57 percent of the university’s expenditures are made in Chattanooga, representing $54 million (USD) in local spending. Southern Adventist University’s presence created 5,338 jobs local full-time jobs. SAU has approximately 2,700 students. 05 February 2022 | A recent economic impact study looking at the 2020-2021 school year revealed Chattanooga, Tennessee, US, benefits from Southern Adventist […] Source: https://atoday.org/bucks-with-a-bang-southern-adventist-university-added-152-million-to-its-area-economy/
Opening a Window on Social Justice: Black History Month Study Guide and Oakwood University’s New Series Focus on What It Means
New Black History Month Study Guide looks at social justice from a biblical point of view. Oakwood University has new broadcast, Windows in the Word, that uses new study guide in its debut. Isaiah 58 discussed during first episode. 05 February 2022 | What IS social justice? The Adventist church’s response has been one of […] Source: https://atoday.org/opening-a-window-on-social-justice-black-history-month-study-guide-and-oakwood-universitys-new-series-focus-on-what-it-means/
Sunday: Tasting the Goodness of the Word
Read Hebrews 6:4-5. What were believers given in Christ while they were faithful to Him?
To have been “enlightened” means to have experienced conversion (Hebrews 10:32). It refers to those who have turned from the “darkness” of the power of Satan to the “light” of God (Acts 26:17-18, ). It implies deliverance from sin (Ephesians 5:11) and ignorance (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5, ).
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
The verbal form here suggests that this enlightening is an act of God achieved through Jesus, “the brightness of His glory” (Hebrews 1:3, NKJV).
To “have tasted the heavenly gift” and “have become partakers of the Holy Spirit” (NKJV) are synonymous expressions. The “gift” of God may refer to His grace (Romans 5:15) or to the Holy Spirit, through which God imparts that grace (Acts 2:38). Those who have “tasted” the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39, 1 Corinthians 12:13) have experienced the “grace” of God, which includes the power to fulfill His will (Galatians 5:22-23, ).
To taste “the goodness of the word of God” (Hebrews 6:5, ESV) is to experience personally the truth of the gospel (1 Peter 2:2-3). “The powers of the age to come” refers to the miracles God will perform for believers in the future: resurrection (John 5:28-29, ), transformation of our bodies, and eternal life. Believers, however, are beginning to “taste” them in the present. They have experienced a spiritual resurrection (Colossians 2:12-13), a renewed mind (Romans 12:2), and eternal life in Christ (John 5:24).
Paul probably has in mind the wilderness generation, who experienced the grace of God and His salvation. The wilderness generation was “enlightened” by the pillar of fire (Nehemiah 9:12, Nehemiah 9:19; Psalm 105:39), enjoyed the heavenly gift of manna (Exodus 16:15), experienced the Holy Spirit (Nehemiah 9:20), tasted the “good word of God” (Joshua 21:45), and “the powers of the age to come” in the “wonders and signs” performed in their deliverance from Egypt (Acts 7:36). Paul suggests, however, that just as the wilderness generation apostatized from God, despite those evidences (Numbers 14:1-35), the audience of Hebrews was in danger of doing the same, despite all the evidences of God’s favor that they had enjoyed.
| What has been your own experience of the things that these verses in Hebrews have talked about? For instance, how have you experienced the enlightening that the text refers to? |
Amen!
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Familiarity Breeds Contempt
The Bible, Believers and Booze
By Loren Seibold There’s a myth that I’m tired of hearing. It’s time to quash it. The wine referred to in the Bible was not fresh grape juice. It was fermented wine, with alcohol in it. The myth that the Greek word oinos refers to fresh grape juice has led to some preposterous theories to […] Source: https://atoday.org/76287-2/
