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Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Theme: FRIENDSHIP & FELLOWSHIP
Readings from the Bible:
1. Prov. 17:17 (to ,)
A friend loveth at all times, ...
2. Ex. 33:11 (to 1st .), 12 (to 1st ,), 13 I, 14
And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. ... ... ¶ And Moses said unto the LORD, ... ... I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
3. Prov. 18:24
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
4. I Sam. 17:58 Saul
... Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth–lehemite.
5. I Sam. 18:1–9 it, 20 (to :), 21 (to 1st .)
... it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. ¶ And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants. And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. ... And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: ... And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. ...
6. I Sam. 19:1, 2, 4, 5 (to 1st :), 6, 8, 11 2nd and, 12
And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself: ... ... ¶ And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good: For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: ... And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the LORD liveth, he shall not be slain. ... ... ¶ And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him. ... ... and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou shalt be slain. ¶ So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.
7. Prov. 27:6, 9, 17
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. ... Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. ... Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
8. Matt. 11:1–6
And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
9. John 15:14
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
10. Phil. 1:6 he, 10 approve (to 1st ;)
... he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: ... ... approve things that are excellent; ...
11. I John 1:3 truly, 7 if (to 3rd ,)
... truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. ... ... if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, ...
12. Matt. 19:6 What
... What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. and correlative passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
Readings from Science and Health:
1. SH 248:3–5
Love never loses sight of loveliness. Its halo rests upon its object. One marvels that a friend can ever seem less than beautiful.
2. SH 60:6–8, 12
The beautiful in character is also the good, welding indissolubly the links of affection. ... From the logic of events we learn that selfishness and impurity alone are fleeting, and that wisdom will ultimately put asunder what she hath not joined together.
3. SH 21:15
If my friends are going to Europe, while I am en route for California, we are not journeying together. We have separate time-tables to consult, different routes to pursue. Our paths have diverged at the very outset, and we have little opportunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our companionship may continue.
4. SH 276:4, 17
When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: “Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness is cognizant only of the things of God. ... If God is admitted to be the only Mind and Life, there ceases to be any opportunity for sin and death. When we learn in Science how to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, thought is turned into new and healthy channels, — towards the contemplation of things immortal and away from materiality to the Principle of the universe, including harmonious man.
5. SH 454:5–18
The understanding, even in a degree, of the divine All-power destroys fear, and plants the feet in the true path, — the path which leads to the house built without hands “eternal in the heavens.” Human hate has no legitimate mandate and no kingdom. Love is enthroned. That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power, is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and this is the great truth which strips all disguise from error. He, who understands in a sufficient degree the Principle of Mind-healing, points out to his student error as well as truth, the wrong as well as the right practice. Love for God and man is the true incentive in both healing and teaching.
6. SH 518:13–19
God gives the lesser idea of Himself for a link to the greater, and in return, the higher always protects the lower. The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good.
7. SH 58:2–11
Unity of spirit gives new pinions to joy, or else joy's drooping wings trail in dust. Ill-arranged notes produce discord. Tones of the human mind may be different, but they should be concordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, — these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence.
8. SH 131:29–30
Jesus' works established his claim to the Messiahship.
9. SH 132:8
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” In other words, he gave his benediction to any one who should not deny that such effects, coming from divine Mind, prove the unity of God, — the divine Principle which brings out all harmony.
10. SH 519:17
How shall we declare Him, till, in the language of the apostle, “we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”?
HYMNS: 593, 178, 594
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