I love writing blog posts. I have been blogging for Sabbath School Net for just over ten years now, and I have had my personal blog for 14 years. I have been preaching ever since I was 15. A friend was surprised the other day, when I told her I love writing blog posts every bit as much, if not more than preaching. I love learning and sharing what I have learned. I love connecting with the world, while sitting on my comfy sofa in my pajamas with my laptop. That must be why I love blogging more than preaching. I can’t preach in my pajamas. I also love hearing from people all over the world as they comment on my posts, and share their thoughts and what they have learned, from their personal Bible study time. 

I love studying my Bible near the bay or gulf in the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

And personal Bible study time is where I am going with this. Oh no! I just started a sentence with a conjunction. A big no no. My college composition

professor would be turning over in his grave if he could see this. But guess what? I’m not writing a blog post this week, so I don’t have to worry about my grammar. Back to the personal Bible study time. As much as I love writing and preaching, sometimes I don’t have anything new or relevant to share. As sermon and blog deadlines approach I start feeling pressured. I start studying my Bible for new ideas and get frustrated if I can’t find anything. I start relating more with Martha than with Mary. You know the story, when Jesus visited Martha and Mary, and Mary was just visiting with Jesus while Martha was busy doing all the work. 

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:40-42 NKJV

Often when I am substitute teaching at school, I have to tell the kids to put away their distractions and get to work, but Martha was distracted by her work. Her work was the distraction. Martha was so busy preparing a meal she forgot Jesus was the main attraction and not the meal.

I love studying my Bible and preparing blog posts and sermons when the ideas and revelations just seem to flow. But I get frustrated when I feel pressured to come up with something new and can’t. That’s when I have to tell myself to stop trying to be like Martha and just be like Mary. I have to open my Bible and tell myself not to worry about preparing a spiritual meal for anyone. I don’t mean to be irreverent by saying this, but when I study God’s Word instead of it being about a sermon or blog post preparation, I just like to chill with God. I love and treasure the moments in His Word when He speaks to me as His own child and not just His spokesperson. I love it when He shows me something just between the two of us, that is not meant for the rest of the world to see or hear. I love reading my Bible without an agenda! No deadlines to meet, no thinking about how to fit this into a blog post or sermon. I remember those nights so long ago as a little child lying in bed at night, talking to Jesus like we were best friends having a slumber party. No sermons, no blog posts, just me and my best friend hanging out together because we loved each other. 

But this is really about you. What brought you here right now? Are you just chillaxing and studying right now, enjoying reading what others have to say? Then great! Are you preparing for Sabbath School class, maybe even preparing to teach, and everything is perfectly falling in place as you put your lesson together? Wonderful! However, if you are trying to put  your lesson together and nothing seems to be falling into place and here it is Friday already, don’t worry. Relax. Chill. Stop feeling like a Martha, thinking  you have to prepare all the time. God didn’t just create you to teach Sabbath School. He created you to be His child. He created you to be His best friend. Just borrow Michael Fracker’s lesson plan this week. It’s perfectly fine. Its not cheating. Pick up your Bible with no lesson plan, sermon preparation or agenda in mind, and just chill with your best Friend. Don’t let lesson plans and sermon preparations distract you from what your relationship with Jesus is really all about. After all, the Bible is not just a book to prepare you for eternity. The Bible takes us into God’s presence here and now. The Bible is not just a reference book to help you write sermons and prepare Sabbath School lesson plans. The Bible is God’s love story written to you. 

Like the title says, I am not writing a blog post this week. Jesus and I are having a slumber party again tonight. This is not a blog post. This is your invitation. You are invited. Let’s leave our preparation agendas behind and take our Bibles and just chill with Jesus tonight. It’s okay. You don’t have to be a Martha tonight. You can be a Mary, because there will be no pastors, Bible workers or Sabbath school teachers at the party. Only best friends of Jesus. 

Amen!(3)

The post I’m Not Writing a Blog Post This Week appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/im-not-writing-a-blog-post-this-week/

Read Genesis 4:17-24. What was Cain’s legacy, and how did Cain’s crime open the way for the increasing wickedness of humankind?

