Closer To Heaven
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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.
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-june-7/
Inside Story for Friday 6th of June 2025
By Andrew McChesney
Diana took her last drink of alcohol on US Independence Day. Opening a can of beer, she told friends, “There’s nothing better than an ice-cold beer on a hot summer day.” Then she took a big swig and nearly spit it out. She thought the beer had gone bad, so she got a different brand of beer out of the cooler. That beer also tasted awful. But a friend said both beers tasted fine.
That day, Diana quit drinking. It wasn’t because the Bible said beer was bad but because the Holy Spirit had changed her desire for alcohol.
A short time later, Diana and Loren were baptized by Loren’s father at an annual family reunion of his relatives near Chicago. Diana was surprised when she heard the baptismal vows for the first time. They included the line, “Do you believe that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; and will you honor God by caring for it, avoiding the use of that which is harmful; abstaining from all unclean foods; from the use, manufacture, or sale of alcoholic beverages; the use, manufacture, or sale of tobacco in any of its forms for human consumption; and from the misuse of or trafficking in narcotics or other drugs?”
Diana shot Loren a quizzical look and thought, How did we miss this? She worked in a bar at the Salt Lake City airport. With big tips and easy work, it was considered one of the best jobs for unskilled workers.
Diana’s coworkers were stunned when she told them that she was quitting, and they asked why. The bartender asked several times. He and the others were interested in her new faith. Diana moved to another airport shop, where she made and sold cookies. It didn’t pay as well, but she got Sabbaths off.
Before long, Diana and Loren sensed that God was leading them to move to Tennessee to help Loren’s grandparents. They settled near Southern Adventist University. It was a time of great spiritual challenges. Diana still had many worldly traits to submit to God.
When a relative of Loren’s heard that Diana had newspaper experience, he asked her to apply for a position at Southern’s radio station, where he worked as general manager. Diana didn’t want the job, but Loren urged her to pray. She worked at the radio station for nearly ten years, including seven as its development director. During that time God helped her overcome sins that had troubled her from the time she was molested as a child.
Then Diana was asked to apply for a development director opening with the Adventist hospital system in Florida. She felt unqualified and didn’t want to apply, but Loren again urged her to pray. She worked at the hospital for the next ten years. Then she heard about Holbrook Indian School.
This mission story offers an inside look at how God miraculously worked in the life of Diana Fish, development director of the US-based Holbrook Seventh-day Adventist Indian School, which received the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in 2021. Thank you for supporting the spread of the gospel with this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering on June 28. Read more about Diana next week.
(1)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-10-inside-story-part-6-giving-up-alcohol/
Daily Lesson for Friday 6th of June 2025
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“The high priest cannot defend himself or his people from Satan’s accusations. He does not claim that Israel is free from fault. In filthy garments, symbolizing the sins of the people, which he bears as their representative, he stands before the Angel, confessing their guilt, yet pointing to their repentance and humiliation, and relying upon the mercy of a sin-pardoning Redeemer. In faith he claims the promises of God. . . .
“Satan’s accusations against those who seek the Lord are not prompted by displeasure at their sins. He exults in their defective characters; for he knows that only through their transgression of God’s law can he obtain power over them. His accusations arise solely from his enmity to Christ. Through the plan of salvation, Jesus is breaking Satan’s hold upon the human family and rescuing souls from his power. . . .
“In his own strength, man cannot meet the charges of the enemy. In sin-stained garments, confessing his guilt, he stands before God. But Jesus, our Advocate, presents an effectual plea in behalf of all who by repentance and faith have committed the keeping of their souls to Him. He pleads their cause, and by the mighty arguments of Calvary, vanquishes their accuser. His perfect obedience to God’s law has given Him all power in heaven and in earth, and He claims from His Father mercy and reconciliation for guilty man.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, Pages 583–586.
Discussion Questions
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(1)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-10-further-thought-upon-whom-the-ends-have-come/
Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 10 – Upon Whom the Ends Have Come. It’s the fastest hour of the week!
Sign up for our weekly keyword handouts here: https://handout.sabbathschoolcoaching.com/hitthemark
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/upon-whom-the-ends-have-come-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/
Daily Lesson for Thursday 5th of June 2025
The description of judgment found in Daniel 7:1-28 gives us a glimpse behind the veil—to an awe-inspiring opportunity to see how God is resolving the problem of sin while still redeeming those who wish to live in a covenant relationship with Him.
Image Copyright Review and Herald Publishing Assoc. Goodsalt.com
There is little question that the human race is judged by God. Ecclesiastes 12:14 assures us that “God will bring every work into judgment” (NKJV), and Paul reminds us that we do not need to judge each other, because “we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Romans 14:10). God, of course, does not need records to know who is saved or lost, but angels—who have been examining the plan of salvation all along (1 Peter 1:12)—would naturally have questions. They were witnesses to the rebellion of Satan and saw a third of heaven’s angels expelled from heaven (Revelation 12:4)—and now God is bringing us into His presence. God opens the books and allows the saints to see everything.
The story of Abraham’s pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah—a type of the judgment—offers us some important insight into judgment. The sins of Sodom were obviously being investigated; God mentions that the wickedness of the city had given it such a reputation that the outcry against it was great (Genesis 18:20). But it was not only Sodom and Gomorrah that were investigated prior to their destruction. God also opened the door for Abraham to study whether or not God was acting righteously in His decision to destroy the wicked.
Meanwhile, who appears amid the heavenly judgment, in Daniel 7:1-28, but “the Son of man,” Jesus (Daniel 7:13; see also Matthew 20:28), whose appearance is the only reason why this judgment is “made in favor of the saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:22, NKJV). His perfect righteousness alone gets His people through judgment.
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Imagine standing in judgment with all your secrets exposed before our Holy God. What is your only hope at that time of judgment? (See Friday’s study.) |
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-10-the-pre-advent-judgment/
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