Closer To Heaven
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How do we grow in grace if grace is unmerited mercy/forgiveness? (2 Peter 3:18) Join us as we discuss Lesson 1, Paul and the Ephesians.
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/paul-and-the-ephesians-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study: Ephesians 1:3-14; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 1:13-14; Deuteronomy 9:29.
Twenty-five years after becoming the first person to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong wrote a thank you note to the creative team who designed the spacesuit, the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), in which he took those historic steps. Calling it “the most photographed spacecraft in history” and teasing that it was successful at hiding “its ugly occupant” from view, Armstrong thanked “the EMU Gang” at the Johnson Space Center for the “tough, reliable, and almost cuddly” suit that preserved his life, sending them “a quarter century’s worth of thanks and congratulations.”
Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians with a majestic thank you note, praising God for the blessings He has poured out, blessings as essential to the lives of believers as a spacesuit is for someone who walks on the moon. Paul argues that God has been at work on these essential blessings since “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) and praises God for working through the ages on behalf of believers.
Paul’s opening here makes Ephesians especially valuable in modeling how to worship God and to praise God for the many blessings He has provided.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 8.
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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:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4p-0BITx4&w=560&h=315]
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-july-1/
Valentina Melentjeva watched helplessly as her home burned to the ground in Kongsberg, Norway. While she was sad to lose her life’s possessions, the thought of losing her Bible devastated her the most.
Valentina grew up in Klaipeda, the third-largest city of the then-Soviet republic of Lithuania. Although her mother was a Christian, her family never owned a Bible, never talked about Jesus, and never prayed.
When Valentina was 45, she noticed that a neighbor named Ira seemed happy even though she endured struggles. Valentina asked Ira about the secret to her happiness, and Ira invited her to her home.
Image © Pacific Press
When Valentina arrived, Ira placed an open Bible in her hands. For the first time in her life, Valentina held a Bible. It was opened to Exodus chapter 20.
“Please read,” Ira said.
Valentina began reading the Ten Commandments. When she reached the fourth commandment, she was shocked to read, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” (Exodus 20:8-10, NKJV).
Four times she read the Sabbath commandment. The seventh day, not Sunday, was the day of rest. For her entire life, she had worked on Saturdays. But now she wanted to live according to the fourth commandment.
The next Saturday, Valentina went with Ira to worship with other Seventh-day Adventists in Klaipeda. On her second Sabbath in church, Valentina received a new Bible in the Russian language. The book became her most-treasured possession, and she was baptized a year later, in 2004. Later, Valentina moved to Norway to learn more about God at an Adventist Bible school. By the time she completed the course, the Bible’s cover had become well-worn. She commissioned a beautiful leather cover for the Bible.
After the 2021 fire, the police and fire brigade cordoned off Valentina’s apartment. When their investigation ended, Valentina’s visiting son walked through the rubble. Valentina was overjoyed when her son returned with the Bible. The Bible, which had been standing on a shelf with other spiritual books, was the only book to remain intact. It suffered only minor fire damage.
“It is amazing what the love of God can do to preserve the most important thing,” Valentina said.
Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering three years ago that helped open a center of influence in Sortland, Norway, where more people can learn about Valentina’s favorite book, the Bible.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
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The story of the exorcists misusing the names of Jesus and Paul (Acts 19:13-20; see Sunday’s study) helps explain why Paul uses so much language about power in Ephesians.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Some new believers, under fresh conviction of the sovereignty of Jesus, throw their expensive magic manuals into the flames. Thanks to the discovery of some 250 papyri dealing with magic as well as other finds, we have ample illustrations of rituals, spells, formulas, curses, etc., similar to those likely featured in these manuals of magic. The volumes had advised believers how to conduct such rituals to persuade gods, goddesses, and spirit powers to do whatever they would ask.
Luke tells us that these volumes were worth 50,000 silver coins, or 50,000 days of wages. (In today’s setting, if you allow for $80/day of wages for a skilled laborer, this amounts to $4 million!). This detail demonstrates the importance and centrality of these volumes to their everyday lives. “It took the sovereign intervention of God for them to be sufficiently convicted that they should completely repent of their ongoing utilization of amulets, charms, invocations, and traditional means of gaining spiritual power.” — Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), p. 34.
We come to understand that Ephesians was written to believers who needed instruction about “how to cope with the continuing influence and attacks of the sinister cosmic ‘powers.’ ” — Clinton E. Arnold, Power and Magic: The Concept of Power in Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1992), p. 165. Paul’s response is the Epistle to the Ephesians, in which he points to Christ as the One who has been exalted above every power (Ephesians 1:20-23) and emphasizes the superiority of the strength that God provides to believers (Ephesians 2:15-19, Ephesians 3:14-21, Ephesians 6:10-20).
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-paul-and-ephesians/
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