Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You. – Psalm 89: 14
King of the Universe lead us to your foundation and the building blocks that are found there.
Foundational Issues
Happy New Year!
#HappyNewYear2021
“We live in deeds, not years;
In thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs.
He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”
EGW, OHC pg. 7
Discipling
Matthew 28:19-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
“In the command to disciple, teach and baptize we find that there is a relational component to evangelism (discipling), intentional instruction in righteousness (teaching), and that the end result is to bring them to the water to be baptized and join God’s church. There is no preference towards discipling, no high calling in teaching, and no blessing in baptism alone—each of these elements is important, necessary and inextricably linked. The church that goes about discipling without any intention of teaching clear doctrine, does not fulfill this command. The same is true for the church that only baptizes or the church whose whole focus is doctrinal teaching. In fact, you can’t even say you’re obeying this command if you do two of these three.”
Guest Article Excerpt from Jason Wolf – Director, Northwest Mission Institute.
Proverbs 22:10
There must be an element of decided selection in our formation of a group of close friends – 3SDABC pg 1021
Nature Speaks
Soft and low a voice is calling,
Bids me leave my toil and care,
On my ear the accents falling
Glad and free I hasten there.
—
‘Tis the voice of nature pleading
Sweet, like music in the air;
And ’tis God’s great hand that’s leading
Me to seek and find Him there.
—
Little birds to me are singing
Of a God who’s over all;
Merrily their flight are winging,
Knowing He’ll not let them fall.
—
Little flowers to me are speaking
Of a God who’s always true;
Nature, as a whole, is seeking
To impart me life anew.
—
Oh! that I might heed her teaching,
Be more trustful every day ;
List the sermons she is preaching
Pointing to the heavenward way.
—
Day by day from her I’m learning,
Walking paths that Jesus trod,
Till at last my heart is turning
Upward, to sweet nature’s God.
—Esther Fiedler.
New Worlds to Conquer in the New Year
“No more worlds to conquer”—and great Alexander wept.
How blind he had become because his moral senses slept!
His narrow world of selfishness is all that he had seen;
The vast world of the spirit was, to him,unknown, unseen.
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Those rich realms of the spirit hold new worlds to conquer still.
What exploits now await the men of vision and of will,
What great discoveries will be made, what victories will be gained,
What treasures of contentment and of peace will be attained!
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If we beat back the barriers of ignorance and doubt,
And triumph o’er the enemies of peace within, without;
If we push back the wilderness of want and human need,
Then we can take our places with the pioneers, indeed.
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Come, let’s fell the savage forest of fear and hate and strife,
And open up new highways to a better way of life.
Let’s level mountains of our pride that shut men from our view,
And bridge the yawning chasms of misunderstanding, too.
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There ARE new worlds to conquer—let us cross each new frontier.
May God help us accept the challenge of this great new year.
Poem by Adlai A. Esteb
Consider the words of this poem from the Australian Record and Advent World Survey – January 1, 1962
Questions for Consideration:
- In
323 BC, at age 32, Alexander the great conquered the then-know world, and yet,
by most accounts, drank himself to death.
- What areas of great victory can I celebrate from this past year?
- What new enemies – unknown, unseen – must I face in the new year?
- If we beat back the barriers of ignorance and doubt, And triumph o’er the
enemies of peace within, without;
- What is a new thing I can learn, a question that I choose to answer in 2019?
- Where in my life do the “enemies of peace” run rampant and will I confront them?
- Let’s level mountains of our pride that shut men from our view, And bridge the yawning chasms of
misunderstanding, too.
- Who have I shut out behind my “mountain of pride” or separated myself from across the “chasms of misunderstanding”, and how can I restore that relationship?
Scriptural Reflection:
My son told me a joke recently. He said, Daddy, what goes up and never comes down? I did not know the answer, so I asked him to tell me the answer to his riddle, and he shared simply our AGE. Paul encourages us that though we can’t get younger on the outside we can renew the inner man every single day. Don’t fall for the trap of outward transformation alone – what Jesus termed – white-washed tombs [ Matthew 23:27] but seek also to renew the inner man as well. After all “A character formed according to the divine likeness is the only treasure that we can take from this world to the next.” – Maranatha