John 15:2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it… (Thanksgiving Sermon): — I. TODAY WE SHOULD BE THANKFUL because — 1. Hard as the times are, they might be worse. 2. The times are not so hard as we deserve. 3. They are not so hard as we represent. II. WHAT WE CALL HARD TIMES ARE THE BEST FOR US. 1. Good for man's physical nature. The frugality and self-control they induce are precisely what the athlete practices. 2. Good for his intellectual nature. No great genius ever daudled into inspiration. 3. Good for his moral nature. They remove the excrescences of — (1) Covetousness. (2) Luxury. (3) Indolence. III. THE RESULT WILL BE BETTER FRUIT. 1. A new style or higher type of manhood. 2. A higher type of politics. Hard times teach befooled people to think, and to rise above party dictations. 3. A higher type of religion. God has ever developed the higher Christian life in times of trial. IV. AFTER ALL, THE PRUNING KNIFE IS ONLY ONE OF THE IMPLEMENTS OF CULTURE. Soft rain and genial sunshine are the larger experience of the vine. And so even in hard times our afflictions are not one to a thousand of our blessings. (C. D. Wadsworth, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. |
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