Inside Story for Friday 21st of March 2025

By Andrew McChesney

Ki-nam’s world came crashing down after she arrived from South Korea to work as a student missionary in the Middle East. She arrived on a short-term tourist visa that needed to be upgraded to a residence visa, allowing her to stay for a full year. Her apartment landlord had agreed to sign the paperwork, giving her proof of residence for the new visa. But suddenly he changed his mind and demanded a large sum of money to sign the document.

Ki-nam didn’t have the money. The missionary leader overseeing the small group of student missionaries didn’t have the money. The small Seventh-day Adventist community didn’t have the money. The community mainly was comprised of poor refugees who worshiped in a house church.

Ki-nam’s choices were limited. She couldn’t simply move to another apartment because it was difficult to find landlords willing to rent to foreigners. Staying illegally in the country wasn’t an option, and she didn’t want to bribe an official for the resident visa.

She prayed, “Lord, if You sent me here, You should solve my problem.” She prayed every day for two months. Her parents in South Korea prayed. The missionary leader put Ki-nam’s name on the house church’s prayer list, and church members prayed.

Two months passed, and the landlord didn’t sign the document.

Then the day arrived when Ki-nam had to go for an interview for a new visa. But she didn’t have any documents to support a new visa.

Shortly before the interview, Ki-nam’s cell phone rang. It was the mis­sionary leader. “There may be a solution,” he said. “Let’s go.”

He explained that a church member had felt impressed to stop by a real estate agency just a few minutes earlier. The church member knew the agency owner and had asked, “Can you help my friend?” The owner had replied, “Bring her passport, and I’ll give her proof of residence.”

Ki-nam was stunned. She could only say, “Thank You, God.”

The owner signed the document, and Ki-nam received the resident visa.

After that, Ki-nam had no doubt that God would bless her year in the Middle East. And He did. Seven people were baptized through her work. “God called me and used me to save people,” Ki-nam said in an interview with Adventist Mission in Seoul, South Korea. “He was with me every step of the way, helping me. I realized that there are no mistakes in God’s calling, and it was a year of gratitude.”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Korea sends missionaries around the world. Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering on March 29 that will help South Korean Adventists spread the gospel at home. The student missionary’s name has been changed.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-12-inside-story-stuck-in-the-middle-east/

Daily Lesson for Friday 21st of March 2025

Read Ellen G. White, “The Sabbath,” Pages 281–289, in The Desire of Ages.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“The spies dared not answer Christ in the presence of the multitude, for fear of involving themselves in difficulty. They knew that He had spoken the truth. Rather than violate their traditions, they would leave a man to suffer, while they would relieve a brute because of the loss to the owner if it were neglected. Thus greater care was shown for a dumb animal than for man, who is made in the image of God. This illustrates the working of all false religions. They originate in man’s desire to exalt himself above God, but they result in degrading man below the brute. Every religion that wars against the sovereignty of God defrauds man of the glory which was his at the Creation, and which is to be restored to him in Christ. Every false religion teaches its adherents to be careless of human needs, sufferings, and rights. The gospel places a high value upon humanity as the purchase of the blood of Christ, and it teaches a tender regard for the wants and woes of man. The Lord says, ‘I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.’ Isaiah 13:12.

“When Jesus turned upon the Pharisees with the question whether it was lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill, He confronted them with their own wicked purposes. They were hunting His life with bitter hatred, while He was saving life and bringing happiness to multitudes. Was it better to slay upon the Sabbath, as they were planning to do, than to heal the afflicted, as He had done? Was it more righteous to have murder in the heart upon God’s holy day than love to all men, which finds expression in deeds of mercy?”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, Pages 286, 287.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-12-further-thought-love-and-justice-the-two-greatest-commandments/

Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 12 – Love and Justice: The Two Greatest Commandments. It’s the fastest hour of the week!

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/love-and-justice-the-two-greatest-commandments-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 20th of March 2025

In Luke’s account, just after Jesus declares the two greatest commandments of love for God and love for a neighbor, a lawyer, “wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ ” (Luke 10:29, NKJV). In response to this, Jesus tells the now-familiar, but then shocking, parable of the good Samaritan.

Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com

Jesus did not just talk about justice; He came to bring it. He was and will be the fulfillment of the prophetic call and longing for justice (see Luke 4:16-21 in light of Isaiah 61:1-2). He is the desire of all nations, especially those who recognize their need for deliverance.

In direct contrast to the enemy, who grasped for power and sought to usurp God’s throne, Jesus lowered Himself and identified with those under sin, injustice, and oppression (without being infected by sin), and He defeated the enemy by giving Himself in love in order to establish justice as the One who is just and the Justifier of all who believe. How can we claim to be concerned about the law that Christ died to uphold if we are not concerned about what Christ calls the weightier matters of the law?

Psalms 9:8-9 proclaims, “He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble” (NKJV). Likewise, Psalms 146:7-9 adds, God “executes justice for the oppressed” and “gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked He turns upside down” (NKJV).

How much clearer could the Word of God be in regard to how we should seek to minister to those around us who are in need and are hurting?

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-12-who-is-my-neighbor/

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, John C. Peckham, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/12-love-and-justice-the-two-greatest-commandments-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/