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=I5rmVPHkdkI&w=560&h=315]
(0)The post Mission Spotlight for July 3 first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
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Everything seemed strange to 6-year-old Danay when he arrived in the United States with his father, mother, and six older siblings. Cars filled the streets of their new hometown. Danay hadn’t seen many cars in the refugee camp in Thailand where his family had lived after fleeing violence in their native Myanmar.
Image © Pacific Press
Before the family had lived in a bamboo home without air conditioning and running water, and Danay had bathed in a river. Now everything was in the house. Danay thanked God for the new home.
Danay arrived at public school wearing flipflops, and the teacher immediately sent him home. The staff member who drove him home told his mother how to find the shoe store. But neither of his parents could drive or speak English, so a relative took him to the store to buy his first pair of shoes.
Danay returned to school the next day, but it was a difficult year. Some children treated refugees unkindly, and one of his brothers got into fights.
Then a Seventh-day Adventist befriended the family and helped Danay transfer to a church school for second grade. Scholarship fund from a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped cover his tuition. Danay was happy to be in the church school with kind and friendly classmates. He had heard about God from his Christian parents at home, but now he was reading the Bible for himself at school. He wanted to learn more and, as he grew older, he joined various Bible study groups.
His faith came to the test when he was 12. One day, his father collapsed outside the house after working in the garden. No one knew how to call the ambulance, so family members lifted him into a car and rushed him to the hospital. Danay was devastated. That night he tossed and turned. He prayed like never before. “God, please help my Dad to recover,” he said. “If he does recover, I will get baptized and devote myself to you.”
Three days later, he saw his father in the hospital. The once-strong man looked pale and frail. The physician said he had suffered a stroke. Danay continued to pray. Weeks passed, and his father slowly improved. When he came home, Danay made good on his promise to God. He was baptized.
His father died of cancer five years later, but Danay, 17, is glad that he gave his heart to Jesus. “After getting baptized, I began to read the Bible more, pray more, and talk to God more,” he said. “ The more I did these things, the happier I felt. God is always watching, and He is always going to be there for me. I always feel thankful.”
A 2011 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped refugee children like Danay receive study in Adventist schools in the North American Division. Part of this quarter’s offering will again help refugee children obtain an Adventist education in North America. Thank you for planning a generous offering.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
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“In the estimation of the rabbis it was the sum of religion to be always in a bustle of activity. They depended upon some outward performance to show their superior piety. Thus they separated their souls from God, and built themselves up in self-sufficiency.
Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
The same dangers still exist. As activity increases and men become successful in doing any work for God, there is danger of trusting to human plans and methods. There is a tendency to pray less, and to have less faith. Like the disciples, we are in danger of losing sight of our dependence on God, and seeking to make a savior of our activity. We need to look constantly to Jesus, realizing that it is His power which does the work. While we are to labor earnestly for the salvation of the lost, we must also take time for meditation, for prayer, and for the study of the word of God. Only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 362.
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(1)The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Rest in Christ first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
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The biblical text does not explicitly state why God respected Abel and his offering but did not “respect” Cain and his offering ( Genesis 4.4-5). But we know why. “Cain came before God with murmuring and infidelity in his heart in regard to the promised sacrifice and the necessity of the sacrificial offerings. His gift expressed no penitence for sin.
Image © John Baker at Goodsalt.com
He felt, as many now feel, that it would be an acknowledgment of weakness to follow the exact plan marked out by God, of trusting his salvation wholly to the atonement of the promised Saviour. He chose the course of self-dependence. He would come in his own merits.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 72.
When God said that Cain would be “a restless wanderer” on the earth, it wasn’t that God made him that way; rather, that is what happened as the result of his sinful actions and disobedience. Not finding rest in God, Cain discovered that he couldn’t find it any other way, at least not true rest.
The Hebrew word translated as “respected” (Genesis 4:4) could also be rendered “looked closely, considered carefully.” The focus of God’s careful and close-up look is not so much the offering but more the attitude of the offeror. God’s rejection of Cain’s fruit offering is not an arbitrary reaction of a capricious God. Rather, it describes the process of carefully considering and weighing the character, attitudes, and motivations of the one bringing the offering. It is a good example of an investigative judgment.
When we try to run away from God’s presence, we become restless. We try to fill the yearning for divine grace with things, human relationships, or overly busy lives. Cain started to build a dynasty and a city. Both are great achievements and speak of determination and energy, but if it’s a godless dynasty and a rebellious city, it will ultimately amount to nothing.
| Even if we end up suffering the consequences of our sins as we usually do, how can we learn to accept the forgiveness for them offered us through the cross? |
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As health-conscious Adventists we put a lot of emphasis on what we eat, while rest also plays a vital role in our physical and spiritual well-being. In 1 Kings 19 Elijah is stressed out, feeling like he is all alone in his spiritual battles. Finally he runs away and then prays an unreasonable prayer, asking God to just let him die. (Interestingly, Elijah, the one man who asks to die never gets to die!) God does not chastise Elijah for his foolish prayer. God realizes the reason Elijah is so unreasonable is because he is simply tired. Elijah just needed rest.
Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. 1 Kings 19:5 NLT
When I became a literature evangelist years ago, we had a meeting with an elderly retired literature evangelist. He shared his wisdom with us, telling us that the cure for a discouraging hard day may simply be a good night’s rest. He claimed a good night’s rest can solve a lot of problems. A while later I had a terrible day at work. It seemed everything was going wrong, and no one was helping me. I came home ready to quit. Early in the evening I was preparing my resignation in my head. Then a thought came to me. Just go to bed. But it’s too early for bed I thought. Again the thought came, just go to bed. Don’t plan anything. Don’t make any decisions. Just go to bed! I decided to listen to myself and though it was mid-evening, well before bedtime, I went ahead and went to bed and got some sleep. The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed and could not even remember why I was so upset the day before.
I am a big believer in getting the appropriate amount of rest for both our physical and spiritual well-being. After all, John realized how closely our spiritual and physical health are both intertwined.
Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. 3 John 1:2 NLT
Most of us live in a society that almost makes being “too busy” a status symbol. We feel pressured to do more and more. Is all that more and more really necessary? Great grandmother did all her laundry on a scrub board and still sat on the front porch and drank lemonade. Today we have washing machines and dryers and all sorts of electronics making work so much easier. So how many of us sit on the front porch and drink lemonade now? Almost none of us. We are busy creating more work. We need to take time to rest like Mary did at the feet of Jesus.
Does God require us to be workaholics?
This is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 NLT
Let’s heed the words Jesus told Martha when Martha complained about Mary resting at the feet of Jesus instead of doing more work.
But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 NLT
While Jesus never condoned idleness, He never condoned being a workaholic either. He tells all His disciples
“Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” Mark 6:31 NLT
(0)The post Rest for our Physical and Spiritual Well-Being first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
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