that he has a black heart, showing that he is not a Christian. These two spools with white hearts remind us of Paul and Silas, who were put in the Philippian jail. We will put these spools on the black cords to remind us of the way Paul and Silas were imprisoned. (Place one spool on each side of the first one, and tie a knot at the ends of the black cords.) At midnight, while Paul and Silas were singing praise to God, a great earthquake took place, which opened the prison doors. The jailor was afraid and wanted to know what he had to do to be saved. Paul said, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
Elmer L Wilder, Th.D.
Illustrated by Gladys Bowman
This young man was not always as foolish as he was when he left the father’s house of plenty. We are told: “When he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fath er’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” He real ized at last that the sinful sack con tained deceitful nuts. We will call the other sack The Salvation Sack. It, too, has three nuts in it. The first one we crack has a little white silk robe in it. When the prodigal returned home his father gave him the best robe. When the sinner comes to God, he receives the righteousness of Christ. Upon cracking the next nut, we find that it has a gold ring in it. The father gave the son a ring, show ing that he was a member of the family. What a great privilege it is for us to be members of God’s family! The third nut has bread in it. In the father’s house the son had plenty to eat. Those who accept Christ as Saviour find that He is the Bread of Heaven, which satisfies the hunger of the soul. Feb. 13, 1955 A P reaching P risoner OBJECTS: Three spools, two pieces of soft black cord about a yard long and a piece of red cloth. (Before the les son, take one of the black cords, fold it in the middle and push through one of the spools. When the fold extends through the spool a short dis tance, fold the other cord, and push the folded tip of the loop through the loop of the first cord about half an inch. Then pull the first cord back into the spool, bringing the second cord with it, concealing the bent tip of the second loop. The cords should be large enough to fit the hole in the spool snugly when looped together. Paste a white paper heart on this spool, and cover with a slightly larg er black heart, pasted lightly around the edges. Put white paper hearts on the other spools.) LESSON: Here is the Philippian jailor, carrying his black cords with which to bind prisoners. You will notice
Feb. 6, 1955 N uts and R uts
OBJECTS: Six English walnuts, two paper sacks and a hammer. (One sack should be fancy and the other plain. Open the nuts carefully with a knife, removing the meats. Leave one emp ty, and fill the remaining five re spectively with rags, corn husks— the wrapping from a tamale will do— a small white silk robe, a gold band ring and a piece of bread. Number the nuts consecutively with a lead pencil. Glue the shells back together, placing the first three in the fancy bag and the last three in the plain bag.) LESSON: If you could choose, which of these two bags would you take? Yes, you are just as foolish as the prodigal son was. He thought he would get much more out of life if he left his father’s home and went into a far country. What did he re ceive? We will open this sack and see. Three walnuts! Let’s crack this one and see what we find. Rags! The prodigal did not realize that poverty and rags were in the sack of sin when he chose it.
shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). (Place the red cloth over the spools. A slit in the red cloth will allow the knot to pass through, into view, showing that it is not untied. Remove the black heart under the cloth. Slip the center spool toward one side, allow ing the cord to be unlooped, and the spools will fall to the floor. With the hands under the cloth, shift the loops so that you show a complete circle of the two parallel cords. The cords are neither cut nor untied, and still the spools are free.) This red cloth reminds us of the blood of Christ. Paul could say what he did because Jesus had come to seek and save the lost. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the jailor lost his black heart and received a white heart like those of Paul and Silas. OBJECTS: Two quart jars, one filled with water, a small bottle of grape juice and a piece of bread. (Put the grape juice and bread into the empty jar.) LESSON: These two jars are silent preachers and each has a silent ser mon. The first jar is filled with water, and speaks to us of baptism. Before Christ entered His public ministry He was baptized by John in the river Jordan. In Matthew 3:16,17 we read, “ And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the wa ter: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and THE KING'S BUSINESS Feb. 20, 1955 S ilent S ermons
We will try the next one. It is perfectly empty. It was not long until the prodigal’s purse and stom ach were both empty. Examining the other nut from this sack, we find com husks. Living a sinful life, the young man wasted his money, and became so poor that he had to take a job looking after swine. He was so hun gry he felt like eating the husks thrown to the pigs. This was poor food for a hungry boy. 48
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