Last week we were looking at how Jesus not only made and taught disciples, He was a disciple of the Father. Jesus gave us the perfect model for being a disciple. Last week we saw Jesus modeled being a disciple by reflecting the image of God, which we saw can only be done by community as God is community. 

No wonder why Satan wants to divide and isolate us! Satan knows love is community and the image of God is reflected only through community. It is also by community that we grow into the image of God. In isolation we grow selfish and self-focused. In community we get on each other’s nerves and drive each other crazy sometimes as part of the growth process. During this process it is tempting to want to run away sometimes and be alone, and that may actually be a momentary solution, but not for the long haul. It may be the brother or sister who is rubbing you the wrong way who is actually polishing your character for heaven.

Sometimes it is tempting to pray that the person annoying us would just go away, but consider this: Saul was a humble man when he became king, but later ego got in the way and destroyed him. When Saul became king no one gave him any trouble. Is that why he became proud and finally let his ego destroy him? I ask this, because when David is anointed king he has opposition from Saul, which kept David humble and may have ended up saving his soul. The person we think Satan sent as a curse may be the person God sent to keep us humble in order to save our soul for eternity. 

When tempted to pray that those bothering us would just go away let’s keep in mind, 

Joseph did not try to get rid of his brothers. His brothers tried to get rid of Joseph.

David did not try to get rid of Saul. Saul tried to get rid of David.

Mordecai did not try to get rid of Haman. Haman tried to get rid of Mordecai.

Jesus did not try to get rid of the pharisees. The Pharisees tried to get rid of Jesus. 

In each case it is the unconverted person who is trying to get rid of the converted person, so keep that in mind whenever you are tempted to pray that God would get rid of someone. Discipleship is all about reflecting the character of God, and God is love and love is community. Love is also seeking to save the lost. 

for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 NKJV

Jesus did not spend all his time with church people. He spend His time with some pretty rough sinners. He mentored them, ate with them and taught them to follow Him. I imagine if Jesus were here on earth today His cell phone contact list would be filled with names and numbers of unchurched people. Look at your cell phone contact list. How many unchurched people are on your list? This may give you an idea as to how well you are following the Model Disciple. How many unchurched people do you invite to your home? What is your attitude towards sinners in your church?

A while back I was teaching a new believers Sabbath School class, and a young man showed up who was obviously unchurched. In sharing with us his struggles he used a four letter word. Most all of my class were so tuned in to his feelings that they did not take special note of the four-letter word. One member later talked to me and encouraged me to let him know we don’t use that word here. Which do you find more concerning? A Sabbath school class with an unchurched man who accidentally lets one bad word slip, or a Sabbath school class where you never have to worry about hearing a foul word because that class would never dare allow an unchurched person to attend? 

My point is that discipling the way Jesus discipled may not always be pretty. Being pretty is not the goal. Seeking and saving the lost is the goal. There are a lot of difficult unchurched people who are seeking for Jesus. 

Often we regard as hopeless subjects the very ones whom Christ is drawing to Himself.-Ellen White, Christ Object Lessons, Page 72

There may be some apparently hopeless subjects in your community that the other churches in your area have spurned and turned away. Is your church ready to pray, “Jesus please send us all the hopeless outcasts the other churches in our community don’t want to deal with. Please send them to us Jesus and let our church love the people the other churches in our community refuse to love.” 

Jesus told His disciples, 

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV

 This means way more than reaching out to our Catholic and Protestant brothers and sisters  with the truth about the Sabbath. It means reaching out to a secular society cutting and drugging themselves. It means reaching out to them with the good news about the Savior. To follow our Model Disciple we must reach out to and disciple apparently hopeless people just like our Model Disciple, Jesus did. 

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/jesus-the-model-disciple-part-2/

It is wonderful to travel through John Mark’s life and see the beautiful story climax with 
Christ The Lord Is Risen Today – Hymn 166, therefore 
Go, Preach My Gospel – Hymn 378. These two hymns give us a purpose all during this quarter to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus. May you enjoy these hymns for your theme hymn from which to choose.

 Compared to last weeks’ lesson with so much sadness, we have a joyful week with our risen Lord. We rejoice because 
The Strife Is O’er – Hymn 172, in response to 
Christ The Lord Is Risen Today – Hymn 166. Now we can report
Look You Saints! The Sight Is Glorious – Hymn 165.

 The conclusion of Sabbath afternoon is opened up to us on Thursday to 
Go, Preach My Gospel – Hymn 378.

 Sunday is the time we sing with gusto 
Hymn 166 – Christ The Lord Is Risen Today.

Monday tells of the empty tomb. We are able to rejoice that the stone was rolled away, showing the empty tomb to all:  
Hymn 171 – Thine Is The Glory opens this up to us.

As we read of the doubts of the ladies and disciples regarding the empty tomb, we are encouraged to 
Come, You Faithful – Hymn 169 seeing as we have all the evidence given to us in the Bible.

Thursday encourages us to 
Go Forth, Go Forth With Christ – Hymn 377 and spread the Gospel to the world.

Please continue to search the scriptures this week to be blessed, and to bless many 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/Search and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.

 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.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/13-the-risen-lord-singing-with-inspiration/

Daily Lesson for Monday 23rd of September 2024

The story of the resurrection appears in each of the Gospels. Each Gospel writer presents the story from a different perspective, but they all contain the core concepts that appear also in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.

Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com

Four ideas appear again and again—died, buried, risen, seen. In Mark, “died” and “buried” are in chapter 15. The “risen” and “seen” appear in chapter 16, but with a twist. Mark 16:7 speaks of a meeting in Galilee, and there you will see Him (see John 21:1-25).

Some people find it incredible that Christians believe in a risen Lord. But the evidence for His resurrection is substantial and consistent with reason.

For starters, all one has to do is believe in God as the Creator (see Genesis 1:1-31 and 2) and the idea of the resurrection, of a miracle, becomes reasonable. The God who created the universe, and then life on earth, certainly had the power, if He chose, to resurrect Jesus. The existence of God doesn’t make the resurrection of Jesus inevitable, only reasonable.

Next, the tomb was definitely empty. Even atheist historians accept that fact. If it were not, the claim about His resurrection would fail right from the start because the existence of His body there would destroy any claims of His having risen.

Next, the explanation that His disciples stole the body does not work. The disciples surely couldn’t have gotten past the guards. And even if they had done so and got the body, why were the disciples never arrested for stealing it? The answer is that the religious leaders knew that the disciples had not done it.

Also, numerous people testified that they saw the risen Christ. Many, including the disciples, did not at first believe. And one very solid enemy, Paul, not only claims to have seen the risen Lord but that this experience changed the whole trajectory of his life—in very radical ways, too.

Finally (though there are many other reasons), how does one explain the rise of the Christian church, founded by people who claimed to have seen the risen Lord? Why would these people have been willing to die for what they knew was a lie? Their consistent testimony, both right after His death (Acts 3:15) and years later (1 Peter 1:3), provides powerful evidence for His resurrection.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-13-the-stone-was-rolled-away/