The bles­sing of the Sab­bath

Man needs rest. God gave man­kind the Sab­bath day as a bles­sing and a sour­ce of joy. The most im­por­tant mes­sa­ge of the com­mand­ment ”Re­mem­ber the Sab­bath day to keep it holy” is the sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on of the holy day. We can take a break from the bu­sy­ness of eve­ry­day life and qui­e­ten to hear God’s word.

Con­si­de­ra­ti­on for ot­hers is ser­ving with love

Res­pect for one’s neigh­bor is a va­lue that can be seen in our dai­ly life. It is ap­pa­rent in our speech, views, ac­ti­ons, and at­ti­tu­de to­ward our neigh­bors, su­pe­ri­ors, aut­ho­ri­ties, go­vern­ment, and mu­tu­al mat­ters. There is much talk about a lack of res­pect in our time. At ti­mes it seems res­pect for ot­hers has suf­fe­red from inf­la­ti­on. This is a wor­ry among many who are brin­ging up and te­ac­hing child­ren.

We will all be awa­ke­ned

Co­rinth was a busy city where life was world­ly. The Lord ap­pe­a­red to Paul in a dream and ex­hor­ted him to pre­ach the word of God bold­ly in Co­rinth.

Edi­to­ri­al: God opens His sal­va­ti­on through His word

The mot­to for the Pu­das­jär­vi Sum­mer Ser­vi­ces quo­ted words spo­ken to Je­sus by Tho­mas, his dis­cip­le: “My Lord and my God”. When doub­ting Tho­mas saw the wounds in the Sa­vi­our’s hands, his ey­es ope­ned to see the re­demp­ti­on pre­pa­red by God. Je­sus’ res­pon­se ref­lects the es­sen­ce of faith: “Be­cau­se you have seen me, you have be­lie­ved; bles­sed are those who have not seen and yet have be­lie­ved.” (John 20:29).

“All po­wer is gi­ven un­to me in he­a­ven and in earth”

Je­sus gave the dis­cip­les a mis­si­on task to bring the gos­pel’s mes­sa­ge of joy to all na­ti­ons. We can still be brin­ging forth this re­dee­ming mes­sa­ge through the po­wer of the Holy Spi­rit.

How does God’s cong­re­ga­ti­on come about? The Holy Spi­rit cal­ls and gat­hers pe­op­le

Fel­lows­hip in the Holy Spi­rit joins be­lie­vers in a cong­re­ga­ti­on, in­to which God cal­ls new mem­bers. God’s cong­re­ga­ti­on is not a tem­po­ral ins­ti­tu­ti­on or as­so­ci­a­ti­on. It is cre­a­ted by a bond through faith with Je­sus Christ and ot­her be­lie­vers. Life in the cong­re­ga­ti­on of God brings joy and pe­a­ce in­to one’s he­art.

Ser­vant of the Word

The task of a ser­vant of the word is ba­sed on the mis­si­on com­mand gi­ven by Je­sus. Those who be­lie­ved in Je­sus were gi­ven the task of brin­ging the gos­pel to all parts of the world. The cong­re­ga­ti­on cal­ls ser­vants of the word from among its mem­bers. It is their task to pre­ach the word of God on the ba­sis of the Bib­le.

A new per­son

In his let­ter to the Co­los­si­ans Paul war­ned of the dan­gers of sin and wan­ted to cla­ri­fy the Co­los­si­ans’ faith in Je­sus Christ so they would re­cei­ve the po­wer to live a life in ac­cor­dan­ce with God’s will.

No one knows the mo­ment of the se­cond co­ming of Christ

The se­cond co­ming of Christ is a cent­ral theme in the Bib­le. Je­sus said that no one ex­cept for God knows the exact time. God’s word ex­horts us to fol­low the signs of ti­mes and to be re­a­dy at eve­ry mo­ment.

The gre­a­test in the king­dom of he­a­ven

Je­sus had told his dis­cip­les for the first time about the great suf­fe­ring that was awai­ting him. He would have to go to Je­ru­sa­lem and suf­fer hor­rib­ly in the hands of the el­ders, high priests, and la­wy­ers. He would be kil­led, but on the third day he would rise from the dead. Je­sus’ words made the dis­cip­les sad. It seems stran­ge that, soon af­ter this, the dis­cip­les as­ked Je­sus: ”Who is the gre­a­test in the king­dom of he­a­ven?”