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added to the church.—Adapted from The Gift of the Holy Ghost, by D. L. Moody.
last night’s catch. A comparison of the two passages would s u g g e s t that fallen Christians are like broken nets which need to be mended. A broken net will catch no fish. But it can be mended. Thus fallen Christians have no testimony, but they can be restbred. But. it takes "spiritual” Christians to do this. “Carnal” Christians (1 Cor. 3:1) are in no condition to help others. 4. "Bear ye one another's burdens... every man shall bear his own burden" (Gal. 6:2, 5). Two things ,are said about burdens in these two verses. In verse 2, there is the sense in which every Christian s h o u 1d share the weight of the sorrows and hardships of others. Love urges to this endt Un selfishness demands it. In verse 5, there is the sense in which every man must beaf his own burden of responsi bility. Every Christian will h a v e to give an account of his stewardship in the day of Christ’s coming. In this sense no one can bear another’s bur den. I would rather be the means under God of stirring up the Christian church than of winning a hundred souls to Christ. If I could stir up a hundred Christians and induce them to seek this gift of service, to be filled with the Holy Ghost, it would result in thousands of conversions. When we were in Philadelphia a lady said to me, “Mr. Moody, can women have this power?” I told her I saw no reason why anyone should not have it who wanted to work for God. Women need it as much as men. “Well,” she said, “ if I can have it, I want it. I have a Sunday school class, and the members are unconverted.” A week from that time she came to me and said, “ The Lord has blessed me. My husband has,.been converted, and ,five of my Sunday school class.” That was the result of that woman’s receiving the power of the Holy Ghost. It spread through the church of which ■ she was a member, and the people, seeing that she had something which they had not, began to inquire. As a result of the quickening of that wo man, five hundred members were Golden Text Illustration G alatians 5 :25
grace God gives him, and another shares the gifts God gives him. Each has a part, and they are equally im portant in the service of the Lord: one directly doing the work, the other in directly providing for ft. This thought of sharing is am plified in the next two verses. They do not refer to the unsaved person and his sins, but to the believer who attempts to take to himself some benefit from the ministry of the work er without having fellowship with that worker, o r.without communicat-. ing in a practical way with the one who teaches. This attempt would af- 'fect whatever good was received, be cause it would be sowing to the flesh, and would turn the good into corrup tion. Believers are exhorted to be not “weary in well doing." “Well doing” is to be continuous: the rendering of help to all, especially those who are of the household of faith. The need is given by the Lord, and the ability to meet that need is also given by the Lord. Christian living at its best will recognize God’s hand in either poverty or wealth; and both will be shared; the poverty by the needy one, the wealth by the one who has plenty.; Points and Problems 1. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering" (Gal. 5:22). Note carefully that it is the fruit of the Spirit, not fruits as often wrongly quoted. This fruit is like a cluster of grapes, many elements on the one stem and all appearing at thè same time. It is the same with the Spirit- filled life. Such a life bears all of the graces of these two verses at the same time and they are the true expression of the Christian life. The more fully these graces are allowed to mature in' the life, the more Christllke the in dividual becomes. 2. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (v. 25). A fundamental principal of the Chris tian faith is set forth in these words. Since the believer is born again by the Holy Spirit, since he derives his life from Him, he ought also to walk by Him. In other words, the outward practice of the believer 'ought to correspond to his inner experience of the new birth. Life and works are to b£ inseparable companions. 3. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, re store 'such a one" (6:1). The word “restore” comes from the same Greek root as the word “m e n d i n g ” in Matthew 4:21. In the latter reference we have the scene of James and John with their father sitting in their boat mending their fishing nets. Doubtless they had become broken during the
Mary's New Song 1 J ohn 4 ; L uke 1
MEMORY VERSE: “The Lord is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant” (Psa. 135:3). AIM: To show how songs about Jesus will bring joy. APPROACH: When we are happy, we like to sing. Of course we know
that the best songs are the ones about the Lord Jesus, our S a v i o u r . Many years a g o, there
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P jBBpB was someone who J l i l i i was v e r y happy, and she sang the first J e s u s - song t h a t w e k n o w about. This is the
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story. Would you like to hear it? LESSON STORY: Long, long ago, before there was any Bible to tell people what God wanted them to do, when the heavenly Father had some thing special to say to anyone, He would speak through an angei. Once an angel came to a lovely woman whose name was Mary. “The Lord is with you, Mary,” the angel said in words like these. "Among all the women of the world, you have the most honored place.” Mary did not understand what the angel meant. She had often thought of how happy she and Joseph, her husband, would be when they could have a home together. But the angel was speaking of something even more wonderful than that. “God will give you a baby Boy,” the angel said. “He ‘shall be called the Son of God’ ” (v. 35). Mary was so surprised and glad that at first all she could say was, “All right, Lord, 'be it unto me according to thy word’ ” (v. 38). But the more Mary thought about the angel’s message, the happier she became. Soon she began to sing. “I must sing about ‘God my Saviour,’ ” she said, “ ‘for he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name’ ” (vs. 47, 49). Mary sang and sang. Perhaps the song that we sing was in her heart: “I love Him, because He first loved me, And purchased my salvation on Cal vary’s tree.
B LAC K BO ARD LESSON
Object Lesson B oot and B ootee
OBJECTS: A baby’s bootee, a man’s boot, a red cross, and a globe of the world. (It is well if the bootee ia
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