DUTY

“Quality of Life Series”

4/19/05

 

LEADER:  What is your duty?

                   Have you got one?

                   Have you got many?

Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius (121-180), said "Everything--a horse, a vine--is created for some duty...For what task, then, were you yourself created? A man's true delight is to do the things he was made for."

FROM:  http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #1

                    http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"A task becomes a duty from the moment you suspect it to be an essential part of that integrity which alone entitles a man to assume responsibility."

Dag Hammarskjold 1905-1961
Swedish statesman, former UN secretary-general

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #2

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"There is not a moment without a duty."

Cicero 106-43 BC Roman orator, statesman, philosopher & writer

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #3

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"So long as I am acting from duty and conviction, I am indifferent to taunts and jeers. I think they will probably do me more good than harm."

Winston Churchill 1874-1965 British prime minister-WWII

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #4

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having."

Gandhi 1869-1948 Indian spiritual and political leader

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #5

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"I believe that every right implies a responsibility, every opportunity an obligation, every possession, a duty."

J.D. Rockefeller 1937-  
US Democratic politician; governor/Senator-W Virginia

LEADER:  So we have responsibilities, obligations and duties….to whom? ……

Our Lord

                   Our families

                   Our friends

                   Our work

Our bodies

                   Our country

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #6

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"No more important duty can be urged upon those who are entering the great theater of life than simple loyalty to their best convictions."

Edwin Hubble Chapin 1814-1880  US clergyman, author, speaker

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #7

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty. Was thy dream then a shadowy lie? Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly; And thou shalt find thy dream to be A truth and noonday light to thee."

Ellen Sturgis Hooper 1816-1841 Author - from “Life a Duty”

LEADER:  How do we do that…toil on and find our life to be beauty?

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #8

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good."

Gandhi 1869-1948 Indian spiritual and political leader

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  2 Timothy 2:21

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  Colossians 1:9-14 (ALL TURN TO)

   9For this reason also,)since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,   10so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  11strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously  12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. The Incomparable Christ 13For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  2 Thessalonians 2:16-18

   16Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,  17comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

LEADER:  Doesn’t working toward good add beauty to our lives?

DUTY to COUNTRY/GOVERNMENT:

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #9

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"A man who is not interested in politics is not doing his patriotic duty toward maintaining the constitution of the United States."

Harry Truman 1884-1972 33rd US President, Established NATO

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #10

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as of duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad ones the former only."

Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826 3rd US President
 Wrote Declaration of Independence

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #11

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Knowledge of our duties is the most essential part of the philosophy of life. If you escape duty you avoid action. The world demands results."

Major General George W. Goethals 1853-1923

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #12

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"It is the privilege and duty of the present generation to pass on to its successors, unimpaired, the heritage of liberty bequeathed to it by the founders of the Republic."  

George Bruce Cortelyou 1862-1940
Lawyer/politician, Secretary to Presidents McKinley & Roosevelt

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #13

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"A splendid storehouse of integrity and freedom has been bequeathed to us by our forefathers. In this day of confusion, of peril to liberty, our high duty is to see that this storehouse is not robbed of its contents."

Herbert Clark Hoover 1874-1964 31st US President

 HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #14

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

" Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought.  Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865 16th US President

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #15

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"We are face to face with our destiny and we must meet it with a high and resolute courage. For us it is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out"

Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919 26th US President

 HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #16

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Let us do our duty in our shop or our kitchen, in the market, the street, the office, the school, the home, just as faithfully as if we stood in the front rank of some great battle, and knew that victory for mankind depended on our bravery, strength, and skill. When we do that, the humblest of us will be serving in that great army which achieves the welfare of the world."

Theodore Parker 1810-1860 American theologian

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #17

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

“If we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall live always in the fear of God and shall respect His commandments, if we and they shall maintain just moral sentiments and such conscientious convictions of duty as shall control the heart and life, we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country.  Our country will go on prospering.”

Daniel Webster 1782-1852 Lawyer/US senator/Secretary of State

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  2 Chronicles 7:14

  14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

DUTY TO OUR FAMILY/FRIENDS:

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  John 13:34

"A commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  Galatians 5:13

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another.

DUTY TO OUR BODY:

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #18

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"The human body is sacred — the veritable tabernacle of the divine spirit which inhabits it. It is a solemn duty of mankind to develop, protect and preserve it from pollution, unnecessary wastage and weakness."

