Daily Lesson for Sunday 21st of July 2024

When reading the parables of Jesus in the Gospels, people often want to jump quickly to the interpretation. After all, is that not the point of these stories—to teach some spiritual truth for Christian life? Yes, but sometimes, other than in brief comments such as “The kingdom of God is like,” or “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” Jesus does not explain the parable.

Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com

Consequently, it is good to slow down and simply analyze the story itself in order to catch the direction its various narrative characteristics point toward. Doing this with the parable of the sower yields a variety of ideas. The seed is the same in each case but falls on four different types of soil. The type of soil greatly influences the outcome for the seed. Instead of one continuous story, the parable is actually four individual stories told to completion in each setting. The length of time for completing the story lengthens with each successive story.

The seed that falls on the road is eaten immediately by the birds. “ ‘And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it’ ” (Mark 4:4, NKJV).

The seed that falls on the rocky ground takes a few days or weeks to reach its failed outcome, which included being scorched by the sun.

The seed that falls on the weedy soil takes longer still to reach its unproductive end, choked as it was by thorns.

The seed that falls on the good soil takes the longest of all, presumably an entire growing season, as is the normal pattern for a crop.

Three of the stories are about failure; only the last is about success, a good abundant crop. The length of the stories, the longer and longer period of time for each successive story, and the fact that only one story is about success, all point to the risk of failure but the abundant outcome of success.

The parable seems to point to the cost of discipleship and the risks involved, but it also highlights the abundant reward of following Jesus.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-04-the-parable-of-the-sower/

Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 3 – Controversies. It’s the fastest hour of the week!

Sabbath School Lesson 3 – Controversies

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/controversies-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 20th of July 2024

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study

Mark 4:1-34, James 1:21, Isaiah 6:1-13, Psalms 104:12, Daniel 4:10-12.

Memory Text:

“Then He said to them, ‘Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him’ ” (Mark 4:24-25, NKJV).

This week’s study is on the parables in Mark 4:1-41. The Gospel of Mark has the fewest parables of any of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

For many years scholars have argued over the meaning and interpretation of Jesus’ parables: How to interpret what they mean, why Jesus used them, what kind of lessons they were intended to reveal, and how literally they were to be taken, or whether they were purely allegory, and so forth.

Obviously we are not going to solve all these issues in this week’s lesson. Instead, we are going to look at them and, by God’s grace, come away with an understanding of the points Jesus made through these parables.

Mark 4:1-41 has just five parables—the sower, the lamp, the measure, the growing seed, and the mustard seed. The majority of the chapter revolves around the parable of the sower. This parable is told first, followed by the reason for parables, and then the interpretation of the parable. This three-step pattern will be the focus of the studies for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then the other parables will be the subject of study on Wednesday and Thursday.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 27.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-04-parables/

The Mission program of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is an opportunity for us to understand the needs of others and share in supporting them. Please click on the image below to watch the Mission Spotlight presentation for this week:

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-july-20/

Inside Story for Friday 19th of July 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Fourteen-year-old Payel changed after a 14-year-old friend committed suicide. Once outgoing, she sat quietly in the corner. Then she began to scream, shiver, and shake for no apparent reason. Terrified, she confided that she was being visited by someone who looked like her dead friend.

“Come with me,” the apparition told her. “I want to take you with me.”

Twice Payel tried to leap off a balcony, but her parents stopped her.

In desperation, the parents called Rustam for help. Rustam was a Global Mission pioneer who had planted a church in a previously unentered area of their Asian city. No one in Payel’s family was a Christian except an aunt, and she had told the parents about Rustam. Rustam explained that Payel was not seeing her dead friend but an evil spirit.

“We need to pray to Jesus,” he said.

Rustam took four church members to Payel’s home to pray. But Payel wouldn’t sit still. She screamed, flung her hands up and down, and stomped her feet. The visitors sang hymns, but every time they mentioned the name of Jesus, she shrieked, “Stop! I can’t breathe! Someone’s suffocating me!”

Rustam understood that Payel was possessed. He opened a Bible and read about Jesus casting out demons. He prayed. Then Payel became calm. She sat down, talked, and drank water. Rustam hoped that the spirit had left.

But later that night, the aunt called him at home. “Payel has started screaming and says she sees her friend again,” she said.

Rustam was puzzled. What had gone wrong? Then he remembered the Bible story in which Jesus’ disciples had been unable to cast out a spirit. When they asked why, Jesus replied, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21, NKJV). Rustam called several Global Mission pioneers, and they fasted and prayed for two days. Then he returned to Payel’s house with a group that included a Seventh-day Adventist pastor.

When Payel saw the visitors, she tried to flee. It took four people to hold her down. But they couldn’t keep her quiet. She screamed as the visitors sang hymns for 30 minutes. Then she slipped into unconsciousness as the pastor preached about the power of Jesus from the Bible. Rustam sprinkled water on her face until she woke up. Someone gave her water to drink.

Since that visit, Rustam has returned to worship and pray with Payel and her family every two weeks. Payel has not seen the apparition again. She has returned to her old self.

“We were not ready the first time we visited her,” Rustam said. “We only were ready the second time because Jesus teaches, ‘This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.’ ”

Thank you for your prayers for Global Mission pioneers who, like Rustam, face huge challenges planting churches among unreached people groups around the world. Learn more about Global Mission pioneers on the Adventist Mission website: bit.ly/GMPioneers.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-03-inside-story-except-by-fasting-and-prayer/