Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1910-12-01

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Memory verses, 1913.
GOLDEN TExT-"Let him that think
eth he standeth take heed lest he fall
Cor 1912
TIME-The denials were early Friday
morning, April Z a, d. 30.
PLACE-In the court of the Palace Of
the High Priest Caiaphas, in the south
west part of Jerusalem.
The first thing Jesus did for Peter
was to set before him in his first in
terview the goal and ideal of his life.
He was to be changed from the Simon
we have Just been viewing into Peter
the Rock. His incohesive qualities
were to be unified into one beautiful
whole; the separate and sometimes
discordant notes of his character we're
to be formed into the exquisite har-
monies of a Hallelujah chorus. He was
like the soft stone in some quarries,
easily cut and shaped when first taken
from the quarry, but soon hardening
into rock. Peter expresses the posi-
bilities Jesus saw in the nature of
Simon, an ideal which God would
make divinely real"
For three years Peter was an ear
nest pupil in Christ's school. He made
many mistakes; he fought many bat
ties on the battlefield of his heart;
he had some severe reproofs, but he
had a wise, encouraging, patient
teacher. After time he was advanc-
ed to the highest grade with James
and John. 1.-THE first essential for sue
cess is SOUL" an awakened soul.
One of the most interesting studies
for a teacher, is to go carefully
through the Gospels, and study
Christ's method of teaching and train
ing such an unruly but earnest scholar
as Peter was.
Thou shalt deny me thrice disown
me as your Lord and Master" Peter
/ was sure that he would not fail In the
hour of temptation. No one knows
what he will do in unexpected circum-
stances. But Jesus did all he could
to put Peter on his guard.
An interval of some hours. Geth-
semane; Peter, wearied, sleeps on
guard. The arrest; Peter and all the
| apostles desert Jesus. But Peter and
| John follow afar off. The trial before
the Sandhedrin in some room of Gaia
! phas' palace, opening into a court.
Peter was sitting with the servants
and others around a fire and he denied
Christ before them all, who were
gathered around the fire.
The main charge was prominently
made by one, kinsman of Malchus,
who had seen Peter in the garden and
was known to st. John from his &C
quaintance with the high priests
household. For thy speech betrayeth
thee, "betrayeth," shows that thou art
a Galilean, and therefore one Of his
disciples, or why else art thou here?
Then began he to curse, call down
curses on himself If he did not speak
the truth. And to swear, to call God
to witness that 1t was true. 1t is
more than probable that Peter in his
earlier life as a fisherman, before his
conversion, had been in the habit of
using profane language, and now, in
the sudden surprise of temptation, the
old habit broke forth anew, as the lam
guage OF youth, long unused, is almost
certain to be employed In times of
great excitement. 1t is a long and
hard discipline that entirely conquers
the sins or youth.
81 know not the man" And this In
the very presence of Jesus. THE
ways down which the bad ship Wick
edness slides to a shoreless ocean
must be creased with lies" "A lie is
put out to interest, and the interest is
compound"
1t was now that Peter was "sifted
as wheat" Part of what he thought
was wheat was really char, and this
! terrible sitting under temptation blew
away in the toughest manner most
of the chaff,-his Inconsistency, his
, fiery temper, his self-confidence, but
preserved all the good in his charac
. ter, purified and perfected.
We can be good in spite Of falls
God can bring good out Of evil. That
! in his glory, and our hope. But he car
do far more with our victories thar
! by our failures.
Then Jesus looked upon Peter. Tn,
L Greek word for looked" occurs bu
in one other place in the Gospels
:, 1t means that "he looked into him,
!. into his very heart, with eyes tina
|, went like lightning to the quick of hi
. conscience" Peter remembered tn
: warning, and went out and wept tn
bitterest tears of repentance
=. From this time on Peter was neV
= man. The charcoal had become dis
mond. He describes the effect in hi
first Epistle (1:7). THAT the trial @
your faith, being much more preciou
than of gold that persistent, thong
1t be tried with fire, might be found III
to praise and honor and glory at the al
pearing of Jesus Christi" Peter n
joiced when he could express his Low
= to Jesus by suffering In his cause. H
= wrote letter which has been a con
= fort and a power all down the age
= His victory-not his fall-in the gref
crisis gave him power over men to th