Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

ward."of which this verse speaks. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,abomination"even his prayer shall be(Proverbs 28:9).How can we gain peace with God? ItNews Briefscomes first of all when we surrender ourlives completely to God and to His service. The Book of Isaiah was written toGod's chosen people, those under thecovenant promises.It was written tothose who had said that they would follow God. This promise of peace does notcome to the person outside of Christ whoallows his mind to think about God occasionally. It comes to the person whoselife is wholly within the hand of God.But acceptance of Christ is not thewhole picture. There must also be a willingness to obey the commands of God.Peter followed Christ, but he denied hisLord, and he did not have peace of heart.Jesus tells us the way in which we mayfind peace with God, "He that hath mycommandments, and keepeth them, he itis that loveth me: and he that loveth meshall be loved of my Father, and I willlove him, and will manifest myself tohim"(John 14:21). We must acceptChrist, but we must also obey Him.And in order to obey the Lord, we mustlove His Word, and we must study it, inorder that we may know what He commands us to do. The Psalmist writes:"Great peace have they which love thylaw, and them"nothing shall offend(Psalm 119:165). But do we love God'slaw? We sing of our love for the Bible,how it is our study all the day, but howmany minutes do you spend studyingGod's Word each day? Is it your meditation all the day?Peace with God is the greatest possession obtainable. Isaiah had that peace,and though he suffered in seeing God'slaw forsaken, he was right with God.David was hunted like an animal byKing Saul (1 Samuel 19, 20), but thatdid not effect his relationship with God.The Apostle Paul endured much sufferingfor the cause of Christ (2 Corinthians11:24-33), but he was at peace with God.Before his conversion, he was kickingagainst the pricks,and his heart wastroubled. Peter was able to say towardthe end of his earthly life: "Wherein yegreatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heavinessthrough manifold temptations: that thetrial of your faith, beingmuch more precious than of gold that perisheth, thoughit be tried with fire, might be found untopraise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Peter was atpeace with God through all the sufferingsof his life.We all desire and we all pray for peacein the world. But physical peace is superficial. The world and the people in theworld will never change, until they haveOctober 6, 1954CENTRAL PITTSBURGH: September 20 marked the 25th ANNIVERSARYof the laying of the cornerstone of theCentral Pittsburgh church. An interesting display was prepared including abulletin from the 25th anniversary service at the former Central Alleghenychurch in 1890, some communion tokens,the program of the dedication weekservices, a beautiful scale model ofthe church built by Howard Elliott andEdwin Carson in their high school days,as well as other items of interest.On Sabbath evening, September 19, aspecial service was held at which Dr. D.H. Elliott, pastor of the congregation atthe time of the building of the church andfor a major portion of the succeeding25 years, spoke on "LookingBackward."Dr. J. R. Patterson, who succeeded Dr.Elliott as pastor, spoke on "Looking ForSurely this occasion should be a realchallenge to us and we ask the prayersof the whole church that we shall befaithful and fruitful laborers in this portion of God's vineyard in the years ahead.BELLE CENTER, OHIO: Dr. andMrs. John Coleman visited a few days atthe parsonage and preached for us Sabbath, September 12both morning andevening. He brought us very helpful messages.HETHERTON: Mr. and Mrs. H. E.McKelvy and Janie and Mrs. Sara Clydevisited with the McKelvy family ofHetherton in August. Recent visitors atthe Ed Roby homein Hetherton included his brother Elman and a coupleof boys who accompanied him from SanDiego, California. Helen and FlorenceFattal, cousins of Ed's and his auntMiss Edna Elsey, also spent some timein the Roby home.While there theywith the Roby family made a trip tobeen made to have peace with God. "Andthe peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keepyour hearts andminds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7).PRAYER SUGGESTIONS:1. For strength to be granted to thoseChristians who are suffering forChrist's sake, that the peace of Godmay uphold them.2. That we as individuals may be atpeace with Godnot with the world.3. That God would see fit to use us inbringingtroubled hearts.the message of peace toBayfield, Wisconsin, to visit Mrs. Elizabeth Elsey.NEWBURG: Tuesday evening,September 7, the W.M.S. held their regularmonthly meeting.SEATTLE: It is nice to have an evening Junior High age group. This issomething new for our congregation andis sponsored by Joe Lamont, Jr. It wasfelt necessary to divide this age groupfrom the High School and older youngpeople's group which has taken on newlife under the sponsorship of June andBob Dunn. We would ask your prayersfor the continuation and growth of thesetwo groups.YOUNGSTOWN: The Juniors met atthe church on September 16, for a picnic supper and games. They all reported agood time.ORLANDO: The Builders for ChristSabbath School class held their monthlysocial at the home of Mr. and Mrs.Windham in the form of a steak frywhich was intended to have been on thelawn but because of rain their newlyfloored double garage made a good substitute.CENTRAL PITTSBURGH: Four institutions of higher learningwill be represented again this year by members of ourcongregation: Mr. Jack Oliver plans toreturn to Duke University GraduateSchool, North Carolina; Katherine Murlisand June Rinko returned to Geneva;Shirleyann Hoy begins her final yearat Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois; while her step-sister, Mary McCloskey,is a senior at the University ofPittsburgh.HETHERTON: Representatives atGrinnell were Ida Webber, DorothyBrown, Carol Hagadorn, Jo Leino, andHarriet and Milton Harrington.NEWBURGH: Sabbath evening services were resumed on September 12. Weare beginning a studyof Genesis. Tothose of the Newburgh Congregation, whohave not beenevening services, I say,attending the Sabbath"Let's supportour pastor and give him some encouragement by coming out, if at all possible.This is a 45 minute session.UNITED PHILADELPHIA: RobertAshleigh is teachingat Marion HighSchool and with his wife and son attendsour services.DENISON: Thomas Preston Robb ar-221