Choose you this day whom ye will serve. Joshua 24:15
Today the world is mad: an insanity is upon men and women, and is hurrying them on to eternal ruin. Every species of indulgence prevails, and men have become so infatuated with vice that they will not listen to warnings or appeals.
The Lord says to the people of the earth, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” All are now deciding their eternal destiny. Men need to be aroused to realize the solemnity of the time, the nearness of the day when human probation shall be ended. God gives no man a message that it will be five years or ten years or twenty years before this earth’s history shall close. He would not give any living being an excuse for delaying the preparation for His appearing. He would have no one say, as did the unfaithful servant, “My lord delayeth his coming;” for this leads to reckless neglect of the opportunities and privileges given to prepare us for that great day. Everyone who claims to be a servant of God is called to do His service as if each day might be the last. . . .
Talk of the speedy appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Put not off that day. . . .
Here is the great burden to be carried by each one. Are my sins forgiven? Has Christ, the burden-bearer, taken away my guilt? Have I a clean heart, purified by the righteousness of Jesus Christ? Woe be to any soul who is not seeking a refuge in Christ. Woe be to all who shall in any way divert the mind from the work, and cause any soul to be less vigilant now. . . .
The great work from which the mind should not be diverted is the consideration of our personal standing in the sight of God. Are our feet on the Rock of Ages? Are we hiding ourselves in the only Refuge? The storm is coming, relentless in its fury. Are we prepared to meet it? Are we one with Christ as He is one with the Father? Are we heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ? . . .
The character of Christ is to be our character. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our hearts. Here is our only safety. Nothing can separate a living Christian from God.
Maranatha p. 108
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Prayer Requests
—– Please pray I can sell my camera. We need the money to pay for some tests for Daniel that his insurance won’t cover. He sees his 6th dr. tomorrow for more tests. Pray they biopsy soon. The tumors on his thyroid are growing. We know God is in charge. Carol
—– Please pray for the following evangelism events that are taking place in the near future: Diane
- Prineville, OR (Oct 7 – Jan 13) Celebrating Life in Recovery 12 step program based on Steps to Christ for our church family Oct. 7 – Jan. 13 to spiritually and emotionally prepare our church members to offer this to the public in the future. Please pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to work in each member’s heart both now and during this program. Thank you!
- Chattanooga,TN (Oct 10 – Nov 2) Pastor Aaron Mills, Jr. will be conducting a Revelation Seminar
- Desert Cove, AZ (Oct 17 – Nov 8) Revelation of Hope Series with Pastor Myckal Morehouse
- Southview, MN (Oct 17 – Nov 22)
- Longmont, CO (Oct 17 – Nov 22) Amazing Facts – Tim Jones
- Garden City, KS (Oct 24 – Nov 9)
- Drumheller, Alberta (Oct 24 – Nov 15)
- Tacoma, WA (Oct 24 – Nov 15) The Final Conspiracy Seminar presented by Tyler Long
- Kinlichee, AZ (Oct 24 – Nov 22) Evangelist, Emilio Gomez
- NY, NY (Oct 24 – Nov 22) Amazing Facts with Carlos Muñoz
- Ashland, OR (Oct 24 – Nov 22) Amazing Facts with Ryan Day
- Lac la Biche, Alberta (Oct 24 – Nov 22) Amazing Facts with Darrin Bartell
- Gila Mountain, AZ (Oct 25 – Nov 25) Evangelist Curtis Bradford
- Chandler, AZ (Oct 29 – Nov 25) Pastor Sukho Shon
- Albuquerque, NM (Oct 31 – Nov 22) Doug Bachelor “Landmarks of Prophecy”. Register for the latest Landmarks of Prophecy news and events, as well as for live webcast reminders. www.landmarksofprophecy.com
- Phoenix, AX (Oct 31 – Nov 22) Camelback SDA Church (largest SDA Church in AZ) will be a Good News TV downlink host site for LIVE Landmarks of Prophecy with Doug Batchelor.
- Tempe, AZ (Oct 31 – Nov 22) Revelation Seminar with speaker Leroy Green
—– Went to ER with Mom last night. She fell about 4:45 and has a small hairline fracture in the right wrist and a knot on the right side of her head. CT scan of head showed no bleeding. Please pray for her. Susan
—– Kelsee is on her way to visit a college in Texas and to take her SAT test tomorrow. Please pray for a safe trip and wisdom for her test. Carol
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Dear Friends,
Some years ago, as we were coming home from church on a hot summer day, we saw a lady standing beside her car which was pulled alongside of the highway right by our exit. Seeing children in the car, Ron stopped about half-way down the exit ramp, and he and Eileen walked back up to see if they could help. I drove our car back onto the highway and pulled in behind her. During the time that I was driving the mile to the next exit and doubling back, another man also had stopped. When I saw this man, I immediately wondered if he was stopping to help or if he had other ideas. He looked as if he belonged to a motorcycle gang—bandana tied around his head, tattoos covering his bulging muscles, dirty clothes, very tough looking. A tinge of fear crept, uninvited, up my spine. I worked in the courthouse and saw defendants who looked like that all the time. As I sat there watching them, I was glad that I had a cell phone just in case. Soon, it became apparent that he had only stopped to help, and I relaxed. The contrast between the two “good Samaritans” was rather amusing—Ron in white shirt and tie—the other man in “grubbies.”
Prejudices—so easy to have—so hard to get rid of. So often we categorize someone by the way they are dressed, the color of their skin, their customs, where they live, the roughness of their speech, etc., without getting to know that person\’s heart. Praise God! Our Great Redeemer is not prejudiced! He looks at us differently than we look at one another. He takes into account all of the opportunities that we have had or have not had, the trials we have experienced, the environment in which we have been raised, all of the aspects of our life. He tells us, “the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7
Our Dear Saviour shows His love to all of His creatures. “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matt 5:45 It took the disciples a long time to exemplify this same love. They had been raised with many prejudices and wrong ideas. They had been taught from infancy that the Gentiles, the poor, the sick, the injured were under the curse of God. Jesus often went out of His way to correct these views. One time, He took His disciples into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. As the disciples followed Him to this foreign land, they looked upon the inhabitants with disdain. They were about to learn a valuable lesson. “A certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children\’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children\’s crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed. And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.” Mark 7:25-31
The disciples felt repulsed that Jesus was even in a heathen area. Now He was conversing with one of “them” and a woman at that! Yet, they could not help but see her faith and persistence even under the unmerited rebuke by the only One Who could help her. After the lesson was learned, our Loving Saviour granted this Syrophenician lady her request. I am sure every time she looked at her daughter, she was forever grateful to Jesus for His great love and healing power. I am sure that she did not keep this blessing to herself but told those around her. This was one step among many that Jesus used to break down the preconceived ideas of His followers.
Think of it! Our Dear Saviour knew this lady so well, that He was sure that her faith in Him would be strong even though He treated her so coolly. He knew that He would be able to use her as His lesson-book, teaching His followers a lesson while developing her faith at the same time. He could say to her, as he said to the Centurion, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Matt 8:10 How careful we must be in our dealings with others. How careful we should be not to judge them by the way that they look or act or talk. How kind and tenderhearted we should be to all we meet. How our Loving Redeemer yearns for us to be a channel through which His love can flow; but how often we wrap our “righteous robes” about us as did the disciples and look upon them with the same disdain that they showed.
Let us lay all of our preconceived ideas and prejudices at the foot of the cross. Let us be diligent to point those about us to their Only Helper. “Let [our] light so shine before men, that they may see [our] good works, and glorify [our] Father which is in heaven.”
Rose