Evening star., 1918-01-12

ness, that looked like an oriental loaf
of bread, into food to appease His
hunger. The second temptation appeal
ed to Christ's desire for public recog-
milton of His Messiahship, while the
third suggestion was based upon His
kingship.
Christ defeated the plans of Satan
by using the sword of the Spirit"
quoting from the book of Deuteronomy.
Every one of the suggestions made
evil. ways of doing good. Jesus de-
clined to use the power given to Him
for service. to supply His personal
physical needs. He refused to utilize
lie recognition that called, for Him to
step beyond the precepts and promises
of God. He spurned the prospect OF
obtaining kingdom by crooked means.
Mark passes over in silence the
recorded largely by John. He started
His public ministry by securing His
first folio 'ers from the ranks of John
the Baptist, who pointed out Jesus as
the Messiah to his followers. His work
during this period centered in Jeru-
salem.
1t required courage upon Christ's
part to enter Galilee. as every indica-
'tion pointed to the probability of His
Herod as did John. The hour had come
for the Lord to commence to proclaim
to the openhearted Galiieans the mes
sage Of the kingdom of God. The i'm
prisonment of John the Baptist. the
loyal servant of God. did not hinder
the progress of the plans of Jehovah,
for Christ came preaching the Gospel.
which agreed with Johns demand of
repentance as the, primary step for
entering the kingdom. According to
the Master. the good news was
spiritual in its nature, having it's source
from above. requiring change of
mind and confidence in the reality
of the new birth that would be DEM
program to save society by saving it's
individual members met with the ap-
proval of the Galileans. who were re-
moved from the immediate influence of
the Jerusalem Pharisees.
In the hour of His triumph, Christ
knew that Galilee would also finally re-
ject Him and that the cross awaited
Him. He prepared to carry on the
work. after He had finished His task.
by selecting from among His disciples
number to be trained in His peri
patetic college. BY studying the con-
texts and accounts in the several gos-
pels, which record the calling of the
four-Simon and Andrew, James and
John-to be His helpers, one cannot
only see that this was not a call to
discipleship, but was rather recall to
service. In selecting the students for
fellow ship with Him in winning men
the Master uSeu, as one can see by
! looking in Matthew's gospel, three diff
ferent figures to illustrate the reason
| for the summons. The shepherding of
the flock revealed the great human
need. The gathering of the harvest un-
veiled Gods conception of the oppor-
tunity to win men. presented by the
desolation and despair of men. The call
/, to be fishers of men. as given in the
! lesson, teaches the personal responsi-
bility Of His disciples to enter into the
work OF the kingdom by helping to
save men.
! Jesus did not call these men upon the
spur of the moment for they had been
among the first to accept Him as their
Lord and Messiah. They were tried
pairs Of brothers were evidently sue
cessful in their work; certainly one of
the number, at least, had some personal
property and had hired servants to
help Him in his business. They were
called to leave their business and re-
ceive a training different from that
ever before offered to men. They real
lied from their previous experience
with Jesus something of the signifi-
cance of taking men alive for Christ.
They Immediately responded to His in
yitation to follow Him so as to learn
how they might become fishers of men.
They left their business, boats and
homes and followed Christ. No indi-
yidual is called to give up more than
the first four students, who matricu-
lated in Christ's college, did, to learn
the greatest business OF the age, tine
taxing of men" alive for God. The
Master desires to prepare all for the
viii follow His example will become
a Usher of men and the one who does
mt personally try to win souls 1or
| Christ needs to heed his command