Stephen L. Richards 1879-1959 American religious leader

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  1 Corinthians 6:18-20

   18Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.   19Ordo you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?   20For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #19

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Possibly the best suggestion in condensed form, as to how to live, was given by my old Headmaster, Dr. Haig Brown, in 1904, when he wrote his Recipe for Old Age. A diet moderate and spare, Freedom from base financial care, Abundant work and a little leisure, A love of duty more than pleasure, An even and contented mind In charity with all mankind, Some thoughts too sacred for display In the broad light of common day, A peaceful home, a loving wife, Children, who are a crown of life; These lengthen out the years of man Beyond the Psalmist's narrow span."

Sir Robert Bade-Powell 1857-1941
British army officer & founder of Boy Scouts

DUTY TO OUR WORK:

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  I Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  Psalm 90:17

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

LEADER:  What is should be our duty to duty?

NEGLECT or delay OF DUTY:

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #20

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"More things are left undone through neglect of duty than through neglect of self-interest."

Duc de La Rouchefoucauld 1613-1680  French writer & moralist

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #21

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last."

Joseph Fort Newton 1878-1950
US biographer/ clergyman; author, authority on Abraham Lincoln

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #22

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Where duty is plain, delay is both foolish and hazardous; where it is not, delay may be both wisdom and safety."

Tryon Edwards 1809-1894 American theologian & editor

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #23

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Make it a point to do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."

Mark Twain 1835-1910 American Author Samuel Clemens

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #24

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"The everyday cares and duties, which men call drudgery, are the weights and counterpoises of the clock of time, giving its pendulum a true vibration and its hands a regular motion; and when they cease to hang upon its wheels, the pendulum no longer swings, the hands no longer move the clock stands still."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882 American poet

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “Duty, Important First Steps”

By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."

http://elbourne.org/sermons/index.mv?illustration+2992

“Duty, Important First Steps: Faithful In That Which Is Least”

It is a Secret worth knowing and remembering that the truest, and, indeed the only possible, preparation for life's duties or trial, is made by simple fidelity in whatever each day brings. a day squandered anywhere may prove the dropped stitch from which the whole web will begin to ravel. One lesson neglected may prove to have contained the very knowledge for the want of which, far along in the course, the student may fail. One opportunity let slip may be the first step in a ladder heading to eminence or power, but no higher rounds of which can be gained, because the first was not taken. We never know what is important, or when we are standing at the open doors of great opportunities in life. The most insignificant duty that offers may be the first lesson in preparation for a noble mission; if we despise or neglect it, we miss the grand destiny, the gate to which was open just for that one moment. Indeed, every hour of life holds the keys of the next, and possibly of many hours more; to fail of our duty in any one of them, may be to lose the most splendid opportunity through all life to the end. -- Miller.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #25

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"Do it now! can affect every phase of your life. It can help you do the things you should do but don't feel like doing. It can keep you from procrastinating when an unpleasant duty faces you. But it can also help you do those things that you want to do. It helps you seize those precious moments that, if lost, may never be retrieved."

Napoleon Hill - American writer of "Think and Grow Rich"

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #26

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"When you have a number of disagreeable duties to perform, always do the most disagreeable first."

Josiah Quincy 1744-1775 Revolutionary Patriot & Lawyer

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #27

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"Do the duty which lieth nearest to thee! Thy second duty will already have become clearer."

Thomas Carlyle 1795-1881

Scottish essayist, historian & philosopher

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #28

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/                   

"If we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying, to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line of our duty."

Hebert J. Grant 1856-1945 American church leader

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #29

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist."

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1881-1955
French Jesuit philosopher, Explorer along the Great Wall of China

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #30

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another."

George Eliot 1819-1880 English novelist

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #31

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble."

Helen Keller 1880-1968 American writer & lecturer, blind & deaf

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #32

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"Twelve Priceless Qualities of Success: 1. The value of time. 2. The success of perseverance. 3. The pleasure of working. 4. The dignity of simplicity. 5. The worth of character. 6. The power of kindness. 7. The influence of example. 8. The obligation of duty. 9. The wisdom of economy. 10. The virtue of patience. 11. The improvement of talent. 12. The joy of originating."

Marshall Field – Chicago Retailer

LEADER:  Let’s look at a Christians perspective of duty:

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #33

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright."

