Chapter 30, there's a verse on my mind,
and if I don't get rid of it,
I'll probably lose a night's sleep, and I
don't want to do that.
1 Samuel 30, please, and one verse only,
and that is verse 6, 1 Samuel 30
and 6.
And David was greatly distressed, for the people
spake of stoning him, because the soul of
all the people was grieved.
Every man for his sons and for his
daughters, and David encouraged himself in the Lord
his God.
A little sentence that I'm impressed with, and
that I'm going to get rid of just
now, is the end of the verse, and
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
You remember that, and David encouraged himself in
the Lord his God.
The first speaker tonight, let it on up,
that I taught.
The second person, let it on up, that
I taught.
I put them both together, and both of
them put together led me to the verse
I read with you 1 Samuel 30, what
the first brother said was, give them plenty
of the book of God, I say amen
to that.
There's no substitute for it, Sunday school teacher.
And I tried the job for 20 years,
and the first class I took, I had
to get the children to find a place
for me.
I'm not going to dig in on that.
I want you to encourage yourself in the
Lord your God.
And you'll come to a place where nobody
else can encourage you, only the Lord.
But they'll have to keep in good terms
with them.
Our first brother said quite a lot of
good things, and the one I taught was,
give them plenty of the Bible.
There's no substitute for that, brethren.
You say we know that, yes.
The people that Peter wrote to knew quite
a lot of things.
But he didn't write to tell them anything
new.
He wrote but a script of pure minds
by way of remembrance.
Let me do the same with you tonight.
Give them plenty of the Bible.
It's settled in heaven, it will never pass
away.
Heaven and earth will pass away.
But my word shall not pass away.
And the word of the Lord endures forever.
Give them plenty of the Bible.
But don't you think, please, for a moment
that you can run the country on Saturday
night and make a sign of a fool
yourself and get help from God.
You can't do it.
You may lose illustrations, we don't find fault
with that everywhere.
A good illustration of good faith.
But you can't live what way you like
during the week.
Run the country on Sunday.
Or spend a couple of hours at the
TV and get God to help you on
Sunday.
You can't do it.
The other remark that seconds Peter made was
visit the houses.
I'm a firm believer in that.
Always was.
And I hope always will be.
A little word of advice, if you please,
about visiting houses.
If you were too proud to visit joshy
little houses in Buck Street, you were too
proud to be a teacher.
And if I were the superintendent, I wouldn't
give you a class.
God can get nowhere with proud people.
Only take the pride out of them.
Visit the houses.
Whether they're sick or not.
Whether they're absent or not.
Don't wait for the lack of that.
Get in your class.
You were their teacher.
And God will hold you responsible.
It's just as strong to take a Thunder
School class.
As it takes to stand and preach the
gospel.
And I hope with all of you it's
obnoxious to listen to a lot of jokes
and things on the platform.
It's a gospel meeting that I have a
Thunder School class.
I know you can use simpler language.
I know that alright.
I know you can use illustration, good and
simple.
But always keep this one thing before you.
It's that child's soul that I'm after.
And if you get this in your mind,
that it's the child's soul I'm after.
And if it's not that, you should be
a teacher.
If you haven't got the salvation of the
children before you, you shouldn't be a teacher.
It's the first qualification to make an unsuccessful
teacher.
You want to see the children fail for
eternity.
And at our last Bureau meeting, I'm after
everybody sat down.
I want to repeat it in different language.
In these days, when there's so much damning,
ridiculous infidelity taught in the day schools, and
the elementary schools, and the high schools of
Australia put plenty of the Bible into the
word Jesus said.
I hope you think I'm not erratic.
I'm talking about what I know.
And I'm prepared to say that any place,
any time, to anybody.
And the only thing that will counteract the
heresy that will heal on Sunday and the
rubbish that will heal during the weekdays such
as evolution, which is a fraud and a
farce and an insult to the monkey.
I mean that, brother.
I mean that.
The only thing to counteract is a good
old book of God.
Give them plenty of it.
Look at the holes.
Did you do that?
I sure did.
I'm going to get.
And when you get to a little hole
in a little back street, don't put your
head in the air like as if you
fell down from Jupiter.
