Welcome to the fourth quarter’s studies for 2021.

Flipping through the new quarterly, there are a number of titles that have the word ‘love’ in them – Love, to Be Loved; To Love God; He First Loved Us; To Love the Lord Your God; to name just a few. Hence, I believe a wonderful hymn to devote to as a theme will be
Hymn 349 – God Is Love. Our first Memory Text says “for God is Love”, 1 John 4:8. As the book of Deuteronomy is the book of the covenant, it would also be good to add
Hymn 347 – Built On the Rock as verse four tells us of God ‘Making with us His covenant”.

Abraham’s (Abram’s) story on Tuesday will give us
Hymn 11 – The God of Abraham Praise and
Hymn 264 – O for That Flame of Living Fire in verse 2.

God gave to the nation of Israel the choices He gives to each of us today – to follow Him. This story unfolds in
Hymn 606 – Once to Every Man and Nation. Continuing on in Wednesday’s study we find God’s grace abounds to His nation:
Hymn 108 – Amazing Grace,
Hymn 109 – Marvelous Grace and
Hymn 607 – God of Grace and God of Glory.

The question of “What if?” comes along on Thursday, as Israel repeatedly says “All that the LORD has spoke we will do” Exodus 19:8, but as with all humans, we fail in our promises to God. What if we were to follow through and trust God’s leading?
Hymn 279 – Only Trust Him,
Hymn 510 – If You Trust in God to Guide You,
Hymn 590 – Trust and Obey, and then through Jesus:
Hymn 524 – ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus and
Hymn 535 – I Am Trusting Thee, Lord Jesus.

Oh, how wonderful it will be to step forward and go into the Land that God has promised us:
Hymn 382 – O Day of Rest and Gladness. Meantime, we wait to reach the promised land in
Hymn 532 – Day By Day in verse 3 and
Hymn 520 – On Jordan’s Stormy Banks.

We are bound for The Promised Land! Hallelujah!! Come, Lord Jesus come – very soon.

Blessings for a wonderful week ahead.

To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/

Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing, but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Amen!(0)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/-hW_AYVjuUc/

1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” However simple those three words (four in Greek), the idea behind them is so deep, so profound, that we can barely grasp their implications. They don’t say that God loves, or that God reveals love, or that God is a manifestation of love but that God is love. Is love — as if love is the essence of God’s identity Himself. As fallen human beings, with only a few pounds of tissue and chemicals in our heads with which to grasp reality, we just aren’t able to fully comprehend what “God is love” fully means.

Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com

But we can, certainly, understand enough to know that it’s very good news. If, instead of “God is love,” it said “God is hate” or “God is vindictive” or “God is indifferent,” this revelation about Him could have been something to worry about.

And the truth that “God is love” helps us better understand the idea that God’s government, how He rules all the creation, is reflective of that love. Love permeates the cosmos, perhaps even more than gravity does. God loves us; and we, too, are to love God back, in return (see Deuteronomy 6:5, Mark 12:30).

Love, though, to be love, must be freely given. God cannot force love; the moment He does it’s no longer love. Hence, when God created intelligent and rational beings in heaven and on earth with the ability to love, the risk always existed that they might not love Him back. Some didn’t — and, hence, the origins of what we know as the great controversy.

Why do the following texts make sense only in the context of the freedom, and the risk, involved with love? (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-17, Revelation 12:7).

Especially insightful is Ezekiel 28:15, which shows that though this angel, Lucifer, was a perfect being created by a perfect God, iniquity was found in him. It was not because He had been created with that iniquity to begin with. Instead, created with the ability to love, Lucifer had true moral freedom, and despite all that he had been given (“Every precious stone was your covering”), this angel wanted more. One thing led to another until, well, there was “war in heaven.”

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Amen!(0)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/JC0ZURAuHSU/

Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-17, Genesis 3:1-7, Genesis 12:1-3, Acts 7:20-36, Exodus 19:4-8.

Memory Text: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8).

The book of Deuteronomy, of course, did not arise in a vacuum. As with everything in life, Deuteronomy exists in a context; and, as with everything in life, that context plays an important role in understanding what the book means and what its purpose is.

A lot of history came before it — a history that explained the circumstances, not only of the book itself but of the world and environment that created its context. Just as it would be hard to understand the purpose and function of a windshield wiper outside the context of a car, it would be hard to understand Deuteronomy, especially in light of our theme (Deuteronomy and present truth), outside the context in which it arose.

Someone had read Russian Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace — about 1,500 pages in just three days. When asked what the book was about, the reader replied: “It’s about Russia.”

To cover in one week’s lesson the thousands of years of history before we come to Deuteronomy is to do somewhat the same thing. But by focusing on the highlights, we can see the context needed to best understand this book, so rich with “present truth.”

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 2.

