The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1941-06-06
BEGINNING o. WORLD
MISSION

! LESSON TENT-Acts 1. nI.l?.Io
GOLDEN TE.XT-And B.. satd u.:o 'ht'n
Go ye into all the worl, and preach tn.
gospel TO every creature. Mark lC.lJ
| Nineteen hundred years of front
| line action" for Chr, began that
day in Antioch whor the first mis-
Sionaries of the cross were sent
| forth. There is no more thrilling
story in all history tim that of mis-
sions. The glorious thing is that II
| goes on year after year. and Will do
SO as long as the Lo,J cf the harvest
| continues to send forth workers.
{, The writer of these -u,cS is glad to
| be associated with 4 raining center
| which in its half century of operation
has prepared for service about 300
men and women whu have been sent
/ to the foreign field by their churches
and missions, and OF whom approXi-
| mately 1,600 are st.l active ON the
field in spite of per- toll and pain"
Our lesson teaChrs us how Ito
fight the good fight Of faith" q Tim.
GID. First we must have
1. The Base of Operations Wv.
1-3).
Every army must have a home
I base; just SO, the army OF the Lord
looks TO the home church, the local
gathering of Gods people. An army
would fail if those a, the base of It's
action were asleep, or 50 interested
| in the pleasures OF this world, or so
! Indifferent to their responsibility,
that they would not work hard in
support of the active army. So Tie
cause of Christian missions cannot
go ahead if it has To depend ON
home church which is spiritually
asleep, indolcnt, indifferent, and
worldly minded.
The church at Antioch prayed and
tasted. 1t ministcrcd the Word Of
! God. 1t was responsive to the puid-
ance of the Holy Spirit and ready
TO sacrifice by giving lis leaders TO
the missionary Cousc Is your
church that kind of a church? Ii
! not, why not?
Observe also that it is from such
a church that GOD calls His workers.
Sunday school teacher, you may
have in your class next Sunday one
of the missionary leaders of the next
J generation. Sec to it that the mes
sage from God reaches that heart.
II. Good Soldiers of the Cross
wv. 2-4).
The army does not call for the
weak or physically handicapped to
serve. Just so, Gods service calls
for the strongest men and women of
the church, not the misG;s or fail
urcs. a girl was once heard to re-
mark: 'If l can't get married, |
will be a missionary" Fortunately
for Gods work, she did get mar
ricd. Some men who cannot sue
coed in business think that means
they should be missionaries.
God wants our best (Deut. l5:2)
and He wants the best a church can
give, which means the best spiritu
ally, but in other ways as well
Note also in verses 3 and that the
messengers Of the Lord must be con-
stantly led of the Holy Spirit.
III. The Heat of Battle Wv. 5-lO).
Warfare is not a Sunday school
picnic. 1t means conflict with the
forces of the enemy So the mis-
sionory of the Cross must be- pre-
pared TO meet Satanic opposition.
Saul and Barnabas met this "sOn OF
the devil (by the way, reader, we
trust you do not belong - that fam
iiy) who opposed the VIC j; OF grace
which had begun in the heart Of the
governor wv. elW.
However, there are & ,sc who do
seek 90 hear the Word o. God ". y
as did Scrg.us Paglus. The business
Of the missionary is 70 preach TO
them but not only to HON. The
| city Of Papho5 was really Il muia-
ture of t.c world Of that day. 1t was
Grcci city of high culture and low
I morals. II Wos ruled by the Roman
governor, ii man Of noble character
and imam Of understanding" a..
y. But rigut with him was Flymas
the sOrccrcr, a licked and ungodly
jew, q disgrace to his own people
and a hindrancc TO thc work OF God.
/ The messenger of God rcjOiccs in the
opportunity 20 minister the Word
[ whether to Roman, Jew, or Crock.
Of high or low estate, wicked or
! good, interested or autagouisac.
They all need Gods Word
". Victory for Christ wv. u. ~.
The army goes INTO battle with the
! purpose of winning a victory, or il
! is defeated before il starts. The
Lords army is on a victorious
march, certain OF success, because
He that is i'm us greater than he
that is i'm the word' q John 40.
n dealing with inc sorccrcr, Paul
brought down TIC drastic judgment
Of God Note tta this was not done
because Elyma opposed Paul. or
! because he had one different be-
lief. but because o. in his wickcdRc
opposed God. hose who fight
against God arc a losing battle.
the victory is always on His side.
There was another kind Of victory
here, and the soldiers Of the cross
are (or should bc) far more inter-
estcd in that type Of victory; namely,
|