Friday: Further Thought ~ A Message Worth Sharing
Further Thought:
“God has called His church in this day, as He called ancient Israel, to stand as a light in the earth. By the mighty cleaver of truth — the messages of the first, second, and third angels — He has separated them from the churches and from the world to bring them into a sacred nearness to Himself.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
He has made them the depositaries of His law and has committed to them the great truths of prophecy for this time. Like the holy oracles committed to ancient Israel, these are a sacred trust to be communicated to the world.
The three angels of Revelation 14 represent the people who accept the light of God’s messages and go forth as His agents to sound the warning throughout the length and breadth of the earth. Christ declares to His followers: ‘Ye are the light of the world’. Matthew 5:14. To every soul that accepts Jesus the cross of Calvary speaks: ‘Behold the worth of the soul. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’ Mark 16:15. Nothing is to be permitted to hinder this work. It is the all-important work for our time; it is to be far-reaching as eternity. The love that Jesus manifested for the souls of men in the sacrifice which He made for their redemption, will actuate all His followers.
Christ accepts, oh, so gladly! every human agency that is surrendered to Him. He brings the human into union with the divine, that He may communicate to the world the mysteries of incarnate love. Talk it, pray it, sing it, fill the world with the message of His truth, and keep pressing on into the regions beyond”. — Ellen G. White, Counsels for the Church, pages 58, 59.
Discussion Questions:
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We provide afterschool care for our grandsons and that comes with maths tutoring. Our oldest grandson is in his mid-teens and is behaving like a normal teenager. "Why do I have to do this maths? Nobody uses quadratic equations in real life?"
I have to admit that I would love to teach him something very interesting like differential equations, or vector analysis, so I could show him the really exciting and useful stuff but I know he would never understand it. He has to understand quadratic equations and be able to do them fast and accurately before he can move on to the good stuff.
We do have some great maths discussions though and if there is one thing that our grandson is learning from me its that a couple of members of our family are very enthusiastic about mathematics. I hope it rubs off. (His uncle, my son, is a professional mathematician)
Our Christian explanations may be hard for others to understand, but we need to understand that communication of our Christianity is a growing experience and maybe it starts with infectious enthusiasm. Not enthusiasm for just talk, but for Christian living. The Bible has a special word for that sort of attitude. Notice the use of zealous in these verses:
In my research days, I often attended conferences where people presented seminars about the research they had been doing. Some of the seminars you sat through with gritted teeth, they were so dull and boring. Others were enthusiastic about the research they had done and you could tell it in their tone of voice, and body language. Their excitement was infectious and you were left wanting to learn more.
When we have a living relationship with Jesus, our enthusiasm shows. That is part of the language of the gospel that communicates to those who have either not heard of Jesus, or who have rejected him because of the way they have been treated.
We have a message worth sharing - we need to live like we know it.
Thanks for the illustration you shared about your grandson. It was very easy for me to apply it to the lesson.
Note for correction, you have repeated Titus 2:14 instead of Revelation 3:19 on the last verse.
My calling is to the children. I get excited when I talk to children about the love of Jesus. I believe that as Christians we need to identify where our calling is so that whatever we do we will do it zealously.
Thank you for your comment and for the correction. I was anxious to go out and photograph birds and took a short cut on the proof-reading! 🙂
Question: How can we explain the idea of the fall of Babylon or the concept of the mark of the beast in the most winsome way? That is, how can we present these truths in the least offensive way possible?
Is this message offensive to the atheist or agnostic - I believe not, it is irrelevant to them.
So who does the 3 Angel's message offend? What is their message? It is that most religions who think they are worshipping God have been deceived about the true character of God in one way or another. This is what offends people - being told that what they believe is not quite right.
Why is it important to have a true understanding of the character of the LORD? Because there is a final test coming and every believer will have to choose a side and they might choose the wrong side because they have been deceived about the true character of the LORD.
So how do we share the truth about the 'Mark of the Beast' and 'Babylon is fallen' without offending those who love Jesus but have been deceived about some aspect of His Character?
Answer: make friends with them, show them you really care about them, ask them to tell you what they believe, really listen and understand their point of view, gently and respectfully guide and help them to discover the truth in the Word of the LORD.
This is why each one needs to reach one because it needs the one on one personal loving touch.
I believe we need to understand the context of this message(all 3 angels) and the conditions on earth that will prevail at this time, to realize that all who place self above the will(law) of God will be offended. Their religious orientation will not matter then, only that they will not tolerate the conviction that will stir up their hatred of those who "keep the commandments, and have the faith of Jesus".
