Closer To Heaven
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8 February 2026 Pastor Dan Wilson of the Grand Prairie church in Alberta has reported on Facebook that the Grand Prairie Pathfinder club was involved in a fatal accident last night. “The bus driver tried to switch lanes near the DeBolt exit and lost control because of severe ice. The bus rolled twice, and many […] Source: https://atoday.org/grand-prairie-alberta-pathfinder-club-bus-in-fatal-accident/
Daily Lesson for Monday 9th of February 2026
Unlike the enemies of the Cross, who “set their mind on earthly things” and have no greater god than their bellies (Philippians 3:19), Christian citizenship is in heaven, and our ruler is Jesus Christ Himself.
Image © Phil McKay at Goodsalt.com
To underscore the point, Paul highlights the need for “these humble bodies of ours” (Philippians 3:21, NET), subject to disease, deterioration, and death, to be transformed to be like Christ’s glorious resurrection body.
• Job 19:25-27
• Luke 24:39
• 1 Corinthians 15:42-44
• 1 Corinthians 15:50-54
• Colossians 3:4
In the end, through Jesus, death, “the last enemy,” will be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26). And that is our greatest hope, the ultimate promise that we have been given in Jesus—not only the end of death but a whole new body, even a “glorious body” (Philippians 3:21, ESV).
In a book about how to find “salvation” without God, which argued, rather foolishly, that overcoming the fear of death is “salvation,” author Luc Ferry does admit that Christianity “enables us not only to transcend the fear of death, but also to beat death itself. And by doing so in terms of individual identity, rather than anonymity or abstraction, it seems to be the only version that offers a truly definitive victory of personal immortality over our condition as mortals.”—Ferry, A Brief History of Thought (New York: HarperCollins, 2011, Kindle edition), p. 90. Quite an admission, coming from an atheist.
Thus, for Paul, our heavenly citizenship includes the promise of the resurrection and eternal life in a whole new existence that we can barely imagine now.
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Why is the promise of eternal life so crucial to all that we believe? What could this world possibly offer that’s worth forfeiting what Christ offers us? |
The great lesson we learn from dear Paul this quarter is that we are to
Stand Up! Stand Up For Jesus! – Hymn 618. This is a beautiful theme hymn to give us a great reminder of what we need in our world that is falling apart these days.
We gain wonderful help in our memory verse encouraging us to put everything to God in prayer and supplication just as we can in singing
Hymn 510 – ‘Tis The Blessed Hour Of Prayer. Paul then shares with us the “secrets of living a joyful Christian life”:
Hymn 12 – Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. The instructions from Paul keep us learning and we are then able to find “He will supply everything we need”:
Hymn 104 – My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. Our Sabbath introduction then concludes with our citizenship having wonderful privileges
When We All Get To Heaven – Hymn 633.
We each have had a role model (Sunday) to some degree in our lives with our best Role Model helping us to sing
I Would Be Like Jesus – Hymn 311. Our Dear Saviour, Jesus, knows
I Need Thee Every Hour – Hymn 483 and
I Need Thee, Precious Jesus – Hymn 484 to help me along life’s pathway.
Our theme hymn helps us to “Stand Fast in the Lord” (Monday) as does
Hymn 610 – Stand Like The Brave.
With all this wonderful help from our Saviour, we can really
Rejoice, The Lord Is King – Hymn 221 (Tuesday) “because He cares for you” – 1 Peter 5:7, ESV. We may still ask
Does Jesus Care? – Hymn 181, oh, yes, He cares! And we know
Christ Is Coming – Hymn 201 to take all the cares of this world away forever. It is with such wonder that we are then able to understand God alone can give us peace:
Wonderful Peace – Hymn 466. Wednesday points out this wonderful peace, as well so that we are able to “practice what we have learned”; i.e., practice what we preach.
To keep growing with all we have learned so far this week, we can then see
Faith Is The Victory – Hymn 608, especially
Just When I Need Him Most – Hymn 512.
