February, 1944
69
Endeavor Hour
It is a call to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to tell the gospel story to those who do not know it. It w ill cost you something to answer the call, but the joy of bringing the sin-wounded, not just to an inn, but to the many mansions, far outweighs any cost.
March 19—SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND
Dr, Sutherland was graduated from Occidental. College, and Princeton Theological Seminary. He is Dean of the Bible In- • . stitute of Los Angeles. His wide experience in young peo ple’s work includes his activities in the Y. M. C. A., Univer sity Bible clubs, and as director of the Practical Christian Work Department of Biola.
MARCH 12,1944 D O M IR A C L E S O C C U R T O D A Y ? M a r k 2:1-12 By Grace l\i. Roberts Introduction
March 26—RUTH G. ENDER
Miss Ender (Biola ’32), a graduate from the University of California at Los Angeles, is now teaching in the high school of .Lebanon, Ore. She also teaches an Eteri club for young women, and a young adult Sunday-school class.
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In a created world, filled with the purposes of the divine planning, we would be indeed stlange worshipers of God, and faulty followers of His Son, if our faith did not extend itself into the region of the miraculous. A miracle need not be one of spec tacular display. The preservation of my friend, Ethel Roffe Bell, on a raft for nineteen days, and the safe return of my husband after a voyage of two months, traveling from China, are both miracles of God’s grace. To use the Chinese expression, “shen chi,” both events bear the marks of "divine foot prints.” The Oxford Dictionary defines a miracle as “ an event due to a super natural agency; a remarkable event.” Peter, in his address on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:22), affirms that Jesus Christ was approved among men by “miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you.” A miracle, therefore, is an event which has its origin in God, displays itself before men, and is a signpost to salvation from sin. _In the Scripture for our considera tion (Mk. 2:1-12) there are several im prints of divine working. For Those Who Hove Topics I. THE CONFIDENCE OF FAITH (Mk. 2:3-5). For the man who unconditionally places his confidence in Christ, moun tains w ill be removed. When David H ill of the last century was approached
by the proud and pauperized Confu- cian scholar to instruct him in Chi nese, the teacher came away at the end of the day with this impression of the missionary: “His eye was clear, and I knew that his heart was pure.” Not long after that, the Confucian scholar bowed before God’s Son and became a modem, miracle for evangel ism in China. II. THE CONDOLENCE OF FORGIVE- NESS'* (v. 5). Jesus said, “Son,” and in that one word preceding the regenerating word “forgiven,” Jesus restored to the pal sied man the one thing precious to him, the recognition of his personal ity. There was no delving into the past, no exacting of promises for the future. There is no religion East or West that so freely and lovingly restores to men that which they prize most. Men are twice-born because of necessity. Commissioner Chu of Hunan ac quired all the best the East could give him culturally, and in addition, he desired and gained the learning of the West. President of a university and a government official, the Commis sioner recently confessed in a humble mission chapel that he found fu ll sal vation when kneeling and accepting
pardon and forgiveness from Jesus Christ, It is the SON designating you as “son” that creates the modern mir acle in character. III. THE CONCLUSION OF FINALITY (v. 81. Jesus perceived their reasoning. W h i l e certain of the intelligentsia were reasoning about the formula, the palsied man took up his bed roll and went forth before them all. Faith is never opposed to reason; It*supersedes i t It is the “substance” and the “ evi dence” of God’s activity in creation, and the work of His Son In redeem ing lost sons. In the wartime capital of China, some said it was not the time to build houses and to enter upon new enter prises. But Ernest Yin, a Harvard graduate and a Spirit-filled child of God, has just completed as beautiful a building as may be seen anywhere in Chungking. The Holy Light School is for the sons and daughters of Chi nese officials, and- there they receive a sound Christian education. With the approval and patronage of the highest in the land, this school is a modern miracle. Thus a country impoverished by war and suffering answers indig enously and finally that Christianity is Christ
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