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1 1 YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES
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PROCRASTINATION.
M., Oct. 2.1 The virgins. Matt. 25:1-13.
T., Oct. 3. Sonio other day. Acts 24:22-27
\V., Oct. 4. "This night." I.uke 12:12-21
T., Oct. 5. llclay harden* the heart. llcb. 3:7-0
19.
F., Oct. 6. Vain pxcusos. I.uke 14:lS-20
S., Oct. 7. The golden "now." Luke 9:57-62.
tf., Oct. S. Topic ? The folly of 1'rocrostiuation.
Eccl. ?J: 10.
What art the dangers of procrastination ?
Ih'xr ran ire (trrrlop habit* of ji rompt action ?
How (/(? ; procrastination affcct charactcrf
The Virgins, Matt. 25:1-13: No
doubt all ten of the virgins were de
lighted at having the invitation to the
wedding. Five of them made all
necessary preparations, the other live
neglected the preparations that they
ought to have made. Xo doubt thoy
expected in some way to get the oil
that was needed but they put off get
ting it until it was too late. There
are a great many people in tne world
who expect to make all necessary
preparations for the life to come but
they delay until it is too late. Many
expect to get into heaven in some way
and yet they have never made prepa
ration for doing so.
Some Other Day, Acts 24:22-27:
When Paul preached the gospel to
Felix he was convicted of sin and
realized his need of salvation, but in
stead of accepting at once the offer
he postponed his acceptance. He
thought that some other time would
do just as well. There were other
times when he heard Paul preach and
when no doubt he repeated the offer
of salvation, but Felix's heart had
become hardened, and he did not ac
cept the offer made. The great trou
ble with many people is that they
are not willing to act at once, say?
ing some other time will do just as
well. We cannot ever tell what the
future will be or what we will be in
the future except as we act In the
present.
"This Night," Luke 12:13-21: The
rich man was rejoicing in his riches
and was very proud of what he had
accomplished in securing them. He
was entirely satisfied with his own
works. All that he had done belonged
to this life, he had made no prepara
tion for the life to come. When God
called him to account for his life on
earth, he had nothing to present in
his favor. All the riches of earth
cannot purchase for us an entrance
into heaven, for we cannot carry the
least particle of our earthly riches
with us, nor would they be of any
value in purchasing salvation if we
could carry them.
Delay Hardens the Heart, Heb.
3:7-19: The children of Israel had
traveled two years through the wild
erness and had come to the horde*
of the Land of Canaan. Ood told
them to go forward and take posses
sion of the land, but they were not
willing to do this and delayed obeying
His command. They hardened their
hearts against Him and did not put
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their trust in Him as they should
have done. The result was that for
thirty-eight years more they wan
dered in the wilderness until all that
generation were dead. When anyone
hears God's invitation to mercy and
salvation and refuses to accept it it
becomes harder for him to do so when
the invitation is repeated and more
unlikely is he to accept it the of
tener he refuses the offer.
Vain Excium, I-uke 14:18-20: The
men who were invited to the marriage
feast were more concerned about do
ing their own pleasure than they were
about showing proper courtesy to
their friend, so when the time came
for the marrige they decided that
they would not attend and to the mes
senger who came to them they made
excuses. No doubt they tried to per
suado themselves that their excuses
were satisfactory and that they would
appear satisfactory to him who had
invited them. There was nothing
wrong in anything that either one
of them professed to do but the wrong
was in doing it just at that time.
Sometimes when a man hears the in
vitation of the gospel he knows that
he ought to accept it, but instead of
doing so he makes some excuse. He
always expects, of course, to accept
the invitation at some other time, but
the trouble is that he has put some
thing else in place of it and the invi
tation may not be repeated. He may
never have the opportunity again of
accepting it and he will eventually
find that his excuse was useless.
The Golden "Now," Luke 9:57-62:
Some of the men who heard Jesus
preach professed that they wanted to
follow Him but that there were other
things that they wanted to do first
Jesus shows them that things that
seem to be very important are not
to be allowed to interfere with their
following Him. The things that these
men wanted to do were all right in
themselves but they were wrong when
the men allowed them to keep them
from following Jesus. So today there
are people who allow many things
to put off their coming to the Saviour.
One man says that he is too busy
Just now to attend to matters of re
ligion but that when he gets through
his work he will attend to it. A
mother sometimes says that she is too
busy with the care of her children to
have time to think about religious
matters. Young people are often so
taken up with the pleasures of life
that they are not willing to give the
time to consider the matters of their
souls' salvation. All of these expect
to do It sometime in the future but
the teaching of our Saviour is "Now
in the accepted time, now is the day
of salvation."
The Folly of Procrastination. Keel.
0:10.
God has given us a life to live on
earth. No man knows how long that
life will be. Tie has given to each
one a work to do and he directs us
to It with our might. If our work
Is not completed before our life ends
It will never be done. Every day,
every hour that we waste la tlmo
taken Tro'm what we ought to use for
Ood and His service. The old saying.
"Procrastination Is the thief of time,"
Is very true, but it Is also true that
procrastination Is the thief of souls.
When we fall to do the work that
Ood gives ua to do our souls will not
be what fhey ought to he and It may
be that other nouls will he lost be
cause of ouf negligence and neglect
of duty.
MT. OLIVE, N. C.
A unique program was presented
by the* Intermediate Christian Endea
vor last Sunday evening. It was the
happy occasion of the graduation of
seven of the Intermediates into the
Senior Society. The Seniors paved
the way for the surprise the Inter
mediates had been planning, by invit
ing them to meet with them for that
Sunday evening, and asked the Inter
mediates to get up the program. That
was our chance, and we went to work
with a will. The Sunday school room
was decorated in Christian Endeavor
colors, red and white, and lighted
with white candles. The program was
presented altogether by the seven
graduates.
