Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

work?"work?"work?"unseemly."silver."that having believed in Jesus Christ asyour Saviour you are now His forevermore,then you will be ready to readwith some interest the how and why ofthe Christian teaching.You will wonder "Does this reallyAnd the Acts of the Apostlesshows you that it does.Then you will ask "How does itAnd the epistles of the NewTestament answer the query.But still you ask "What if it doesThe Revelation gives the answer in great moving pictures.What do you want in your reading?Do you want poetry? Read thePsalms, which hold the answer to everyhuman problem.Do you follow history? Then read thecourse of empires from the dawn ofEgypt to the coming of Alexander theGreat, as it is laid out in the Old Testament.Do you want philosophy? Read Ecclesiastes.Do you want literary drama? ReadJob, and remember that it actually happened.Do you ask concerning God's interestin men and in nations? Read the prophets Isaiah, Amos, Jonah, oh yes, readall of them.In her new book for teen-agers, called"Never a Dull Moment," Eugenia Pricewrites :"Jesus Christ is alive and near you(in you) as you sit reading your Bible,and if you will read it with an openmind, being willing to admit to someinterest now and then, He will light upyour mind and little by little it will begin to clear up for you. None of us willever understand all that's in the HolyBible. God's mind is so great we couldn'tbegin to keep up with it. And don't forget, the Bible is God's Book. So, don'tput it down and quit just because youget stuck and can't understand something. Don't even try to figure it out.Just keep reading and stay open. Readit and ask the Holy Spirit to give youthe impression He wants you to haveas you read it.Can you learn to like to read theBible?"Yes, because Christ is alive and Hewill draw your interest to the story ofHimself in the Bible, if you are willingto be drawn."The Bible isdid come out of that tomb.about Him, and He"Is there anything dull about that?"TALK THESE OVERPage 61.1. Is a matter true because it is inthe Bible, or is it in the Bible becauseit's true?3462. Show how knowing the backgroundof a book of the Bible helps to an understanding of its message.3. What Bible verse do you recall asthe first one you ever learned? WhatBible story?4. How has daily Bible reading affected your school activities?JUNIOR TOPICDecember 4, 1955MORE STORHQS ABOUT SAMSONJudges 15, 16Jacquelin Patton, HopkintonCongregationMemory Verse: "Blessed is the man thatendureth temptation: for. when he istried, he shall receive the crown of life,which the Lord hath promised to themthat love him." James 1:12.Psalms:Psalm 18:1-4, page 30Psalm 121:1-3, page 315Psalm 43:1-3, 6, page 109Psalm 143:4-6, page 347Scripture Reading: James 1:1-22You will remember from our laststudyof Samson that after Samson'swife had betrayed the riddle's answerto the thirty men at the feast, Samsonwent home in a great rage. When fallcame he decided to go back to Timnath, and he took with him a present,a young goat, only to find that his wifehad been given by her father to another man. Samson completely lost histemper at this, and he went out into thecountryside and caught three hundredfoxes. He tied burning torches onto theirtails and let them go in the grainfields and vineyards of the Philistines.Of course, you can imagine the greatfire that started. It was harvest timeand the corn was dry and burned veryrapidly. The Philistines were now afraidof Samson, and they burned down bothSamson's wife and her father. But whenSamson learned this he was angrierstill, and he killed a great many moreof the enemy Philistines.From this time on the Philistines triedto destroy Samson. An army came upto Israel and camped. Now three thousand men of the Israelite nation marched to the place where Samson was living to deliver him to their enemy. Samson only laughed and allowed himself tobe securely tied upand taken. As themen carried him captive into the Philistine camp,the Philistines raised agreat cry of triumph and feeling againsthim. At this the Spirit of the Lord cameupon Samson; suddenly he burst theropes that had held him as if they werethreads and, grabbing up a jawboneof an ass from the ground, he swungmightily. That day Samson killed athousand men, and he called the place"Ramath-lehi,"which means "the liftjawbone."ing up of aDuring the twenty years that followed Samson was a judge of the southwest part of Israel. Then Samson lovedanother Philistine woman whose namewas Delilah. And the Philistine rulerscame to her and said, "If you can findout the secret of his strength and howto bind him, we will reward you withmany pieces ofYou may read this story from Judges16:6-21. What a little thing it was thatcaused Samson to lose his strength andbecome weak. He could not control histongue! "Whoso keepeth his mouth andhis tongue keepeth his soul fromtroubles"(Proverbs 21:23).Often the littlest things can be thedownfall of the mightiest. Just a tinypiece of sin can creep into a life and unravel it all, and that sin can block allthe good you would like to do,andkeep you from being fruitful. Sometimes it is temper or angry words.Sometimes it is laziness at home or atschool. Or perhaps it is that favoriteof the devil, pride. Do you ever lookat your accomplishments and puff upwith pride? It is a sin to love self, andthe remedy for it is sincere love, ahumble, self-effacing love for yourSaviour that "doth not behave itselfPray that God will removethese selfish sins and determine to trustyourself completely to His keeping.SuggestionsHave all Juniors review the story ofSamson (Judges 14-16) before the meeting. Then have a "tell-time." EachJunior tells a part of the story untilthe leader says "stop." The storytellerthen chooses someone to continue andso on until the story is finished.Draw a garden of flowers and weedsin your notebook. Label each weed as asin that you can weed out of your heart.Or draw a scene from Samson's life.Now divide into two groups to lookup references. The first one to find theverse may stand to read, also tellingwhat the verse means, and his groupreceives the point. James 3:5, 6; Galatians 6:14; I John 4:4; Luke 16:10;Col. 3:17; Judges 16:30; Heb. 11:32,33: I John 1:9; Psalm 34:13; I Chron.28:9.THE MINUTES OF SYNODARE NOW READYORDER FROM C. R. FOX209 Ninth St. Pittsburgh 22, Pa.Price $1.00COVENANTER WITNESS