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1: Part of God’s Family – Teaching Plan

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Key Thought: God encourages us to spend the resources that He has given us to meet our needs, the needs of others, and to advance His work.
January 7, 2023

1. Have a volunteer read Psalm 50:10-12, Psalm 24:1.

  1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
  2. What should this truth mean to us that God owns everything?
  3. Personal Application: What should be our attitude toward God and toward what we possess? Share your thoughts..
  4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “I give money to church every week. It is my business when I give and how much I give. It is my money and I can spend as much as I wish. The church asks for money to keep it going and pay the pastor. But they still try to shame people into giving more than what they can afford.” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Psalm 23:1, 37:25, Phil 4:19.

  1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
  2. What does this tell us about God’s provision for our daily needs?
  3. Personal Application: How has God shown His care for you in your daily needs? Share your thoughts
  4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “I don’t see God taking care of my daily needs. I have struggled at times and only by my own perseverance have I made it through tough times. God didn’t do anything to help me.” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37.

  1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
  2. How do we love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds?
  3. Personal Application: Think about what blessings and gifts have God given to you both spiritually and temporally? Share your thoughts.
  4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “How does keeping the commandments of God reveal our love for God? Couldn’t people keep the commandments out of fear of destruction, or to earn merits?.” How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Matthew 6:19-21

  1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
  2. What kind of treasures are we focused on now?
  3. Personal Application: What have you been doing in the last month that reveals where your heart is? Share your thoughts.
  4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

Amen!(0)

The post 1: Part of God’s Family – Teaching Plan appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/1-part-of-gods-family-teaching-plan/

Monday: God is the Owner of Everything

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Read Psalm 50:10-12; Psalm 24:1; 1 Chronicles 29:13-14; and Haggai 2:8. What’s the message here, and what should this truth mean to us and how we relate to whatever we possess?

The book of First

Jesus Looking Over Earth

Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com

Chronicles, starting with chapter 17, records King David’s desire to build a house for God. He shared this desire with the prophet Nathan, who responded, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you” (1 Chronicles 17:2, NJKV). But that night the word of God came to Nathan and instructed him to tell the King that, because he was a man of war, he couldn’t build God’s house. His son would do the work instead. David asked if he could, at least, draw the plans and prepare the building materials. When David was granted this request, he spent the rest of his life amassing a tremendous amount of hewn stone, cedar, iron, gold, silver, and brass “without measure.” When all of the building materials had been prepared and assembled at the building site, David called all the leaders of Israel together for a ceremony of praise and thanksgiving.

In 1 Chronicles 29:13-14, , in King David’s public prayer, what did he say was the real source of all the building materials that he and the people had spent time and money preparing? Of course, in essence, he said, “We really can’t take any credit for all these special materials because we are just giving You back Your own stuff.”

The point is important for all of us, whether rich or poor (but especially the rich). Because God made everything in the beginning (see Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; Psalm 33:6, Psalm 33:9), He is truly the rightful owner of all that exists, including whatever we possess — no matter how hard and diligently and honestly we have worked for it. If not for God and His grace, we would have nothing, we would be nothing; in fact, we wouldn’t even exist. Thus, we must always live with the realization that, ultimately, God owns all that is, and by praising and thanking Him for His goodness to us, we can keep this important truth before us.

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this?” (1 Chronicles 29:14, NKJV). What beautiful principles are expressed in these words, and how do they reflect what our attitude toward God should be and our attitude toward what we possess?

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

Amen!(3)

The post Monday: God is the Owner of Everything appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/monday-god-is-owner-of-everything/

Finding Free and Low-priced Images

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Note: This page hasn’t been updated for some time. Yet I suspect much of this is still good. If one of you has time to go through the links and edit the post, I’d appreciate it. 

  • Delete links that no longer work.
  • Move the best links to the top of the page, for ease of access. 

Also see https://ssnet.org/blog/testing-free-assets-library-plugin/

Thanks.

We use a lot of GoodSalt images because they are beautiful, we have an affiliate agreement with them, and they are easy to find. However, we are not limited to GoodSalt images. When no suitable image is at GoodSalt.com, we need to look for a suitable image that is free to use. Please review Plagiarism, Attribution, Citation, Quotation before using images. Some suggestions are below. The first are articles. We don’t always need “Christian” images, and for those posts some of the others sources below may have suitable images. You will soon find your favorite sources.
(Contributed by Inge. Originally published Jan 15, 2015. This page needs updating.)

