Announcements
SEEKING ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE TO PLEASE GOD
Right-minded persons realize the importance of pleasing God rather than pleasing creatures. They know that God must come first at all times, and that if he is pleased then people who have the right attitude will also be pleased. To please the great God we cannot proceed in a haphazard, muddled manner, not knowing whether what we are doing is proper or not. Rather, we must acquire accurate knowledge abundantly supplied in God’s Word, the Bible. (Col. 1:9, 10, NW) Making diligent use of that supply and “handling the word of truth aright” makes qualified workmen. To present themselves as “workmen with nothing to be ashamed of” Jehovah’s witnesses throughout August will proclaim the truth, offering a Bible-study aid book on a contribution of 50 cents. Later they will call back on those obtaining this aid in order to help them take in accurate knowledge through Bible study. All who desire are invited to share in this grand service pleasing to God.
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU READ?”
Jesus spoke in parables. His disciples, though they were present and heard his own voice, did not always understand him and asked many questions about his illustrations. How can we, almost two thousand years from the time of his first presence, hope to understand what he said? We must have help. This is clear from an experience in the early church. A court official of Ethiopia, converted to the Jews’ religion, was reading aloud the prophecy of Isaiah when Philip, the evangelist, approached him and asked him if he understood what he read. The Ethiopian replied: “Really how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?” Philip, directed by God’s holy spirit, gave him that guidance and “starting with this Scripture, he declared to him the good news about Jesus.” You can read this stirring account in today’s language in the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures at Acts 8:26-39. All of the acts and sayings of Jesus and his disciples come alive in this excellent translation. You may obtain a copy with a bound Bible-study aid to help you as Philip guided the Ethiopian. Send only $2 for both volumes.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS
August 18: The Holy Spirit—Third Person of Trinity or God’s Active Force? ¶1-28. Page 428.
August 25: The Holy Spirit—Third Person of Trinity or God’s Active Force? ¶29-38, and Receiving God’s Holy Spirit Today. Page 433.