Blaise Pascal 1623-1662
French scientis/ mathematician/physicist/philosopher/author

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #34

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Too many of us have a Christian vocabulary rather than a Christian experience. We think we are doing our duty when we're only talking about it."

Charles F. Banning - Author

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #35

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/                   

"Do today's duty, fight today's temptation; do not weaken and distract yourself by looking forward to things you cannot see, and could not understand if you saw them."

Charles Kingsley 1819-1875 English clergyman & writer

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #36

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"Do your duty and leave the rest to Providence."

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson 1824-1863
 American Confederate general, Civil War

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #37

http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-09-17-02.shtml

“Do thy duty, that is best; leave unto the Lord the rest.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807-1882

                                    The most popular American poet of the 19th century

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #38

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"The best preparation for the future is the present well seen to, and the last duty done."

George Macdonald 1824-1905 Scottish writer

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #39

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"The path of duty is the only path of safety. It is the only path wherein we can walk and have the assurance of God's continued blessings, of his continued deliverances. Any other course does not carry with it this assurance. Any other path leads to darkness, to contention, to evils of many kinds; for it leads away from the truth and the right. But if we continue in the path that is marked out for us by divine instruction, trusting implicitly in God, then shall we be delivered from all impending evils that are sought to be brought upon us, no matter what they may be; and the nearer we live to God the greater will be the blessings showered upon us, and seeming evils will be changed to blessings of untold worth."

George Reynolds 1842-1909 American religious leader

LEADER:  Does Satan challenge our duty?

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #40

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"The line of life is a ragged diagonal between duty and desire."

William Rounsevelle Alger 1822-1905 American clergy/author

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #41

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Ever notice that the whisper of temptation can be heard farther than the loudest call to duty."

Earl Wilson 1907-1987American newspaper columnist

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #42

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"According to the ancient Greeks, when Hercules was a boy, just reaching the period of life when there was a question in his mind which path he should pursue, he went forth by himself and sat down and meditated. There came to him someone in the form of a beautiful young woman. "Hercules, I know what you want," she said "the path that I will point out to you will bring pleasure, will bring you constant place in society, will bring you the choice things of life, to eat and to drink and clothing to wear. You shall be popular in the society in which you shall move, and your whole life will be one constant round of pleasure." "What is your name?" Hercules asked. "My enemies call me Vice, but my friends call me Pleasure," she replied. Then there appeared to him another beautiful woman and she said: "Hercules, I shall not deceive you; the path I shall point out to you will be a path of labor, a path of toil, a path of self-sacrifice, a path in which you must devote a great deal of your effort and energy; you will have to forget yourself; you will have to serve your friends; you will have to serve the people of Greece; but if you will take this path and pursue it, although it may bring to you much toil and privation and many sacrifices, you shall become immortal." Hercules asked: "What is your name?" She replied: "My name is Duty.""

unknown

LEADER:  Is there a difference between pleasure and joy?

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #43

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"The rule of joy and the law of duty seem to be all one."

Oliver Wendell Holmes 1809-1894 Poet/ Essayist/Physician
(from Speech at Bar Association Dinner, Boston, 1900)

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #44

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"You have not fulfilled every duty unless you have fulfilled that of being cheerful and pleasant."

Charles Buxton 1823-1871
English philanthropist, advocate in parliament for church reform

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “Choosing Joy” 5/2/00 Our Daily Bread

http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-05-02-00.shtml

We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:11

Most of us don't choose a difficult life—it chooses us. But we can choose our response to it. As someone once said, "Pain is inevitable but misery is optional." Yet, when difficulties arise, misery often seems to be the only option.

Author Lloyd Ogilvie tells of a Christian friend who was physically and emotionally depleted because of extreme pressures. A depressed mood engulfed him. When Ogilvie asked him how he was doing, he said grimly, "Well, joy's certainly no option!" Ogilvie replied, "You're right! Joy is no option. It's your responsibility."

Shocked, the friend retorted, "You talk about joy as if it were a duty." Ogilvie responded, "Right again!" He explained that we have a duty to God, ourselves, and others to overcome our moods and to battle through to joy.

In Romans 5, Paul gave these reasons for joy: We have peace with God through Christ, access into grace, and hope of future glory. We have assurance that tribulation produces perseverance, which in turn builds character and leads to hope. We have hope that doesn't disappoint, because God's love has been poured into our hearts.

