Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

ground."play"side?"afraid to go alone, he could take hisservant along and the Lord said that thethings they would overhear would givehim courage to fight.Gideon and his servant slid down thehillside very secretly in the dark, creeping nearer to the camp of the Midianites.Then they heard two men talking together in a tent and one man said, "Ihad a dream and in that dream I sawa loaf of barley bread come tumblingdown the hillside into our camp, and ithit the tent so that it toppled over andfell flat to theThen the other man said, "That dreamhas a meaning. That loaf of bread meansthe sword of Gideon and his soldiers, forthe Lord has given all Midian into hishand."This was an example of how asmall loaf of bread (meaning Gideon'smen) could knock a whole tent down(meaning Midianites).But wasn't that something for a manof Midian to say? How did he know?Maybe he had heard an Israelite soldiersay this. After Gideon had heard this, hewas much braver and he and the servantcrept carefully back up the hill to theircamp.Gideon then worshiped God and nodoubt was very, very thankful. Then hecommanded his troop to "Arise, for theLord hath delivered into your hand theMidianites."He divided the 300 men into 3 companies and put a trumpet in each man'shand and gave them each empty pitchers with lamps inside the pitchers, sothat their lights would not be seen.Now theywere ready! In the middleof the night Gideon and his 300 bravemen slipped down the hillside without asound. They had to be very careful andstill so they could come to the very edgeof their camp.One hundred went to one side, another hundred on the other side, andone hundred went behind the camp.They were so quiet that none of thesleeping soldiers awoke to give an alarm.Then all of a sudden Gideon gave thesignal. He put the trumpet to his lipsand gave a war crywith it. He threwhis pitcher on the rocks with a crashand waved his torch light and cried,"The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."Right awayall 300 trumpets blaredout around the camp, 300 pitchers wentcrashing on the rocks, and 300 torchesflared out in the dark and 300 menshouted, "The sword of the Lord and ofGideon."The sleepy Midianites awoke andwere very afraid. Theysaw all thetorches on all sides with strange soldiers. They were still so tired andthought that a large army had invaded298and they wanted first to save themselves. They were so mixed up in thedarkness that they became wild andwere killingeach other instead of theIsraelites in Gideon's army.Gideon sent messages to men he hadsent home to have them run after theMidianites who had run away towardthe Jordan river. One hundred andtwenty thousand had already been killedby swords. On the other side of theriver were 15,000 men with two kings.Gideon didn't want to leave any, so hecrossed the river.Gideon continued to win great battles,but always in the name of the Lord andnot in his own strength. The Lord usesour strength and talents, too, but onlyas we are willing to let Him use themand to live pleasing lives before Him.Our title "God gives Victory" can beused in referring to the game of life inthe experiences of a Christian boy andgirl. How do you feel when you are onthe winningside of a ball game atschool? I'm sure you are very happy,you want to talk about it, and maybeyou think you are a little better thanthe boys and girls who lost. But didyou ever think about the victory thatGod gives: It's one that we can be sojoyful in and talk about, but we can'tconsider ourselves better than everyoneelse. This is because this victory is agift and we didn't earn it or even deserve it. Our lives were full of sin and"baduntil that wonderful timewhen we took God's gift and victory(His Son, Jesus Christ) into our heartsand asked Him to take awayour sinsand give us constant victory that countsevery day for Him in this importantgame of life we each must play.Each day we will have either small orlarge battles to fight, because Satandoes his best to make you a prisoner onhis side. So we must pray all the timethat we will be loyal and fight hard forour great King of kings and Lord oflords, and, with His helpthat He haspromised, we will be victorious everytime. Boys and girls, think about itand each one answer this question, "AmI on the winningNotebooks1. Each one might list as many "battles"as possible that has or could happen to a Christian. (Such as, honesty inschoolwork, losing tempers, taking somemoney or something belonging to someone else, helpingat home, etc.)2. Show how the Christian can havevictoryin each.3. Find verses where God promiseshelp or giving victory to those who wantit. (Such as some of references givenabove.)SABBATHSCHOOL LESSONNovember 20, 1955Rev. W. J. McBurney(Lessons based on International Sunday SchoolLessons : the International Bible LessonB forChristian Teaching,copyrighted by the International Council of Eeligious Education.)EVIDENCE OF JESUS' POWERLuke 7; 8:22-56Printed Text, Luke 7:11-23Memory Verse, Luke 7:22: "Go andtell John the things that ye have seenand heard; the blind receive their sight,the lame walk, the lepers are cured, thedeaf hear, and the dead are raised up,the poor have good tidings preached tothem."The events of this lesson take placealong the north border of Samaria,about five miles south of Nazareth. Jesus was performing many miracles, andmany people were following him.John the Baptist was in prison. Hisdisciples had been watching Jesus andreporting the marvelous things He wasdoing. John sent two of his disciples toask Jesus if He was indeed the Messiah.Jesus told them to tell John what theysaw Him do. They had probably arrivedin time to see the miracle with whichthis lesson opens.The Raising of the Widow's SonWithout question there were two thatChrist raised from the dead; Luke tellsus that the widow's son was dead. Christsaid that Lazarus was dead. But in thecase of"She is notJairus'dead."daughter, Jesus said,It was those wholaughed Him to scorn who knew (?)that she was dead. Jesus' answer to thedisciples of John might appear to referto other such miracles,not recorded.That the widow and her son wereprominent people is shown by the factthat much people were with her. However willing they were, theycould nothelp. If she had been in need of food orclothing, theycould have supplied herquickly. A widow bereaved of her onlyson was not thinking of those things.It was different with Jesus. When Hesaw her, He had compassion on her.How often we are told that He hadcompassion on those who were inneed! A need that only He could supply,and always His compassion was active.We are not told if this widow had anyformer knowledge of Christ. It is possible that she was one of the true children of God, either waiting in faith forthe coming of the Messiah, or havingfound Him in the Christ, had acceptedHim in faith. Christ may have come toher in answer to her prayer for help. Wehave no record of anyone asking Christto raise one from the dead. Christ answered prayers exceedingly beyond whatwas asked or even hoped for. He saidCOVENANTER WITNESS