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:/p>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-august-24/

Inside Story for Friday 23rd of August 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Father kept his word about organizing Sabbath worship services at home in Armenia. Having prohibited Mother and their daughter, Anush, from going to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he called them to the living room on Sabbath morning. For Sabbath School, they studied the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and prayed together. Then Anush preached a short sermon.

The worship services continued for months. Father, who had never visited an Adventist church, was so serious about the worship services that, if guests were visiting, he invited them to the living room, opened his Bible, and said, “Welcome to our worship service. Today is the Sabbath, and you can join us.” This was not the Armenian way. In Armenia, hosts leave everything to entertain guests. Guests were shocked and wondered what was going on.

As the family worshiped together, Father realized that he didn’t know the Bible. In Matthew 4:1-25, the family read how Jesus met every temptation by Satan with the words, “It is written.” Father was impressed. He saw that he wouldn’t know if Satan was tempting him if he didn’t know the Bible. From that day, he began to read the Bible daily. As he read, he also sought answers to why he and his family were worshiping on the seventh day, Saturday, while many Christians in Armenia worship on the first day, Sunday.

Father had vowed that Anush and Mother would never return to the Adventist Church, and he wanted to keep his word. Anush very much missed church services, but she hid her feelings because she understood that her duty was to love her father and wait for God to bring him to repentance.

But when she learned that the Adventist house church in their town was preparing for a Communion Sabbath, she asked Father for permission to go. Armenia is a largely patriarchal society where many fathers are the decision-makers of the household. “Would you allow us to take part in the communion service?” she asked.

“Communion?” Father said. “You know, I can lead that ceremony, too.”

Nobody went to Communion that Sabbath.

Then Father and Mother became grandparents. Anush had an older sister who had gotten married and left home, and she gave birth to a baby. Mother learned that the baby and the rest of the family had been lifted up in prayer at church. “They prayed for us in church, and I want to take something sweet to them as a thank-you gift,” she told Father.

Father’s heart was touched by the kindness of the church members, and he allowed Anush and Mother to return to church.

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 starts going to church.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-08-inside-story-home-turned-into-a-church/

Daily Lesson for Friday 23rd of August 2024

Read Ellen G. White, “Blessing the Children,” Pages 511–517; “ ‘One Thing Thou Lackest,’ ” Pages 518–523, in The Desire of Ages.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“Jesus was ever a lover of children. He accepted their childish sympathy and their open, unaffected love. The grateful praise from their pure lips was music in His ears, and refreshed His spirit when oppressed by contact with crafty and hypocritical men. Wherever the Saviour went, the benignity of His countenance, and His gentle, kindly manner won the love and confidence of children.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 511.

“To those who, like the young ruler, are in high positions of trust and have great possessions, it may seem too great a sacrifice to give up all in order to follow Christ. But this is the rule of conduct for all who would become His disciples. Nothing short of obedience can be accepted. Self-surrender is the substance of the teachings of Christ. Often it is presented and enjoined in language that seems authoritative, because there is no other way to save man than to cut away those things which, if entertained, will demoralize the whole being.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 523.

Discussion Questions

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-08-further-thought-teaching-disciples-part-ii/

Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 8 – Teaching Disciples: Part II. It’s the fastest hour of the week!

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/teaching-disciples-part-ii-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 22nd of August 2024

Up to this point in the Gospel of Mark, with few exceptions, Jesus has been telling people to keep quiet about His miracles and about who He is. In this account, as He is leaving Jericho, a blind man begging on the side of the road, upon hearing that it is Jesus of Nazareth, begins to shout, “ ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ” (Mark 10:47, NKJV). In keeping with the revelation/secrecy motif of the book, the crowd takes on the role of those calling for silence as they unsuccessfully try to quiet the noisy beggar.

Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com

But Bartimaeus is undeterred and shouts even louder, “ ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ” (Mark 10:48, NKJV). His words are both a confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah and confidence that He can heal him. The title “Son of David” in Jesus’ day had two concepts connected with it—the restoration of a king to Israel’s throne (compare with Isaiah 11:1-16; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 33:15; Ezekiel 34:23-24; Ezekiel 37:24; Micah 5:2-4; Zechariah 3:8; and Zechariah 6:12), and that this personage would be a healer and exorcist.

Jesus stops and tells them to call the blind man. Significantly, the blind man throws off his cloak as he comes to Jesus. Blind people in Jesus’ day were at the bottom of society, along with widows and orphans. These were individuals below subsistence level and in real peril. The cloak would be the man’s security. Leaving it behind meant he had faith that Jesus would heal him.

Jesus does not disappoint. Indeed, whoever comes to Him for help in the Gospels always receives it. Jesus asks the same question He asked James and John in Mark 10:36, “ ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ ” (Mark 10:51, NKJV). Without hesitation, the blind man asks to receive his sight, which Jesus immediately restores. The blind man follows Him on the road.

This story is the close of the discipleship section in Mark, serving as a bookend with the other story of healing a blind man in Mark 8:22-26. The two stories illustrate how discipleship is about seeing the world with new eyes, sometimes not clearly at first but always following Jesus in the way He leads.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-08-what-do-you-want-me-to-do-for-you/