Holiness & The Life of Brengle

Brengle: He taught us Holiness    I Peter 1:13-16                                        Capt. Kelly Durant

2.You have heard of Prengles, right? Well, at the CFOT in Chicago we had Brengles! (show can) Ha! Actually, most of us remember by association and this helps, right? Well, you do need to consume holiness teachings! And then apply them!

It has only been a few years years since a talented Major (Col.) Eddie Hobgood did a reenactment at a commissioning on the life of Samuel Logan Brengle. I was reflecting on that and realized some of you who were not there may not have a clue who this man was that the Salvation Army honors for his teachings. I told everyone I was going away to the Brengle Institute in Chicago and everyone is like, well okay have a good time, not knowing anything about the contributions of this holy man and his writings on holiness. These past 2 weeks were like a refresher course, a refilling of the Holy Ghost, a resting and a calling to live my life in holiness; to live full of the Holy Spirit! Do you want a life full of God’s spirit as well?

3.Brengle lived in the time that the Salvation Army was at its beginnings in the late 1800’s. He had gone to the University in Indiana and was so well educated that he enjoyed showing off to his colleagues. He was a circuit preacher for the Methodists here in the U.S. and learned about holiness in Boston studying with them. He wrote in those days of his holiness experiences of how the Holy Spirit would touch him praying and he would end up just crying for joy over God’s love and he just wanted to love the world!

He came to the Salvation Army in an open air in Boston and decided to join the Salvation but by traveling to meet General William Booth himself in London.  And as all godly men would do, General Booth evaluated well how to use the young willful Samuel Brengle. Instead of placing him in authority for his university education as Brengle had pridefully expected, he asked him to first be in charge of shining the shoes of the Cadets that would go out daily to preach in the streets .In other words he had an idea that he was a cut above the rest. Have you ever met people like that?

4.First, consider what kind of mud and gunk there was in the streets of London at that time? Most people threw away their bedpans in the streets, horse and carriages passed by leaving their business behind, and the smell and appearance of the mud on the shoes was not pleasant at all!

Samuel Brengle was told he could have the job of shining the approximate one hundred shoes every day, day after day. While he would shine them, he would ask himself, what is God showing me? Why can’t others see my value to use me in a better way? How long will I have to do this ridiculous and humiliating job? Shouldn’t I just quit the Salvation Army? Is it worth it? But God showed him that if Jesus washed the disciples feet, he could also do his job with joy. He made the right choice and persisted and God did use him in a way he did not expect!

5.The next life event that happened to him brought Him close to God for sure. He was sent back to Boston after training and while out in the streets coming from on top of a building someone threw a brick right on top of his head! It was such a serious injury that he needed one year and a half before he was fully recuperated.

That was a horrible attack and injury from Satan, right? Imagine, this man was already givng his all to God, and now this? Well, it was in that year and a half that God came to him in a marvelous way because he became more and more connected to the Holy Spirit because day after day he was taking time for prayer and the study of God’s word and a transformation of holiness occurred.

6.He experienced a new level of a connection with God that he never knew, holiness and purity beyond the usual and he felt like he wanted to love everybody, even the dogs in the street! After spending time with God, colors were brighter, things were unexplainable beautiful and different!

In the end, by reaching a higher level of victory against sin, or what we define as living the holy life, he became inspired, being empowered to his maximum potential and he wrote more than 10 books of the subject of holiness. He researched Wesley’s original contributions and practiced staying pure and his writings and contributions have continued to be a great guide for every Christian who has the duty to go deeper with God in their Christian walk.

Some people never in this life experience the bliss of gaining the blessings of the great joy and peace the Lord wants to give! Any Christian can have joy no matter what is happening in their lives. I heard the life testimony of over 72 Officers and you would be surprised how many have dealt with recent deaths in the family, cancer and long term sickness, horrible broken-ness from substance abuse, abandonment, or sexual abuse when they were children, or some were opposite having grown up protected and blessed in a Salvation Army home and dedicating their lives to Jesus at age 14. Each story was fascinating and each person was dedicating their life to Jesus as a calling with heavenly rewards disregarding the earthly sacrifice.

7.How many of you want more of Jesus so much so that the Holy Spirit fills you moment by moment to experience God’s love as never before? It makes you happy inside, full of love, and so thrilled about life that you it will just overflow from your heart onto others in pure love!

