King's Business - 1930-05

269

T h è

K i n g ’ s

B u s i n e s s

May 1930

who do most in the Lord’s work who are least tired.— Mrs. R. W• Low e.

diary, written seven days before he died, were these: “O come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.” Dwight L. Moody prayed : “Use me, then, my Saviour, for. whatever purpose and in whatever way .Thou mayest re­ quire. Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel ; fill it with Thy grace.” Martin Luther, in a great agony of prayer on the night preceding his appear­ ance before the Diet of Worms, cried : “Do Thou, my God, . . . . stand by me against all the world’s wisdom and reason. Oh, do it ! Thou must do it. Stand by me, Thou true eternal God.” “Praying Hyde,” a missionary in, India, pleaded with God: “Father, give me these souls or I die.” * * * P assages on P rayer (The following passages give examples of p r a y e r in the lives of B i b l e leaders.) Gen. 18:22, 23; Ex. 8:12; 1 Sam. 7: 5; Job 1: 5; 2 Kgs. 4:33; 2 Chr. 30:18; Luke 2:37; Acts 9:11, 40; 10:30; Acts 16:13, 25 ; Rev. 2 2 :20. _ Ask yourself the following questions and check up on your prayer life : 1. Has my prayer life been powerless because of some besetting sin? 2. Has my prayer life been hindered by haste, irregularity, lack of system, un­ preparedness of spirit, or unbelief? 3. Has my prayer life been fruitless? Have I really had such power with God that I have power with souls? 4. Has my prayer life been limited to my own work, to my own service for God? 5. Has my prayer life been intermit­ tent and starved? 6. Has my prayer life been growing? Do I daily know more of the meaning, efficacy, and power of prayer? 7. Has my prayer life been sacrificial? What has it cost in time, strength, and love? —o— June 15, 1930 How Great Leaders Served Their Generation Acts 20:17-35; Eph. 3:14-19 S uggestive O rder of S ervice Opening hymns : “Faith of our F a ­ thers,” “Saved to Serve.” Prayer. Scripture reading (read above refer­ ences on lesson). Leader’s remarks (see helps below). Closing hymn : “Soldiers of Christ, Arise.” Benediction. ' * * * S ide -L igh ts A potter was working at his wheel. An onlooker, watching him, remarked: “Thè leg you use must grow very tired.” “No:, it’s the leg that does nothing that gets tired,” was the reply. And it is the people Hymn : “Men of the Church.” Announcements and offering. Special musical number.

week. Give each meeting a different name, as radio meeting, etc. Advertise your services. Have a poster competition, giving a prize for the best poster submitted during the month. Write up the meetings for the local news­ papers. Start one or two lines of worth-while summer work. For example, give a sum­ mer .Christmas tree for the children of the community; or organize teams to con­ duct evangelistic meetings. (See “Daily Companion.” Price 25 cents. Christian Endeavor Headquarters.) —o—r- June 8, 1930 Prayer in th e Life of Leaders Opening hymns: “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” “What a Friend we have in Jesus.” Sentence prayers. Scripture reading: John 17. Hymn: “More Like the Master.” Announcements and offering. Special number. Leader’s remarks (see helps below). Reading of special references on prayer by different members (see list below). Closing hymn: “My Jesus, I love Thee.” Closing prayer: “We cannot do great things for Him Who did so much for u s; But we should like to show our love, Dear Jesus, unto Thee. Faithful in very little things, O Saviour, may we be.” * * * T houghts on th e T opic Prayer was one of the most important factors in the earthly life of our Saviour. To Him it was more important than teaching and healing (Luke 5:15-16). In one of the verses assigned to this lesson we discover that it was more important than rest. The earthly ministry of our Lord was begun in prayer (Luke 3:21), continued in prayer, and ended in prayer (Luke 23:34). The heavenly ministry of our Lord was begun in prayer (Jno. 14: 16, “I will”), and is now continued in prayer (Heb. 7:25). Having seen what an important place prayer occupied and Still occupies in the life of Christ, we turn to the subject and give the following interesting list of “Men of Prayer” : It was Tennyson who wrote: “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” J. A. Wallace wrote: “Prayer moves the hand which moves the world.” Henry Martyn, missionary, kneeling on India’s coral strands, cried: “Here let me burn out for God.” David Brainerd, missionary to th e North American I n d i a n s , 1718-1747, wrote: “Lord, to Thee I dedicate myself. O accept of me and let me be Thine for ever. Lord, I desire nothing else, I de­ sire nothing more.” The last words in his Mark 1 :35; Luke 6:12 (Consecration Meeting) S uggestive O rder of S ervice .

Knowles Shaw, on his way to another meeting, was killed in a railway wreck soon after leaving Dallas, Texas. He was conversing with a fellow passenger when the crash came. His last words were: “What a glorious thing it is to rally men and women to the cross of Christ!” Dr. Moon, as a young man, with the brightest prospects for a successful ca­ reer as a physician, was stricken with blindness. “O God,” he prayed, “I con­ secrate my talent of blindness to Thee.” And he worked out the Braille system of writing for the blind. How immeasur­ able has been his gift to afflicted man­ kind I One of the great universities of the world—Leland Stanford, Jr., at Palo, Alto, California—was founded in memory of the one whose name it bears. Many times in the days of his, youth he ex­ pressed the desire that, when he grew up, he might do something toward giving an education to boys who could not afford to go to college. When he died, his grief- stricken parents, with great wealth at their disposal, found consolation in carry­ ing out the noble desire of their son. They established the university, endowing it with millions of dollars, where thou­ sands o f boys have been given the op­ portunity which Leland Stanford, Jr., wished them to have. A law student once complained to Dan­ iel Webster that the legal profession was so overcrowded that young men prepar­ ing for the bar, were discouraged. Web­ ster replied laconically: “Young man, there is room enough at the top.” The student was not looking high enough. A brief and simple but very expressive eulogy was pronounced by Martin Luther upon a pastor, Nicholas Haussman, at Zwickau, in 1522. “What w e preach,” said the great reformer, “h e lives.” A good woman who had been at church was met on her way home by a friend, who asked her if the sermon was finished. “No,” she replied; “it is all sa id : now it needs to be done.” “You are always working,” I exclaimed, as I entered the office of a business friend. “How many hours do you work each day?” “Twenty-four,” he replied with a smile. Then, more seriously, he ex­ plained : “I became interested in missions and determined to go to China, but my father died and his business was in such a state that no outsider could carry it on. My mother, sisters, and younger brother were dependent upon the profits of the house, so I was obliged to remain here. I then took the support of a native preacher in China as my substitute. In this way I work twenty-four hours a day, for my representative there is working while I sleep.”— O r i e n t a l Missionary Standard.

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