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The Desire of Ages / Re: The Desire of Ages--62--The Feast at Simon's House
« Last post by Dorine on January 10, 2025, 03:37:47 AM »
Mary had been looked upon as a great sinner, but Christ knew the circumstances that had shaped her life. He might have extinguished every spark of hope in her soul, but He did not. It was He who had lifted her from despair and ruin. Seven times she had heard His rebuke of the demons that controlled her heart and mind. She had heard His strong cries to the Father in her behalf. She knew how offensive is sin to His unsullied purity, and in His strength she had overcome.

I saw something this morning I had never noticed before. It may seem like a little thing but Jesus didn't just heal Mary and send her on her way. She heard His strong cries to His Father on her behalf. That touched me with the thought that when we are dealing with people it's not enough to listen and empathize but always take them to the Lord in prayer. Let them see that although we are willing and happy to do what we can to relieve their situation we also believe that the real answers and help for them is in Jesus.
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Seventh-day Adventist Sabbath School Lesson / Re: SDA Sabbath School Lesson 2-1st Quarter 2025-Covenantal Love
« Last post by Richard Myers on January 10, 2025, 03:10:39 AM »
Thursday       January 9
You Have Freely Received; Freely Give

Just as the servant could never repay his debt to his master, we can never repay God. We could never earn or merit God’s love. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NKJV). What amazing love! As 1 John 3:1 puts it, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (NKJV).

However, what we can and should do is to reflect God’s love to others as much as we possibly can. If we have received such great compassion and forgiveness, how much more should we bestow compassion and forgiveness on others? Recall that the servant forfeited his master’s compassion and forgiveness because he failed to bestow them on his fellow servant. If we truly love God, we will not fail to reflect His love to others.

Read John 15:12, 1 John 3:16, and 1 John 4:7-12. What do these passages teach about the relationship between God’s love, our love for God, and love for others?

Just after John 15:12, Jesus told His disciples,

“ ‘You are My friends if you do whatever I command you’ ” (John 15:14, NKJV). And what did Jesus command them? Among other things, Jesus commanded them (and us) to love others even as He loved them. Here and elsewhere, the Lord commands us to love God and to love one another.

In short, we should recognize that we have been forgiven an infinite debt, one that we can never repay, a debt paid only at the cross for us. Therefore, we should love and praise God and live with love and grace toward others. As Luke 7:47 teaches, the one who is forgiven much, loves much, but “ ‘to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little’ ” (NKJV). And who among us doesn’t realize just how much he or she has been forgiven?

If to love God entails that we love others, we should with urgency share the message of God’s love, both in word and in deed. We should help people in their daily lives here and now, and also seek to be a conduit of God’s love and point people to the One who offers them the promise of eternal life in a new heaven and a new earth—an entirely new creation from this world, which is so marred and ravaged by sin and death, the doleful fruits of rejecting God’s love.

What specific steps can you take to love God by loving others? What could you do today and in the coming days to show people God’s love and (eventually) invite them to enjoy what it means to have the promise of eternal life?
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The Desire of Ages / Re: The Desire of Ages--62--The Feast at Simon's House
« Last post by Beacon on January 09, 2025, 08:05:34 PM »
"The plan of redemption has invested humanity with great possibilities, and in Mary these possibilities were to be realized."

"Through His grace she became a partaker of the divine nature."

"The one who had fallen, and whose mind had been a habitation of demons, was brought very near to the Saviour in fellowship and ministry. It was Mary who sat at His feet and learned of Him. It was Mary who poured upon His head the precious anointing oil, and bathed His feet with her tears. Mary stood beside the cross, and followed Him to the sepulcher. Mary was first at the tomb after His resurrection. It was Mary who first proclaimed a risen Saviour."

" Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul. You may say, I am sinful, very sinful. You may be; but the worse you are, the more you need Jesus."

"He turns no weeping, contrite one away."

"He does not tell to any all that He might reveal, but He bids every trembling soul take courage. Freely will He pardon all who come to Him for forgiveness and restoration."

Are "WE" willing to admit "OUR" need ?? This story shows how much Jesus Loves Each one of us.

=======================

1
Come, every soul by sin oppressed,
  There’s mercy with the Lord;
And He will surely give you rest
  By trusting in His Word.
 
Only trust Him! Only trust Him!
  Only trust Him now!
He will save you! He will save you!
    He will save you now!
2
For Jesus shed His precious blood
  Rich blessings to bestow;
Plunge now into the crimson flood
  That washeth white as snow.
3
Yes, Jesus is the Truth, the Way,
  That leads you into rest;
Believe in Him without delay,
  And you are fully blest.
4
Come then, and join the holy band,
  And on to glory go;
In Christ’s redemption take your stand,
  And all His goodness know.

Lyrics:John Hart Stockton (1813-1877)
Music:John Hart Stockton (1813-1877
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Defending Religious Liberty / Re: Uzs Supreme Court Ruled Sunday law legal
« Last post by rahab on January 09, 2025, 04:23:42 PM »
Oh boy
Here we go
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Bread of Life / Re: Truth
« Last post by rahab on January 09, 2025, 04:22:29 PM »
Keep this oil well operating and your lamp will always be supplied

TREASURES OF GOD’S WORD

FAITH

BIBLE STUDY
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Bread of Life / Re: A Verse for Today
« Last post by rahab on January 09, 2025, 04:19:10 PM »
(N)  Psalm 103:19

The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
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The Desire of Ages / Re: The Desire of Ages--61--Zacchaeus
« Last post by Richard Myers on January 09, 2025, 06:55:43 AM »
Amen!! We are truly blessed as we behold the life of Jesus.

