Dr. Brad Watson, Course Convenor for the School and Humanities and Creative Arts and Strand Convenor for International Poverty and Development Studies, has just returned from a research trip to Tonga where he studied the impact of the Avondale MOTO project. Source: https://wp.avondale.edu.au/news/2020/03/06/ipds-lecturer-studies-the-impact-of-avondale-teachers-in-tonga/
Inside Story: European Division ~ Angel in Angola’s Airport
Angel in Angola’s Airport
By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission
Do angels live in airports?
A TAAG Angolan Airlines airplane deposited me late one evening in Angola’s capital, Luanda. I had a two-hour layover before catching the next flight to the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe to collect mission stories.
Image © Pacific Press
At the designated time printed on my boarding pass, I joined a long waiting line to the departure area. But when I offered my boarding pass, the airline representative turned me away with a slew of Portuguese words. Seeing my confusion, she summoned a security officer, who explained that I needed to wait 20 minutes.
Twenty minutes later, the airline representative accepted my boarding pass and directed me into a crowded room. I waited 15 minutes.
Then another airline representative called out, “São Tomé!” I joined a crowd waiting to take an escalator down to the departure area on the ground floor. But this airline representative, guarding entry to the escalator, rejected my boarding pass with a fresh slew of Portuguese words. No security officer was present to interpret, and I guessed I would have to wait 20 minutes.
Other passengers streamed down the escalator, and soon only a few people remained in the room. I decided to go. Nobody remained to check my boarding pass. At the bottom of the escalator, I joined a chaotic line of waiting people.
The minutes ticked by, and no bus came to take us to the plane.
Then a young man with brown hair and a tan knapsack slung over his shoulder cut in front of me in line. Idly, I wondered why he hadn’t gone to the back of the line. After a few minutes, he looked at me and said, “My English”.
I had no idea what he meant. I guessed that he only spoke Portuguese.
The man gestured toward the crowd around us.
“This flight is to Portugal”, he said, speaking in slightly accented English. “São Tomé is over there.” He pointed down the hall.
“Thank you!” I exclaimed — and ran. Sure enough, a bus stood waiting down the hall, and its doors closed shortly after I boarded.
Seated on the sparsely filled airplane, I thought back to the stranger in the airport. How did he know that I spoke English? I hadn’t communicated with anyone. How did he know where I was going? My boarding pass had been tucked in my pocket. Why did he cut in front of me in line and single me out of the crowd?
Arriving in São Tomé, I told my story to local church leader Eliseu R. Xavier. He declared that God had sent an angel. If I had missed the flight, he said, I would have been stranded for three days in Luanda. The airline only flies to São Tomé three times a week.
I have no doubt. Airports are home to angels.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
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Friday: Further Thought ~ From Confession to Consolation
Further Thought:
Below is the chart explaining how the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 ties in with and forms the starting point of the 2,300-year prophecy of Daniel 8:14. If you count 2,300 years from 457 B.C. (remembering to delete the nonexistent zero year), you get 1844; or, if you count the remaining 1,810 years from A.D. 34 (2,300 minus the first 490 years), you come to 1844, as well. Thus, the cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8:14 can be shown to start in 1844.
Notice, too, how the 1844 date fits with what we saw in Daniel chapters 7 and 8. That is, the judgment in Daniel chapter 7, which is the same thing as the cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel chapter 8 (see the last two weeks’ lessons), occurs after the 1,260-years of persecution (Dan. 7:25) and yet before the Second Coming of Jesus and the establishment of His eternal kingdom.
Image © Pacific Press
Discussion Questions:
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By Their Fruits
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Matthew 7:16, 17.
Eternal redemption never looked so exceedingly precious as at the present time, and I never felt more deeply in earnest to overcome on every point as now. There must be no defects in our character, not one. Every spot and wrinkle must be effaced by the blood of the Lamb. Our own peculiar traits of character will disappear when the transforming power of the grace of God is felt upon our hearts. The fruits we bear in patience, kindness, forbearance, and self-denial will testify of us that we have learned of Jesus.
The fruit of the tree testifies if it is a good or corrupt tree. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. By their fruits ye shall know them. Let us so speak and so labor that our fruit may be unto righteousness and we letting our light shine forth in good works. Profession is nothing. A godly life alone will God approve….
I am determined to gain the victory of self. I am determined my life shall be hid with Christ in God. I will beseech the throne of grace for power, for light, that I may reflect it upon others, that souls may be saved.
