Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Hebrews 12:18–29; Exodus 32:32; Daniel 7:9-10, , Daniel 7:13-22; Haggai 2:6–9, Haggai 2:20-22; Psalm 15:5; Psalm 16:8; Hebrews 13:15-16.

Memory Text: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28, NKJV).

Hebrews 12:18-29, the passage for this week, is the climax of the letter, and it sums up its main concern by repeating the idea with which it started: God has spoken to us in the person of His Son, and we need to pay careful attention (Hebrews 1:1-2; Hebrews 12:25) to Him. The description of Jesus in Hebrews 12:22-24 epitomizes the letter’s assertions about Him: Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant, and His blood provides salvation for believers. His priestly and royal ministry in our behalf is a cause for celebration for the heavenly hosts. And finally, Hebrews 12:25-29 contains the last and climactic exhortation: God’s judgment is coming. It will bring destruction to His enemies, but vindication and a kingdom to His people (Hebrews 12:28-29).

The ending reaffirms the importance of Jesus’ achievements at the cross and directs believers to the consummation of Jesus’ victory at the Second Coming. Paul used imagery from Daniel chapter 7 to remind the readers that Jesus has received a kingdom from God, the Judge (Daniel 7:9-14), and is going to share His kingdom with believers, “the saints of the Most High,” who will possess it forever and ever (Daniel 7:18).

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 19.

Sunday–>

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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=e4CgPOFejC4&w=560&h=315]

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-march-12/

Worshiping Like Jesus

By Andrew McChesney

Three years ago, the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped establish a community center to reach people in Cambodia. But the community center, an “urban center of influence,” reached its first person before it even opened.

Image © Pacific Press

Koy Sopaon heard that construction work had started on the Essential Life Center and that the wages were fair, so he asked project manager Gary Rogers for a job. Gary, a U.S. missionary who works for Adventist Mission, had no immediate openings at the site in Battambang, Cambodia’s second-largest city, but he took Sopaon’s phone number.

Sopaon returned a few months later and Gary, learning he had welding and bricklaying experience, told him he could start work the next day.

“Why wait until tomorrow?” Sopaon said. “I can start now.”

Sopaon, a leader in his own Christian church, was surprised to learn that Gary began each workday with a 30-minute worship. He had never held a job with worship, and he liked it.

As the group studied, he realized that things he was learning from the Bible were different from what his church taught. One morning, the worship focused on the seventh-day Sabbath. Sopaon read in Luke chapter 23 about Jesus dying on the preparation day, the sixth day of the week, and being buried before the sun set for Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. He saw that the disciples stopped their work for the Sabbath and that Jesus rested in the tomb. It wasn’t until the first day that they brought spices to anoint His body. Surprised, Sopaon told himself, “Then the seventh day truly is the Sabbath!”

Seeing Sopaon’s belief, Gary asked, “Do you want to be like Jesus?”

Sopaon didn’t hesitate. “Yes, I do,” he said.

“If that is your desire, join us as we open the Sabbath together next Friday evening,” Gary said, inviting him to an Adventist gathering.

Sopaon came on Friday and returned the next day for Sabbath worship. He was amazed at how people greeted one another, saying, “Happy Sabbath! Happy Sabbath!” It made him feel that God could make him holy.

As Sopaon learned more about God, he began to return tithe. On Sabbath afternoons, he joined church members in helping the needy. He was baptized 18 months after starting to work on the construction site for the Essential Life Center.

Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering that helped open the Essential Life Center, an “urban center of influence” in Battambang, Cambodia.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

“By faith you became Christ’s, and by faith you are to grow up in Him — by giving and taking. You are to give all, — your heart, your will, your service, — give yourself to Him to obey all His requirements; and you must take all, — Christ, the fullness of all blessing, to abide in your heart, to be your strength, your righteousness, your everlasting helper, — to give you power to obey.” — Ellen G.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

White, Steps to Christ, p. 70.

“God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are all established by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. Yet God has never removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity; while those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith.

It is impossible for finite minds fully to comprehend the character or the works of the Infinite One. To the keenest intellect, the most highly educated mind, that holy Being must ever remain clothed in mystery. ‘Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?’ Job 11:7-8.” — Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 105.

Discussion Questions:

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Read Hebrews 12:1-3. What do these verses ask us to do?

The climax of the exposition on faith really arrives with Jesus in Hebrews chapter 12. Paul started the letter with Jesus, who is the “coming one” and who “will not delay” (Hebrews 10:37, ESV), and Paul concludes it with Jesus the “perfecter” of our faith (Hebrews 12:2, ESV). Jesus is the “author and perfecter of faith” (NASB). This means that Jesus is the One who makes faith possible and is the example who perfectly embodies what a life of faith is all about. With Jesus, faith has reached its perfect expression.

Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com

Jesus is the “founder” (or “author,” or “pioneer”) of our faith in at least three senses.

First, He is the only one who has finished the race in its fullest sense. The others talked about in the previous chapter have not yet reached their goal (Hebrews 11:39-40). Jesus, however, has entered God’s rest in heaven and is seated at the Father’s right hand. We, together with these others, will reign with Jesus in heaven (Revelation 20:4).

Secondly, it was actually Jesus’ perfect life that has made it possible for these others to run their race (Hebrews 10:5-14). If Jesus had not come, the race of everyone else would have been futile.

Finally, Jesus is the reason we have faith. As one with God, He expressed the faithfulness of God toward us. God never gave up in His efforts to save us, and that is why we will reach the reward in the end if we don’t give up. Jesus ran with patience and remained faithful, even when we were faithless (2 Timothy 2:13). Our faith is only a response to His faithfulness.

In the end, Jesus is the “perfecter” of faith because He perfectly exemplifies how the race of faith is run. How did He run? He laid aside every weight by giving up everything for us (Philippians 2:5-8). He never sinned, ever. Jesus held His sight firmly on the reward, which was the joy set before Him, that of seeing the human race redeemed by His grace. So, He endured misunderstanding and abuse; He stared down the shame of the cross (Hebrews 12:2-3).

Now it is our turn to run. Though we can never achieve what Jesus did in our own strength, we have His perfect example before us, and so by faith in Him, and keeping our eyes on Him (as have the others before us), we press on ahead in faith, trusting in His promises of a great reward.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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