Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-02-01
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
For Feb. 4, 1928. Luke II
BY DIR. MARION MICH. HULL

Golden Text: ENTER into His
gates with Thanksgiving, and into
His courts with praise; give thanks
unto Him, and bless His name. -
Psalm 104:4.
The story of the rich man and
Lazarus ended with a very solemn
statement: eff they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they
be persuaded if one rise from the
dead" God had never left Himself
without a witness. Before the word
was given there was the witness Of
the stars. ''The heavens declare
the glory of God and the armament
showeth His handiworl.' And some
of us have found out that in the
names Of the stars the whole story
of the redemption has been written.
Later on, beginning with Moses and
the prophets, He gave us His word
that it might be a witness and reveal
Him to us. Still later One rose
from the dead, after He had borne
witness to the Fathers infinite and
Interchangeable love and justice. And
before that One assembled, He told
His disciples, and speaking through
them to us, eye shall be witnesses
EARTH
AS God has never left Himself
without a witness, for it is not His
will that any of these little ones
should perish, but that all should
come to eternal life. If any man is
lost it is not Gods fault. He has
done everything that He can to keep
a man out of the place of torments
in which the rich man was found,
discovering his mistake too late to
| change his choice. So if any man is
| lost, it is not because of God, but
in spite of God.
| A most solemn truth, however, is
presented to us in what Jesus says
to His disciples now in the follow
| ing chapter of Luke, the chapter
| before US for our study today. 1t is
| that we may be responsible for some
| ones being lost, we who are now
His witnesses. "It is inevitable that
occasions for stumbling should
! come; but woe unto him through
whom they come; it would be well
| for him to have a milestone hung
around his neck and be flung. into
the sea, rather than that he Should
cause one of these little ones to
| stumble. Take heed to yourself. "
There follows some of the ways
that His followers may be occasions
for stumbling.
Unforgiveness
! One of the easiest ways for a
| Christian to fall - one who Is not
under the law, but under grace, one
whose position is assured in spite
of his sins and not because of any
work of righteousness that he has
done or can dds to harbor~ a spirit
of unforgiveness. Surely this is one
place where we who have been so
freely forgiven should not fail; but
Lit is true nevertheless that we
often do. Jesus insists that even
though we should be sinned against
seven times in one day-Which is
highly improbable-we must forgive
if the transgressor repents. He
would not have us gloss over his
sin; He tells us to rebuke him. just
here is where we so often stumble
Instead of going to the offender anG
rebuking him, we go off and tel
somebody about it, and it is always
magnifed with the telling. Prac
tically all of the squabbles that we
have would never amount to any
thing if we obeyed Jesus just here
The reason is simple-most of oul
troubles arise from misunderstood
ings; we do not see the others view
point, and a plain faceto-face tall
makes this possible so that the trou
bic vaporizes quickly.
But what kind of a witness tt
the grace Of Christ can you be i
you go about with a grudge agains
one who has offended you? Instead
of helping some soul to Him, yor
will be an occasion of stumbling
Take heed to yourself in this mat
ter.
Hearing this the Apostles said Il
i Jesus, Increase our faith" His re
ply vast isn't the quantity bu
the quality of your faith that couts
The mustard seed is the smalles
seed and the sycannine tree is on(
of the most deeply rooted of trees
with thousands of feet of massive
roots. The right quality Of faith
no matter how small the quantity
may be, will be able to overcome the
greatest of obstacles. Great obsta
cIes become obedient to the com
Lest the apostles should become
proud >of any achievement, however
He added Immediately the illustra
ton of the servants in the field
| They wouldn't expect to be treated
other than as bondslaves; they would
not be thanked for doing as they
were told to do. So likewise wher
the apostles had done all they were
told to do, they must still remember
that they were bondslaves; and hac
simply done their duty. This wuolc
prevent pride, the pride Of achieve
ment, from developing in their lives
Pride is one of the subtlest Of
sins; earnest Christians, are very
susceptible to its allurements. Ant
the devil laughs when he has caugh
a successful Christian in this trap
He is not only robbed of his power
| but he becomes at once an occasion
of stumbling in some other ones
way. Take heed to yourself, there
fore, in this matter.
There is an interesting question
here that confronts us. Does Coo
expest a man who does his duty anC
knows he does it, and who sue
! ceeds in his Christian work and life
Whose life actually means some
| thing to the kings interests-to say
as he contemplates his achievements
[ am an Improbable servant;
have done my duty? Does God wan
that kind Of confession from thai
| kind of q man or woman? Well