James Edwin Orr, a Baptist minister, hymn-writer, professor, author and promoter of Church Revival once said, “There have been instances in the history of the church when the telling and retelling of the wonderful works of God have been used to rekindle the expectations of the faithful intercessors and prepare the way for another Awakening.”
History, you might say, is an acquired taste. To trust that a great event took place is good, but to find it’s historical landmark often brings validity and purpose.
Recently, I preached a series of messages from Exodus 15 on the ‘Wells of Elim’ that Moses encountered as he led Israel from the Red Sea. Each well served as a landmark in the hand of God’s direction and supply, as well as to remind the following generation of the fulfillment of God’s plan for His people. Israel would follow as God provided, therefore creating a landmark or check point in Israel’s history. However, in times of murmuring, God often brought his people into remembrance of those past landmarks to encourage them to trust Him. If today, we will follow the example of our forefathers and revisit the old landmarks of Christianity, we too could experience a great awakening of the Spirit of God.

Proverbs 22:28 “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”

Charles Weigle, author of the song “No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus”, wrote in the late 1800’s, ‘I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus, Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true; I would tell you how He changed my life completely, He did something that no other friend could do’.

It’s time we revisit the Landmark of our Salvation!

John 19:17 “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
 19And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.”

This landmark is not a theory (merely one of many ideas with no certainty). It’s not fiction (a story without any real truth for foundation). It’s not fantasy (a mental illusion or day dream). And certainly not a feeling (feelings come and go). The landmark of Salvation is real.

Psalms 119:18 “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

The Landmark of God’s Word.
John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, questioned his Catholic teachings, including the requirement that scripture was to be written exclusively in Latin, a language few common people could read. Briefly a national hero for his resistance to Rome, Wycliffe ultimately loses both influence and his professorship. From 1380-82, he compiles an English translation of the Bible, translating his first edition in 1382. A second edition was published after his death in 1384, and became known as the Wycliffe Bible.
In an act of revenge, the Catholic Church excommunicated him thirty-one years after his death and, in 1428, exhumed his bones, burned them and scattered his ashes.

As for John Wycliffe, his understanding of the Word of God became one of the great landmarks in the history of Christianity, thus paving the way as a spiritual fire shed light that the majority of the world’s population had yet received the ability to hold the Word of God in their hands.
In 1899, John H. Nicholson, Samuel E. Hill, and Will J. Knights decided to organize a group, “to band Christian commercial travelers together for mutual recognition, personal evangelism, and united service for the Lord.” At their first meeting, Knights declares, “We shall be called Gideons,” based on the story in Judges 6-7. Since many of the early members were businessmen who travel extensively, they decided to place a Bible in every American hotel room as their contribution to Christianity. They placed their first Bible in a Montana hotel in 1908. The organization grew into a worldwide group, and now operates in 190 countries. They estimate they have placed 1.6 billion sets of Scriptures throughout the world.
When you enter a hotel room and lay hold on that Bible with a Gideon stamp on its cover; you are holding one of the very landmarks that Christianity is founded upon!

Have you considered that the Holy Spirit is revealing a landmark to you by His Word?
It is:    *Beautiful in its language. Ps.23
*Incorruptible in its nature. 1Pe.1:23
*Loving in its message. Jn 3:16
*Blessed in its bestowments. Ps.32
*Effective in its purpose. 2Tim. 3:16,17
*Wonderful in its accomplishments. Is.55:11
*Water - Eph.5:26
*Lamp - Ps.119:105a
*Fire - Jer.20:8,9
*Hammer - Jer.23:29b
*Sword - Heb 4:12
*Seed - 1Pe.1:23
*Spiritual Nurishment - Jer.15:16
*Indestructible - Matt.24:35
*Incorruptible - 1Pe.1:23-25
*Indespensible - Matt.4:4
*Infallible - Matt.5:18
*Inexhaustible - Ps.92:5
*Redemption - Eph.1:3-14
*Planned by God - 1Jn.4:9,10
*Revealed by the Spirit - Jn. 16:7-9
*Light to our path
*Gate to Heaven
*Guide for youth
*Inspiration for the mature
*Comfort for the aged
*Food for the hungry
*Water for the thirsty
*Rest for the weary
*Hope for the unbeliever
*Salvation for the sinner
*Grace for the Christian

Nations rise and fall - YET IT LIVES
Presidents come and go - YET IT LIVES
Hated and cursed - YET IT LIVES
Scoffed at by scorners - YET IT LIVES
Inspiration is denied - YET IT LIVES

To Believe it is to Live it.
To Know it is to Love it.
To Love it is to Accept it.
To Accept it is Eternal Life.

In 1862, a partition was publicly posted in England sharing this testimony of his belief in the Word of God and of prayer.
“That the word of God alone is our standard of judgment in spiritual things; that it can be explained only by the Holy Spirit; and that in our day, as well as in former times, he is the teacher of his people. The office of the Holy Spirit we have not experimentally understood before this time. Indeed, of the office of each of the blessed persons, in what is commonly called the Trinity, we have no experimental apprehension. We have not before seen from the Scriptures that the Father chose us before the foundation of the world; that in him that wonderful plan of our redemption originated, and that he also appointed all the means by which it was to be brought about. Further, that the Son, to save us, had fulfilled the law, to satisfy its demands, and with it also the holiness of God; that he had borne the punishment due to our sins, and had thus satisfied the justice of God. And, further, that the Holy Spirit alone can teach us about our state by nature, show us the need of a Saviour, enable us to believe in Christ, explain to us the Scriptures, help us in preaching, etc. It is our beginning to understand this latter point in particular; for the Lord has enabled us to put it to the test of experience, by laying aside commentaries, and almost every other book, and simply reading the word of God and studying it. The result of this shall be, that as one should shut himself up, to give of himself to prayer and meditation over the Scriptures, he should learned more in a few hours than any period of several months previously, thereby receiving real strength for the soul in doing so.”  Author, Unknown


Personally, one of my favorites is the Landmark of Prayer.

Luke 18:1 “....that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

Aside from our mothers, who I’m sure have prayed for their children in ernest, I can think of no greater Landmark in Christianity than that of the prayers of George Müller.
Once, while crossing the Atlantic on the SS Sardinian in August 1877, his ship ran into thick fog. He explained to the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by the following afternoon, but Captain Joseph E Dutton (later known as "Holy Joe") said that he was slowing the ship down for safety and Müller's appointment would have to be missed. Müller asked to use the chartroom to pray for the lifting of the fog. The captain followed him down, claiming it would be a waste of time. After Müller prayed, the captain started to pray, but Müller stopped him; partly because of the captain's unbelief, but mainly because he believed the prayer had already been answered. When the two men went back to the bridge, they found the fog had lifted. The captain became a Christian shortly afterwards.
Müller's trust in God strengthened day by day and he spent hours in daily prayer and Bible reading. – indeed, it was his practice, in later years, to read through the entire Bible four times a year.
Dear child of God, be encouraged that prayer changes circumstances, changes hearts, changes our outlook, and reaches the very heart of God.
Author and Artist Bill Gaither, along with Hovie Lister, made popular the great song “The Old Landmark”. Its lyrics, “Let us all go back to that old landmark. Let us stay in the service of the Lord”, still ring true today as it challenges its listeners to return to those old Landmarks of Christianity.

NOTHING COMPARES

Nothing can be compared to the joy that God gives when He forgives us, cleanses us, restores and saves us, and assures us that the gift of God is indeed eternal life, to as many as receive Him!