Closer To Heaven
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Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 1 – God Loves Freely – Hit the Mark Sabbath School. It’s the fastest hour of the week!
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/god-loves-freely-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/
Daily Lesson for Thursday 2nd of January 2025
God invites everyone into a love relationship with Him, but only those who freely accept the invitation enjoy the eternal results. As seen in the parable of the wedding banquet, many whom the king called “ ‘were not willing to come’ ” (Matthew 22:3, NKJV).
Accordingly, shortly before His crucifixion, Christ lamented: “ ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!’ ” (Matthew 23:37, NKJV). Christ wanted to gather them, but they were not willing. The same common Greek verb that means “to will” (thelo) is used both of Christ’s wanting to save them and of their not being willing to be saved (and the same term is in Matthew 22:3 above, as well).
Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com
Yet, Christ went to the cross for these people and for us. Amazing love! While human sin merits death, God Himself (in Christ) paid the price and has made a way to repair the ruptured relationship between heaven and earth. Meanwhile, He continues to bestow His love on us, though He is under no obligation beyond His own free commitment to do so.
In the ultimate display of God’s love—the Cross—we see that Christ gave Himself for us of His own free will. Christ laid down His life of His “own initiative.” No one took His life from Him; He freely offered it, according to the plan of redemption agreed upon in heaven before the foundation of the world.
“The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of ‘the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal.’ Romans 16:25, R. V. It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate. God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. So great was His love for the world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, ‘that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 22.
(0)Daily Lesson for Wednesday 1st of January 2025
God not only loves people of His own free will, but He also invites them to love Him in return. That God grants them the ability to freely choose whether they will accept or reject His love is apparent in (among other places) Christ’s parable of the wedding banquet.
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
In Christ’s parable of the wedding banquet, a king arranges a marriage for his son and sends out his servants to “ ‘call those who were invited to the wedding,’ ” but “ ‘they were not willing to come’ ” (Matthew 22:2-3, NKJV). More than once the king sent out his servants to call them, but they ignored his call and, even worse, seized his servants and killed them (Matthew 22:4-6).
Later, after dealing with those who had murdered some of his servants, the king told his servants, “ ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding’ ” (Matthew 22:8-9, NKJV). After another episode of a man without a wedding garment being cast out, signifying the need to receive a wedding garment from the king to attend the wedding banquet, Jesus closes the parable with the cryptic but highly meaningful phrase, “ ‘Many are called, but few are chosen’ ” (Matthew 22:14, NKJV).
What does this mean? Those who are finally “chosen,” the “elect,” are those who have accepted the Lord’s invitation to the wedding. The term translated “call” and “invite” throughout the parable is the Greek term kaleo (to call, invite), and what determines who is finally “elect” (eklektos) is whether one has freely accepted the invitation.
In fact, God calls (that is, invites) everyone to the wedding feast. However, any one of us can refuse God’s love. Freedom is essential to love. God will never force His love on anyone. Sad to say, we can reject having a love relationship with God.
The “elect” are those who accept the invitation. For those who love God, God has prepared things more wonderful than anything that we could possibly imagine. Once again, it all comes down to the question of love and the freedom inherent in love.
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What about your life reveals that you have accepted the wedding invitation and have come appropriately clothed? |
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-01-many-are-called-but-few-are-chosen/
The studies in this quarters pamphlet encourage us to see God’s Love and Justice, just as we may sing in
Hymn 79 – O Love of God, How Strong and True! which is a beautiful theme hymn for our studies.
Sabbath afternoon talks of Peter saying three times that he loves Jesus, hence three wonderful hymns how we can sing we love
our Lord Jesus:
Hymn 236 – I Love Thee,
Hymn 321 – My Jesus, I Love Thee and
Hymn 248 – O, How I Love Jesus.
With the
Marvelous Grace – Hymn 109 of our loving Lord, we see he freely loves us as sinners. Our hymnal has a wonderful section in it named “Love Of God”. Here we find eight hymns about the glorious love of our God:
Hymn 74 – Like A River Glorious,
Hymn 75 – The Wonder Of It All,
Hymn 76 – O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go,
Hymn 77 – O Love of God Most Full,
Hymn 78 – For God So Loved Us,
Hymn 79 – O Love of God, How Strong and True!,
Hymn 80 – O World Of God and
Hymn 81 – Though I Speak With Tongues.
On learning of Israel and it’s many troubles with God still loving them, we can ask ourselves if we can sing
Hymn 533 – O For A Faith that will not shrink, all because
God’s Free Mercy Streameth – Hymn 110 (Monday). Tuesday states the same, and ends with
Amazing Grace – Hymn 108.
These hymns keep popping up all through this week’s lesson study.
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.”
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/1-god-loves-freely-singing-with-inspiration/
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 31st of December 2024
God not only continued to bestow His love freely on Israel, despite repeated rebellions, but God also continues to bestow love freely upon us, even while we are sinners. We do not deserve God’s love, and we could never earn it. Conversely, God does not need us. The God of the Bible does not need anything (Acts 17:25). God’s love for you and for me and for all persons is entirely of His own volition.
Image © Phil McKay at Goodsalt.com
God freely created this world. And, because of this, God is worthy of all glory, honor, and power. God did not need to create any world. Before the foundation of the world, God already enjoyed the love relationship that existed within the Godhead.
God did not need creatures as an object of His love. But, in accordance with His character of love, God chose to create the world and enter into a love relationship with creatures.
Not only did God freely create this world as a bestowal of His generous love, but God also continues freely to love humans, even after humans fell into sin in Eden, and even after we personally sin.
After the Fall in Eden, Adam and Eve had no right to continue to live and receive God’s love. But God, who upholds “all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3, NKJV), in His great love, mercy, and grace sustained their lives and has made a way to reconcile humanity back to Himself in love. And that reconciliation includes us, as well.
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What does the fact that God continues to bestow love on this world, despite its fallenness and evil, tell us about His love and character? How should this truth cause us to love Him in return? |
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