Closer To Heaven
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Holiday dinners have a way of turning otherwise reasonable Adventists into unpaid, uninvited evangelists to their relatives. No one asks about church. But the wine comes out. The bacon sizzles. And someone casually mentions relaxed Saturday plans that don’t involve church. That’s when it hits. Suddenly we feel the need to explain why we’ll be […] Source: https://atoday.org/why-holiday-dinners-are-not-the-time-to-defend-the-sabbath/
Christmas is a wonderful time to remember God’s greatest gift. That gift is Jesus Christ. Through Him, you are welcomed into God’s family because of His grace. As the new year approaches, rest in your identity as a child of God and move forward in hope. Let’s talk about what Jesus has done in your life this year. Share your thoughts in the comments below. #HappySabbath #AWR360 Source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4GsRJyb14ew
Our Sabbath School program has always been linked to the support of the Seventh-day Adventist Mission program. This video provides a little insight into this important work.
Inside Story for Friday 26th of December 2025
Just as the 1996 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering is still being felt across the Southern Asia-Pacific Division and beyond through the work of the 1000 Missionary Movement, this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering can, with God’s blessing, also have a long-lasting impact. Thank you for your generous offering this Sabbath.
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Kim Sun, a missionary from South Korea, shared 15 stories of God’s love with the residents of a remote town in the Philippines for three months.
The townspeople were amazed to learn that God created everything in the world for them. They marveled at God’s love in the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Their hearts were touched to realize that Jesus died on the cross for them. After three months, many said, “We understand that God loves us. But how can we respond? How do we love God?”
“It’s so true,” Sun thought in amazement. “When we know someone loves us, we want to show the love in return.” It was time to dig deeper into the Bible.
For the next three months, he taught about the seventh-day Sabbath, clean and unclean food, tithe and offerings, and other Seventh-day Adventist fundamental beliefs. Many townspeople accepted what they learned. They wanted to know how to love God, and the doctrines showed the way.
Sun served as a missionary for 10 months: offering three months of labor, free of charge, three months of stories about God’s love, and three months of digging deeper into the Bible. That left one month to say goodbye. Sun spent the last month going door-to-door, inviting people to follow Jesus. “I’m leaving soon,” he said. “I would like you to join my church. I’ve been so blessed, and I’d like you to be blessed, too.” Many townspeople accepted his invitation.
Ellen White says, “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me’ ” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 143). For ten months, Sun practiced Christ’s method: mingling with people, desiring their good, showing sympathy, ministering to their needs, and winning their confidence; then he invited them to follow Jesus.
Today, Sun is a full-time missionary. He works as associate director of the 1000 Missionary Movement, an organization that is part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Southern Asia-Pacific Division. He trains hundreds of missionaries every year at its headquarters, built with the help of a 1996 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering, in Silang, Philippines. “Being a missionary is the highest calling,” he said. “Missionaries don’t only give Bible studies. We especially need to show Jesus in our lives.”
Daily Lesson for Friday 26th of December 2025
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“Among the multitudes that came up out of Egypt were many who had been worshipers of idols; and such is the power of habit that the practice was secretly continued, to some extent, even after the settlement in Canaan. Joshua was sensible of this evil among the Israelites, and he clearly perceived the dangers that would result. He earnestly desired to see a thorough reformation among the Hebrew host. He knew that unless the people took a decided stand to serve the Lord with all their hearts, they would continue to separate themselves farther and farther from Him. . . . While a portion of the Hebrew host were spiritual worshipers, many were mere formalists; no zeal or earnestness characterized their service. Some were idolators at heart, who would be ashamed to acknowledge themselves as such.”—Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, May 19, 1881.
“This solemn covenant was recorded in the book of the law, to be sacredly preserved. Joshua then set up a great stone under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ‘And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.’ Here Joshua plainly declares that his instructions and warnings to the people were not his own words, but the words of God. This great stone would stand to testify to succeeding generations of the event which it was set up to commemorate, and would be a witness against the people, should they ever again degenerate into idolatry.”—Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, May 26, 1881.
Discussion Questions
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