Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1924-10-09
IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
Sil1EldaySehoel
Lesson '
tBy REV RI b. sFITzwArER. DID. Dean
OF the Evening school, Moody Bible In
stitnte Of Chicago1
GO. 1874 Western Newspaper unionl
Lesson for October IL
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

LESSON TExT-Matt 6.5-l5.
GOLDEN TlsXT--rhy Kingdom come.
Thy win be DOM in earth, as II Is in
heaven.--Matt 6st0
PRIMARY ToPIC-The Prayer That
Jesus Taught
JUNIOR ToPIC-The Lords Prayer,
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR
TOPIc-Principle of Christian Living.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT
ToPIC-The Sermon on the Mount In
Daily Living.
The so called Sermon on the Mount
is not indeed sermon but proclama-
tion of the principles and laws which
shall obtain In Christ's Kingdom when
it shall be established on the earth, In
applying the teachings of Matthew 81
two errors should be avoided namely,
that of the legalist who makes these
principles the hard and fast standard
of life for the believer today and also
that Of the one who denies that the
principles or laws of the Kingdom are
binding upon believers. Believers have
practically the same relation 10 the
Sermon on the Mount that they have
to the Ten Commandments While
free from their demands as law, they
find delight In retaining them as ex-
pressions of Gods holy law and thus
rejoice in the consciousness that Christ
has met all the requirements thereof
and that their standing before God is
in Him.
!. False Prayer wv. I'D.
L.. This consists in one praying to
be seen and heard of men ". 81. To
go through the act Of praying with
such an object is to play the hypocrite.
Many Of the prayers uttered In the
| public sanctuary are false, for there Il
| more consideration of what the people
/, think than of what God thinks. In
prayer the soul Is dealing with God.
| There fore, engaging in 1t to attract
| mems attention is blasphemy. Men
| who thus pray get reward, but not
| from God. They pray to get notice
from men and they get such notice.
2. Vain Repetition wv. Z, 81. This
| does not mean that we should ask but
once for the thing desired for we have
| examples Of Christ and Paul praying
| three times for the same thing Matt.
| 20 1924; III Cor. 1877, 81. but rather
| 1t means the use of meaningless repe-
| titions, the meaningless reiterations OF
empty sounds TO pray thus is heathen-
! ish. The heather nations in their wor-
ship of idols engage in senseless bah
| BILE. which we see in the priests Of
Baal on Mt Carmel q Kings Is :26).
III. True Prayer (v. O..
Since true prayer is definite trans
action of the soul with God, the com
munion of the human personality with
/ the divine personality, we should have
real desire for fellowship with God
| and then 90 and meet Him in secret.
life for its fullest development
| needs both solitude and companionship.
| Solitude alone makes one morose,
while constant companionship makes
one shallow God who made us knew
what our natures required. There
| fore, He commands both public and
private prayer (Heb 1925; Matt 6:6).
III. The Model Prayer (yv. 0-13).
This was given in response to the
disciples request that the Lord would
teach them how to pray. II IS not.
therefore, the Lords prayer but the
| model prayer for the disciples which
involves:
/. A Right Relationship w. ~. Our
Father" Only those who have become
children of God by faith in Jesus
| ltt,dst fGal 2 .oGN can Df.ay Alright One
must be child Of God before he can
be IN communion with God.
2. Right Attitude wv. 8, 100,
"Hallowed be Thy name" When one
realizes that he has been delivered
from the power Of darkness and trans
lated into the Kingdom Of His dear
| Son (Col :13) by being made child
| Of God, he cannot help pouring out his
| soul in gratitude and praise, intensely
longing for the kingdom the righteous
| rule Of Christ on the earth.
g.. A Right Spirit wv. 11-13).
"a That Of. trust which looks to
God for the suppl. Of daily bread We
are dependent upon Him for our daily
| food.
(2) That Of love which results IN
| forgiveness Of others. God will not
listen to the prayers Of one who has
an unforgiving spirit
80 That Of holiness which moves
one to pray not to be led into tempta
ton and longs to be livered from the
evil one.