Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-04-28

JUNIOR TOPIC-At the Foot of the Noun.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
Following Vision with Service.
One of the lessons that seems
hard to learn and to keep constantly
effective in the life of a Christian
is that mountain-top experiences Of
spiritual uplift are not an end in
themselves but preparation for
service. All too often we come to
regard such times of peculiar bless
ing, whether in the privacy Of our
own room, or in the great confer
ence of Christian workers, as some
thing which should glow warmly in
our own hearts, making us glad in
the Lord, and not as a background
and preparation for ministry to
others. One might just as well hope
to feed the physical body constantly
without any work or exercise and
keep in good health, as to feed the
soul on good things, do nothing for
God or fellow-man, and still avoid
what someone has called spiritual
dyspepsia"
The writer has just attended q
most unusual and blessed Bible con-
ference, the leaders of which right
ly apprehended this truth. Evan
gelism was the matter chiefly in
mind, but instead Of announcing the
theme of the weeks meetings as
Evangelism" the program present
ed it as Preparation for Evangel-
ism." That is sound spiritual sense.
We came not to discuss evangelism
itself so much as to prepare our
selves to go out and evangelize.
God help US to do it!
Jesus rightly characterized the
time in which he lived as
1. A Faithless Generation wv. A.
10.
"Jesus found in the valley disput-
ing scribes, distracted father, a
demon-possessed boy, and defeated
disciples" The unbelief which
called forth the rebuke of Jesus sis
revealed in different phases. There
were the scribes, willful and per-
sistent unbelief; there was the
father, unwilling unbelief; there
was the boy, irresponsible unbelief;
and there were the disciples, I'M
conscious unbelief. The whole at
mosphere was an unbelieving at
mosphere" (Morgan).
AS we look at that depressing pic
ture Of long ago, let us consider our
selves lest we also be tempted to
limit God" by our faithlessness.
The most casual reader of Scripture
cannot help but see that God seeks
out and honors faith, and as we be-
gin to study Gods Word with care
we realize that the fundamental Of
all fundamentals is really to believe
God. Some Christian men and wom-
en- are living out tremendous testi-
mony for God by fully believing Him
and His Word, but many of those
who profess to follow Him actually
make Him appear ridiculous be-
fore the world because their unbe-
lief makes Him out to be ''small''
God instead of the infinite, eternal,
omnipotent God.
II. The All-Powerful Saviour wv.
23-27).
The keynote of our first division
might well have been the sad words
"they could not" in verse Is. But
now the Son of God has come and
the new keynote is the inspiring
words of verse %, call things are
possible to him that believeth."
There is no problem too difficult for
our Lord; there is no sorrow too
deep for His comfort; there is no
challenging opportunity too great
for His enabling power.
III. Prayer the Connecting Link
wv. %, 29).
The disciples in chagrin at their
inability to deal with the difficulty
OF the demon-possessed boy, having
witnessed the power of Christ in
delivering him, begin now to realize
that evidently even though uncon-
scious Of it, they had come into the
powerless position Of unbelief.
What a solemn warning there is
for us in the experience of these
followers of the Lord. Like the
termites who destroy the very life
and strength of woodland yet leave
It apparently whole, only to crum-
BILE in dust when it is put under
the pressure of daily use-there are
spiritually destructive influences
which all but unconsciously destroy
the virile strength of the Christian.
Prayerlessness is the most effective
weapon of Satan at this point. With
out prayer there is no power. Real
problems are not successfully met
nor are opportunities grasped "but
by prayer"