Numidia Mennonite Bible School - Reflector Yearbook (Numidia, PA)

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LIBERTY For generaTions men have been searching Tor liberTy. YouTh Today are calling Tor Tree- dom To do Their Thing in This generaTion. Ivlany are The expressions oT This search Today, such as unkempT hair, rebellion, speaking againsT The esTablishmenT, eTc. ln The second episTle oT PeTer we read oT Those who walk aTTer The Tlesh in The lusT oT uncleanliness, selT-willed, despising governmenT and speaking evil oT digniTies. Having Torsaken The righT way, They beguile unsTable souls. While They promise Them liberTy, They Them- selves are The servanTs oT sin. BreThren, we have a, message oT liberTy. IT The Son shall make you Tree, ye shall be Tree indeed. Jesus came To bring deliverance To The capTives oT SaTan. Being Then made Tree Trom sin, ye became The servanTs oT righTeous- ness. Romans 6:l8. Ye shall know The TruTh, and The TruTh shall make you Tree. ln ChrisT we are made Tree Trom The works oT The Tlesh To live aTTer The spiriT. STand TasT ThereTore in The liberTy wherewiTh ChrisT haTh made us Tree. May our hearTs be Tilled wiTh The love oT ChrisT, The ioy oT salvaTion, and The peace ThaT passes undersTanding as we live a genTle, longsuTTering, meek, TemperaTe, liTe oT TaiTh. -Clarence R. Good 1- MEDITATIONS To mediTae means To ponder, To dwell in ThoughT, conTemplaTe, or plan. The Virgin lvIoTher oT our Lord kepT all.The sayings per- Taining To The ChrisT child. She pondered in her hearT The prophecies concerning His TuTure work. ' The amounT oT acTiviTy in Today's socieTy does noT lend encouragemenT To, nor oTTer much Time Tor mediTaTion. The enemy oT our soul does noT wanT us To med-iTaTe. IT is how- ever, imporTanT Tor all ChrisTians, boTh young and old. YouTh musT conTemplaTe, laying The ToundaTion Tor a proper course oT liTe. Older ones need To ponder on communicaTing a True paTTern oT ChrisTian discipleship. While Abraham's servanT was searching ouT a wiTe Tor Isaac, he wenT inTo The Tield To med- iTaTe. He TelT The need oT giving much ThoughT To The TuTure. God had a purpose Tor his liTe. He made ample provision Tor iT, and Isaac needed To prepare Tor ThaT discovery. He had To ponder on TuTure responsibiliTies, and serv- ice. His new role in liTe demanded serious mediTaTion. Upon The appoinTmenT oT Joshua To suc- ceed lvloses, and lead Israel To Canaan, God demanded ThaT he mediTaTe in The law day and nighT. His responsibiliTy oT enTrance inTo Ca- naan, claiming Their inheriTance, and disTribu- Tion oT possessions called Tor much and serious mediTaTion. MediTaTing on The Word brings one To submission and obedience To God. We discover our dependence on God, and The need Tor greaTer TaiTh, resulTing in divine en- ablemenT Tor The Task. David as a shepherd had much Time To med- iTaTe. The godly Take Time To mediTaTe. Ap- preciaTion Tor The ScripTures and mediTaTion Therein yields sTabiliTy and securiTy. Perennial pleasanTness, proTession, possession, produc- Tion, and prosperiTy are The TruiT oT mediTaTion. Do noT simply read The Bible, mediTaTe upon iT. Phil. 4:8, Think on These Things. --Paul L. WiTmer xv lrii-l1.1 T THE RIGHT PLACE Jesus said, l go To prepare a place Tor you , John l4:2. This cerTainly is The righT place. One prerequisiTe Tor geTTing To The righT place is being in The righT place now. IT we Tind ourselves aT The wrong place Through- ouT eTerniTy, iT's cerTain we TrequenTed The wrong places in our lives. The Bible Tells us oT places To avoid. The enemy's Tire is simply The place oT compromise which always spells Trouble. We musT be care- Tul noT To be Tound in The place oT idleness as David. A ship To Tarshish may seem inno- cenT enough, and yeT iT we Tind ourselves There as Jonah, iT becomes The place oT disobedi- ence. WaTch The juniper Tree. iT meanT The place oT discouragemenT Tor Eliiah. There are many more. ' We should be in The way , lGen. 24:27I, like Eliezer. This is The place oT TaiTh. Elisha, was righT There, in The place oT perseverance. To see Elijah be Taken up. Here am I. Send me , llsa. 6:8I, is The response oT a person in The place oT conTribuTion and service. The saying you c-an'T be in Two places aT one Time applies, if we are in The righT place Jesus will receive us as He said, where I am There ye may be also. John l4:3. -Alvin Snyder 8