Sunday–>

Amen!(0)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/zQmwPCCMN9Y/

The Book of the Covenant: Deuteronomy

The story goes like this: during the reign of King Josiah in Jerusalem (640-609 B.C.), someone, probably working in the temple, found a copy of a book, and the book was read before King Josiah. “Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes” (2 Kings 22:11). Why? Because he realized that he and his people were not obeying what was written in the book.

Image © Pacific Press

Then, on the basis of that book, called the “Book of the Covenant” (2 Kings 23:2), Josiah began a great reformation. We can read about that reformation in 2 Kings 23.

What was the book that had such an impact on the king and his nation? It is believed to be Deuteronomy, our study for this quarter.

The fifth, and last, of the Five Books of Moses, Deuteronomy — a name that comes from the Latin word deuteronomium (which means “second law”) — could be summarized as follows:

Having left Egypt, and having entered into the covenant at Sinai with the Lord, the children of Israel — instead of going directly to Canaan — wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. When the 40 years were finished and the Hebrews were finally about to cross over to the Promised Land, Moses spoke to them in a series of speeches. The essence of those speeches was: you’re now about to enter the Promised Land. Finally! Don’t forget what the Lord has done for you, and don’t forget what He asks of you now, which is to love Him with all your heart and soul and to reveal that love by obedience to all His commandments, all according to the covenant.

And, to stress the importance of the covenant, Moses repeated to the people the Ten Commandments, the legal foundation of their obligations in the covenant that the Lord had first cut with their fathers, and was doing so, again, but now with them — right on the borders of Canaan.

Hence, we ask: Might there be parallels with what the children of Israel, on the borders of the Promised Land, faced — and what we, today, right on the border of the Promised Land (only a much better one), face, as well?

Thus, the topic for this quarter, which is called “Present Truth in the Book of Deuteronomy.” And that’s what we’re going to look at: present truth messages that we can take from God’s words to His covenant people.

In this quarter, we will look at Deuteronomy topically, covering themes such as the everlasting covenant, law and grace, what it means to love God and your neighbor, and — most important of all — how the book of Deuteronomy reveals to us the love of God, which was most powerfully made manifest in the death of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection.

Sure, a vast time and cultural divide separates our church today from the church in the wilderness. But perhaps, what we have in common with them might be more than what divides us from them. For example, could not the following words be spoken to us as well, today?

“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” ( Deuteronomy 4.5-6, NKJV).

Notice, it wasn’t the laws themselves that were their “wisdom and understanding” before the nations but their obedience to those laws. Certainly there’s a message for us here. Just one of many, as we will see, in the book of Deuteronomy.

Clifford R. Goldstein is editor of the Adult Bible Study Guide and author of Baptizing the Devil: Evolution and the Seduction of Christianity.

Amen!(0)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/iSosTSBemLM/

Tough First Day of School

By Andrew McChesney

The first day of school was hard for Niang Muang. Really, really hard.

Image © Pacific Press

The 9-year-old girl had arrived in the United States only a month earlier from Myanmar. Her parents were refugees. She didn’t know English, and she didn’t have any friends.

“Hello, what’s your name?” a girl asked her.

Niang shook her head.

“No,” she said.

“Oh,” said the girl, confused. “Where are you from?”

Niang shook her head again.

“No,” she said.

Niang was not trying to be rude. She just didn’t understand.

Because she didn’t know English, she sat quietly all morning in class. At lunchtime, she followed the other children to the cafeteria and looked at the food being served. Nacho cheese and shredded beef. Mini-pizzas. Chicken nuggets. The food was very strange to her. She was used to eating mustard leaves, potatoes leaves, watercress, brown beans, and red lentils.

After tasting the food, she returned to the classroom and sat quietly until school ended for the day. At home, she prayed for help. “Dear God, please help me survive another day of school,” she said.

Fourth grade was tough, but fifth grade was better. She began to speak English and to make friends.

“What’s your name?” a girl asked.

“My name is Niang,” she replied with a shy smile.

“Oh, where are you from?” the girl said.

“I am from Burma, which is also called Myanmar,” Niang said.

The girl nodded her head. She had heard of the country. Several other refugee children from Myanmar also studied at their school.

“Oh OK,” she said. “Do you want to play?”

Niang felt happy. She was beginning to fit in. She felt even happier in seventh grade. She was able to transfer from the public school to a Seventh-day Adventist school thanks to money from a 2011 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering to help refugees in the North American Division.

She thanked God in her daily prayers. “Dear God, thank You so much for helping me learn this new language and for taking care of me,” she prayed.

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help more children refugees like Niang study at Adventist schools. Niang is now 21 and studying to become a mission doctor.

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

Amen!(0)

The post Inside Story: Tough First Day at School first appeared on Sabbath School Net.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/rxoxAJiyqy8/