March, 1939
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
108
sorry Paul and Barnabas felt! They knew they were not gods. They cried out some thing like this: “W e are men just like you. W e have come to preach to you that you might turn from such worship to the living God.” For Paul and Barnabas knew that only by worshiping the living God can people be saved from their sins. Object Lesson S aving F rom S in Objects: Two catsup bottles, a piece of sash cord about eighteen inches long, two balls whittled from corks about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, a piece of black cloth, and a piece of white cloth. (Paint the bottles a light brown, and glue a heart cut from white paper on the side of each. Make a "sleeve” of grey paper, large enough to cover all but the neck of one bottle. Paste a black heart on this sleeve. Before the lesson put one of the cork balls in each of the bottles. Sew the black and white cloths together, and place on the top of the table, allowing a little to extend over the edge. Dye the sash cord red.) Lesson: There are two sides of life— the black and white sides. This bottle on the black side has a black heart, and the other has a white heart. The one with the white heart has a rope of red, which sug gests faith in Christ to save from sin. (Be fore the lesson, place the sash cord in the mouth of this bottle, tilt the mouth down, and the cork ball will fall into the neck of the bottle, acting as a wedge. A slight pull on the cord will tighten the wedge se curely.) Christians living on the white side of life should be interested in getting others to accept Christ. This bottle takes Christ to the bottle on the black side. The bottle with the black heart humbles himself and received the red rope. (As soon as the sash cord has been placed in this bottle, tilt it sufficiently to allow the ball to fall into the neck and act as a wedge.) The bottle is being lifted. It is losing its black heart. (The sleeve will slip off easily.) It now has a white heart, and is being carried to the white side of life. Paul realized the possibility of helping others to know Christ, and he said, “As a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the founda tion.” The only foundation for any life is Christ as Saviour.
BLACKBOARD LESSON
the churches should be directed. The or ganization was of the simplest sort. The apostles established t r u l y indigenous churches, and then left them in the control of the Spirit of God, the One who alone can rule effectively and bring forth the fruitage of righteousness. Points and Problems 1. "But the unbelieving Jew s" (Acts 14: 2 ). Strange as it may seem, the bitterest enemies of the truth are not the irreligious, but religious people. The Jews actually "stirred up the Gentiles” against the Chris tians. Similarly, in the church today, the “unbelieving members” sometimes more stubbornly resist the truth than do even those on the outside. And what was the particular truth being preached that aroused the bitter opposition of the ancient "unbe lieving Jews”? Verse 3 speaks of the min istry of Paul and Barnabas as centered in the preaching of the "word of his grace." Among the unbelieving religionists of all time, nothing arouses more hatred than the blessed truth of God’s grace. 2. "The multitude o[ the city was di~ vided" (v. 4 ). This is always the inevit able effect of truth when properly preached, especially the truth of grace referred to in the above paragraph. Our Lord Himself warned men that it would be so (Matt. 10: 34-36). The preaching of divine truth di vides cities, communities, organizations, friends, homes, and even professing Chris tians within the visible chinch. True Chris tianity was never intended to unite the world of men, for it divides them. Christ is the Rock on which the stream of humanity splits forever, the one part bound for an eternal hell, the other bound for an eternal heaven. If you preach Him as He should be preached, some men will love you, but others will hate you. It is true that the message of God’s grace exerts a unifying effect, but only upon those who surrender themselves wholly to its blessed truth. All such are coming closer and closer together in these last days, not in mere external things, but in true spiritual unity. An apos tate religious world seems to sense clearly the divisive effects of Christian truth, be cause all the great movements toward reli gious unity today make progress only as they relegate such truth to a place of un importance or else eliminate it altogether. And the only unity accomplished is wholly external and artificial. 3. " Fled . . . and . . . preached" (vs. 6, 7). When persecuted and threatened with death, these early preachers did the only thing that could be done—they "fled." But not like cowards away from the scene of battle! Rather they merely moved to another sector of the field to continue the fight. They “fled,” not merely to safeguard their own skins, but that they might go on "preaching." Paul "fled" a good many times, but he never stopped “preaching” even when in flight. Golden Text Illustration 1 C orinthians 3:10 Three stone-masons working on a ca thedral were asked in turn what they were doing. The first answered: ”1 am waiting until five o’clock”; the second replied: "I am making ten dollars a day”; while the
4/« 6/39
RCTS 13:46 'WORD OF GOD- SPOKEH* 14:3 *5PERKinG-inTHE LOWr- 14:7 'PREACHED THE GOSPEL* 14:21 'PREHCHED THE GOSPEL* 13:5 * PR-CACHED THE UJOFUT-
third replied: "I am building a cathedral.” The first was a slave; the second, a mere money-maker; the third, a man of vision. While these three men were working on the same building, they were living in dif ferent worlds.—F. C.. H oggarth , in Pearls for Preachers, by Hart. How a Lame Man Got Well A cts 14 Memory Verse: “The Lord is good to all" (Psa. 145:9). Approach: Paul went on preaching in different cities near Antioch. Sometimes the people received him gladly; sometimes jealous Jews came and spread lies about Paul and Barnabas and tried to kill them.
But Paul and Barna bas went on and on with t h e “g o o d news.” L e s s o n S t o r y : One day Paul and Barnabas came to the city of Lystra. The people in this city probably hadn’t even heard much about the true God
before, and they were too far away from Jerusalem to have heard of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They believed in a heathen god named Jupiter and in his messenger, another god, named Mercury. While Paul was preaching to a group of people gathered around him, he noticed a lame man lying near by, listening to him. This man had never walked, for he had been bom lame. Paul felt sorry for him. He wanted, too, to make these people un derstand the power of the real God. He said to the man, “Stand upright on thy feet." And the man had faith to believe that God had power to cure him, and he was healed and stood and leaped for joy. How surprised the people were! At once they thought that these two men, Paul and Barnabas, were the two gods Jupiter and Mercury, come into the world. They brought flower chains to wind around them and oxen to sacrifice before them. How
APRIL 23, 1939 PAUL WINS RECOGNITION FOR GENTILE CHRISTIANS A cts 15:1-35; G alatians 2:1-10
with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
Acts 15:23 The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: 24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ve must be circumcised, and keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment: 25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs