By Andrew McChesney

Eight months passed after the miraculous answer to prayer, and Seventh-day Adventist church members visited Father for a second time on a Sabbath in Conakry, Guinea. Fifteen people arrived with Father’s sons, Junior and Emilie, who attended an Adventist school on the church compound.“ We are here to pray,” a church elder said.

Father appreciated the gesture, but he had a question. “Why do all other Christians go to church on Sunday but you worship on Saturday?” he asked.

The elder invited Father to open his Bible to Exodus 20:8-10. Father read, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (NKJV).

But Father was unconvinced. “The seventh day is Sunday,” he said.

The elder asked him to turn to Matthew 28:1. Father read, “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.” Father saw that the seventh day of the Bible was Saturday. “I understand,” he said. “Let’s pray.”

After the church group left, Father showed the verses to Mother. She was unmoved. “No, we will stay in our church,” she said. “I don’t care what they said. And even if our children go to their church, I won’t leave my church.”

Father suggested a time of prayer and fasting. “These questions started when our children began to attend that school,” he said. “We sent our children there to be educated. We don’t know whether God sent our children to that church to lead us there. If this is the church of Jesus, let Jesus show us.”

Father and Mother prayed and fasted for a week. “If this is Your will, let nothing prevent us from going to church next Sabbath,” Father prayed.

The next Sabbath, everything unfolded easily. Mother agreed to go to the Adventist church, and church members warmly welcomed them. Father was incredibly happy afterward. He felt like a burden had been lifted. He hadn’t been faithful in prayer before, but now he found the energy to pray regularly.

As he prayed, God answered, and his life changed. His work flourished. He began to get along with his parents and siblings. An older brother even named a child after him. He and Mother gave their hearts to Jesus in baptism.

“I have peace,” said Father, whose name is Pepe Voctorien Soropogui (pictured with his wife, Tido Grace Haba). “Jesus’ hand is in this church, and I thank God for bringing me here.”

Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering three years ago that helped the Adventist Maranatha School expand into new buildings in Conakry, Guinea, in the West-Central Africa Division (WAD). Your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering this quarter will again help spread the gospel in WAD.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-two-boys-two-prayers-part-2/

Daily Lesson for Saturday 14th of October 2023

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study

Genesis 11:1-9, Genesis 12:1-20:1-3, Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 1:21, Genesis 12:1-20:10-20; Genesis 13:1, Acts 8:1-4, Acts 1:8.

Memory Text:

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NKJV).

God can sometimes move us out of our comfort zone and make us His witnesses. Sometimes this change can be used to accomplish His purposes, such as in the example of the dispersing of the people at the Tower of Babel. “This dispersion was the means of peopling the earth, and thus the Lord’s purpose was accomplished through the very means that men had employed to prevent its ­fulfillment.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 120. Abraham, meanwhile, went from his home country to another (Genesis 12:1-20) as a means of witness. The disciples of Jesus went from working among only their own people (Acts 3:1-26) to working for others, as well (Acts 8:1-4). In Acts 1:8, Jesus laid down a principle of evangelism: they would start locally, Jerusalem and Judea, then go to Samaria and, ultimately, to the ends of the earth.

But even if we do not leave our country, God still wants us to reach out to the people around us. When the church in Jerusalem was becoming complacent, its members were dispersed. Though persecution came and people suffered, these unfortunate events became a means of spreading the good news all over the world.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 21.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-03-gods-call-to-mission/