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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
June, 1936
S O N G S F O R L O W V O I C E S Choice Solos for most every type of program, in low-keys, with Piano accompaniment. Book of 33 Songs for 50c, 2 for $1.00. New Sacred Orchestra Folio 50c. HARDY MUSIC PUB. CO., 64 E. Jackson, Chicago, 111. • J E W E L S ’’ Choice selections from THE KING’S BUSINESS FREE Send us the names and addresses of five (5) persons whom you believe might be interested in BIBLE STUDY BY CORRESPONDENCE and we will mail you a copy of this book let of choice paragraphs from our maga zine without further obligation. Your Christian friends will appreciate learning of this most profitable and inexpensive method of Bible Study through the pro spectus which we will send them. Your name will not be mentioned. CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Incorporated 558 So. Hope Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
What courage this took! But remember,: it was a different Peter who spoke these, words, a Peter who was filled with the Holy Spirit. Object Lesson A n E mpty G love Objects: An empty glove and several pieces of money. Lesson: Do you think this glove could pick up these pieces o f money? “O f course not.” It has fingers; why couldn’t it pick up the coins? “A hand has to be in it before it can pick up anything.” As I look at this empty glove, I am thinking of Peter and John before the day o f Pentecost. On the night that Christ was taken by the soldiers, Peter and John followed Him afar off, and Peter even denied his Lord. How weak and fearful they were1 You can hardly recognize them as being the same men who later, as we learn in the fourth chapter o f Acts, were bold and fearless in telling others about Christ. What made the difference in these men? The day o f Pentecost had come, and they had received the Holy Spirit and allowed Him to fill them. They were now fearless, instead of weak as they had been before. Lesson T ext: Acts 4 :32-35; 2 Cor. 8 :l-9. Golden T ext: “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is- more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35.) Outline and Exposition I. T he P ractice of the E arly C hurch (Acts 4:32-35). T he practice o f the community of goods in the early church grew out of the unity o f faith (v. 32). It was the company of those who believed who were of one heart and one soul. Sharing this common faith, the members o f the early church recognized that they belonged to one spiritual body, each member of which was dependent upon every other member. Although the record does not anywhere tell us that they were commanded o f God to do so, these early Christians held even their material possessions in common with other believers. What a beautiful commen tary on Christian fellowship are the words: “ Neither was there any among them that lacked” (v. 34) 1 But at an early date in the history of the church it was discovered' that such a social order as this could not continue, because o f the uprising o f the “flesh” in one and another of the members. Along with the unity o f faith in the early church there was the unity of hope (v. 33). The hope of believers was cen tered in the resurrection of Christ. This great truth was proclaimed with power by the apostles. It was not some vague doc trine to which they bore witness, but it was the ever-present Lord Jesus Christ who was proclaimed and whose life was lived through His witnesses. All preaching
This glove can never lift anything until it is filled with a hand. I put my hand part way into the glove, but the fingers still do not grasp the coins. Each Chris tian, having received Christ as Saviour, has the Holy Spirit abiding in the heart. God desires that the Holy Spirit should not only abide in, but fill the Christian, in order that the Christian may be able to live and testify as he should. Notice h|>w differently this glove looks and acts when my hand has filled it. It can pick up coins now. It reaches out and takes hold of this doorknob and opens the door. There is no end to the things that the glove can do now, with the hand in it. God longs to fill each Christian with the Holy Spirit, controlling each one’s very thought, word, and deed, causing him to be bold and fearless in speaking to those who do not know Christ as Saviour. ^concerning the resurrection is powerless unless it is accompanied by the manifesta tion o f the living Christ in the life of the preacher. Unless the doctrine of the resur rection carries practical power in the life, it becomes nothing more than a historical fact. The resurrection is more than a mere tenet of religion, more than an article of faith; it is a vital hope, a transforming power. Furthermore, in the early church there was the unity o f love (vs. 34, 35). The love was manifested in taking care of all believers who lacked material things. It would seem that during this period no one among the Christians could be content to be well fed while others remained hungry. The new life in' Christ brought the nature o f Christ—one of sympathy and generosity. Love must manifest itself. While efforts have been made from time to time to set up a community o f interest like that which characterized the early church, all such efforts have been failures because of the lack o f an ideal people to live under such ideal conditions. Furthermore, we should be guarded against the false assumption that following the practice o f the early church would be good for us. Who shall say which one of several succeeding prac tices was best? Was the best method the one by which everybody brought all that he had and committed it to a common fund, allowing the apostles to make the distribu tion? Or was the arrangement better when deacons were appointed for the apportion ing of the gifts ? Or was the condition best when, later on, there were wealthy saints and poor saints in the body o f believers ? All these practices and many others were found in the early church, and no one can say that the observance o f any one or all o f them would be beneficial today. We cannot be governed by the practices that
Brave Peter and John A cts 3 :1-10; 4:1-12
Memory Verse: “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient’’ (Ex. 24:7). Approach: When Jesus kept His promise and sent the Holy Spirit, Peter stood up and with great power preached to the
JULY 19, 1936 SOCIAL SERVICE IN THE EARLY CHURCH A cts 4 :32-35; 6 :l-7 ; 9 :36-39; 2 C orinthians 8:1-9; 1 J ohn 3 :13-18
people. John, too, became stro n g and brave. Besides hav in g the p ow e r to preach to the people, the d is cip le s were able to heal in the p o we r o f Jesus’ name. A lame man at the gate o f the temple was healed. It was not long then until crow d s o f
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people began to follow Peter and John. Lesson Story: Before long, Peter and John were brought before the same rulers whom Jesus had had to face not long before. Peter and John must have thought about that as they stood before Annas and Caiaphas and the others. I wonder whether Peter remembered how, a short time be fore, he had followed Jesus “afar off,” how he had stood with the servants warming his hands, and how when they had asked him whether he were not one o f Jesus’ followers, he had become afraid and an swered “No,” and then had gone out into the dark and wept because o f his lack of courage. I think perhaps Peter did remember all of this, and he must have been surprised at the God-given courage which he had now, for, filled with the Holy Spirit, he spoke right out to the rulers and said: “ Be it known unto you all, . . . that by the name of Jesus Christ o f Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man [the lame man] stand here before you whole. . . . Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
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