View an in-depth discussion of The Role of the Bible in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
Click on the image below to view the video:
With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.
Closer To Heaven
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By admin
View an in-depth discussion of The Role of the Bible in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
Click on the image below to view the video:
With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.
By admin
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 22nd of April 2026
What might change in your home if you turned to the Bible when faced with a big decision, relationship problem, or challenge? What might change in your workplace or church if the words of the Bible truly became the lens through which people viewed the world and chose to live by?
The Bible authors knew how valuable the words of the Bible were. No other book can speak to your life as these words can. The words can sit on the page in your Bible, but how can you keep them in your heart?
One of the claims the Bible makes about itself can be found in Hebrews 4:12. A two-edged sword is powerful and sharp, but the Bible can do what human tools cannot for the human soul. The Bible describes itself as being alive. Perhaps you’ve wondered how this could be, given that it was written thousands of years ago, but Jesus said, “ ‘The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life’ ” (John 6:63, NKJV). If your heart is broken or your life is falling apart, God can speak His words into your world and change things around. The Old Testament also describes God’s words as being very active and not at all stagnant or passive (see Isaiah 55:11). When David reflected on the impact of God’s words on his life, he wrote, “This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life” (Psalms 119:50, NKJV).
Perhaps you’ve experienced severe hunger at some point in your life, or maybe you’ve fasted or gone on a diet. Doesn’t food taste good after you’ve been hungry? In a spiritual sense, the Bible is food for our souls.
If your soul is empty and hungry, open the Living Word. Read Jeremiah 15:16, 1 Peter 2:2, and Matthew 4:4.
God’s words taste good to the mind and heart, and when we read them, they will fill us and sustain us as promised.
The messages in God’s Word, the Bible, come from God Himself. God sent them specifically for us and for every other person who has sought Him. When we read them with a prayerful, open heart, those words won’t be wasted.
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How much time do you spend daily in the Bible, and how do you spend that time? What can you do to make that time the most spiritually profitable? |
By admin
Growing in a Relationship With God has many wonderful steps in it. There are several beautiful hymns from which to choose as a theme due to all the changes that come along when we grow in our relationship with God. On page 31 we see that “the most powerful weapon is prayer” to help us through our growing times. Therefore, we will wish to sing
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus – Hymn 290 to keep learning every minute of the day in our journey. To help with this journey, Lord,
Give Me The Bible – Hymn 272 to instruct even more with the Holy Spirit encouraging along the way:
Hover O’er Me, Holy Spirit – Hymn 260.
All of this week’s lesson study time brings us solidly to one of our theme hymns, 
Give Me The Bible – Hymn 272. Sabbath afternoon teaches us that our Creator is seeking to draw us closer to Him:
Hymn 306 – Draw Me Nearer and Hymn 310 –
I Would Draw Nearer To Jesus.
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.”
By admin
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 21st of April 2026
A trend among some liberal theologians in the 1960s was to write God out of the field of theology. In 2017, a cover story of Time magazine featured the headline “Is Truth Dead?” It’s interesting because this trend illustrates the position of our society today. The very idea of “truth” itself is decaying to such an extent that no one knows what truth is anymore. According to popular culture, there is no measuring stick, no foundation that remains constant that can be depended upon to endure the test of time. Contrary to this, Jesus said, “ ‘I am the . . . truth’ ” (John 14:6). His Word testifies about Him as truth in complete purity.
The Bible declares that basic truth, Jesus Himself, doesn’t change (Hebrews 13:8). At the same time, as we read God’s Word, our understanding of God and His truth can grow. “There are mines of truth yet to be discovered by the earnest seeker.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 704. In speaking of “truth,” Ellen G. White always referred to truth as given by God through His Word. We can search for additional light in the Bible because God’s Word never contradicts past truths but instead builds on them.
In the end, the Bible, and the Bible alone, must be the foundational source of what we understand as truth. All other sources must be tried and tested by the Word of God. Even what we deem “reason” needs to be tested by God’s Word!
