Training Below for Service Above, Part 1
The sermon emphasizes the importance of dedicating our talents and abilities to God's service, preparing for a higher life, and viewing death as a transition to greater opportunities.
Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about the eternal life believers will have with the Lord, walking in white as worthy servants in His temple. She emphasizes that the Blessed will serve God with powers and endowments developed in harmony with higher worlds, using their unique capacities and gifts in spiritual ways. Those who dedicate their talents to God's service will transition from joyous work in this world to greater capacities and opportunities in the afterlife.
Text
So shall we ever be with the Lord.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:17
They shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.
REVELATION 3:4
WE are taught to believe of the Blessed, that they "serve Him day and night in His temple," that "His servants shall serve Him." And this must be with powers and endowments developed in harmony with higher worlds, so that all the tastes, the desires, the affections, the artistic powers, the intellectual gifts, which belong to each individual, each with his own special capacities, trained and developed and exercised in spiritual modes of life, will be suited to that higher world, where they dwell in the presence of the Almighty God, and the "Lamb who is in the midst of them." The activities of a condition of life such as we cannot yet conceive, we shall enter upon, if fitted for it, trained for it, by the exercise of our gifts during our life in this world; we shall be like weapons in the Hand of God, ready for what Service He may will.
THOMAS THELLUSON CARTER
For those who live, as she did, with their whole talents dedicated to God's service, death is only the gate of life,--the path from joyous work in this world to greater capacities and opportunities for it in the other.
HORATIA K. EDEN
Sermon Outline
- The Blessed Serve God
- Training for Service Above
- Death as the Gate of Life
- Dedication of talents to God's service
- Greater capacities and opportunities in the afterlife
Key Quotes
“They shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“WE are taught to believe of the Blessed, that they 'serve Him day and night in His temple,'” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We should dedicate our talents and abilities to God's service, using them for His glory and purpose.
- We should prepare for a condition of life beyond our conception by exercising our gifts and developing our powers in spiritual modes of life.
- We should view death as a gate to greater capacities and opportunities for serving God in the afterlife.