| Unburied Treasure |
| The subject of spiritual gifts is often discussed among people of faith. There is the big looming question of the difference between a spiritual gift and a natural talent. Another question that arises is what effect the gifts should have on others. I’d like to take another approach. I would like to glean three quick lessons from the aforementioned parable in Matthew 25:14-30. |
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| They Love Jesus, they Don't Love the Church |
| This appears to be a growing sentiment among many younger Christians in America today. They love Jesus but they want little to do with His Church. It’s not that they don’t like the their local church or even other Christians—it’s that they don’t like how Christianity in America is frequently represented by many professing Evangelicals, which in their minds is often unloving, judgmental, arrogant, and hypocritical. |
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| Stretching Our Faith |
| When God asks us to do something for Him, He will help us accomplish the task. Every request made of us doesn’t come from God, but sometimes the Lord asks us to “stretch” a bit—not only our faith but our talents. With faith—and a little practice—we often are capable of doing more than we think we can. |
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| Kingsboro Temple Church Raises Funds for Haiti |
| Members of the Kingsboro Temple Church in Park Slope, among one of the largest Haitian populations in New York City, are partnering with the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) to throw a benefit concert on February 6. |
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| Haiti: How to be a Good Samaritan |
| You will hear lots of small organizations and individuals talking down the large organizations and urging you to give to hundreds of groups that all suddenly appear after a major disaster. Don't be fooled. They're playing to the prejudice that many Americans have against large bureaucracies. But (big but) in times like these the small groups will actually spend a much higher percentage of the funds on transportation to Haiti, shipping costs, etc., while they tell you they have "no overhead." They will be slower to get there because the jam-up at the airport is controlled by governments, the military and the UN. Governments and the UN know the big players and their capabilities, so first priority will be given to those. |
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| The Despair of Ezibeleni by Hearly G. Mayr |
| Nothing could be more important and pressing in Ezibeleni. Here, like in much of South Africa and other neighboring nations, AIDS is wiping out entire generations, much in the same way as the Black Plague did in Europe during the late Middle Ages. In South Africa alone, at least 5.5 million people (there are between 33.4 and 46 million cases worldwide, the United Nations estimates) are already infected with HIV. If you pause to consider these numbers, you might actually be horrified. |
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| Cleaning Up the Mess by Trevan Osborn |
| Why do we love judging others? We judge others because we cannot stand ourselves.
The reality is, there is something within that person, that "sinner," which reminds us of our own sinful state. They are a smack in our faces. It is amazing how easily we explain away our own faults and sins but can be so hard on other people.
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| Choosing God's Best |
| For African-Americans, finding a suitable marriage partner seems to be a particular challenge. For instance, in the United States almost 50 percent of Black women have never been married, and 70 percent are presently single.2 Furthermore, while U.S. marriage rates have generally decreased since the 1950s, the rate of decline is 12 percent for White men versus 36 percent for Black men.3 Facing such odds, being able to identify God’s best is even more critical. |
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| Hold On! You Are the Equipment |
| We Adventists are passionate when it comes to evangelism. And, understandably, we put a lot of effort into planning, organizing, and working through the complexities that go with it. We want to make sure we have all the right equipment, staff, stuff, and funds. What’s wrong with that? |
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| Should I Vaccinate My Child? |
| Where Did the Idea Come From?
Vaccinations originated with Edward Jenner during the eighteenth century in England. Jenner overheard a milkmaid boast that she would never have the disfiguring disease of smallpox because she had already had cowpox, a much milder disease in humans. So in 1796 Jenner took pus from the hand of a milkmaid with cowpox, inoculated an 8-year-old boy with it, and noticed that the boy did not catch smallpox. This was the beginning of vaccinations. |
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| Soloman Islands Project |
We recently received this e-mail from Janette Kingston in the Solomon Islands:
"Our Adventist population here is about 45,000. Forty percent of it is under 14 years old. Only 100 of those kids would be able to afford Sabbath school pamphlets at the moment." |
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| Diabetes? I Don't Think So! |
| Persons with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus experience a wide range of emotions such as disbelief, fear, vulnerability, and depression. It is a fact that 7 percent of adults in the United States have diabetes mellitus. It is a condition in which the level of blood glucose (sugar) is elevated because of an abnormality in the way the body absorbs the glucose from the blood, or utilizes it. |
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| Prince of Peace |
Jesus promised personal peace that would precede worldwide peace. God’s program of peace is based on personal acceptance of Him and His program of personal change that brings peace of mind. This peace doesn’t come with negotiation. We cannot bargain with God or use mutual compromise, saying, “OK God, I will give up this if You will do that.” |
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| Violet's Story |
Violet has waited over a year for us to have time to fix her home. She has been mighty patient. Following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Violet began the rebuilding that her home needed. She hired a contractor who gutted out her soggy house and began working to put her kitchen and living areas back in place. Before he was finished, he left with her money and never came back. Violet, who is one of our church members from the Bogalusa Seventh-day Adventist Church, has tried to make do with her unfinished house. Her home is one of the projects that South Louisiana Rebuild is working on now. |
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| Reaching Beyond Our Grasp |
There is a difference between holding on to a principle and having a vision. A principle does not come from moral inspiration, but a vision does. People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything. A person's own idea of God and His attributes may actually be used to justify and rationalize his deliberate neglect of his duty. |
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| Guard Your Mind |
When the Bible says, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." (Colossians 3:2), it means that we must continually choose, twenty-four hours a day, to keep our minds on the positive things of God. The apostle Paul provides a great list by which we can evaluate our thoughts: "brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8). |
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| Abiding Faith, Rooted in Jesus, Branches Out |
Let’s eavesdrop on a conversation Jesus is having with His disciples about their faith. In Matthew 17:20 He said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed . . . nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Think about how tiny a mustard seed is. The Bible has more to say: “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it” Mark 4:31, 32. I’m getting excited about faith just reading this verse. You can’t get any smaller or bigger than that. |
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| Is God the Silent Candidate? |
PICTURE THIS: A candidate for the office of President of the United States stands up in a South Carolina megachurch one Sunday morning and declares: “We’re going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a kingdom right here on earth.”1
Or this: Another candidate advertises their faith-based outreach in a state’s churches by quoting Esther 4:14, which reads in part: “. . . who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”2
And how about this one? A third contender says they believe the Bible is the Word of God, but “I don’t believe every single thing in the literal sense of Jonah being in the belly of the whale.”3
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| The Invisible Majority |
ALCOHOL wasn’t easy to access on the small boarding academy campus that Megan1 had attended for four years. But here at her new college, it was practically coming out of the drinking fountains. At first she’d just taken small sips to appease her new “friends.” But after a couple of Saturday nights at a certain frat house, she’d decided that resistance was futile—and it didn’t take much to put her over the edge.
She staggered to the bathroom and grasped for one of three doorknobs before finally getting it right. Vision blurred, she sank to her knees and grasped the cold porcelain with her sweaty hands. Then her world went black.
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| God's Formula for Financial Independence |
| Consider for a moment, a life filled with opportunities for improvement and advancement; businesses that flourish; investments that grow; success in everything you set out to do; and the ability to lend money instead of borrow it. Would such a life be considered a financially independent one? Would you want such a life? Are you presently experiencing such a life? Did you know that this is a part of the life God longs to give His children? You can read all about it in Deuteronomy 28. |
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