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Serving Jehovah “Shoulder to Shoulder”The Watchtower—1981 | August 15
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“For then I shall give to peoples the change to a pure language, in order for them all to call upon the name of Jehovah, in order to serve him shoulder to shoulder.” (Zeph. 3:9)
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Serving Jehovah “Shoulder to Shoulder”The Watchtower—1981 | August 15
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11. (a) What “pure language” is heard today? (b) How extensively is this “language” being spoken? (c) How do those speaking it “call upon the name of Jehovah,” and with what result?
11 What, then, is this change to a “pure language”? It is a turning to the message of truth, the refreshing “good news,” the “pattern of healthful words,” that speaks in praise of Jehovah and his righteous purposes by Christ Jesus. (2 Tim. 1:13) This “pure language” unifies them. And it testifies that, in the epoch-marking year 1914, “the kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.” (Rev. 11:15) Taking this message upon their lips, true Christians worldwide “call upon the name of Jehovah” in dedication, harmoniously rendering him “sacred service.” As the only truly united people on earth, they go to the homes of the people, heralding forth the “good news” of Jehovah’s established kingdom. Thus they serve Jehovah “shoulder to shoulder.” (Matt. 24:14; Rom. 12:1) Are you one who has thus separated yourself from the world, to serve God zealously in dedication to Him? It is by thus working along with Jehovah’s organized people that you may “get away safe.”—Joel 2:32; see also Hosea 14:1, 2; Hebrews 13:15.
12, 13. (a) What problems may be involved in learning this “language”? (b) Why is meekness required in serving “shoulder to shoulder”? (c) How may we cultivate the quality of meekness?
12 The “change to a pure language” has been hard for some to make. It is not easy to come out of the world, with its easygoing, permissive ways, and to make the sacrifices necessary for ‘calling upon the name of Jehovah.’ It has required our getting rid of wrong thoughts, bad habits and self-seeking, loose ways of life, in order to conform to the clean, worthwhile standards of God’s own people. (Eph. 4:17, 18, 29; 1 Pet. 4:3) It has required our giving proper recognition to the one organization that Jehovah is using in the earth today, and this by our associating with the “faithful and discreet slave.” It has required meekness, in our “carefully examining” God’s Word with the aid of that ‘slave’s’ publications, in order to fortify our faith.—Matt. 24:45; Acts 17:11.
13 In serving Jehovah “shoulder to shoulder,” we need, as Zephaniah so often emphasizes, to cultivate the quality of meekness.
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Serving Jehovah “Shoulder to Shoulder”The Watchtower—1981 | August 15
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Yes, these are the meek ones, who work “shoulder to shoulder” as they engage in “the holy work of the good news.” (Rom. 15:15, 16) They are not too proud to do the lowly work of calling from house to house after the pattern that Jesus’ disciples learned from the Master. (Matt. 10:5-13; Luke 9:2-6; Acts 5:42) Taking refuge in Jehovah’s name, they proclaim that glorious name and his purpose to vindicate it by the triumphant kingdom of his Christ. (Ezek. 38:23; Dan. 2:44)
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Serving Jehovah “Shoulder to Shoulder”The Watchtower—1981 | August 15
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Since 1919, when they were released from spiritual captivity to Babylon the Great, the anointed witnesses of Jehovah have served him “shoulder to shoulder” in giving joyful public testimony.
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Serving Jehovah “Shoulder to Shoulder”The Watchtower—1981 | August 15
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In these “last days” we should feel very close to our living God, Jehovah, as we unitedly apply shoulders to his service.—2 Tim. 3:1.
18. (a) How have Jehovah’s people been made “a name and a praise” since 1919? (b) How may we serve “shoulder to shoulder” in behalf of thousands more?
18 Since 1919, it has been a grand day of restoration for all of God’s people. As faithful witnesses they have continued to preach with missionary zeal, so that Jehovah’s organization has expanded to the very ends of the earth. (Rom. 10:10, 18) It has indeed been a time for bringing in God’s people, collecting them together. And for what purpose? Jehovah himself answers:
“I shall make you people to be a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth.” (Zeph. 3:20)
Happily, the anointed remnant of God’s people have become “a name and a praise” in holding high the precious name of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, and now many of those “peoples of the earth” are working with them, “shoulder to shoulder,” in making known his Kingdom purposes. Our change to speaking the “pure language,” and our continuing to herald forth that “good news of the kingdom,” will yet help thousands more to “call upon the name of Jehovah,” that these, too, may be ‘hidden of Jehovah’ during the day of his anger, and boldly come forth to praise him throughout all eternity.
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