Intercer Adventist News

Closer To Heaven
You are here: Home / Archives for News and Feeds

3: Life and Death — Teaching Plan

By

Key Thought: Although ready to die for Christ, Paul was confident of his long-term fate. The most important thing for him was to honor Christ and to preach the gospel to as many as possible…
January 17, 2026

1. Have a volunteer read 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.

  1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
  2. What is the basis of the spiritual war we wage, and what are our weapons?
  3. Personal Application: In what ways are you experiencing the reality of the great controversy How can you draw comfort and strength knowing Christ has won the victory already? Share your thoughts.
  4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “How can God allow so much suffering, pain, and death in this world? If Jesus died on the cross to end all the results of sin, why is it still going on two years later? How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Philippians 1:23,24.

  1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
  2.  What does Paul mean when he says that to depart and be with Christ is far better?
  3. Personal Application: No one wants to die, but have you ever thought that the next thing you will know is the return of Christ? Does this help us understand Paul’s thinking in this passage? Share your thoughts.
  4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “How would you explain the Bible teaching on death to me, because I believe that Paul and other Christians are with Christ in heaven? ” How would you respond to your relative?

3. Have a volunteer read Philippians 1:27-30.

  1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
  2. What do both Jesus and Paul say is indispensable for unity in the church?
  3. Personal Application: How does our unity and striving together for the faith of the gospel relate to fearlessness? Share your thoughts.
  4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “What hope and comfort do Chriasrtians have when they are being persecuted, under duress and stress, and suffering? Should they have hope and comfort in these situations?.” How would you respond to your friend?

4. Have a volunteer read I Corinthians 4:14-16, I Thessalonians 2:10,11; Galatians 4:19.

  1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
  2. What relationship did Paul have with the churches he established and the people he won for Christ?
  3. Personal Application: Review how you live and how you treat people, especially those who don’t treat you well. What kind of witness for Jesus do you present? Share your thoughts.
  4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared. ”Ministry of Healing, p. 148)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/3-life-and-death-teaching-plan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=3-life-and-death-teaching-plan

Striking Examples of Prayer

By

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. John 15:7.

Prayer has been made the means of obtaining blessings that would not otherwise be received. The patriarchs were men of prayer, and God did great things for them. When Jacob left his father’s house for a strange land, he prayed in humble contrition, and in the night season the Lord answered him through vision. He saw a ladder, bright and shining, its base resting on earth, and its topmost round reaching to the highest heaven…. Afterward, while on his return to his father’s house, he wrestled with the Son of God all night, even till break of day, and prevailed. The assurance was given him, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men.”

Joseph prayed, and he was preserved from sin amid influences that were calculated to lead him away from God. When tempted to leave the path of purity and uprightness, he said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

Moses, who was much in prayer, was known as the meekest man on the face of the earth. For his meekness and humility he was honored of God, and he discharged with fidelity the high, noble, and sacred responsibilities intrusted to him. While leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, again and again it seemed that they must be exterminated on account of their murmuring and rebellion. But Moses went to the true Source of power; he laid the case before the Lord….

Daniel was a man of prayer, and God gave him wisdom and firmness to resist every influence that conspired to draw him into the snare of intemperance. Even in his youth he was a moral giant in the strength of the Mighty One….

In the prison at Philippi, while suffering from the cruel stripes they had received, their feet fast in the stocks, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praise to God, and angels were sent from heaven to deliver them. The earth shook under the tread of these heavenly messengers, and the prison doors flew open, setting the prisoners free…. We should be continually loosening our hold upon earth, and fastening it upon heaven.—Signs of the Times, August 14, 1884.
From the Heart p. 22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Joyce as she recovers from surgery. Rose
—-Please pray for several relatives who are in end-stage disease. B
—-I’m asking for prayers. I am not feeling well having a hard time breathing. Michael
—-Please pray for Ethan to continue to come to the ten days of prayer at our church. E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,

These days can follow an ongoing battle on the daily news that started six thousand years ago. This battle teaches us how one seemingly little digression from God’s will can have grave consequences not only for ourselves but for others as well.

In Abraham’s case, his “little digression” changed the course of history. Abraham was told by God that he would have a son who would be not only the heir of all his riches, but more importantly, be the one through whom the Messiah would be born. Years passed. Abraham waited for the promise to be fulfilled, but it did not come. He became impatient. When Sarah suggested Hagar as the solution to the problem, it sounded reasonable to him. He did not wait for the Lord to fulfill His promise in His time. Instead, he took Hagar as his wife. That bit of impatience brought much sadness, not only to Abraham and Sarah, but the world is still reaping the results of that one moment when his faith faltered.

