Inside Story for Friday 21st of November 2025

Kim Sun is associate director of the 1000 Missionary Movement, whose headquarters in Silang, Philippines, were constructed with the help of a 1996 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. Read more next week.

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Kim Sun couldn’t believe that the man slammed the door in his face.

The 19-year-old student from South Korea was going door-to-door to invite people to evangelistic meetings in the Philippines. Many people responded kindly when he and his friends knocked. But at this particular house, the 25-year-old man reacted rudely to the visitors. He didn’t reply when one asked if they could enter to visit. He just slammed the door shut.

Image © Pacific Press

Sun felt embarrassed and upset. The other students, however, weren’t bothered. Sun couldn’t understand why. He suggested that they return the next day. It was Monday, and the evangelistic meetings ran through Sabbath.

On Tuesday, the students knocked on the door again. The same man came to the door and immediately recognized the visitors. He looked ashamed and invited them in. “I’m sorry that I closed the door yesterday,” he said.

The students spoke about the love of Jesus and invited him to the meetings. They met with him again on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Saturday, the man decided to give his heart to Jesus in baptism.

“I love Jesus Christ,” he said. “I want to live a new life.”

Sun was amazed. As he watched the baptism, he thought, This man has changed so much. He is a completely different person compared to Monday. Is it possible for someone to change so much?

Sun was an accidental missionary. He didn’t come to the Philippines to seek baptisms. He had been living his own life in South Korea when his parents had intervened. They sent him to the Philippines to learn English and to become a nurse, and then they wanted him to work in the United States.

Arriving at his parents’ chosen school, the Adventist University of the Philippines, Sun was surprised to see that his classmates went to church on Saturday. He had thought that all Christians worshiped on Sunday. But he was required to go to church, so he attended a Korean-speaking church on campus. Young people from the church organized evangelistic meetings with the 1000 Missionary Movement, an organization that is part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Southern Asia-Pacific Division. Sun didn’t speak much English, and he didn’t know much about the Bible. But he joined the students in going door-to-door to invite people to the meetings. In seeking after the man who had slammed the door, he became an accidental missionary.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25d-08-inside-story-accidental-missionary/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=25d-08-inside-story-accidental-missionary

Daily Lesson for Friday 21st of November 2025

Further Thought: “Caleb’s faith now was just what it was when his testimony had contradicted the evil report of the spies.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

He had believed God’s promise that He would put His people in possession of Canaan, and in this he had followed the Lord fully. He had endured with his people the long wandering in the wilderness, thus sharing the disappointments and burdens of the guilty; yet he made no complaint of this, but exalted the mercy of God that had preserved him in the wilderness when his brethren were cut off. Amid all the hardships, perils, and plagues of the desert wanderings, and during the years of warfare since entering Canaan, the Lord had preserved him; and now at upwards of fourscore his vigor was unabated. He did not ask for himself a land already conquered, but the place which above all others the spies had thought it impossible to subdue. By the help of God he would wrest his stronghold from the very giants whose power had staggered the faith of Israel. It was no desire for honor or aggrandizement that prompted Caleb’s request. The brave old warrior was desirous of giving to the people an example that would honor God, and encourage the tribes fully to subdue the land which their fathers had deemed unconquerable.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, Pages 512, 513.

“It was Caleb’s faith in God that gave him courage, that kept him from the fear of man, and enabled him to stand boldly and unflinchingly in the defense of the right. Through reliance on the same power, the mighty General of the armies of heaven, every true soldier of the cross may receive strength and courage to overcome the obstacles that seem insurmountable.”—Ellen G. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 30, 1912.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25d-08-further-thought-giants-of-faith-joshua-and-caleb/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=25d-08-further-thought-giants-of-faith-joshua-and-caleb

True, Somewhat True, or False: “It is easier for fear to shape a person’s perspective than faith.” Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 8 – Giants of Faith: Joshua and Caleb. It’s the fastest hour of the week!

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Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Genesis 26:5 NKJV

As we study this week’s lesson about Giants of Faith, what do you remember most about people? The good or the bad? We are told,

Cultivate the habit of speaking well of others. Dwell upon the good qualities of those with whom you associate, and see as little as possible of their errors and failings. When tempted to complain of what someone has said or done, praise something in that person’s life or character. Cultivate thankfulness. Praise God for His wonderful love in giving Christ to die for us. It never pays to think of our grievances. God calls upon us to think of His mercy and His matchless love, that we may be inspired with praise.-Ellen White, Help in Daily Living, Page 34. 

I love how God speaks of Abraham after he died. Yes, Abraham made some terrible and costly blunders, like taking Hagar as his wife instead of just trusting God’s promise. Abraham also lied in Egypt instead of just trusting God’s promise of protection. Yet after Abraham ‘s story is over, all God remembers are the good things. Yes, Paul mentions Hagar in Galatians, but he does not go on about how terrible Abraham was. He does not even mention Abraham’s name in that context. He merely refers to the situation. But when speaking directly about Abraham, here is what Scripture has to say: 

Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”Genesis 26:5 NKJV

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. Hebrews 11:8 NKJV

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”  concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Hebrews 11:17-19 NKJV

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was [j]accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. James 2:21-23 NKJV

Truly when God forgives He remembers our sins no more. Hebrews 8:12. Even with Sarah, in Hebrews 8:11, God mentions her faith and never mentions that the whole Hagar incident was her idea. The way God talks about Abraham and Sarah, you would get the idea that they never did anything wrong. How beautiful is God’s forgiveness, and the way He only remembers the good and never recalls the bad. 

I have a good friend since childhood, but even though we have been good friends for life, I was not always nice when we were kids. Years ago at a church youth social I had to correct a child for being mean to another child. This reminded me of a time I was mean to my friend when we were kids. I called her that evening and told her how bad I felt about that now. She assured me she had no memory of that incidident and all she could recall about me were good things, like what a wonderful friend I have been for years. When I hung up the phone I marvelled at her graciousness. 

May we be as gracious with others as my friend was with me. May we be as gracious with others as God was with Abraham in Scripture, and as He is now with all of us. 

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/what-god-remembers-about-abraham/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-god-remembers-about-abraham

Daily Lesson for Thursday 20th of November 2025

Marco Iacoboni, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, researched the function of mirror neurons. These small cell circuits are activated both when we perform a certain action—such as laughing or embracing someone—and when we observe someone else performing the same action. The activity of these neurons reduces the distinction between seeing and doing.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

Ellen G. White speaks about the importance of beholding the character of Jesus: “Looking unto Jesus we obtain brighter and more distinct views of God, and by beholding we become changed. Goodness, love for our fellow men, becomes our natural instinct. We develop a character which is the counterpart of the divine character. Growing into His likeness, we enlarge our capacity for knowing God. More and more we enter into fellowship with the heavenly world, and we have continually increasing power to receive the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of eternity.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 355.

In the summary chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul speaks about two antagonistic forces trying to shape our lives. On the one hand, the surrounding world, with its various influences, tries to force us daily into its own mold, effecting a conformation in us that works from the outside in.

To counteract this impact, the Holy Spirit is able to transform us inside out in a manner similar to the way a caterpillar metamorphoses into a beautiful butterfly. But for that process to happen, we need to consecrate ourselves to God and ask Him to continue the good work that He has started in us (Philippians 1:6). In the end, we have to make the conscious choice, moment by moment, to walk in the Spirit.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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