Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

eases."use."room,"vain."a special purposeto be His missionariesor witnesses.9. Whom did Jesus see by the Seaof Galilea? What were these men doingfor a living? Mark 1:1610. What did Jesus say to Simon andAndrew? Mark 1:1711. How long did it take for thesefishermen to obey? Mark 1:1812. Name two other fishermen brotherswhom Jesus called. Mark 1:19To help you memorize the names ofthe disciples here is a poem which Imemorized when quite young. I'm sorryI don't remember the author:This is the way the disciples run:Peter, Andrew, James and John,Philip and Bartholomew,Thomas next, and Matthew, too,James the less, and Judas the greater,Simon the Zealot, and Judas the traitor."In this story of Jesus' calling Hisdisciples there are some lessons for usas Juniors to learn. These whom Jesuscalled were busy doing what they weresupposed to be doing. Have you readabout some famous foreign missionaries?Have you ever wished you could be amissionary in some foreign countryright now, without having to go toschool or do things that don't seem tobe at all what a missionary would do?But you must be faithful in your schoolwork, or whatever you should be doing.I know a girl who just wouldn't obeyher mother and she wouldn't dirty herhands to do things for others she wasgoing to be a "lady" missionary. But,children, God does not usually call suchpeople to be missionaries for Him, andthis girl ended up by being a veryselfish lady without friends. No missionboard wanted to send her out to someforeign field because she was so lazyand she was not prepared for missionarywork.Then, another lesson to learn is thatif we are to be His missionaries, we,ourselves must be His children. We can'ttell someone else about a person whomwe ourselves do not know.There is another lesson which we aschildren can learn. John tells us thatAndrew didn't tell his brother, Peter,very much about Jesus but "he broughthim to Jesus." Maybe you are too youngto tell someone a great deal about Jesus,but you can invite him to your churchand Sabbath School where someone elsecan tell him what he needs to know.Think of some other lesson we Juniorscan learn from our Bible lessons today.For your notebook: Copy the littlepoem about the disciples.To live in the presence of great truthsand eternal laws, to be led by permanentidealsthat is what keeps a man pat;entwhen the world ignores him, and calmand unspoiled when the world praiseshim.Balzac.December 22, 1954SABBATH SCHOOL, LESSONJanuary 9, 1955by Rev. W. J. McBurney(Lessons based an international Sunday SchoolLessons ; the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyriphtea by the International Council of Religious Education.!Devotional Reading, Psalm 42.Memory selection: God is a spirit: andthey that worship Him must worshipHim in spirit and in truth. John 4:24Psalm 103:8-13This selection is matter for meditationand praise, rather than for .explanation.This is true in large measure of all thepraise Psalms. There is scarcely a sentence in the 103rd Psalm that needs anydefinition. Are the diseases of verse 3physical or spiritual? The answer is"Yes."The Psalm says, "All thy disThe Psalms of praise reveal God to usin His nature, in His works, and in Hisrelation to us. These Psalms show ushow His love deals-kindly with us,not asour sins have deserved, but according toHis forgiving grace.We are asked to join in praise with allpeople that dwell on the earth, with theangels in Heaven, even with God's handiwork where "Earth, with her thousandvoices, praises God." What an inspiration to sing with such a chorus! If anyone fails to enter into the praise, hispraise is not offered. It cannot be doneby proxy.When listening to a concert by radio orTV, is it not unpleasant to hear it interrupted by a commercial, though it beas clean as soap? The musician likes tohave a beautiful instrument and keepit well polished. The voice is the instrument of praise. We should keep it carefully, and train it well. It is really thethought of the heart carried by the voice,that is the praise. What does God hearas He listens to our thoughts while wesing?Isa. 40:25-29The Westminster Devines sought fora definition of God. When they were unable to find an answer, they appealed toGod, and He gave them the answer fromHis own Word. The first half of thatanswer tells us what God is; but therest is more practical to us, showing howHis Being is related to His creation andto us. God is self existant,the "IAm."God does not need man. Man cannotexist without God."Lift up your eyes and behold whohath created these things." We seek tosee God. Moses sought to see Him. Thefull power of God's light would destroyour natural vision as trulyas the light ofan A bomb would ruin our eyesight. Wecan only look at what the bomb hasdone. God hid Moses in a cleft in a rockand covered him till He had passed by.Then he was allowed to see where Godhad walked; what He had done;thethings He had made; the mountains, valleys, forests, beasts, and birds. Moseswas made to see God in His works ofcreation and providence. We are amazedat the marvels of radio and TV. Yet theyare simple enough that man can makethem,and understand them as well as heunderstands what makes a stone fallfrom your hand. Of course no man knowsthat. Even the falling of a raindrop, noman can explain. We marvel at the wisdom of the man who made the TV, andtreat as commonplace the eye and earwhich man cannot make nor understand.They can get along nicely without TV.But TV would not be valuable as junkwithout the eye and ear. The stinger of ahoney bee is a power drill more efficientand powerful, according to size, than anymachine man has built. It is not pushedin by the bee. Separate it from the bee,and it is still complete. It contains adrill, a motor, a battery, a poison tankand in injector, all of a perfection thatman can neitherimitate nor explain.Why, O Jacob, do you think you canhide from God? Have you never beenstung by a bee? We have many reasonsto be humble before God.Matt. 6:9bname.""Hallowed be thy A prayer,first, that God will show His name to beholy; second, a prayer in which we pledgeourselves to treat it as holy. "ThyName," also thy titles, attributes, ordinances, Word and works. It is plain thatwe are required to make a holy and reverent use of everything bywhich Godmaketh Himself known. That, accordingto Psalm 19, includes the heavens and theearth, all time, all communication. Ofthese, we should make a "holy and reverent "Yet they say, The Lord shallnot see, neither shall the God of Jacobregard it." But God said, "For the Lordwill not hold him guiltless that takethHis Name inJohn 4:23, 24; 10:30God is a Spirit, the Spirit of Loveand Life and Good Cheer. Perhaps another is the spirit of the profane institution which we call Christmas,an abbreviation of Christes Masse. We cannothave fellowship with the two spirits atthe same time.In Marshall Field's store, I was showna "schoolnicely equipped, whereevery employee was required to spend ahalf hour each day on paid time. Theythere met with one of the firm for instruction and discussion about the conduct of the store's business. In thoughtlessness, I said, "I suppose attendancehere is not checked so closely as at the395