Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

me."
weak."
watch."
cup"
wilt."
ideas which the author seems to be
stressing.
They may
come from one
verse or a group of verses. But as you
get the ideas written before you, it
will be easier to narrow down to the
main point. If the same idea is' ex
pressed two or three times, it's a pretty
good hint as to what the title should
be. This is the hardest part of the
study and probably
will require the
most time and thought. However, if this
step is done carefully
on each chapter
of the Book, you'll be surprised to see
the purposes and contents of the whole
Book lying right there in front of you.
B. Best Verse
The second step of our study is to
choose out of the verses of the chapter,
one verse which you consider to be the
best verse. You may select one verse,
and the next person may have an en
tirely different verse. In such a case it
is wise to have some good reasons for
choosing the verse you did. Often times
you'll find two or three verses that
seem to be best verses, but for the
sake of this study, eliminate all but.
one. Then write that verse and list be
low it two reasons why
C. Covenant
you chose it.
The third step of this study is both
practical and personal. Of the four, I
believe this step can be of the greatest
benefit in your Christian life, if it is
carried out. In this C step, we are
to find a verse which affects our lives,
and then apply it to our own situation.
You may want to use the Best Verse
which you chose. The distinction how
ever between B and C is that in C
you answer the question, "What am I
going to DO about it" Select a verse
which deals with a sin in your life,
something in you which you know isn't
coming up to God's standard, then
write your covenant. A suggested way
to start your application would be in
these words, "By the grace of God, dur
ing this week I will . . . Let me give
just one word of caution don't promise
more than you plan to DO.
D. Difficulties
This last step needs very little ex
planation, and probably will be the
easiest of these to do. Under "difficul
ties"
you simply list the things in the
chapter that you don't understand. The
value of this is that at some later time
you can bring up
your problems in a
discussion group and find your answers
there; or, another possibility is to take
your list of difficulties to your pastor
who can probably dissolve them for you.
A good way to> discover difficulties is
to ask yourself the question, "Could
I explain this to someone else"
That's the end of this A.B.C.D. meth
od of Bible Study. I hope you find it
profitable and that you will not only
keep this study that you've done for
reference, but also go on through the
other three chapters of II Timothy and
finish the good work you have begun.
Suggestions for the Leader:
1. Be sure to have pencils and paper
ready.
2. Do the study yourself, before you
come.
3. Allow time during the meeting for
each member to do the study and
give assistance to those who need it.
4. Pray the prayer of the Psalmist:
"Open Thou mine eyes
to behold
wonderous things out of Thy law."
(Psalms 199:18).
JUNIOR TOPIC
by Mrs. Philip W. Martin
IN THE GARDEN
March 13, 1955
Scripture Text: Mark 14:32-42
Memory Verse: "Watch ye and pray,
lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit
truly is ready, but the flesh is
Mark 14:38
Psalms
Memory Psalm for March, Psalm 130 :
1-5, page 325
Psalm 41:5-8, page 105
Psalm 69:1-4, page 166
Psalm 18:12, 13, 16, page 37
In our study last week we learned
about how the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper was started or instituted by
Jesus Christ. Jesus told His disciples
that this was the night when He would
be taken from them to be crucified. He
told them that all of them would for
sake Him this night. Peter, the one who
was always speaking, said that even
if everyone else left Jesus, yet he
(Peter) would not. Jesus said to Peter,
"This day, even in this night, before the
cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me
thrice."
But Peter insisted that he would
even go so far as to die with Jesus.
Peter was trusting in his own strength
to keep from giving in to the tempta
tion that would come to him that night.
You and I can overcome temptation
only by God's strength. Paul said, "I
can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth
Jesus took His eleven disciples with
Him out to the Garden of Gethsemane.
They were all sad because Jesus had
told them that this night He was going
to be taken from them. He told eight
of His disciples to stay in a certain
place and He took three disciples closest
to Him Peter, James and John with
Him farther into the Garden. Jesus was
a man as well as God. And, being a man,
He desired companionship, but at the
same time He knew that no sinful hu
man being could go through this awful
trial with Him. So He told His three
close disciples, "My soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death; tarry ye here, and
He went a distance from the
disciples and poured out His soul to His
Father in prayer. "Abba,
Father, all
things are possible unto thee; take away
this cup from me: nevertheless not
what I will, but what thou
"this
By
Jesus meant the awful suf
ferings of His trial and crucifixion.
Jesus returned to the three and found
them asleep. They just couldn't stay
awake. Wasn't Peter the one who had
boasted that he would never leave Je
sus Jesus said to Peter, "Simon, sleepest
thou Couldn't you stay
awake and
pray with me just one hour" I'm sure
Peter must have felt rebuked and re
solved this time to stay
awake. Jesus
went away again and prayed just about
as He had prayed before. He was sweat
ing
not just little beads of sweat, but
great drops of blood. His heart was be
ing broken for you and for me.
He came back and found His disciples
asleep again. A third time He prayed,
"Father, if this cup may not pass from
done."
me except I drink it, Thy will be
He came back to His disciples again and
said, "Sleep on now and take your rest.
Judas is here in the garden bringing a
lot of soldiers to take me The
prisoner."
disciples wakened with a start, and,
sure enough, there was Judas coming to
give Jesus a kiss
not a kiss of love, but
a sign to these wicked men that this was
Jesus!
This is a very sad story. But, my
young friends, why did Jesus go all
through this awful suffering He had
never done any sin. He was not born a
sinner as you and I are. Why then, did
He do it The answer is found in that
old, yet ever new, verse, John 3 :16. "For
God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting
life."
This is not the
end of the story of His suffering for sin.
We shall continue in the next lesson.
But let us begin to see how much we
owe to our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We
could never begin to pay Jesus for His
suffering for us. But we can only start
to show Him how thankful we are that
He took the punishment for the sin of
all who will receive Him into their
hearts. Have you received Him into your
heart
ECHOES . . . Continued from page 121
Dr. Taylor closed his letter by saying
that the Evangelicals in America "hope
that the Greek government will hence
forth take a more active roll in gaining
an atmosphere of friendliness toward
Evangelicals in Greece."
February 23, 1955 123