Are we seeing, or have we seen, that after all, our Christianity and all that comprises Christianity as we know it, all our Bible study and knowledge, all our Christian activity, work and organization, all our Christian institutions and everything that goes by the name of Christianity, after all the criterion is this - "Is it a death destroying reality, is it a real testimony, a living effectual testimony to the fact that death is vanquished and where you touch it where you are, that is the effect; that death is overcome?" I say that is the test...
But it is not all that makes up Christianity that proves it to be the thing that God is after, it is whether the testimony of the Lord is really there, and the testimony of the Lord is that there where we are, there is an effectual expression of the fact that death is overcome; not our orthodoxy, not our soundness of doctrine, not our evangelicalism but the impact of a life which conquers death, or the Life which has conquered death being where we are. If that is true, that is the testimony of the 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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