Evening star., 1922-12-02
Sunday School Lesson

uct of prayer. The founding of near
ly every college to train men and
women for the ministry and mission
ary work all tell how God places the
vision of the needs of humanity and
of His service upon His people so
that they are driven to seek guidance
and help from Him in prayer for the
advancement of His kingdom. TIE
one who prayS for such development
of the kingdom as his vision sees is
twelve and seventy We're, to answer
his own prayers.
The seventy were sent out to pre-
pare the way for the coming of the
Lord. They were lay workers. The
Master was not ordained of men. He
calls upon every Christian to prepare
the way for His second coming. The
seventy were to carry His message
into every place where the Lord was
coming. We are TO carry the gospel
by personal work and conversation to
all we can reach. The twelve were
sent forth to preach. The seventy
were commissioned TO do personal
work The apostles were restricted
in their missionary activities to those
Of their own nation. The seventy's
commission called for them to preach
the gospel even to GentileS. The
Masters instructions to His mission
aries furnishes a model guide for all
Christian activities. Missions are evil
IDENTIFY very dear to His heart. Every
follower OF Christ ought to study the
missionary methods outlined by the
Lord Jesus and become vitality in
terested in all forms of missionary
work. both at home and abroad.
Christ never ordered any one to
go" who had not first prayed. No
one can be successful in missionary
work who is not in close communion
with the source of spiritual power
and life. Every person born into this
world is born with a definite mission
No man will ever know what duty
God expects him to be and do until
he is born again and has been
equipped, as a result of prayer, with
power from above for the Lords serv-
ice. While the Master gave a great
amount of liberty to the seventy and
the twelve in performing their work.
He expected of them, as lie does of
US. to act in harmony with His mis-
sion and messages
The sending of the seventy forth in
pairs shows the value of brother
hood and the absolute need of CO.
operation in Christian service when
facing danger. The counsel to prac-
tice non-resistance when He sent
them forth 'as lambs among wolves"
was given because insult. outrage
and persecution are apt to be met in
the commencement of all missionary
work. If We endure wrong, we
what Milton calls IAN Irresistible
might" in weakness. which. in time.
wears down the fiercest enmity of
persecution" The Pharisees fatten-
ed upon the ignorance of the poor
and the superstition of the sick The
Master counted upon their opposing
every effort TO enlighten and relieve
humanity. he seventy would have
been imprisoned If they took the
stand that We would take today. We
live in an age of democracy that
gives to all the right to worship
God in accordance with the dictates
Of their individual conscience. One
of our greatest interests at Lau-
same, as a nation. is due to our de-
sire to protect the missionary work
ers in the near east and the Christian
minorities in the Turkish dominions.
We send our missionaries into the
non Christian lands and protect them
by our battleships. There are times
when the best interests of Christian
ity and civilization require that we
should resist evil with all of our
power.
The social, sympathetic and spirit
ual service of the missionary de-
mands that he adopt methods that