PULPIT MESSAGES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 156, 29 March 1938, Page 6

PULPIT MESSAGES

Wellington Churches KEY OF OPPORTUNITY Work Of Sudan Mission

Preaching in the Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church on Sunday evening to a full congregation, the Rev. Dr. R. V. Bingham, director-general of the Sudan Interior Mission, took as his theme, “The Great Missionary Enterprise.” Dr. Bingham referred to the contradictory words of Peter when he said to Jesus, “Not so Lord.” It seemed as if Peter was contradicting his Master, and he had to be severely rebuked for this. Yet when Peter made the great confession, our Lord said to him, “Blessed art thou Simon, 1 give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” For 40 days our Lord had been instructing him in the business of the Kingdom of God. Still Peter was found in “the not so attitude.” Again, Peter was on the housetop. He was hungry, and he went up to pray. The Lord sent him a vision, “Rise, kill and eat.” “No,’’ said Peter, “I have never taken anything unclean.” He was perplexed in himself as to what the vision meant. “Our Lord had to divide Peters life into two parts,” the preacher continued. “On the Sea of Galilee He told him where to get fish. After they had dined, Jesus said to him, ‘Lovest thou me more than these?’ Peter’s reply was, ‘Thou knowest that I love Thee. And it is here that the dividing line in Peter’s life comes in, for Jesus said to him, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old’ —what a pity his life had to be divided into two parts—‘thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.’ Peter would not learn his lesson when he was young.- As a re suit of his prejudice, he lost one of his keys, the key of privilege; of bringing in the whole family of the Gentiles. He let Paul take that key. “Are you interested in missions, asked Dr. Bingham. “Then what does your interest in missions cost you l He then told of his expedition in 1593, when he, with Messrs. Gowans ana Kent, made the pioneering attempt to reach the 50 millions of the Sudan. Two expeditions failed, but in 1901 a foothold was finally gained. * From that beginning, the Sudan Interior Mission had become a missionary force of oyer 300 serving in Nigeria, the Sudan and Ethiopia. There they found the key of opportunity to the Sudan, and the door was wide open. No door could remain closed in the midst of a praying church. The Bible in the Sudan -was printed in 20 different languages, and wherever the Bible went it took life. In 1915 he went among the head hunters, and found their huts decorated with human’skulls. Those head hunters had since been transformed into saints and their black faces were shining with the radiance of the Gospel of God’s love. “I challenge any critic of the Bible to take into that tribe of savages any other book and get the same results. To-day those savages can repeat word for word the whole Sermon on the Mount. The last time I preached to them there were 600 of a congregation, people whose hands had once been tinged with human blood. You see there the triumph bf the Gospel. During the seven years of the depression the work in the Spdan went on without any curtailment, and the mission got £60,000 more to carry on .that work.” New Zealand had given 17 missionaries to the mission in Africa, but had only subscribed £9OOO to support them. Pie made an appeal for greater interest in that work, and more liberal giving. The minister of‘the Kent Terrace Church, the Rev. W. Gilmour, and the Revs. Lascelles and Roke took part in the service. A large choir sang an appropriate anthem.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCHES

“Reality” was the subject of the lesson-sermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, on Sunday. The golden text was Psalm exxv, 1: “They that trust In the Lord shall be at Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” Among the citations which comprised the lesson-sermon were the following from the Bible:—“0 Lord, how great are Thy works! And Thy thoughts are very deep.” “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even Ills eternal power and Godhead” (Psalm sell, 5; Romans i, 20). Also cited were the following passages from the Christian Science textbook,. “Science and Health, With Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy: “Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the evidence, and that disappears which before seemed real to this false belief, and the human consciousness rises higher. Iteality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable, immortal, divine, eternal” (pp. 297, 335).