THE FUTURE OUTLOOK
J. F. JOHNSON ! Editor & Publisher
MISS EMMA P. JOHNSON News Reporter
L. A. WISE Staff Photographer
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THE FUTURE OUTLOOK
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Dreams Are For Having
What do you dream about?
In musing about things to come ? that might come
? do you hanker for a second home ? a cabin by a lake?
Or a sportscar no one else in the family will drive? A trip
abroad ? to the one country you really would like to see?
Or maybe jugt lazy-time, for fishing in Colorado, or beach
basking in Florida? Or maybe you're more practical and
just dream about a little more recognition and money
from the boss ?
We need dreams. They add color to our lives and
keep our shoulders to the wheel. And some of them could
come true.
And yet, right now, near us, there are other dreams
going on. Dreams of real people, just as alive, as filled
with longing, as deserving as we are.
The small half -dreams of the infant nobody wants.
The dreams of a child with a cleft palate, a damaged
brain, a hearing loss.
The dreams of a youngster of any race or creed (or
no creed), living in a rat-infested tenement.
The dreams of mothers and fathers trying to main
tain themselves and their children in the face of unending
poverty.
The dreams of the teenage boy or girl, searching for
a way to "belong." A place tp go. A group to be with.
The dreams of the old person without love or purpose
or the feeling of being needed. Even wanted.
The dreams of th mentally ill, groping for the lost
road back to reality. It was there once.
The dreams of the "hopeless" derelict on skid row,
nuturing, almost despite himself, one obstinate spark of
hope.
Many dreams are being dreamed all around us. Won't
you help at least some of them to be realized, through
your United Fund?
Your dreams can be, perhaps will be, fulfilled by the
future. But only you can make theirs come true.
]
People Need People
Unless it has happened to you, you can't know what
it means to suffer a personal disaster ... to yourself or
to your family . . . and not have anyone to share your
burden.
Unless it has happened to you, you can't know the
feeling of hope that is born when a quiet voice says: "Let
us be of help."
It is the voice of a neighbor, speaking for the thou
sands of persons in the Greater Greensboro Area who be
lieve in in the idea of people helping people in time of
need.
This voice is symbolized by the United Fund and its
member agencies ... an organization dedicated to that
idea.
Yes, unless it has happened to you, you can't know
the feeling of getting a start again when out of a sad and
frightening experience, a shattered life begins anew.
Bat whether it has happened to you or not, you can
help . . . you can show you care . . . with a Fair Share
Gift through the United Fund.
There are some 2,000 United Fund volunteers solicit
ing Fair Share pledges throughout our area, seeking to
raise the minimum amount necessary for United Fund
member agencies to sustain services at present levels.
Won't you help? Your one Fair Share Gift win work
many wanders for children, for the handicapped, for dis
tressed families, for the sick and the aged. For those who
need hope. And "Hope Is In Your Hands."
This Weed's Sunday School Lesson
Christian Witness
Continues
WHAT IS OUR CONCERN?
The apostle Paul made the
front cover of "Time" on April
18, 1960. This issue of Time
featured a picture story on
"Christian Missionaries: From
St. Paul to 1960." The picture on
the front of Time reproduced a
painting of Paul that was prob
ably the work of LJppo Memmi
in the fourteenth century.
The Time article reported that
the number of Christian mis
sionaries in the world was at an
all-time high ? 38,606 Protestant
missionaries; 51,000 Roman
Catholic missionaries.
The article suggested that
Christian missions face greater
dangers and greater opportuni
ties than ever before in their
long history 'since Paul's day.
Too much of the mission work
of the churches has ben identi
fied with Western culture. More
of it needs to be done by native
Christians instead of foreign
missionaries.
However, the work is still
there to do, and it is being car
ried on in a variety of ways, as
the pictures in this issue suggest
One picture shows a Hong Kong
missionary in a boat on the Tai
O Canal, evangelizing Chinese
children standing on the bank.
The evangelization was unusual.
It consisted of playing the trum
pet, giving puppet shows, and
telling Bible stories in Canto
nese. This Oriental Boat Mis
sion has a fleet of five boats and
ten ministers.
Another picture shows Harry
Haines, a Methodist mission
leader in Malaya, ladling out
milk to slum children in Kuala
Lumpur. Still another picture
shows Samuel Moffett, a teacher
in the Presbyterian seminary in
Seoul, Korea, as he visits a new
congregation where the bricks
are all assembled for the build
ing of a new edifice.
Another picture shows a priest
in the Philippines visiting with
dock workers in a combined
dress shop and bar on the Manila
waterfront. Another picture
shows Japanese teen-agers at a
school for girls sitting in a circle
around a stone on which are in
scribed the words "God Is Love."
Other pictures show children
in Borneo getting reading les
sons, missionaries in Peru trans
lating the Bible into a native
Indian dialect, a medical mis
sionary standing before his hos
pital in the Congo, and a shrine
to Our Lady of Lourdes built by
Roman Catholic Eskimos on
Parry Peninsula, two hundred
miles above the Arctic Circle.
The article concludes that a
new sense of urgency is evident
among Paul's successors who are
laboring in the mission fields
around the world. The dramatic
witness begun by Paul in the
Book of Acts has been and must
always be a continuing witness.
BEFORE YOU READ
THE SCRIPTURE
The Book of Acts reaches a
fitting climax in Chapter 38
with Paul's arrival In Roma.
