jesus
that will win men and women for Christ and the Church.
We should seek to become better acquainted with other
saints who are not with us. We should endeavor to win our
way into their hearts. We should not drive them away because
they may not see everything just’ as we do, yet are as pure as
we. What God has cleansed you should not call common or
unclean. It was love and tears that won my heart. It is that
unearthly something that comes down and takes possession of
us that is winning and attractive.
We should have genuine Christian love for both friend and
foe. Any sinner can love those that love them, but it takes a
genuine Christian to love his enemies. Thank God, we can do it,
we know we can, we know me do. We should also) have a greater
love for each other. We should be able to weep over those
who might have stepped aside or made a blunder. Help your
fallen brother rise. I am remindkd of an instance: Some years
ago I was driving a little pony that was almost blind, worth
but little to anybody else but me. He stepped upon the marble
pavement and his feet slipped from under him. He had hardly
fell to the pavement until about six nice dressed men were
around him to lift him on his feet again, straightened his harness
and aided him in getting started on his way again. I appre
ciated the kindness of these men. I drove down the street and
the thought came to me, “This little worthless pony fell, these
men helped it on its feet again, but when precious souls for
whom Jesus died stumble and fall there are about six to kick
them further into the ditch instead of helping them on their
feet again, and exhorting them to try it over.” These souls are
precious. Why not go after those who have wondered away
and with kind loving, tender hands bring them back to the fold
again.
(11) Special Anointing.–One of the needs of the hour is a
greater enduement of power. We need special anointing for the
work and service that God has called us to do. It is the power
of God that will win this world. I feel that many of the ministers
are going too far on the mechanical side of preaching and
neglecting the spiritual. The mechanical only is inaffective,
practically dormant and inactive. For illustration take a Ford
car, the expert mechanic goes over it, puts everything in perfect
adjustment. He says it is mechanically perfect. Yet we may
undertake to start it and it won’t go, strive again and it won’t
go, strive again and it fails. Finally we look into the tank, no
gasoline, no oil in the engine, mechanically perfect yet it cannot
go, then we place oil in the crank case, gasoline in the tank, plm
our foot on the starter and it will take you there and bring you
back. Just so with us, if we have the holy anointing with the
mechanical part we have success. I am not at all in sympathy
with the idea of a kind of an easy, happy, go lucky kind of a way,
but we should study and prepare ourselves for the work of the
Lord, then depend upon the Holy Ghost to bring all things to
our remembrance whatsoever He has said unto us. (Bible). Oh,
we should preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down
from heaven: yea, by the demonstration of the Spirit and
power. Ministers when you preach:
Begin low, talk slow,
Rise higher, strike Are,
Wax warm, end in a storm.
(12) World Wide Revival.-I am sure you will agree with
me of the need of a world wide rerival, and long to see one
that will sweep like a mighty Aery cyclone and girdle the globe.
If we can only obtain the blessings referred to we shall be able
to witness this mighty revival. It seems that God is on the
giving hand. The heavens will open, it looks now like all we
need to do is to:
Get under the spout
Where the glory comes out.
Amazing results will follow. Let every saint earnestly wait before
God for this mighty revival. The greatest day the world
has ever known is almost dawning upon us; it behooves us as
never before to make the flnal and necessary, preparation for
this great day; God is calling, thousands ‘of hungry hearts are
waiting; let us go forward ori every line.
(13) Great Reward to Faithful Servants.-Since considering
the needs of the hour and only briefly mentioning some of
them, also refefring to our iluties and resopnsibilities we now
come to consider the flnal reward for faithful service for those
who will be true to the trust committed to them. It will not
be long until the flnal conflict is over and we receive our eternal
reward then we may look back over our lives and say, “Oh, I am
so glad I was true to the Lord and His Church. I am glad I had
some little part in carrying on the work of the Church, supplying
the need of the homeless and neglected, publishing the glad
news of salvation to this dark land.” But now we live in the
City of gold with the association of angels, chrubims, and
seraphim and all the created hosts of the eternal world. We
will then be repaid a thousand fold for all of the burdens, heart
aches and cares. Some of us may be there waiting while some
assemble in. the next Assembly.
*With a hearty God bless you one and all, I submit to you
some of the needs of the hour.