We have come to the end of this weeks lesson and i am so thankful to you all for the lovely and insightful sharing of these lessons. i have been reading through for quite sometimes and i have really been benefiting from central africa, zambia. happy sabbath!
Happy Sabbath from Maryland, USA! I, too, always benefit from these lessons and from the comments. If I skip the comments I feel like I'm missing out on a blessing.
The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying. Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. Ezek 12:1-2
Qu #2
As I was reading the lesson something came to me mind. Sharing the 3 angel message is sharing the message of Jesus.
Many times as a church whenever we call for church members to go out in the field on Sabbath to evangelize and the entire church do not return to go out we feel disappointed, even sad, hurt or angry about their attitude towards Jesus message to go and tell.
1. If members are doing what we supposed to do six days a week, do we still have to go out on sabbath door to door?
2. If some are not zealous of the message of Jesus, do we expect them to return Sabbath evening to go door to door?
I was reading Mrs White writing and she said we should be visiting the sick and shutting during the week. If not possible then we should do it on Sabbath but sometimes we leave Sabbath to do everything (door to door visitation, all meetings, visitation etc) after a while sabbath becomes a burden instead of a joy. We become so tired doing things and attending meetings instead of meeting with Jesus. We should note that Sabbath is a rest for the weary physical and mentally and to enjoy that spiritual respite/rest with Jesus.
This message is to be taught to the members 1st then to the world. The message of the OT was for the Israelites 1st them the surrounding nations. Jesus said several times to the heathen, he had not found so great a faith is Israel, no not one. Shouldn't faith first be found in the church/Jesus followers, then outside/those who have not embraced the message?
Many of our institutions have laid off workers because of the crises. Many non Christians/non SDA work places have open their doors and employed workers with faith that things will be ok.
O for a faith that will not shrink, though pressed by many a foe.
Thanks Mam Shirley for the contribution. I 100% agree with the last paragraph on how we need to tell/share to the world about Jesus' end time message to a dying world.
So how do we share the truth about the 'Mark of the Beast' and 'Babylon is fallen' without offending those who love Jesus but have been deceived about some aspect of His Character?
Answer: make friends with them, show them you really care about them, ask them to tell you what they believe, really listen and understand their point of view, gently and respectfully guide and help them to discover the truth in the Word of the LORD.
This is why each one needs to reach one because it needs the one on one personal loving touch.
Ellen White wrote: "God has called His church in this day, as He called ancient Israel, to stand as a light in the earth". "He has separated them from the churches and from the world to bring them into a sacred nearness to Himself."
This quote speaks of "them" , the true believers being the church that is separated from the world, these are God's Church to be separated out from the churches. Do you think that He is also separating out the true believers from the Seventh Day Adventist Church? If not, why would you think that?
What do you think makes the difference between true believers from other churches and ours, or is there a difference?
"He has made them the depositaries of His law and has committed to them the great truths of prophecy for this time." Is Ellen White speaking just of the members of our Church to be depositaries of Truth? Which 'law' and 'truth' of prophecy is she referring to? Is it the 'law' of keeping the Sabbath or is it the 'law' of loving your God with all your heart, mind and being and your neighbor as God has loved you?
"The three angels of Revelation 14 *represent* the people who accept the light of God's messages and go forth as His agents to sound the warning throughout the length and breadth of the earth." Where/who are the *agents* that sound the alarm? Who is preaching ' Come ye out of Babylon'? Who is declaring the Truth from/about God the Father and His Messenger/Son Jesus?
I believe that God the Father has called all who are touched by His Spirit of Truth to come out of the darkness of this world to join Him in the Light of heavenly Truth. The Light of the Heavenly Truth is carried to the world wrapped in the garment of TRUE compassion. This includes the sharing not just of 'goods' for the body, but of the spiritual Truth - the separation of mankind from its Father and His desire to welcome them home!
Without this accompanying message, our acts of Love feed the body but not the soul. John4:10; John6:26-51;
Love him with all your heart, ........and neighbors as self. Matt 22:37
Bridgett you made some good points, and asked some solid questions. Christ said he has many sheep who are not of this fold. Many people will rise in the 1st resurrection and be saved who never knew about the Saturday/sabbath, and who never went to a sabbath SDA church. Some will not rise with the saints who went to SDA church all or part of their life. Why so? The message is a message of love, love Jesus with all I have and my fellow men. I must love humans so much I don’t want them to be lost. Exodus 32:32 Moses told the Lord if he doesn’t forgive the people then blot him/Moses out of the book of life. These are powerful words. Do we love humans to that extent??
Many have excuses why the don’t love the Lord, or why they don’t go to church but on that day if we refuse the pleading of the Holy Spirit, we will be lost.