The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1916-02-25
INTERNATIONAL,
SUNlMS0lO0L
LESSON
tBy e. o. SELLERS. Acting Director o
Sunday School Course. Moody Bibh
1nstitute)
Copyright. 1915. Western Newspaper Union,
LESSON FOR FEBRUARY II
THE SEVEN HELPERS.


burdens. and SO fulfill the law Of Christi
Gal. 81.
1t would be q source OF great bless
ing il every teacher and scholar would
read through the book OF Acts severa
times during the year. Such reading
will give vision, inspiration and
more comprehensive idea of the con
tinuation OF what Jesus began" and
which record is not yet fully written
The time of this lesson is about A. D
81, though Ramsey places it at 80, 33;
and the place. the city OF Jerusalem
!. The Occasion, w. IL. For time
the preaching OIL the Gospel of Jesus
continued in Jerusalem, but soon the
pressure OF circumstances thrust II
forth as prophesied Q:S). There
were two groups OF men in the early
church: those who had been born in
Judea who spoke Hebrew (Aramaic),
and those born in foreign cities and
who spoke the Greek language. Trou
BILE arose over the distribution of funds
among certain of the dependent wild.
ows--the text suggests secret dis
pleasure" There was imperfection,
seltishness, suspicion and jealousy in
that early church.
u. The Method, w. 3, 4. 1t does not
appear that God gave the church a
cut and dried program according to
which 1t must act. Certainly the
church had no precedent to follow,
and step by step God was developing
it. This lesson gives US a suggestion
M fhncn nj . he ofn
demanded, (2) The Apostles refused
to diminish their praying and preach.
ing. literally it was not pleasing" to
God for the Apostles to serve tables"
Such work must be done, certainly,
but 1t was not to be done by these
God-appointed and selected leaders,
their duty was clearly stated. The
minister's business is praying and
ministering the word. These things
should fully engage his attention. and
in them he is ito continue steadfast-
| ly. The minister cannot manifestly
know more about books than the
schoolteacher; more about politics
than the politician; more about med
icine than the doctor; more about
psychology than the college profess
sor." No, that is out of the question.
though he should be intelligent in
these lines. But he should be pre-
eminent in prayer and in the minis
try of the word, and furthermore he
should preach that word pre-eminent-
iy. (3) The church, not the apos-
ties, must needs select these new Of
ficials. "a The qualifications OF
these men, who were thus to care
for these temporal affairs, were (a)
men OF good report" not those bear
ing doubtful regulations, nor chosen
because they were rich or shrewd in
business. 90 full OF the spirit" 1t
demands the Spirit-tilled man to look
after financial affairs as certainly as
it does to teach or preach the word.
(c) full OF wisdom Men OF com
mon sense, a quality often sadly lack
ing among spiritually-minded men.
Men meeting such qualifications will
be men of the spirit Of power, of
love, and of sound mind Literally
sound sense). Oh Tim. I'D.
III. The Method Of Choosing, w. S, g..
% The people did the choosing. The
early church seems to have been re-
markably democratic. (2) The choice
was made after, and not before, pray
er had been offered. This is a sug-
gestion and warning for present-day
practice of choosing church officials.
CD 1t was a legal selection, not the
selection of a minority. and it was
confirmed by the laying on OF the
hands of the apostles.
~. The Result, w. 7, 8. First of all
upon the people. % The word in
creased"(2) The number of disciples
multiplied greatly" and (3) Some OF
the priests OF the Jews were "obedi-
ent to the faith" Secondly, the re-
suit in the lives of the thus chosen
and Spirit-anojnted men gave evidence
of the GOOD hand of God. They we're
full of grace (Eph. 40, Acts Is: 15) !;
they were full Of power" u:S). The
first two OF them soon became great
and mighty preachers as we'll. In
deed as far as we can read they even
outstrippod the apostles themselves
in real achievement for God. Ste.
phen, Of course. stands out pre-emi
nently His character is suggested in
verse eight. He was (a) full OF faith,
,b) full OF the Holy Spirit" tc) full
of grace" tR. W, (d) full OF power.
How sad it is that so frequently our
churches fail to make q wise and
spirited choice of it's leaders, and are
content with few, or perhaps none, be
ing added to its membership.
No man is fit to be an officer in the
church of Christ unless he Is filled
with the Holy Spirit, tActs LIS, Luke
24:49).
Such a man will always stir up op
position of the powers OF evil, ever
as did Stephen.
Those who opposed Stephen were