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Small Change and a Free Gift
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Has the cashier at the restaurant or the check-out girl at the supermart been asking you: “Do you have the two cents?” or “You don’t have the change, do you?” If so, it’s because there is a coin shortage all over the U.S. and will be for some time.

All kinds of coin-using machines have created a shortage of coins for other purposes. Isn’t it strange: a penny is hardly worth picking up these days, and President Eisenhower called our dollars “dollarettes,” yet people seem to be spending more money in small amounts.

You can make more and more purchases with coins these days. Some people say that you can buy anything with money, but they’re wrong — very wrong.

The things we need most cannot be bought with any amount of money. The air we breathe, the water we drink (we pay only for the service), love of family and friends. These things can’t be bought. And the most precious treasure of all: salvation, eternal life, can’t be bought at any price.

God doesn’t want our money. He calls it “filthy lucre.” He’s not going into business, selling houses and lots in heaven, much less will He pervert justice and pronounce us innocent for a consideration. But He does pity and love us and He can and will give us eternal life if we trust in the merits of the One who died to pay the penalty for our sins.

    “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

    “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8.).

Our Lord said to the Samaritan woman:

    “If thou knewest the gift of God… thou wouldest have asked…” (John 4:10).

Have you asked?

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Are All Believers Ambassadors?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “Someone suggested that only Paul and the other apostles were ambassadors, not all believers (II Cor. 5:20). True?”

In Verse 18, Paul says, “God… hath reconciled us to Himself… and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” Here we see that the people who have been given the ministry of reconciliation are the same people who have been reconciled to God. This cannot be limited to Paul and other leaders; it must include all believers, for we have all been reconciled.

Paul then defines the ministry of reconciliation as that which takes place when “ambassadors” say to the lost, “be ye reconciled to God” (v. 20). This means that the ambassadors proclaiming reconciliation in Verse 20 must consist of all the reconciled people who were given the ministry of reconciliation in Verse 18.

This also points out that, while “the world” has been reconciled to God (v. 19), the unsaved have not been reconciled in the same sense as believers, or else they would also be Christ’s ambassadors. The reconciling of the world is that which God gave Jews and Gentiles corporately, once the Jews had been cast away (Rom. 11:15), just as the Gentiles had been at the Tower of Babel.

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Wonderful News
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The newspapers are filled with sensational news these days, but the divine extension of this present age of grace is the most sensational news of all, yet most newspapers rarely, if ever, mention it.

We are prone to take the blessings of our times too much for granted. We forget too easily that for more than 1900 years the world has been ripe for God’s judgment — ever since His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was crucified and sent from this world a royal Exile.

All through the Old Testament Psalms and prophets it is clear that the world’s rejection of Christ was to be visited with awful judgment. The Second Psalm, describing the world’s rejection of “the Lord and His Anointed,” goes on to say: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure.” In Psalm 110:1, too, we have the Father saying to His rejected Son: “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.”

Yet, when all seemed ready for the divine judgment to fall, God interrupted the prophetic program and saved Saul of Tarsus, the “chief of sinners,” the leader of the world’s rebellion against Christ. More: He appointed this Saul, as the Apostle Paul, to proclaim “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), the wonderful news that because Christ suffered, the Just for the unjust, at Calvary, any sinner may be saved by grace through faith, apart from religious or other works.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). And therefore: “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5).

Judgment will come, but thank God, He has in grace delayed it until now.

    “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Cor. 6:2).

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The Truth
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Bible is unique among books as Christ was among men, in that it is the only book that claims repeatedly and consistently to be the truth.

It begins with the majestic words: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” It does not argue the case; it simply states it. The sacramental introduction to the prophecies is: “Thus saith the Lord,” and a hundred fulfilled prophecies prove that the Bible is indeed the Word of God — the truth.