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REMINISCENCE How 'rime flies! Already five years of Bible School are hisfory. Efernify will only reveal whaf has been acccomplished. Many young boys and girls have been challenged fo live a holy life. Many have dedicafed fheir lives fo serve God in a greafer capacify. Oh, how we wish we could say fhey are all living for fhe Lord, buf we know of some fhaf have fallen prey fo our enemy fhe devil, and are living in sin. We do reioice when we see fhose who have been fo Numidia Bible School and are sfill faifhful fo God and fhe church. I chal- lenge each one who reads fhese lines fo pray for fhose who are faifhful, fhaf fhey may re- main, buf especially for fhose sfudenfs whom we know are living in sin. lf we pray earnesfly God will surely answer in due fime. The effecfual fervenf prayer of a righfeous man availefh much. James 5:l7b. -Aaron Weaver SPIRITUAL FRUIT The word fruif in fhe New Tesfamenf is commonly used 'ro describe fhe resulfs fhaf are produced by a Spirif-filled life. The word fruif also presupposes life. Fruif-bearing is a process 'rhaf fakes place only in 'rhe realm of life. In Galafions 5:I9 'rhe aposfle Paul, in re- ferring fo fhe resulfs manifesfed by one who is spirifually dead, labels fhem as fhe works of The flesh. Following fhis in verse 22 he uses one word fo label fhe fruif wifh which a Spirif filled life is laden. He says fhe fruif of fhe Spirif is love. Then he uses eighf words fo describe and clarify 'rhe meaning of love. I. Joy-fhe consciousness of love. 2. Peace-confidence of love , 3. Longsuffering-habif of love 4. Genfleness-fhe manner of love 5. Goodness-fhe acfion of love 6. Faifh-fhe vision of love 7. Meekness-fhe fone of love 8. Temperance-fhe law of love In John I5 we read abouf fhree yields of fruif. I. No fruif. 2. Much fruif. 3. More fruif. Which of fhese yields characferizes our fruif-bearing? ls my life and your life more heavily laden wifh fhe fruif of fhe Spirif 'rhan if was lasf season? -Donald E. Nolf 7 AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST Fellow sfrangers and pilgrims, do you know fhaf you have a very high calling fo fulfill dur- ing your sfay in fhis world? The Lord has com- missioned you fo be an ambassador. Lef's iusf pause for a momenf and fake a glimpse af fhls high office in fhe world governmenf sysfem. An ambassador is a person commisisoned by fhe ruler of his own nafion fo live in a foreign counfry, and fhere fo faifhfully represenf and promofe his home counfry. In orderfor his service fo be successful he may nof gef in- volved in 'rhe affairs of 'rhe counfry he is visif- ing, buf endeavor fo live a peaceful and blame- less life. This gives us a picfure of our greaf calling. Our cifizenship is in heaven. God, our greaf ruler, has commissioned us fo sfay in 'rhis for- eign counfry fo represenf and promofe our home counfry, which is heaven. By God's grace and power, may we keep ourselves unfangled from fhese earfhly fhings and live peaceably wifh all men, as much as is possible, and hereby faifhfully fulfill our honorable calling. -Leighfon Marfin GOD IN THE FLESH ln fhe beginning was fhe Word, . . . and fhe Word was made flesh. l do nof infend fo plumb fhe depfhs of fhe incarnafion, buf would like fo call affenfion fo fhe 'rerms John uses fo describe whaf he saw in Jesus. God had in fhe pasf been preparing fhe way for fhe Saviour fo come info fhe world. To finife minds His sfeps were painsfakingly slow. Buf fhe fime came in God's plan when fhere broke upon 'rhe world fhe flash of lighf we call 'rhe incarnafion. John says, And we beheld- his glory. Whaf did John see? He saw fhe only begoffen of fhe Fafher, full of grace and frufh. As we observe Jesus in his minisfry, as we see him dealing wifh individuals we are conscious of all fhe facfs abouf God, full of grace and frufh. Grace speaks of fhe greaf love fhaf mofi- vafed God in his work of redempfion. Trufh describes God as a God of iusfice and holi- ness. lf speaks fo us of a God whose lighf of frufh exposes all fhe works of darkness. Jesus came fo declare fhe Fafher whom' no one had ever seen. And we beheld his glory, full of grace and frufh. -Harold Good

