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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
April, 1935
At last he could stand it no longer. He said: “ I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired serv ants'.” - As he hurried home, he must have wondered whether his father would take him back or not. It had been a long time since his father had seen him. Perhaps his father would not recognize him as his son! Many thoughts like this must have passed through his mind. How surprised he must have been, then, to find his father watching for him, to see his father run to meet him and throw his arms around him and say to his servants: “ Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” In just this way, God forgives us when we are truly sorry for our sins. -
eyes are bright, his face is clean, an'd he has a nice white cap and tie. Best o f all, Tommy’s heart is clean. Like many boys and girls, Tommy thought he could play with fire and not be burned. W e will light this white can dle and see what it does to Tommy. (Hold the bottom o f the glass over the flame.) Notice, his heart is blackened. His hat looks just as clean as before, but his heart does not. . Many mothers think their children are clean when only their clothes are clean. God is not deceived, because He looks at the heart. Tommy reminds me o f the Prodigal Son, mentioned in the Bible. The Prod igal started on his sinful life, with his heart filled with dissatisfaction with his home. The sin o f discontent did not seem so bad, but it led to worse things. The white candle did not look bad, but it blackened Tommy’s heart, just the same. Like the Prodigal, Tommy gets worse. The next candle is darker in color—it is yellow.- It blackens his heart still more. It is followed by a blue one. A red candle comes next. Notice, the colors are getting darker, and each one leaves its mark upon the heart. The last candle is an ugly black one. Tommy never thought, when he first played with the white candle, .that he' would some day be burned with this black one. Neither did the Prodigal think, when he first became dissatisfied with home, that he would be led into a sinful life. When we realize"^that we have been burned and blackened with sin, there is just one thing to do: The Bible-’tells us : “Thé blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin!’ , (1 John 1:7). I will place this red cloth, which reminds us of Christ’s blood, over Tommy. This is what happens when we take Christ as Saviour—the heart is cleansed from ■alt sin. (Wipe the bottom with the red cloth and show the clean heart.) 1-6; 5:22-27; 1 T im o t h y 3:15 the apostles’ doctrine, that is, in the ac ceptance of the truths which the apostles taught (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17). Second, they continued in “ fellowship,” that is, in company with those who were filled with the Holy Spirit and who were walking with the Lord, an experience which of course meant separatipn from the world (cf. 2 Cor. 6:17). Third, they continued in the breaking o f bread and in prayers. The breaking of bread speaks of worship, and the mention of prayers in dicates the believers’ reliance upon and trust in the Lord alone. Worship can not be neglected if prayer is to be effective. In this instance, prayer was necessary, not only in_ connection with the meeting of the Christians’ personal needs, but also in relation to the spread of the gospel. No BLACKBOARD LESSON
“ EXTERMINATE THE JEW” European anti-Sem ites boldly propose the lethal cham ber; H ow dictators control pub lic thinking; W ho dom inates big business? W orld conference for Universal R om e; Pales tine D ay reports. Many other thrilling topics in A PRIL issue, “ Prophecy M on th ly/’ 10c, $ 1 Year KEITH L. BROOKS, Editor 2003 A ddison W ay L os Angeles, Calif. Golden Text Illustration Many Christians do not believe that God will forgive them, and they come back again and again, asking God to forgive old sins o f years ago, and bringing into His presence the old guilt o f yesterday. A story has been told of Evangelist D. L. Moody’s son, who had accidentally killed a chicken. Crying, the boy came in to show his father the dead hen, and asked for giveness. Moody forgave him, kissed him, and said, “Now run along and play,”, A second day the boy came dragging the old hen, asking for forgiveness. Mr. Moody said, “I told you I forgave you that yes terday; take it away and don’t worry any more about it 1” A third day came, and the son came dragging the old hen and saying, “Father, I’m so sorry; will you not please forgive me?” “Take that old hen out o f here! I told you twice that I forgave you that mis take,” said Mr. Moody. This is a good illustration o f how God must feel when we persist in dragging before Him again and again the sins that we have confessed and for which we have been forgiven.— S elected . When a Boy Was Sorry ' L u k e 15:1-3, 11-24 Memory Verse: “ Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” (Psa. 86:5 ). Approach: When you do something that is wrong to your father or your mother or to a friend, what should you do about it, to make it right? Yes, first you should
Object Lesson T o m m y T um bler
Objects: A tumbler, five candles of dif ferent colors, and a red cloth. (W ith wa ter colors, paint eyes, a nose, a mouth, and a necktie on one side of the tumbler.'Make a small paper cap to fit over the top of the tumbler. Paint the outline o f a heart on the bottom of the glass.) Lesson: I want you boys and girls to meet my friend, Tommy Tumbler. His
MAY 12, 1935 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH M atthew 16 :13-20; M ark 4:26-32; A cts 2:41-47: R o m a n s 12:4-8: E p h e s ia n s 1:15-23; 2:13-22; 4:
go to them and tell them that you are sorry. That is the thing to do. But there is more to do th an that. Y e s , promise not to do it again. If people do something wrong to you, w h a t should you do when they come and tell you that they are sorry?
Lesson T ext: Acts 2:41-45; Eph. 4:1-7, 11-16. Golden T ext: “ So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one mem bers one of another” (Rom. 12:5). : Outline and Exposition I. T h e L ife in t h e C h u r c h (Acts 2:41-45). n t h e study of this lesson, the last two verses of Acts 2 should be included. Spiritual life is received through the Word o f God preached by human lips (v. 41). Peter had spoken that W ord; and the hearers were required either to reject or to receive God’s truth. All the people had the same opportunity. But some re ceived the message for salvation, and some refused it. The same Word saves some and damns others—according to the indi vidual’s treatment of it. It is a savor of life unto life or of death unto death; the decision as to what the Word shall do lies with the hearer of the Word. In the por tion for today’s lesson, we learn that those who received the Word acknowledged this fact in baptism, and that about three thou sand souls were added that day to the number o f believers. The church is there fore the child o f the Word o f God. Life in the church is sustained by vari ous means. _ This fact is ' illustrated in verse 42. First, the believers continued in
Forgive them. And our story today tells how a father forgave his son. Lesson Story: This is a story that the Lord Jesus told to His disciples. He said that a man had two sons. The younger son said something like this to his father, “ Father, give me the money that belongs to me.” His father divided his money and his goods with this son. Soon this young man gathered together all that he had and left his home. He traveled into a far-away country. .There he lived, wasting his time and his money. After a while, his money was gone. There was a mighty famine in the land, and the boy had almost nothing to eat. The only work that he could find to do was to take care of a farmer’s pigs. He was so hungry that he felt like .eating the husks which were the pigs’ food. Many times he must have remembered the happy time? he had enjoyed in his*father’s home.
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