Closer To Heaven
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Is this True or False: Praising God and appreciating God are not the same thing. Join us as we discuss How to Read the Psalms.
(0)The post How to Read the Psalms – Hit the Mark Sabbath School appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/how-to-read-the-psalms-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/
”For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks?“ Psalms 6:5 NKJV
I have seen Christian music videos illustrating someone dying and immediately going to heaven and singing in the heavenly choir. But David in the Psalms is quite clear, along with the rest of Scripture, that the dead know nothing and rest in their graves until Jesus comes.
”You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.“ Psalms 104:29 NKJV
”The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor any who go down into silence.“ Psalms 115:17 NKJV
Furthermore New Testament Scripture resonates David’s theology about resting in the grave instead of going straight to heaven when we die.
”Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,“ Acts 2:29, 34 NKJV
Scripture is very consistent from beginning to end that the dead know nothing and rest in their graves until Christ returns. David, Jesus, Peter and Paul never once say anyone dies and goes straight to heaven. But you know who does? The lying serpent in Genesis 3:4, who claims we don’t really die.
Let’s believe the Word of God instead of the lying serpent. Some lies may be fun to believe, but they are never safe to believe. The serpent never tells a harmless lie. Every lie from the serpent is intended for deception and destruction. Yet no one who believes in the Word of God will be deceived. God‘s Word which is truth will keep us safe.
(1)The post The Mortal Soul in Psalms appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Inside Story for Friday 5th of January 2024
By Andrew McChesney
Paul went from home to home to meet people in a European city. With him, he carried a Bible and the holy book of another major world religion.
One day, a man opened the door. His breath smelled of cigarette smoke.
“I would very much like to give you a gift today,” Paul said.
“What kind of gift?” the man asked.
“I have this Bible,” Paul said.
“I don’t want a Bible,” the man said. “I belong to another religion. You are a Christian.”
“I have the holy book of your religion, too,” Paul said.
The man was surprised. He seemed interested. “OK, read something to me but only from my holy book, not from the Bible,” he said.
Paul opened the holy book and read about Jesus. The man’s surprise grew.
“Is this the same Jesus as in the Bible?” he asked.
Over the next few weeks, he studied four lessons about Jesus from his holy book. The man saw that the book does not talk about Jesus being crucified. He saw that the book predicts Jesus will come again. He saw that both people from his religion and Christians were waiting for Jesus to return.
When Paul arrived for the fifth lesson, the man wasn’t home.
A year passed, and one Sabbath the man showed up at Paul’s church.
“I want to come to this church,” he said. “Can I?”
It was Paul’s turn to be surprised.
“I want to follow Christ,” the man said.
After that, the man came every Sabbath. He said his holy book left him feeling empty. It offered no Savior for his sins. He longed to be baptized.
“Jesus says the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” Paul said. “Do you want to be free of cigarettes? Jesus said, ‘If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed’ [John 8:36, NKJV]. You have to choose Jesus or cigarettes. You can throw away your cigarettes today if you choose.”
The man looked scared. “It isn’t possible!” he blurted out. But then he reached into his pocket and threw a cigarette pack into a trash can.
“Jesus, give me victory over cigarettes,” he prayed. “I want to be free.”
Late that night, he called Paul. “This is terrible,” he said. “I feel awful. I cannot live without cigarettes.”
The two men prayed together on the phone. God heard the prayer and gave the man victory. He has not smoked in the four and a half years since then. Today, he is an outreach leader for the church.
“He loves people,” Paul told Adventist Mission. He is waiting eagerly for Jesus to return.
Thank you for your support of Adventist Mission, whose Global Mission Centers help train people to share the good news of salvation with precious people from other world religions. For more information, visit globalmissioncenters.org.
(0)The post Inside Story: Finding Jesus in a Holy Book appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-01-inside-story-finding-jesus-in-a-holy-book/
Daily Lesson for Friday 5th of January 2024
Read Ellen G. White, “The Temple and Its Dedication,” pp. 35–50, in Prophets and Kings; “The Benefits of Music,” pp. 291, 292, in Messages to Young People.