When the meeting was turned over
to the leader, William Hall, an Inter
mediate boy, took the chair. He had
grouped around him the other six,
who were to graduate. For their
Scripture they repeated in concert the
first Psalm. Hattie Godwin -led the
prayer, and Mildred Southerland pre
sented the Christian Endeavor topic
of the evening. At this time Lillian
Price stated to the mighty Seniors
that the meaning of the party frills
was the celebration of their gradua
tion.
Class History was called for, and
Helen Cobb, in a most interesting
way, reviewed the three years' work
of the Junior Auxiliary, and then the
organization of the Intermediate
Christian Endeavor and their work
p.nd play. Wade Kornegay rivaled
the prophets of other graduating days,
when he told of the ministers, doc
tors and missionaries of the Christian
Endeavor graduates of 1922. Hattie
Godwin read the class poem, and Su
san Guy willed all of the good quali
ties of leadership, promptness, faith
fulness, etc., to the rising Interme
diates. Mrs. W. M. Baker, as Super
intendent of the Intermediate Society,
presented the graduates to the Senior
Society, asking them to repeat the
Christian Endeavor pledge as their
initiation, and they were received
with the warmest welcome by our
wide-awake Senior President, Mr. L
J. Simmons. The meeting was ad
journed by the Mizpah benediction.
A GOOD PROGRAM.
One hears so much these days about
"specializing." It would seem that
the Christian Endeavor Society of Oli
vet Church at McConnellsville, S. C.,
is specializing in Foreign Mission pro
grams, for, besides the regular quar
terly P. M. program as provided for
the Societies at large, the Society at
Olivet gives a P. M. program the sec
ond Sunday of each month. When
the York District held its annual meet
ing at Fort Mill this summer, this So
ciety was asked to give a Model Mis
sionary program. After due consid
eration, the Prayer Meeting Commit
tee decided to give a mock meeting of
the officers of the Executive Commit
tee of F. M. *
When the hour for the program ar
rived, the assembled Endeavorers be
held a most imposing array gathered
about an official looking table; there
they were, "Dr. Smith," "Dr. Chester."
"Dr. Reavis," "Mr. Willis," "Dr.
Grant," with "Dr. Vance" presiding.
(No attempt was made, of course, at
caricature). "Dr. Vance" called upo.i
each in turn for his report, and the
Information given was accurate In de
tail as gleaned from printed reports.
One noteworthy (unoffic^l) recom
mendation volunteered by "Dr. Ches
ter," was that, as goon as feasible
and funds for same could be procured,
the Committee install Bending and re
ceiving stations for radio measages
between the Foreign fields and the
(Continued on page 13)
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
THE BIRTIC AND CHILDHOOD OF
JKSUS.
October 8. L.uke 2.
No event in all the world's history
is more important than the birth of
Jesus. Time is measured backward
and forward from that date. B. C.
means Before Christ and dates are
indicated by giving the number of
years preceding His birth. Since that
time wo write A. D., the initials of
the Latin Anno Domini, in tho year
of the Lord. The date is shown by
the number of years since His birth.
The simple story of His birth and
childhood are well known, but there
is much to be learned from it. The
announcement to Mary was by the
same angel that told of the coming
of John. It was all mysterious, but
Mary, received it as a message from
God.
Then c&me that strangely provi
dential trip to Bethlelieni, ordered by
the Roman emperor, who had no idea
that he was acting as God's agent in
bringing about the fulfilment of tho
prophecy that the Messiah should be
born in Bethlehem.
That there might be no mistake as
to who the Babe was God sent a com
pany of angels to introduce Him to
the world. To show that He belonged
to all mankind, the announcement
was not made to kings or priests, but
to the common people, who make up
much the largest part of the world's
population.
The world-wide expectance of the
coming of a great prince was shown
by the coming of the wise men from
the Far East. They were the first to
tell of His birth to priest and king
in Jerusalem.
Herod, jealous of any one that
might lay claim to his crown, decided
to take no chance of this Babe's do
ing so, so he tried to put Him to
death. He thought, no doubt, that
his plan was one that could not fail.
But he could not overcome God's
plan.
When Jioseph brought Mary) and
the Babe back from Egypt, he re?
turned to his old home in Nazareth.
We hear nothing more of this family
after that time, until Jesus was twelve
years old. At that age every Jewish
boy became a "son of the law," or, as
we would say, joined the church and
afterwards expected to keep the whole
ceremonial law.
In accordance with custom, He was
taken to Jerusalem and presented at
the Temple. This was at the time of
the feast of the Passover, which oc
curred in April, and lasted eight days.
At the close of the feast the vast
multitude of people scattered for their
homes. They traveled in large com
panies. The time being set for the
return journey, Joseph and Mary gave
themselves no concern about Jesus,
feeling sure that He would go along
in the crowd. It was only when they
went into camp at night that they
looked for Him and failed to find
Him.
The next morning thev started ba"k
(o the city and saent the day in the
return journey. Spending the night,
no doubt' in great anxiety, they be
gan the search for Him the next
morning. They found Him among the
teachers of the law in the Temple. Ho
seems to have been somewhat sur
prised that His Darents did not .know
yiat He would be In the Temple.
When they found Him they started
again on their homeward journey, and
Jesus went with them. Two things
we are told about Him. Ona was
that Ho was subject to His T>arontn:
that ]p( Jfe was obedient to them, fie