Ishmael was not the child of promise. God declared, “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee.” Gen 17:21 Isaac was born in God’s appointed time and brought great joy to his parents, but in Abraham’s heart was always the cry “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” vs18

How easy it is to get impatient and want all our plans to be carried out immediately. How often we take things into our own hands as did Abraham. We may want a good thing. We may even desire something that is for God’s glory, but it may be that God is saying, “Wait a little while. The time is not right. Be patient.” It is so hard to wait, yet, the price of impatience is high.

“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Ps 27:14 “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: Ps 37:3-7 May we daily give ourselves to our loving Redeemer and allow Him to work in and through us that we will not digress from His will and way is my prayer.

Rose

Source: https://rosesdevotional.org/striking-examples-of-prayer.html

Sunday: “Christ Will Be Magnified”

By

Daily Lesson for Sunday 11th of January 2026

Read Philippians 1:19-20. What seems to be Paul’s expectation as to the outcome of his trial? What does he consider even more important than being acquitted?

Although Paul was no criminal, this was not the first time that he had been imprisoned, and he was no stranger to persecution. To the Corinthians, he detailed his sufferings up to that time: “In prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:23-27, NKJV).

Paul Writing in Prison

Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com

But lest we think these sufferings were uppermost in his mind, Paul immediately adds, “besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28, NKJV).

Read 1 Corinthians 4:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 2:10-11; Galatians 4:19; and Philemon 1:10. What relationship does Paul have with the churches he established and the people he won for Christ?

Like Jesus, who spared nothing to save us, Paul was willing to “spend and be spent” for the sake of fellow believers (2 Corinthians 12:15, NKJV). But, paradoxically, the more a person’s actions resemble that of Jesus, the less they are loved or appreciated by some. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). But faithful Christians remain perhaps the most powerful way to glorify God and to reveal the truth of the gospel (compare Philippians 1:7). “Paul’s patience and cheerfulness during his long and unjust imprisonment, his courage and faith, were a continual sermon.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 464.

Look at how you live and how you treat people, especially people who don’t treat you nicely. What kind of witness for Jesus do you present?

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-03-christ-will-be-magnified/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-03-christ-will-be-magnified

We’ve Been Doing New Year’s Resolutions All Wrong!

By

As we move into this new year I’ve been especially struck with how backwards our culture has gotten New Year’s resolutions. Now, I’m not one of those resolution haters. I think any time is a good time to reflect on the past and think about future possibilities. But January is just not the time for […] Source: https://atoday.org/weve-been-doing-new-years-resolutions-all-wrong/

Sabbath: Life and Death

By

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 10th of January 2026

Paul Arrested

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study:

Philippians 1:19-30, 1 Corinthians 4:14-16, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, John 17:17-19, Micah 6:8, Acts 14:22.

Memory Text: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21, NKJV).

Death, we’re often told, is just part of life. That’s a lie. Death is the opposite of life, the enemy of life. Death was no more built into life than wreckage was built into a car. Paul emphatically says that Christ died to “destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Although ready to die for Christ, Paul was confident of his long-term fate. The most important thing for him in the meantime was, by his own life or death, to honor Christ and to preach the gospel to as many as possible. Perhaps that is one reason we have so many epistles bearing his name. Through his writings, he could reach many people and places, including places that he himself had never visited.

Life is short, and it is vital to make the biggest impact possible for God’s kingdom within the span of the years that God grants us. No small part of that impact has to do with our encouraging “the unity of the faith.” As we shall see beginning this week, this theme was one important reason for Paul’s writing to the Philippians.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 17.

Sunday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-03-life-and-death/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-03-life-and-death

About Intercer

Intercer is a website with biblical materials in Romanian, English, Hungarian and other languages. We want to bring the light from God's Word to peoples homes. Intercer provides quality Christian resources...[Read More]

Lucian Web Service


Intercer is proudly sponsored by Lucian Web Service - Professional Web Services, Wordpress Websites, Marketing and Affiliate Info. Lucian worked as a subcontractor with Simpleupdates, being one of the programmers for the Adventist Church Connect software. He also presented ACC/ASC workshops... [read more]

Archives

Categories