Gilpin observer., 1912-02-15
SUNDAYS SERMON

Following is the sermon Of Rev.
8. A. Webber at the M. E. church.
last Sunday evening:
Josh, "a 15-"Choose you this day
whom ye will serve"
These are the words of Joshua to
Israel. They represent the choice
t at every individual must make. The
old soldier has commanded them to
fear the Lord and serve Him in sim
cerety and in truth, and put away
the gods which your fathers served
on the other side OF the flood and
in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord"
He impresses upon them. however,
that they must choose to whom they
will give their service and their allie
glance, saying, Choose you this day
whom ye will serve, whether the gods
which your fathers served that were
on the other side of the flood, or the
gods of the Amorites in. whose land
ye dwell, but as for me and my house
ye will serve the Lord" So we have
in this subject not only the exhorta-
ton to a choice, but the example Of
this old hero, who succeeded Moses
as the leader of Israel and stands
now at the head of that great peo-
pie. 1t sometimes assists us in our
decisions to know how our friends
will decide. After the words OF this
leader had been spoken, the people
answered him, God forbid that we
should forsake the Lord to serve 9TH
er gods"
T If the young people in this city
! could be made to understand how
much it means to them in all of life
to seek the Lord and how much bet
ter II is to seek him in youth and
young manhood and womanhood, than
to wait for after years, am sure
that every one of them would decide
today to take Jesus to be his or
her savior. l think you understand
|
choice. Our choices decide our sue
cesses, our happiness, our ability to
make others happy. Our choices de-
eide in large measure our place in
the world and this book teaches that
our choice in this life decides our
place in eternity.
! Before urging upon these young
people, the fact that they can make
Of themselves happy and useful men
and women, who will be blessing
to all with whom they come in con-
tact, and that there are no difficult
ties too great for them to surmount
! if they will give themselves. earnest
ly and honestly to the task, l de-
sire to say few things to those
of you who have reached the merld-
ian of life. -..
The probabilities are that your
choice of a life-work has long since
been made. Ordinarily men do not
change their occupation after they
reac'. middle life. I think however,
that there are people who should
break over this rule. If man is not
happy in his work, he ought to
change his occupation. If a man can
not succeed in that which has engag-
ed his attention and his labor,
think he ought to do something else
for the remainder of his life This
only emphasizes the Importance of
choosing rightly in the beginning.
Now while your life-work may be
fixed SO that you will never change
it, the life-task of your child is not
yet fixed There rests upon you and
me great responsibility for We may
in some measure at least, assist in
their decisions. We may place about
them such enviornment,that they will
understand that the way of righteous.
ness is the way of pleasantness and
peace. We may help them to place
before them high ideals and live to
| them.
/ would not have you think that
we are responsible only for our own
children. for it is possible for you
to so touch the life of some other
parents child who may be so dis
couraged that he really believes he
can never accomplish anything in
the world and lead him to know that
he has something to live for even
in this wicked world Then you NAV
help him decide upon life purpose
that shall be worthy his powers. You
may help him overcome the imme.
diate difficulties and so gain strength
to overcome those that lie in the
future. Eternity also can measure
the meaning of the word success in
n boys life.
/ read the other day of how man