Please continue to search the scriptures this week to be blessed, and to bless others.
To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/
Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org/
2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 1 John 2:15-17 NLT
A few years ago I had baptismal studies with an elderly man named Oscar. He had just come to the United States from Guam but was actually already a U.S. citizen before ever stepping on American soil. Guam has its own government, but it is an unincorporated United States territory. This gave Oscar the opportunity to become a U.S. citizen before even setting foot on U.S. soil.
I had never heard of someone being a citizen of a country they had never been to before, but then it occurred to me that all Christians are citizens of a land they have never been to before. This world is not our home. The fact that the world is not our home could account for why we do not always fit in. It could explain why the world cheers at things that break our hearts and why we sometimes cheer and the world does not cheer with us.
When people move from other countries to the United States, I notice they like to keep a lot of their cultural traditions, especially foods. I watched a documentary a while back on the History Channel, talking about how food companies in America expected immigrants back in the day to start buying traditional American foods,. The documentary went on to say that never happened! So the American food companies had to start catering to the diet of the immigrants.
Picture taken by William Earnhardt
As citizens of heaven we find some cultural traditions in our communities pose no threat to our Bible standards, but many do. It is then that we need to remember to cling to our heavenly culture while living in another land. We need to remember we are the visiting team. Have you ever followed your favorite sports team to a road game? It is a totally different atmosphere than when you are watching them play at their home stadium. When you are on the road, you stand up and cheer when your team scores, but you cheer alone, because everyone else is for the home team. And when something happens to make the home crowd cheer, you just sit there. Everything seems backwards when your team is playing on the road. I have been to several Tampa Bay Rays baseball games over the years, and I notice how fans of the visiting team dress and behave. First of all you can tell they are not fans of the home team when you see them wearing shirts and ball caps with the visiting team’s logos. Funny that so many Christians try to blend in with the world by the way they dress, but sports fans visiting another team’s ballpark never try to blend in with the home crowd by the way they dress. They are proud of the team they represent; so they are proud to stand out from the rest of the crowd. As Christian, are we proud to stand out from the culture and crowd we are around? Fans of the visiting team don’t cheer when the home crowd cheers. They don’t try to blend in with the home crowd by the way they act either. As Christians we are the visiting team here on earth. Do we behave as we would back home in heaven, or do we try to behave like the world, hoping to blend in?
Now to stay balanced – the visiting team fans do follow general home field rules and cultural traditions. They all stand for the national anthem. They all stand for the 7th-inning stretch, and they all politely wait in line at the concession stands and wait their turn at the ticket counter. They don’t act differently just for the sake of being different. They only act differently when team loyalty is called into question. Likewise Christians should not be standing out just to look strange or weird. It does not help the cause of Christ when Christians act strange for no good reason. We should only act differently to make our loyalty to God clear.
As I am writing this, I am thinking of the many times a city or community has weathered a rough storm either literally or metaphorically, and they looked to their local sports team to lift their spirits and help put pride back in their community. Today with the COVID-19 affecting our communities, I could not help but think that we don’t even have sports now as a lighthearted way to lift our spirits. While some simple and even innocent pleasures of the world are now fading away as 1 John 2:17 describes, we now more than ever should be proud to belong to a God who always lifts our spirits. With ballparks and even church buildings that give us a sense of fellowship and lift our spirits are closed now, we still belong to a God who alone can lift our spirits and give us hope.
Do we dress and act here on this earth, the same way we would dress and act in God’s kingdom, where we belong?
As Christians, let’s let the world know that earth is not our home. While being as polite and pleasant to be around as possible, let it be known that our home is in heaven, not here. We do not blend in with the world because we are not a part of this world. Let’s not be afraid to look different and act different. Lets be as proud of the kingdom we belong to as visiting team fans are proud of the teams they belong to. Actually even more proud.
You may listen to and share the podcast version of this article here.
You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10.
