What Are Your Plans for Sunday

Giving the Sabbath to God in worship

“. 9 So there is a special rest or a Sabbath rest still waiting for the people of God.  10For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world.  11So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.-    Hebrews 4:9–11

 

The purpose of the Sabbath is to rest from physical labor and to worship God.  On His Holy Day, we can forget our daily routine and draw closer to the Creator God in study, meditation, fellowship, and prayer, and have a foretaste of our glorious future eternal rest.

By thinking upon God, the purpose of human existence, God's revealed laws of life and God's plan for mankind, we add great strength and meaning to our life. The Sabbath is truly one of the greatest blessings God has bestowed upon mankind. When we keep the Sabbath day, we show faith and belief in God's promise of a future eternal rest with a glorified spiritual body in the Kingdom of God. By resting on the Sabbath, we are actually "acting out" the Kingdom of God and what it will be like to be Sons of God in His Kingdom

 

Throughout the history of man, man has always seemed to want to go in ways that are contradictory to God's will. We have reached the point where we all know about God but we do not know God.

In this country, we acknowledge God but we do not worship him. We call on his name at our convenience or in times of personal need. We disregard his commandment to honor the Sabbath, which is to be a Holy Convocation from sunset to sunset.

Instead, we may give it a couple of hours and totally disregard the commandment to do no work or require anyone else to work.

We have allowed our courts to remove God from the public worship and allowed a few more vocal individuals who do not acknowledge God's existence to dominate the public discourse.

We have a great deal to answer for and a lot of changes to make if we expect God to hear and answer our petitions for redress. It all starts with the individual

 

D.L. Moody: “I believe that the Sabbath question today is a vital one for the whole country. It is the burning question of the present time. If you give up the Sabbath the church goes; if you give up the church the home goes; and if the home goes the nation goes. That is the direction in which we are traveling.”

“The church of God is losing its power on account of so many people giving up the Sabbath, and using it to promote selfishness.  Show me a nation that has given up the Sabbath, and I will show you a nation that has got the seed of decay.”  

The Sprouting Seed

 

Read Matthew 13:1-8, 23

View the Sept-Oct, 2012 Issue

Jesus said, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”

- John 15:4 (NRSV)

I am a row-crop farmer; I raise corn and soybeans. Recently as I was examining my newly emerging plants, I felt that God was talking to me, teaching me a lesson from the sprouting seed. Once a seed is placed in the warm, moist soil, the first sprout is a small root that goes further down into the soil to absorb moisture and nutrients. This action prepares the seed to send a shoot up to receive sunlight as it begins the long process of making food for further plant growth. Eventually, the plant will grow and spread over the soil.

Like the soybean and corn sprouts sending the roots into the soil, a Christian’s action is to delve into God’s word, the Bible, in order to grow spiritually and to produce fruit. The fruit grows when we spread the good news and lead people to Christ. We can do this by telling our story — what God has done for us. Sometimes we use words; but always we can tell our story by living so that others can see Christ in us. Just as emerging plants receive the sunlight, we want to receive what God sends our way to strengthen us and encourage us for whatever lies ahead. When we do this, God can use us to produce fruit for the kingdom’s sake.

The Author

James H. McKelvey (Tennessee, USA)

Thought for the Day

God helps us grow so we can produce spiritual fruit.

Prayer

Dear God, Fountain of life, help us to grow in faith and love through reading, studying, and obeying your word. Amen.

Thought for the Day

“Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise. Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” -Proverbs 19:20-21

Daily Devotional from the Upper Room

The Garment of Life

Read Colossians 3:12-17

View the Sept-Oct, 2012 Issue

[You] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

- Colossians 3:10 (NIV)

When my daughter, Kristi, was young, I made her clothes. My favorite part of that work was the preparation: selecting a pattern, the fabric and the color, and finally the trim. I loved bringing the materials home and showing them to my daughter so that she could get an idea of what was in store. After the fun of shopping and previewing, the real work began. Dedicated time and skill turned a piece of cloth into something she could enjoy wearing. But until the work was done, the garment was no more than a nice intention.

It is much the same with what we learn from God’s word. We can read the scripture, highlight favorite passages, and make notes in the margins of our Bible. We can attend Bible classes, hear sermons regularly, and discuss what we’ve read.


 But actually doing something with God’s word is the real work, the evidence that we have read and studied the scripture.
We determine to take God’s instructions into our minds and hearts — and then to clothe ourselves in what we’ve learned. Only then does the word of God become embodied in us and make a difference in our lives and in the lives of those we encounter.

 

The Author

Pat Rowland (Tennessee, USA)

Thought for the Day

Prayer

Dear Father, strengthen our resolve to live as your word teaches us. May we be doers of your word, not just hearers. (See James 1:22.) Amen.
 

Prayer focus on Those who earn their living by sewing

From the Upper Room

Jesus answered [Nicodemus], “I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.”

- John 3:3 (TEV)

Growing up, I sometimes found it discouraging that I couldn’t remember an exact moment when I became a Christian. Then I feared that I couldn’t remember it because I had actually never become a Christian at all. This worry would inspire me to commit my life again to Jesus in some sort of childlike, salvation-insurance prayer.
As a teenager I didn’t have a dramatic testimony to give when I went to Christian camp. I often wasn’t sure what to say when people asked when and how I became a Christian. When others would talk enthusiastically about a powerful, definitive time of conversion, I was left feeling as if my Christian faith wasn’t as good as theirs — simply because I could not look back and identify a point when my Christian walk began.
With time, I have come to realize that my experience of being born again spiritually can be much like being born physically. I don’t remember when I was born, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. Neither does the fact that I don’t remember when I was born as a Christian mean that it didn’t happen. The evidence of my natural birth can be seen in my life as I live, just as I hope the evidence of my life in Christ can be seen as I grow in my faith and seek to love, serve, honor, and obey God in everything I do.

The Author

Joanna Ronalds (Victoria, Australia)

Thought for the Day

The evidence of new birth is a changed life.

Prayer

Loving God, thank you for the assurance we can have of our salvation in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Prayer focusThose who do not yet know God