September, 1940
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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
could not be our Saviour. Some may ask, then, how could the God who fills heaven and earth contract His greatness to dwell in a human body? Or how could the omniscient God grow in wis dom ? The answer is that we in our finite wisdom cannot explain how this could be so, but that since Scripture declares it was so, we shall believe it. 2. “Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing” (v. 48). Sometimes modernistic theologians raise the ques tion about our Lord’s knowledge of His miraculous birth, charging that He knew nothing about a virgin birth. Nothing could be farther from the truth. His reply to Mary’s gentle rebuke with, “Wist ye not that I mu^t be about my Father’s business?” proves that at the early age of twelve He was perfectly aware that Joseph was not His true father but only in a legal sense. The modernists only see what they want to see in Scripture. Golden Text Illustration L uke 2:52 All the way from the manger to the cross, He who was .the Son of God was also the perfect Man. As the Sinless One, He nevertheless "was in all points tempted like as we are,” and He can "be touched with the feeling of our in firmities.” The value of this great truth is illustrated thus in a story re ported In the Sunday School Times: . “ Stuart Nye Hutchison tells us about a boy he knew who had lost his right hand. He felt so bad about it that he did not want to see any one. His father said, 'I am going to bring the minister in to see you.’ The boy said, ‘I don’t want to see him.’ But the father brought him in. When the boy looked up, he saw that the minister had no right arm; there was an empty sleeve. He came over to the boy and said, ‘I haven’t any hand, either. I lost mine when I was a boy, and I know how it feels.’ It was not hard for the boy to get acquainted with the minister who knew how it felt. So Christ has suffered for us and knows our temptations.” When Jesus Was a Boy L uke 2 MEMORY VERSE: “And Jesus in creased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Lk. 2:52). APPROACH: Last Sunday we talked about Luke’s story of the Lord Jesus, and we shall hear more of it today. The Virgin Mary was a good, pure girl
The ruler of their country commanded every one to pay taxes in his own home town; so Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem. Because a great many people came to pay taxes, there was no room in the inn for* Joseph and Mary. They spent the night in a stable with the cows and sheep. In that old stable, God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was1 born. LESSON STORY: Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus to the temple to name Him. Two old persons were there, named Simeon and Anna, to whom the Holy Spirit had told wonderful things about the Lord Jesus, and they were very happy to see Him. The little Lord Jesus liVed in Naza reth during much of His early life, but when He was twelve years old, He went with Joseph, His adopted father, and Mary, His mother, for some special re ligious services in Jerusalem. On the way home they thought Jesus, was with their friends, for many people were taking the same trip. They traveled all day before Jesus was missed. How frightened Joseph and Mary were as they went back to Jerusalem! They searched for Jesus three days before they found Him in the temple asking questions and listening to the wise teachers and surprising them by His understanding. Mary asked Jesus why He had treated them that way, and Jesus answered,-^“How is it that ye sought me? . . . I must be about my Father’s business.” Joseph and Mary did not really understand Jesus. He was God’s only Son who came- down from heaven, and yet He went back to Naza reth with His adopted father and His mother and obeyed them. Jesus was a real boy, once just your age, and He knows exactly how you feel about everything. He had to grow vp, and as He grew He pleased His friends and His Father in heaven. Object Lesson R ainbow W heels OBJECTS: Two pieces of round card board about seven inches in diameter, two pencils, two small red cardboard crosses, and two straight pins. (Make six circles, each within the other, on the cardboards, and color them red, orange, Luke 3:3 An«l he came Into all the country about Jordan» preaching the bap tism of repentance for the remission of sins; 8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance» and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our fathfer: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up chil dren unto Abraham. 9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree there fore which bringeth not forth good fruit 1 « hown down, find oast into the fire.
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yellow, green, blue, and purple, leaving a small circle at the center uncolored. Stick one pin through a red cross, then through the center of one the card boards, and into one of the pencils. Follow the same procedure with the other cardboard, except that the pin is put through the cardboard about half way between the center and the outer edge). LESSON: Did you ever see a rain bow wheel like this before? “ Yes.” Look carefully before you say that you have seen one like it. It has a red cross in the center, reminding us of Christ. The' wheel is beautiful as it whirls. As we look at this rainbow wheel, we are reminded of a Christian when Christ is the center of the life. It is perfectly balanced and is a thing of beauty. Here is another rainbow wheel, much like the first, except that the cross, suggesting Christ, is not in the center. This wheel is not as beautiful as the other, because the rainbow colors are distorted when it spins. This wheel re minds us of those Christians who, while they have Christ, do not allow Him to be the very center of the life, around which all else revolves. In looking at these two wheels, we are reminded of Mary and Joseph. Their lives were beautiful as long as Christ was the center of their lives. The time came, however, when they allowed friends to occupy their attention, and went a day’s journey without Him. Be cause of this, they were not well bal anced, just as this rainbow wheel is un balanced when the cross is anywhere but at the center. Boys and girls, these rainbow wheels should teach us to have Christ always at the center of our lives, and then our lives will be beautiful. 10. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? 11 He‘ answered and saith nnto them. He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath norite; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. 12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? 13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. 14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no
OCTOBER 20, 1940 THE MESSAGE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST L uke 3
living in Nazareth. She was engaged to a good man named Joseph. God sent an angel to tell Joseph to take care of the Virgin Mary because her baby would be God’s Son called Jesus.
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