Closer To Heaven
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Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and one of this quarter’s authors, Dr. Thomas R. Shepherd, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson, “The Beginning of the Gospel.”
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/7-blessed-are-those-who-believe-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/
View an in-depth discussion of Blessed Are Those Who Believe 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/7-blessed-re-those-who-belive-hope-sabbath-school-video-discussion/
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay</a?
“Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.” Psalm 93:1-3
In America, we will soon be celebrating Thanksgiving on November 28. Here, Thanksgiving day has become synonymous with feasting and football, with a minor emphasis on giving thanks to God for His abundant blessings. However, Christians, conscious of God’s continuing blessings, may live a lifestyle of thanks-living. As Matthew Henry so perfectly encapsulated that thought, “Thanksgiving is good but Thanks-Living is better”.
Science tells us that having an attitude of gratitude brings many benefits, and these benefits transcend religion. However, it can be easy to forget and get mired in the negatives that bring only loss. Today we want to recalibrate our minds for the practice of “Thanks-Living.”
“Nothing tends more to promote health of body and of soul than does a spirit of gratitude and praise. It is a positive duty to resist melancholy, discontented thoughts and feelings–as much a duty as it is to pray. If we are heaven-bound, how can we go as a band of mourners, groaning and complaining all along the way to our Father’s house?”
Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing, p. 251
If we know Jesus as our assurance of salvation then we are infinitely better off than having the winning lottery ticket. We are wealthier in true riches than Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and all the richest people in the world combined. One day the accumulation of riches won’t mean much when we walk streets of gold. We should, of all people, be the most thankful, grateful, and happiest people on the planet.
I want to share a summary of a very interesting article on this subject from a Reader’s Digest article, “Health Benefits of Gratitude: 5 Ways Counting Your Blessings Can Improve Your Life,” by Beth Dreher. 1
The article focused on the benefits of a grateful attitude and notes the following:
An “attitude of gratitude” can cure us of what I call “me-itis,” an unhealthy self-focus. It is the antidote to an entitlement mentality, it can ease our anxiety, deliver us from worry, and lift us out of the pit of depression. It can even help us in our grieving process.
It is almost always implied as giving thanks to God for doing something in the life of someone such as the following:
Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits…
Psalm 103:2-5“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Ps 106:1.
“Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever”. Ps. 106:1
We should give thanks to God not only for what He does but also for what He doesn’t do.
“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Heb. 10:17 (NKJV) also John 3:17
We can give thanks that God exercises grace towards us, rather than justice, which is what we deserve. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. Jesus experienced the death that we deserve so that we can have the life that He deserves.
“Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed.” Psalm 85:10
“Christ on the cross was the medium whereby mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each other.” (Ellen G. White in The General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1899)
Do we stop and give thanks to Jesus for all He has done? Not just once a week, or once a year, but every day? Are we living a life that testifies that we appreciate His sacrifice? Are we “thanks-living”?
Thanksgiving is acknowledging God as the Giver of all good gifts.
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” Ps 100:4
In my pre-Christian and even early Christian days I used to be plagued with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. They were so bad it nearly drove me to self destruction. Then I committed several “mind altering” verses to memory and it helped me off that gerbil wheel. The following verses, which incorporate promises, were my prescription for anti-anxiety, far better than Xanax:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:7
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” Isa. 26:3
I prescribe these verses to everyone as their daily “Gos-Pills”.
The antidote to anxiety and worry is a thankful, grateful mind focused on Jesus – a mind that is at peace, even in the midst of the storms of life. We need not worry or be afraid.
“We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” (Ellen G. White, Life Sketches, p. 196)
To praise God goes along with thanksgiving. “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Heb 13:15 (NKJV)
Paul and Silas praised God at midnight in a Philippian prison after they had received a beating (Acts 16:25), and then an earthquake broke their chains. The redeemed will praise God when they receive their crowns. God inhabits the praises of His people. Shouldn’t we start practicing now?