Without apology it refers to:

    The “manifestation of the truth” (II Cor. 4:2).
    The “knowledge of the truth” (II Tim. 3:7).
    Those who “have erred concerning the truth” (II Tim. 2:18.).
    Those who “resist the truth” (II Tim. 3:8,).
    Those who “hold [hold down, suppress] the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom.1: 18.).
    Those who “turn away their ears from the truth” (II Tim. 4:4).
    Those who “believe and know the truth” (I Tim. 4:3).
    Those who “acknowledge the truth” (Titus 1:1).
    Our Lord said to His Father: “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17).
    Paul wrote to those who were saved when they “heard the word of truth, the gospel of [their] salvation” (Eph. 1:13).

Where the truth is concerned God’s Word is all we need, for:

    “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction in righteousness;

    “That the man of God may be perfect [complete], THOROUGHLY FURNISHED unto all good works” (II Tim. 3:16,17).

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The Peace of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


“Peace with God” is one thing; “the peace of God” is another. To enjoy the latter, we must first experience the former, for the peace of God, ruling in our hearts, is the result of “peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

St. Paul declared by divine inspiration that “[Christ] was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification” and that “therefore, being justified by faith,” we, who once were at enmity with God, may enjoy “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 4:25; 5:1). The result of “peace with God” is “the peace of God,” the peace that He gives to His own amid all the troubles of life. This is why the Apostle wrote to the Roman Christians:

    “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13).

While only those who are at peace with God can — and should know “the peace of God,” it does not follow, however, that all those who are at peace with God necessarily enjoy “the peace of God.” Believers can enjoy “the peace of God” only as they practice Phil. 4:6:

    “BE CAREFUL [ANXIOUS] FOR NOTHING; BUT IN EVERYTHING, BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION, WITH THANKSGIVING, LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN UNTO GOD.”

As we follow these instructions the promise which follows will certainly be fulfilled.

    “THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING, SHALL KEEP YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS” (Ver. 7).

As believers in Christ “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28.). Therefore we should not be constantly overwhelmed and defeated by the adversities of life, but should heed the exhortation; “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Col. 3:15).

    “NOW THE LORD OF PEACE HIMSELF GIVE YOU PEACE ALWAYS BY ALL MEANS” (II Thes. 3:16).

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Not Dying For Lack Of Love
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


It has been said that “the world is dying for the lack of a little bit of love.” When this statement is examined in the light of Scripture, however, it is found to be the exact opposite of the truth. Listen to what God’s Word says about this:

    “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

    “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8.).

    “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:9,10).

Many about us are dying in their sins, but not “for the lack of a little bit of love.” It is rather because they reject the great love that God has manifested to us in His Son. We are told in John 1:10,11 that “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” This is the problem: men are rejecting His love. “And this is the condemnation,” says John, “that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19).

But while others reject Him, you may accept Him as your Savior and know the joy of sins forgiven and of everlasting life, for “as many as received Him, to them gave He the power [Lit., right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12).

    “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand.
    “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him” (John 3:35,36).

    “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

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The Wisdom Of This World
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (I Cor. 1:20).

This challenge was hurled at the intellectual world of nineteen hundred years ago, so famous for its philosophy, literature and art. Nor are these the words of one who himself lacked the benefits of higher learning. Rather, they flowed from the pen of one of the most learned men, one of the greatest thinkers of all time: the Apostle Paul. More than this, they are found in that Book of books, the Bible, which has withstood, not barely but magnificently, all the attacks of a thousand critics through centuries of time. This Book says:

    “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (I Cor. 3:19).

    “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10).

Actually, the “intellectuals” in any age are those who assent to the theories of those who agree with each other that they are intellectual! Dissent from them and you have automatically branded yourself an illiterate!

    “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

    “And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

    “That no flesh should glory in His presence” (I Cor. 1:27-29).

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To Have and To Hold
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “Holding faith, and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (I Timothy 1:19).

Those who teach that salvation can be lost use this verse to say that unless we maintain a tight grip on the faith that saved us, we will make shipwreck of the faith and lose our eternal life. But when we compare Paul’s use of the word hold here to how he told Titus to be “holding fast the faithful word” (Titus 1:9), we understand “the faith” here to refer to the body of truth committed to the Apostle Paul. The context here is not salvation, it is warring a good warfare (I Tim. 1:18.) against men who teach false doctrine (cf. v. 20). The way to war a good warfare in the dispensation of grace is, as Paul later told Timothy, to “hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me” (II Tim. 1:13).

