This Sabbath morning was bright and cheerful, and we were happy to meet together to worship our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Sabbath School opened with prayer and song service, and all were welcomed by Superintendent, Sister Ann Ford.

Pastor Allen Stump shared a devotional on voting in political elections. He started out with a quotation from Sister White, “The Lord would have His people bury political questions. On these themes silence is eloquence. Christ calls upon His followers to come into unity on the pure gospel principles which are plainly revealed in the word of God. We cannot with safety vote for political parties; for we do not know whom we are voting for. We cannot with safety take part in any political scheme. We cannot labor to please men who will use their influence to repress religious liberty, and to set in operation oppressive measures to lead or compel their fellow-men to keep Sunday as the Sabbath. The first day of the week is not a day to be reverenced. It is a spurious sabbath, and the members of the Lord’s family cannot participate with the men who exalt this day, and violate the law of God by trampling upon His Sabbath. The people of God are not to vote to place such men in office; for when they do this, they are partakers with them of the sins which they commit while in office (Gospel Workers, p. 391).” He then quoted A. T. Jones, “God has people in this world. He has interests in this world. His people have interests in this world. That is true. Therefore God rightly has ambassadors in this world, but they are here to attend to the affairs of the kingdom of God and the people of God, as the affairs of the kingdom of God may arise in the course of things in this world, and not at all to any affairs of the kingdoms of this world. And the ambassador for Jesus Christ that goes over the line and undertakes to attend to the affairs of this world, abandons his own government, breaks his allegiance to his own King, and unlawfully and illegally invades the province of another government. That is why the wickedness of this thing is so great; that is why it made the beast in the first place; that is why the violation of these principles makes the image of the beast in the second place (General Conference Bulletin 1895, Sermon 3, p. 55).” Pastor Stump next turned to Luke 17:20, John 18:30, 2 Corinthians 5:20, and the Young’s Literal Translation for Philippians 3:20, which states: “For our citizenship is in the heavens, whence also a Saviour we await—the Lord Jesus Christ.” He pointed out that the Greek word for citizenship is politeuma (politeuma), from which we get our English word politics. So, our politics are in the heavens!

Following testimonies, prayer requests, and a season of prayer, the adults continued their lesson study on the topic of the Sabbath, with Brother Leon Holt leading out. The four countries to be remembered in prayer during the coming week are Lebanon, Malawi, Moldova, and Philippines. Please uplift the people in these countries this week that they will be receptive to God’s Spirit and will desire to surrender their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Geoquiz for the above countries, as well as two more sets of countries, will be added very soon.

The Worship Hour began with an introit prayer, a congregational hymn, and then prayer requests were shared for the main prayer season. Brother Glen Ford’s message of the hour was on heaven, which was a blessing to all of us as we patiently wait for the return of our Saviour.

We pray that God will bless each one of you this week and that you will be protected and guided by him throughout each day.