The book of Psalms consists of 150 psalms, which are grouped into five books: Book I (Psalms 1:1-6−41), Book II (Psalms 42:1-11:1-11−72), Book III (Psalms 73:1-28:1-28−89), Book IV (Psalms 90:1-17−106), and Book V (Psalms 1:1-607−150). The five-book division of the Psalter is an early Jewish tradition that parallels the five-book division of the Pentateuch.
The book of Psalms provides evidence of some already-existing collections of psalms: the Korahite collections (Psalms 42:1-11:1-11−49, 84, 85, 87, 88), the Asaphite collection (Psalms 73:1-28:1-28−83), the Songs of the Ascents (Psalms 1:1-620−134), and the Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 1:1-611−118, 146−150). Psalms 72:20 bears witness to a smaller collection of David’s psalms.
While most psalms are associated with the time of King David and early monarchy (tenth century B.C.), the collection of psalms continued to grow through the following centuries: the divided monarchy, the exile, and the postexilic period. It is conceivable that the Hebrew scribes under the leadership of Ezra combined the existing smaller collections of psalms into one book when they worked on establishing the services of the new temple.
The fact that scribes consolidated the book of Psalms does not take away from their divine inspiration. The scribes, like the psalmists, were devoted servants of God, and their work was directed by God (Ezra 7:6,10). The divine-human nature of the Psalms is comparable to the union of the divine and the human in the incarnated Lord Jesus. “But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ ”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 8.
Discussion Questions
(8)The post Friday: Further Thought – How to Read the Psalms appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-01-further-thought-how-to-read-the-psalms/
Daily Lesson for Thursday 4th of January 2024
Read Psalms 16:8; Psalms 44:8; Psalms 46:1; Psalms 47:1,7; Psalms 57:2; Psalms 62:8; Psalms 82:8; and Psalms 121:7. What place does God occupy in the psalmist’s life?
The world of the Psalms is wholly God-centered; it seeks to submit, in prayer and praise, all life experiences to God. God is the Sovereign Creator, the King and Judge of all the earth. He provides all things for His children. Therefore, He is to be trusted at all times. Even the enemies of God’s people ask, “ ‘Where is your God?’ ” when God’s people seem to be failing (Psalms 42:10, NKJV). Just as the Lord is the ever-present and never-failing God of His people, so God’s people have God always before them. Ultimately, the Psalms envision the time when all peoples and the entire creation will worship God (Psalms 47:1, Psalms 64:9).
The centrality of God in life produces the centrality of worship. The worship in which the Psalms lived was fundamentally different from worship as understood by many people today, because worship in the biblical culture was the natural and undisputed center of the entire community’s life. Therefore, everything that happened, both the good and the bad, in the life of God’s people inevitably was expressed in worship. God hears the psalmist, wherever he may be, and responds to him in His perfect time (Psalms 3:4, Psalms 18:6, Psalms 20:6).
The psalmist is aware that God’s dwelling place is in heaven, but at the same time, God dwells in Zion, in the sanctuary among His people. God is at the same time far and near, everywhere, and in His temple (Psalms 11:4), hidden (Psalms 10:1) and disclosed (Psalms 41:12). In the Psalms these apparently mutually exclusive characteristics of God are brought together. The psalmists understood that proximity and remoteness were inseparable within the true being of God (Psalms 24:7-10). The psalmists understood the dynamics of this spiritual tension. Their awareness of God’s goodness and presence, amid whatever they were experiencing, is what strengthens their hope while they wait for God to intervene, however and whenever He chooses to do so.
How can the Psalms help us understand that we cannot limit God to certain aspects of our existence only? What might be parts of your life in which you are seeking to keep the Lord at a distance?
(0)The post Thursday: The World of the Psalms appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-01-the-world-of-the-psalms/
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