We must maintain this tight grip on Pauline truth in “good conscience.” People say to “let your conscience be your guide,” but Paul “lived in all good conscience” (Acts 23:1) from his forefathers (II Tim. 1:3). That means that even while persecuting God’s people “unto the death” as Saul of Tarsus, his conscience was clear! That’s because he “did it ignorantly” (I Tim. 1:13). That is, he didn’t know he was persecuting God’s people. He thought His people were heretics and that he was serving God in killing them (John 16:2). Does that tell you how dangerous it is to let your conscience be your guide? A conscience is only good if the light of God’s truth is shining on it!

A conscience is like a sundial in that respect. A sundial only gives the correct time when the right light is shining on it. If you check a sundial under the light of the moon, you are going to get a faulty reading. And if you go out at night with a flashlight, you can make it any time you like. The terrorists who flew those planes into the Twin Towers did so in all good conscience. People are born with a conscience that tells them that murder like that is wrong, but a conscience can “seared with a hot iron” by “doctrines of devils” (I Tim. 4:1,2). When that happens, people become “past feeling” (Eph. 4:19), and no longer feel the pricks of a conscience enlightened by God’s Word.

Many people say that doctrine isn’t important, but the people killed by Saul of Tarsus know better, as do the victims of 9/11. The mistakes you make in life may be nowhere near as heinous, but unless your conscience is enlightened by “the faith” committed to the Apostle Paul, the light from some other source will cause your conscience to give a faulty reading, and you won’t be able to “war a good warfare” for the Lord in the dispensation of grace.

Some in Paul’s day had “put away” the faith, a Bible phrase for divorce (Mt. 5:31). But God has given us the body of Pauline truth to have and to hold. Let’s hold it for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.

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Practical Instructions For Our Teens
by Pastor Paul M. Sadler


Scripture Reading:

    “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
    — Ephesians 6:1,2

In all likelihood mom and dad have been impressing upon you the importance of only dating and marrying those who are saved. You may think that they are being narrow-minded, but the truth is, your parents are looking out for your spiritual well-being. The Word of God is quite clear when it comes to the matter of separation:

    “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (II Cor. 6:14).

Some Christian young people feel strongly that there is no harm in just dating the unsaved. But why become emotionally involved in a relationship that has no future? Furthermore, it is unfair to the unbelieving party who will never understand your reasoning for breaking off the relationship. We have seen too many tragic cases where these types of associations end up in unequally yoked marriages that fail. So, may we encourage our young people to heed the godly counsel of their parents, for in so doing, you will spare yourself a lifetime of heartache.

But where can a Christian young person find Mr. or Mrs. Right? Since faithful believers do not frequent worldly establishments your search must begin where the Lord’s people gather. You must take the initiative to regularly attend church services, conferences, youth groups and camp meetings. In the meantime, a young man should be working toward financial stability while the young ladies learn to cook. After all, there is a limitation to McDonald’s!

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Choosing Commissions
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


How foolish and wrong it is for any of us to use “snatch-grab” methods, as Pastor J. C. O’Hair called them, in ascertaining our Lord’s will for us! What right have we to choose some particular segment or segments of our Lord’s instructions to the eleven in the forty days between His resurrection and ascension, and to apply only these to ourselves or to the Church today?

Nothing could be clearer than the fact that our Lord “showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). In those forty days then, one Person, our Lord, spoke to eleven men, and gave instructions as to the program they were to carry out after His ascension. In every single case it is crystal clear that these commands were not directed to others, who were to live at some future date, but to the apostles, who were to commence to carry them out after His departure, when the Holy Spirit had endued them with power.

