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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S
May, 1938
fer for us, we want them to feel sorry for us. How much the disciples could have helped Jesus at this time! But they didn’t! Jesus went into the garden to pray. He tcok His disciples with Him. Peter, James, and John He took close to the spot where He knelt to pray. The Bible tells us that as Jesus prayed to the Father, “ his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” How He needed His disciples to comfort Him in His agony! But when He returned to them, He found that Peter and James and John had fallen asleep. Jesus loved them with an everlast ing love, and, yet when He needed them, they were asleep. Jesus has work for us to do for Him, too, but we must be always ready when He needs us. Object Lesson T he P otter and the C lay Objects: A lump of molding clay, a beau tiful vase, and a plain cup. Lesson-. What is this in my hand? “Molding clay.” Yes, and the one who makes things out of clay is called a potter. The prophet Jeremiah once told “ the house of Israel” that they were clay in the hands of God, the great Potter. It was God’s desire that His people should be as easily shaped as the clay, but they were stubborn, refusing to yield themselves to Him. People today are often just as stubborn, when it comes to letting God shape their lives. I am trying to shape this clay like that beautiful vase. Suppose that this clay could
Jesus in the Garden M ark 14:32-46 Memory Verse: “ I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). Approach: It was the last week of the Lord Jesus’ life here on earth. Jesus knew that the end was coming. He tried to make His disciples understand. When Mary
poured the ointment over His head to show her great love for Him, and when those near said to themselves that this was a great waste of money and that it would have been bet ter to have given the money to the poor, Jesus said something
talk and that it would complain that I was pressing too hard. W e are inclined to do that with God. Then, too, while God is in the process of shaping our lives, we. often try to pull away from Him and to have our own way, just as if this clay could pull away from my hands and fall in this man ner to the floor. It is marred! The life which is not yielded to God will be marred. It is wonderful to know that even though we have caused our lives to be marred in the making, still God will take us back and will make something of us. The second time He may make something more humble, such as this cup. What sorrow must there be in the hearts of people who are brought to realize that they have hindered God in doing what He wanted to do with them! W e should be like the Lord Jesus Christ and say as He said in the garden: “ Not wdiat I will, but what thou wilt” (Mk. 14:36). After we have accepted Christ as our Saviour, the first thing we should do is to place our lives in God’s hands to be molded according to His plan. Let us sing together, “ Have Thine Own Way, Lord.”
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like this: “ Leave her alone, she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial.” But still the disciples could not believe that Jesus must die. Lesson Story: The very night that Jesus was to be taken prisoner had arrived. He knew that Judas, one of the twelve disci ples, was to be the one who would hand Him over to His enemies. This was one of the many things which made Jesus sor rowful. Here He was, getting ready to die for the people so that every one who be lieved on His name should have life, and no one, not even His own disciples, could understand what He was doing. When we have something hard to do, we want our mother and father and our family and friends near. Even though they cannot suf
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THE DAWN O F A DEEPER DEVOTIONAL LIFE awaits you at the Fourth Annual Summer Bible Conference of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and the Church of the Open Door At the Pacific Palisades August 27 through September 5, 1938 For further information write to: THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, INCORPORATED Extension Dept. 558 So. Hope St. Los Angeles, Calif.
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