What would your answer be if you were asked simply to state what you conceive your deepest, your greatest need to be? Think for a moment what you would answer, what you would set down on a slip of paper as being your deepest need. The answers, no doubt, would be various, and perhaps numerous. Many answers would have to do with victory in this way or in that, light in this way or in that. All the answers would be different things.
Now let us say, with considered emphasis, that the need of every one of us, deepest and greatest, is of the knowledge of God in Christ. Given that every need is met, every desire and quest of the human heart is answered in Him. That may not sound very helpful, but we have not got very far yet. If you were to stay with that, and go to the Lord with that and in earnest seeking of Him ask Him to explain that to you, if you made this prayer to the Lord sincerely: "Lord, show me how the knowledge of Thyself, Eternal, Infinite, Almighty God in Jesus Christ, answers my deepest and greatest need", you would be on the right road, and would be in the way of making a new discovery. This is our need, if we did but know it, and it covers the whole ground; the knowledge, not of God, not of Christ only, but of God in Christ.
(This e-book can be downloaded for free at Austin-Sparks.Net)
T. Austin Sparks (1888 – 1971)
He was ordained as a Baptist pastor at the age of 24, and from 1912 to 1926 led three congregations in Greater London. During these years, he was also closely related to Jessie Penn-Lewis and her publication and speaking ministry, the "Overcomer Testimony."Among the many books that he wrote, at least three are regarded as Christian classics: The School of Christ, The Centrality and Supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ and We Beheld His Glory. The primary theme of Sparks' books is the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He mentored Watchman Nee for many years and was very influential in his understanding of the Church Life.
Recommends these books by T. Austin Sparks:
Daily Open Windows: Excerpts from the Messages of T. Austin-Sparks
Discipleship in the School of Christ by T. Austin Sparks
More of Christ: From "The Stewardship of the Mystery" by T. Austin Sparks
"Mr Sparks", as he was affectionately known, was born in London, England in 1888. He came to know Christ as a teenager and later became a Baptist pastor. However, his "ecclesiastical" career took a decidedly different direction when a physical crisis brought him to a place of brokenness.
At the same time God also delivered him from his previous prejudice against anything that was related to the "deeper life". As a result, he joined Jessie Penn-Lewis in the ministry of the spiritual growth of believers; a ministry to which he devoted his life and which also cost him his reputation and his career in the denominational circles of England.
He was based in southeast London at Honor Oak Christian Fellowship which is where Watchman Nee met and fellowshipped with him during a visit to England in 1933. Nee's refusal to disavow Austin-Sparks later became the grounds for him being disfellowshipped by the Taylor Brethren. It has been said that Watchman Nee considered Austin-Sparks as his spiritual mentor, and their fellowship appears to have been rich and fruitful.
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