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Some people want to argue that there is no truth. Why is that statement self-contradictory? That is, why is making the claim that there is no truth an attempt to proclaim truth, and thus self-refuting? |
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He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. Revelation 13:13-14 NKJV
Photograph by William Earnhardt
Many believe this passage is referring to the United States using the atomic bomb in World War 2, by the fire coming down from heaven to the earth. However, the atomic bomb did not deceive anyone. This passage clearly describes fire coming down from heaven as a deception. Remember when Elijah called fire down from heaven to expose the Baal worshippers? In the last days, Satan will work through the beast and the false prophet (See Revelation 16:13) to perform miracles very similar to the ones in the Bible to deceive many.
These deceptions will look like such genuine godly miracles that only by carefully studying the Scriptures will we be kept from being deceived.
So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested.-Ellen White, Great Controversy, Page 593.
Remember when Jesus met two men on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35? Their eyes were made so that they could not recognize Him. He asked them why they were sad, and they told Him about Jesus being crucified, and instead of Jesus just saying, “Hey! Look, it’s me,” Their eyes still did not recognize Him as He explained to them all the things in Scripture concerning Himself. He showed them from the Scriptures that the Messiah was to be crucified and rise again, instead of just saying, “Look, it’s me.” Why? Because Jesus did not want them to go by what they felt, saw, or heard. He only wanted them to go by what God’s Word said. Jesus knew Satan could appeal to our senses of sight and sound as well as tempt our emotions. This is why Jesus relied on nothing but the Word of God, rather than on signs and wonders. After all, Satan himself can use signs and wonders.
In Genesis 3:1-5, Satan used the senses to deceive Eve. Based on these signs and wonders, like a talking serpent, Eve decided that she could not believe God’s Word that said if you taste the forbidden fruit, you will die. In Matthew 4:1-4, Satan appears to Jesus and uses the senses and the temptation to signs and wonders to try to deceive Jesus. After several days of fasting, I am sure Jesus did not look or feel like the Son of God. Satan uses these feelings and emotions and tried to tempt Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, turn these stones to bread.” However, in Matthew 3:17, Jesus had already heard the Word of God say that He was His Son. Jesus did not allow his feelings or senses to deceive Him when He already had a clear “Thus saith the Word of God.” Jesus overcame being deceived by simply trusting the plain Word of God.
In the last days, Satan will use more and more clever deceptions. He will use family ties. We cannot trust our own family to interpret the Scriptures for us. This is why Jesus said,
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Matthew 10:34-37 NKJV
In the last days, Satan will use more and more false teachers to deceive others. This is why Jesus warned us,
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Matthew 24:23-24 NKJV.
If we can’t trust family and friends, who can we trust?
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.John 16:13 NKJV.
for prophecy never came by the will of man, but [a]holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21 NKJV
The Holy Spirit and not our pastor or grandma will lead us into all truth. The Holy Spiirt is the One who moved those who wrote the Scriptures, and is our only safe teacher in helping us understand Scripture, while gaurding us from being deveived by ideas or even feelings that contraidct ideas that the Sprit has already inspired.
Avoding deception is reliant upon us asking for the Holy Spirit to give us understanding instead of trusting our own understanding.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
Satan’s deceptions in the last days will be so clever and appear to be so genuine that a casual reading of the Bible will not protect us from being deceived. Notice, the Bereans found the truth about Jeuss, by searching instead of casually reading, and by doing it daily instead of just from time to time.
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Acts 17:11 NKJV
In the last days, family, pastors, and miracles, will prove to be no defense against Satan’s genious and well planned deceptive signs and wonders. The Bible is all we need and all we can trust to guard us from Satan’s clever last day deceptions.
The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested. Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His word; they can honor Him only as they have a right conception of His character, government, and purposes, and act in accordance with them. None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To every soul will come the searching test: Shall I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God’s immutable word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? –Ellen White, The Great Controversy, Pages 593-594.
But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority—not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain “Thus saith the Lord” in its support.-Ellen White, The Great Controversy, Page 595
Jesus gave us the perfect example of overcoming Satan’s decetpions, when instead of giving the people the signs and wonders they were asking for, He gave them a simple, “It is Written.”