Fill your mind with these truths. Then, no matter what your circumstances, you can choose joy. —JEY

When trials come and my moods descend,
When pain and sorrows seem never to end,
As I yield to You, Lord, may I see
The peace and joy You've promised me. —Fitzhugh

For the Christian, joy is a choice.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #45

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"The consideration that human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected will always continue to prompt me to promote the former by inculcating the practice of the latter."

George Washington 1732-1799 1st US President

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #46

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"It is not so much what we get out of life as what we put into it that determines how large our returns of happiness shall be. The triumphant life is to be achieved through service. But it must be free and not compulsory. . . . There is a place where the path of duty suddenly becomes the path of beauty."

Frank C. Lockwood – Author - from “Life As a Fine Art”

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #47

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"The men and women who have the right ideals . . . are those who have the courage to strive for the happiness which comes only with labor and effort and self-sacrifice, and those whose joy in life springs in part from power of work and sense of duty."

Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919 26th US President

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #48

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/

"In these days of uncertainty and unrest, liberty-loving people's greatest responsibility and paramount duty is to preserve and proclaim the freedom of the individual, his relationship to deity, and the necessity of obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only thus will mankind find peace and happiness."

David McKay 1873-1970 American religious leader

LEADER:  How do we know what our duty is?

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #49

                   http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/duty/                   

"When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the word of God, because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness and your own duty."

Woodrow Wilson 1856-1924 28th US President

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #50

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

"Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly free. If we understand our first and sole duty to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even our enemies, for God's dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual tranquility under every circumstance."

A.     W. Tozer 1897-1963 Spiritual leader/Author

Wrote  “The Pursuit of God”

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  2 Peter 1:3-10

3seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.   5Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,  6and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,   7and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.   8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.  10Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  QUOTE #51

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/

“It is your privilege, and mine too, to know the mind and will of the Lord concerning our duties, and if we fail to seek after this, we neglect to magnify our calling."

Wilford Woodruff 1807-1898 American religious leader

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “Pray On”  By  Chisholm POEM

http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-03-18-03.shtml

Pray on, then, child of God, pray on;
This is your duty and your task.
To God the answering belongs;
Yours is the simpler part—to ask.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “Do You Really Love Him?” By Oswald Chambers

                                2/21 My Utmost for His Highest EXCERPT

http://www.rbc.org/utmost/02/21/

Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or that there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him? Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I’m not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things— things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him. Have you ever created what Mary of Bethany created in the heart of the Lord Jesus?

"She has done a good work for Me." Mark 14:6

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  Ecclesiastes 3:11-14

11He has made everything appropriate in its time He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.    12I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime;   13moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor--it is the gift of God.   14I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “Finding Life’s Purpose”  EXCERPT

                   http://www.rbc.org/ds/q0502/page3.html

Solomon learned the hard way that he could not live as if there were no God. Although he hints at the final answer at earlier points in Ecclesiastes, his strongest statement of the purpose of life comes in the concluding two verses of the very last chapter.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil (12:13-14).

That's it. Our ultimate purpose, our all, is wrapped up in our relationship to the God who made us. If we have thoughts about trying to get away with being self-serving, Solomon reminds us that each of us is headed for a day of accountability before God.

What does it mean to "fear God," and what does it mean to "keep His commandments"?

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “The Ten Commandments”

1.                  You shall have no other gods before Me.

2.                  You shall not make any carved image.

3.                  You shall not take the name of God in vain.

4.                  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5.                  Honor your father and your mother.

6.                  Do not commit murder.

7.                  Do not commit adultery.

8.                  Do not steal.

9.                  Do not bear false witness.

10.              Do not covet.

LEADER:  “Knowing God Through Exodus” EXCERPTS

http://www.rbc.org/ds/sb112/point4.html

The first four commandments tell man's duty to God; the last six his responsibilities to his fellowman. The Lord Jesus summarized these two divisions of the Law 1,500 years later when He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" Matt. 22:37-39.

Just as the Israelites needed the Law to know how to please the Lord, we need God's Word to know and obey His will.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “Readiness” By Oswald Chambers

                                4/18 My Utmost for His Highest  EXCERPT

http://www.rbc.org/utmost/04/18/

Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God’s voice as our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. ". . . that they may be one just as We are one . . ."  John 17:22 .

