Closer To Heaven
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Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, John C. Peckham, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson.”
(0)View an in-depth discussion of To Be Pleasing to Goe in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
Click on the image below to view the video:
With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/3-to-be-pleasing-to-god-hope-sabbath-school-video-discussion/
Christ died because He loves us!
People talk about how hard life is because they got married and had children so early, or did not even get married at all and had children young. Or Life is hard because they did not get to finish school and get their degree. The list of reasons people say their life is hard goes on. Here’s the thing, though – even if you don’t marry young and even if you get your degree, life is hard.
And no, I am not saying it’s okay to have children without getting married first. What I am saying is that, no matter what route we take in life, life is hard. Some trials and tribulations we bring on ourselves, while other trials and tribulations have nothing to do with our choices. At the end of the day, either way, life is hard.
I am often amazed at the trials and tribulations some people survive. I have read about people who survived concentration camps in World War II. I have read about people who were lost at sea or in a jungle for days but still survived. I have read about people who endured and survived after an abusive relationship.
What I have found is the people who survived did so because they knew they were loved. This love gave them the purpose to survive. Many times we think we are in the pursuit of happiness when in reality we are in the pursuit of purpose. We can survive unhappiness as long as we know there is a purpose. It is love that gives us purpose.
Many say they survived the concentration camps because they knew someone else was depending on them for hope and meaning. People have found ways to survive being lost in the wilds of nature, knowing someone was longing for them and searching for them. People have survived abusive relationships so they could love and protect someone more vulnerable than themselves.
On the other hand, those who gave up, did not give up because life became too hard or difficult. After all, life is hard and difficult for us all, even for those who survive. Many have given up because they did not realize how loved they were.
The crux of the great controversy between Christ and Satan is love. God is love, and the biggest lie in the universe has nothing to do with which day is sacred or what happens when you die. Satan’s biggest and most dangerous lie is that you are not loved. Everything hinges on this one Truth and that is that you are loved.
Satan wants nothing more than to cast a huge cloud over you, so you can’t see God’s love shining on you or feel its warmth. If he can do that then it really doesn’t matter which day is sacred or what happens when you die. If Satan can make you feel unloved, then all other Bible facts are meaningless. Life has no purpose without love.
Think about it, God is love. Without love God has no purpose. If Satan can convince you that God does not love you then He has just assassinated God in your mind. By convincing you that God does not love you, Satan has just accomplished his purpose of removing God from the universe.
Friend, it is very important not just to you but to the whole fabric of the universe that you understand that huge cloud hanging over you making you feel unloved is nothing more than a big fat lie! Love is not only the foundation to your personal wellbeing it is the foundation of the universe.
As the Apostle Paul writes, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV
If there is no love then there is nothing to have faith in or hope for. If there is no love then there is no purpose for you or even for the entire universe. This is why babies born prematurely need to be held. Love gives purpose to survive without the baby even being consciously aware of the fact. This is why my fourth-grade teacher had to tell my class if we forgot everything else we learned that year, she wanted us to remember she loved us. She knew that love was the motivation for learning. Without love knowledge has no purpose.
In 1977 Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in a world series game for the New York Yankees. Later he said he never felt loved in New York till he hit those three home runs. I think its rather sad he felt like you have to hit three home runs in a world series game in order to feel loved.If that is so, then a lot of us are unloved! I also find it interesting that after several championship rings and millions of dollars, he was still talking about whether people loved him or not. This just reminds me there is no purpose in the universe without love.
Well I have good news for Reggie Jackson, my fourth grade class, every baby born prematurely and for ever person in the world. You are loved!
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39 NKJV
When trials and tribulations cast a dark cloud over you, making you feel isolated and unloved, remember that dark cloud is nothing more than a big fat lie! You are loved. You are beyond loved. God sacrificed all He had for you. There is nothing God spared in this entire universe to make you know you are loved.
Not only does this love give you purpose it gives God His true identity back. Without love not only is your life all out of whack, the entire universe is out of whack. Do you see why God’s love is so crucial to the great controversy between Christ and Satan? God is love, and God exists to shower His love on His creation. By making you feel unloved not only is Satan robbing you of purpose, He is robbing God of His purpose! I want to make this clear.
By making you feel unloved Satan is not assassinating you, He is assassinating God’s character and purpose for existing.
