Come and Hear

Come and Hear Aroma of Christ...in a Tent Copyright Doug Blair, Waterloo ON, 2019 Aroma of the King

A sweetness that I can’t define Just seems to happen by It may be in a happy day Or when I’m near to cry And someone offers up a smile

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And lifts a wholesome word As if he had some fix on me Or was it all the Lord?

Aroma…that’s the best of phrase For what I sense so clear And time again I have the joy When this dear soul comes near.

Not pushy with the words of writ Not out to win some game.

But gentleness, the grace of it Must draw to Jesus’ name.

It’s hard for words to tell the depths Of what has just transpired.

I want this peace I want release

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I’m doubtful and so tired.

But could I really pass the test And rise to saintly ways?

I reckon what he has is best.

Brave Jesus all his days.

He doesn’t strain He doesn’t sweat He just leans on the Lord.

Oh let me change This fragrance get The Christ I once ignored. ​2 Corinthians 2: 14-16 Psalm 45: 7, 8 ​Summer

Tent Meeting Remembered

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Our friends were new to this experience, but it had not taken much courteous coaxing. A poor second crop. A dear neighbour found dead in a hot summer field. A part-time job disappearing with the closing of the lumber yard in town. A teen-age son in rebellion and mixing with some undesirables, despite warnings.

The music began, complete with fiddles, banjo, drums, accordian and trombone. The old favourites brought a comfort and an encouragement.

“Got Any Rivers? You think are uncrossable. Got any Mountains? You can’t tunnel through. God specializes in things thought impossible. He’ll do for you what none other can do.”

An old saint was called up from the crowd to give a testimonny. Ravaged early life. Drugs, dealing, break and enter, jail, divorce, unemployment.

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But then in a lonely dilapidated boarding house, a visit with Glory for the asking, and a new beginning at age 48. He spoke of the particular power of a portion from the Psalms:

If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. (Psalm 130: 3,4)

And then the message from Brother Fuller. Parts of it remain still now, clear in the memory, filled with promise, and filled with the thrill of our young friends stepping forward in response to the call of Jesus:

“Enough, friends, to be in His family;

To relish in the engagement of real, caring prayer;

To know that His Testament bequeaths us

Life, unburdened conscience and new spiritual power.

To sense foretastes of Heaven.

Enough, to see His artistry at break of day;

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To hear His serenade in the turtledove;

His optimism in a youngster’s laugh.

To thrill at His power in the thunderbolt,

In the stinging wind over dry fields,

In the deluge that fills the watercourses

In mere minutes.

Enough, to hear his words of rebuke

To the Enemy, the Slanderer,

And his underlings who whisper, threaten or foreclose;

To understand His assurance that no man, no devil

Shall take a child out of His hand.

This is our Father,

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As represented by our Elder Brother.

This is salvation, and

This is forever.”

The gathering and the ushering away of new converts. The singing of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”. The dismissal of the assembly from the tent to the clarity of a sparkling late-summer night sky. The scenes remain vivid and awe-inspiring to us, some thirty-five years later.

Brother Fuller, Overflowing His voice almost an auctioneer’s

His tone assured, authoritative

His words convicting

Pure scripture many times

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And with joy unspeakable:

“We are beholders, containers

Of the supernatural, my friends.

Time and again Pentecost comes

Perhaps not with the grandeur

Of that First Church

But warmly, honestly

And with the fragrance of Christ.

We know of our roots, our journey

Our cleansing

Unavoidable trials

Certain destination.

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We have been called

We remember the Spirit’s wooing

We know not why

We only rejoice

Circumstances notwithstanding.

That oppressive world says

We are tied up in knots

By rules and by fear.

In so saying they are part wrong and part right

No not rules but constraining love

Not dread of the Almighty

But holy compunction never to disappoint.

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Love’s captives we are.

And thankful for it.

We take the abuse

Forgive at all costs

Share what little we have

Speak the good report

Stop at the gutter

To uplift the tear-streaked ones.

It’s the life force of Jesus

Nothing of our manufacture

And isn’t it wonderful?

Unlike any other known joy?

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There are some here

Who need the transaction

They know it

You know it…Brother…Sister…Child.

The invitation will be given shortly.”

_________________________

Just then the choir

Off to the side in that summer’s tent

Began singing:

Tell me the old old story

Of unseen things above

Of Jesus and His glory

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Of Jesus and His love.

Wesley’s Horse The little creature knew the roads.

From town to town his Friend

Would seek a fitting gathering space

To focus on life’s end.

No burden he, and speaking much

To Someone Fatherly

Then speaking to assembled crowds

Pressed close that they might see.

And some would laugh with rude disdain

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And some would nod assent

And some would cry out for relief

As Friend would urge “Repent”.

The creature tethered to one side

Heard thoughts rehearsed in mid-day’s ride

But now with pressing tears.

And folk came forward to the man

Imploring more of Jesus’ Plan.

