Daily Lesson for Wednesday 1st of January 2025

God not only loves people of His own free will, but He also invites them to love Him in return. That God grants them the ability to freely choose whether they will accept or reject His love is apparent in (among other places) Christ’s parable of the wedding banquet.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

In Christ’s parable of the wedding banquet, a king arranges a marriage for his son and sends out his servants to “ ‘call those who were invited to the wedding,’ ” but “ ‘they were not willing to come’ ” (Matthew 22:2-3, NKJV). More than once the king sent out his servants to call them, but they ignored his call and, even worse, seized his servants and killed them (Matthew 22:4-6).

Later, after dealing with those who had murdered some of his servants, the king told his servants, “ ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding’ ” (Matthew 22:8-9, NKJV). After another episode of a man without a wedding garment being cast out, signifying the need to receive a wedding garment from the king to attend the wedding banquet, Jesus closes the parable with the cryptic but highly meaningful phrase, “ ‘Many are called, but few are chosen’ ” (Matthew 22:14, NKJV).

What does this mean? Those who are finally “chosen,” the “elect,” are those who have accepted the Lord’s invitation to the wedding. The term translated “call” and “invite” throughout the parable is the Greek term kaleo (to call, invite), and what determines who is finally “elect” (eklektos) is whether one has freely accepted the invitation.

In fact, God calls (that is, invites) everyone to the wedding feast. However, any one of us can refuse God’s love. Freedom is essential to love. God will never force His love on anyone. Sad to say, we can reject having a love relationship with God.

The “elect” are those who accept the invitation. For those who love God, God has prepared things more wonderful than anything that we could possibly imagine. Once again, it all comes down to the question of love and the freedom inherent in love.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-01-many-are-called-but-few-are-chosen/

The studies in this quarters pamphlet encourage us to see God’s Love and Justice, just as we may sing in 
Hymn 79 – O Love of God, How Strong and True! which is a beautiful theme hymn for our studies.

Sabbath afternoon talks of Peter saying three times that he loves Jesus, hence three wonderful hymns how we can sing we love our Lord Jesus:
Hymn 236 – I Love Thee,
Hymn 321 – My Jesus, I Love Thee and
Hymn 248 – O, How I Love Jesus.

With the 
Marvelous Grace – Hymn 109 of our loving Lord, we see he freely loves us as sinners. Our hymnal has a wonderful section in it named “Love Of God”. Here we find eight hymns about the glorious love of our God:
Hymn 74 – Like A River Glorious,
Hymn 75 – The Wonder Of It All,
Hymn 76 – O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go,
Hymn 77 – O Love of God Most Full,
Hymn 78 – For God So Loved Us,
Hymn 79 – O Love of God, How Strong and True!,
Hymn 80 – O World Of God and
Hymn 81 – Though I Speak With Tongues.

On learning of Israel and it’s many troubles with God still loving them, we can ask ourselves if we can sing 
Hymn 533 – O For A Faith that will not shrink, all because 
God’s Free Mercy Streameth – Hymn 110 (Monday). Tuesday states the same, and ends with 
Amazing Grace – Hymn 108.

These hymns keep popping up all through this week’s lesson study.
Please continue to search the scriptures this week to be blessed, and to bless many others.
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/Search 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.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/1-god-loves-freely-singing-with-inspiration/

Daily Lesson for Tuesday 31st of December 2024

God not only continued to bestow His love freely on Israel, despite repeated rebellions, but God also continues to bestow love freely upon us, even while we are sinners. We do not deserve God’s love, and we could never earn it. Conversely, God does not need us. The God of the Bible does not need anything (Acts 17:25). God’s love for you and for me and for all persons is entirely of His own volition.

Image © Phil McKay at Goodsalt.com

God freely created this world. And, because of this, God is worthy of all glory, honor, and power. God did not need to create any world. Before the foundation of the world, God already enjoyed the love relationship that existed within the Godhead.

God did not need creatures as an object of His love. But, in accordance with His character of love, God chose to create the world and enter into a love relationship with creatures.

Not only did God freely create this world as a bestowal of His generous love, but God also continues freely to love humans, even after humans fell into sin in Eden, and even after we personally sin.

After the Fall in Eden, Adam and Eve had no right to continue to live and receive God’s love. But God, who upholds “all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3, NKJV), in His great love, mercy, and grace sustained their lives and has made a way to reconcile humanity back to Himself in love. And that reconciliation includes us, as well.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-01-love-freely-given/

Daily Lesson for Monday 30th of December 2024

God’s striking instance of His love for fallen humanity is found in the story of Hosea. God commanded the prophet Hosea, “ ‘Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord’ ” (Hosea 1:2, NKJV). Hosea and his unfaithful wife were to be a living object lesson of God’s love for His people, even despite Israel’s unfaithfulness and spiritual harlotry. That is, it is a story of God’s freely bestowed love on those who do not deserve it.

Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com

Indeed, despite God’s faithfulness and love, the people rebelled against Him, again and again, too. Accordingly, Scripture repeatedly describes God as the unrequited lover of an unfaithful spouse. He had loved His people perfectly and faithfully, but they had scorned Him and served and worshiped other gods, deeply grieving Him and breaking the relationship, seemingly beyond repair.

In the aftermath of repeated rebellion by His people, God declares: “ ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely’ ” (NKJV). The term “freely” in the phrase “ ‘I will love them freely’ ” translated a Hebrew word (nedabah), which connotes that which is offered voluntarily. It is the same term used of the freewill offerings in the sanctuary system.

Throughout Hosea, and throughout the narratives of Scripture, God shows amazing commitment and compassion to His people. Even though they repeatedly went after other lovers, breaking the covenant relationship, seemingly beyond repair, God of His own free will continued to bestow His love on them. The people did not deserve God’s love; they had rejected and forfeited any rightful claim to it. Yet, God continued to bestow love on them without any compulsion, moral or otherwise. Here and elsewhere, Scripture consistently displays God’s love as free and voluntary.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-01-unrequited-love/

At this time of year, we are thinking about the most astounding thing that has ever happened in all of universal history: God “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). What was the incarnation of God in Christ but the most infinite display of empathy imaginable?! In the person of Jesus Christ, God revealed that He is in complete emotional solidarity with the hurts and woes of the human race.

Describing the empathy of God in Christ, Scripture says that He was “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15, KJV). Then, pulling aside the veil to show us what He went through in Gethsemane, we are told that He “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” (Hebrews 5:7).

See God in Christ, feeling the hurts and struggles of every person He came into contact with, and you see God as God is.

But when God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ, this wasn’t merely a one-off event, before which and after which God was impervious to our feelings. The incarnation was, rather, a revelation of God’s essential and eternal character. By coming all the way down and entering into complete union with us, He was simply and profoundly following through with who He was all along and ever will be. Yes, the incarnation was a new event in the history of the universe, but it was a manifestation of a reality as old as God Himself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

See God in Christ, feeling the hurts and struggles of every person He came into contact with, and you see God as God is. Watch God in Christ fall facedown to the ground, weeping in prayer, and you see God accurately.

Behold, God incarnate!

Behold, the infinite empathy of a God who feels all the feelings of every person in the world!

You may support the Light Bearers team sharing this picture of God with the world by going to Lightbearers.org.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/behold-the-god-who-weeps/