Paul's ambition to preach the
gospel at the center of the civi
lized world was finally realized.
(Paul hoped eventually to go on
as far as Spain.)
Paul began his ministry at
Rome, as he had everywhere
else, by offering the gospel to
the Jews. Because he was fearful
that his Jewish opponents had
pi eded him with false accusa
tions, Paul made a personal de
fense of his life and preaching.
Apparently such a defense was
unnecessary, since the Jewish
leaders in Rome had received no
reports from their Judean com
patriots. In contrast to Jewish
leaders elsewhere, the leaders in
Rome were eager to hear the
visiting rabbi. (Acts 28:22)
The Book of Acts ends with a
typical summary (verses 30-31):
(1) Paul had a two-year min
istry in Rome; (2) he was finan
cially self-supporting; (3) though
he was a prisoner, many came to
hear him preach; (4) he
preached the great themes of the
gospel ? the Kingdom and the
Lord Jesus Christ; (5) there was
no formidable opposition or hin
drance to his preaching.
WHAT THE SCRIPTURE
SAYS
The Scripture for today is
Acts 28:17-31. Selected verses
are printed below.
Acts 28:23-31
23 When they had appointed a
day for him, they came to him
at his lodging in great numbers.
And he expounded the matter to
them from morning till evening,
testifying to the kingdom of God
and trying to convince them
about Jesus both from the law
of Moses and from the prophets.
24 And some were convinced by
what he said, while others dis
believed. 25 So, as they disa
greed among themselves, they
departed, after Paul had made
one statement: "The Holy Spirit
was right in saying to your
fathers^ through Isaiah the pro
phet:
26 'Go to this people, and say,
You shall indeed hear but
never understand,
and you shall indeed see but
never perceive.
27 For this people's heart has
grown dull,
and their ears are heavy of,
hearing,
and their eyes they have
closed;
lest they should perceive with
their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their
heart,
and turn for me to heal
them.* I
28 Let it be known to you then
that this salvation of God has
been sent to the Gentiles; they
will listen."
30 And he lived there two
whole years at his own expense,
and welcomed all who came to
him, 31 prfeaching the kingdom
of God and teaching about the
Lord Jesus Christ quite openly
and unhindered.
Memory Selection: I am under
obligation both to Greeks and to
barbarians, both to the wise and
to the foolish; so I am eager to
preach the gospel to you also
who are in Rome.
? Romans 1:14-15
HOW WE UNDERSTAND
THE SCRIPTURE
"And when we came into
Rome" (Acts 28:16) ? thus we
come to the climax of a great
life and a great book. Paul could
never have considered the mis
sion to the gentiles complete
without this opportunity to
preach in Rome. The author of
the Book of Acts, likewise, could
not haie considered his account
of the spread of Christianity
complete unless he had followed
the story from the birthplace of
Christianity in Jerusalem to that
far outpost to the gospel, the
capital city of the Roman Em
pire.
A Pioneering Prisoner
A shadow hovers over the cli
max of the Book of Acta. The
book does not have a Horatio
Alger ending. Paul reached
Rome, to be sure; but he
reached Rome as a prisoner.
Paul arrived in Rome wearing
not the shining regalia of a mili
tary man or the finery of a
merchantman but the symbols
of the lowly and the oppressed ?
chains.
Though a prisoner, Paul was
still a pioneer. He had gifts suit
able for one who aspired to be
a pastor, an administrator, a
teacher, or acounselor. But he
was by endowment and calling
an evangelist; he was at heart a
pioneer. His eyes were always
on the distant frontier that was
waiting for the good news of
Christ.
Writing to the Romans on the
eve of his departure for Jerusa
lem, Paul told how he wanted to
move westward. He had "been
hindered," he said, but now he
planned his trip to Rome "since
I no longer have any room for
work in these regions." (Romans
15:22-23) What could Paul pos
sibly mean by the statement "no
. . . room for work"? He was
speaking of a territory of some
three hundred thousand square
miles. There would seem to be
plenty of room for work.
We can understand these
words only when we realize that
Paul did not conceive his job to
be that of staying in one place
for a long period or domesticat
ing the gospel for a local situa
tion. He conceived his job to be
that of pushing on to new fron
tiers. So he hoped to go beyond
R?me, possibly even to Spain.
(Romans 15:24) Though this last
dream was never realized in
person, Paul's words have gone
to the farthest corners of the
earth as his letters have been
read and studied in many lan
guages.
A Preaching Prisoner
Though Paul was a prisoner,
he was the most active and elo
quent prisoner Rome had wit
nessed for some time. Paul had
not been in Rome three days be
fore he called to him the local
leaders of the Jews.
We might have supposed that
Paul would have given up all
hope of converting the Jews by
this time. However, at heart
Paul was a Jew; and he could
never quite give up the hope
that the Jews would acknowl
edge the Messiah for whom they
longed. He expounded the gospel
to his Jewish friends "from
morning till evening, testifying
to the kingdom of God and try
ing to convince them about Jesus
both from the law of Moses and
from the prophets." (Acts 23:23)
Some of the Jews were con
vinced, while others disbelieved.
Because most of the Jew* re
vised to accept Jesus as the
Messiah, Paul declared once
more that God had opened the
way of salvation to the gentiles.
"Let it be known to you then
that this salvation at God has
been sent to the Gentiles; they
will listen.- (Verse 38)
We have indications that Paul
not only preached and testified
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