Thankfully love conquers all. Because of love we have the purpose to survive anything Satan throws our way. Because of love babies born prematurely not only can survive, but grow up to do such amazing things you would never guess they were once premature babies. Because of love my 4th-grade class not only survived 4th grade but are barreling into 2025 with all kinds of accomplishments and contributions that make those huge speed bumps in 4th grade look like little pebbles in the road, too small to even notice or remember. I don’t even remember what we were struggling with that day our teacher had to lecture us. I can still see the look on her face and remember there was a serious issue at the time, but for the life of me, all I can remember now is that we were loved. Whatever it was, we survived, because here it is 2025 and we are not in 4th grade any more. It’s amazing what you can survive and go on to accomplish when you know you are loved.
Remember the biggest fattest lie in the great controversy is that you are not loved. It doesn’t matter if you know what day is sacred or any other doctrine. With that one lie – that you are not loved – the entire fabric of the universe is thrown off kilter. There is no greater truth that needs to be preached right now than the truth that God is love. Without this one truth no other truths have purpose.
Don’t let your fear of rejection keep you from showing love. Don’t let the fear of your love being unreturned keep you from showing love. Don’t let the fear of your love being unappreciated keep you from sharing love. Keep sharing love until God has won the great controversy.
For the love of Christ compels us…. 2 Corinthians 5:14 NKJV
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/because-of-love-the-universe-has-a-purpose-and-you-have-a-purpose/
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 15th of January 2025
How is it that we, as fallen, sinful beings, can be pleasing to a holy God?
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
God bestows grace on people prior to any human response. Before anything we say or do, God reaches out to us and gives us the opportunity to accept or reject His love. As Romans 5:8 puts it, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NKJV; compare with Jeremiah 31:3). And we can be reconciled to God and even pleasing in His sight, by faith through the work of our Redeemer.
Without God’s intervention, fallen people are incapable of bringing anything valuable to God. Yet God, in His grace and mercy, has made a way, through the work of Christ. Specifically, “through Jesus Christ” we may “offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God” (1 Peter 2:5, NKJV). Although “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV), by the mediating work of Christ, God will “make” believers “complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:21, NKJV). Those who respond to God by faith are accounted righteous in His sight through the mediation of Christ, whose righteousness alone is acceptable. And those who respond to God’s loving overtures are accounted worthy through Christ’s mediation (Luke 20:35), and He transforms them into His likeness (1 Corinthians 15:51-57, 1 John 3:2). God’s redeeming work is not only for us but in us, as well.
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Why is the idea of Christ mediating for you in heaven so encouraging? |
(0)Daily Lesson for Tuesday 14th of January 2025
How could it be that the God of the universe takes delight in mere humans, fleeting blobs of protoplasm on one tiny planet amid what is probably an infinite universe? How could it be possible that humans could matter so much to the Supreme Being, who is all-powerful and who needs nothing? These questions can be parsed into two aspects. First, how could God Himself be delighted? Second, how could humans bring Him delight, particularly given our sinfulness? The first aspect of these questions is the topic for today and the second for tomorrow.
Image © Review and Herald Publishing Assn. Goodsalt.com
As we partially saw yesterday, God can be pleased by humans because God loves people in a way that takes account of their best interests, as would anyone who loved and cared for others.
Conversely, God is displeased by His people when they do evil. Indeed, Proverbs 15:8-9 teaches that, while the “sacrifice” and the “way” of the wicked are each an “abomination to the Lord,” the “prayer of the upright is His delight” and “He loves [the one] who follows righteousness” (NKJV). This passage shows not only that is God displeased by evil but also that He delights in goodness. It also puts divine delight and love in direct relationship with one another, showing the deep connection between God’s love and His delight, which appears throughout Scripture.
According to Psalms 146:8, “The Lord loves the righteous” (NKJV). 2 Corinthians 9:7 adds, “God loves a cheerful giver” (NKJV). Notice, first, what these texts do not say. They do not say that God loves only the righteous or that God loves only the cheerful giver. God loves everyone. Yet, for these texts to convey anything at all, they must mean that God loves the “righteous” and the “cheerful giver” in some special sense. What we have seen in Proverbs 15:8-9 provides the clue: God loves these and others in the sense of being pleased with them.
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Think about how closely tied heaven and earth must be that God, the Creator of the universe, can be so intimately involved, even emotionally, with us. What hope should this amazing idea give you, especially if you are going through a hard time? |
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