Inside Story for Friday 29th of November 2024

By Andrew McChesney

At 8 p.m., an elderly married couple knocked on the door of the parsonage beside the Seventh-day Adventist church in Savoonga, Alaska. It wasn’t late. The summer sun shone brightly in the sky. It wouldn’t go down until 2:30 a.m. The Siberian Yupik people living on St. Lawrence Island, located just 36 miles east of Russia in the Bering Sea, wouldn’t go to bed for hours.

Image © Pacific Press

Eugene and Marie, who were in their mid-80s, didn’t wait for anyone to open the door. Nobody waits for the door to be opened in the remote village of 835 people. Everyone knocks and walks in. The couple wanted to speak with the visitor staying in the parsonage. I was visiting the island to collect stories for Adventist Mission.

Marie spoke directly. “Are you a pastor?” she asked me.

Her eyes filled with emotion when I shook my head. “Please stay,” she said, softly. “We need someone to keep the church open and to teach us.”

The church had closed several times since it and the parsonage were built in 1972. Pastors had preached and lived there for a while, but then the Adventist presence shrunk to little to nothing for two decades. In 2010, the church had reopened when two retired nurses from North Carolina, Bill and Elouise Hawkes, arrived as Bible workers with the Alaska Conference’s Arctic Mission Adventure outreach program to Alaska Natives. Bill died in 2016, and Elouise stayed. But shortly before my visit, Elouise left for health reasons.

Marie missed Elouise terribly and described how she invited villagers to her home for meals and prepared food packages. “We need her,” she said.

I never met Elouise. She was enthusiastic and helpful as we exchanged emails for my trip. My respect grew as I heard about her love for villagers.

As our conversation wrapped up at 9 p.m., Marie looked at me again.

“Please,” she said. “Stay. We need someone to teach us about God.”

With her pleading gaze, I caught a sense of the compassion that Jesus must have felt during His earthly ministry. “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36, NKJV). I didn’t want to leave. My heart ached for the precious people of Savoonga and the other more than 200 native communities in Alaska. Only 11 of those communities have an Adventist presence.

When Jesus’ heart ached, “He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest’ ” (Matthew 9:37-38, NKJV).

Pray for Savoonga. Pray for Alaska. Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering this quarter that will help open a center of influence to share God’s love with Alaska Natives in Bethel, Alaska.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24d-09-inside-story-please-stay/

Daily Lesson for Friday 29th of November 2024

Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘God With Us,’ ” Pages 19–26; “Controversy,” Pages 601–609, in The Desire of Ages.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“In stooping to take upon Himself humanity, Christ revealed a character the opposite of the character of Satan. But He stepped still lower in the path of humiliation. ‘Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.’ Philippians 2:8. As the high priest laid aside his gorgeous pontifical robes, and officiated in the white linen dress of the common priest, so Christ took the form of a servant, and offered sacrifice, Himself the priest, Himself the victim. ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.’ Isaiah 53:5.

“Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. ‘With His stripes we are healed.’ ”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 25.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24d-09-further-thought-the-source-of-life/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 28th of November 2024

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because [he has] not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. . . . Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that [his] deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” (John 3:18-21, NIV; compare with John 1:10).

The rejection of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, leaves us open to doubt and to the temptations of the devil. It is to turn from light to darkness.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

Eve was given light on how to relate to the tree in the center of the garden. Satan tempted her to bring the light into question. She tested God’s word by reasoning that a God of love would not destroy the creatures whom He created. She also relied upon the data of her senses. The serpent has eaten of the fruit and now has the power to speak. Perhaps the serpent is right. If I partake of the fruit, I may become like God! Deceived, she turned away from the light. And her husband chose the same path.

Read Matthew 4:1-4. What principles did Christ use in the wilderness of temptation to combat the deceptions of Satan?

Christ had at His disposal the same humanistic tool of thought used by Adam and Eve, the antediluvians, and Israel at Kadesh Barnea. He could have asked why a God of love would leave His Son in the wilderness for 40 days and nights without food and protection. He also could have determined to prove His Sonship by turning stones into bread! Instead, He answered with the Word of God. He operated on the level of heavenly things rather than on earthly patterns of thought. How easily He could have rationalized His way to a wrong decision, which so many people, even people of faith, often do.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24d-09-condemnation/

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 27th of November 2024

Some of the saddest accounts in all of Scripture occur in the Gospel of John. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. . . . [The Light] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:5,10-11, NKJV). The “I AM” was rejected by many of His own people.

No wonder Paul later warns, “Do not cast away your confidence” (Hebrews 10:35, NKJV). As we have seen again and again, Christ was rejected because people did not accept His Word.

Image © Kim Justinen at Goodsalt.com

“The contemporary humanistic way of thinking begins with doubt. People question everything in order to determine what is truth. That which survives the fire of cross-examination they accept as rock-solid knowledge, something on which to place one’s faith. Some apply the same method to the Bible, calling everything into question from a scientific, historical, psychological, philosophical, archaeological, or geological perspective in order to determine what is truth in the Bible. The very method itself starts with and builds upon doubt in the veracity of Scripture. Christ asked, ‘When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?’ (Luke 18:8).”—E. Edward Zinke and Roland Hegstad, The Certainty of the Second Coming (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2000), p. 96.

The sin of the Hebrews when they were at Kadesh Barnea was to doubt the Word of God. God had asked them to go up and take the land. Twelve spies were sent to Canaan to spy out the land. They came back with two reports. The majority gave a negative report. There are giants in the land, walled cities, weapons we have never seen before, and well-trained armies. By contrast, we have been slaves in the land of Egypt with little military experience. Ten spies voted no, based upon the overwhelming evidence from a human standpoint. Two spies voted yes based upon their faith in the overwhelming power of the Word of God.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24d-09-rejecting-the-source-of-life/

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.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/9-the-source-of-life-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/