Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-02-27
Rev. George P. Peters
NM First Sermon"
~ kod an earnest message for needy
men and women, and so l just talked'

pit by the way OF the theolosiCal SEMINARY VI
the cohege, OF even the 'Ish sI,,ooi ~ a..
Just broke ln or perhaps wouio more properly
say, broke out IT came ABOUT IN TINS way |
had taken horace GIeeiey advce aI I1, nau eonle
west TO grow up win the country. Whhe III tne
employ OF wholesale dry goods hrm Ill 81
Joseph. Mo-, became Shristiah uhaeI inc
AZ once into The activities Of the church teaching
~ the Smnd,v school sroer;ntendinp a mission
SUNDAY school organ;zinq an Endeayor society,
b,,t Without ,rv thonubt further than the present
field OF usefulness Alter about two years OF this
sort ~ work II hapnned that the pastor was
holding meeting at mission point in the north
mart ~ The civ and being compelled to be at
b;s ow, services nm Sunday. and desiring NOT
70 leave his meeting without some kind of sery-
ice on Sunday he gravely announced
m Friday niuht 70 the astonisbed audi
ence that BROTHER Peters Of the First church
would nreacb m Sunday night and turning to one
of the men on the front seat said: brother
Johnson Won On to his Mace of business tomor-
row Morning and tell him So" Imagine NV con-
sternation on being informed ON SATURDAY morn
;no about Q o'clock that was to preach the next
n;oht whe, 7 had NOT the skeleton Of a sermon
or even text | suppose nv pastor thought Of
me as the old Scotch carpenter thought Of his
iournevman to whom he said, "Ay. lad, We hae
The iii a. gab. if We lo'ed the Lord we'd make
nreaeher" That was before the days of gospel
teams" when laymen became accustomed to hold
inc go.neI meetings II was also in the DAYS
WHEN clerks worked until E o'clock every night
As was SUPERINTENDENT of a Sunday school
the first mart Of Sunday had to be given to that
work so that NV time for study was verv brief
But I was game. | determined not to dsap-
noint nv pastor and the people.
My hrst task was to choose text. A. At TEL
some derceratioh decioea upon Mattnew ~,
rliate satin unto them' Nnat, men, shail 40
unto Jesus VINO is caned Inrs,' ana ! caiieu
my theme fllates question several years
later when was a student IN conege studying
this gospel the professor remasRed one day TO
the class OF student preachers Boys, Wheh you
nave been preaching TOT several years ana nave
confidence that you can handle the subject, this
woulf be good text ior sermon. was en-
with IN. subject with all the ardor of youth,
There was small opportunity for privacy. but |
remember that during intervals of INV work and
on nv wav to and from meals prayed and medi-
tated for I believed Is God wanted me to preach
that sermon He would make il possible for me
70 do II Alter having selected INV text I tried
to remember everything had ever heard or read
about Il Rv SATURDAY. NIGHT had a SORT nj ont
line in mind and began TO write out what was
going to saw. I had only one book besides nv
Rifle that dealt with NV subject in anv wav and
| inherited
grandmother. As Intended to make il entirely
practical. | paid no attention TO doctrinal cues
t;ons I verv soon found however that nv ser
mon was NOT going to last more than ten minutes
Nv nastor usually preached thirty-6ve or forty
minutes, and | felt that It would not do to cut
the service down to ten minutes So began to
elaborate Nv midnight 7 had develoned a larger
outline and a nervous headache, which lasted
me through the next day. | succeeded in going
through with superintending nv Sunday school
and then went to bed for the rest of the day And
still that sermon was not done-and il was NOT
finished that dav. I wrote the introduction and
as MANY paragraphs as I had time to and then
outlined the rest, and depended upon the mo-
mentum To carry me to a finish Although II
was not finished that dav il became the fouuda
ton for a sermon that was afterwards preached
MANY times with good effect.
9,
had expected to have tor an audience small
group OF people VINO were accustomed to gather
Tor Sunday school on Sunday afternoons in a hail
lhereioie on coming 70 tnt pace 10 Ihd goodly
nulnpef vi ane ineil'oels vi slle rnst ehuIeh .he
pas.oi having vety sfseaousiy announ.ea a. al me
.a Ssi ~. 'Ss "ouu p'Is.n d. my ms
Sun 'hd. h,sh'. Sh,si alilons tIenlI occupying
sae no"' s.st' WI 'nG u. 'ne hiuedtoi
society, WIN whom 4 naa Deeh WORKING lor
TWO years. lou Can liuSe EhaeaVorerS 70 DC
h ,oy". W one dno.nel' put CONFESS lhst ieH d
pit nervous, because tnis was NOT 10 De Just an
Ehueavot lalkIM was 10 DC sermon l nave no
TeJo"ee.'9n OF tne opening .of closing exercises.
40 not know VINO mace the prayer. | think II
was inc leauhe elueL OF tne rHst church. most
| oVaoie man VIM naI |oh'S out 10 aye
me by ms presence. l teean win what thank-
quit i sSsa . mo, s s at anything S