34567 november 15, 2011

STUDY ARTICLES:

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December 26–January 1 ˙ PAGE 3��

“Do Not Lean UponYour Own Understanding”

SONGS TO BE USED: 133, 23

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January 2-8 ˙ PAGE 9��

For Life and Peace,Walk in Accord With the Spirit


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“Temporary Residents”in a Wicked World


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Help Men to Progress Spiritually


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Train Others to Reach Out


34567NOVEMBER 15, 2011

S IMPL I F I ED ENGL ISH ED I T ION

The Watchtower (ISSN 0043-1087) is published semimonthly by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.; M. H. Larson, President; G. F. Simonis,Secretary-Treasurer; 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483, and by Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, PO Box 4100, Georgetown,ON L7G 4Y4. Periodicals Postage Paid at Brooklyn, NY, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Watchtower, 1000 Red MillsRoad, Wallkill, NY 12589-3299. � 2011 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada.

Vol. 132, No. 22 Semimonthly ENGLISH

34567�

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

The purpose of this magazine, The Watchtower, is to honor Jehovah God, the SupremeRuler of the universe. Just as watchtowers in ancient times enabled a person toobserve developments from afar, so this magazine shows us the significance of worldevents in the light of Bible prophecies. It comforts people with the good news thatGod’s Kingdom, which is a real government in heaven, will soon bring an end toall wickedness and transform the earth into a paradise. It promotes faith in JesusChrist, who died so that we might gain everlasting life and who is now ruling asKing of God’s Kingdom. This magazine has been published by Jehovah’s Witnessescontinuously since 1879 and is nonpolitical. It adheres to the Bible as its authority.

This publication is not for sale. Itis provided as part of a worldwideBible educational work supportedby voluntary donations.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripturequotations are from themodern-language New WorldTranslation of the Holy Scriptures—With References.

“Some Words Explained” arecontextual explanations of wordsused within an article.

PURPOSE OF STUDY ARTICLES

STUDY ARTICLE 1 PAGES 3-8

How can you benefit from God’s gift of prayer? Learn how prayercan help you when you are experiencing difficult situations, makingimportant decisions, or struggling to resist temptations.


The apostle Paul told Christians in Rome what was required of them ifthey were to receive life and peace. Learn how you can benefit from thecounsel he gave them.


Faithful men of the past lived as “temporary residents.” The firstdisciples of Jesus did the same. But what about true Christians today?Learn what it means to live as temporary residents in this wicked world.

STUDY ARTICLES 4, 5 PAGES 21-32

There is a need for brothers to care for the congregations. Jesus helpedmany men to accept the good news. He trained them to continuehis work. We can learn from Jesus’ example. We can help the men wemeet in the ministry, and we can help brothers to have a desire toserve others in the congregation.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

14 “Disabled Now but Not Forever!”

3

CYNTHIA’S� employer has alreadydismissed some of the workers

from his company. (See footnote.) NowCynthia is worried that she too may loseher job. How will she pay her bills? An-other sister, Pamela, wants to move toan area where there is a great need topreach the good news. But should shemove to that area? Samuel has a differ-ent kind of problem. He looked at por-nographywhenhewas very young.He isnow in his 20’s and feels a strong temp-tation to start looking at pornographyagain. How can he fight this temptation?

2 When you are experiencing difficultsituations, making important decisions,or fighting temptations, in whom doyou trust? Do you trust only yourself?Or do you “throw your burden upon Je-hovah”? (Psalm 55:22) The Bible says:“The eyes of Jehovah are toward therighteous ones, and his ears are towardtheir cry for help.” (Psalm 34:15) So itis very important that we trust in Jeho-vah with all our heart and that we do notlean on our own understanding!—Prov-erbs 3:5.

3 We show that we trust in Jehovah

� Names have been changed.

1, 2. (a) What are some problems that wemay experience? (b) In whom should we trustwhen we are experiencing difficult situations,making important decisions, or fighting temp-tations? Why?3. (a) What does it mean to trust in Jehovah?(b) Why do some lean on their own under-standing?

with all our heart whenwe do what he requires ofus. We have to pray regu-larly to him so that hewill help and guide us.But many people think itis hard to trust in Jeho-vah. For example, a sis-ter named Lynn said thatit has been a struggle forher to trust in Jehovah completely.Why?She said: “I have no relationship withmy father, and I have a mother who didnot care for me emotionally or physical-ly. So I very quickly learned to look af-ter myself.” Because of this, it is hard forher to trust anyone. Other people may

rely on their own ability and success in-stead of trusting in Jehovah. For exam-ple, an elder who has a lot of experiencemight trust himself too much instead ofpraying to God before he cares for mat-ters in the congregation.

4 When we pray for Jehovah to helpus, he expects us to try our best and

4. What will we study about in this article?

“Do Not Lean UponYour Own Understanding”

THEME

SCRIPTURE

“Trust in Jehovah withall your heart and donot lean upon yourown understanding.”—PROVERBS 3:5.

We showthat we trust in

Jehovah when wedo things his way

THE WATCHTOWER ˙ NOVEMBER 15, 20114

follow his direction. Howdo you know when youshould allow Jehovah tosolve a difficult problemand when you should tryto solve it yourself? Whatshould we be carefulabout when we are mak-ing decisions? Why do weneed to pray when we arefighting temptations? Wewill answer these ques-tions by discussing some

Bible examples.

WHEN WE ARE SUFFERING

5 The Bible says about King Hezeki-ah of Judah: “He kept sticking to Jeho-vah. He did not turn aside from follow-ing him, but he continued keeping hiscommandments that Jehovah had com-manded Moses.” King Hezekiah trustedin Jehovah, the God of Israel. (2 Kings18:5, 6) Once, King Sennacherib of As-syria and his powerful army had cap-tured some strong cities of Judah, andnext he wanted to attack Jerusalem. SoKing Sennacherib sent his army to Je-rusalem and sent Rabshakeh and twoother messengers to insult and frightenthe people of Jerusalem. What did Hez-ekiah do? Hezekiah went to the templeof Jehovah and began to pray: “O Jeho-vah our God, save us, please, out of hishand, that all the kingdoms of the earthmay know that you, O Jehovah, are Godalone.”—2 Kings 19:14-19.

6 Hezekiah asked Jehovah for helpbut also did something about the prob-lem. For example, even before he went

5, 6. What did Hezekiah do when King Sen-nacherib said that he would attack Jerusalem?

to the temple to pray, he told his peoplenot to respond to Rabshakeh’s insults.Hezekiah also sent some of his mento the prophet Isaiah to ask for his ad-vice. (2 Kings 18:36; 19:1, 2) And Heze-kiah only did things that he knew wouldplease Jehovah. He did not try to gethelp from Egypt or from other nations.He knew that Jehovah did not want himto do that. So Hezekiah did not leanon his own understanding. He trustedin Jehovah. After Jehovah’s angel killed

185,000 of Sennacherib’s men, Sen-nacherib and his army returned to Nin-eveh.—2 Kings 19:35, 36.

7 Here are two more examples. Han-nah, the wife of the Levite Elkanah,was very sad because she could nothave a child. But she relied on Jeho-vah and prayed to him about her sit-uation. (1 Samuel 1:9-11, 18) Jonah, aprophet of Jehovah, disobeyed Jehovahand was swallowed by a big fish. But Jo-nah prayed: “Out of my distress I calledout to Jehovah, and he proceeded to an-swer me.Out of the bellyof Sheol I criedfor help. You heard my voice.” Jehovah

7. What comfort can we receive from theprayers of Hannah and Jonah?

SOME WORDS

EXPLAINED

ˇ To lean upon our ownunderstanding meansto think that we knowbest and that we canignore Jehovah

ˇ Temptation:A desire to do whatwe know is wrong

No matterhow difficult

our situation is,we should pray toJehovah and ask

him for help

THE WATCHTOWER ˙ NOVEMBER 15, 2011 5

saved him. (Jonah 2:1, 2, 10) It is verycomforting to know that no matter howdifficult our situation is, we can pray toJehovah and ask him to help us.—ReadPsalm 55:1, 16.

8 The examples of Hezekiah, Han-nah, and Jonah help us to understandwhat we should pray for when weare suffering. Even though all three ofthem suffered because of difficult situ-ations, their prayers show us that theydid not care only about themselvesand their own problems. The most im-portant things to them were to honorGod’s name, to worship God the rightway, and to do what he required ofthem.Hezekiahwas sad because peoplewere dishonoring God’s name. Hannahpromised Jehovah that if he would giveher a son, she would arrange for him toserve at the tabernacle in Shiloh. AndJonah said: “What I have vowed, I willpay.”—Jonah 2:9.

9 When we are praying for help be-cause of a difficult situation, we shouldthink about our reasons for praying. Dowe pray only about solutions to our ownproblems? Or do we remember Jehovahand his purpose in our prayers? Whenwe are suffering, we could become soworried about our ownproblems that Je-hovah’s purpose and our worship of himbecome less important to us. When wepray to Jehovah for help, we should re-member to pray for the sanctification ofhis name and the vindication of his sov-ereignty. If we remember these thingsin our prayers, it will help us to have

8, 9. What was important to Hezekiah, Han-nah, and Jonah when they prayed? What canwe learn from their example?

a positive attitude even if we do notget the solution we wanted. SometimesJehovah answers our prayers by givingus the strength we need to endure theproblem. He may not immediately takethe problem away.—Read Isaiah 40:29;Philippians 4:13.WHEN WE AREMAKING DECISIONS

10 How do you make important deci-sions in your life? Do you first decidewhat you want to happen and only thenask Jehovah to make it happen thatway? Jehoshaphat, a king of Judah, isa good example of a person who madea decision in the right way. The Moab-ites and the Ammonites started a waragainst the land of Judah. But Judah wasnot powerful enough to fight them. Sowhat did Jehoshaphat do?

11 The Bible says: “Jehoshaphat be-came afraid and set his face to searchfor Jehovah.” To show how serious thesituation was, he told all the people ofJudah not to eat for a period of timeand he gathered them together to askfor Jehovah’s guidance. Then he stoodup among the people of Judah and ofJerusalem and prayed: “O our God, willyou not execute judgment upon them?For in us there is no power before thislarge crowd that is coming against us;and we ourselves do not know whatwe ought to do, but our eyes are to-ward you.” The true God heard Jehosh-aphat’s prayer, and He fought for themand saved them. (2 Chronicles 20:3-12,17) When we need to make an impor-tant decision, especially a decision that

10, 11. What did Jehoshaphat do when hehad to make a difficult decision?


could affect our relationship with Jeho-vah, we should rely on him and not onour own understanding.

12 What should we do when we havea problem that may seem easy for us tosolve? Maybe we think we can find a so-lution quickly because we have been insimilar situations before. The exampleof King David helps us to understandwhat we should do in these situations.When the Amalekites attacked the cityof Ziklag, they took away the wives andchildren of David and of his men. Da-vid prayed to Jehovah and asked: “Shall

I chase after this marauder band?” Je-hovah answered: “Go in chase, for youwill without fail overtake them, and youwill without fail make a deliverance.”David obeyed, and he got back all thatthe Amalekites had taken.—1 Samuel30:7-9, 18-20.

13 Sometime after the Amalekites at-tacked Ziklag, the Philistines attackedIsrael. David again asked Jehovah whathe should do. God gave him this clearanswer: “Go up, for I shall without fail

12, 13. When making decisions, what can welearn from King David’s example?

give the Philistines into your hands.”(2 Samuel 5:18, 19) A little while lat-er, the Philistines fought against Davidagain. What would David do this time?He could have thought that he knewwhat to do because he had been in thissituation twice before. He could havedecided to fight God’s enemies. But Da-vid did not rely on himself and on hispast experience. So he again prayed toJehovah. This time Jehovah gave him adifferent answer. David must have beenhappy that he asked Jehovah to directhim! (2 Samuel 5:22, 23) We may thinksome problems are easy to solve, but wemust be careful not to rely on ourselvesand our past experience.—Read Jeremi-ah 10:23.

14 We are imperfect. So all of us, evenif we are experienced elders, must neverforget to ask Jehovah to direct us whenwe make decisions. Joshua and the old-er men of Israel did not ask Jehovahfor direction when the Gibeonites cameto ask Joshua not to fight against them.Even though the Gibeonites were fromthe nearby city of Gibeon, they madethemselves look as if they came fromsomewhere far away. Joshua and theolder men did not ask Jehovah for direc-tion, and they made an agreement notto fight against the Gibeonites. It is truethat Jehovah did not cancel the agree-ment. But he had this account put in theBible so that we would know that Josh-ua and the older men did not ask for hisdirection. We should always ask Jeho-vah to direct us before we make deci-sions.—Joshua 9:3-6, 14, 15.

14. What can we learn from the account ofJoshua and the Gibeonites?

When makingdecisions, weshould always lookfor Jehovah’sguidance and notrely on our ownunderstanding


WHEN WE AREFIGHTING TEMPTATIONS

15 Because we all are sinners, we needto do everything we can to fight againstour sinful desires. (Romans 7:21-25) Butwe can win the fight. How? Jesus toldhis followers that they must pray forhelp to fight temptation. (Read Luke 22:40.) Even though we pray, we may stillhave wrong desires or thoughts. If so, we

15. Why is prayer important to help us fighttemptation?

need to “keep on asking God” for wis-dom to help us fight temptations. The Bi-ble tells us that God gives wisdom “gen-erously to all and without reproaching.”(James 1:5) James tells us something elsethat can give us strength to fight wrongdesires. He says a person can “call theolder men of the congregation to him,and let themprayoverhim, greasing himwith oil in the name of Jehovah. And theprayer of faith will make the indisposedone well.”—James 5:14, 15.

To fighttemptation,when willprayer benefitus the most?


16 We cannot be suc-cessful in resisting temp-tation if we do not pray.But we need to remem-ber to pray at the righttime. Think about whathappened to the youngman mentioned at Prov-erbs 7:6-23. One eveninghe walked down a streetwhere he knew an im-moral woman lived. Sheinvited the young man toher home. He could notresist the temptation, andhe followed her, just likea bull that is taken to the

slaughter. Why did the young man goto that street? The Bible says that hewas “in want of heart.” He was probablystruggling with wrong desires. (Prov-erbs 7:7) When would it have been theright time for him to pray? Of course, itwould have been good if he had prayedat any time while the womanwas speak-ing to him. But the best time for himto pray would have been when he firsthad the idea of walking down thatstreet.

17 Today, a man may be trying to avoidlooking at pornography. But what if hewent to Internet sites where he knowsthere are sexual videos or pictures?This would be the same situation asthe young man in Proverbs chapter 7.It would be like walking down a roadwith many dangers. To resist the temp-tation to look at pornography, we needto ask for Jehovah’s help in prayer. If wefeel the desire to look at pornography,

16, 17. When we need help to resist tempta-tion, when is the best time to pray?

we need to stop and pray before we goto Internet sites that we know are dan-gerous.

18 It is not easy to fight against temp-tation or bad habits. The apostle Paulsaid: “The flesh is against the spirit inits desire, and the spirit against theflesh.” So the very things that we wouldlike to do, we do not do. (Galatians 5:17) To win this fight, we need to praywith all our heart when wrong thoughtsor temptations first come to our mind.Then we need to work hard to avoid

those wrong things. Remember that “notemptation has taken you except what iscommon to men.” With Jehovah’s help,we can stay faithful to him.—1 Corinthi-ans 10:13.

19 Prayer is a wonderful gift that canhelp us when we are experiencing dif-ficult situations, making important de-cisions, or fighting temptations. Whenwe pray to Jehovah, we show that werely on him. We should also keep ask-ing God for his holy spirit to guide usand to give us strength. (Luke 11:9-13)Let us always trust in Jehovah and notlean on our own understanding.

18, 19. (a) Why is it hard to fight temptation?How can we win the fight? (b) What are youdetermined to do?

We need to prayfor Jehovah’s help

when wrong thoughtsor temptations firstcome to our mind

WHAT IS YOUR

ANSWER?

ˇ What did you learnabout trusting in Jeho-vah from Hezekiah,Hannah, and Jonah?

ˇ How do the examplesof David and Joshuashow us that we needto be careful whenmaking decisions?

ˇ Why is it important topray at the right time?

9

AGOVERNMENT official in theUnited States said that the prob-

lem of people who are distracted whiledriving is getting worse every year.For example, they can get distractedif they use a mobile phone whilethey are driving. Many have reportedthat they have been in an accident,or have almost been in an accident, be-cause the driver of another car was us-ing a phone while driving. People maythink that they are saving time if theyuse their mobile phones while driving,but doing this can cause a serious ac-cident.

2 A driver who is distracted may notnotice dangers on the road. A similarthing could happen in our relationshipwith Jehovah. If we allow things to dis-tract us from serving God and main-taining good conduct, it could be dan-gerous. Paul said that our faith couldbe ruined just like a ship can be ru-ined in a shipwreck. (1 Timothy 1:18,19) The apostle Paul warned about thisdanger when he wrote to his broth-ers in Rome: “The minding of the fleshmeans death, but the minding of thespirit means life and peace.” (Romans8:6) What did Paul mean by that? Howcan we avoid “the minding of the flesh”and work hard at “the minding of thespirit”?

1, 2. (a) What is the danger of being distract-ed while driving? (b) What is the danger of be-ing distracted from our worship of Jehovah?

THEY “HAVENO CONDEMNATION”

3 In his letter to the Ro-mans, Paul wrote about astruggle that he had ex-perienced in his life. Hesaid that he felt as if hismind and his body werefighting against each oth-er. (Read Romans 7:21-23.) Paul did nottalk about this to make excuses for hisactions or because he felt sorry for him-self. He did not mean that it was im-possible for him to do what was right.He was a mature, anointed Christianand was chosen to be sent as “an apos-tle to the nations.” (Romans 1:1; 11:13) So why did Paul write about thisstruggle?

4 Paul was saying that he could notdo God’s will the way he really want-ed to do it. Why not? He said: “All havesinned and fall short of the glory ofGod.” (Romans 3:23) Like all of Adam’schildren, Paul was imperfect and hadwrong desires. We can understand howhe felt. We too struggle every day be-cause ofour imperfection andwrong de-sires. And there are many distractionsthat could affect our worship of God andtake us off the narrow road leading tolife. (Matthew 7:14) But Paul’s situationwas not hopeless, and neither is ours.

3, 4. (a) What personal struggle did Paulwrite about? (b) Why should we be interestedin Paul’s situation?

For Life and Peace,Walk in Accord With the Spirit

THEME

SCRIPTURE

“Walk, not in accordwith the flesh, butin accord with thespirit.”—ROMANS 8:4.


5 Paul asked whowould rescue him fromthis struggle, and thenhe said: “Thanks to Godthrough Jesus Christ ourLord!” (Romans 7:24, 25)Then, Paul spoke toanointed Christians, theones who are “in unionwith Christ Jesus.” (ReadRomans 8:1, 2.) Jeho-vah adopts them as sonsthrough his holy spir-it. He makes them “jointheirs with Christ.” (Ro-mans 8:14-17) God’s holy

spirit and the faith they have in the ran-som sacrifice of Jesus help them to winthe fight that Paul talked about. So Godno longer condemns them for their im-perfection. They are set free “from thelaw of sin and of death.”

6 Even though Paul was talking toanointed Christians, what he said aboutGod’s holy spirit and the ransom sacri-fice of Jesus can benefit all of Jehovah’sservants, whether they have the hope tolive in heaven or to live on earth. Eventhough the counsel Paul gave was in-spired by God, it is important that allof God’s servants understand and obeywhat he wrote.

HOW GOD “CONDEMNEDSIN IN THE FLESH”

7 In Romans chapter 7, Paul explained

5. From where did Paul get help and relief?6. Why should all of God’s servants want tounderstand Paul’s words?7, 8. (a) In what way was the Law “weakthrough the flesh”? (b) What has God donethrough his holy spirit and the ransom sacri-fice?

that imperfect humans are under thepower of sin. In chapter 8, he talkedabout the power of holy spirit. He ex-plained that God’s holy spirit can helpChristians in their struggle against thepower of sin. It canhelp them to dowhatJehovah wants and to have his approv-al. Paul showed that God used his holyspirit and the ransom sacrifice of Jesusto do something that the Law of Mosescould not.

8 The Law condemned sinners be-cause it was not possible for people toobey all the commandments of the Law.Israel’s high priests serving under theLaw were imperfect and could not offersacrifices to remove sin, so the Law was“weak through the flesh.” God sent hisSon as a human “in the likeness of sin-ful flesh,” and his ransom “condemnedsin in the flesh.” The sacrifice of Jesuswas able to save people from sin. Be-cause anointed Christians have faith inJesus’ sacrifice, Jehovah can view themas righteous. Paul’s counsel encouragesanointed Christians to “walk, not in ac-cord with the flesh, but in accord withthe spirit.” (Read Romans 8:3, 4.) Theymust continue to do this until the endof their life on earth. If they are faith-ful, they will receive “the crown of life.”—Revelation 2:10.

9 Paul also talked about “the law ofthat spirit” and “the law of sin and ofdeath.” (Romans 8:2) What are theselaws? The word he used in this versedoes not refer to rules, like the ones inthe Lawof Moses. A reference book saysthat the Greek word for “law” in this

9. What is the meaning of the word “law”used at Romans 8:2?

SOME WORDS

EXPLAINED

ˇ If we walk in accordwith the spirit, wefollow the guidanceof God’s holy spiritin our thinking andconduct

ˇ If we walk in accordwith the flesh, weallow sinful desires tocontrol our thoughtsand actions


verse means the good or bad things thatpeople do and that control them like alaw. It can also mean the guidelines thatthey choose to live by.

10 The apostle Paul wrote: “Throughone man sin entered into the worldand death through sin, and thus deathspread to all men because they hadall sinned.” (Romans 5:12) Because weare all children of Adam, the law ofsin and of death controls us. Our sin-ful desire is to do things that do notplease God. But these things lead todeath. In his letter to the Galatians, Paulsaid that these sinful actions and hab-its are “works of the flesh.”And he said:“Those who practice such things willnot inherit God’s kingdom.” (Galatians5:19-21) The people who do these thingswalk “in accord with the flesh.” They fol-low their fleshly desires. (Romans 8:4)They are guided by what their imper-fect flesh tells them to do. But are peoplewho commit sins like fornication, idol-atry, spiritism, and other sins the onlyones who are following their fleshly de-sires? No. “The works of the flesh” men-tioned in Galatians also include thingsthat many could think are just personalweaknesses. This would include thingslike jealousy, fits of anger, contentions,and envies. We must never think thatwe do not need to fight against our im-perfect flesh.

11 We are happy that Jehovah hasmade it possible for us to be free fromthe law of sin and of death! Jesus said:

10. How does the law of sin and of death con-trol us?11, 12. What has Jehovah done to free usfrom the law of sin and of death? What mustwe do to have God’s approval?

“God loved the world somuch that he gave hisonly-begotten Son, in or-der that everyone exer-cising faith in him mightnot be destroyed but haveeverlasting life.” If we livein a way that shows thatwe love God and we havefaith in the ransom sac-rifice of Jesus, we canbe freed from the pun-ishment that results fromsin. (John 3:16-18) We willfeel as Paul did whenhe said: “Thanks to Godthrough Jesus Christ ourLord!”

12 Our situation is similar to beingcured of a serious illness. We can re-cover completely only if we do what thedoctor tells us to do.Our faith in the ran-som can free us from the law of sin andof death, but we are still imperfect andsinful. To continue to have a strong re-lationshipwith Jehovah andhave his ap-proval, there is something that we needto do. If we want to recover from thesickness of imperfection, Paul tells usthat we must walk in accord with thespirit.

HOW CAN WEWALK IN ACCORDWITH GOD’S SPIRIT?

13 When we walk somewhere, wecontinue moving toward that place. Towalk in accord with the spirit, weneed to progress in the truth. (1 Tim-othy 4:15) Even though we cannot do

13. What does it mean to walk in accord withGod’s spirit?

CAN YOU

EXPLAIN?

ˇ What was the Lawof Moses not ableto do? How did Godovercome this?

ˇ What is “the law ofsin and of death”?How can we be freedfrom it?

ˇ What must we do todevelop “the mindingof the spirit”?

12

this perfectly, each day we do our bestto follow the guidance of God’s spirit.If we are “walking by spirit,” we willplease God.—Galatians 5:16.

14 In his letter to the Romans, Paulnext spoke about people who have twoopposite ways of thinking. (Read Ro-mans 8:5.) Here the word “flesh” isnot just the physical body. In the Bible,“flesh” can sometimes refer to our im-perfections. Our imperfections causethe struggle between the flesh andthe mind that Paul talked about. Paulfought against his flesh, or imperfec-tions. But many people today do noteven try to fight their wrong desires,so they live “in accord with the flesh.”They do not think about what Godwants them to do, and they do not askhim to help them win the fight. Theyoften “set their minds on the things ofthe flesh” and allow their fleshly de-sires to control them. But people whoare living “in accord with the spirit” al-low Jehovah to guide them.

14. How do people who live “in accord withthe flesh” think and act?

15 (Read Romans 8:6.) Before peopledo good things or bad things, they firstset their mind on the things they wantto do. If people set their mind on thethings of the flesh, the result will bethat they will want to do the thingsof the flesh. Their thoughts, interests,and feelings will usually be on thesethings.

16 What are most people interest-ed in today? The apostle John wrote:“Everything in the world—the desire ofthe flesh and the desire of the eyes

15, 16. (a) How can setting our mind onsomething affect what we think about?(b) What are most people today interested in?

Even though we areimperfect, we can

progress in the truthwhen we walk in accord

with the spirit

Do you walkin accord withthe flesh or in

accord withthe spirit?

