Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

nothing."provoke,"on,"urge."works."anger."stimulate,"works"to love Him and to serve Him and towitness for Him. That is the reason we arecalled "COVENANTERS." From timeto time, ever since the days of John Knoxin Scotland, we have made special covenants as a Chifrch. Sometimes it was because the people were in great troubleand under great persecution and bandedtogether in a covenant to be true tothe Lord. Sometimes, as at Grinnell, itwas because we knew our need of God'sspecial grace to work through us in themidst of perilous and troubled times.Today, in the story of Noah, we aretold of one of God's long-ago covenantsthat He has promised never to forget norto break. Then, as now, it was a time ofverygreat wickedness and offorgetfulnessof God and of His Word. You remember that in the Garden ofEden,Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sincame into the world. Their children, too,were sinners, though some of them asAbel and Seth, turned to the Lord andfollowed His ways. But the sons of thesefaithful ones married the godless daughters of the other families, like that ofCain, and as the years went by, moreand more families forgot God, fewer andfewer were true to Him, until finally onlyone family remained that feared theLord, the family of Noah. Did you everthink how very lonely they must havebeen, no one to worship with them, noone with whom they could be real friends,for real friendship is based on the loveof God. How very wicked the world musthave been! We feel that we live now invery godless times, yet how many thousands of real Christians there are in theworld! Then, only one lonely, solitaryfamily!We are told that Noah walked withGod and they must have had many talkstogether. One day God came to Noahand told him to begin building an arkthat was to shelter him and his familywhen a great flood would come to destroy all the wicked from the face of theearth. For a hundred and twenty yearsNoah worked on the Ark. How the neighbors must have laughed at him, makingthis big boat on dry land with no signof water near by! Perhaps Noah hiredsome of his neighbors to help him buildand they, too, would laugh at "Noah'sFolly," as they may have named thisbig combination of floating barn andhouse. Noah must have had great faith,as we are told in Hebrews, to keep ondoing what God told him to do, to comfort his family when others ridiculedthem. If sometimes you are in ,a placewhere boys and girls make fun of you fordoing what is right, just remember thatwicked people made fun of Noah for onehundred and twenty years, and yet he believed God in spite of it all.One day, when every one was goingJuly 14, 1954about the usual business, eating anddrinking, having parties and weddings,God called to Noah to come into theArk with his family and the animals theyhad collected. Then God shut the door.The same hand that shut them in shut allothers out. "There goes that crazy familyinto their big house," said the neighbors."Well, we won't have to listen to Noah'spreaching any more sure."; that's for Andthey were right, for while they were stilltalking, clouds covered the sky and therain began to fall. Not just showers, butgreat sheets of rain, that soon coveredthe ground, then flooded the houses,drowned those who had climbed into thetrees and finally covered the highestmountains many feet deep in water.Every living thing that was on the earthperished, except those who were in theArk.Many months later when the water hadfinally dried off the earth, God calledNoah and his family to come out into aclean new world,empty of all livingcreatures but themselves. Read for yourselves the Covenant God made that daywith Noah, and name some of the thingsHe promised. Genesis 8:22; Genesis 9:8-17.And for a sign that He would alwayskeep these promises, He set the rainbowin the sky. When God sees the rainbow,He remembers, and when you see it, youwill know God will never forget what Hepromised so long ago to Noah.Questions:1. Why did God destroy the old world?2. What did God use to dry up thewater?3. How longwas the Ark afloat?4. How did Noah know when to leavethe ark?5. Tell some ways in which the arkis a picture of our Saviour?6. How many doors did the Ark have?How many doors to heaven?7. Name two other famous Bible menwith whom God made covenants.Suggestions to leaders: For the flashcard for this story, draw the figures ofthe Ark, with the rainbow arching over.On the ark, write the word, "SALVATION."Below give reference of the memory verse.For review, hold up the cards (younow have five) one at a time giving thereference of the memoryverse on each.The first Junior to repeat the verse correctly, may hold the card. Or put up thecards, one by one, and ask for the storysuggested byeach one."When joy is lacking, position, money,success, and fame meanThough I have all faith, but do noworks, my faith is dead.Wilson.SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONAugust 1, 1954by Rev. Joseph A. Hill(Lessons based on International Sunday SchoolLessons; the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyrighted by the International Council of Religious Education.)CHRISTIAN WORSHIP ANDFELLOWSHIPLesson material: Acts 2 :46-47 ; Colossians3:12-17; Hebrews 10:23-25.Memory verse: Hebrews 10:24 "Andlet us consider one another to provokeunto love and to goodThe word "provoke" in this memoryverse comes from a Greek verb which inits primary sense means "tocommon usage it means "to"to spur"toused in a had sense"to arouse tosharpen."InIt may also be"to irritate," "toSometimes when we "consider" (the Greekverb may be translated, "mind carefully") the spiritual welfare of others andurge them to do well, we provoke them toanger rather than love and good works.It takes much love of the brethren andpatience and sympathetic understandingto "provoke unto love and goodthose who are falling behind in the life offaith. If we are to carryout this responsibility toward others, we must be ofsuperior piety ourselves (although always with humbleness of mind).Suppose you urge a church memberwho is lax in his church attendance tocome to the evening service, and he replies, "Sunday is my day of rest. I liketo stay at home and enjoy my leisuretime. Besides, I can enjoya good sermonon television." How can you bring sucha person to a true understandingof theSabbath-rest as submission to the willof God and the hope of eternal life withGod? Yet that is our task. We are ourbrother's keeper.I. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THEEARLY CHRISTIANS, ACTS 2:46-47.If someone should ask you why you goto church, what would your answer be?Do you go to church because of custom,because since father and mother rearedyou in the matter of church-going it hasbecome a habit with you? Just why doyou go to church? Most Christians wouldprobably answer this question by sayingthat it is our duty to go to church. Weattend church because God has commanded us to worship him with His people. That is a good reason, but is itenough to say that it is our duty to goto church? Israel was a church-goingpeople, yet there were times when theprophets told them that God was notpleased with their "temple treading" andwould not accept their sacrifices nor heartheir prayers. If our church-going is27