Worship: For Heaven’s Sake Paul, a poor friendless prisoner, could not have been expected to gain attention among the wealthy and titled classes of Rome. The gospel has always been more successful among humbler classes. (Read more below.)
Wellness: For Health’s Sake Pastor Flemons, a doctor of biblical wellness, briefly discussed the importance of exercise, noting that the best exercise is walking briskly in fresh air or gardening. Exercise increases the circulation of blood to every cell. It also gets toxins out of cells to help provide healthy blood. As we learn in Leviticus 17:11, “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” And in Proverbs 14:30 we learn that “a sound heart is the life of the flesh.” Exercise does the heart good. Exercise for your life.
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FaceBook – The Gospel Is Going to the White House (Caesar’s Household)
FaceBook – The Importance of Exercise
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TOPICS THIS WEEK – September 24 – 30
Worship Sunday – In Rome; Monday – Caesar’s Household; Tuesday – Written From Rome; Wednesday – At Liberty; Thursday – The Final Arrest; Friday – Paul Before Nero; Saturday, the Sabbath – Paul’s Last Letter [All topics per The Acts of the Apostles by Ellen G. White.]
Wellness Sunday – New Tricks for Old Dogs; Monday – The Importance of Exercise
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Words of Encouragement
Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Revelation 3:10, 11 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
For Heaven’s Sake…
“Yet while the apostle’s work began with the humble and the lowly, its influence extended until it reached the very palace of the emperor. . . . Paul is in bonds as an evildoer; but “the word of God is not bound.” 2 Timothy 2:9 AA 461.2, 461.3
“Nowhere could there exist an atmosphere more uncongenial to Christianity than in the Roman court. Nero seemed to have obliterated from his soul the last trace of the divine, and even of the human, and to bear the impress of Satan. His attendants and courtiers were in general of the same character as himself–fierce, debased, and corrupt. To all appearance it would be impossible for Christianity to gain a foothold in the court and palace of Nero. AA 462.3
“And by what means was an entrance achieved and a firm footing gained for Christianity where even its admission seemed impossible? In his epistle to the Philippians, Paul ascribed to his own imprisonment his success in winning converts to the faith from Nero’s household. Fearful lest it might be thought that his afflictions had impeded the progress of the gospel, he assured them: ‘I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.’ Philippians 1:12. AA 463.2
“Not by Paul’s sermon’s, but by his bonds, was the attention of the court attracted to Christianity. It was as a captive that he broke from so many souls the bonds that held them in the slavery of sin. Nor was this all. He declared: ‘Many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.’ Philippians 1:14. AA 464.1
“Paul’s patience and cheerfulness during his long and unjust imprisonment, his courage and faith, were a continual sermon. His spirit, so unlike the spirit of the world, bore witness that a power higher than that of earth was abiding with him. And by his example, Christians were impelled to greater energy as advocates of the cause from the public labors of which Paul had been withdrawn. In these ways were the apostle’s bonds influential, so that when his power and usefulness seemed cut off, and to all appearance he could do the least, then it was that he gathered sheaves for Christ in fields from which he seemed wholly excluded. AA 464.2
“Before the close of that two years’ imprisonment, Paul was able to say, ‘My bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places,’ and among those who sent greetings to the Philippians he mentions chiefly them ‘that are of Caesar’s household.’ Verse 13; 4:22. AA 464.3
“Patience as well as courage has its victories. By meekness under trial, no less than by boldness in enterprise, souls may be won to Christ. The Christian who manifests patience and cheerfulness under bereavement and suffering, who meets even death itself with the peace and calmness of an unwavering faith, may accomplish for the gospel more than he could have effected by a long life of faithful labor. Often when the servant of God is withdrawn from active duty, the mysterious providence which our shortsighted vision would lament is designed by God to accomplish a work that otherwise would never have been done. AA 465.1
(This study is based on chapter 44, “Caesar’s Household” in The Acts of the Apostles (AA), by Ellen G. White.)