Get into the hole.
Don't pronounce what I pray.
I'm speaking to sisters as well as brothers.
And I'm as fond of assembly principles as
any man on the platform and a bit
more than some of them.
Even if there are men present, it's not
assembly meeting.
It's only an evening.
And God won't listen to your preaching.
They'll be bound to listen to you.
I dig it down to pray alongside of
them.
Call me a friend.
Oh, it's a dirty house.
You're stuffed full of pride.
That's your problem.
And there's no remedy for it.
The doctor can do nothing about it.
But I tell you what.
If you get this to be told you,
which I hope you do, that I'm speaking
to children now that there'll soon be men
and women of colour and they'll go out
into the world to be an influence for
good or evil, to win them for Christ
or to damn them.
And I'll keep the soul of salvation before
me.
I'll be thick at them and I'll pray
with them when they get there.
They'll be around the circumstances.
They'll be around a few jobs, nothing about
it.
They'll be around a few cats, nothing about
it.
Leave your pride at home if you have
any.
They'll be around the dust of the floor,
get down.
And not to take pride of heaven or
hell for the people in the home and
for the children you speak to.
I built a house for an old woman.
Don't want anybody smiling, please.
I built a house for an old woman.
It was a little country house.
I got this old woman to come to
the meeting every night on a contract.
She never missed a night for six weeks.
I called to pray with her before I
left the country and I got down to
pray.
Don't want you to laugh, please.
If I'm preaching what I don't practice I'm
a hypocrite.
Don't listen to me.
But I challenge you on that.
I got down to pray and the first
thing I felt was my toes sticking to
the floor.
Well, after me.
I felt God was going to help me
to preach to pray and the next thing
I felt was a cat on the back
of my neck.
And the third thing I felt was a
little chicken on the heel of my boot.
Ah, good brethren in spite of all that
the blessed God send me a little help
to pray and I can pray when I
can't preach.
Make your children the subject of your prayer.
Not only a little while on Sunday, but
do the apostasy.
Don't have to be a buffoon.
Down to the jaw.
I pray for your children every day you
live at least once and ask God to
give you real help and a real love
to see these children saved look at their
houses specially and not very far from where
I was sitting there was a sister visited
a scholar, yes in a little back street
the mother was a Roman Catholic the father
was a Roman Protestant and one's worse than
the other and this teacher insisted on the
little girl coming to school.
She did come.
She prayed.
You can't pray there's something between your soul
and God.
Don't tell them they were backward because you
don't believe that.
If you've got a soul a lot of
other souls do not mind your backwardness.
That's not the name for it.
And some special meeting come along and this
girl teacher went back to get this woman
who used to be a Roman Catholic and
she said no and she went back again
and she prayed and she prayed with her
and she got her and she got saved
and she got her pride and she abolished
it.
You see visiting the homes of the children
opens the door for you to get into
the homes to invite them to the gospel
meetings when they come along.
Are you doing anything of it?
Is your Sunday school teaching only a pledge
and a superintendent?
Are you doing anything of it?
Listen Mark this to Mark well.
Take a note of it.
The north of Ireland will never know what's
been accomplished by the Sunday school as I've
met in every country I've been to overseers,
preachers, missionaries that used to be in the
Sunday school in Belfast and elsewhere.
You go in for the soul salvation you
preach with them about that you speak to
them about that you be honest with them,
be kind to them to be sure don't
give them a lot of stuff that will
do them no good.
No inventions no new things no new things.
A glorious gospel of the blessed God first
to Mary 11 the deliverer of God and
the salvation Romans 1 16 is all we
needed in the north of Ireland this last
90 years 40 years that I've been at
it and it's all we need still.
