by Jack Hoehn | February 27, 2022 | My grandfather was born in Odessa. He was not a Ukrainian or a Russian, but many Germans lived in German colonies at that time, farming the rich Ukrainian land. Later on when the Russian Czar decided he needed to expand his army, even German colonists began to […] Source: https://atoday.org/world-war-me-a-personal-response-to-the-invasion-of-the-ukraine/
Inside Story: God Is the Best Witness
God Is the Best Witness
By Anna Likholet
At the age of 18, I longed to share Jesus with others. But I was afraid.
“I’m scared,” I prayed often. “I don’t know how to share You.”
Image © Pacific Press
Then I learned that I needed surgery, and I was hospitalized in Tula, a city located about 2 ½ hours by car from Russia’s capital, Moscow. Three of the six beds in my hospital room were occupied when I arrived. The other female patients were reading or watching television. My operation was scheduled for the next day.
“What should I do?” I thought. “What does someone do before an operation?”
I opened my Bible.
The woman across from me immediate spoke up.
“Are you a Christian?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“Which church do you go to?” she said.
I didn’t want to be mocked for being a Seventh-day Adventist. Many Russians belong to another Christian denomination and dismiss Adventists as members of a sect.
“I’m a Protestant,” I said.
The woman wasn’t satisfied. “Which Protestant church do you belong to?” she said.
What could I say? “I’m a Seventh-day Adventist,” I said.
A big smile lighted up the woman’s face.
“Wow, a Seventh-day Adventist!” she exclaimed. “I know Adventists! They are the best people!”
The woman spoke enthusiastically about the church, its work, and Zaoksky Adventist University located outside Tula. The two other patients listened silently. They had never heard about the Adventist Church.
“Adventists are good Christians!” the woman said. “My father knows some nice Adventists.”
As she spoke, the physician entered the room. He was surprised to see her.
“What are you doing here?” he said.
“What do you mean?” she replied.
“I ordered you to be discharged yesterday,” he said. “You should already be at home.”
Her husband picked her up within 30 minutes.
Looking at her empty bed, I realized that God had answered my prayers in an unexpected way. God had revealed Himself on His own in my hospital room. I hadn’t done anything. God had done everything. As a result, the other patients knew that I was an Adventist and that Adventists love Jesus with all their hearts.
Before the hospital stay, I went to church and believed in Jesus. But being a Christian is more than that. Being a Christian is also telling others about Jesus. If you long to share Him, He can arrange it. He will do everything for you.
This mission story illustrates Mission Objective No. 1 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: “To revive the concept of worldwide mission and sacrifice for mission as a way of life involving not only pastors but every church member, young and old, in the joy of witnessing for Christ and making disciples.”
Amen!
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-god-is-the-best-witness/
Friday: Further Thought ~ Jesus Opens the Way Through the Veil
Further Thought:
“Christ’s ascension to heaven was the signal that His followers were to receive the promised blessing. For this they were to wait before they entered upon their work. When Christ passed within the heavenly gates, He was enthroned amidst the adoration of the angels.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
As soon as this ceremony was completed, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in rich currents, and Christ was indeed glorified, even with the glory which He had with the Father from all eternity. The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration was accomplished. According to His promise He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers as a token that He had, as priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed One over His people. …
They could speak the name of Jesus with assurance; for was He not their Friend and Elder Brother? Brought into close communion with Christ, they sat with Him in heavenly places. With what burning language they clothed their ideas as they bore witness for Him!” — Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, Pages 38, 46.
Discussion Questions:
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Amen!(0)
(0)The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Jesus Opens the Way Through the Veil appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-jesus-opens-way-through-veil/
Scottish Mission launches ambitious Ukraine humanitarian fundraising drive
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Scotland is launching a fundraising drive across its territory to rapidly raise emergency funds to help with the immediate relief efforts for those affected by the Ukraine Conflict. Funds will be distributed by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency to relief efforts that they are co-ordinating in countries around Ukraine
An appeal is being made for individual church members and local churches to make a significant contribution to this relief work that…Source: https://adventist.uk/news/article/go/2022-03-03/scottish-mission-launches-ambitious-ukraine-humanitarian-fundraising-drive/
Love
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 1 John 3:1.
John says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” No language can express this love; we can describe but a faint degree of love that passeth knowledge. It would require the language of the Infinite to express the love that has made it possible for us to be called the sons of God. In becoming a Christian, a man does not step down. There is no shame in having connection with the living God.
Jesus bore the humiliation and shame and reproach that justly belonged to the sinner. He was the Majesty of heaven, He was the King of glory, He was equal with the Father; and yet He clothed His divinity with humanity, that humanity might touch humanity, that divinity might lay hold of divinity. Had He come as an angel, He could not have been a partaker with us of our sufferings, could not have been tempted in all points like as we are, He could not have sympathized with our sorrows; but He came in the garb of our humanity, that as our substitute and surety, He might overcome the prince of darkness in our behalf, and make us victors through His merits.
[As we stand] under the shadow of the cross of Calvary, the inspiration of His love fills our hearts. When I look upon Him whom my sins have pierced, the inspiration from on high comes upon me; and this inspiration may come upon each one of you through the Holy Spirit. Unless you receive the Holy Spirit, you cannot have the love of God in the soul; but through a living connection with Christ, we are inspired with love and zeal and earnestness.
We are not as a block of marble, which may reflect the light of the sun, but cannot be imbued with life. We are capable of responding to the bright beams of the Sun of righteousness; for as Christ illuminates our souls, He gives light and life. We drink in the love of Christ as the branch draws nourishment from the vine. If we are grafted into Christ, if fiber by fiber we have been united with the living Vine, we shall give evidence of this fact by bearing rich clusters of fruit.—The Review and Herald, September 27, 1892.
Ye Shall Receive Power p. 71
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for E and her children. R
—-Please pray for the family of Kevin L who passed away this week. K
