Closer To Heaven
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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=hDCQIzA3nqk&w=560&h=315]
(0)The post Mission Spotlight for October 1 first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Mission Spotlight for October 1 appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-october-1/
Screams pierced the air in the rural village in Laos.
A Seventh-day Adventist pastor, who was visiting the village with a small team of church workers, headed toward the loud cries to find out what was happening. He was surprised to see a 16-year-old boy chained to the wooden floor of his family home. “What happened to your boy?” he asked the parents. “Why is he chained up?”
Image © Pacific Press
The parents looked sad. “Our son Aer has been sick for many years,” his father said. “He becomes normal for several hours but then he loses his mind again, several times a day,” his mother said.
The parents had spent all their money trying to find a cure. But the situation steadily had gotten worse until they reluctantly decided to leave Aer in chains all the time to prevent him from harming himself and others. He had been bound to the wooden floor for the past six months.
The pastor spoke with Aer and told him and his parents about the saving love of Jesus. “If Jesus is willing, He can heal Aer,” he said.
He asked for permission to pray for the boy. Aer’s parents happily agreed. Hope shone in the faces that their son would be healed.
A few days later, the pastor and his team again visited Aer and prayed for him. The pastor invited the family to worship in the nearest Adventist church in a neighboring village.
The next Sabbath, the parents arrived at church with Aer, his hands bound in chains. Each church member prayed for Aer, and then the pastor asked the boy’s father also to pray for him. All heads bowed as the father prayed to Jesus on behalf of his son. From that day, the boy was healed. He returned to normal and no longer needed to be chained up.
Neighbors were amazed, and they deluged Aer’s parents with questions.
“Is this the boy who was ill for many years and was chained up?” one said.
“Why is he OK now?” said another. “Who healed him?”
The parents explained that the Christian God had healed their boy.
Not only did Aer’s parents accept Jesus as their personal Savior after the healing, but many other families did so as well. Those families are among 122 people who were baptized at the church in April 2021, filling the church building to overflowing.
“We praise God for performing so many miracles in this area, resulting in many people coming to Him to be saved,” said the Lao pastor who shared the story with Adventist Mission.
Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that support the spread of the gospel in Laos and around the world.
(3)The post Inside Story: Set Free From Chains first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Inside Story: Set Free From Chains appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-set-free-from-chains/
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Why Was Sin Permitted?” Pages 33-43, in Patriarchs and Prophets; “The Origin of Evil,” Pages 492-504, in The Great Controversy.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“There was no possible hope for the redemption of those [Satan and his angels] who had witnessed and enjoyed the inexpressible glory of heaven, and had seen the terrible majesty of God, and, in presence of all this glory, had rebelled against Him. There were no new and wonderful exhibitions of God’s exalted power that could impress them so deeply as those they had already experienced. If they could rebel in the very presence of glory inexpressible, they could not be placed in a more favorable condition to be proved. There was no reserve force of power, nor were there any greater heights and depths of infinite glory to overpower their jealous doubts and rebellious murmuring. Their guilt and their punishment must be in proportion to their exalted privileges in the heavenly courts.” — Ellen G. White, Confrontation, p. 21.
“From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate. God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. So great was His love for the world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, ’that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 22.
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(2)The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Rebellion in a Perfect Universe first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Rebellion in a Perfect Universe appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-rebellion-in-perfect-universe/
We begin a new quarter of lessons. First up is Rebellion in a Perfect Universe. This lesson centers on something we want from God, but often don’t perceive that we receive it. Join the discussion to learn what this is.
(0)The post Rebellion in a Perfect Universe – Hit the Mark Sabbath School first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Rebellion in a Perfect Universe – Hit the Mark Sabbath School appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/rebellion-in-a-perfect-universe-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20 NLT
https://www.goodsalt.com/details/lwjas0340.html?r=ssnet
Why did God need to make peace with heaven? This verse right here may help us understand just how real the war in heaven was. Even after Lucifer was cast out, those who remained may have still had their doubts. Did God really love them, or did Lucifer have some good points about God just being a tyrant?
On earth Eve was convinced God did not care for her and she needed to eat the fruit and disobey, if she really wanted to be happy.
While all this was going on, is it possible some of the remaining angels in heaven still had some questions? Have you ever been loyal to a boss not because you thought he was fair, but because you did not see any way out? So out of fear you remained loyal to him, still wishing you weren’t in that situation? If so, what did it take for you to reconcile the situation so you could have peace at work and not just conformity?
When the Son of God died on the cross He was not just atoning for Eve taking a piece of fruit she was told not to. Eve’s disobedience was a symptom of her doubts. The Cross of Christ did not just take care of the symptoms of sin. The Cross took care of sin itself! The Cross removed all doubt about God’s love. All questions in heaven and earth are answered at the cross! There can be conformity while rebellion is still in the heart. The cross goes way beyond bringing us into conformity and outward obedience. The cross replaces our thoughts of rebellion with peaceful thoughts towards God.
That which alone can effectually restrain from sin in this world of darkness, will prevent sin in heaven. The significance of the death of Christ will be seen by saints and angels. Fallen men could not have a home in the paradise of God without the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Shall we not then exalt the cross of Christ? The angels ascribe honor and glory to Christ, for even they are not secure except by looking to the sufferings of the Son of God. It is through the efficacy of the cross that the angels of heaven are guarded from apostasy. Without the cross they would be no more secure against evil than were the angels before the fall of Satan. Angelic perfection failed in heaven. Human perfection failed in Eden, the paradise of bliss. All who wish for security in earth or heaven must look to the Lamb of God.-Ellen White, Signs of the Times, December 30, 1889
Some have the idea that once we get to heaven, God will flip a little switch in the back of our heads that makes us stop sinning. After all, we will be in heaven and so we automatically won’t sin, right?
Wait. Where did sin begin? Heaven!
The reason why humans and angels will not sin, is the same reason why God reconciled both heaven and earth to Himself. The cross of Jesus. The cross cures the root cause of sin which is doubting God’s love. The reason there will be no sin in heaven is not due to a mechanical correction that the flip of a switch will fix. The reason there will be no sin in heaven will be because the cross will cure humans and angels alike from ever doubting God’s love, and thinking we need anything God has not given us. There will be no reason to rebel.
Rules without relationship causes rebellion. The love of Christ on the cross removes our fear of God, so we are not afraid to have an intimate relationship with Him. With our relationship cured, we will have no reason to rebel. We won’t be conformists. We will be free-thinking moral agents who are at peace with God because God is love.
(1)The post Why Did Heaven Need to be Reconciled? first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Why Did Heaven Need to be Reconciled? appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/why-did-heaven-need-to-be-reconciled/
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