God called to him . . . . And he said, ’Here I am’
—Exodus 3:4

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  1 Corinthians 15:58

58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “Reporting for Duty”  11/3/00 Our Daily Bread

http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-11-03-00.shtml   EXCERPT

Do business till I come.   Luke 19:13

I have never met Mary Ruth, but I've received inspiring letters from her. She has known Christ as her Savior for 63 years, and she is investing her life in doing business for Him until He returns. Here is an excerpt from one of her letters:

"Each night before I go to sleep, I say, 'Good night, Lord Jesus. I love You. I'll see You in the morning, either here or there (heaven).' When I awake and see that I am still here, I say, 'Good morning, Lord. I love You. I see we have another day together.' Immediately I report for duty and ask Him to let me know, moment by moment, His plans for the day so we can 'get with it' together. I aim to help everyone I can to get ready to meet Him."

Mary Ruth then wrote about recent opportunities she and her brother had to witness to people from other countries, and she said that several had received Christ. "God reached Chinese, Vietnamese, Buddhists, and a Jew—all in 3 days, and I didn't need a passport, visa, or plane ticket. God brought them to us, and all I had to do was report for duty."

It's time to report for duty. —JEY

O what can I give to the Master,
The One who from sin set me free?
I'll give Him a lifetime of service
To thank Him for dying for me. —K. De Haan

We offer ourselves for Christ's service,

because He offered Himself for our sins.

HAVE SOMEONE READ:  “Christ’s Resurrection and Our Destiny”

http://www.rbc.org/ds/q1205/point6.html  EXERPT

We have an indescribable glory to anticipate. In the light of this great expectation, we should persist in serving the Lord through thick and thin, gladly going beyond the call of duty. We can do this with the assurance that the reward will far outweigh the cost, no matter how deep the trials or how difficult the way.

LEADER:  QUOTE #52

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/friendship/  

By: Lorenzo Snow 1814-1901 American religious leader

"Among us, I am happy to say, old age is honorable, and regarded as a blessing from the Lord. It is our duty to desire to live long upon the earth, that we may do as much good as we possibly can. I esteem it a great privilege to have the opportunity of living in mortality. The Lord has sent us here "for a wise and glorious purpose," and it should be our business to find out what that purpose is and then to order our lives accordingly."

 

 

COMMENTS IF TIME:

 

STOP AT 15 TILL FOR

PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISES:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CUT AND DISTRIBUTE FOR READING:

 

QUOTE #1

"A task becomes a duty from the moment you suspect it to be an essential part of that integrity which alone entitles a man to assume responsibility."

Dag Hammarskjold 1905-1961
Swedish statesman, former UN secretary-general

 

QUOTE #2

"There is not a moment without a duty."

Cicero 106-43 BC Roman orator, statesman, philosopher & writer

 

QUOTE #3

"So long as I am acting from duty and conviction, I am indifferent to taunts and jeers. I think they will probably do me more good than harm."

Winston Churchill 1874-1965 British prime minister-WWII

 

QUOTE #4

"Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having."

Gandhi 1869-1948 Indian spiritual and political leader

 

QUOTE #5

"I believe that every right implies a responsibility, every opportunity an obligation, every possession, a duty."

J.D. Rockefeller 1937-  
US Democratic politician; governor/Senator-W Virginia

 

QUOTE #6

"No more important duty can be urged upon those who are entering the great theater of life than simple loyalty to their best convictions."

Edwin Hubble Chapin 1814-1880  US clergyman, author, speaker

 

QUOTE #7

"I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty. Was thy dream then a shadowy lie? Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly; And thou shalt find thy dream to be A truth and noonday light to thee."

Ellen Sturgis Hooper 1816-1841 Author - from “Life a Duty”

 

 

QUOTE #8

"Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good."

Gandhi 1869-1948 Indian spiritual and political leader

 

2 Timothy 2:21

 

Colossians 1:9-14

 

2 Thessalonians 2:16-18

 

QUOTE #9

"A man who is not interested in politics is not doing his patriotic duty toward maintaining the constitution of the United States."

Harry Truman 1884-1972 33rd US President, Established NATO

 

QUOTE #10

"No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as of duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad ones the former only."

Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826 3rd US President
 Wrote Declaration of Independence

 

QUOTE #11

"Knowledge of our duties is the most essential part of the philosophy of life. If you escape duty you avoid action. The world demands results."

Major General George W. Goethals 1853-1923

 

QUOTE #12

"It is the privilege and duty of the present generation to pass on to its successors, unimpaired, the heritage of liberty bequeathed to it by the founders of the Republic."  

George Bruce Cortelyou 1862-1940
Lawyer/politician, Secretary to Presidents McKinley & Roosevelt

 

QUOTE #13

"A splendid storehouse of integrity and freedom has been bequeathed to us by our forefathers. In this day of confusion, of peril to liberty, our high duty is to see that this storehouse is not robbed of its contents."

Herbert Clark Hoover 1874-1964 31st US President

 

 

QUOTE #14

" Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought.  Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865 16th US President

 

QUOTE #15

"We are face to face with our destiny and we must meet it with a high and resolute courage. For us it is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out"

Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919 26th US President

 

QUOTE #16

"Let us do our duty in our shop or our kitchen, in the market, the street, the office, the school, the home, just as faithfully as if we stood in the front rank of some great battle, and knew that victory for mankind depended on our bravery, strength, and skill. When we do that, the humblest of us will be serving in that great army which achieves the welfare of the world."

Theodore Parker 1810-1860 American theologian

 

QUOTE #17

 “If we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall live always in the fear of God and shall respect His commandments, if we and they shall maintain just moral sentiments and such conscientious convictions of duty as shall control the heart and life, we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country.  Our country will go on prospering.”

Daniel Webster 1782-1852 Lawyer/US senator/Secretary of State

 

2 Chronicles 7:14

 

John 13:34

 

Galatians 5:13

 

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

 

 

 

 

QUOTE #18

"The human body is sacred — the veritable tabernacle of the divine spirit which inhabits it. It is a solemn duty of mankind to develop, protect and preserve it from pollution, unnecessary wastage and weakness."

Stephen L. Richards 1879-1959 American religious leader

 

QUOTE #19

"Possibly the best suggestion in condensed form, as to how to live, was given by my old Headmaster, Dr. Haig Brown, in 1904, when he wrote his Recipe for Old Age. A diet moderate and spare, Freedom from base financial care, Abundant work and a little leisure, A love of duty more than pleasure, An even and contented mind In charity with all mankind, Some thoughts too sacred for display In the broad light of common day, A peaceful home, a loving wife, Children, who are a crown of life; These lengthen out the years of man Beyond the Psalmist's narrow span."

Sir Robert Bade-Powell 1857-1941
British army officer & founder of Boy Scouts

 

I Corinthians 15:58

 

Psalm 90:17

 

QUOTE #20

"More things are left undone through neglect of duty than through neglect of self-interest."

Duc de La Rouchefoucauld 1613-1680  French writer & moralist

 

QUOTE #21

"A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last."

Joseph Fort Newton 1878-1950
US biographer/ clergyman; author, authority on Abraham Lincoln

 

QUOTE #22

"Where duty is plain, delay is both foolish and hazardous; where it is not, delay may be both wisdom and safety."

Tryon Edwards 1809-1894 American theologian & editor

 

 

 

QUOTE #23

"Make it a point to do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."

Mark Twain 1835-1910 American Author Samuel Clemens

 

QUOTE #24

"The everyday cares and duties, which men call drudgery, are the weights and counterpoises of the clock of time, giving its pendulum a true vibration and its hands a regular motion; and when they cease to hang upon its wheels, the pendulum no longer swings, the hands no longer move the clock stands still."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882 American poet

 

“Duty, Important First Steps”

 “Duty, Important First Steps: Faithful In That Which Is Least”

It is a Secret worth knowing and remembering that the truest, and, indeed the only possible, preparation for life's duties or trial, is made by simple fidelity in whatever each day brings. a day squandered anywhere may prove the dropped stitch from which the whole web will begin to ravel. One lesson neglected may prove to have contained the very knowledge for the want of which, far along in the course, the student may fail. One opportunity let slip may be the first step in a ladder heading to eminence or power, but no higher rounds of which can be gained, because the first was not taken. We never know what is important, or when we are standing at the open doors of great opportunities in life. The most insignificant duty that offers may be the first lesson in preparation for a noble mission; if we despise or neglect it, we miss the grand destiny, the gate to which was open just for that one moment. Indeed, every hour of life holds the keys of the next, and possibly of many hours more; to fail of our duty in any one of them, may be to lose the most splendid opportunity through all life to the end. -- Miller.