Even in grief, an attitude of gratitude softens the blow and eases the pain. In the sudden and unexpected death of my mother I was able to process the grief easier than expected by leaning on the Lord and His Word, thanking and praising Him for giving me such a wonderful mother. It didn’t erase my grief, but it greatly reduced the emotional pain and grief. I didn’t get stuck in my grief because I focused my mind on my faith and the “Blessed Hope.” Researchers have found that the “faith factor” greatly helps in navigating the difficulties of life and loss.
Let’s take a few moments at the beginning and ending of each day to stop and reflect on the goodness of God through it all – the good, the bad, the happy, and the sad. He’s brought us to it all, to bring us through it all. Let us share with others how the Lord has blessed us, and our hopes for the coming new year.
May God empower us to turn our Thanksgiving into Thanks-living!
(2)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/from-thanksgiving-to-thanks-living/
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 12th of November 2024
Time and again, John records the attempts of the religious leaders to seize Jesus, to bring Him to trial, and to sentence Him to death. A theme in John’s Gospel, stated often by Jesus, is that His time or hour had not yet come, by which He meant the time for His crucifixion (John 2:4; John 7:6,8,30; John 12:7,23,27; John 13:1; John 17:1).
Now the hour had come. Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, brought before Annas, then Caiaphas the high priest, then twice before Pilate.
John has called upon many witnesses from every walk of life to testify that Jesus was the Christ. Now John calls upon Pilate, the governor who tried Jesus. This was an important testimony because Pilate was a Roman, a governor, and a judge; most of the other witnesses were Jews and commoners.
Image © The Classic Bible Art Collection – Formerly Standard Publishing at Goodsalt.com
Jesus was brought to Pilate early on Friday morning (John 18:28). His plan was to dispatch the prisoner quickly to His fate. But Jesus’ demeanor drew Pilate’s attention. The governor questioned Jesus closely and heard from His lips, “ ‘For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice’ ” (John 18:37, ESV).
Though the governor ultimately condemned Jesus to death, he nonetheless three times proclaimed Jesus innocent (John 18:38; John 19:4,6). And over the cross he wrote the words “ ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’ ” (John 19:19, ESV), completing his witness to who Jesus is. And yet despite his testimony of Christ’s innocence, he nevertheless condemned Jesus to death.
Pilate had the Truth Himself standing before him and yet—allowing the mob to bully him—Pilate sentenced Jesus to death anyway! What a tragic example of not following what your conscience and heart tell you is correct!
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What can we learn from Pilate’s example about the dangers of allowing popular sentiment, even pressure, to keep us from doing what we believe is right? |
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24d-07-the-unwitting-witness-of-pilate/
John has written what is possibly the most well-known Bible verse in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son” which has had many say
Lord, I Have Made Thy Word My Choice – Hymn 273 and 
Give Me The Bible – Hymn 272. John writes of many people who turned to Jesus in this quarter’s studies. Here are two hymns from which to choose for your theme hymn this quarter.
The myriad of Bible texts we are given in the Sabbath Afternoon study tell the story of why:
I Do Believe – Hymn 486, I Know Whom I Have Believed – Hymn 511, leaving us at the end of the week to sing
Rejoice, Rejoice Believers – Hymn 599.
Our Bibles are full of those wonderful people who had such amazing faith and really believed:
Hymn 11 – The God of Abraham Praise topped off with
Hymn 304 – Faith Of Our Fathers. I would like to add from the pre-1985 hymnal
497 – Dare To Be A Daniel.
Faith is a strong part of believing which is shown to us on Wednesday by the quote from Ellen White at the end of the day’s study:
Hymn 523 – My Faith Has Found A Resting Place and then we can say
My Faith Looks Up To Thee – Hymn 517.
We have been blessed to have the Bible so we are able to read all the miracles of Jesus, and we can believe, even though those who witnessed the miracles still had uncertainty as to who Jesus was, and then we have all of history to view of what Jesus said would happen to our poor old world down through the ages to today:
Hymn 272 – Give Me The Bible. And, we can see that Jesus’ statement that the Gospel would go to all the world is happening right now:
Hymn 378 – Go, Preach My Gospel.
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.”
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/7-blessed-are-those-who-believe-singing-with-inspiration/
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