You can view an in-depth discussion of “Keys to Family Unity” in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. You may download an MP4 video file, and audio file or a PDF lesson outline from the HopeSS site.

With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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‘The Man’ Shares Sabbath

By Andrew McChesney

Not many people can say that they have spoken with an angel.

Farmer Notley Tidwell could–but he didn’t. Instead, he referred to the mysterious stranger as “the man”.

Image © Pacific Press

One evening in the 1880s, Notley prayed as he trudged home, his fiddle in hand, from a barn dance in the U.S. state of Texas. He was confused. He had been raised to worship on Sunday, but he had been studying the Bible and saw that the Fourth Commandment said, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8; KJV).

As he prayed, a man suddenly appeared beside him. Notley knew everyone in the area, and he had never seen this man before. But he wasn’t startled. The stranger was very pleasant.

“He just appeared and started talking to him”, said his granddaughter, Lorena Stigaullde, 94.

The conversation soon turned to the Sabbath, and Notley shared his growing conviction that God had set aside Saturday, not Sunday. He expressed bewilderment that he couldn’t find anyone who observed Saturday.

The stranger said he knew of a group of people who worshipped on Saturday, and he gave detailed directions to their meeting place. Notley glanced to the side as they spoke, and when he looked back, the man was gone.

“He was just there, and he turned, and he was gone”, said his great-granddaughter Reba Seifert, 68.

Returning home, Notley told his wife about the unusual meeting and, days later, decided to follow the man’s directions. They led to a farmhouse where a small group of Seventh-day Adventists met every Sabbath.

Notley was baptized into the Adventist Church with his wife and their eight children. He later became a local church leader and planted the first local Adventist church, located between the towns of Linden and Marietta, Texas.

Although the church is now closed, others have sprung up in the area, including a church in Linden where Lorena attends with other relatives.

Notley’s legacy also lives on. His faithfulness to God spawned several generations of mission-minded Seventh-day Adventists who have served as Bible workers, literature evangelists, and special needs leaders in Texas and beyond.

“He became the first Adventist in a large family”, said Reba, one of granddaughter Lorena’s four children.

Notley never identified the stranger as an angel, but the family believes that he was sent from heaven in answer to an earnest prayer.

“He just called him ‘the man’, but he believed that God sent him”, said Lorena, who heard her grandfather tell the story when she was a girl. “I believe he was an angel”.

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

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

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Further Thought: Ellen G. White, “A Sacred Circle”, pages 77-180, in The Adventist Home; Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, pages 236-238.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Unity—the first work. “The first work of Christians is to be united in the family. … “The more closely the members of a family are united in their work in the home, the more uplifting and helpful will be the influence that father and mother and sons and daughters will exert outside the home”. – Ellen G. White, The Adventist Home, p. 37.

The secret of family unity. “The cause of division and discord in families and in the church is separation from Christ. To come near to Christ is to come near to one another. The secret of true unity in the church and in the family is not diplomacy, not management, not a superhuman effort to overcome difficulties—though there will be much of this to do—but union with Christ”. – Page 179.

Discussion Questions:

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Ultimately, family cohesion and unity rest on the commitment of family members, beginning with the commitment of the marital partners, to care for one another. Sadly, Bible history is strewn with examples of failed promises, broken trust, and lack of commitment where it should have been present. Scripture also has stirring examples of ordinary people who, with God’s help, committed themselves to friends and families and kept their promises.

Look at the following families and their levels of commitment. How could commitment have been strengthened in some families? What encouraged the commitment shown in the others?

People in the hand of God

Parent-child commitment (Gen. 33:12-14, Exod. 2:1-10).

Sibling commitment (Gen. 37:17-28).

Family commitment (Ruth 1:16-18; Ruth 2:11-12, Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:9-13; Ruth 4:10, Ruth 4:13).

Marital commitment (Hos. 1:2-3, Hos. 1:6, Hos. 1:8; Hos. 3:1-3).

When we commit ourselves to another person, as in marriage or in the decision to bear or adopt a child, there must be a willing surrender of ourselves in order to make a different choice in the future, a surrender of control over an important segment of our lives. Laws may restrain negative behavior, but marriage and family relationships need love within them to enable them to flourish.

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Monday’s section of this week’s lesson reads,

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Try placing your name where the word “love” appears. How well does it fit? Ask Jesus to bring these qualities of love into your life by His Spirit. What changes might the Spirit prompt you to make in order to reach this Christian ideal?

I heard of this idea several years ago, and now whenever I am asked to perform a wedding ceremony, I always include 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. I read it twice, The first time I replace the word love with the groom’s name, and the second time I replace it with the bride’s name. It always brings smiles to the  bride and groom as well as the entire wedding party. Still I trust the Holy Spiriting is impressing the sacredness of love upon their hearts. 

For some reason, what seems to bring more smiles than anything else is the part in 1 Cor 13:5 where it says in several versions that love keeps no record of being wronged. Now remember, God is love. So we can just as easily replace the word love with the word “God” and get an accurate description of God. But doesn’t God keep a record of all of our wrongs? Let’s let Scripture answer that.

Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you. Psalm 130:3-4 NLT 

Remember resurrection morning when the angels told the women in Mark 16:7, to tell Peter  as well as the others that Jesus would meet them in Galilee? Peter had denied He even knew Jesus just a few nights before, but apparently Jesus didn’t have any record of that in His heart. For the sake of unity Paul pleads with us to have the same attitude with others. 

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13 NLT 

Make allowances for each other’s faults? But what about character development? What about Bible standards? First, forgiveness is a Bible standard and should be included in our own character development. Second, Jesus gave us an example of being conservative towards ourselves while being liberal towards others. In other words hold yourself to a higher standard while cutting everyone else some slack. Jesus was conservative towards Himself when he fasted 40 days in the wilderness, but we was liberal towards others when He fed the multitudes. Jesus was conservative towards Himself while He prayed all evening in Gethsemane, but He was liberal towards the disciples when they fell asleep while praying. Jesus could have been hard on them and still spoken truth had He told them, “Hey, I have come down here in the same flesh you have, so if I can pray without falling asleep so can you!” According to Romans 8:3 that statement would have been exactly true! 

He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. Romans 8:3 NLT 

But as true as such a statement would have been, instead of condemning them for not being like Him, He sought to excuse them by saying, “For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” See Matthew 26:41. 

Paul endorses this idea of being conservative towards ourselves while being liberal towards others. We’ve seen in Colossians 3:13 how he says to make allowances for each other’s faults, which is being liberal towards others. Then, in Romans Paul says, 

Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires. Romans 13:14 NLT 

Paul is teaching us to make allowances for the fault’s of others while not indulging in sin ourselves. Conservative towards ourselves, liberal towards others. This attitude of keeping no record of the wrongs of others, while reaching a higher standard for ourselves, is not just for grooms and brides. Its for children and parents, and brothers and sisters, and cousins and neighbors. We have all heard, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” What happy homes and churches we can have if we will all shred those records of other people’s mistakes, and be liberal towards others, while being conservative towards ourselves!

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