March 1930
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
157 sublime challenge to the Church to com plete the task of evangelizing the world. —(Missionary Review. • —o— April 6, 1930 What is Involved in Deciding for Christ? Rom. 10:8-15. (Consecration Meeting) S uggested O rder of S ervice Hymn: “Is He Yours?” Hymn: “The King’s Business.” Prayer of Invocation. Hymn: “He Lifted Me.” Scripture Reading: John 3:1-8; Rom. 10:8-15. Sentence Prayers. Announcements and Offering. Special Number. Solo on Subject. Leader’s Remarks. (See helps below.) Closing Hymn: “ Softly and Tenderly.” Benediction. * * * L esson S urvey With such an important subject as we have for today, the leader of this meeting should plan his program with the thought of extending an invitation to those out of Christ publicly to accept Him. If preferred, request your pastor to extend the in vitation at the close of the service, or ask him to make a special plea for young peo ple to accept Christ at the evening ser vice. The first step in deciding for Christ found in the Scripture assigned for this lesson, is to accept His message (v. 8). In Heb. 11:6, we read that we must be lieve in the existence of God and believ ing this we are to believe “that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Believing that there is a God and that He has made provision for our sins in the death o f His Son Jesus Christ our Saviour (John 3:16), the next step is to accept Christ as Saviour (John 1 :12). This is quickly followed by confession, as we see in verse 9 of our Scripture lesson. Also Matt. 10:32; Mark 8:38. Accepting Christ involves a complete yielding o f our lives to God (Rom. 12:1; 6:13, 16, 19). Accepting Christ involves an obedience to His commands (John 13:17; 14:15; 15:10, 14). Finally we are commanded to “grow in grace and in the knowledge o f our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). * * * S ide -L ights A lady who was very ill went from place to place on the Continent, hoping to recover her health, but all in vain, for she daily grew worse. At last, in despair, she asked a physician what she must do. “Medicine,” replied he, “is useless. You have one chance, and that is to drink the
Let us make the following verse of a poem the prayer o f our hearts: Stir into Flame 2 Tim. 1 :6, R. V. M. Stir me, ohl stir me, Lord, I care not how, But stir my heart in passion for the world; Stir me to give, to go—but most to pray; Stir, till the blood-red banner be un furled O’er lands that still in heathen darkness lie, O’er deserts where no cross is lifted high. (Copy o f complete poem consisting of five verses gladly sent upon request.! * * * S ide -L ights Some Things that Christian Missions have Accomplished They have been the means by which the followers of Christ have grown from a despised sect in a small subjugated col ony until they are today the most nu merous of any religion in the world. By peaceful means, the preaching of the Gospel, they have transformed the countries o f Europe and the Americas from paganism to centers of Christian civilization. They have introduced into non-Chris tian lands, schools and colleges which have now a total membership of over 2,500,000 pupils. They have been the first to open in many non-Christian lands hospitals and dispensaries in which today there are em ployed over 8,000 doctors, nurses and assistants and where twelve million treat ments are given annually. They have been the first to establish philanthropic agencies to care for or phans, lepers, the blind and the deaf where today over 27,000 unfortunates are provided for. They have been the leaders in educating the people of many lands in habits of cleanliness and health and in the care of children, thus lessening the danger of the spread o f plague, pestilence and disease. They have introduced into many lands trade schools and better tools and meth ods of work to increase the ability of backward peoples in self-support, to pro mote better standards of living and to develop Christian character. They have cooperated in efforts to es tablish peace and to promote righteous ness, to abolish human slavery, polygamy, intemperance and other social evils. They have been the means o f opening the doors o f education to women, and have helped to set them free from social bondage, to lift them out o f degradation, and to relieve their suffering. They have reduced thousands o f lan guages and dialects to writing, have pre pared dictionaries and grammars and have translated the Bible, in whole or in part, into over 800 languages and dialects, distributing over 20 million copies in a single year. They have trained thousands of Chris tians in non-Christian lands to take lead ership in their own churches so as to make Christianity and its institutions in digenous in these lands. The victories of the past and the needs and opportunities o f the present are a
March 30, 1930 Successful Evangelism in Mission Fields Acts 16:13-15, 25-33. S uggestive O rder of S ervice Hymn: “Hail to the Brightness.” Hymn: “ Speed the Light.” Invocation. (ilf possible have some missionary on furlough speak, or request chairman of missionary committee to appoint some one to report on the missionary activities o f your church.) Leader’s Remarks. Closing Hymn: “The Morning Light is Breaking.” Benediction. * * * L esson S urvey A missionary is “one sent,” “a messen ger,” “an ambassador.” From the beginning o f time God has sent forth faithful missionaries to pro claim the message of His redeeming love. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, is referred to in Mai. 3 :1 as God’s messenger. Our Lord Himself was sent from God to make the supreme sacrifice for a lost world. In referring to His mis sion in John 20:21, He says that believers are sent out into the world by Him to carry the message of salvation to the world. And so God’s great plan is being carried out. What else could such a plan be than a success! We must o f course bear in mind the difference between what man calls success and what is called suc cess by God. Some would have it that to educate the heathen is success. To a cer tain extent this might be true, but educa tion is not regeneration and as someone has wisely said, “This is a lost world to be saved, and not merely an ignorant world to be educated.” Education has its rightful place in evangelism but it should not have the first and only place. We hear much today about environ ment. This, too, has its importance in the economy of the Gospel, but environment will never save a man, and in God’s sight there are only two classes of people in the world, saved and unsaved. The business o f the saved is to get the unsaved saved. You might just as well try to cure the world o f leprosy as to save the world by improvement of environment. Read the lives of'such missionaries as John G. Paton, David Livingstone, Hud son Taylor, Mary Slessor and many others, and you will soon discover the secret of their success in mission fields. Their success is found in Hudson Tay lor’s favorite verse, Mark 11:22, “Have the faith of God” (literal translation). It is the working o f God’s faith in the life o f His obedient children. Oh, that we Endeavorers might catch the vision o f the need of missionaries and yield ourselves unreservedly to the service o f our Lord, to go wherever He may call 1 Hymn: “Jesus Shall Reign.” Announcements and Offering. Special Missionary Number.
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