I'm going to give you time to think
that over do new things please no matter
who suggests them and it's the superintendents business
for to see that the classes are getting
taught the blessed good of God and that
the teachers not do nothing we can have
the teacher of mood either to remove a
class or out of the school altogether some
of these teachers are short I'll grant you
that but let us face up to fact
you have to double the classes to be
sure you have to give one teacher two
sometimes three classes never mind that but to
have that and one real teacher then somebody's
only playing at the job the rest of
the business is done for eternity I don't
suppose anybody ever made a worse shape of
teaching at Thunder School than I did in
the year 1906 I was forced to it
more or less because the July holidays came
round and the superintendent said to me Frank
I don't get off to take a class
that I thought I could take no class
I'm not long saved and I couldn't find
a place he said Frank I want you
to take a class I said I can't
do it he said I've doubled up five
classes already I've taken two classes myself and
there's one left he said I want you
to take a class there it is, over
there are a lot of little boys from
8 to 10 all Christian children I see
one of them in the meeting tonight in
front of me it's a good thing to
be able to stand over what you say
especially on a platform and especially with brothers
95 the younger must obey the older and
I went and sat down and these little
boys they wanted to hear my twang but
I was just over from England after 12
years in there I went there and I
was 8 and I left when I was
20 and I couldn't do anything I only
speak English, well in the Lord's name will
you use your own language and not try
to be somebody else man it's obnoxious so
I sat down among these little boys they
knew that I spoke English because they heard
me tell an hour's tale and 10 of
them got their heads right round me and
I got my head round them and I
said Lord help me what will I say
I didn't know and they were all wishing
to hear what I would say and I
was wishing for them to get something to
say and I think maybe Ailish would help
me, I don't know and I said and
I began to speak I said we've just
sung wonderful things in the Bible I see
and I said no we have been singing
wonderful things in the Bible I see although
I say we have been singing wonderful things
in the Bible I see I know God
will forgive me but I couldn't help it
I couldn't speak any other way now that
got their attention and I said if we've
been singing the hymn of truth every one
of you will tell me some wonderful thing
you've seen in the Bible so this little
boy started off he took 2 or 3
minutes of the woman at the well and
said aye that's good I never asked her
that in my life forgive her but I'm
just telling you what happened and I'm doing
this to encourage young teachers can't teach them
in the English dictionary anybody can say it
and I said now it's your turn and
this little boy he started to tell me
about a woman and the Lord Jesus at
the well I said that's quite good my
boy though I never heard tell of it
before and then I said it's your turn
now and he told me 2 or 3
minutes about a blind man that the Lord
Jesus healed I don't know what but the
whole ten of them took 2 or 3
minutes each and I give them all credit
for doing well and they didn't know whether
they were doing well or not but you
know whenever they got round and all told
of the little story the bell rang it's
5 minutes to 4 and like the apostle
Paul I thank God and took courage and
I'm going on to say love your scholars
visit your scholars pray with your scholars pray
with them in the home pray with them
harder pray with them harder now start well
what is that?
that's the blessed book of God there's no
substitute for it take heart dear brethren and
sisters in Christ it's the only thing God
has promised to bless he has always blessed
it and he will bless it in the
future and avoid new things no matter who
introduces them in the Sunday school there's no
substitute for the blessed book of God Psalm
30 and for Psalm 30 and I finish
David encouraged himself in the law of his
God you get plenty of discouragement so did
I you get discouraged by the teachers and
you get discouraged maybe by the superintendent he
doesn't understand you you get discouraged by the
scholars and a whole lot of other things
you maybe get discouraged in the home and
when you get there remember it's the Lord
his God and when they were going to
stone David after all his kindness to them
was over the stone David David encouraged himself
in the law of his God many a
time I done the same when I was
teaching class for 20 years I loved that
I would have stayed there only I had
to clean out the Sunday school and go
to preach the gospel because I got, I
wouldn't join the union and I had to
leave my job and consequently I had to
go to preach God bless you brethren and
sisters in Christ God bless you teachers, but
listen it's not a play job, get down
to the praying and whatever difficulty may arise,
take it to your God and Father and
encourage yourself in the Lord his God, especially
give them the Bible as the first preacher
said, especially visit them as the second and
certainly keep the soul's salvation before you I
saw don't forget that good big topical line,
I saw five of my scholars saved and
one in the assembly which I belong to
and the whole five of them belong to
the same family, one of them is a
missionary in India another is the wife of
a preacher and I think the other three
has gone home to heaven David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God you do the
same and God bless you and may you
have the immeasurable joy of seeing your children
getting saved for eternity and growing up to
be men and women for God, for our
all Jesus Christ