Daily Lesson for Sunday 10th of December 2023

We read that Jesus took His disciples from Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34) “and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon” (Matthew 15:21, NKJV). Why did He take them from Galilee to these pagan places? He leads His disciples on this field trip into the borders of these foreign regions so that they can learn, on location, what they could not learn so easily in Galilee. He wanted to teach His disciples lessons that would help prepare them for their calling to reach all people groups, including urbanites.

From Judges 3:1-6, we see that these ancient peoples were used by God to test the Israelites’ faith. Unfortunately, God’s people failed that test, too, at least in this instance: “And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods” (Judges 3:6, NKJV). Thus, right from the start, these people were a stumbling block to Israel.

In 1 Kings 5:1-11, we can see the close relationship between the Sidonians and the Hebrews. Though on one level, the economic ties were mutually beneficial, no doubt the Hebrews were still negatively influenced by the paganism and idolatry of their trading partners.

1 Kings 11:1-6 reveals just how negative that influence even­tually became: King Solomon married Sidonian princesses, who led him astray. “For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians” (1 Kings 11:5, NKJV).

Yet, despite the history of paganism and idolatry, and their negative influence on the chosen nation, Jesus still brought His disciples to these places. In this way He initiated them in cross-cultural urban mission, confronting their bias and bigotry, and modeled for His followers wholistic urban mission to all cultures and nationalities.

Many challenges face the Adventist urban missionary, among them include health and environmental concerns. Others would include the high cost of living, racism, bigotry, nationalism, and constraints on religious freedom and expression. Nevertheless, despite these obstacles, we must work for the cities.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-11-mission-to-regions-beyond/

Daily Lesson for Saturday 9th of December 2023

Read for This Week’s Study

1 Kings 11:1-6; Matthew 4:23-25; Matthew 15:22-28; Mark 7:24-30; Acts 10:34-35; Matthew 8:10,13.

Memory Text:

“Then Jesus answered and said to her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour” (Matthew 15:28, NKJV).

From the beginning, a loving God sought His lost children (Genesis 3:9); and, to our day, this same loving God is still seeking to reach the lost (see Revelation 14:6-12), including the lost in the cities. In 2018, the United Nations published its latest findings, which say that 55 percent of the planet’s population lives in urban areas, and this will grow (if time should last) to 68 percent by 2050. We have no choice: we must witness to those in the cities.

Yet, many of God’s people act as Jonah did when called to witness to a city: for whatever reason, they flee from the task. “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4, NKJV). That includes what was written about Jonah.

When here, Jesus ministered not only to those in the cities of Israel but to those in foreign regions, as well; that is, to those outside of the Jewish nation and the chosen people.

This week we will study the Bible story of Christ’s mission to Tyre and Sidon and draw lessons to apply to our lives today.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 16.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-11-mission-to-the-unreached-part-2/

Inside Story for Friday 8th of December 2023

By Andrew McChesney

Luis Paiva decided to open a fruit stand in Spain. But he moved forward with fear, sensing that God was calling him to serve elsewhere. He also worried that his new business might prevent him from giving his all to God.

Two short weeks after opening the fruit stand, everything seemed to fall apart. His business was failing. His partners were cheating him. He fell ill and no longer could walk. But Luis didn’t want to give up. He asked fellow Seventh-day Adventists for business advice. One of them, knowing that Luis had trained to be a pastor, reprimanded him. “You shouldn’t be engaged in worldly business but in the business of winning souls for the Lord,” he said.

For Luis, the rebuke was like hearing God’s voice. But he felt even more hopeless. How could he serve as a pastor without a church? Luis talked over the matter with his wife, and they decided to return to their native country, Venezuela. Perhaps he could recover his health there.

A short time later, Luis got a call from Gabriel Diaz, a leader of the Adventist Church in Spain. The church was looking for a missionary to work in Lugo, a city in northwestern Spain. Luis was delighted at the prospect of returning to full-time ministry, but he acknowledged that he had serious health and business problems. “I’m not even able to walk,” he said.

The church leader was not dissuaded, and the two men prayed together.

In two weeks, Luis regained his ability to walk, and he opened a house church in Lugo. On the first Sabbath, only two people, both church members, showed up to worship. But in just four months, 22 people were gather­ing in the house church every Sabbath. Among them were three newly baptized members and others preparing for baptism. In addition, Luis had opened a Bible study school and a school of evangelism to teach people how to win souls for God. He was making plans to plant an official church.

“We know that we have to win many souls in order for that to happen,” he says. “But I trust God, and I have confidence in Him that this will happen because we are using Christ’s method alone.”

“Christ’s method alone,” according to Ellen White, “will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me’ ” (Ministry of Healing, p. 143).

As a pastor in Venezuela and later a missionary in Mexico, Luis never dreamed he would be serving God in Spain. “I’m here because of God’s grace,” he said.

Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offering that helps support missionaries around the world.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-10-inside-story-mission-path-to-spain-part-4/

Daily Lesson for Friday 8th of December 2023

One of the primary takeaways from the story of Paul’s experience at the Areopagus is its on-the-ground study of how to approach an unreached group of unbelievers, which resulted in a small group of believers starting in Athens.

“The words of the apostle, and the description of his attitude and surroundings, as traced by the pen of inspiration, were to be handed down to all coming generations, bearing witness of his unshaken confidence, his courage in loneliness and adversity, and the victory he gained for Christianity in the very heart of paganism.

“Paul’s words contain a treasure of knowledge for the church. He was in a position where he might easily have said that which would have irritated his proud listeners and brought himself into difficulty. Had his oration been a direct attack upon their gods and the great men of the city, he would have been in danger of meeting the fate of Socrates. But with a tact born of divine love, he carefully drew their minds away from heathen deities, by revealing to them the true God, who was to them unknown.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 240, 241.

By his direct contact with the people, a study of their culture and religion, and his respect for their devotion to spiritual things, Paul managed something notable in Athens—something that is a treasure of knowledge for the church. He avoided irritating his listeners. This was in and of itself a major, God-inspired accomplishment. This, according to Ellen G. White, is the treasure of knowledge that we as a church need to pay attention to in this story.

Discussion Questions

1. With the story of Paul in Athens as a model, what is the first step for anyone beginning new evangelistic work in a city?
    
2. What sort of behavior is required of a Christian to build bridges with people in the city (and frankly, anywhere else) who do not know God?
    
3. When we are provoked by the modern types of idols, what should we avoid doing, especially right at first, in starting new work among the people who worship those idols?
    
4. Paul could have stopped with just introducing the people to this God who loved them, and they would have been quite pleased. But then he crossed a line that made people think he was deluded when he brought in the Resurrection. Should he have done that? Why, or why not?
    

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-10-further-thought-mission-to-the-unreached-part-1/

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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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-december-9/