He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. Matthew 12:30.

Jesus … said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, … who made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:5-7.
The Son of God … left His riches and honor and glory, and clothed His divinity with humanity, that humanity might take hold of divinity and become a partaker of the divine nature. He came not to live in the palaces of kings, to live without care and labor and be supplied with all the conveniences which human nature naturally craves. The world never saw its Lord wealthy. In the council of heaven He had chosen to stand in the ranks of the poor and the oppressed, … to learn the trade of His earthly parent. He came to the world to be a reconstructor of character, and He brought into all His work the perfection which He desired to bring into the character He was transforming by His divine power.
Nor did He shun the social life of His countrymen. That all might become acquainted with God manifest in the flesh, He mingled with every class of society, and was called the friend of sinners. In Himself Christ possessed an absolute right to all things, but He gave Himself to a life of poverty that we might be rich in heavenly treasure. Commander in the heavenly courts, He took the lowest place on earth. Rich, yet for our sake He became poor….
For a little time the Lord allows His people to be His stewards, that He may test their character. In that time they decide their eternal destiny. If they work in opposition to the will of God, they cannot belong to the royal family….
Evidence of the work of grace in the heart is given when we do good to everyone as we have opportunity. The proof of our love is given in a Christlike spirit, a willingness to impart the good things God has given us, a readiness to practice self-denial and self-sacrifice in order to help advance the cause of God and suffering humanity. Never should we pass by the object that calls for our liberality….
The Lord will use all who will give themselves to be used. But He requires heart service…. When the heart is given to God, our talents, our energy, our possessions, all we have and are, will be devoted to His service.—The Review and Herald, May 15, 1900.
From the Heart p. 86
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for my good friend Vicki. She is back in the hospital getting her lungs drained again. She has been suffering from throat cancer for a very long time. M
—-My cousin Norm has pancreatic cancer. Please pray for him. Mike
—-Ron’s blood pressure is better but still quite high. Please pray that it will get back to normal soon. Rose
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
Many years ago, I worked in the physical therapy department in an army hospital. It was very easy and interesting work. Often the soldiers would come in for treatment when they just wanted a day off. They would complain of a stiff neck or a sore back, but when giving them the treatments, it seemed that they were perfectly fine. The captain that was the head of the department didn’t care whether the soldiers had a legitimate complaint or not, he was more interested in having a good time. He made working there a lot of fun. –
After I had worked there about a year, Captain Meyer was transferred to another base and we got a major in there as head of the department. He was much different. He was tall, very quiet, stern, and quite unapproachable. The fun stopped. He had the opinion that all of the people who came through that office were there because they just didn’t want to work that day. He gave them painful examinations and hard exercises.
One day a young soldier walked into our department. He had some rather unusual complaints about pain and weakness. The major felt that he was only there to get out of work and treated him very harshly. The young man took it all in a gentle and smiling way. I felt sorry for him because I knew that even if he were exaggerating his condition, the major’s treatment was painful.
Several times a week the young man came back. Each time he told of more symptoms. Each time he seemed to get worse. Finally, the young man was transferred to a different hospital by his doctor.
A few weeks later, Major W. came into the department with a more solemn look on his face than usual. He asked me if I remembered that young man. I said that I did. He told me that he had been talking with the young man’s doctor and that the other hospital had tested him and they had found a tumor on that soldier’s upper spine. Major Wheeler had been giving him exercises and treatment the were contrary to what that young man needed. He was now very sorry that he had done so, but it was too late.
How easy it is to misjudge another. How easy to be sure that we know someone’s motives and yet be so wrong. Jesus says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matt 7:1-5 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” John 7:24
How can we judge righteously? He gives the answer, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matt 7:20 We cannot judge another person’s motives, but we can know them by their fruits. Does the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance Gal 5:22) show forth in the life? Yet even then, we must be very careful. We must remember that “we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Rom 14:10
Let us hide God’s word in our hearts that we may be able to have that discernment we must have in these last days that we will not be deceived. Let us pray for, rather than gossip about, those we feel have wrong motives. Let us determine to be so close to our Loving Saviour that we keep our eyes only on Him.
Rose

“Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.” And the people were restrained from bringing. Exodus 36:6.
Under the Jewish system, the people were required to cherish a spirit of liberality, both in sustaining the cause of God and in supplying the wants of the needy. At the harvest and the vintage, the firstfruits of the fields—corn, wine, and oil—were to be consecrated as an offering to the Lord. The gleanings and the corners of the fields were reserved for the poor. The firstfruits of the wool when the sheep were shorn, of the grain when the wheat was threshed, were to be offered to the Lord; and at the feast it was commanded that the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the strangers should be invited. At the close of every year all were required to make solemn oath whether or not they had done according to the command of God.
This arrangement was made by the Lord to impress upon the people that in every matter He must be first. They were, by this system of benevolence, reminded that their gracious Master was the true proprietor of their fields, their flocks, and their herds, that the God of heaven sent them sunshine and rain for their seed-time and harvest, and that everything which they possessed was of His creation. All was the Lord’s, and He had made them stewards of His goods.
The liberality of the Jews in the construction of the tabernacle evinced a spirit of benevolence which has not been equaled by the people of God at any later date. The Hebrews had just been freed from their long bondage in Egypt, they were wanderers in the wilderness; yet scarcely were they delivered from the armies of the Egyptians who pursued them in their hasty journey, when the word of the Lord came to Moses, “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.” …
All gave with a willing hand, not a certain amount of their increase, but a large portion of their actual possessions. They devoted it gladly and heartily to the Lord. They honored Him by so doing. Was it not all His? Had He not given them all that they possessed? If He called for it, was it not their duty to give back to the lender His own? No urging was needed. The people brought even more than was required; and they were told to desist, for there was already more than could be appropriated.—The Review and Herald, October 17, 1882.
From the Heart p. 76
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-Praise—Ron got out of the hospital today! Please pray for him that his blood pressure will be under control from now on. Rose
—-Please pray for the grandmother of a lady I met in the ICU waiting room. Also a man was there whose wife is in end-stage kidney disease. The man has cancer and also needs prayer. I didn’t think to get names. Rose
—-A mission team from Alaska is in a difficult situation, and needs to return home. Please pray for this team’s safety and flight home. Jeanie
—-I need prayer for healing. Lucyanne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
Not too many years ago, the man who sent out news of happenings in our highschool class. He sent out an obituary for one of the girls I had gone to school with in second grade. (We had a very large senior class, so she and I did not have any classes together.) As I looked at Lonnie’s picture and read her obituary, it reminded me of an incident many years before high school that made my seven-year-old heart break.
It was the first day of school after the Thanksgiving vacation in 1952. I was proudly wearing my new coat that my mother had bought me. It was a grayish-green wool and very warm—just what I needed for the cold winters of Michigan. I entered the second grade cloakroom and hung my coat on a hook alongside about 30 other coats, went to my desk, and sat down. Soon all thoughts of my coat vanished as Miss Kramer began teaching our lessons.
Soon it was time to go home for lunch. Some children had quite a way to get home, but not me. All I had to do was walk across the street to my house. We all walked quietly to the cloakroom to get our coats. When I got there, however, I had a hard time finding my coat. It was the first time I had worn it, and I could not remember exactly what it looked like. After searching a bit, I found it. To my surprise there was a beautiful Christmas corsage pinned to it. I looked at that corsage and wondered how it had gotten there. In my seven-year-old imaginings, I thought that maybe my mother had tiptoed into the cloakroom while no one was looking and had pinned it on my coat to surprise me. It was such a wonderful thought that I felt like crying for joy!
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my arm. To my horror, I saw someone’s fingernails making deep scratches on my forearm: one was so deep that it actually bled and left a scar which I had for many years. There stood Lonnie. (I was always a little afraid of this girl because she was so mean.) Now here she was looking very angry and screaming at me about stealing her coat. Gradually, I realized that she and I must have the same color coat. I looked around. There on another hook not far away was my new coat. I told her that I was sorry and reached for my coat. Then she saw that we had matching coats and her anger melted a little. She grabbed her coat and ran off, while I stood there with a bleeding arm and a breaking heart.
How easy it is for us to become just as confused as I was that day. We may think that we know what is right, but we are so wrong. Solomon observed, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov 14:12 Jesus urges us, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Mat 7:13 ,14

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. Matthew 10:34.