[Thought Questions for Growing in Christ October 31, 2012] 1. Our victory. It’s not automatic, or is it? Since God has enough love to save everyone in the universe, why doesn’t He? If there was no devil alive to tempt us, to glorify sin, could we be good enough to be saved? Isn’t it the … [Click to read more …]
Christ came into the world for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil (Heb. 2:14). This, He has done at the cross. But if Christ has been victorious over the devil and principalities and powers, why are we still wrestling with principalities and powers? Why is the devil still able to roam about like … [Click to read more …]
As we saw, the word translated as principalities could refer to world rulers or supernatural powers that attempt to exercise control over human life. Another Greek word that is used in conjunction with the word principalities (archai) is the word stoicheia, which literally means elements, or elementary substances or principle. The contexts in which stoicheia is used reveal other aspects … [Click to read more …]
Key Thought : Jesus proved victorious over evil in His life and at the cross. He also showed that Satan’s challenges to God’s government were based on lies. [Teaching plan for Growing in Christ October 29, 2012] 1. Have a volunteer read Romans 6:12-16. A. Ask class members to share a short thought on … [Click to read more …]
The Bible pictures our world as being under the dominion of evil forces seeking to control and to ultimately destroy us. The great controversy is, of course, the result of the Lord’s work against these powers. The great news is that, after the Cross, victory against them is assured, even though the battle continues to … [Click to read more …]
When we understand redemption as freedom from a form of enslavement that required external assistance, we may conclude that sinful humanity is bound by a power or influence stronger than itself. The question that needs to be answered is, by what power or agency has sinful humanity been so bound? Study Romans 6:12-23. Notice that in … [Click to read more …]
Christianity is a religion of redemption, in which people are saved from the devastation of sin through what someone else − in this case, Jesus − has done for them. Thus, the Christian religion may be distinguished from a religion of law, where one may rectify his or her doom by one’s own efforts at … [Click to read more …]
Read for This Week’s Study: Isa. 35:10, Mark 10:45, Rom. 6:12-23, Eph. 6:12, Col. 1:16, Gal. 4:1-11, Col. 2:15. Memory Text: Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:15, NKJV). Key Thought: Christ’s victory on the cross defines the scope of the victory into which the Christian may grow. The amendment to the church’s … [Click to read more …]
Read Ellen G. White, “‘God With Us,’” pp. 19-29, in The Desire of Ages; Ivan T. Blazen, “Salvation,” pp. 271-313, in Raoul Dederen (ed.), Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology. “The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of ‘the mystery which hath been kept in … [Click to read more …]
I am a Christian, but not an Adventist. My husband follows a different religion. We chose to send our two sons to Zamboanga Adventist Elementary School in the Philippines because we wanted them to study in a school with strong moral values. We looked at several schools, most of which had better facilities, but we … [Click to read more …]
