Key Thought: The individual worship of God feeds the communal worship with renewed praise. Individual worship develops its full potential in close relationships with the community. This communal worshipping experience permeates every aspect of their existence.
March 23, 2024

1. Have a volunteer read Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; Revelation 5:9; 14:3.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What is the common motif in these texts?
3. Personal Application: What do these texts tell, us about a new song? What is a new song anyway? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Has anything in your life changed because you are a Christian that you can sing about? Or are things pretty much the same daily and year to year? What things in your life would give you the impetus to sing a new song?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Psalm 15; 24:3-6; 101:1-3.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Who are the people worthy of worshipping in God’s presence? What does it
   mean to be holy?
3. Personal Application: How can we make conscious choices to avoid the things that push or draw us away from God? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “What are some of the things that keep us from having a close relationship with God and can draw us away from Him? How can we avoid being caught up in them?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Psalm 96.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What manifold aspects of worship are mentioned in this psalm?
3. Personal Application: How can we make sure we, with knowledge and light, make sure that we don’t fall into the trap that knowing the truth and going through church rituals is enough? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “In what ways does this psalm compare to the three angels’ messages in Revelation 14? Does it teach the same basic truths as the end-time message that we are to give to the world?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Psalm 40:6-8; 51:16-19.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What important issue do these texts address? Why does God not delight in the sacrifices that He prescribed in His word?
3. Personal Application: Why doesn’t God accept worship if it isn’t in the right way, as in Cain’s case? Or on the right day as in the end-time message? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Consider one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Daily Lesson for Sunday 17th of March 2024

Psalms 134:1-3 recalls the Aaronic priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24-26 (also Psalms 67:1) and highlights blessing as the underlying principle and outcome of the relationship between God and Israel.

Image © Steve Creitz at Goodsalt.com

The people bless God in the sanctuary, and God blesses His people from Zion. The blessings extend to all of life because the Lord is the Creator of heaven and earth. The mention of Zion as the place of divine special blessings underlines the Lord’s covenantal bond with His people. It is thus within the covenant of grace that Israel exercises the privilege to bless the Lord and is blessed by Him.

The Psalms often depict the worshipers as the servants of the Lord. “Who by night stand in the house of the Lord” (Psalms 134:1, NKJV) likely refers to the night guard of the Levites (1 Chronicles 9:23-27) or to the praise that was offered to God by the Levites both day and night (1 Chronicles 9:33).

Because the Israelites worshiped the invisible God, who could not be represented in the form of any image, the sanctuary served to reflect the glory of the Lord and provide a secure environment for sinful people to approach their holy King. This encounter is initiated by the Lord Himself and is regulated by His statutes and decrees.

“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5, NKJV). What we see here, in the words of Peter, is a New Testament expression of the same ideas presented in these psalms, that of God’s people, now a holy priesthood, offering praise and thanksgiving to their Lord Jesus Christ, their Creator and Redeemer, for all the good things that He had done for them.

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Daily Lesson for Saturday 16th of March 2024

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study

Psalms 134:1-3; Isaiah 42:10-12; Revelation 14:3; Psalms 15:1-5; Psalms 101:1-3; Psalms 96:1-13; Revelation 14:6-12; John 4:23-24.

Memory Text:

“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being” (Psalms 104:33, NKJV).

As our experience of God’s grace and power increases, we are prompted to ask with the psalmist: “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” (Psalms 116:12, NKJV). The inevitable reply is to devote one’s life to being faithful to God.

In the Psalms, Israel is not simply a nation but “the great assembly” (Psalms 22:22,25, NKJV; Psalms 35:18). This reveals Israel’s primary calling to praise God and to bear witness about Him to other nations because the Lord wants all the world to join His people in worship. The Lord’s people are identified with the righteous, who worship the Lord and whose hope is in Him and in His love.

Praising the Lord in the congregation is perceived as ideal worship. This does not mean that the prayer and praise of the individual in Israel assume a secondary meaning. By contrast, the individual’s worship of God feeds the communal worship with renewed praise (Psalms 22:22,25) while in turn individual worship develops its fullest potential in close relationship with the community. The worshiping community also is called the “assembly of the upright” (Psalms 111:1). The upright know God (Psalms 36:10) and are known by God (Psalms 37:18), and this experience permeates every aspect of their existence.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 23.

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Is this True or False? The relieving of stress is fundamental to our longing for God. Join us as we discuss Lesson 11 – Longing for God in Zion.

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Inside Story for Friday 15th of March 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Returning to the barracks after a short stint of shoveling coal on a mountain, Sekule informed his commander that he would not bear arms, even in the ongoing Bosnian War.

“I don’t want to shoot people,” he said.

“You must take a weapon,” the commander insisted. “Otherwise, you will have to serve two years instead of one.” Noncombatants were required to serve two years rather than one in the army.

“I don’t care,” Sekule said. “I won’t carry a weapon.”

The commander sent Sekule to an intelligence officer. Only soldiers who were in deep trouble were sent to the officer. He could imprison soldiers.

Sekule explained his position to the officer.

“Fine,” the officer said. “Take a gun and, if you are sent to the front, give it back. That way you will serve only one year instead of two.”

“What do you mean?” Sekule said.

“Agree to carry a gun during training, but the training that you will receive will be on teleprinters instead of the shooting range,” the officer said.

Sekule agreed. He was assigned to office work, helping run military communications by typing on a teleprinter.

The Sabbath turned out to be a bigger challenge than guns for Sekule. Because of the war, Sekule needed to be trained quickly to work on a teleprinter. But he refused to attend training sessions on Sabbath.

Food, also, was a challenge. Military rations were prepared with lard. Sekule’s parents refused to send money for food because they hoped he would change his diet.

Sekule prayed, “Please bless me like You blessed Daniel. He decided not to eat unclean food, and I want to do the same.”

Sekule’s commander didn’t know what to do.

“You won’t work on Saturday?” he asked.

“No,” Sekule said.

“Do you have any suggestions about what we can do?”

“No.”

“You won’t eat meat?”

“No.”

“Do you have any suggestions about what we can do?”

“No.”

The only thing Sekule could eat was bread and tea. In four months, he lost 50 pounds (23 kilograms), dropping to 137 pounds (85 kilograms). He was skin and bones.

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.

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