Search Engines:

The following are individual sites. Most worthwhile sites require a free membership. We suggest not using your main email address but using a “disposable” address instead. Please comment below on which ones you find to be good for what purposes, which not so good.

Specifically Christian Sites:

CreationSwap.com

Famous Bible Paintings at Conservapedia.com

Joyful Heart.com

Most old paintings are in the Public Domain. (Check to be surSearch in the Search box (upper right) for “Artwork of David” or “Paintings of Moses” to find a list of paintings.e.) It helps to spend time browsing the paintings to become familiar with the styles of different artists. Some may be suitable for our site, others not so much.

JesusWalk.com

Search in the Search box (upper right) for “Artwork of David” or “Paintings of Moses” to find a list of paintings.

Secular Sites:

Most of these are indexed in the Search Engines above. Please leave comments indicating which are not indexed or which are indexed where.

Be sure to read and follow the license requirements for each source of free images. Usually you can put a link under the image and give credit in the caption, since we do not usually use captions for other purposes. 

Commercial site worth checking out:

  • PixaBay.com lists high-quality public-domain images plus links to www.istockphoto.com images, which are not cheap. Usually there are “sponsored” images at the top and bottom of the page. If you’re looking for free images, you have to scroll down a bit. 
  • 123rf.com  offers reasonably-priced one-off downloads and much better prices with a subscription. I like the fact that their search function works well enough not to bring up thousands of irrelevant photos at the top of results. If you write for Sabbath School net and find images there, let Inge know, and she can pay for a subscription. 
  • StockPhotoSecrets.com I once thought this was good enough to subscribe to it. Check it out and let me know what you find. 
Amen!(0)

The post Finding Free and Low-priced Images appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/finding-free-images/

Sunday: We Are Part of God’s Family

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“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Ephesians 3:14-15, NKJV). What imagery is evoked in this verse, and what hope is found there?

Early in Jesus’ ministry, He states, “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9, NKJV). Later He repeats the same prayer privately to His disciples (Luke 11:2). Jesus told us to call His Father, “Our Father in heaven.” When Jesus encountered Mary after His resurrection, she wanted to embrace Him. Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’ ” (John 20:17, NKJV).

Second Coming

Image © Pacific Press Publishing Assn. Goodsalt.com

Because we have the same Father as Jesus, He is our brother, and we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord. Jesus became a member of the earthly family so that we could become members of the heavenly family. “The family of heaven and the family of earth are one.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 835.

Read Exodus 3:10; Exodus 5:1; and Galatians 3:26, Galatians 3:29. What do these verses say about how God relates to us? Why should this be so encouraging?

In contrast to a view of creation in which we are deemed the mere products of cold, uncaring natural laws, Scripture teaches not only that God exists, but that He loves us and relates to us in such a loving manner that the imagery of family is often used in Scripture to depict that relationship. Whether Jesus calls Israel “My people,” or us “sons of God,” or refers to God as “our Father,” the point is still the same: God loves us the way family members are supposed to love each other. What good news amid a world that, in and of itself, can be very hostile!

Imagine a world in which we treated everyone as family. How can we learn to relate better to all human beings as our brothers and sisters?

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Amen!(0)

The post Sunday: We Are Part of God’s Family appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/sunday-we-are-part-of-gods-family/

Sabbath: Part of God’s Family

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God's Family in His Hands

Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Galatians 3:26, Galatians 3:29; Psalm 50:10-12; 1 Chronicles 29:13-14; Philippians 4:19; 1 John 5:3; Matthew 6:19-21.
Memory Text: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1, NKJV).

As Christians, an amazing feature about our relationship with God, is that He trusts us to manage His affairs on the earth. At the very outset of human history, God explicitly delegated to Adam and Eve the personal care of a flawless creation. (See Genesis 2:7-9, Genesis 2:15) From the naming of the animals, to keeping the Garden, and to filling the earth with children, God let it be known that we are to work on His behalf here.

He also blesses us with resources, but we are the ones whom He has entrusted to manage them, such as to collect money, to write the checks, to do the electronic transfers, to make the budgets, or to bring our tithes and offerings to the church on Sabbath mornings. God encourages us to spend the resources that He has given to us for our own needs, for the needs of others, and for the advancement of His work. Incredible as it may seem, we are the ones whom God has entrusted with raising His children, building His buildings, and educating the succeeding generations.

In this week’s study, we will explore the privileges and responsibilities of being a part of the family of God.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 7.

Sunday–>

Amen!(0)

The post Sabbath: Part of God’s Family appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/sabbath-part-of-gods-family/

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