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=sR2FJpyjD0U]
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Many of you will remember the Sabbath School Net “Discussion Starters” produced by Joyce Griffith. I was saddened to learn that Joyce passed away yesterday. Joyce had worked for various church departments, including the Voice of Prophecy. She had also been a missionary to Africa for about 5 years.
I never met Joyce in person. We become good friends through our work on Sabbath School Net. During her retirement, she wrote her Discussion Starters each week and I was given the task of checking and publishing them. She was a good editor and I don’t think I ever had to correct anything she had written. As time went on, she could no longer manage the internet editing facilities but would email her notes to me. I have just checked and found that over the last 4 years we exchanged over 1200 emails. Mostly they were her Discussion Starters, but always they included chats and little interludes about her personal life.
Sadly in 2020, I recognised that Joyce’s health was failing and she was becoming confused. She had an accident and broke her hip and could no longer use her computer. Her brother Dave used to ferry messages between us for a while, but she eventually had to be put into a care facility.
Joyce had a very perceptive mind and never took the status quo for granted. We often exchanged notes about the SSNET discussion and ways to challenge our readers’ thinking.
Joyce had a strong faith and I am sure that we will meet again in heaven and be able to continue our discussions face to face.
Thank you Joyce for your friendship and contribution to SSNET over the years. I miss you not only as a contributor but as a friend.
Joyce wrote a small book about her experiences in the mission school in Africa. It is available from Amazon:
Memories from Rusangu Secondary School Zambia
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Imagine being 7 years old and fleeing for your life in a jungle. This was Jimmy Shwe’s life in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar.
Young Jimmy developed a deep resentment toward the authorities because of his experiences. At one point, lost in the jungle, he thought he would die. He decided that if he survived, he would take up arms to get revenge.
Image © Pacific Press
After two years of separation, Jimmy found his father in a refugee camp in Thailand. But his father did not agree with Jimmy’s plan, saying it would not help to fight. Instead, he urged Jimmy to become a pastor.
It was not easy for Jimmy to give up his anger and deep resentment. But he saw his father’s peace and joy as they attended a Seventh-day Adventist church in the refugee camp. He read about the conflict between Christ and Satan in the Bible. He realized his father was right and decided to forgive.
Jimmy became a pastor and later resettled in the United States. He soon discovered that many Adventist refugee families whom he had known in refugee camps in Thailand were now scattered across North America. They were trying to find churches but did not know enough English to understand the messages or participate in the services. Many were discouraged. Jimmy longed to visit and encourage them in their faith. He wanted to help them to organize small groups so they could worship in their own language.
With much prayer, Jimmy planted three churches. But working full time to support his family, he did not have time or funds to travel to help any more of the 2,000 Karen Adventist refugees scattered across the continent.
“But God knew my heart and my needs,” said Jimmy, now a pastor in the Carolina Conference and a Karen church-planting consultant for the North American Division’s Adventist Refugee and Immigrant Ministries. “God had been leading all the time, and He already had a plan.”
A Thirteenth Sabbath Offering that was collected in 2011 provided funds to reach out to refugees in North America. The funds allowed Jimmy to visit refugee families scattered throughout the United States and Canada, helping them to organize congregations in their own language and to serve their communities. Through his work, 55 Karen churches have been planted across the continent over the past decade.
All this was possible because church members gave and Jimmy and others like him allowed God to replace their resentment with love.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
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“In the charge given him, Jonah had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility; yet He who had bidden him go was able to sustain His servant and grant him success. Had the prophet obeyed unquestioningly, he would have been spared many bitter experiences, and would have been blessed abundantly.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Yet in the hour of Jonah’s despair the Lord did not desert him. Through a series of trials and strange providences, the prophet’s confidence in God and in His infinite power to save was to be revived.” — Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 266.
“Thousands can be reached in the most simple and humble way. The most intellectual, those who are looked upon as the world’s most gifted men and women, are often refreshed by the simple words of one who loves God, and who can speak of that love as naturally as the worldling speaks of the things that interest him most deeply.” — Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 232.
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(0)The post Friday: Further Thought ~ The Restless Prophet first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
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This video is produced by the South Pacific Division Discipleship team.
Week 12_ The Restless Prophet_ study this lesson for Sept 18 from SPD Discipleship on Vimeo.
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