Prayer Request for Our Angolan Brethren

One of the things we enjoy on the Sabbath is being able to meet in peace. In my forty-some years of going to church services, we have been able to meet in peace.

We have been blessed not to face government or societal suppression and persecution. That is a blessing that has allowed us to meet for Sabbath services, Holy Days and to share the gospel on a wide scale.

Paul speaks of doors being opened to carry God’s message far and wide:

• 1 Corinthians 16:9 For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
• 2 Corinthians 2:12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord
• Colossians 4:3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains

It is God who opens doors for us to find halls in which to meet and to hear the Christ’s gospel preached each Sabbath. It is God who makes it possible to meet in peace.

Just as Paul mentions adversaries in 1 Corinthians 16:9, we have “many adversaries” as well. Those adversaries may be human and they may also be of the spiritual variety as well, but they exist to thwart our coming together in peace and safety.

At the present time, we have a group of people affiliated with United who seek to meet each week to observe the Sabbath. However, they face a situation in which they might not be able to meet:

Prayer Request - Angolan Brethren Jorge de Campos, senior pastor, Portuguese speaking areas

The Angolan brethren, which number in excess of 5,000 men, women and children, request your prayers for their continued freedom to fellowship every Sabbath in Angola. The Angolan government just issued a decree that churches, to be able to gather in Angola, need to have 100,000 adult members in the country with their signatures duly notarized. The minimum threshold was established as 2/3 of that number in at least 2/3 of their provinces.

A number of churches which had been previously registered, had their previous registration revoked. What triggered this situation was that a number of small strange religions started appearing in Angola, originating from Brazil and other African countries, with weird practices causing what the Angolan government deemed as a nuisance and trouble. All churches had to submit their application to be recognized and allowed to continue gathering by yesterday (Monday, November 5th). The Angolan brethren submitted their application as required. They are appealing for an exception on the quantity of members and additionally they are referring to their ‘good works’ in the area of community schools and teachers that they are providing in various Angolan cities.

The process will now go through governmental review (for an unidentified period of time). We really do not know how long this will take. The Angolan government may ask for additional evidence, such as the notarized signatures, at any future time. As obtaining these signatures is a cost which to many of the local brethren is prohibitive (even though to us is only about US$7 per signature), UCGIA has sent them an unsolicited amount from the GCE approved Portuguese subsidy. This will help them in paying for a number of the notarized signatures of the brethren. The Angolan brethren are very grateful for all the help that they are receiving from UCG. However from now on, they will continue to gather in faith and they request your petitions to our Heavenly Father that they may continue to gather every Sabbath as it is commanded, and as per God’s will.

Thank you.
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We don’t have the power to change this, but God most certainly does. As we do offer up prayers on this matter please remember:

2 Timothy 2:1-3 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

It would be most appropriate that we would offer up our “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks” to God that our fellow brethren in Angola “may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence”.

Have a pleasant Sabbath,

Gary Smith

Hope: An Anchor of the Soul

Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain are two celebrities who have recently taken their own lives. How many others have ended their lives this week?

These individuals had money, celebrity and every good thing life could offer. Yet on some level something was missing and they concluded there was no point in going on in this life.

I don’t know either one of the celebrities mentioned above but I am acquainted with a young man who Liz and I came to know through camp. For several years it seemed that he was getting his life together. Then he decided, for reasons we don’t understand, to reverse course and go back into the world. In fairly recent times, he made another stab at coming to church services and getting his life in order. Sadly, he could not continue on the positive path and ended his life. His funeral was this week.

There are varying reasons why someone would choose to end their life. Thankfully, for most of those who commit suicide we know that God is merciful. There is a coming second resurrection and a time for them to embrace God’s vision for man and get on the path to salvation.

Many of us still living can probably hearken back to dark times in our lives. We may have contemplated that there was no reason to carry on. The ending of life may have seemed like a viable option. However, this is not godly thinking but Satan’s mindset. The fact that we are still living indicates we chose the better path.

God desires that each and every person who has been given life would fulfill His purpose in their lives. But most people don’t know what God’s purpose is and they have no hope. Paul made this point in Ephesians 2:12-13, “That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

In the verse cited, Paul points out what gives a Christian hope. As Christians, we have Christ, we are part of the commonwealth of Israel (the Church, the body of Christ), and we have entered into covenant with God so we can enjoy the blessings of God’s promises. All of this has been made possible through “the blood of Christ.”

I would venture to say that Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain knew nothing of Ephesians 2:12-13 and were therefore without hope and without God in the world.

Additionally, I would say the young man who ended his life recently did get a glimpse of God’s great plan for him. Sadly, he did not grasp it well enough to establish it as a foundational part of his life. He was not at peace and lost hope. When one reaches this low ebb, this dark place, it actually seems like a reasonable decision to end one’s life.

The question for all of us who remain in the faith, “Do we have peace and hope?”

Regardless of the setbacks, disappointments, and other difficulties in life, we can be at peace. Peace is a state of mind that allows us to hold it together no matter what tribulations we face. In this life we can be at peace. In addition to being at peace, we can have the immovable hope of God’s coming Kingdom. As it is said in Hebrews 6:18-19, “. . . we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast….”