13

and the showy display of one’s meansof life—does not originate with the Fa-ther, but originates with the world.”(1 John 2:16) The desires John wroteabout are things like immorality, want-ing to be important and well-known,and wanting more material things.Books, magazines, movies, TV pro-grams, and the Internet promote thesedesires all the time. These are thethings that most people have set theirmind on because these are the thingsthat they really want. Paul said that“the minding of the flesh meansdeath.” It could cause us to lose our re-lationship with God, and in the futurewe could lose our life. Why? “Becausethe minding of the flesh means enmi-ty with God, for it is not under sub-jection to the law of God, nor, in fact,can it be. So those who are in harmo-ny with the flesh cannot please God.”—Romans 8:7, 8.

17 “The minding of the spirit meanslife and peace.” It means everlasting life

17, 18. How can we allow God’s spirit toguide us? What is the result if we do so?

in the future as well as peace in ourhearts and minds and peace with Godnow. How can we show we are mindingthe spirit? If we always follow the guid-ance of God and his holy spirit, we willgrow in a way of thinking that agreeswith his way of thinking. We want ourthinking to be “under subjection to thelaw of God.” Then, when we are in asituation where we need to resist temp-tation, we will know what we shoulddo. We will have the desire to make theright choice. We will make a choice thatis guided by God’s spirit.

18 It should be our desire to set ourmind on the things of God. We wantto make Christian activities the mostimportant part of our life. These activ-ities include regular prayer, Bible read-ing and study, meeting attendance, andthe ministry. (1 Peter 1:13) Instead ofletting our sinful desires control us, weshould follow God’s way of thinkingand allow his spirit to guide us. If we dothis, we will have many blessings, andwe will have everlasting life and peace.—Galatians 6:7, 8.

14

I WAS born in 1974 in Paris, France. There were problems duringmy birth, and later the doctors told my parents that I had cere-

bral palsy. I had limited movement, and when I spoke, it was hardfor people to understand me. In time, I also became an epileptic, andit was easy for me to get infections.

When I was two years old, my family moved to Melbourne, Aus-tralia. Two years later, my father left my mother and me. That wasthe first time that I remember feeling that God was my Friend. Mumwas one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and regularly took me to Christianmeetings. There I learned that God loved me and cared for me. God’scomfort along with Mum’s love helped me to feel safe, even thoughour situation had changed.

Mum also taught me how to pray to Jehovah. Actually, it is mucheasier for me to pray than to talk. When I pray, I do not have tostruggle to say the words, but the words are clear in my mind. Andbecause it is difficult for people to understand me when I talk, it com-forts me to know that Jehovah understands everything I say, wheth-er I say it in my mind or struggle to say it out loud.—Psalm 65:2.

HOW I ENDURED MORE PROBLEMS

At the age of five, I could no longer walk without the help of heavysplints. And even with them, it was very difficult to walk straight.By the age of 11, I could no longer walk. Later, I could not get inand out of bed without the help of a machine to lift me into my mo-torized wheelchair. I control my wheelchair with a hand lever.

Sometimes my disabilities discourage me. But then I rememberthat in my family, we always say that we should not worry about thethings we cannot do, but we should continue to do the things wecan do. This has helped me to do well at horseback riding, sailing,

LIFE STORY

“DISABLED NOW BUTNOT FOREVER!”AS TOLD BYSARA VAN DER MONDE

People often tell me, “Sara, you have such a lovely smile. Why areyou always so happy?” I tell them that I have a special hope. I say,“I am disabled now but not forever!”


canoeing, camping, and even driving a car around a track! I showmy love of art by painting, sewing, quilting, embroidering, and mak-ing ceramics.

Because of my serious disabilities, some people have doubted myability to make my own decision to worship God. When I was 18, aschoolteacher told me to leave home so that I would not have to fol-low my mother’s religion. The teacher even offered to help me finda place to live. But I told her that I would never leave my religion

and that I would leave home only whenI was ready to be more independent.

Soon after that, I was baptized as oneof Jehovah’s Witnesses. Two years later,I moved into a small apartment. Here Iam happy because I have both help andindependence.

AN OFFER I DID NOT EXPECT

In my life, many things have hap-pened that have tested my faith. Oneday I was completely surprised when adisabled schoolmate asked me to mar-ry him. At first, this made me feel goodabout myself. Just like most young wom-en, I would like to get married. But noone can say that two people will have ahappy marriage just because they bothhave a disability. More important, theyoung man did not worship Jehovah.Our beliefs, activities, and goals werecompletely different. Howcould we havea happy life together? I want to obeyGod’s command to marry only someonewho serves Jehovah. (1 Corinthians 7:39)

So I kindly told the young man that I could not accept his offer ofmarriage.

Even today, I know I made the right choice. And I have no doubtthat I will be happy in the new world that God promises. (Psalm145:16; 2 Peter 3:13) Until then, I will do everything I can to con-tinue to be loyal to Jehovah and to be content with my situation.

I often think about the day when I can leap from my wheelchairand run as fast as I can. On that day, I will be able to say, “I wasdisabled, but now I have perfect health that will last forever!”

16

JESUS said this abouthis disciples: “They are

in the world.” But he alsosaid: “They are no part ofthe world, just as I am nopart of the world.” (John17:11, 14) His words clear-ly show how true Chris-tians should view thisworld. Satan is the god of“this system of things,” or

world. (2 Corinthians 4:4) Christians livein the world, but they are no part of it.That iswhy the Bible says that Christiansare like “aliens,” or foreigners. Theyare “temporary residents” in this world.—1 Peter 2:11.

THEY LIVED AS“TEMPORARY RESIDENTS”

2 Faithful servants of Jehovah have al-ways been different from people in theworld. Two examples are Enoch andNoah. The Bible says that they “walkedwith the true God.” (Genesis 5:22-24;6:9) They bravely preached that Jeho-vah condemned Satan’s wicked world.(Read 2 Peter 2:5; Jude 14, 15.) Theydid what was right even though thepeople around them were wicked. Forthis reason we read that Enoch “pleasedGod well” and that Noah was “faultless

1. What did Jesus say about true Christiansand this world?2, 3. Why can we say that Enoch, Noah, andAbraham and Sarah lived as “strangers andtemporary residents”?

among his contemporaries.”—Hebrews11:5; Genesis 6:9.

3 We can also learn from the exam-ple of Abraham and Sarah. They obeyedGod when he asked them to leave theircomfortable home in the city of Ur ofthe Chaldeans. They were willing to livewithout a home in a foreign land. (Gen-esis 11:27, 28; 12:1) The apostle Paulwrote: “By faith Abraham, when he wascalled, obeyed in going out into a placehe was destined to receive as an inher-itance; and he went out, although notknowing where he was going. By faithhe resided as an alien in the land of thepromise as in a foreign land, and dweltin tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirswith him of the very same promise.”(Hebrews 11:8, 9) Paul also said aboutthese servants of Jehovah: “In faith allthese died, although they did not getthe fulfillment of the promises, but theysaw them afar off and welcomed themand publicly declared that they werestrangers and temporary residents in theland.”—Hebrews 11:13.

A WARNINGTO THE ISRAELITES

4 Abraham had many descendants.God organized them into the nation ofIsrael and gave them laws and a land.(Genesis 48:4; Deuteronomy 6:1) Thepeople of Israel had to remember thatthe land was not theirs but belonged to

4. What warning did Jehovah give the Israel-ites before he gave them their land?

“Temporary Residents”in a Wicked World

THEME

SCRIPTURE

“In faith all these . . .publicly declared thatthey were strangersand temporaryresidents in the land.”—HEBREWS 11:13.


Jehovah. (Leviticus 25:23) Even thoughthey used the land, they had to obeyJehovah’s rules. Also, the Israelites hadto remember that “not by bread alonedoes man live” and that all their goodthings came from Jehovah. (Deuteron-omy 8:1-3) That is why before Jehovahgave them their land, he warned them:“It must occur that when Jehovah yourGod will bring you into the land thathe swore to your forefathers Abraham,Isaac and Jacob to give you, great andgood-looking cities that you did notbuild, and houses full of all good thingsand that you did not fill, and cisternshewn out that you did not hewout, vine-yards and olive trees that you did notplant, and you shall have eaten and be-come satisfied, watch out for yourselfthat you may not forget Jehovah.”—Deu-teronomy 6:10-12.

5 The Israelites did exactly what Jeho-vah had warned them not to do. Whenthey entered the Promised Land and be-gan to live in comfortable houses andhad plenty of food and wine, they for-got Jehovah. In the time of Nehemiah,a group of Levites spoke with shameabout what had happened, as we readat Nehemiah 9:25-27. (Read.) They saidthat people “began to eat and to be sat-isfied and to grow fat.” The Israelites re-belled against God, and they killed theprophets he sent to warn them. SoJehovah allowed their enemies to ruleover them. (Hosea 13:6-9) Later, whenthe Romans ruled over Israel, the Isra-elites even killed the Messiah who waspromised by God! So Jehovah no longerwanted them as his people. He chose a

5. Why did Jehovah no longer want the Isra-elites to be his people? What new nation didhe choose?

new nation, “the Israelof God.”—Galatians 6:16;Matthew 21:43; Acts 7:51, 52.

