The Coolidge examiner., 1938-06-23

and preached everywhere, the LORD
working with them; Mark 1920. r,,..
JUNIOR TOPIC-Jesus Our Living
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR
TOPIC-Making New World With
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT
TOPIC-Making New World With
Christ.
Easter again? No, the calendar
does not say so, nor have we for
gotten that we observed Easter ten
weeks ago, but quite properly we
study the resurrection story again
today Not only does it come in the
sequence of our lessons as our final
study in the Gospel of Mark, but the
fact is that every Sunday is a re-
minder of Easter. The reason why
we worship on the first day of the
week is that it is the resurrection
day What life it would put into
our Sunday worship if the glory of
the risen Lord would shine forth Gas
it should each Lords Day in all OF
our service and worship.
1t is difficult to think or write
about the living Christ without us
ing superlatives. Our lesson for to-
day brings before US the most i'm
portant truth that the world has
ever heard-"He is risen; it
speaks of the worst thing in the
world-''nbelief'; and it presents
the worlds greatest commission
Go and preach"
/. The Transcendent Truth wv.
1-8).
"Ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene,
who hath been crucifed; He is ris-
en-. He is not here" ". g..
The world anxiously awaits news,
and, hoping almost against hope, it
longs for good news. This is the
good news-the Gospel-the all-im-
portant tidings that the Son Of God
who had taken upon Himself not
only the form of man, but the sins
of mankind as we'll, who had tasted
the bitter death of Calvary's cross,
could not be holden of death, but
breaking its bands asunder had ris-
en- from the dead.
This truth becomes the chief bur-
den of the messages of the disciples
as they soon went everywhere pro-
claiming the Gospel. See the SER
mons recorded in the Book of Acts
(2:24, 80; 3:14, IS; 4:10, %; 10:40;
1890 II was such preaching that
was at the foundation of the Chris
tian church 1t may be that we
should emphasize it more.
ii. The impossible Barrier ".
14).
He upbraided them with their
unbelief and hardness Of heart, be-
cause they believed not" Many are
the sins that men commit, but at
the root of them all we find the
heart of all sin-unbelief If a man
steals he does not believe Gods
Word about the sanctity of proper
ty, nor does he believe that God is
able to care for him. If he kills,
he does not believe Gods Word con-
cerning the sanctity of human life.
nor does he recognize that man is
made in the likeness and image of
God. And so we might go on and
show that back of sins there is the
sin of unbelief.
The tragic consequence of unbe-
lief is that it shuts the door, throws
up a barrier to Gods blessing that
is virtually impossible until God
himself gives grace to believe. The
astonishing thing is that the hard
ness Of heart and lack of faith here
were on the part of those who had
been the disciples of Jesus, to whom
He had made known the fact that
He was to die and to arise on the
third day, and to whom there had
now come the word of eye-witnesses
that they had seen the-L Lord.
While we marvel at their short
sighted unbelief, shall we not ask
ourselves what hindrances we have
placed in Gods way in our own
lives?
Ill. The Supreme Commission
(vv. IS, Is, 10, 20).
Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to the whole Gre
alton ". 15. And they went
and preached, the Lord work
ing with them and confirming the
word" (v. 20)
The great commission of Christ is
still the marching orders Of the
church." but how slowly we have
marched. The writer of these notes
was recently startled by statistics
revealing anew the fact that Chris
tan" America is rapidly returning
to the status of a mission field 1t
is said that last year so, 900 churches
in America had no converts, and
5000 churches were closed during
the year. There are 10000 villages
reported to be without church serv-
ices, and 10000 communities with
out resident pastor.
The command of Christ is that we
should go to these pagan communi-
ties in our own land with the gos-
pei. and surely it is our double
shame that there are still lands