Mexico Missouri message., 1916-03-23

! GOLDEN TEXT--They shall hunger no
I more, neither thirst any more; neither
shall the sun strike upon them, nor any
heat; for the lamb that is in the midst
of the throne shall be their shepherd,
and shall guide them unto fountains OF
waters of life and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes.-Rev. 7:16, II.
! /. General information - Omitting
lessons 4, and IL, all of the past
quarters work has to do with the
early, the apostolic church, covering
| period of time from A. d. 80 to per-
haps A. d. 81, six or seven years. The
chief events are the resurrection of
Jesus, the coming of the Holy Spirit,
the change in the apostles, particular
/ ly Peter, the conversion and baptism
Of 5000 believers, fellowship and won
ders worked among these believers, the
beginning of persecution, the selection
of seven deacons, Stephens testimony
and death, the dispersion of the Chris
tians, the work of Philip, great growth
in the early church.
Historically these lessons have to
do with the things that Jesus began
and continued to do after his resur-
rection through the power Of the Holy
Spirit. 1t is, therefore, a story of the
power of the risen Christ. The prin-
cipal characters are of two classes. (1)
The leading workers. OF these are:
Peter and John, apostles; the 120 dis
ciples, Barnabas, the seven deacons,
particularly Stephen and Philip; the
Ethiopian eunuch and Gamaliel, who
gave some friendly assistance. (2)
The chief enemies: Those who falsely
accused the apostles, the rulers of the
Jews and the temple, Ananias and
Sapphira, Saul and Simon Magnus.
1t is not difficult to paint a word pic
ture of the events of the past quar-
ter. This may be done by assigning
to separate pupils such questions as:
Where, when and why did the event
of this lesson occur? To another pu-
pill assign the task of telling what he
thinks the scene looked like, and to
still another to name the chief per-
sons mentioned in each lesson. Let
these assignments omit lessons 4, Z
and IL, which do not chronologically
fit into the work of this quarter The
remaining pupils should be primed to
supply any omitted facts and to cor
rect any mistakes.
I. The Coming Of Power. Lesson 1.
The ascension of Jesus is one that
shows us the risen Christ as the giver
of the Holy Spirit and he is the All
Powerful One who has carried for
ward the things Jesus began to do"
Lesson 2. This is very much the same
except that it suggests the man side
of this transaction. AS the early dis
ciples obeyed, they received. In like
manner the Spirit is given today to
those that TASK him" Lesson 3 shows
what effect we may anticipate when
we proclaim the fact of the risen
Christ.
II. The Use Of Power. Lesson 5
(omitting No. A has to do with the
daily walk and work of those who had
so recently received this newly be-
slowed power. Through his servants,
Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, heals
and makes strong the lame man at
the temple gate-a case of applied
Christianity" the power of practical
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service Peter and John Nesson g. had
opportunity to give their testimony to
the rulers, the result of which con-
founded the enemies who thought they
had conquered Christ at Calvary-the
use of power In testimony. The fur
ther evidence of how this new power
was using men is that given in lesson
8, the Christian Brotherhood at Jeru-
salem.
III. The Test Of Power. Stephen
Qesson 1O) was one of those who had
been separated for the care of the
temporal affairs of the early church,
yet his testimony and martyrdom cas-
lily makes him more famous than most
of the apostles and forever exalts the
layman in the Christian church.
One other Qesson 12l of those seven
deacons, Philip, was also so signally
used and blessed that his name and
deeds are almost as familiar to us as
is the work of Stephen.
In the first case this newly bestowed
power filled the witness with calm
ness and courage that will always re-
main an inspiration, while In the sec
ond illustration Philip so gave himself
to the direction and leadership of the
Spirit as to go where he was sent;
and when to human judgment his
presence was essential to the carrying
on of a great revival, he obeyed the
new command and left the multitude
to deal with a single individual.
Jesus makes no reference to the
''mass consciousness" and the Holy
Spirits power receives no greater or
more far.reaching test than that which
had to do with its dealings with the
individual soul.
Each teacher should see to 1t that
each scholar shall read these eight
chapters several times, IL possible. be-
fore the review occurs. in order that
they may see the quarters work as a