This is emphasized by the phraseology found in all five records of the so-called “Great Commission”: Matt. 28:19: “Go ye,” Mark 16:15: “Go ye,” Luke 24:48: “Ye are witnesses,” John 20:21: “So send I you,” and Acts 1:8: “Ye shall be witnesses.” How preposterous, then, to argue, as so many hard-pressed theologians have done, that one or more segments of the great commission are to be carried out by another generation at a later time!

By what rule of hermeneutics or logic have we the right to exclude from the interpretation of these commands the very persons to whom our Lord gave them, and if this commission is binding on the Church today, what authority have we to choose which part or parts we shall obey?

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Grace From Calvary
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


If you want to enjoy a real spiritual feast, take a concordance to the Bible and look up the word “grace.” First notice how often this word is found in the four Gospels: only four times and only once in a doctrinal sense. Then notice how often it is used in Paul’s epistles (less than half the size of the four Gospels). Here it is found well over one hundred times and practically always in a doctrinal sense, about the love and mercy of God toward sinners and toward His own. Think of it: only once is grace referred to doctrinally in the four Gospels, yet in Paul’s epistles, less than half as large in volume, it is used more than one hundred times.

This is because St. Paul was God’s chosen apostle to make known His grace to sinners. In Acts 20:24 he speaks of “the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

But on what basis could God, through Paul, proclaim salvation by free grace to sinners? Ah, now take your Bible and begin looking up those passages which refer to the cross, the death and the blood of Christ, again noticing that while Paul does not actually relate the story of Christ’s death, he has more, far more, to say about that death, and what it accomplished, than any other Bible writer. It would thrill the heart of any sincere Christian to go through the Epistles of Paul and see how much good news Paul proclaims on the basis of the death of Christ. This is why his message is called “the preaching of the cross” — God’s good news about what Calvary has accomplished for us (1 Cor. 1:17-23).

In Paul’s epistles we learn that through Christ’s death for us at Calvary believers are “justified,” “accepted” by God, and pronounced “complete in Christ.” By His death they are reconciled to God in one body, given a position at God’s right hand in the highest heavens and assured “the exceeding riches of His grace” in “the ages to come” — this and more! Riches of grace flowing from Calvary; this is the very essence of the glorious message which Paul was raised up to proclaim. Read his epistles and see.

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For Jesus' Sake
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake” (II Cor. 4:11).

There is much that we all do for our own sake, for the sake of our children, our loved ones or others, but the real test of the believer’s love for the Lord is what he does “for Jesus’ sake.”

Under the dispensation of Law our Lord told His disciples that to be forgiven they must forgive: “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37), “but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:15).

But now, under the dispensation of grace, He exhorts us to forgive one another “even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). The difference is striking. Before the cross: If you would be forgiven, forgive. Now, in the light of the cross: You have been graciously forgiven for Christ’s sake. In the light of this be tenderhearted and forgiving toward others.

And we are to go farther than this: Not only are we to forgive our brethren in Christ, but we are to be prepared to show this attitude toward the world as well. St. Paul said: “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all” (I Cor. 9:19), and referring to his persecutions by unbelievers, he said: “We… are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake” (II Cor. 4:11). How many unbelievers would be won to Christ; how many of our Christian friends would be strengthened and helped, if we adopted this attitude toward others!

As to suffering itself, the Apostle also gladly bore this “for Jesus’ sake.” In writing to the Corinthians, he said: “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong” (II Cor. 12:10). He had learned that in weakness he leaned the harder, prayed more, and was brought closer to His Lord, and herein lay his spiritual strength.

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The Truth Of Christ
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “As the truth of Christ is in me…” (II Cor. 11:10).

How often St. Paul, in his letters, speaks with an oath! “God is my witness” (Rom. 1:9), “As God is true” (II Cor. 1:18.), “Behold, before God, I lie not” (Gal. 1:20), “God is my record” (Phil. 1:8.), “I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not” (I Tim. 2:7), etc., etc.

As Dean Howson has said: “When Paul makes a solemn statement under the sense of God’s presence, he does not hesitate to express this.”

