The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-07-18
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson III, Third Quarter. Internn-
tiOnnl Series, July 10.

Thessalonica, where was a synagogue oil
the Jews" Sec this company OF men In
this world for God. They have no aim but
to honor Him. Their ono thought is to
magnify the Lord Jesus Christ phil. /,
COZ, and to this end they are under the
control Of the Holy Spirit, passing through
this town or that and stopping only where
He Directs Whether in prison or In Lydia's
house, on tho road or in the synagogue,
their one business is to glorify God and
make Him known. Thessalonica was about
100 miles southwest OF Philippi, so that 1t
must have been several days journey but,
rs Is usual In Scripture. the incidents OF
the journey arc omitted. They passed
through" and "camc to.
2. And Paul, as his manner was, went
In unto them, and three sabbath days rca-
soned with them out of the Scriptures
ITO the Jew first was ever Paul S princi-
pie In going after the people with the gos-
pei (Rom. L. 49,, and who can tell what we
are losing by not continuing to act on this
principle, both with the gospel and with
gifts for missionss He had but one text
book, the Scriptures, which he fully be-
leyed was sufficient to furnish any one
thoroughly for every good work Oh Tim.
iii, 49, ~. Ho was not full OF the opin-
ions of men; but being the Lord S messen-
ger, he carried the Lord message alag.
l, l3).
8. Opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again
from the dead, and that this Jesus whom
i preach unto you is Christ" The Jews
were looking for u Messiah to sit on Da-
yid's throne and subdue their enemies and
make Israel, as in the days of solomon,
the first nation on earth, and in this OK
pectation they were perfectly right, for
this was promised by the prophets and
will yet surely he fulfilled lisa. tx, g. :;
.1er. Iii, II, U.s. Zcch. xiv, Ii, ~. But 1t was
Just as plainly forctold and foreshadowed
that the Messiah would also suffer and
die and rise from the dead before He would
thus reign as David son on Dayid's
throne Gen. iii, 10; lisa. lii; Ps xvi and
xxi, etc.).
4. "And some of them believed and CON
sorted with Paul and Silas, " u multitude
of men and women, the verse goes on TO
say. just as in Gen. i the Spirit moved,
God spake, and the work was DONE 50
hero and SO always His word will accom-
plish His pleasure and prosper in the thing
whereto He sends 1t lisa ", ll). 1t is
ours to DO faithful messengers; it is His to
accomplish the work. There is perfect rest
in His work when we are willing that He
should do it ail and as He pleases, we be-
ing in His hand for His pleasure.
D. But the Jews which believed not,
moved with envy, took unto them certain
lewd fellows" Then followed mob and u
riot and an assault for the devil was losing
some of his property, and ho WAS stirred
nightly, as at Philippi, to do somewhat
to resist tho truth and the power of God,
and so for time the saints must suffer
with Christ. Fellowship with Him in suf-
fering is "a great privilege not appreciated
by tho saints as 1t should be (Phil i, 80;
iii, 10: Col. i, 24).
G. "These that have turned the world
upside down arc come hithcr also" Not
finding the apostles, they took Jason and
other brethren 10 the city rulers with these
and other accusations. 1t was surely
quite compliment to say that these men
had power to turn the world upside down.
There ought to have been enough of the
supernatural in that to make them stop
and consider, Init when men are blinded
by anger they consider neither their words
nor their deeds. The factS in the case are
that tho world is in n sense upside down
because of sin, and Jesus, whom these men
preached, is tho only one who can set 1t
right side up (Ez. xxi 27).
Z. "Theso all do contrary to the DEGREES
OF Caesar, saying That there is another
king, one Jesus Caesar is the earthly,
under the God of this world-that Is, tho
devil, Jesus IS the heavenly, representing
the only living and true God, God mani
fest in the flesh, and we must choose one
or the other. His own TO whom He came
chose Caesar instead OF Him (John xix,
| 12), and Caesar they have had from that
| day to this The world and tho church,
| the worldly person and tho Christian, are
as opposite as darkness and light and can
no moro assimilate than water and oil,
but they sometimes try desperately hard
to mix up. see Jas iv, A; John ii,
l5-l7.
s, o. "And they troubled the people and
tho rulers of the city when they heard
| these things" SO, when Christ wAs born
| King of the Jews, Herod and all Jerusalem
were troubled (Math. ii, 80, and when He
shall come in His glory the world lying in
the wicked one shall be greatly troubled
| (Rev. /, Z; xi 1S), and their troubles may
never end, for all who die in their sins
| shall have torment for ever and ever (Rev.
xiv, IL; Mark tx, 10, a.
10. "And the brethren Immediately sent
away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea. !"
SO they move ON in His name, witnessing
unto Him, and again we find them in n
| synagogue of the Jews The Masters in
structions We're To pass on when not want.
ed (Luko x, 10; Math. X, 23), but some
find 1t hard even yet to obey these orders,
| and the more they are not wanted the more
they seem to stay, to their own and others
discomfort and doubtless to the grief of
the Holy Spirit.
| IL. These were moro noble than those
In Ihossalonica in that they received the
word with all readiness of mind and
searched the Scriptures daily whether
those things were So" How foolish TO
have remained amid the opposition of
| Thessalonica when this open door awaited
thom where the people We're ready to hear
| and rccniyn .,.nrll MINT blnsci inc