Inside Story for Friday 8th of March 2024

By Andrew McChesney

After Sekule refused to work for several Sabbaths, his commanding military officer began to understand that he could not compel the young soldier to violate his conscience.

“So, you can’t work on the Sabbath in the army?” the officer said.

“That’s right. I can’t work on the Sabbath,” Sekule said.

“From Friday evening to Saturday evening?”

“Yes, I can’t work.”

“Then you can’t eat during those 24 hours.”

“Why can’t I eat?”

“If you’re not working, you don’t need to eat. Eating is working. Also, some of the food is prepared on your Sabbath, so you shouldn’t eat it.”

Sekule was eating only bread and drinking tea because the other military rations contained lard. But he agreed not to eat bread and drink tea that was prepared on the Sabbath. As a recently baptized Seventh-day Adventist, he wasn’t sure that food prepared on the Sabbath was off-limits. But he needed to give an answer that met the officer’s expectations. If he had refused to work but demanded bread and tea, the officer would think that he was being unfaithful to God.

Several months passed, and the military cooks began to cook one meal a week without lard. It was the only meal that Sekule could eat. But it was prepared and served only on the Sabbath.

Sekule prayed, “God, please, could You change the day from Sabbath to Sunday? Would You do that for me?”

He prayed for a month, and the lard-free meal was moved to Sunday.

Sunday happened to be a recreational day for the soldiers, a time when they could relax by playing soccer, basketball, and other sports. Sekule wished that the recreational day was on the Sabbath. It would be easier for him to refuse to play soccer than to refuse to work every Sabbath.

He prayed again. “I’m sorry, but could I ask You one more thing? Could You move the recreational day from Sunday to Sabbath so I don’t need to explain every Sabbath why I can’t work?”

A week after the lard-free meal was changed to Sunday, the recreational day suddenly was moved to Saturday.

Sekule Sekuli´c is an affluent entrepreneur and faithful Seventh-day Adventist in Montenegro. Read more of his story next week. Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help spread the good news of Jesus’ soon coming in Montenegro and around the world.

(0)

The post Inside Story: No Work, No Food: Part 6 appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-10-inside-story-no-work-no-food-part-6/

Daily Lesson for Friday 8th of March 2024

Read Acts 7:1-60 and Hebrews 11:1-40. What does the New Testament say is the ultimate goal of God’s sovereign leading of His people in history?

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

The historical psalms are a powerful witness to God’s fidelity to His people. Each event in the history of God’s people was a providential step leading toward the final fulfillment of the divine promise of the world’s Savior in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Even the trials, which often perplexed God’s people and made them think that God had abandoned them, were under God’s sovereign control and part of His providence because God is the supreme Lord of history. The psalmist skillfully presents the truth that even the people’s disloyalty cannot prevent God from keeping faith to His people and fulfilling His promises. However, the unrepentant individuals and groups were excluded from the covenantal blessings, and their infamous end serves as a lasting warning of how life without or opposed to God destroys people.

The Psalms encourage God’s children in all times to hope in the Lord and remain faithful to Him. “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.”—Ellen G. White, Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p. 196.

For God’s people to go forward fearlessly, they need to know the facts of their history. Ellen G. White advises believers to read Psalms 105:1-45 and 106 “at least once every week.”—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 98.

The history of God’s people demonstrates that no promise that God has made in His Word will be left unfulfilled. This includes both divine promises of present individual care and future promises of Christ’s second coming, which will establish God’s kingdom of justice and peace on the new earth.

Discussion Questions

1. What are the blessings of remembering God’s faithful leading of His people in history? What are the consequences of forgetting or ignoring the lessons of the past? How can we apply that same principle to us, as a church called to do the same thing that ancient Israel had been called to do?
2. How do the Psalms encourage us to recognize God’s providential care in our life and to exercise patience and trust in God’s sovereign ways, even when it’s not easy to understand why things are happening as they are?
3. How can we make the study of the history of God’s people more prominent in our personal and communal worship services? How can we be more intentional in telling our children about the more recent history of God’s people?

(1)

The post Friday: Further Thought – Lessons of the Past appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-10-further-thought-lessons-of-the-past/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 7th of March 2024

Psalms 135:1-21 summons God’s people to praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness demonstrated in Creation (Psalms 135:6-7) and in Israel’s salvation history in the time of the Exodus (Psalms 135:8-9) and in the conquering of the Promised Land (Psalms 135:10-12).

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

The Lord demonstrated His grace by choosing the people of Israel as His special treasure (Psalms 135:4). “Special treasure” conveys the distinctive covenantal relationship between the Lord and His people (Deuteronomy 7:6-11; 1 Peter 2:9-10). The choosing of Israel was based on the Lord’s sovereign will, and thus, Israel has no ground to feel superior over the other peoples. Psalms 135:1-21:6, 7 demonstrates that the Lord’s sovereign purposes for the world did not begin with Israel but with the Creation. Therefore, Israel should humbly fulfill its assigned role in God’s salvific purposes for the entire world.

