Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-03-17
>'" IMPROVED o0'
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
(UNDAyI
CeHooL essen
BY REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST,
Dean of the Moody Bible Institute
of Chicago.
g Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for March 20
KEEPING THE BODY STRONG

LESSON IEAI-MdFk O.oo-OOs JuuB. 13s
1914; l Cor. 3:16, IT; Rom. 1871, 2.
GOLDEN TEXT-Now therefore beware.
pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong
drink, and eat not any unclean thing.-Judg.
PRIMARY ToP1c-The Body God Gave
JUNIOR ToPIc-For Jesus Sake.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
What Liquor, Drugs, and Tobacco Do to
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
How Intemperance Affects Health.
The universe of God is perfectly
organized in every respect. Beings
that function in the spirit realm are
spirit beings, not subject to the linn
itations of the physical world. We
who dwell and serve in the phys
ical world are equipped with phys
ical bodies which are ideal instru-
ments for our present existence.
With all their shortcomings and
frailties, our bodies are indeed mar
velous machines, intricate and deli
cate, yet unbelievably hardy and
durable. They are a gift from God,
and it is our express responsibility
to glorify God in our bodies Il Cor.
6:2O).
1. How to Have a Strong Body.
1t is obvious that not every one
has equal physical strength and
health. In some measure this is by
divine providence or at least by
Gods permissive will, and those of
us who find ourselves thus limited
do well to count on His grace for
patience to use what we have for
His glory. But not one of us wants
to yield hopelessly to our inability.
Rather we will do our best to over
come it. We want to know
/. How to cure weakness mark
6:53-56).
God alone can heal the sick. Even
in our day when science has made
such strides in the healing art, we
note that the most successful REM
edy or system of treatment is the
one that clears the way for what
men call nature, but we know to be
God, to work. Jesus healed the
multitudes in the land of Gennes-
aret; He heals in America.
2. How to prevent weakness
(Judg. 13:12-14).
The mother of Samson, who was
to be a Nazarite, was to drink no
wine and to observe careful dietary
regulations before he was born.
Note also that if it is bad for a
man to have such poisons in his
veins before he is born, surely it is
poor judgment to put them in after
he comes to the age where he con-
trolls his own life. We need to
watch our diets, and we have much
valuable help on that point. We
also need to give serious attention
to the use of narcotics. 1t may
surprise some to know that the
term narcotics includes not only
drugs and alcoholic beverages, but
also tobacco, and such common
things as tea and coffee.
Other abuse of the body, such as
overwork, neglect of rest, etc., may
well be mentioned. The besetting
sin of some Christian workers is the
destruction of their bodies, the very
temple of the Holy Ghost, over
work.
II. How to Use Strong Body.
Unfortunate as it is to observe
that some who would serve the Lord
have to struggle with the weakness
of the body, it is far sadder to
note that all too often those who
have strong bodies forget to use
that strength for God. Our Scrip
ture portions give us two excellent
guiding principles. Our bodies
should be
l. Kept for God Il Cor. 3:16, ~.
These verses refer to the body of
the Christian, for only of him can it
be said that his body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit is a person, the
third person Of the blessed Trinity.
He comes to dwell within the soul
of the Christian Immediately upon
his being regenerated, thus making
his body the temple of the Holy
Ghost. A clear grasp of that truth
solves the problem of what we
should do with and for our bodies.
We must keep them well and clean.
We dare not defile them in any way
The body of the Christian is kept
for God.
2. Yielded to God (Rom. 1911, q.
1t is high and noble sacrifice to
die for Christ.
But our call Just now is to be a
living sacrifice" There are times
when that may seem harder than to
be martyr. We do know that
1t is not always easy to live through
the drab, difficult, and sometimes
dreadful days, with a clear and
shining testimony for Christ. But
it can be done and is always to
His glory. 1t is by the transform
ing grace of God that we are en-
abled to live such life.