The great desire in this age of the world is for more power. I want more grace, more love, [a] more deep and earnest living experience. The Christian who hides in Jesus will have power without measure awaiting his draught upon it. Living faith unlocks heaven’s storehouse and brings the power, the endurance, the love so essential for the Christian soldier.
Husband, let us not fail of the eternal reward. We have suffered too much on the field of battle to be conquered by any foe now. We must be wholly victorious.
We want our last days to be the most triumphant. It may be so. God would have it so. If we pray much and diligently use the means within our reach, we shall not falter, we shall not fail….
We want no worldly honor. I care not for it. I want the “Well done” from the lips of my Redeemer to fall like music upon my ears. For this I will labor. I will do right because I love the right. I will obey God at any cost to myself, and the crown will be given by and by.—Letter 28, May 20, 1880, a private letter to James White.
The Upward Look p 154
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for me and my little Jonathan. We’ve been sick, I have symptoms and then he has the same symptoms the next day. He tested positive for the flu. I’m praying my other little one Alan and my husband Cody stay healthy and we recover quickly. Jennifer
—-Prayers for my mum’s friend,who is seriously sick. EN
—-Prayer request for my cousin, Andrea. She is in the hospital with MS related seizures. Meds aren’t helping. They may transfer her to ICU and put her in a medical coma to stop the seizures. At this point, it doesn’t look good. Please pray for a miracle! Also, pray for my Aunt and her brother for peace and comfort. Renee
—-Please pray for David who is battling depression. His family is suffering because of it. Buck
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Dear Friends,
When I was a little girl, we had a neighbor man, whom I called Uncle Jap. His name was Jasper Francisco, who was originally a cowboy from from Montana. I can still remember the old, faded photo of him and a friend on horseback herding cattle. He eventually gave up that job and became a fireman on the railroad. Next to my grandfather, he had a very important place in my heart. He worked nights, so he was home during the day. While my grandfather was at work, I followed Uncle Jap around as he worked in his garage or in his workshop.
The yard of my grandparents’ house had about a three foot slope down to their shared driveway. I called that my “hill” and had fun sliding down it in the winter. Of course it was a very short ride, but I had fun sliding down it. One day I mentioned something about my “hill” to Uncle Jap. He laughed and said, “That’s not a hill, that’s a mole hill.” Being from a state that has beautiful mountains, Michigan’s rolling hills seemed flat indeed, and my “hill” was no hill at all.
I took him seriously. My grandparents didn’t joke, so I took everything literally. In my childish mind, I tried to imagine the mole that had made my “hill.” That spring, my mother saw me sitting very still on the grass watching my “hill.” She asked me what I was doing. I told her that Uncle Jap had told me that my hill was a mole hill and I was waiting for the mole to come out. I wanted to see it, so I was being very quiet so it would not know I was there. My mother tried very hard not to laugh. She explained to me what Uncle Jap really meant. I was so embarrassed.
Little children have perfect trust and confidence in the people they love. How our Heavenly Father yearns for us to have that same belief, that same trust and confidence in Him. “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 18:2,3
Of course, Jesus was speaking of an unspoiled little child. Such a child is completely trusting. He has a very tender heart. A little child forgives easily. He might argue with a friend over a toy, but within a minute or two, all is forgiven and they are happily playing again. In these ways we should be as children.
How important little children are to our Dear Saviour. He says, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.” Luke 18:16,17 Unless we have a little child’s perfect trust in our Heavenly Father, we will fail to receive our goal. Unless we love Him completely, we will eventually turn away. Jesus bids us, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Matt 22:37 That whole-hearted experience is what He desires, because it is that whole-hearted experience that gives us the perfect love, the perfect trust, the perfect heart that unites our heart with His Great Heart of Love.
May we have a childlike faith in our Loving Redeemer. May we love Him with our entire being. May we take hold of His outstretched hand and walk with Him all the way to His Heavenly Kingdom in perfect love and confidence is my prayer.
Rose
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rosesdevotional/~3/A4XsZ_cDMwk/by-their-fruits.html
Interfaith Dialogue to End Communist Armed Conflict in Philippines Supported by Adventist Leaders
4 March 2020 | An interfaith effort to end the communist armed conflict in the southern Philippines was supported by the Seventh-day Adventist Church today. The Philippine Information Agency reported that Islamic, Catholic, Adventist and other religious groups sent leaders to support the initiative. The religious leaders discussed the role of religious groups in the […] Source: https://atoday.org/interfaith-dialogue-to-end-communist-armed-conflict-in-philippines-supported-by-adventist-leaders/
