Love One Another

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2009 Abuse Prevention Emphasis Day
Love One Another
Womens Ministries Department General Conference
of the Seventh-day Adventists
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Dear friends, let us love one another, for love
comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born
of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does
not know God, because God is love. This is how
God showed his love among us He sent his one and
only Son into the world that we might live
through him. This is love not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends,
since God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another. I John 47-11 (NIV)
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As Christians God gives each of us a choice.
Remember the words of Joshua to the children of
Israel in Joshua 2415 And if it seem evil unto
you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom
ye will serve.
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LIVING IN A PAINFUL WORLD

• We live in a world filled with pain,
  suffering and evil of every kind. But we serve a
  mighty God. A God who is concerned with
  everything that concerns us. A God who gives us
  hope and joy in a world longing for peace and
  healing. A God who loves us.

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• The Bible text reminds us, Fear not I am with
  you, I am He that liveth, and was dead and,
  behold, I am alive forevermore Rev 118.What a
  beautiful reminder. It doesnt matter where we
  are today, God is with us.

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• 1 John 518, 19 says, There is no fear in love
  but perfect love casts out fearWe love Him
  because He first loved us. Once we are filled
  with the love of God we dont have to fear.

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• But for many in this world fear is their constant
  companion, they have not experienced the love of
  God and that is why on this Abuse Prevention
  Emphasis day we are going to take a closer look
  at the violence that women in our time and Bible
  times had to suffer

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• As we do this we must ask ourselves, What can I
  do to help? How can I make a difference? How can
  I love in a healing way.

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• Definition of the term violence against women,
  as voted by the United Nations General Assembly
  in 1993.
• violence against women" means any act of
  gender-based violence that results in, or is
  likely to result in, physical, sexual or
  psychological harm or suffering to women,
  including threats of such acts, coercion or
  arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
  occurring in public or in private life.

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• There are many stories in the Bible of women who
  suffered abuse of various kinds we just spoke
  about Tamar, daughter-in-law of Judah (Genesis
  38). Theres the story of Jepthas daughter
  (Judges 11) the Woman Caught in Adultery (John
  8) the Woman at the Well (John 4) the Levites
  Concubine (Judges 19)

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• Tamar, daughter of King David who was raped by
  her brother (2 Samuel 13) Hagar, Sarahs servant
  (Genesis 16) Dinah, daughter of Jacob (Genesis
  34) and Hannah mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 1).
  And these are just some of stories of abuse
  against women found in the Bible.

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• Come on a journey with me as we take a closer
  look at this problem of violence against women
  that has scourged the earth from its ancient
  times to present day.

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Dinah, daughter of Jacob (Genesis 34)

• Read with me Genesis 341-2
• Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had
  borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of
  the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the
  Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took
  her and lay with her, and violated her.

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• One of the missing elements in this story was
  respect. Respect for Dinah, respect for the
  request of Hamor and Shechem to make right their
  wrong, respect for the sanctity of human life,
  and respect for their father Jacob.

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• E. G. White tells us that we should, Cherish
  the love of Jesus in the heart, respect each
  other, for Christ has given His life for you.
  Every soul is precious in the sight of God. It is
  a wonderful thing to be remembered and cared for
  every hour by God.
• 7 Manuscript p 204

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• Did you know that in the United States a woman is
  raped every six minutes?
• Did you know that that in Peru, 90 of 12 to 16
  year old girls giving birth were pregnant from
  rape and often incest?
• Did you know that in South Africa a sex crime
  happens every twenty seconds?
•  

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Hagar, servant of Sarah (Genesis 16) and  

• 164 Then Sarai, Abrams wife, took Hagar her
  maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband
  Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten
  years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to
  Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that
  she had conceived, her mistress became despised
  in her eyes.

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Hannah, mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 1)

• 17 And her rival also provoked her severely,
  to make her miserable, because the Lord had
  closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when
  she went up to the house of the Lord, that she
  provoked her therefore she wept and did not
  eat.

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But what did God do in each of these situations

• To Hagar he said I will multiply your
  descendants exceedingly (vs 10). God made a
  promise to Hagar.
• To Hannah, God made her a promise through the
  priest Eli that she would have a son and she
  promised to return her son to God.

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Four cases of abuse against women

• Tamar, daughter-in-law of Judah abuse of power
  
• Dinah, daughter of Jacob sexual abuse, abuse of
  power
• Hagar, servant of Sarai
• Hannah mother of Samuel emotional abuse by
  another woman

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LOVE ONE ANOTHER

• Beloved, let us love one another, for love is
  of God and everyone who loves is born of God and
  knows God. He who does not love does not know
  God, for God is love. 1 John 4 7 9
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1 John 4. Look at verse 12 to 16

• No one has seen God at any time. If we love one
  another, God abides in us, and His love has been
  perfected in us. By this we know that we abide
  in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of
  His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that
  the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the
  world. 

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• Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,
  God abides in him, and he in God. And we have
  known and believed the love that God has for us.
  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in
  God, and God in him.

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So what can we do?

• Recognize that gender-based violence is a
  tremendous evil, that it is never acceptable and
  cannot be condoned.
• Help raise awareness. Share materials about
  gender-based violence with your church and
  surrounding community

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• Provide ongoing support to a local womens
  shelter or other organization benefitting victims
  of gender-based violence.
• Prison Ministries ministering to the abuser
• Care for hurting people in our church. Be
  non-judgmental. Develop support groups.

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• We can show Gods love.