Inside Story for Friday 9th of August 2024

By Andrew McChesney

As a university student, Anush watched a Mexican film about a little boy who prayed for the conversion of his father. In the film, the boy said, “I believe that if I pray for my father every single day, he will by all means come to God.” The boy prayed every day, and his father gave his heart to God.

Inspired by the story, Anush decided to pray every single day for Father to get baptized. She started praying four years before her own baptism. Two years after her baptism, she was still praying for him. She was sure that he would come to God. But when tensions began to simmer at home, she began to wonder how much longer she would have to wait.

After her baptism, Anush became very active in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She volunteered for church initiatives, sometimes receiving a small salary and other times nothing at all.

Father didn’t complain because he had given Anush permission to go to church and get baptized. Armenia is a largely patriarchal society where many fathers are the decision-makers of the household.

But Father wanted the best for his daughter, and he couldn’t understand why she was working for so little.

“The church is using you,” he said. “You are talented, and they are using you without giving you what you deserve.”

Anush began to sense tensions whenever she was at home, and she didn’t like it. Whenever she was invited to participate in a church program, she asked Father for permission. Father allowed her to go but complained every time.

Anush decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with God.

“God, I know that Father will come to You, but I’m so tired,” she said. “I’m giving You two options: either he comes to You or he comes to You.”

Afterward, she told Mother, “Today, I’m praying earnestly to God. Join with me. We don’t want this situation to continue. We want Father to go to church with us.”

In Armenia, many mothers and children go to church without their husbands and fathers. Many families are comfortable with the arrangement as long as the men allow the mothers and children to go without persecution. But Anush was no longer happy with such an arrangement. She wanted Father to go to church, too.

Mother agreed to pray. Anush’s hopes soared. She was sure that God would change Father’s heart. She was confident it could happen at any time.

Part of last quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering went to open a center of influence for families like Anush’s in Yerevan, Armenia. Thank you for helping spread the gospel with your offerings. Next week: Father forbids Anush and Mother from going to church.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-06-inside-story-pleading-for-fathers-salvation/

Daily Lesson for Friday 9th of August 2024

Read Ellen G. White, “Tradition,” Pages 395–398; “Barriers Broken Down,” Pages 399–403; “The True Sign,” Pages 404–409, in The Desire of Ages.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“Among the followers of our Lord today, as of old, how widespread is this subtle, deceptive sin! How often our service to Christ, our communion with one another, is marred by the secret desire to exalt self! How ready the thought of self-gratulation, and the longing for human approval! It is the love of self, the desire for an easier way than God has appointed that leads to the substitution of human theories and traditions for the divine precepts. To His own disciples the warning words of Christ are spoken, ‘Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.’

“The religion of Christ is sincerity itself. Zeal for God’s glory is the motive implanted by the Holy Spirit; and only the effectual working of the Spirit can implant this motive. Only the power of God can banish self-seeking and hypocrisy. This change is the sign of His working. When the faith we accept destroys selfishness and pretense, when it leads us to seek God’s glory and not our own, we may know that it is of the right order. ‘Father, glorify Thy name’ (John 12:28), was the keynote of Christ’s life, and if we follow Him, this will be the keynote of our life. He commands us to ‘walk, even as He walked;’ and ‘hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.’ 1 John 2:3,6.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 409.

Discussion Questions

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-06-further-thought-inside-out/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 8th of August 2024

Why not demonstrate His divine power and convince these cavilers? The problem goes back to the end of Mark 3:1-35, where Jesus speaks of the sin against the Holy Spirit. If one’s ears are shut and eyes are closed, another miracle, even a sign from heaven, will not convince. It would just be dismissed like everything before. Even miracles are not enough to convince those determined not to believe.

Image © The Classic Bible Art Collection – Formerly Standard Publishing at Goodsalt.com

Jesus takes the opportunity to warn the disciples against the “leaven” of the Pharisees and Herod (Mark 8:15), meaning their teachings (compare with Matthew 16:12).

But the disciples misunderstand and think that Jesus is talking about avoiding buying literal bread. As is typical when the disciples misunderstand, Jesus gives them instruction. The Lord asks a series of questions, the first several rhetorical in nature, expressing His disappointment that they have not understood His mission. His words are reminiscent of what He says in Mark 4:10-12 about outsiders who do not understand. His strong words are meant to wake the disciples from their spiritual lethargy.

In Mark 8:19-20, He asks simple factual questions about how many baskets of fragments they had taken up after He fed the 5,000 (Mark 6:30-44) and also the 4,000 (Mark 8:1-10), which are meant to illustrate that they should have understood by now that mere limitation of resources is no barrier for the Lord’s Messiah. His final question in Mark 8:21 is rhetorical once again: “ ‘Do you not yet understand?’ ” (ESV). After all, look at all that they have seen and experienced already with Jesus.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-06-watch-out-for-bad-bread/

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 7th of August 2024

Jesus did not take the shortest distance to return to Galilee from the region of Tyre and Sidon. It seems Jesus went north from the area of Tyre, up through the region of Sidon, then inland and down through the area northeast of the Sea of Galilee, finally arriving near the sea itself. It was a circuitous route, likely with additional time for Him to teach His disciples.

Image © Providence Collection at Goodsalt.com

The text does not indicate exactly who brought the man to Jesus, but his problem was plain enough—he could not hear and had difficulty speaking. Loss of hearing isolates people from their surroundings, and profound deafness can make it challenging to learn how to speak. This man’s problem may have been longstanding.

Jesus understands the man’s predicament and takes him aside privately. The Lord’s manner of healing the man is curious, particularly for modern readers. He puts His fingers in the man’s ears, spits, touches his tongue and sighs. Jesus touches the affected parts of the man that He will heal, but why the sigh? “He sighed at thought of the ears that would not be open to the truth, the tongues that refused to acknowledge the Redeemer.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 404.

Jesus miraculously restored the man’s hearing and enabled him to speak clearly. His sigh illustrates the limits that God has placed upon Himself in regard to the free choice of humanity. He will not force the will. All humans are free to choose whom they will have lead their life—the Prince of Life or the prince of darkness. Jesus could open deaf ears but would not force unbelieving hearts to acknowledge His messiahship.

This brief story also illustrates what God can do for those who willingly turn to Him. Perhaps you have experienced reticence at sharing your faith, feeling tongue-tied regarding just what to say. This miracle offers encouragement that the Lord Jesus can open your ears to be sensitive to others’ needs and share a ready word to lift them on their journey.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-06-tongue-tied/

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, Dr. Thomas R. Shepherd, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson, “The Beginning of the Gospel.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/6-inside-out-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/