Sabbath Message 03/1/32/120 B

Dear Friends,

We are instructed to pray. We have some specific instructions. This year we are instructed to pray regarding our year of tithing.

Deuteronomy 26:12-19

"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your towns and be filled,

then you shall say before the LORD your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed any of thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them;

I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.

Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel and the ground which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.'

"This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.

You have declared this day concerning the LORD that he is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his ordinances, and will obey his voice;

and the LORD has declared this day concerning you that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments,

that he will set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honor, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he has spoken." (RSV)

We are also are instructed to pray at this time for the Harvest of Mankind. When Christ sent his 70 plus 2 he gave instruction to his disciples to request of the Lord of the Harvest. Wade is establishing the 70 in Africa, and Jeremy is establishing the 2 in Nicaragua. We have made a great impact on the world with what little power we have been given. We are looking at a great harvest. We need laborers in that harvest.

Matthew 9:36-38

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (RSV)

Luke 10:1-2

After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. …” (RSV)

John 4:35-38

Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." (RSV)

Let us rejoice with the fruit of our labor, the Harvest of God.

Russell Hilburn

Coordinator for USA