As we have this state of mind, we can reject the negative pull of discouragement and hopelessness and instead keep our eyes on the goal: eternal life in God’s Kingdom. That goal gives us every reason to keep pushing on until the end of the race.

Happy Sabbath

Gary Smith

Be Anxious For Nothing

We live in age where anxiety and stress are all too common. Webster’s dictionary defines anxiety as:

• A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties.

Worry is a prime example of apprehensive behavior as we imagine the future in its worst-case terms.

Obviously, anxiety must have been a feature of Paul’s time since he addresses it in his letter to the Church of God in Philippi. In his letter he says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

“Be anxious for nothing!” In other words, don’t worry or fret at all. How is that even possible when we have to deal with the uncertainties and stresses of life?

How do we avoid anxiety? By avoiding thinking about them? By absorbing ourselves in other pursuits? Avoiding facing the challenges in our lives or worrying about them are unhealthy paths that don’t bring resolution to life’s troubles.

Additionally, we can address the distresses of life by working this out our own way. We only have to look at Abraham’s choice to work out having a child his own way. We are still dealing with that choice and its outcome in the 21st century.

Paul gives us a prescription for dealing with the anxieties of life in verse 6. He tells us, “. . . in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. . .”  In other words, we don’t avoid, gloss over or minimize our concerns and challenges. We think about them, then take them to God in prayer.

Who knows better than God our predicaments, lacks, and the challenges we are facing? God knows our condition and our needs.

No limits are placed on what we can bring before our God. Note we are told, “in everything” go to God in prayer. Whatever challenges we may be facing, we can take them to God.

Four words are used in verse 6 in regard to going to God:

• Prayer (proseuche) describes a believer's approach to God.
• Petition (deesei) emphasizes requesting an answer to a specific need.
• Thanksgiving (eucharistias) is an attitude of heart which should always accompany one's prayers.
• Requests (aitemata) speak of definite and specific things asked for.

As we take our matters to God in “prayer and supplication”, we trust that He hears us. We trust that He will act in the way and at the time that is best for us. By putting our trust in God, we can let go of the matters that are making us anxious.

What is the outcome of placing worries and concerns into God’s hands through the spiritual solution of prayer? The natural outcome of seeking God’s involvement is, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

As we look at the examples in the Bible, we see the followers of God, repeatedly going to God with those issues that confronted them. The Psalms are replete with examples of taking matters to God’s sanctuary. Asaph states, “I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples. You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph” (Psalm 77:11-15).

The Apostle Paul said something similar to the Hebrew Christians, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:19-23).

Life can make us anxious, but the solution is to go to God in prayer. We can go into the very sanctuary of God in heaven with everything that confronts and know God will be there for us. Knowing that, we can be at peace in a way the world has difficulty understanding.

Have a pleasant Sabbath,

Gary Smith

Your Foundation Is Secure

This week I came across an article posted on the Drudge Report. It was a September 15, 2014 op-ed piece by Roger Cohen entitled, “The Great Unraveling,” published in the New York Times. I was intrigued by the idea of unraveling.

Unraveling conveys the idea of coming apart. The object that always amazed me, as it unraveled with use, was a baseball. The ball as it was first thrown into the game was covered in cream colored leather with red stitching. After being hit enough the thread holding the cover on would begin to unravel and with further use the cover would eventually come off completely.

Our society, like a well-used baseball, seems to be unraveling. What indicates unraveling is taking place?

• It is a time of beheadings. Beheadings filmed and spread worldwide on the internet. The message: We of Islam are coming for all you in your comfortable homes in the West.
• A time of aggression. The world’s largest country takes over part of a neighboring country and then incites a war in order to take over the remainder of that country.
• It is a time of break-ups. The most successful union of nations in history narrowly averted a dissolution. Other break-ups loom in Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and Germany to name a few.
• It was a time of weakness. The most powerful nation on earth dithered concerning what to do about an existential threat to the Western world.
• It was a time of hatred. Anti-Semitic slogans and attacks becoming more commonplace on the continent where six million Jews were murdered in a most organized way. Apparently “Never again!” seems to have no relevance.
• It was a time of fever. People in West Africa bled from the eyes and nations began to marshal their forces to try to contain the contagion.

These are just a few of the events unfolding at this time. They represent unraveling.

As I read this article, I also happened to be reading through the Psalms. One verse seemed especially applicable to God’s people in a time of unraveling.

The verse Psalm 11:3 “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” In other words, as the world unravels and the foundations, the things in which we might have had confidence, crumble, what are the righteous to do?

The answer is found in the next two verse: Psalm 11:4-5, “The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.” The foundations of the world apart from God may crumble. They have many times. All we have to do is look at Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece or Rome. Their foundations crumbled and they fell.

But God is still in His holy temple on His throne. God’s foundation will never crumble. We can put our confidence in that foundation at all times.

Jesus Christ addressed the issue of foundations in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells us on what foundation we build determines whether we will weather the great unraveling that is now going on.

Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The righteous can build their foundation on the sure foundation of God.

Have a most pleasant Sabbath evening secured in the knowledge that in Christ your foundation is secure.

Gary Smith