 

QUOTE #25

"Do it now! can affect every phase of your life. It can help you do the things you should do but don't feel like doing. It can keep you from procrastinating when an unpleasant duty faces you. But it can also help you do those things that you want to do. It helps you seize those precious moments that, if lost, may never be retrieved."

Napoleon Hill - American writer of "Think and Grow Rich"

 

QUOTE #26

"When you have a number of disagreeable duties to perform, always do the most disagreeable first."

Josiah Quincy 1744-1775 Revolutionary Patriot & Lawyer

 

 

QUOTE #27

"Do the duty which lieth nearest to thee! Thy second duty will already have become clearer."

Thomas Carlyle 1795-1881

Scottish essayist, historian & philosopher

 

QUOTE #28

"If we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying, to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line of our duty."

Hebert J. Grant 1856-1945 American church leader

 

QUOTE #29

"It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist."

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1881-1955
French Jesuit philosopher, Explorer along the Great Wall of China

 

QUOTE #30

"The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another."

George Eliot 1819-1880 English novelist

 

QUOTE #31

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble."

Helen Keller 1880-1968 American writer & lecturer, blind & deaf

 

QUOTE #32

"Twelve Priceless Qualities of Success: 1. The value of time. 2. The success of perseverance. 3. The pleasure of working. 4. The dignity of simplicity. 5. The worth of character. 6. The power of kindness. 7. The influence of example. 8. The obligation of duty. 9. The wisdom of economy. 10. The virtue of patience. 11. The improvement of talent. 12. The joy of originating."

Marshall Field – Chicago Retailer

 

QUOTE #33

"He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright."

Blaise Pascal 1623-1662
French scientis/ mathematician/physicist/philosopher/author

 

QUOTE #34

"Too many of us have a Christian vocabulary rather than a Christian experience. We think we are doing our duty when we're only talking about it."

Charles F. Banning - Author

 

QUOTE #35

"Do today's duty, fight today's temptation; do not weaken and distract yourself by looking forward to things you cannot see, and could not understand if you saw them."

Charles Kingsley 1819-1875 English clergyman & writer

 

QUOTE #36

"Do your duty and leave the rest to Providence."

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson 1824-1863
 American Confederate general, Civil War

 

QUOTE #37

 “Do thy duty, that is best; leave unto the Lord the rest.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807-1882

                                    The most popular American poet of the 19th century

 

QUOTE #38

"The best preparation for the future is the present well seen to, and the last duty done."

George Macdonald 1824-1905 Scottish writer

 

QUOTE #39

"The path of duty is the only path of safety. It is the only path wherein we can walk and have the assurance of God's continued blessings, of his continued deliverances. Any other course does not carry with it this assurance. Any other path leads to darkness, to contention, to evils of many kinds; for it leads away from the truth and the right. But if we continue in the path that is marked out for us by divine instruction, trusting implicitly in God, then shall we be delivered from all impending evils that are sought to be brought upon us, no matter what they may be; and the nearer we live to God the greater will be the blessings showered upon us, and seeming evils will be changed to blessings of untold worth."

George Reynolds 1842-1909 American religious leader

 

 

 

 

QUOTE #40

"The line of life is a ragged diagonal between duty and desire."

William Rounsevelle Alger 1822-1905 American clergy/author

 

QUOTE #41

"Ever notice that the whisper of temptation can be heard farther than the loudest call to duty."

Earl Wilson 1907-1987American newspaper columnist

 

QUOTE #42

"According to the ancient Greeks, when Hercules was a boy, just reaching the period of life when there was a question in his mind which path he should pursue, he went forth by himself and sat down and meditated. There came to him someone in the form of a beautiful young woman. "Hercules, I know what you want," she said "the path that I will point out to you will bring pleasure, will bring you constant place in society, will bring you the choice things of life, to eat and to drink and clothing to wear. You shall be popular in the society in which you shall move, and your whole life will be one constant round of pleasure." "What is your name?" Hercules asked. "My enemies call me Vice, but my friends call me Pleasure," she replied. Then there appeared to him another beautiful woman and she said: "Hercules, I shall not deceive you; the path I shall point out to you will be a p