The recounting of God’s great deeds on behalf of His people (Psalms 135:8-13) culminates in the promise that God will “judge” His people and have compassion on them (Psalms 135:14). The judgment here is God’s vindication of the oppressed and the destitute (Psalms 9:4, Psalms 7:8, Psalms 54:1, Daniel 7:22). The promise is that the Lord will uphold His people’s cause and defend them (Deuteronomy 32:36). Thus, Psalms 135:1-21 aims to inspire God’s people to trust in the Lord and to remain faithful to their covenant with Him.

The Lord’s faithfulness to His people leads the psalmist to affirm the nothingness of idols and to the unique supremacy of the Lord in the world (Psalms 135:15-18). Reliance on idols renders their worshipers as hopeless and powerless as their idols are (Psalms 135:18). The psalm demonstrates that God is to be praised as both Creator and Savior of His people. This is wonderfully conveyed in the two complementary versions of the fourth commandment of the Decalogue (Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15). Because God’s power in creation and history is unparalleled in the world, God’s people should always rely on Him and worship Him alone. As our Creator and our Redeemer, He alone should be worshiped, and worship of anything else, or anyone else, is idolatry.

(0)

The post Thursday: The Lord’s Supremacy in History appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-10-the-lords-supremacy-in-history/

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 6th of March 2024

Israel is portrayed as a vineyard that God uprooted from Egypt, the land of oppression, and transported to the Promised Land of abundance. The image of a vineyard conveys God’s election of Israel and His providential care (read also Genesis 49:11-12,22; and Deuteronomy 7:7-11).

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

However, in Psalms 80:1-19, God’s vineyard is under His wrath (Psalms 80:12). The prophets announce the vineyard’s destruction as the sign of God’s judgment because the vine has turned bad (Isaiah 5:1-7, Jeremiah 2:21).

However, Psalms 80:1-19 does not ponder over the reasons for divine judgment. Given the depths of God’s grace, the psalmist is perplexed that God can withhold His presence from His people for such an extended time. The tension between God’s wrath and judgment, on the one hand, and God’s grace and forgiveness, on the other, causes the psalmist to fear that divine wrath may prevail and consume the people completely (Psalms 80:16).

The psalm’s refrain evokes Aaron’s promise of God’s perpetual blessing of His people (Numbers 6:22-27) and highlights the hope that God’s grace will triumph over the causes of the people’s misery: “Restore us, O God; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!” (Psalms 80:3, NKJV; see also Psalms 80:7,19, NKJV).

The Hebrew word for “restore” here comes from a common word that means to “return,” and it is used again and again in the Bible with God calling His people, who have wandered away, to return to Him. It is closely linked to the idea of repentance, of turning away from sin and back to God. “ ‘ “Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart” ’ ” (Jeremiah 24:7, NKJV).

(0)

The post Wednesday: The Parable of the Lord’s Vine appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-10-the-parable-of-the-lords-vine/

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1 Corinthians 10:11 NKJV

Are there certain Bible characters you identify with more than others? Do you find yourself sympathizing with Joseph because you’ve been bullied by your brothers too? Have you ever felt your own boss was jealous of your success just like Saul was jealous of David? Have you ever felt alone like Elijah and cried out to God, “I am the only Christian left in my community?” 

Isn’t it interesting how much we have in common with people who lived thousands of years ago on the other side of the planet? That’s because when we are studying history in the Bible or studying any kind of history, we are actually studying way more than just dates and famous events. We are studying human behavior. History keeps repeating itself on both sides of the globe because human nature is the same regardless of time or place. 

Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com

One of my pastimes is trying to solve cold cases. Now I try (but not always) to avoid murder cases because I just don’t need to be filling my mind with that, but there are plenty of other cold cases and mysteries that are not so morbid. A few of the cases that intrigue me are from Australia. As I read about or watch the documentaries of these cold cases in Australia I am fascinated by how similar Australian daily life was 60 years  ago with American life today. This reinforces my understanding that human nature is the same in every time and place. It also makes Australia very intriguing to me, and I hope to visit the country one day. There are no real historical places I want to visit, but I want to see the everyday places, churches and communities and meet the everyday people. I want to hear the stories of their lives and learn the lessons their experiences have taught them. 

The Bible is God’s inspired Word with many examples for us to learn from, both by the stories of faith and the stories of disobedience. Just as we have much to learn from the characters in the Bible we have much to learn from one another.  While our lives may be similar in some aspects, we all have different experiences that make our stories unique. While I have 30 years of experience as a Bible worker and pastor, a brand-new Bible worker may have encountered a situation I have never seen before. So even with my 30 years of experience I can still learn from a brand-new Bible worker. 

We all need to study this Bible with humble hearts and learn all we can from the experiences of the Bible characters. We also need to be humble enough to learn all we can from each other. No matter how old or young we are, we all have had different experiences in different stages of our lives. I have friends in their teens who have already lost a parent, while I have friends who are retired and still have both their parents. When my retired friends finally lose a parent, there will be teenagers who have already experienced what they are just now experiencing. In their young lives they may have words of wisdom for my older friends.

Let’s be humble students of the Bible, and humble students of history so we can learn all we can to become the men and women of God that He wants us to be. 

(3)

The post Learning From Each Other appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/learning-from-each-other/