THE K I NG ' S BUS I NESS
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who undertake any work for God in a world full of opposition. The enemy most certainly assails all who seriously threaten his interests. Depend upon it, if the work is worth disturbing, it will be disturbed. Yet is there no need for panic, for the Lord is on the side of the man who sides with Him. To enlist the help of the world is at once a weakening of the cause and a certain means of bringing the Lord’s name into dishonor, as though He could not de fend those whom He sends forth to do His bidding.--—Holden. Hand of God is upon all. The Bible is full of the truth found in this testimony (2 Chron. 16:9; Ps. 33:18, 19; 34:15, 22; Lam. 3:25; Rom. 8:28). Happy is the man who believes this and walks in the power of this truth. Such a man will never fear men (Rom. 8:31).— Torrey. Ezra’s Prayer for Help.— Ezra 7:10; 8:21-23, 31, 32. Memory Verse|g-“ For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” Joshua 1:9. Approach.— As I walked along the street the other day I saw a dear little baby sitting in his little go-cart on the porch, and he was crying just as loud as he could, and I BEGINNERS knew something was AND PRIMARY hurting or scaring Mabel L. Merrill him, so I hurried in to see what the trouble was, but who do you suppose got there before I did? Yes, of course, the baby’s mother. His little finger was caught in a part of the go-cart so tightly that he could not pull it opt, and the more he tried the more it hurt. Now, this dear little baby could not get his finger out by himself, but his cries for help brought his mother, who quickly released the little finger, picked baby up in her arms, and kissed his hand, and in just a few minutes he was all right and smiling. Just as soon as he saw mother he began to stop crying, for he knew mother would help him- Prayer. Lccsson Story. We remember the story wei&aMAh little while ago telling of God’s people, the children of Israel, go
ing back to the old home in Jerusalem. (Let boys and girls tell of conditions on their return. What was the first build ing they thought of? Yes, the building of a temple, or church. Now, today we have a stor^ about some more of the people going back to the old home city of Jerusalem to join those already there. The man whoin the king ap pointed to lead these back was Ezra. Now, I wonder why Ezra came to be chosen. The first verse in our story answers this question, for it says Ezra had set his heart to do the things God wanted him to do, so God put it in the king’s heart to choose Ezra. He began to study the Bible when he was a boy, and that is the time to begin, just as you boys and girls are doing now, and God knew he could be trusted to teach the people His (God’s) word. Now, the journey was a long one, and of course there were no trains or automobiles in those days like ■we have. Their autos had four feet instead of four wheels. Can you guess what they were? Yes, cam els, and they never had to pay any fines for speeding. Now, Ezra knew it would be a long, hard journey with many dan gers along the way, and he wanted to be sure to go the best and safest way. He did just what the brave Queen Esther did; he prayed to God to guide them and lead them in a safe way. An other part of our story tells us that Ezra thought how nice it would be to have the king send a lot of soldiers along with them, but he said he would be ashamed to ask the king, who whs not a believer in God, for Ezra had been telling the king -of God: and how He would go with them on their journey and protect them. (8:22.) Then Ezra knew that God’s protection was better than all the soldiers in the world. Now, the day for starting has come, and I know who had a good time and were-just jumping up and down, they were so anxious to -go. The boys and girls, to
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