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LORD . . . OPEN HIS EYES IT is probable ThaT The young man Tor whom This plea was made had TwenTy-TwenTy vision. He saw'The Syrian horses and charioTs. BuT aTTer TheiLord inTervened, he saw more: he saw horses and charioTs oT Tire round abouT Elisha lll Kings 6:I7l. Years ago iT was a common pracTice To puT mules To work in coal mines. When a mule was sTill young, iT would be lowered inTo a mine and- There iT would remain unTil Tor some reason, iT was no longer serviceable. IT was soon discovered ThaT when These mules were again broughT up inTo The lighT oT day Their abiliTy To see was gone. They had been Too long in The dark. Many oT us, when we came To The Lord, were like The mules. We had been in The dark Too long. We sTill had physical sighT. We had even more. We could see, as Tar as a mile away, an opporTuniTy To become popular, To geT rich, or To gain pleasure. Every obsTacle in our self-chosen paTh, we saw clearly. Our vision was broad enough To Take in The whole Tield oT sporTs, or maybe iT was T-he Tashion or enTerTainmenT world. BuT sTill we were blind. We were blind To our selTishness, blind To The consequences oT sin, blind To The cheapness oT worldly honor. blind To whaT we could become in ChrisT. SpiriTually, we were blind. Has The Lord opened your eyes? Does The spiriTual world lie open To your view? An elderly ChrisTian lady was inTormed ThaT she was TasT losing her sighT. Her response was so Thoroughly ChrisTian ThaT The examining docTor was moved To make This remark: Your eye- sighf may be poor, buT your vision is good. -Merle RuTh COOPERATION Nearly every area oT liTe, wheTher business, home, school, or church - liTe will noT reall be successTul wiThouT good cooperaTion oT all Those involved. There are Two super powers making an appeal Tor our cooperaTion. God placed our TirsT parenTs in The garden wiTh insTrucTions To dress and To keep iT. They had The privilege oT eaTing TruiT Trom every Tree buT one, wiTh The warning oT The resulTs if They would noT cooperaTe. SaTan came on The scene, puT in his bid Tor cooperaTion, and won. The resulT 9 was ThaT They were driven Trom The place God had so graciously provided Tor Them. God called Moses and Aaron To lead The children oT Israel ouT OT EgypT. He called Joshua To lead Them across Jordan inTo The land promised To Them. In eiTher case, God demanded- Tull cooperaTion Tor Tinal success, and SaTan made his appeal and causedserious Tailures. Jesus, when calling his disciples, said, lT you will Tollow Me, I will make you To become Tishers oT men. This meanT cooperaTion, and one oT These men insTead cooperaTed wiTh SaTan To The cruciTixion oT The one who had called him. IT SaTan is noT aTraid To make his appeal Tor cooperaTion To The Son oT God lMaTT. 4:I-l Il, we can be sure he will noT be aTraid oT us. May we noT TorgeT ThaT SaTan is our per- sonal enemy. BuT God has provided Tull pro- TecTion. May we noT Tail To use iT. -Edwin H. Gehman BEARING FRUIT LeT us Think oT The TiTTeenTh chapTer oT John as The TruiT bearing chapTer. IT speaks oT The True vine, The husbandman, and The branches. Seven Times reTerence is made To The TacT ThaT The branches are To bear TruiT. WhaT is The TruiT The branches are To bear? IT is inTeresTing To compare This Teaching wiTh chapTer Tive oT Isaiah. There we read oT a vineyard in a very TruiTTul hill. Every provision was made ThaT iT mighT produce, buT iT broughT TorTh wild grapes. There iT is The choicesT vine, no doubT represenTing The besT oT human eTTorTg here iT is The True vine, Jesus HimselT. The True vine Teeds liTe inTo The branch, The source oT which is divine raTher Than human. The secreT oT bearing TruiT is abiding in The vine, and The TruiT iTselT is love. This is my commandmenT, ThaT ye love one anoTher, as I have loved you. John I5:I2. How simple! BuT only as divine love is shed abroad in our hearTs are we able To do iT. This divine love seekeTh noT her own. 'Do you? --Henry Weaver Whether therefore ye eatg or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31