Cain’s great-great-great-grandson, Lamech, refers to Cain’s crime in the context of his own. This comparison between the crime of Cain and the crime of Lamech is instructive. While Cain keeps silent about his only recorded crime, Lamech seems to be boasting about his, expressing it in a song (Genesis 4:23-24). While Cain asks for God’s mercy, Lamech is not recorded as asking for it. While Cain is avenged seven times by God, Lamech believes that he will be avenged seventy-seven times (see Genesis 4:24), a hint that he’s very much aware of his guilt.

Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com

Also, Cain is monogamous (Genesis 4:17); Lamech introduces polygamy, for the Scripture says specifically that he “took for himself two wives” (Genesis 4:19, NKJV). This intensification and exaltation of evil will definitely affect the next generations of Cainites.

Following immediately this episode of evil in the Cainite family, the biblical text records a new event that counters the Cainite trend. “Adam knew his wife” (Genesis 4:25), and the result is the birth of Seth, whose name is given by Eve to indicate that God had put “another seed” in the place of Abel.

In fact, the history of the name Seth precedes Abel. The name Seth is derived from the Hebrew verb ’ashit, “I will put” (Genesis 3:15), which introduces the Messianic prophecy. The Messianic seed will be passed on in the Sethite line. The biblical text gives, then, the record of the Messianic line beginning with Seth (Genesis 5:3-4), and including Enoch (), Methuselah, and ending with Noah (Genesis 6:8).

The phrase “sons of God” (Genesis 6:2) refers to the line of Seth because they are designed to preserve the image of God (Genesis 5:1, Genesis 5:4). On the other hand, the “daughters of men” (Genesis 6:2) seems to have a negative connotation, contrasting the offspring of those in the image of God to those in the image of men. And it is under the influence of these “daughters of men” that the sons of God “took wives for themselves of all whom they chose” (Genesis 6:2, NKJV), indicating the wrong direction humanity was heading.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

Amen!(1)

The post Thursday: The Wickedness of Man appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/thursday-wickedness-of-man/

This video is produced by the South Pacific Division Discipleship team.

Amen!(0)

The post 3: Cain and His Legacy – SPD Discipleship Video appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/3-cain-and-his-legacy-spd-discipleship-video/

You can view an in-depth discussion of Cain and His Legacy; in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S16sPm7sg4I&w=560&h=315]
With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

Amen!(0)

The post 3: Cain and His Legacy – HopeSS Video Discussion appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/3-cain-and-his-legacy-hopess-video-discussion/

Read Genesis 4:9-16. Why does God ask the question “Where is Abel your brother?” What is the connection between Cain’s sin and of his becoming “a fugitive and a vagabond … on the earth” (Genesis 4:12, NKJV)?

God’s question to Cain echoes His question to Adam in Eden: “Where are you?” This echo suggests the link between the sin in Eden and this sin now: the latter sin (Cain’s) was the result of the former one (Adam’s).

Image © Krieg Barrie at Goodsalt.com

Cain, though, will not acknowledge his sin; he denies it, something that Adam didn’t do, even though he tried to put the blame elsewhere. Cain, in contrast, openly defies God, who doesn’t waste any time confronting Cain with his crime. When God asks the third question, “What have you done?” He does not even wait for an answer. He reminds Cain that He knows everything, for the voice of Abel’s blood has reached Him from the ground (Genesis 4:10), an image that signifies that God knows about the murder and will respond to it. Abel is in the ground, a direct link back to the Fall and to what the Lord has said would happen to Adam (see Genesis 3:19).

Read Genesis 4:14. What is the significance of Cain’s words that “I shall be hidden from Your face” (NKJV)?

It is because Abel’s blood was poured on the ground that the ground was now cursed, again (Genesis 4:12). As a result, Cain is then condemned to become a refugee, far from God. Only when Cain heard God’s sentence does he acknowledge the significance of God’s presence; for without it, he fears for his own life. Even after Cain’s cold-blooded murder of his brother and his defiance in the face of it, the Lord still shows mercy to him, and even though “Cain went out from the presence of the LORD” (Genesis 4:16, NKJV), the Lord still provided him with some kind of protection. Exactly what that “mark” was (Genesis 4:15), we haven’t been told, but whatever it was, it came only because of God’s grace to him.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

Amen!(0)

The post Wednesday: The Punishment of Cain appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/wednesday-punishment-of-cain/