But had not others spoken under the sense of God’s presence? Of course they had, yet Paul calls God to witness far more often than any other Bible writer. Why is this? The answer is found in the distinctive character of Paul’s ministry as the apostle of “the mystery.” John the Baptist, the four evangelists and the twelve apostles did not need to speak with oaths since they proclaimed that which had already been prophesied. But with Paul it was different. Separate from the twelve, who were widely known as the apostles of Christ, Paul had been raised up to make known a wonderful secret which God had kept hidden from all who had gone before. While not a contradiction of prophecy, this secret had nevertheless not been prophesied; it was a new revelation. Hence it was appropriate that the Apostle should insist again and again that he wrote as in the presence of God.

As we consider Paul’s oaths, however, we must ask ourselves whether anyone ever used the oath with more solemn sincerity. Did anyone ever suffer so intensely for the truths he proclaimed, or pay so dearly to convince others of them? Could anyone say with such simplicity to those who knew him best:

    “Ye know… after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations [testings]… and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you…” (Acts 20:18-20).

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The Unknown Hymn
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out…” (Matt.26:30).

Often have we wondered what might have been the words of that sacred hymn, but God has seen fit to keep this from us for the present.

We have in our Bibles many great poetic expressions: the Song of Moses, the beautiful Magnificat, all the Psalms and many other poems, but the hymn that our Lord and His eleven apostles sang that night before leaving the Upper Room was evidently a well-known song, in which they could all join. We can almost imagine our Lord saying, “Before we leave, let’s sing…”.

We will not know the words of that hallowed hymn until we reach heaven, but we do know this: Our Lord and His apostles did not leave the Upper Room weeping and mourning. Though His soul had been deeply troubled as He approached the dreadful hour of His suffering and death, He could say: “What shall I say? Father save Me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27). Though deeply saddened by Judas’ base betrayal, “having loved His own…He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1), and His words of comfort and cheer during these last hours are now crowned with the singing of a hymn–a hymn, a song of praise.

Though the words of that hymn are as yet unknown to us, the lesson of its singing should not be lost. If the Upper Room scene closed with the singing of a hymn, surely we may be given the grace to sing God’s praise in the midst of our lesser trials. And if our Lord, “for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2), surely our burdens may — and should — be lightened through the knowledge that by His grace, “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Cor. 4:17).

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Mother Mary's Advice
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5).

When, at Cana’s wedding feast, the mother of Jesus had seen that the wine had run out, she had at first approached Him for help, but had received a reply which all the theologians of the centuries have not been able to soften: “Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come” (John 2:4).

She must learn the painful lesson that as Son of God He must deny the claims of any who would boast a closer relationship to Him on grounds of physical birth.

Mary must not think of Him as “My son”. She must, like every one else, learn to know Him as Her Lord and Saviour.

Humble, believing Mary could take the lesson well, however. Before this, when He had spoken in similar fashion she had “kept all these sayings in her heart”. Now she goes to the servants and says: “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it”.

Mary would do the same today. If she could speak she would direct her worshippers to the Lord Jesus Christ, and say: “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it”.

Strangely, the vast majority seem to think of His words only as the words which He spoke while on earth. They have forgotten or have never known that our Lord Jesus spoke again from heaven by revelation to the Apostle Paul and that in his epistles we have the words of the Lord Jesus to us today (See Galatians 1:11,12; 2:7-9).

Paul was, in a special sense, the ambassador of the rejected Lord. To him was committed “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) and the mystery of God’s “eternal purpose” (Eph. 3:1-11). In bringing his first Epistle to Timothy to a close, he wrote: “If any man teach otherwise [than he had been teaching] and consent not to wholesome words, EVEN THE WORDS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST…he is proud, knowing nothing…from such withdraw thyself” (I Tim. 6:3-5). Likewise, to the unruly Corinthians he wrote: “…If I come again, I will not spare: SINCE YE SEEK A PROOF OF CHRIST SPEAKING IN ME…” (II Cor. 13:2,3).

Mary’s advice today would be to believe the gospel that Paul preached, “…how that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS according to the Scriptures…was buried, and…rose again the third day…” (I Cor. 15:3,4).