A living church will be a working church. Practical Christianity will develop earnest workers for the advancement of the cause of truth…. We long to see the true Christian character manifested in the church. We long to see its members free from a light, irreverent spirit; and we earnestly desire that they may realize their high calling in Christ Jesus. Some who profess Christ are exerting themselves to the utmost to so live and act that their religious faith may commend itself to people of moral worth, that they may be induced to accept the truth. But there are many who feel no responsibility even to keep their own souls in the love of God, and who, instead of blessing others by their influence, are a burden to those who would work and watch and pray….
Those who are seeking in humbleness of mind to exalt the truth of Christ by their exemplary course are represented in the Word of God as fine gold, while the class whose chief thought and study is to exhibit themselves are as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal….
We entreat those who have a connection with God to pray earnestly and in faith, and not to stop here, but to work as well as pray, for the purification of the church. The present time calls for men and women who have a moral fixedness of purpose, men and women who will not be molded or subdued by any unsanctified influences….
No man or woman can succeed in the service of God without putting the whole soul in the work and counting all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Those who make any reserve, who refuse to give all that they have, cannot be disciples of Christ; much less can they be His colaborers. The consecration must be complete….
Jesus has gone to prepare mansions for those who are waiting and watching for His appearing. There they will meet the pure angels and the redeemed host and will join their songs of praise and triumph. There the Savior’s love surrounds His people, and the city of God is irradiated with the light of His countenance—a city whose walls, great and high, are garnished with all manner of precious stones, whose gates are pearls, and whose streets are pure gold, as it were transparent glass.—The Review and Herald, June 3, 1880.
From the Heart p.50
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Shelly who is at the end of her days. Brenda
—-I had some imaging done on my cervical spine and during that they detected a nodule on the thyroid gland. Have to have a biopsy of the nodule and see another specialist for cervical spine. I sure would appreciate your prayers. William
—-Please pray for Joyce, Fran, Gean, Steve, and Aliona who need healing. Rose
—-Please continue praying for Rui and whatever the next step will be after removing the tumor from his spine. Jeri
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Dear Friends,
When we lived in Washington state, we lived in a trailer on about an acre of land. Behind us and to one side of us, were many more acres where the children could explore to their heart’s content. We didn’t have much of a lawn, as our water supply was not adequate for such. When Esther was about 9, a little girl moved into a trailer down the road. They had a nice lawn as they had a better well, and the two girls often played on the nice, green grass. One day, as they were playing at Ashley’s house, they decided to do some “gymnastic” tricks on some old railroad ties that were being used for decoration along the driveway. As Esther turned a cartwheel on one old, wooden tie, a large piece of wood went deep into her bare foot.
She hobbled home for me to remove the “intruder.” When I examined her foot and saw how large a piece of wood it was and how much of it was sticking out of her foot, I was sure that there would be no problem removing it. As the tweezers took hold of the protruding part, it crumbled. The wood was just too rotten to pull out. I tried digging it out, but that was too painful. Finally, I had to take her to the doctor. Even he had a difficult time getting it, but since he was able to deaden her foot so she could not feel the pain, he was eventually able to free her of that offending piece of timber.
That large, crumbling sliver is like the sin in our lives. We may try as hard as we can to rid ourselves of sin, but we are helpless to remove it. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Jer 13:23 We can, through determination, appear to change outwardly; but our heart remains the same. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jer 17:9 As we hold on to those sins that at first seem so pleasing, they strengthen until our condition is as Isaiah describes, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Isa 1:5,6
How much we need Someone Who can change our vile hearts and make us pure and clean within. Praise God! There is a Great Physician Who can truly rid us of those sins that so easily beset us. He is even now pleading, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa 45:22;1:18 “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” “And I will cleanse [you] from all [your] iniquity, whereby [you] have sinned against me; and I will pardon all [your] iniquities, whereby [you] have sinned, and whereby [you] have transgressed against me.” Eze 18:33; Jer 33:8
May we respond to His great love and allow Him to do His merciful work upon our heart, that we may be found of Him without spot or wrinkle or any such thing when He comes to receive His own is my prayer.
Rose
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