CHRISTIANS ARE “NOPART OF THE WORLD”

6 In the beginning ofthis article, we learnedthat Jesus, theHead of theChristian congregation,said that his followersshould be no part of Sa-tan’s world. Just before hedied, Jesus told his disci-ples: “If you were partof the world, the worldwould be fond of what isits own. Now because youare no part of the world,but I have chosen you outof the world, on this account the worldhates you.”—John 15:19.

7 After some time, there were Chris-tians living in many places around theworld where the Romans ruled. Chris-tians had to continue to be no part ofthe world. They had to reject the way oflife of the people around them. Wher-ever they lived, they had to be differ-ent. About 30 years after Jesus died, theapostle Peter wrote to the first Chris-tians: “Beloved, I exhort you as aliensand temporary residents to keep ab-staining from fleshly desires, which arethe very ones that carry on a conflictagainst the soul. Maintain your conductfine among the nations.”—1 Peter 1:1; 2:11, 12.

6, 7. (a) How would you explain what Jesussaid about his followers and this world? (b) Ac-cording to Peter, why did true Christians haveto continue to be no part of the world?

SOME WORDS

EXPLAINED

ˇ Temporary resident:Christians are “tempo-rary residents” becauseeven though they areliving in the world, theyare no part of it

ˇ World:The people and thewicked system that areruled by Satan. The Biblealso calls it the present“system of things”

ˇ Material things:Money andpossessions

18

8 Christians lived as “aliens and tem-porary residents” in the Roman world oftheir time. One historian wrote that theysuffered severe persecution and that thishappened often. He said that they wereaccused of not believing in God becausethey did not participate in false religiousceremonies. They were called “haters ofthe human race” because they did notjoin the people around them in enter-tainment and festivals that were full offalse worship and sexual immorality.

WE DO NOT USETHE WORLD TO THE FULL

9 Just like the first Christians, we tooare no part of “the present wicked sys-

8. What did one historian say that shows thatthe first Christians were no part of the world?9. How do we show that we are not “haters ofthe human race”?

tem of things.” (Galatians 1:4) Becauseof this, many do not understand the waywe live. Some people even hate us. Butwe are not “haters of the human race,” assome may think. We show that we lovepeople by going from house to houseand telling everyone the good news ofGod’s Kingdom. (Matthew 22:39; 24:14)We preach about Jehovah’s Kingdom be-cause we believe that it will soon destroyall imperfect human governments. ThisKingdom, with Christ as King, will thenbring a righteous new world.—Daniel 2:44; 2 Peter 3:13.

10 Because Satan’s world will endsoon, we know that now is not the timeto try to have a comfortable life. The

10, 11. (a) How do we make use of the world?(b) In what ways do Christians not use theworld to the full?

The firstChristians did

not get involvedin violent

and immoralentertainment


apostle Paul said: “The time left is re-duced.” He then said that those who buyshould be “as those not possessing, andthose making use of the world as thosenot using it to the full; for the scene ofthis world is changing.” (1 Corinthians7:29-31) Today, how do we make use ofthe world? For example, we use mod-ern technology and means of commu-nication. These help us to teach peoplein many lands about the Bible, and wedo it in many languages. We also workand earn the money that we need to live.And we buy necessary things for ourdaily lives. But we do not use the worldto the full. This means that money, thethings we have, and our job are not themost important things in our life.—Read1 Timothy 6:9, 10.

11 Another way Christians do not usethe world to the full is by not giving toomuch importance to the education thatthis world offers. Many people in thisworld think that a person has to go to auniversity, get a good job, and earn a lotof money. But as temporary residents,we do not think like them. We do notmake an effort to get “lofty things,” thatis, the things that would make us impor-tant in this world. (Romans 12:16; Jere-miah 45:5) We obey the warning Jesusgave us: “Keep your eyes open and guardagainst every sort of covetousness, be-cause even when a person has an abun-dance his life does not result from thethings he possesses.” (Luke 12:15) Soyoung Christians should remember thatthe most important thing is to serve Je-hovah. They should get enough educa-tion to care for their basic needs so thatthey will be able to serve Jehovah withtheir whole heart, soul, strength, and

mind. (Luke 10:27) If they do that, theycan become “rich toward God.”—Luke12:21; read Matthew 6:19-21.

DO NOT BE ANXIOUSABOUT MATERIAL THINGS

12 Another difference between us andpeople in the world is the way we thinkabout material things. Jesus said: “Neverbe anxious and say, ‘What are we to eat?’or, ‘What are we to drink?’ or, ‘What arewe to put on?’ For all these are the thingsthe nations are eagerly pursuing. Foryour heavenly Father knows you needall these things. Keep on, then, seekingfirst the kingdom and his righteousness,and all these other things will be addedto you.” (Matthew 6:31-33) Many of ourbrothers and sisters know fromwhat hashappened in their own lives that whatJesus said is true. Our heavenly Fatheralways gives us the things we need.

13 It is good to be content with whatwe have. (1 Timothy 6:6) That is the op-posite of how people in the world think.For example, when young people getmarried, many of them want to haveeverything immediately. They want ahouse or an apartment, furniture, a nicecar, and new electronics. But Christianswho live as temporary residents controltheir desires, and they will not buy morethan what is possible for them to have.It is good to see that many do not spendtime and money buying all these things,so that they can use more time and ener-gy in Jehovah’s service. Some are able toserve as pioneers, at Bethel, in the trav-eling work, or as missionaries. We are

12, 13. Why does obeying the words of Jesusat Matthew 6:31-33 make us different frompeople in the world?


grateful for the work thatour brothers do as theyserve Jehovah with theirwhole heart.

14 In one of his par-ables, Jesus said that “theanxiety of this systemof things and the decep-tive power of riches” cancause us to slow down inour service to God. (Mat-thew 13:22) This will nothappen if we are contentto live as temporary res-idents in this world. Wewill keep our eye “simple”by giving all our attentionto serving God and bykeeping his Kingdom first

in our lives.—Matthew 6:22.

“THE WORLD IS PASSING AWAY”

15 An important reason why trueChristians live as “aliens and tempo-rary residents” is that they believe thatSatan’s world will end soon. (1 Peter2:11; 2 Peter 3:7) We show that we be-lieve this by the way we live our life.This includes the decisions we make,the things we want, and the goals wehave. The apostle John told Christiansnot to love the world or the things inthe world because “the world is pass-ing away and so is its desire, but he thatdoes the will of God remains forever.”—1 John 2:15-17.

16 Jehovah told the Israelites that if

14. What can we learn from one of the par-ables of Jesus?15. What did John say about this world?16. How do we show that we are part of the“people” that Jehovah has separated from theworld?

they obeyed him, they would becomehis “special propertyout of all other peo-ples.” (Exodus 19:5) When the Israelitesobeyed God, their worship and way oflife were different from that of other na-tions. Today, too, Jehovah’s people areseparate from Satan’s world. The Bibletells us to “repudiate ungodliness andworldly desires and to live with sound-ness of mind and righteousness andgodly devotion amid this present systemof things, while we wait for the happyhope and glorious manifestation of thegreat God and of the Savior of us, ChristJesus, who gave himself for us that hemight deliver us from every sort of law-lessness and cleanse for himself a peo-ple peculiarly his own, zealous for fineworks.” (Titus 2:11-14) Jehovah’s “peo-ple” includes the anointed Christiansand millions of “other sheep,” who helpthem.—John 10:16.

17 “The happy hope” of the anointedis that of ruling with Christ in heav-en. (Revelation 5:10) The hope of theother sheep is to live forever on earth.When this hope is fulfilled, the othersheep will no longer be temporary res-idents in a wicked world. They will havebeautiful homes and many good thingsto eat and drink. (Psalm 37:10, 11; Isa-iah 25:6; 65:21, 22) They will not for-get Jehovah as the Israelites did. Theywill always remember that all they haveis from Jehovah, “the God of the wholeearth.” (Isaiah 54:5) The anointed andthe other sheep will always be happythat they lived as temporary residentsin this wicked world.

17. Why will the anointed and the other sheepalways be happy that they lived as temporaryresidents in this wicked world?

WHAT IS YOUR

ANSWER?

ˇ In what way did faithfulmen of the past live astemporary residents?

ˇ How did the first Chris-tians live in the worldof their time?

ˇ How do true Christiansnot use the world tothe full?

ˇ Why will we be happythat we lived as tempo-rary residents in thiswicked world?

