Men of character are the men that have accomplished so much for God and the Church all down the years of by-gone history. We know that great learning and much wealth have had a wonderful place in the Church, but the men that have moved the world toward God were men of faith, often without wealth or very much learning. Some have said that faith was the mainspring of life, that without it not only the Church would die, but all business would cease as soon as faith was gone.
We have reached the day and age in our time where we need a faith that will help us to lift this poor old sin-stained, heart-broken world up to God and holiness. We know that a weak timid vacillating faith will get us nowhere. It never has and never will, and the Lord is never pleased with such a faith, neither is the man that tries to use it. We have often heard Brother Will Huff say that God never was guilty of sending out a man to try to do something; that the man that God sent could do the thing that God sent him to do. We have often heard him say that the reason St. Paul was such a factor in the world's history was that from the time he met Jesus on the Damascus road until the day his head was chopped off by Nero he stood like he had rock ribs under his feet. The reader will remember that God said to Paul, "Fear not Paul, as thou hast borne witness in Jerusalem, so also shalt thou bear witness in Rome."
We next notice that Barnabas was full of the Holy Ghost. This is an interesting statement from the fact that so many good people believe it to be impossible to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and still others have such extravagant notions about such experience that they suppose a Spirit-filled man must be about ready to "sprout wings," as they often call it, and I have heard some say that if they were to profess to have been filled with the Holy Ghost they would immediately expect their wings to appear. But such people are not likely to have wings in this world, or that which is to come.
But in contrast to such notions as these, the early Church had lots of just such men as this beautiful man we call Barnabas, for we read that on the day of Pentecost they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. In fact the seven men that were selected by the early Church to look after its temporalities were all filled with the Holy Ghost. The fact is, beloved, that to be full of the Holy Ghost was the rule and not the exception. For nobody can read of the Church of that day and fail to see that as worshipers they had no idea of grinning at and sneering at and rejecting the Holy Ghost, and we believe from the very deep of our souls that it is the blood-bought privilege and the high vocation of every member of the Church to have this same blessed Holy Ghost to come into his heart and life, and flood every nook and corner of his soul, filling and thrilling us with this power divine, and imparting to each and all of us a degree of energy and unction and power that would make us mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds of sin and Satan about us.
There is no doubt in my mind about Barnabas having this spiritual energy, because his whole nature was possessed of God, and that imparted to him a boldness and courage and enthusiasm that made him a success wherever he went. The fact is, if we would become religious enthusiasts we must possess the same power and if we would have power over men we must have enthusiasm. No artist paints a great picture, and no poet produces a great poem, and no musician a great work without enthusiasm. It is also true that no Christian will make a successful worker without enthusiasm nor will the enthusiasm of humanity be enough, we must have the enthusiasm of divinity. Without this we will be cold and formal and calculative and will not get anywhere. It has been said that a bar of iron by itself is dead, but when it is magnetized, it will attract other bars, and will draw them to it and lift them and carry them about. So it will be with us, and so it was with Barnabas. If we are full of the Holy Ghost we are sure to draw and attract and hold others rather than alienate them.
Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson
We have reached the day and age in our time where we need a faith that will help us to lift this poor old sin-stained, heart-broken world up to God and holiness. We know that a weak timid vacillating faith will get us nowhere. It never has and never will, and the Lord is never pleased with such a faith, neither is the man that tries to use it. We have often heard Brother Will Huff say that God never was guilty of sending out a man to try to do something; that the man that God sent could do the thing that God sent him to do. We have often heard him say that the reason St. Paul was such a factor in the world's history was that from the time he met Jesus on the Damascus road until the day his head was chopped off by Nero he stood like he had rock ribs under his feet. The reader will remember that God said to Paul, "Fear not Paul, as thou hast borne witness in Jerusalem, so also shalt thou bear witness in Rome."
We next notice that Barnabas was full of the Holy Ghost. This is an interesting statement from the fact that so many good people believe it to be impossible to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and still others have such extravagant notions about such experience that they suppose a Spirit-filled man must be about ready to "sprout wings," as they often call it, and I have heard some say that if they were to profess to have been filled with the Holy Ghost they would immediately expect their wings to appear. But such people are not likely to have wings in this world, or that which is to come.
But in contrast to such notions as these, the early Church had lots of just such men as this beautiful man we call Barnabas, for we read that on the day of Pentecost they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. In fact the seven men that were selected by the early Church to look after its temporalities were all filled with the Holy Ghost. The fact is, beloved, that to be full of the Holy Ghost was the rule and not the exception. For nobody can read of the Church of that day and fail to see that as worshipers they had no idea of grinning at and sneering at and rejecting the Holy Ghost, and we believe from the very deep of our souls that it is the blood-bought privilege and the high vocation of every member of the Church to have this same blessed Holy Ghost to come into his heart and life, and flood every nook and corner of his soul, filling and thrilling us with this power divine, and imparting to each and all of us a degree of energy and unction and power that would make us mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds of sin and Satan about us.
There is no doubt in my mind about Barnabas having this spiritual energy, because his whole nature was possessed of God, and that imparted to him a boldness and courage and enthusiasm that made him a success wherever he went. The fact is, if we would become religious enthusiasts we must possess the same power and if we would have power over men we must have enthusiasm. No artist paints a great picture, and no poet produces a great poem, and no musician a great work without enthusiasm. It is also true that no Christian will make a successful worker without enthusiasm nor will the enthusiasm of humanity be enough, we must have the enthusiasm of divinity. Without this we will be cold and formal and calculative and will not get anywhere. It has been said that a bar of iron by itself is dead, but when it is magnetized, it will attract other bars, and will draw them to it and lift them and carry them about. So it will be with us, and so it was with Barnabas. If we are full of the Holy Ghost we are sure to draw and attract and hold others rather than alienate them.
Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson
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