Closer To Heaven
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p>Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0_EmtjC-5M&w=560&h=315]
(3)The post Mission Spotlight for April 2 appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-april-2/
Students mocked the Laissa Samila Yassine for skipping classes on Saturdays in Mozambique. “You came here to this university to study, not to follow your church’s teachings,” said one. “You’re crazy,” said another.
Image © Pacific Press
It all began when Laissa was struggling with her mechanical engineering studies during her first semester at a public university and she found relief listening to music shared by a Seventh-day Adventist classmate, Belizario. Then she and Belizario began to study the Bible together. Laissa had other new friends, and they also studied the Bible.
The more she studied, the more she felt confused. The two Bible studies didn’t agree on the Sabbath. She quit both to search the Bible for herself. Prayerfully, she read the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:8-11, which begins, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (NKJV). She read the Lord’s call in Isaiah 58:1-3 to “turn away … from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight” and Jesus’ words, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). She decided to keep the Sabbath.
At first, Laissa hid her decision. She was afraid of being ridiculed, and she didn’t want to ask teachers to be excused from Saturday classes. She also worried about what her parents would say. However, she couldn’t keep her convictions to herself for long, and she announced at the end of the second semester that she would become an Adventist. Her worst fears materialized. Former friends taunted her and, when they saw her walking with Belizario, sneered, “Oh, those Adventists.” Teachers refused to reschedule Saturday classes, and her grades dropped. “If you don’t like it here, just leave,” teachers said. Her mother was furious, and her father disowned her.
Then Laissa met a visiting student from Mozambique Adventist University at her church on Sabbath. She was excited to learn about an Adventist university in Mozambique, and she begged her mother to allow her to transfer. Her mother initially refused but unexpectedly changed her mind after Laissa, like Queen Esther, prayed and fasted for three days for God to intervene. A short time after changing universities, she told her mother that she no longer needed help with expenses. Her new library job covered her costs. Her mother was astonished. “Indeed, the Lord is not your stepfather but your real Father,” she said.
Laissa, 22, now a second-year nutrition major, plans to become a missionary in Mozambique, where malnutrition is a serious problem.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
(0)The post Inside Story: Mocked for Sabbath appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-mocked-for-sabbath/
Read Ellen G. White, “Science and the Bible,” Pages 128, 129, in Education; “The Creation,” in The Story of Redemption, Pages 21, 22.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“Since the book of nature and the book of revelation bear the impress of the same master mind, they cannot but speak in harmony. By different methods, and in different languages, they witness to the same great truths. Science is ever discovering new wonders; but she brings from her research nothing that, rightly understood, conflicts with divine revelation. The book of nature and the written word shed light upon each other. They make us acquainted with God by teaching us something of the laws through which He works.
Inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature have, however, led to supposed conflict between science and revelation; and in the effort to restore harmony, interpretations of Scripture have been adopted that undermine and destroy the force of the word of God. Geology has been thought to contradict the literal interpretation of the Mosaic record of the creation. Millions of years, it is claimed, were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos; and in order to accommodate the Bible to this supposed revelation of science, the days of creation are assumed to have been vast, indefinite periods, covering thousands or even millions of years.
Such a conclusion is wholly uncalled for. The Bible record is in harmony with itself and with the teaching of nature.” — Ellen G. White, Education, Pages 128, 129.
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(0)The post Friday: Further Thought ~ The Creation appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-creation/
As soon as God created the first man, He offered him three gifts: the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8), food (Genesis 2:16), and the woman (Genesis 2:22).
The first duty of man concerns the natural environment in which God has put him: “to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15, NKJV). The verb ‘avad, “tend,” refers to work. It is not enough to receive a gift. We have to work on it and to make it fruitful — a lesson that Jesus will repeat in His parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). The verb shamar, “keep,” implies the responsibility to preserve what has been received.
Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com
The second duty concerns his food. We have to remember that God gave it to humans (see Genesis 1:29). God also said to Adam that “you may freely eat” (Genesis 2:16, NKJV). Humans didn’t create the trees, nor the food on them. They were a gift, a gift of grace.
But there is a commandment here, as well: they were to receive and enjoy God’s generous gift “of every tree” (NKJV). As a part of this grace, though, God adds a restriction. They should not eat from one particular tree. Enjoying without any restriction will lead to death. This principle was right in the Garden of Eden and, in many ways, that same principle exists today.
The third duty of man concerns the woman, God’s third gift: “man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife” (Genesis 2:24, NKJV). This extraordinary statement is a powerful expression that highlights human responsibility toward the conjugal covenant and the purpose of being “one flesh” (NKJV), meaning one person (compare with Matthew 19:7-9).
The reason it is the man (and not the woman) who should leave his parents may have to do with the biblical generic use of the masculine; hence, perhaps, the commandment applies to the woman too. Either way, the bond of marriage, though a gift from God, entails human responsibility once the gift has been received, a responsibility that rests upon both the man and the woman to fulfill faithfully.
| Think about all that you have been given by God. What are your responsibilities with what you have been given? |
(0)The post Thursday: The Duty of Humanity appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
This video is produced by the South Pacific Division Discipleship team.
Lesson 1 – The Creation from SPD Discipleship on Vimeo.
(0)The post 1: The Genesis – SPD Discipleship Video appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/1-the-genesis-spd-discipleship-video/
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