21

JESUS and his disciples had been busypreaching in Galilee. One day, they

went by boat to rest in a quiet place.But many people followed them alongthe shore. There were “about five thou-sand men, besides women and youngchildren.” (Matthew 14:21) At anothertime, a crowd came to Jesus becausethey wanted him to heal them and theywanted to hear him teach. In the crowd,there were “four thousand men, besideswomen and young children.” (Matthew15:38) Many men were among the peo-ple who came to Jesus and wanted tolearn more about what he was teaching.But Jesus knew that many others wouldaccept the truth, because after the mir-acle when he filled the disciples’ netswith fish, he said: “From now on youwill be catching men alive.” (Luke 5:10)Jesus meant that their preaching waslike their fishing. He could help themfind many people who would accept thetruth. These would include many men.

2 There are also men today who likethe message that we preach. They arehappy for us to study the Bible withthem. (Matthew 5:3) Some men startlearning about God but do not progressin the truth. How can we help them? Inhis ministry, Jesus did not preach in adifferent way to men. But he wanted tohelp them because there are some situ-ations that worry men especially. In this

1, 2. (a) What did many men do when theyheard Jesus preach? (b) What will we learnabout in this article?

article, we will learn howJesus helped men andhow we can imitate him.We will talk about threesituations: (1) if a man isanxious about money,(2) if a man is afraid ofwhat others think, and(3) if a man thinks that he is not as goodas others.

IF A MAN IS ANXIOUSABOUT MONEY

3 A man who was an expert on theLaw of Moses said to Jesus: “Teacher, Iwill follow you wherever you are aboutto go.” Jesus then told him that “the Sonof man has nowhere to lay down hishead.” But the Bible does not say thathe became a follower of Jesus. So may-be the man was anxious about where hewould live and what he would eat.—Mat-thew 8:19, 20.

4 Many men think that having mon-ey and a job is more important thanstudying the Bible and obeying what itteaches. To get a university degree anda well-paid job is more important tothem. They know that they need moneyto live every day. So they think that mon-ey and a job can benefit them more thanstudying the Bible and becoming God’sfriend. They may like what the Bible

3, 4. (a) What do many men think is impor-tant? (b) Why do some men think that moneyand a job are more important than acceptingthe truth?

Help Men toProgress Spiritually

THEME

SCRIPTURE

“From now on you willbe catching men alive.”—LUKE 5:10.


teaches, but “the anxietiesof this system of thingsand the deceptive powerof riches” stop them fromlearning more about Godor obeying what he says.(Mark 4:18, 19) But Jesushelped his disciples de-cide what was most im-portant, and we can imi-tate his example.

5 Simon Peter and hisbrother Andrew were

fishermen. They worked with John, hisbrother James, and their father, Zebe-dee. Their fishing business was doingwell, and they employed other men.(Mark 1:16-20) When Andrew and Johnfirst learned about Jesus from Johnthe Baptizer, they were sure that Jesuswas the Messiah. Andrew then told hisbrother Simon Peter about Jesus, andperhaps John told his brother James.

(John 1:29, 35-41) During the months af-ter this, Jesus preached inGalilee, Judea,and Samaria, and these four discipleswent with him. Then they returned totheir fishing business. They liked learn-ing the things that Jesus taught, but atthat time they did not think that the

5, 6. What helped Andrew, Peter, James, andJohn to decide what was the most importantwork for them?

preaching work was the most importantwork for them.

6 Later, Jesus invited Peter and An-drew to follow him and become “fish-ers of men.” What did Peter and Andrewdo? “At once abandoning the nets, theyfollowed him.” James and John did thesame. “At once leaving the boat and theirfather, they followed him.” (Matthew 4:18-22) What helped these men decideto start preaching full-time? They hadthought carefully about this decision.They had traveled with Jesus for somemonths and had listened to him teach.They also saw his miracles and the zealhe had for what was right. They saw thatpeople really liked what he taught. Be-cause of the things they learned, theirfaith in Jehovah and trust in him becamestronger.

7 How can we imitate Jesus and helpour Bible students to learn to trust inJehovah? (Proverbs 3:5, 6) We can helpthem by the way we teach. When westudywith them, we can teach them thatJehovah promises to bless us if we putthe Kingdom first. (Read Malachi 3:10;Matthew 6:33.) We can use the Bibleto show them that Jehovah always caresfor his people. But we should not for-get that we can also teach our studentsby our own example. When we tell Bi-ble students how Jehovah has helped us,this can help them learn to trust in himtoo. We can also show them experienc-es from our books and magazines.�—Seefootnote.

� See Yearbooks of Jehovah’s Witnesses as wellas life stories published in The Watchtower andAwake!

7. How can we help Bible students to learn totrust in Jehovah?

SOME WORDS

EXPLAINED

ˇ To progress spiritually,or progress in thetruth, means to believethe truth and live bywhat we learn

ˇ To be anxious meansto worry unnecessarilyabout something

If a man is anxiousabout money, helphim to see thatJehovah is good


8 To have strong faith, it is not enoughfor a Bible student to read and hear howJehovah has blessed others. He needs toexperience, or see, in his own life thatJehovah is good. Psalm 34:8 says: “Tasteand see that Jehovah is good, O you peo-ple; happy is the able-bodied man thattakes refuge in him.” How can we helpa student to see that Jehovah is good?What if the student has money prob-lems? He mayalso be trying to overcomea bad habit, like smoking, gambling, ordrinking too much. (Proverbs 23:20, 21;

8. (a) Why is it important for a Bible studentto “taste and see that Jehovah is good”?(b) How can we help a Bible student to see thatJehovah is good?

2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Timothy 6:10) Wecan teach him to pray to God for helpto stop his bad habit. When his life im-proves, he will see that Jehovah is good.Then we can encourage him to put wor-ship of Jehovah first in his life. We canteach him that he needs to study the Bi-ble every week and prepare for meet-ings and attend them. When the studentsees that Jehovah is blessing his efforts,his faith will be stronger, and he willbe less anxious about other things, likemoney.

IF A MAN IS AFRAIDOF WHAT OTHERS THINK

9 Some men worry about what otherpeople might think about them, so theymay not become followers of Jesus. Forexample, Nicodemus and Joseph of Ar-imathea did not tell other people thatthey were Jesus’ disciples because theywere afraid of what other Jews might sayor do. (John 3:1, 2; 19:38) There was areason why they were afraid. The reli-gious leaders hated Jesus so much thatanyone who believed in him was no lon-ger allowed to come to the synagogue.—John 9:22.

10 In some places today, it may be dif-ficult for a man to show that he is in-terested in God, the Bible, or religion.His workmates, friends, and family maycriticize him or try to cause him trouble.In other places, it may be dangerous for

9, 10. (a) Why did Nicodemus and Joseph ofArimathea not tell others that they were Jesus’disciples? (b) Why are some men today afraidto be followers of Jesus?

Do you make opportunities to reachmen with the good news?


a person to tell others that he wants tochange his religion. And a man who isserving in themilitary, in politics, or is inan important position in the area wherehe lives may get a lot of criticism fromothers if he talks about religion. For ex-ample, a man in Germany said: “Whatyou Witnesses preach about the Bible istrue. But if I became a Witness today, bytomorrow everyone would know aboutit. What would they think at work, in theneighborhood, and at the club my fam-ily and I belong to? I could not put upwith that.”

11 Jesus’ apostles showed courage. Butsometimes they were afraid of what oth-ers might think about them. (Mark 14:

11. How did Jesus help his disciples not to beafraid of what others thought about them?

50, 66-72) How did Jesus help his disci-ples to progress in the truth even whenpeople opposed them? Jesus preparedthem for the opposition that wouldcome. He said: “Happy are you when-ever men hate you, and whenever theyexclude you and reproach you and castout your name as wicked for the sake ofthe Son of man.” (Luke 6:22) He warnedhis followers that they should expect op-position. But he told them that this op-position was “for the sake of the Son ofman.” And he reminded them that Godwould always care for them if they askedHim for help and strength. (Luke 12:4-12) Jesus also invited those who beganfollowing him to associate with his dis-ciples and to be their friends.—Mark 10:29, 30.

How can youprepare a Bible

student foropposition?


12 We too need to help Bible studentsnot to be afraid of what others mightthink about them. One way we can dothis is to help a student know what todo when people oppose him. (John 15:19) For example, workmates and oth-ers may not agree with his new beliefs,or they may have questions about whathe believes. We can help him to pre-pare simple answers from the Bible. Wecan be his friend, and we can introducehim to others in the congregation. May-be he and some of the brothers have sim-ilar situations or interests, and they canbecome friends. It is very important toteach him to pray regularly and from hisheart. This will help him become Jeho-vah’s friend. Jehovahwill be like a strongrock and a place of refuge for him, sohe will not need to be afraid of what peo-ple might think about him.—Read Psalm94:21-23; James 4:8.

