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With the Compliments of the ASI Media Library

Discover the forgotten lifeline of ministering to the poor and suffering as God's legacy to enrich our characters and attract blessings. Embrace every needy case as an opportunity to grow, care, and exemplify the compassion of Job.

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With the Compliments of the ASI Media Library

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  1. God’s Legacy To His ChurchThe Heavenly Gift That Many Have Lost Sight Of With the Compliments of the ASI Media Library Please note that this study is not exhaustive. We invite you to do further research into this important topic at www.egwwritings.org. This presentation is a compilation of passages from the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. The views articulated, over and above such passages, are those of the compiler/s. In a Nutshell: God has gone to great lengths in His quest to prepare our characters for heaven. To this end, He has given us His Son, His love, His example, His word, His counsels, His Holy Spirit, nature and so much more. But He has also given us a very precious gift to ensure that we are fit for fellowship with holy beings – that gift comes wrapped in tears and is packaged in the person of the poor and suffering.

  2. What Are We Here For? • To minister to the needy and the unfortunate? • To be ministered to by the needy and the unfortunate?

  3. The Forgotten Lifeline • The life of Judas did not have to end in tragedy. He always had a lifeline: • “In ministering to others, Judas might have developed an unselfish spirit.” (DA717.2) • Clearly, the poor and suffering are with us for a purpose.

  4. God’s Legacy To His Church • “The poor are purposely permitted to be thus of God, that we may be tested and proved and develop what is in our hearts.” (AH447.2) • This means that the poor are poor so that we may become rich in the attributes of love • Thus we can appreciate the deeper significance of the words of Jesus: “The poor you will always have with you.” (Matthew 26:11)

  5. Where would compassion and mercy find expression, and a reason to exist and to develop, if nobody in the world had any need? This translates into the fact that wenever bless the needy and the unfortunatewithout them blessing us.

  6. The Less FortunateAre Our Medicine • “It is to provide these opportunities that God has placed among us the poor, the unfortunate, the sick, and the suffering. They are Christ's legacy to His church, and they are to be cared for as He would care for them. • “In this way God takes away the dross and purifies the gold, giving us that culture of heart and character which we need.” (HP324.2-3)

  7. How to Attract God’s Blessing • “How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the LORD will . . . • deliver him in a day of trouble. • The LORD will protect him • and keep him alive, • and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; • and do not give him over to the desire of his enemies [shelter him]. • The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; • In his illness, You restore him to health.” (Psalm 41:1-3)

  8. A Most Solemn Duty • “The Saviour has given His precious life in order to establish a church capable of ministering to the suffering, the sorrowful, and the tempted.” (ChS13.4) • “A most solemn duty rests upon the church to have an especial care for the destitute widows, orphans, and invalids.” (1T274.2)

  9. Every Needy Case an Opportunity - 1 • To find healing. • To suppress self. • To find true meaning in life. • For our hearts to be changed. • For our characters to be softened. • To attract God’s blessings. • To give power to our prayers. • That will contribute to our sense of peace and happiness.

  10. Every Needy Case an Opportunity - 2 • To become more efficient in service. • That will help to elevate our spiritual experience. • To remind a soul in need that Jesus really loves them. • To remind ourselves that Jesus presents Himself in the person of the poor and the suffering, and that it is in helping them that we help Him.

  11. Every CaseAn Opportunity To Grow

  12. The Caring Example of Job • “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1:8) • “I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.” (Job 29:15-16 KJV) • “Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?” (Job 30:25)

  13. Importance of Helping Others • “They (Israel) brought ruin upon themselves by refusing to minister to others.” (DA583.2) • “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: . . . they did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49) • “No-one can live the law of God without ministering to others.” (DA584.1)

  14. Giving – The Remedy • The Problem: Eve took . . . (Genesis 3:6) • The Remedy: God gave . . . (John 3:16) • God gave everything He had to give . . . Even His Life!

  15. Just Give . . . • “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:42) • “To sow beside all waters means a continual imparting of God's gifts. It means giving wherever the cause of God or the needs of humanity demand our aid. This will not tend to poverty. `He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.’ The sower multiplies his seed by casting it away.” (COL85.2)

  16. True ReligionAccording to Isaiah 58 • “Is this what you call fasting? No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. • “I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring right into your own homes those who are helpless, poor, and destitute. Clothe those who are cold, and don’t hide from relatives who need your help.” (Isaiah 58:4-7, TLB)

  17. One Deciding Factor.Two Classes of People. • “Christ on the Mount of Olives pictured to His disciples the scene of the great judgment day. And He represented its decision as turning upon one point. • “When the nations are gathered before Him, there will be but two classes, and their eternal destiny will be determined by what they have done or have neglected to do for Him in the person of the poor and the suffering.” (DA637.1)

  18. God’s Ample Provision For The Less Fortunate “The poor are robbed daily of the education they should have concerning the tender mercies of God; for He has made ample provision that they should be comforted with the necessities of life.” (DA639.4)

  19. “But Christ beholds it all, and He says, It was I who was hungry and thirsty. It was I who was a stranger. It was I who was sick. It was I who was in prison. While you were feasting at your bountifully spread table, I was famishing in the hovel or the empty street. • “While you were at ease in your luxurious home, I had not where to lay My head. While you crowded your wardrobe with rich apparel, I was destitute. While you pursued your pleasures, I languished in prison.” (DA639.5)

  20. “When you doled out the pittance of bread to the starving poor, when you gave those flimsy garments to shield them from the biting frost, did you remember that you were giving to the Lord of glory? • “All the days of your life I was near you in the person of these afflicted ones, but you did not seek Me. You would not enter into fellowship with Me. I know you not.” (DA640.1)

  21. Our Highest Calling • Search out the needy cases • Help those needy cases • Get individuals involved • Get companies, service organizations, clubs, schools, municipalities and churches involved

  22. “God created [you] to live in a world where unselfish service must be performed. “He designed [you] to help [your] fellow men in every possible way.” (DA584.1)

  23. Is God Knocking in Vain • “He stands there in the person of the poor, the homeless orphans, and the afflicted widows, who need love, sympathy, affection, and encouragement. If you do it not unto one of these, you would not do it unto Christ were He upon the earth.” (2T329.2) • “He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy. Is not that what it means to know Me?” (Jeremiah 22:16)

  24. “As you open your door to Christ’s needy and suffering ones, you are welcoming unseen angels. You invite the companionship of heavenly beings. They bring a sacred atmosphere of joy and peace. They come with praises upon their lips, and an answering strain is heard in heaven. • “Every deed of mercy makes music there. The Father from His throne numbers the unselfish workers among His most precious treasures.” (DA639.2)

  25. “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40, NASB)

  26. He is this Way For You . . . ???

  27. See“The Heartbreaking Reality”at www.mow.org.za

  28. Websites You Will Love Encourage Someone You KnowVisit www.blessothers.net Overcome Illness For LifeVisit www.keepwell.com For A Spiritual FeastVisit www.friendswhocare.org Impact Your World Visit www.trulygreat.info

  29. This presentation was compiled by the study committee of The Life Guidance Foundation www.lifeguidance.info

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