Been like that now for years.

A horse would think a paddock green

A suiting place for rest

But paths of love, with Friend above

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Had suited this horse best.

CompassionÂ

T.L. Osborne, missionary-evangelist tells the wonderful story of his wife Daisy after a tent meeting in the Far East.

The crowds had been dismissed after a long session of praise, preaching and personal ministry, but Daisy could not leave the tabernacle because the presence of the Lord had been so rich. She walked the rows

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meditating until she noticed a young mother seated with blanketed baby in arms and sobbing quietly.

When approached, the young woman could only blurt out, “She has died.” Daisy saw the limp form of the little girl and asked to take it from the woman. She began to walk around gently hugging and rocking the child, praying softly for the Father’s mercy and citing reasons why she believed that this innocent little one should be given back life.

When prayer with the understanding seemed finished, she launched into quiet prayer in the Spirit, sensing an inner leading to continue. After several minutes the baby stirred and cuddled closer for warmth.

Daisy returned the child to her mother, whereupon the woman let out an exhausted, breathy scream. “What was wrong?” “Oh, woman of God, assuredly my baby lives! But my baby was blind. This one sees!”

Here we have it! An example of the Lord doing “exceedingly abundantly above all that we might ask or think.” This marvelous grace had been preceded by compassion, submission, courtesy, some uncertainty and the absolute acknowledgment that only God could work.

By comparison, how brazen, insensitive and man-honouring some of our so-called revival or renewal meetings appear.

Being Filled

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​Ephesians 5: 18 recommends that we as believers “be filled with the

Spirit”. The original Greek sense of the phrase is that we are to be being filled with the Spirit continuously. It is a never ending process until Glory.

We sit in our pews and acknowledge that we have been born again, that we have submitted to the waters of believer baptism, that we have received spirit baptism with evidence of speaking in other tongues, that we sit on the Board of Elders. But… It is no time to fold one’s arms and smile self assuredly. The cup leaks.

Your cup leaks and is in constant need of re-filling through all of the means of Grace.

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You lose your temper. Splash. You engage in worldly pursuits or conversation. Splash. You harbour jealousy self pity or gossip. Splash.

You tell a small white lie for convenience sake. Splash. You must have the last say. Splash. You serve in some ministry function and become weary.

Splash.

We must face the fact that we are intended to be beggars and pursuers in spiritual matters and development always.

It is my suggestion that nothing is more important in this than spending quality time going over the four Gospels. This is not to memorise check lists or chronology, but rather to soak in the awareness and character of Jesus. Like the little sea sponge we soak in the brine constantly. We become Ocean, and possess some of its vastness and potential.

Failure to do this in individual or corporate exercise can prove as disastrous as missing several gas stations on a long journey by car. “Lord it’s time To stop the whirl And pause.

You urge to rest

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You urge to bow And listen, just because.

The busy-ness Has soured the brew Has tired this misled Lad And so I stop And look to you That Gospel gold be had.�

Palm Tree Gospel May 19, 2009 John Williams was dispatched by the London Missionary Society to French Polynesia in the Pacific (@1827). Eventually he died at the hands of cannibals.

He relates one incident where he came across a farmer peasant, named Buteve, who through trauma had lost both his legs. Garden farming was

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a tedious matter of crawling around with the aid of some rudimentary assist. When assemblies were called by Williams, Buteve could only make it as far as the pathway by his lot, where he would inquire of passers-by as to a song, a scripture or any short message shared.

Williams heard of this simple, devoted man and paid him a visit in which he asked of the nature of his faith exercises: Answer: “Oh yes, I very frequently pray as I weed my ground and plant my food, but always three times a day, besides praying with my family every morning and evening.”

Question: “What do you say when you pray?”

Answer: “I say, Oh Lord, I am a great sinner; May Jesus take my sins away by His good blood; Give me the righteousness of Jesus to adorn me, and give me the good spirit of Jesus to instruct me and make my heart good, to make me a man of Jesus, and take me to Heaven when I die.”

(John Williams, The Martyr Missionary of Polynesia, by James J. Ellis, 1889, S.W. Partridge and Company) The gardener got it! Simply by prayer, song, bits of scripture, meditation and dialogue. How much other “stuff” seems to occupy our pulpits these days. How many commentaries, testimonies and DVD’s keep us from the purity of this man’s experience of Christ?

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Evangelism remains a vital part of the five-fold ministry outlined in Ephesians 4. This is not a time for lectures and head knowledge, ethics and check-lists. Rather it is in yielding to the life-begetting impact of preaching of the Gospels. This involves the Word of God in those 4 Evangels but also the posture and sincerity of the speaker, the reverence of the audience, the atmosphere of the venue and the sovereign will of the Spirit ​(1 Peter 1: 24, 25) 24 ​For

all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass

withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 ​But

the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the

gospel is preached unto you.

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