T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S An Angel Brings Good News. Luke 1:6-23, 67-66, 80. Memory Verse.— “ He shall he great In the sight of the Lord.” Luke 1:15. Approach.—How many of you like to get letters with your own name on the face of the envelope? Everybody. Sure we do, and I just wonder how many of you re c e iv e d one BEGINNERS ju s t last week? AND PRIMARY E verybody again. Mabel L. Merrill Well, then, you all got what you liked this time. Did your letters have good news or bad news? Good! That is fine. When I wrote those letters I knew they would make you happy to receive them, and then you would be happy when you heard the good news about the little party we are going to have, and you will be happy all the time thinking about the party, and happy, Oh so happy, when the day of the party arrives. My, .just think how much hap piness those letters are making. Our story today is about some good news, but this good news did not come by let ter. Let us bow our heads .and thank Jesus for the happy times we have. Lesson Story.— I am going to give you a little word picture of a home in the beautiful hills of Judea, where lived a man and his wife who loved God and read the Bible and prayed every day. The man’s name was Zacharias, and his wife’s name was Elizabeth, and they loved each other and did all they could to make each other happy. Zacharias was a priest who helped in the service of the temple certain times in the year. Now there was something that this man and wife wanted very much, and they had prayed and asked God about it a great many times, and now they were getting old, and yet they had never re ceived an answer to their prayers. Can any of you guess? Yes, James, that is just what they wanted, a little child, and they asked God for a little son. Home is not really, truly home without (See Inside Front Cover)
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a baby, is it? ,It was Zacharias’ time to serve in the temple. On the day of our story Zacharias was in the temple Burning incense on the golden altar, and while he was there he saw an angel standing beside the golden altar. Zacha rias was frightened, but the angel said, "Pear not, Zacharias, for God will give to thee and thy wife, a son, and thou sha.'t call his name John.” My! Wasn’t this good news for Zacharias? Yes, it was such good news, and he had waited so long, he asked the angel how he would know this good news would come true. The angel answered, saying he lived in heaven and stood before God ready to do whatever God commanded him, and that God had sent him to tell this good news. Then the angel told Zacharias that because he did not be lieve he should be punished by being dumb and unable to speak until the words the angel had spoken should come true. The people who were wait ing in the courts of the temple for Zacharias to come out wondered what had kppt him so lone, and when he came they saw that he could not speak. But he made them understand by signs that he had seen a vision. The lesson God taught Zacharias is one we must all remember, that whatever God says is true, for His word can never fail. We need to remember this in the world today for so many people are trying to make us believe that the Bible is not true, but it is true for it is God s word. Now the time came for this little tab / that the angel had promised to come into the home of Zacharias and his wiie, Elizabeth, and he was just the dearest little baby boy you ever saw. When this little boy was eight days old the neighbors and friends came together to dedicate, or give him to the Lord, and to decide what his name should be. The people said to name him for his father, but the mother said no,_John was to be his name. Then they asked the father; he wrote on paper, John. Then his speech came back, and he could talk,
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