Tag: worship

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Devotionals

THE SABBATH IN THE ADVENT MOVEMENT

June 3, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE SABBATH IN THE ADVENT MOVEMENT

“Thus saith the Lord, Keep us Judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is NEAR to come, and My righteousness to be REVEALED.” Isa.56:1, KJV (See verses 2-8; cf. Rev.18).

“When does Isaiah’s prophecy apply? See Heb. 9: 26, 28; 10:10, 12,14; 1 Pet.1:4,5. The gathering of Sabbath-keepers just before Christ’s second advent in Isa. 56: 2-8.

“This gathering under the Advent Movement since 1844 includes every ‘man’ who ‘keepeth the Sabbath FROM POLLUTING IT, and keepeth his hand FROM DOING ANY EVIL.’ It also includes ‘the sons of the stranger’ and ‘the eunuchs that KEEP MY SABBATHS.’

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Devotionals

EGYPT’S HATRED TOWARDS THE SABBATH

June 2, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

EGYPT’S HATRED TOWARDS THE SABBATH See Exodus 5: 4-14.

Long before the Ten Commandments were written on two tables of stone by the Creator’s own finger and given to Moses atop Mt. Sinai, the Sabbath day observance and worship was already a point controversy even while Israel was still slaves in Egypt— the first atheistic empire!

Moses and Aaron tried to teach the Israelites to observe the Sabbath day in Egypt. But resting on the Sabbath angered the pharaoh and he issued a DECREE that made Sabbath-keeping impossible in Egypt.

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Devotionals

HOW THE SABBATH DAY IS HALLOWED

May 26, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

HOW THE SABBATH DAY IS HALLOWED

“IF you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day [not holiday], and call the Sabbath a delight, the HOLY DAY of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, NOT DOING YOUR OWN WAYS, nor FINDING YOUR OWN PLEASURE, nor SPEAKING YOUR OWN WORDS, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to rise the high hills [places, KJV]  of the earth, and FEED you wither the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord [of the Sabbath day] has spoken.” Isa. 58: 13,14, NKJV.

“God has given 6 days wherein to labor, and He REQUIRES that their own work be done in 6 working days. ACTS of necessity and mercy are permitted in the Sabbath, the sick and the suffering are at ALL TIMES to be cared for; but UNNECESSARY labor is to be strictly avoided. [Isa. 58:13 quoted].

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Devotionals

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT  

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.” Exo.20:7.

“This commandment not only prohibits false oaths and common swearing, but it forbids us to use the name of God in a light and careless manner, without regard to its awful significance. By the thoughtless mention of God in common conversation, by appeals to Him in trivial matters, and by the frequent and thoughtless repetition of His name, we dishonor Him. ‘Holy and reverend is His name.’ (Ps.111:9]. All should meditate upon His majesty, His purity and holiness, that the heart may be impressed with a sense of His exalted character; and His holy name should be uttered with reverence and solemnity.” -Patriarchs & Prophets, pp. 306, 307.

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Devotionals

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

May 14, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” Exo. 20: 4-6, KJV.

“The second commandment forbids the worship of the true God by images or similitude (likeness). Many heathen nations claimed that their images were mere figures or symbols by which the Deity was worshiped.  But God has declared such worship to be SIN. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by MATERIAL objects would LOWER  man’s conception of God. The mind, turned away from the Infinite perfection of Jehovah, would be attracted to the CREATURE rather than to the CREATOR. And as his conceptions of God were LOWERED, so would men become DEGRADED.”

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Devotionals

THE FIRST OF ALL COMMANDMENTS

May 13, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE FIRST OF ALL COMMANDMENTS

“Thou shall have no other gods before Me.” Exo. 20:2.

“Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent, uncreated One, Himself the Source and Sustainer of all, is alone entitled to supreme reverence and worship. Man is forbidden to give other object the FIRST place in his affections or in his service. Whatever we cherish that tends to LESSEN our love for God and INTERFERE with the service due Him, of that we do make a GOD.” E.G. White, Patriarchs & Prophets, p. 305.

“Since God has created man, in the nature of things the FIRST OF ALL RELATIONSHIPS is that to God: and the FIRST OF ALL DUTIES could be nothing but duty to God.”

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Devotionals

WHERE & HOW WILL YOU WORSHIP NOW?

April 7, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

WHERE & HOW WILL YOU WORSHIP NOW? 

“Salute the brethren which are in Laodicean, and Nymphas, and the church which is in your house.” Col. 4:15. “And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and the the church that is in thy house.” Philemon 2, KJV.

Note where the earliest of the churches were situated: “the church which is in thy house;” “the church which is in his house.” This was how the Christian church began in its pure infancy, and in the days ahead, this is how it will end in its spiritual maturity— because of the persecution crisis, not just the corona virus crisis when we finally lose our religious liberty, as prophesied and therefore will “certainly come to pass.”

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Devotionals

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

February 17 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

Based on the Bible and the First Amendment of Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution: “RELIGION is ‘the duty we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it.’ LIBERTY is ‘the state of being exempt from the domination of others, or from restricting circumstances.

In ethics and philosophy, the power in any rational agent to make his choices and decide his conduct for himself, spontaneously and voluntarily, in accordance with reasons or motives.’ RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, therefore, is man’s exemption from the domination of others, or from restricting circumstances: man’s freedom to make his choices and decide his conduct for himself, spontaneously and voluntarily: in his duty to his Creator, and in the manner of discharging that duty.’ Since God created man, in the nature of things the first of all relationships is that to God; and the first of all duties could be nothing but duty to God.” A.T. Jones, “Individuality in Religion,” Introduction, 5,6.

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