     No repentance is genuine that does not work reformation. The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin; it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven.   
     The Christian in his business life is to represent to the world the manner in which our Lord would conduct business enterprises. In every transaction he is to make it manifest that God is his teacher. "Holiness unto the Lord" is to be written upon daybooks and ledgers, on deeds, receipts, and bills of exchange. Those who profess to be followers of Christ, and who deal in an unrighteous manner, are bearing false witness against the character of a holy, just, and merciful God. Every converted soul will, like Zacchaeus, signalize the entrance of Christ into his heart by an abandonment of the unrighteous practices that have marked his life. Like the chief publican, he will give proof of his sincerity by making restitution. The Lord says, "If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; . . . none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: . . . He shall surely live." Ezekiel 33:15, 16. 
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The Desire of Ages / Re: The Desire of Ages--61--Zacchaeus
« Last post by Dorine on January 09, 2025, 04:25:05 AM »
To Zacchaeus the Saviour said, "This day is salvation come to this house." Not only was Zacchaeus himself blessed, but all his household with him. Christ went to his home to give him lessons of truth, and to instruct his household in the things of the kingdom. They had been shut out from the synagogues by the contempt of rabbis and worshipers; but now, the most favored household in all Jericho, they gathered in their own home about the divine Teacher, and heard for themselves the words of life.

The same story could have been said about the rich young ruler but his riches were his god. Zacchaeus shows that even with all his wealth his soul longed for something deeper and he was willing to find and accept it. He and his family may have been sinful outcasts to the religious leaders but when Jesus enters your heart and home nothing else matters. Everything changes. Wrongs are made right and burdens are lifted because all is forgiven.
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Defending Religious Liberty / Uzs Supreme Court Ruled Sunday law legal
« Last post by Richard Myers on January 08, 2025, 08:54:08 PM »
  From early 60s:

 Slightly less than two years ago the United States Supreme Court rendered its decision inMcGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 6 L.Ed. (2d) 393, 81 S.Ct. 1101 (1961), upholding the constitutionality of Sunday closing (or Sunday Blue) Laws of the state of Maryland.  Three basic constitutional issues were considered by the court in arriving at its decision.  These issues, stated in terms of questions regarding our own Senate Bill 175, are as follows:

            I. Whether the proposed law would constitute a law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof contrary to the provisions of the State Constitution, Article I, § 11, as amended, and the Federal Constitution, First and Fourteenth Amendments?

            II. Whether the proposed law is so vague as to fail to give reasonable notice of its application and is therefore violative of the due process of law clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and Article I, § 3, of the State Constitution?

            III. Whether the proposed law in defining what goods may be sold and what merchants may sell, establishes classifications which bring about a denial of equal protection of the law or constitute special legislation prohibited by § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal  [[Orig. Op. Page 3]] Constitution or Article I, §§ 3 and 12 of the State Constitution?

                        I.

            The contention that the Maryland Sunday Closing Laws violated constitutional provisions prohibiting state support of a religious establishment or interference with the free exercise of religion was rejected by the court inMcGowan v. Maryland, supra, upon a determination that the underlying purpose of the laws was simply,

            ". . . to compel a day of rest from work, permitting only activities which arenecessary or recreational. . . ." (Quoting from McGowan v. State, 220 Md. 117, 151 A. (2d) 156 (1958).  (Emphasis supplied.)

            Thus the court followed precedent described by Mr. Justice Field inSoon Hing v. Crowley, 113 U.S. 703, 710, 28 L.Ed. 1145, 5 S.Ct. 730 (1885), as follows:

            ". . . Laws setting aside Sunday as a day of rest are upheld, not from any right of the government to legislate for the promotion of religious observances, but from its right to protect all persons from the physical and moral debasement which comes from uninterrupted labor.  Such laws have always been deemed beneficent and merciful laws, especially to the poor and dependent, to the laborers in our factories and workshops and in the heated rooms of our cities; and their validity has been sustained by the highest courts of the States."

            Similarly, the constitutionality of the present Sunday closing law in Washington (chapter 249, Laws of 1909), was upheld by our own state supreme court inState v. Grabinski, 33 Wn. (2d) 603, 206 P. (2d) 1022 (1949), based upon the following reasoning:

            "The statute which the appellant was convicted of violating makes no reference to the Sabbath, but prohibits certain activities on the first day of the week; it has been upheld by this court, not as an implementation of the Fourth Commandment, but as a proper exercise of the police power.  As was said inState ex rel. Walker v. Judge, 39 La. Ann. 132, 139, 1 So. 437 (quoted inSeattle v. Gervasi, supra, p. 433) [144 Wash. 429, 258 Pac. 328 (1927)]:
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The Desire of Ages / Re: The Desire of Ages--61--Zacchaeus
« Last post by Beacon on January 08, 2025, 08:01:32 PM »
"The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin."

"it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct."

"Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven.

Are "WE" willing to surrender "ALL TO JESUS."
===================
All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.
 
I surrender all,
  I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
    I surrender all.
2
All to Jesus I surrender,
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.
3
All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.
4
All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.
5
All to Jesus I surrender,
Now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory to His name!

Lyrics:Judson W. Van de Venter (1855-1939)
Music:Winfield Scott Weeden (1847-1908)
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