He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. Psalm 111:4.
In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in placing His blessing upon the seventh day. The Sabbath was committed to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human family. Its observance was to be an act of grateful acknowledgment, on the part of all who should dwell upon the earth, that God was their creator and their rightful sovereign; that they were the work of His hands, and the subjects of His authority. Thus the institution was wholly commemorative, and given to all mankind. There was nothing in it shadowy, or of restricted application to any people.
All things were created by the Son of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3. And since the Sabbath is a memorial of the work of creation, it is a token of the love and power of Christ.
The Sabbath calls our thoughts to nature, and brings us into communion with the Creator. In the song of the bird, the sighing of the trees, and the music of the sea, we still may hear His voice who talked with Adam in Eden in the cool of the day. And as we behold His power in nature we find comfort, for the word that created all things is that which speaks life to the soul.
God … has given man six days in which to labor. But He sanctified the day of His rest, and gave it to man to be kept, free from all secular labor. By thus setting apart the Sabbath, God gave the world a memorial. He did not set apart one day and any day in seven, but one particular day, the seventh day. And by observing the Sabbath, we show that we recognize God as the living God, the Creator of the heaven and the earth.
Had the Sabbath always been sacredly observed, there could never have been an atheist or an idolater.
The Faith I Live By p. 32
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Prayer Requests
—–Please include in your prayers Arden Joy, 13 yrs old for continuous coughing. Thank you Arturo
—–Please pray for Juanita. She has Stage 4 cancer. Diane
—–I am asking for prayer for myself. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and I am having surgery Thursday morning. Asking that God will guide the doctor’s hands and that it will be successful and I will better than I was before the procedure. John
—–Kenya is divided i placed my prayer request to our beloved country Kenya. Intimidations, killing innocent people arresting and no justice, we need peace that no man can bring but GOD. Jose
—–Please pray for my dear 84 year old mother. She just took a fall and hit her head hard. Connie
—–I do not usually ask for prayer for myself, but am currently fighting cancer of my voice box, here in the next week or so they will be removing my voice box because of how large the mass is, please pray God leads the surgeons if it is not done correctly it could spread through my body and I will be gone very quickly, I do not feel that, that is God;’s plan for me but if it is, it is . May God’s will be done I just keep ttrying to have faith and stay as strong as I can not to let the devil in my brain which is a daily struggle when it is bad I just sing hymns to myself since I have no voice at present Melinda
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Dear Friends,
In 1895, when Ida, my grandmother, was a little girl, she lived with her mother, sisters, and one brother in a tiny apartment at the back of the hotel where her mother worked as a baker. Her father had deserted the family putting a great burden upon his wife. Single parents were uncommon in those far off days. The hotel manager was kind to them and allowed them to rent that apartment, but he did not want them to bother his guests. The children were always told to stay inside while their mother was working. Blanche, the oldest, had to be “mother” and not only keep things clean, but also watch her younger siblings.
One day, four year old Ida tired of being cooped up all the time and decided that she would do something about it. She waited until everyone was busy and quietly slipped out of the tiny apartment and tip-toed down the wooden stairway. Quickly she ran across the lawn to the small woods that was behind the hotel. She slowed her pace and began to enjoy the feeling of her new-found freedom. Hearing a rustling in the leaves on the forest floor, she stopped and looked around to see if she could find the source of the noise. A little way before her a black and white kitty was poking his nose into the leaves searching for food.
Carefully, she approached the kitty. She loved animals, but rarely got to touch one. The animal didn’t run away, but faced her and began patting the ground with his front feet. In spite of his strange behavior, she reached out her hand and petted it. Suddenly, she was enveloped in a cloud of smelly vapor. Ida coughed and sneezed, she began to run back toward the hotel. She wanted to get away from that horrible smell odor, but no matter how fast she ran, she couldn’t get away from it. She still smelled like a skunk!
Her poor mother was summoned from her work. She was so upset. (So was the manager.) Ida’s clothes had to be buried for she knew of no way to rid them of the offending odor. Mother Jenny could not afford that, but there was nothing else to do. Ida was scrubbed and scrubbed before she could go into the apartment, but the smell of that black and white “kitty” lingered for a long time.
So it is with sin. It looks so harmless. We do not see it for what it really is. It appears to be safe. We reason, “Everyone else is doing it.” Solomon tells us, “There is a way
that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov 16:25 Sin seems desirable, but in the end, it stings and burns and makes us miserable. We become just as polluted with sin as my grandmother was polluted with skunk odor. We cannot get away from it no matter how hard we try. We are helpless.
“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.” John 8:34,35 “The wages of sin is death” Rom 6:23 It gets us in its grasp and will not let go. We might try to free ourselves from its clutches, but we cannot. We are like Ida: wherever we go, our sin follows us. It taints the very atmosphere about us. Others are affected by it and turn away in disgust.
We are as Isaiah describes, “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isa 1:5,6; 64:6 We cry out as did Paul, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Rom 7:24
Praise God! There is an answer! “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” vs 25 He is the way of escape! Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” John 14:6 Our Dear Saviour will forgive and cleanse us from those sins that have so long polluted us if we will only ask Him to. Indeed, He laid down His life for that very reason. John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. . . .My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 1:9-2:1
May we come to Him now, just as we are, all polluted with sin. May we wash and be clean in the Living Fountain as He bids us, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” Isa 1:16-19 May we accept His great gift of salvation this day is my prayer.
Rose