The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1961-10-14
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
OCTOBER Is, 1861
By Rev. George A. Harper,
511 Avenue G.,
Greenwood, Miss.

Greenwood, Miss.
GROWTH IN KNOWLEDGE
OF GOD.
Lesson Text - Matthew 81
1920, 38-48; John 16:12-15:
Print - Matthew 5:17-20, 49,
48.
MEMORY SELECTION -
Thou salt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with
all thy minds. - (Matthew
22:37. God is love, and Jesus
Christ is the eternal object
of His love. Since He also
loved sinful men so much that
He gave His only begotten
Son to save sinners, He has
legal and just reasons to de-
mand our love when He saves
us. A love that demands all
there is of us, even our heart,
soul, mind and strength is our
duty to God.
The heart, soul and mind
means the will, life and un-
derstanding. In order to love
the Lord with our entire be-
ing requires a moral transfer
nation, even the new birth,
at which time the love of God
is shed abroad in the heart
by the Holy Spirit Rom. $50.
GROWTH THROUGH COR
RELATION OF OLD AND
NEW TESTAMENT TEACH
INGS:
There are people today who
accept or reject the Old Tes-
lament, or fit it into their re-
ligious system according to
their own conveniences and
desires. What Jesus has to
say about the Old Testament
should make US all rethi1k
our evaluation of that book.
We must realize that the Old
Testament was the only Bible
which Jesus had. When Jesus
and the first century church
spoke of the Scriptures they
meant the Old Testament. We
must give earnest and prayer
full effort to discovering the
true image of God which is
presented in the Old Tesla
ment. Jesus positively stated
that He came to fulfill the law
and the prophets. On another
occasion He said, Search We
the Scriptures" Now since
Jesus spoke as He did, it be-
hooves us to CLEAN the Old
Testament for the provisions
of the moral law. This exer-
else will also present a phase
of our knowledge of God. 1t
will point up the judicial as
pect of God.
GROWTH THROUGH SUR
RENDER OF THE NATURAL
URGE FOR REVENGE:
God is judge, but judge
alone does not express His
whole nature. Law alone does
not express His whole will.
There are more sides to God
than we shall ever see. Jesus
presents another side of God
in this part of His Sermon on
the Mount. During the days
when the Hebrews roamed the
wilderness, they and their
neighboring nomadic tribes
dealt in bloody vengeance. We
should bear in mind that
Gods ideal in that same code
is, "Thou shalt not kill"
Therefore we do not have an
instance of God changing His
views on killing, but we do
have an instance of God pa
tiently leading man through
intermediate stages up to His
ideal. Jesus went even furth-
er to say, Resist not evil
that is, the evil ones. The
reason behind this is, man is
too imperfect, too ill-informed,
too subject to be swayed by
unjust and irrelevant consid-
erations to be trusted to mete
out justice. The fact that
wrong has been done to man
does not give that man license
to do wrong. God wishes for
us to yield up the natural de-
sire for revenge, in order that
we might truly become His
Sons.
GROWTH THROUGH AG-
GRESSIVE LOVE:
The word which is transla-
ted love in this saying of
Jesus means active, persistent
goodwill. When people pray
for that ct owe which runs