I will be preaching several times in the future on how to gain more holiness because you and I have an immense need for it, but for today, I will just give you a few illustrations to make it more understandable.

God is holy and he commands that we be holy. (see verses of sermon) What does that mean? It means that we must obey and we must work at renewing ourselves with the Holy Ghost and deepening our relationship with him day by day. Think of all the muddy shoes, they are ugly and undesirable and they had to get cleaned from day to day, but afterwards they shined as new, as if they had never been dirty! You and the Lord need each other otherwise you just remain dirty full of your own self and undesirable.

8.Think of your faith as a glass of water. You were dry and empty but when you invited Jesus to come into your life, you were full and felt satisfied. But left alone without refilling, the water evaporates; this means you must refill it with your connection to God by worship (not just on Sunday but daily), reading and absorbing His word, and by obeying his commands to love Him with all your heart mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. Let’s review doctrine 9 and 10.

We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.

We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9.-           Creemos que el continuar en estado de salvación depende del ejercicio constante de la fe y obediencia a Cristo.  10.-  Creemos que es privilegio de todos los creyentes ser santificados "por completo" y que su ser entero, "espíritu, alma y cuerpo", puede ser guardado "irreprensible para la venida de nuestro Señor Jesucristo".

9.How many of you are saved and have Jesus in your lives? (hands) Great! There was given to you a prevenient grace, you could think of it as a special gift of illumination in your heart and mind from God, a Holy Spirit pull on your heart, and you accepted it and had an experience that made you feel a warmth or peace.

When a person accepts Jesus, they gain a small measure of holiness (which is like a touch of the breath of God), like getting a seed planted, the first getting to know Him meeting has taken place and the spirit provoked in you or in the person a will to want to be clean, to not sin anymore, and know more about God and become like this pure loving being Jesus, God’s Son, to save you from your sins or destructive habits that separated you from God.

Then over time what happens? Well, as you know with the parable of the seed that Jesus told, the seed can either grow up partially, fully, or just die. You are the one who decides. If you water it with God’s word and pray to obey and grow in faith, the product of holiness takes root in the love relationship that grows.

You then have passed on to the phase of having a prevalent grace,  a continuing grace, a Holy Spirit power that helps you in the process of growing even closer to God, of helping you to be like Jesus himself! It is a second measure of God’s spirit!

10.Imagine yourself right now as being a pure holy person, a person full of love and Jesus’ love, a person that has lost all desire to sin because you are free from sin, a person who lives every moment guided by God’s spirit. Imagine now a happiness and joy which is more than anything you have ever experienced!

I know some of you have experienced the Holy Spirit, and felt so wonderful you thought you could fly off to heaven! The infilling of the Holy Spirit which occurs when your heart and mind are clean for the Lord is an amazing experience but it is one that lasts only while you keep the connection alive. Renewing it every day will be faithful until the end!

Holiness and purity are possible with God and everyone should pray for it, accept it, and allow the lead of the Holy Spirit, and then live moment by moment hearing from the Lord!

The fullness of God comes from abiding in Jesus, God’s word, as the vine in John 15. Imagine every person is comparable to a plant, or the vine that grows, but some give fruit and some don’t. The scripture says, the ones without fruit are thrown away to be burned, but the other ones that stay connected to Jesus absorb all the nutrients and over time mature to grow many grapes. Some of you here have little green grapes, and some of you have large grapes, all of you are in different phases of growth.

11. What does the fruit imply? We know from Gal. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

If you mature in pureness and holiness you will have these qualities for your continued working at being close to God.  And holiness just keeps on progressing and you feel much less temptation to sin, and you are holy because you have been passing time with the one that is holy! But if not you become lukewarm and neither hot nor cold for God and useless.

You are commanded to be holy by the scripture we read today. Do you think you are prideful and need to improve? Well, just tell God you’re sorry and repent and start right now with a new dedication to Him! Pray for a lifestyle change so you have time for God daily. Pray for a change in character too! I know you and some of you do not yet have the fruits mentioned here in Galatians. 

12. Ask yourself, could I pass the test of shining shoes all day for Jesus? God wants to use many of  you but you are not cleaned up in holiness as much as God would like. Pray Psa 51:10-12 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.   Remember it is a command to be holy as He is holy! Obey it and discover a joy you have never known!