IF A MAN THINKS THAT HE ISNOT AS GOOD AS OTHERS

13 Some men may think that they can-not do what others in the congregationcan do. Maybe they do not read well, orthey feel that they cannot explain theirthoughts well. Maybe they are shy, orthey do not like to talk about their be-liefs in front of other people. So it isvery hard for them to study, commentat the meetings, or preach to others.One brother explained that when hewas young, preaching was hard for him.He said that he would go to the door,pretend to ring the doorbell, and then

12. How can we help a Bible student not to beafraid of what others might think about him?13. If a brother thinks that he is not goodenough, how can this hold him back fromspeaking about the truth?

quietly walk away and hope that noone would hear or see him. He said:“The thought of going from door to doormade me physically ill.”

14 Think how Jesus’ disciples musthave felt when they could not cure a boy

who was possessed by a demon. Theyprobably thought that they could neverdo what Jesus wanted them to do. Thefather of the boy came to Jesus and said:“Lord, have mercy on my son, becausehe is an epileptic and is ill, for he fallsoften into the fire and often into the wa-ter; and I brought him to your disciples,but they could not cure him.” When Je-sus expelled the demon, the boy wascured. Later, the disciples came to Je-sus and asked him: “Why is it we couldnot expel it?” Jesus answered them: “Be-cause of your little faith. For truly I say toyou, If you have faith the size of a mus-tard grain, youwill say to this mountain,‘Transfer from here to there,’ and it willtransfer, and nothing will be impossiblefor you.” (Matthew 17:14-20) A personwho has faith in Jehovah will be able todo things that may seem impossible. But

14. Why could Jesus’ disciples not cure theboy who was possessed by a demon?

If a man is afraidof what others

might think, help himto see that Jehovah

can be a placeof refuge for him

if he trusts in his ownabilities, he will fail, andthenhe may feel that he isnot good enough to serveJehovah.

15 If a Bible studentfeels that he cannot serveJehovah as well as others,we can encourage himnot to think of his ownabilities but to have faiththat Jehovah will helphim. Peter wrote: “Hum-ble yourselves, therefore,under the mighty handof God, that he may ex-alt you in due time; whileyou throw all your anxietyupon him.” (1 Peter 5:6, 7)We need to help a student

to love Jehovah and to have a desire tobe guided by him. This means that hemust love what he learns from the Bi-ble and show “the fruitage of the spir-it” in his life. (Galatians 5:22, 23) Prayerneeds to be very important to him. (Phi-lippians 4:6, 7) And he understands thatit is God who will give him the courageand strength to do what He asks of him.—Read 2 Timothy 1:7, 8.

16 Some students may need help toimprove their reading and speakingabilities. Others may feel that they arenot good enough to serve Jehovah be-cause of some bad things they did be-fore they knew him. In both cases,we can help a student by showing himlove and being patient with him. Jesussaid: “Persons in health do not need a

15, 16. How can we help a Bible student whofeels that he cannot serve Jehovah as well asothers can?

physician, but the ailing do.”—Matthew9:12.

HELP MORE MEN TOLEARN ABOUT JEHOVAH

17 Only the Bible has a message thatcan make people truly happy, and wewant to help as many men as possibleto accept it. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) Howcan we find more men in our preachingwork? We can try to preach in the eve-nings, on weekend afternoons, or dur-ing holidays when more men may be athome. And if possible, we can ask tospeak with the man in the family. Whenappropriate, we can witness to male

workmates. Some sisters in the congre-gation are married to men who are notWitnesses, and we can try to help thesemen to have an interest in the truth.

18 We want to help as many people aspossible to learn the truth. Those whoare searching for the truth will listento the message we preach. We need tobe patient and continue helping all whowant to know the truth. But what canhelp baptized men to have the desire tocare for responsibilities in the congre-gation? The next article will answer thisquestion.

17, 18. (a) How can we talk to more men inour preaching work? (b) What will we studyabout in the next article?

If a man feels thathe is not as good asothers, help him to

have faith in Jehovah

WHAT IS YOUR

ANSWER?

ˇ How can we helpmen to decide whatis most importantin life?

ˇ How can we helpBible students notto be afraid of whatpeople think aboutthem?

ˇ How can we helpsomeone who feelsthat he cannot serveJehovah as well asothers can?


27

AT THE end of his account about Je-sus’ life, the apostle John wrote:

“There are, in fact, many other thingsalso which Jesus did, which, if ever theywere written in full detail, I suppose, theworld itself could not contain the scrollswritten.” (John 21:25) Jesusworked hardin the ministry during the short time hewas on earth. During that time, he need-ed to find men whom he could train tocontinue his work after he returned toheaven. In the year 33, he had trainedjust a small group, but it quickly grewto become a congregation of thousandsof preachers.—Acts 2:41, 42; 4:4; 6:7.

2 Today, there are more than sev-en million people who are preachingthe good news in over 100,000 congre-gations around the world. There is aneed for brothers to take the lead inthose congregations. For example, thereis a great need for elders. Brothers whoare “reaching out,” or trying to do moreto serve others in the congregation, are“desirous of a fine work.”—1 Timothy3:1.

3 There are things that a brotherneeds to do before he can qualify to haveresponsibilities in the congregation. Ed-ucation, experience, and abilities arenot what prepare a man for this work.

1. What did Jesus do during his ministry totrain preachers who would become a largecongregation?2, 3. (a) Why is there a need for brothers toserve in the congregations? (b) What will westudy about in this article?

His life must be in agree-ment with what the Biblerequires for brothers whoserve in the congregation.How can we help broth-ers to progress in thetruth and to qualify for re-sponsibilities? “Everyonethat is perfectly instruct-ed will be like his teacher,” said Jesus.(Luke 6:40) In this article, we will talkabout some ways that Jesus trained hisdisciples and what we can learn fromthis training.

“I HAVE CALLED YOU FRIENDS”

4 Jesus did not think that he was bet-ter than his disciples. They were his

friends. He wanted to be with them, andhe trusted them. He said to them: “Allthe things I have heard from my FatherI have made known to you.” (Read John15:15.) Think of how happy the disci-ples must have been when he answeredtheir question: “What will be the sign of

4. How was Jesus a good friend to his disci-ples?

Train Others to Reach Out

THEME

SCRIPTURE

“Everyone that isperfectly instructedwill be like his teacher.”—LUKE 6:40.

There is a greatneed for brotherswho can care for

the congregations


your presence and of theconclusion of the sys-tem of things?” (Matthew24:3, 4) He also want-ed them to know what hewas thinking and feeling.For example, on the nightwhen he was arrested, Je-sus took Peter, James, andJohn into the garden ofGethsemane. He neededto pray at that difficulttime. The three apostlesmay not have heard whathe said in his prayer,but they knew that hewas suffering very much.(Mark 14:33-38) Another

time, he strengthened them when “hewas transfigured before them.” (Mark 9:2-8; 2 Peter 1:16-18) The strong friend-ship between Jesus and his disciplesgave them the strength they needed tocontinue the important work they hadto do.

5 Like Jesus, elders today help theirbrothers and sisters and want to betheir friends. They love them and showthem that they are sincerely interest-ed in them. Sometimes there are situa-tions that the elders cannot talk about.But they do talk to their brothers aboutthe things they have learned from God’sWord. Elders trust their brothers. Theynever think that they are more impor-tant than a ministerial servant who isyounger than they are. Elders under-stand that even young ministerial ser-vants have progressed in the truth andcan keep progressing. They know thatthese young men love Jehovah and are

5. How do elders help others?

serving with them to care for the con-gregation.

“I SET THE PATTERN FOR YOU”

6 Even though Jesus’ disciples lovedGod’s Word, at times their thinking wasaffected by the way they grew up andused to live. (Matthew 19:9, 10; Luke 9:46-48; John 4:27) But Jesus never criti-cized them or got angry with them. Hedid not ask them to do anything thatwas too difficult for them. And he nev-er asked them to do something thathe himself would not do. Jesus taughthis disciples by his good example.—ReadJohn 13:15.

7 How was Jesus an example for hisdisciples? (1 Peter 2:21) He lived a sim-ple life so that he could use his time toserve others. (Luke 9:58) Jesus taughtothers what he had learned from Jeho-vah and did not teach his own ideas.(John 5:19; 17:14, 17) He was kind, andit was easy for people to talk to him.

His actions showed that he loved oth-ers. (Matthew 19:13-15; John 15:12) Je-sus’ good example helped his apostles.It helped James to be courageous and to

6, 7. How was Jesus a good example for hisdisciples? How did his example help them?

