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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I NE S S
Object Lesson M arred in M aking
CHILD EVANGELISM
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OBJECTS: A lump of molding clay, a beautiful vase, and a plain cup. LESSON: “What is this in my hand?” “Molding clay.” Yes, and the one who makes things out of clay is called a potter. The prophet Jeremiah once told “the house of Israel” that they were clay in the hands of God, the great Potter. It was God’s desire that His people should be as easily shaped as the clay, but they were stubborn, refus ing tp yield themselves to Him. Peo ple today are often just as stubborn, when it comes to permitting God to shape their lives. I am trying to shape this clay like this beautiful vase. Suppose that this clay could talk and would complain that I was pressing too hard. We are inclined to do that with God. Then, too, while God is in the process of shaping our lives, we often try to pull away from Him and to have our own way, just as if this clay could pull away from my hands and fall in this manner to the floor. It is marred! The life which is not yielded to God will be marred. It is wonderful to know that even though we have caused our lives to be marred in the making, still God will take us back and will make something of us. The second time He may make something more humble, such as this cup. What sorrow there must be in the hearts of people who realize that they have hindered God in doing what He wanted to do with them! We should be like the Lord Jesus Christ and say as He said in the gar den: “Not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mk. 14:36). After we have ac cepted Christ as our Saviour, the first thing we should do is to place our lives in God’s hands to be molded ac cording to His plan. Let us sing to gether, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.” g-LESSON T E X T : Neh. 8:1.4a, 5, 6, 8, 12; .. GOLDEN T E X T : “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). DEVOTIONAL READING: Psa. 126. Outline and Exposition I. B ack to G od ’ s B ook (8:1-4 a , 5, 6, 8) A FTER the return from Babylon, the people gave their whole at tention to their own private business, forgetting their need of God and His guidance. But at last, under the ministry of Nehemiah and his
Friends Help One Another J eremiah 38:7-13 MEMORY VERSE: “A friend loveth at all times” (Prov. 17:17). AIM: To show that the Lord will always help those who are true to Him. APPROACH: “ I’m not going to tell anybody any more that I’m a Chris tian,” one hoy whispered to his chum on the playground. “I always get laughed at.” If that boy had been talking to Jere miah, the man we will learn about today, probably he would have felt ashamed of himself. Jeremiah had worse things happen to him than be ing teased. But he went right on speaking for the Lord, and he learned something wonderful. J e r e m i a h learned that the Lord was with him, and that when things seemed terrible the Lord would bring him some happy surprise. LESSON STORY: Jeremiah was a prophet, or minister, and he lived many years before the Lord Jesus came to earth. It was not a pleasant time, for the Lord’s people forgot Him and did many sinful things. They were in trouble most of the time. Jer emiah warned them and tried to help them serve their heavenly Father. The people were often angry with Jeremiah because he said true words that hurt. Five times they made him a prisoner. Once they threw him into a dungeon or deep cellar, and there was so much mud on the floor that Jeremiah “sunk in the mire” (v. 6). Perhaps the Lord’s servant thought then: "Did I do right in speaking for the Lord? Should I have kept on tell ing the people that He must always punish sin?” About that time, a Negro man named Ebed-melech heard about Jer emiah. This man was a servant in the king’s house, and he went to the king and talked to him. (Read verses 8, 9). The king told Ebed-melech to take thirty men and to go to the dun geon and get Jeremiah, out. What a happy surprise that must have been for Jeremiah! Ebed-melech let down ropes to pull Jeremiah up, and he sent along pieces of old cloth to put under Jeremiah’s arms so the ropes would not cut him. Don’t you think Jeremiah praised God that He had sent him such a gentle, thought ful friend?
• The average c h i l d in America today knows lit tle more of Christ and the Bible than do the children in far away heathen lands. • The children in your neighborhood ne ed the Saviour. You must give them the Gospel. • Prepare now for thi s mission field at your door. Enroll today in CHILD EVANGELISM offered, by the Correspondence School Bible Institute of Los Angeles Nine Lessons—Nine Exams. $5.00 Please enroll me in the Child Evangelism Course. Enclosed find $5.00............□ Name , ......................................... . Street City .......................... State CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Ine. 558 S. Hope St., Los Angeles 13, Calif. companions, the people were brought to feel their need for the Word of God which they had neglected. They appealed to Ezra to bring them the “ book of the law of Moses” (v. 1). They were now eager to hear the words of God and came to Ezra “as one man” that he might give it to them. Ezra was a scribe,- as well as a priest, and it was the business of the scribes to expound the “law of Moses.” “All that could hear with under standing” appeared before Ezra “upon the first day of the seventh month.”
LESSON FOR MAY 27 The New Start of the Returned Exiles E zra / N ehemiah
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