Written by: John Sernaque
Call to Worship
Deuteronomy 30: 15-19
30:15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
30:17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
30:18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, [and that] ye shall not prolong [your] days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Decision to Be Based on Evidence—
It is not the plan of God to compel men to yield their wicked unbelief. Before them are light and darkness, truth and error. It is for them to decide which to accept. The human mind is endowed with power to discriminate between right and wrong. God designs that men shall not decide from impulse, but from weight of evidence, carefully comparing scripture with scripture (Redemption: or the Miracles of Christ, 112, 113). {1BC 1120.5}
God is love. He does not force anyone to love Him back. God gives all His children the freedom of choice and freewill. If He forced us to love Him, He would be no better than a dictator, a tyrant. God has given us His Word to live by that we may have eternal life. If we choose to disobey, we bring cursing and death upon ourselves. It is our choice. We have the benefit of looking back upon history to learn of other’s mistakes before us. God’s instructions are clearly set before us in the Holy Bible. Search the scriptures diligently to make the right choice. Choose wisely.
Our kind and gracious Father,
We thank You for Your love and mercy. For providing us the instruction manual to life. For giving us the ability to learn of You through the Holy Scriptures so that we know the way in which we should walk. Even though we have and will make mistakes along our pilgrimage here on earth, You are a loving and forgiving Father who promises us eternal life if we believe on Him, and confess and repent of our sins. We thank You for being our mighty God. We long for the day when we will see You in heaven. We pray for all our brothers and sisters that they choose life. Praise be and glory to You. In Christ Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
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