SOME WORDS

EXPLAINED

ˇ Serve God: WorshipJehovah and do his will

ˇ Serve others: Work inthe congregation andin field service as aministerial servant oran elder

ˇ Reach out: Makean effort to serveothers and tomeet Scripturalqualifications

The Bible describeswhat kind of mana brother shouldbe if he desiresto serve others

in the congregation


serve God until James himself was exe-cuted. (Acts 12:1, 2) And John was faith-ful for more than 60 years.—Revelation1:1, 2, 9.

8 Elders can be a good example foryounger men by being humble, by show-ing love, and by using their time and en-ergy to help others. (1 Peter 5:2, 3) Also,elders are happy to be a good example sothat the brothers can imitate their strongfaith, the way they teach, the way theylive as Christians, and how they preach.—Hebrews 13:7.

JESUS GAVE HIS DISCIPLESORDERS AND SENT THEMOUT TO PREACH

9 After Jesus had preached for twoyears, he also sent his 12 apostles out topreach. But first he gave them instruc-tions. (Matthew 10:5-14) Another time,before Jesus fed thousands of peoplewith only a little bit of food, he gave in-structions to his disciples. He told themhow to organize the people so that every-one could have food. (Luke 9:12-17) Je-sus trained his disciples by telling themexactly what they should do and howthey should do it. Because of the trainingthat Jesus gave them and the help theyreceived from the holy spirit, the apos-tles organized a great preaching workthat began in the year 33.

10 Today, we start teaching a manwhen we study the Bible with him. Wemay need to help him to learn to readwell. As we continue to study with him,

8. How can elders be a good example foryounger men and others?9. How do we know that Jesus trained his dis-ciples for the preaching work?10, 11. How can elders and others train mento serve in the congregation?

we also help him in other ways.When hestarts to attend meetings, he will learnwhat he needs to do to participate in theTheocratic Ministry School and becomean unbaptized publisher. After he is bap-tized, the brothers will give him othertraining. For example, theycan train himto repair the Kingdom Hall. Also, the el-ders can help him to understand whathe needs to do to be a ministerial ser-vant.

11 When the elders give a baptizedbrother a responsibility in the congrega-tion, they want to help him do it well.They explain the way that the brothersdo this work in the congregations andshow him clearly what he needs to do. Ifthe work is sometimes hard for him, theelders do not immediately decide thathe is not able to do it. But they kindlyexplain again what he needs to do andhow to do it. The elders enjoy helpinga brother care for his responsibilities be-cause they know that serving others inthe congregation will bring him happi-ness.—Acts 20:35.

“THE ONE LISTENINGTO COUNSEL IS WISE”

12 Another way Jesus trained his dis-ciples was by giving them the counselthey needed at the right time. For exam-ple, when James and John wanted fireto come down from heaven to destroysome Samaritans, Jesus told them thatthey were wrong to want that to hap-pen. (Luke 9:52-55) Another time, themother of James and John asked Jesusif they could have important positions inhis Kingdom. But Jesus knew that it wasJames and John themselves who want-ed these positions, so he said to them:

12. Why was Jesus’ counsel helpful?


“This sitting down at my right hand andat my left is not mine to give, but it be-longs to those for whom it has been pre-pared by my Father.” (Matthew 20:20-23) Jesus always gave counsel that wasclear and that would help people knowhow to act in different situations. It wasalways based on God’s Word. He want-ed his disciples to learn to think and actin agreement with God’s Word. (Mat-thew 17:24-27) Jesus knew that his dis-ciples were not perfect and that therewere some things that they could not do.He gave them counsel because he lovedthem very much.—John 13:1.

13 Every brother who wants to serveothers in the congregation will needcounsel from the Bible at some time inhis life. Proverbs 12:15 says: “The one

13, 14. (a) Who needs counsel? (b) What aresome examples of counsel that elders may givea brother?

listening to counsel is wise.” One youngbrother said that he used to feel that hewas not good enough to serve. He saidthat an elder helped him to understandthat he did not need to be perfect toserve.

14 If the elders notice that a broth-er’s conduct is preventing him from pro-gressing, they will immediately try tohelp him “in a spirit of mildness.” Theywant him to be able to serve others inthe congregation. (Galatians 6:1) At oth-er times, elders need to give counsel tohelp someone adjust his attitude. Forexample, maybe the elders notice thata brother sometimes seems to do lessthan he could. They can encouragehim to think about Jesus’ example. Je-sus worked hard in the preaching workand told his disciples to follow his ex-ample. (Matthew 28:19, 20; Luke 8:1)Maybe a brother wants to be more im-

What trainingcan you provide

your Biblestudent as he

seeks to makeprogress?


portant than others. The elders could ex-plain that Jesus taught his disciples thatthey should not desire to be the great-est. (Luke 22:24-27) Or maybe it is dif-ficult for a brother to forgive others. Theelders could help him by using the il-lustration of the slave who did not wantto forgive others even though others hadforgiven him much. (Matthew 18:21-35)When the elders need to give counsel,they should give it as soon as possible.—Read Proverbs 27:9.

“BE TRAINING YOURSELF”

15 The elders make efforts to trainbrothers to serve in the congregation.But others can also help. For example,a brother’s own family can help him toserve. And if a brother is already an el-der, his wife and children can supporthim as he works hard in the congrega-tion. They understand that he must usesome of his time and energy for others.It makes him happy when his family iswilling to make sacrifices so that he cancare well for his responsibilities. We arethankful for the sacrifices that the fam-ilies of elders make.—Proverbs 15:20; 31:10, 23.

16 Even though others can help him,it is the brother who needs to show thathe has a desire to serve others. (ReadGalatians 6:5.) It is true that a broth-er does not need to be a ministerial ser-vant or an elder to help others and todo his best in the preaching work. But ifa brother desires to serve as a ministeri-al servant or an elder, he must first work

15. How can a brother’s family help him toserve others?16. (a) Who needs to show that he has the de-sire to serve others? (b) What does a brotherneed to do if he desires to serve as a ministeri-al servant or an elder?

hard to qualify. The Bible describes whatkind of man he should try to be. (1 Tim-othy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1-3) Soif a brother desires to serve as a minis-terial servant or an elder but is not serv-ing as one yet, he should think aboutsome things that he can do to qualify.What can help him? He needs to readand study the Bible regularly, meditate,and pray. And he needs to do his bestin the preaching work. If he does thesethings, he will be following the counselPaul gave to Timothy: “Be training your-self with godly devotion as your aim.”—1 Timothy 4:7.

17 But what if a brother feels that heis not good enough to be a ministerialservant or an elder? It is good for him

to remember how much Jehovah and Je-sus help us. Jehovah promises that hewill carry the load for us. (Psalm 68:19)So Jehovah will help a brother to acceptresponsibilities in the congregation. If abrother is not a ministerial servant oran elder, it would be good for him to re-member that there is a great need forbrothers who can care for the congre-gations. It is also good for him to prayfor Jehovah’s holy spirit because this willhelp him to have peace and self-control.

17, 18. What can a brother do if he feels thathe is not good enough or if he does not havethe desire to serve?

God can helpa brother to have the

desire and strengthto serve others

www.watchtower.org ws11 11/15-E

It can help him to stopfeeling that he is not goodenough. (Luke 11:13; Ga-latians 5:22, 23) We canbe sure that Jehovah willbless brothers who wantto serve others unself-ishly.

18 Maybe a brother doesnot have the desire toserve. What can helphim? The apostle Paulwrote: “God is the onethat, for the sake of hisgood pleasure, is actingwithin you in order foryou both to will and toact.” (Philippians 2:13) ItisGod whohelps a personto have the desire and thestrength to serve othersand to do His will. (Philip-pians 4:13) And a Chris-

tian can pray to God for his help to dowhat is right.—Psalm 25:4, 5.

19 Jehovah will bless the efforts of el-ders who train others. He also blesses

brothers who have the desire to serveothers in the congregation. The Bibleshows that we can be sure that God’speople will have enough brothers to care

19. What does it mean that Jehovah will raiseup “seven shepherds, yes, eight dukes”?

for the congregations. It says that Jeho-vah will raise up “seven shepherds, yes,eight dukes of mankind.” (Micah 5:5)Today, there are many humble brotherswho have the desire to serve others andwho are being trained to care for the con-gregations. This brings praise to Jehovahand many blessings to us.

Jehovah blessesbrothers whowant to serveothers unselfishly

WHAT ARE YOUR

ANSWERS?

ˇ What are some waysthat Jesus trained hisdisciples?

ˇ How can eldersimitate Jesus asthey help brothersto serve others inthe congregation?

ˇ How can a brother’sfamily help him toserve others in thecongregation?

ˇ What does a brotherneed to do to showthat he desires toserve in the congrega-tion?

How can men show thatthey are reaching out?

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