April 1924
224
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K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
in the city of Dothan. So horses and chariots and a great many men were sent at night to surround the little city of Dothan where Elisha and his servant were living. Just picture it to yourself— at night Elisha and his servant had gone to sleep so peacefully, and now when they awakened next morning and looked out, here was a great army sur rounding them. How do you suppose they felt? The ser vant rose first, and when he looked out of the window and saw the great company of soldiers, he was very much frightened. He turned to Elisha, saying, “My master, what shall we do?” .Elisha was not afraid, and comforted his servant by saying to him, “Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” Elisha wanted his servant to see how God was protecting them, and he prayed that his servant’s eyes might be opened, and then he saw the mountains about them were full of horses and chariots of fire. God could protect Elisha and his servant because they trusted Him. (Finish, telling of smiting of soldiers with blindness, and feeding and sending them away). Prayer.—Dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for rais ing Jesus to life again, and that He is living today to help us and care for us, and may we always trust Him, as did Elisha. APRIL 27th, 1924 Amos and Hosea Pleading for Righteousness (Temperance Lesson) Golden Text: “Hate the evil and love the good” Amos 5:15. Lesson Text: Books of Amos and Hosea. Devotional Reading: Isaiah 55:6-13. Amos was a simple herdsman from an obscure village in the hills of Judea. He had not been trained in the schools of the prophets. He is an example of that grace which selects its ministers from the tents of shepherds as well as from the palace of the king. He left his LESSON herd and with staff in hand journeyed up EXPOSITION into the northern kingdom to utter his F. W. Farr warnings in the sanctuary atBethel. This shows how urgently God’s message was burning in his soul. He was no Jonah fleeing from duty’s call. His message was stern and uncompromising. It was delivered in a bold and unflinching spirit. It contained many threats, but few promises. He foretold the overthrow of the house of Jeroboam and the end of the northern kingdom. Amos 7:9; 9:8:— “And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall bd laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the faee of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.” The victories of Jeroboam in the field had given Israel rest from foreign enemies, and in the period that followed Israel greatly increased in prosperity and wealth. This advance in luxury and splendor was attended as usual by a moral decline. The conspicuous features were immor ality, extravagance and oppression of the poor. Contact with heathen nations had acquainted the people wpth idolatry and degraded the ancient sanctuaries at Bethel and Gilgal. The flaming message of Amos produced no effect and was followed by no improvement. The king paid no at tention to him, while Amaziah the priest at Bethel treated
ago we heard a student say that he did not need the argu ments that were being presented in class to prove to him that Christ was raised, for, said he, “A dead man could not do for me what Christ has done,”— so real was the change which had been wrought. Because of their union with the risen One, it is the privilege of all true believers to have victory over known sin (Rom. 6:1-11), to bear fruit that is acceptable to God (Rom. 7 :4 ), and to share in His great work of intercession (Heb. 7:25). Is the resurrection real to you, because you know some thing of the power of the Risen One in your life? God Caring For Elisha. 2 Kings 6:8-23 Memory Verse.— “Fear ye not, neither be afraid.” Isa. 44:8. Approach.— I know a little boy who is a very fine boy and always stands up for the right, but he is afraid of the dark, and will not go into a dark room alone. The room has just the same things in it when it is dark, as it does in the light, but because he cannot see in ELEMENTARY the dark he is afraid. A little while Mabel L. Merrill ago a little cousin who is younger came to make this boy a visit, and he would go into a dark room and was not the least bit afraid, and the little cousin could not understand how any one could be afraid of the dark. The older boy felt ashamed when his cousin called him a coward, and it made him quite unhappy. That night when mother put him to bed, and heard him say his prayers, what do you think he prayed. He asked Jesus to help him not to be afraid in the dark. Then mother told him de did just the right thing to ask Jesus to help him. She told him how Jesus was in the dark and could take care of him just as well as in the light. He trusted Jesus to take care of him after that night and was not afraid any more. Lesson Story.— (Some teachers may prefer to teach the Easter lesson, but with the older children who are familiar with it, we feel it better to go on with the regular course. You can show the boys and girls, that because Christ arose and is living today, He can watch over and protect us). James, last week we heard about a prophet of God up on a mountain with a lot of false prophets. What happened on that day? (Review). Now this is Easter Sunday, and we have such a wonderful story about Elisha, another of God’s faithful prophets, who was in great danger a number of times, but God took care of him. Boys and girls do you know that is why our religion is different than any other religion in all the world, and why our God is the only one who can save us and take care of us while we live down here in a world full of dangers, because He is the only per son who died and lived again, and is .alive today. Be cause He had power over death, He has power to protect us and care for us, and to give, us everlasting life, when we believe on Him. In our story today the king of Syria made war against Jehoram, king of Israel, and told his soldiers where they would find king Jehoram, and to cap ture him. But when they came to the place he had fled. This happened again and again. It troubled the king of Syria very much, for he thought that one of his own sol diers had turned traitor, and was telling the Israelites of his plans, so he called his soldiers together, and asked them about the matter. This is what they told the king: “None of us have told, O king, but Elisha, God’s prophet, knows what you talk about, even in secret, and he tells his king.” Some one told the king of Syria that Elisha was
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