Inside Story for Friday 12th of April 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Seven-year-old Sara loved gymnastics. It was easy for her, and she was good at it. She especially liked doing cartwheels. She could do cartwheel after cartwheel in a row, and she only stopped when she fell down.

But there was something that Sara loved even more than gymnastics. She loved God.

So, she was not tempted to skip church when the gymnastics coach announced that a major gymnastics show would be held on the Sabbath in her hometown of Iesi, Italy. The show only took place once a year, and children would show off what they had been learning to their parents and families.

Sara felt sad when the coach said the show had been scheduled on the Sabbath.

At home, Mother saw Sara’s downcast face.

“God can solve any problem,” she said.

She suggested that Sara could take her Sabbath problem to God.

That evening, Sara prayed, “Dear God, I am very sad to hear the news that I will miss the show, but Your will be done.”

Sara and the other children met for gymnastics practice every Tuesday and Thursday. The coach had announced the date for the gymnastics show at a Tuesday practice.

Sara prayed on Tuesday night and on Wednesday night. At the Thursday practice, the coach suddenly announced that the date for the gymnastics show had been changed.

“We have to postpone the show by one day, until Sunday, because of some organizational problems,” she said.

Sara couldn’t believe her ears. She was ecstatic with joy! When she excitedly broke the news to Mother a short time later, Mother smiled bigger than the sun.

“You have to trust God always!” she said.

And Sara always has. This was her first experience with prayer, and it greatly strengthened her faith in God. On Sabbath, she told the church about what had happened. A church member prepared a special sermon about the prayer and invited Sara onto the platform to tell her story.

“I have always prayed when facing problems in life,” Sara, now 19, told Adventist Mission.

This mission story illustrates Spiritual Growth Objective No. 7 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: “To help youth and young adults place God first.” For more information, go to the website: IWillGo2020.org. Read more about Sara next week.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24b-02-inside-story-faithful-gymnast-in-italy/

Daily Lesson for Friday 12th of April 2024

“The gospel continued to spread and the number of its adherents to increase. It penetrated into regions that were inaccessible even to the eagles of Rome. Said a Christian, expostulating with the heathen rulers who were urging forward the persecution: You may ‘kill us, torture us, condemn us. . . . Your injustice is the proof that we are innocent. . . . Nor does your cruelty . . . avail you.’ It was but a stronger invitation to bring others to their persuasion. ‘The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.’—Tertullian, Apology, paragraph 50.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 41, 42.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“The mysterious providence which permits the righteous to suffer persecution at the hand of the wicked has been a cause of great perplexity to many who are weak in faith. Some are even ready to cast away their confidence in God because He suffers the basest of men to prosper, while the best and purest are afflicted and tormented by their cruel power. How, it is asked, can One who is just and merciful, and who is also infinite in power, tolerate such injustice and oppression? This is a question with which we have nothing to do. God has given us sufficient evidence of His love, and we are not to doubt His goodness because we cannot understand the workings of His providence.”—The Great Controversy, p. 47.

Discussion Questions

1. What value does persecution serve? Why do you think God allows His people to suffer at times? And though in some cases, such as in the early church, good was able to come of it, what about times when it appears that nothing good has come from it? Why in situations like this is the personal experience of God’s love so important in order to maintain faith?
2. How would you respond if a friend asked you these questions: “Where is God in my suffering? If He loves me, why am I going through such a difficult time?”
3. How can your local church become a caring community to impact the world? Discuss practical ways to apply this week’s study.

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The post Friday: Further Thought – ‘The Central Issue: Love or Selfishness?’ appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24b-02-further-thought-the-central-issue-love-or-selfishness/

Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Lesson 2 – The Central Issue: Love or Selfishness?

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/the-central-issue-love-or-selfishness-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

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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The post Mission Spotlight for April 13 appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-april-13/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 11th of April 2024

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

Love was the norm of Christian communities in the first few centuries. Tertullian, an early Christian theologian, claimed: “It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another.”—“Chapter 39,” in Apology, trans. S. Thelwall, https://www.logoslibrary.org/tertullian/apology/39.html (accessed October 10, 2022).

One of the greatest revelations of God’s love was demonstrated when two devastating pandemics plagued the early centuries around a.d. 160 and a.d. 260. Christians stepped forward and ministered to the sick and dying. These plagues killed tens of thousands and left entire villages and towns with scarcely an inhabitant. The unselfish, sacrificial, caring, loving ministry of Christians made a huge impact on the population. Over time, thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands, and then millions in the Roman Empire became believers in Jesus during these two epidemics. Love, outgoing concern, and organized, selfless care of the sick and dying created an admiration for these believers and the Christ they represented.

Rodney Stark’s The Rise of Christianity is a modern historical narrative portraying these historic events in a new and improved light. In it he describes how during the second epidemic the whole Christian community, which was still heavily Judeo-Christian, became a virtual army of nurses, providing the basic needs for the suffering community to survive.

“At the height of the second great epidemic, around a.d. 260, . . . Dionysius wrote a lengthy tribute to the heroic nursing efforts of local Christians, many of whom lost their lives while caring for others.

“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.”—The Rise of Christianity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), p. 82.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24b-02-a-legacy-of-love/