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Wednesday: Treading the Wine Presses on Sabbath
Read Nehemiah 13:15-16. What is the issue that Nehemiah addresses here?
It is not easy to stand up for God when you are in the minority. Because God said that the Sabbath was to be a holy day on which no one was to do any work, Nehemiah intended to make sure that this command was followed in Jerusalem.
No doubt he felt a moral obligation to take the position he did and then act upon it.
The Sabbath was created as the pinnacle of Creation week because it was a special day on which people were to be renewed and recreated by spending time with God in ways that they can’t when engaged in their occupations or other worldly pursuits.
It has been said that “More than Israel kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath kept Israel”. The point is that the seventh-day Sabbath was, and remains, a powerful means of helping keep faith alive in those who by God’s grace seek to observe it and enjoy the physical and spiritual benefits it offers us.
Read Nehemiah 13:17-22. What does Nehemiah do in order to stop the “buying and selling” on the Sabbath?
Because Nehemiah is the governor of Judah, he sees his role as the enforcer of the rules. Because the rules in Judah were based on the law of God, he becomes a guardian of that law, including the Sabbath. Maybe if the nobles of Judah had stood up to the corruption brought in by the High Priest, Nehemiah wouldn’t have found himself in this situation. However, the rulers and nobles perhaps already resented Nehemiah for making them give back to the poor earlier; thus, they didn’t seem to object to the changes Eliashib and Tobiah brought in, either.
Nehemiah rebukes the nobles first and then commands that the gates be shut and posts servants at the gates to guard them. When the marketplace simply moves from inside the city to the outside, he takes even more drastic measures and threatens to lay a hand on the merchants the next Sabbath. Nehemiah must have been a man of his word, because the merchants got the point and stayed away from then on.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/oOo2fc8UaKU/
Continual Advancement
I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13, 14.
It is the duty of everyone who professes to be a Christian to keep his thoughts under the control of reason and oblige himself to be cheerful and happy. However bitter may be the cause of his grief, he should cultivate a spirit of rest and quietude in God. The restfulness which is in Christ Jesus, the peace of Christ, how precious, how healing its influence, how soothing to the oppressed soul! However dark his prospects, let him cherish a spirit to hope for good. While nothing is gained by despondency, much is lost. While cheerfulness and a calm resignation and peace will make others happy and healthy, it will be of the greatest benefit to one’s self. Sadness and talking of disagreeable things is encouraging the disagreeable scenes, bringing back upon one’s self the disagreeable effect. God wants us to forget all these—not look down but up, up!
Sadness deadens the circulation in the blood vessels and nerves, and also retards the action of the liver. It hinders the process of digestion and of nutrition, and has a tendency to dry up the marrow of the whole system….
God’s purposes are often veiled in mystery; they are incomprehensible to finite minds; but He who sees the end from the beginning knows better than we. What we need is to cleanse us from earthliness, to perfect our Christian character, that the robe of Christ’s righteousness shall be put upon us…. Faith, patience, forbearance, heavenly-mindedness, trust in your wise heavenly Father, are the perfect blossoms which mature amidst clouds and disappointments and bereavements….
The order of providence in relation to His people is advancement, progression. Continual advancement is the way of holiness, rising higher and higher in the knowledge and love of God…. God is unchangeable—the same yesterday, today, and forever. Faith must be exercised in all our prayers, for it has not lost its power, nor humble obedience its reward. If our brethren, who profess to believe the truth, would show their faith by their works, they would honor God and be enabled to convince many souls that they have the truth, for according to their faith and their obedience will they realize the fulfillment of the promises of God and be endowed with power from on high.—Letter 1, March 29, 1883, to J. N. Andrews, our first missionary, who was dying of tuberculosis in Switzerland.
The Upward Look p. 102
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Prayer Requests
—-Please emergency prayers for my grandfathers wife, Angela. She is in the hospital likely with a stroke. Please pray for her healing for God’s glory and so my grandfather would see God’s hand. Nathan
—-Please pray for my two prayer requests. The first is for my uncle. He is alone now since my dear mother died and he keeps calling out my mother’s name for help. It is heartbreaking. He has a live in caregiver but he really is in a bad situation and nothing that I have done to try and fix this situation has worked. He is a veteran and I have contacted the Veterans but still the situation stays the same. Please pray for God to remedy this situation. Also I have a good friend who is going in for heart surgery today. Please pray for her healing. Connie
—-Milt is taking his 2nd dialysis now we still need your prayers at this time. He needs to get through this. God is his healer. Arlene
—-Please pray for my family being attacked by the evil one please pray for a hedge of protection especially right now. Debra
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Dear Friends,
Last week, Ron overheard only part of a conversation that Brian and Esther were having. That part of the conversation could have been very upsetting if taken without the rest. At first, I was upset but upon reflection, I realized that they were talking about someone who we all knew who was going through some difficult times. Brian had been making a suggestion on how to solve the problem. The next day, I asked Esther what it was about. She had to think a minute to even recall the incident, but she confirmed what I thought about that snippet of conversation. I laughed and said, “That’s how rumors begin.”
How careful we must be not to believe or spread rumors for they may be as false as the one that could have been started from what Ron had overheard. How many times we believe we know what is going on, but fail to discern truth from a false report. How easy it is to spread that tidbit of gossip and speak against someone. We put the worst possible motive upon it and slander that one who might be totally innocent. How many times we hear some bit of gossip and know it is false but keep quiet instead of speaking the truth. How this breaks our Great Redeemer’s heart of love. He, Who gave everything for us, is looking for the reflection of His character in us. He listens to our every word, waiting to hear His words coming from our lips. He Who is Just and Kind and Good is longing for us to exemplify those traits in our character.
Yet, how often He sees and hears quite the opposite. We do as Jeremiah writes, “Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.” Jer 9:8 James tells us, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” James 1:26,27;3:2-18
Jesus, with tears in His voice, proclaimed, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matt 12:34-37
We will have to meet our words again. Solemn thought. Daily we should heed the advice of the children’s song that says, “O be careful little lips what you say.” Words we have spoken in anger, words we have spoken in jest, cruel words, slanderous words, all are recorded in the courts above. Our Dear Saviour hears them all. These words also have an effect upon ourselves. How careful then, should we be to put a guard upon our lips, lest by our words we wound those whom the Saviour loves, lest by our words we discourage the very one who is doing right, lest by our words we turn others away from their Only Helper.
“Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” 1 Pet 3:8-12
May we never allow the words that have been spoken against us, to turn us away from the One Who gave His life for us. May we speak only those words which draw others closer to our Dear Saviour. May God be glorified in all that we do, all that we say, all that we think is my prayer.
Rose
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rosesdevotional/~3/xlJbQ6CnOaI/continual-advancement.html
John 1:5-8
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~s/dailybible/main/?i=http://dailybiblepromise.com/verse/2019/12/10
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dailybible/main/~3/ci-z2WARMKw/10
NAD Press Release: Adventist Support for Equality Act Alternative
Press release from the North American Division (NAD) of the Adventist denomination, written by Bettina Krause, Melissa Reid, and Dan Weber: On Friday, December 6, 2019, the Fairness for All Act was launched in Washington, D.C., by Congressman Chris Stewart (Utah-R), with support from several religious groups and coalitions. Fairness for All (FFA) is centered […] Source: https://atoday.org/with-religious-freedom-under-threat-is-there-a-way-forward/