Sabbath: Behind The Mask
Read for This Week’s Study: Prov. 25:2-3; Prov. 26:11-12; 1 Cor. 1:20-21; Prov. 26:13–16; Prov. 27:5-6.
Memory Verse: Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of the great
(Proverbs 25:6, NKJV).
Behind the dazzling serpent, who utters sweet words and who seems so concerned with Eve’s happiness, hides the enemy who plots her death (Gen. 3:1–6). Disguised as an angel of light,
Satan prepares the most dangerous traps for humankind (2 Cor. 11:14).
Even more dangerous and deceitful is self-pretension; when we claim to be what we are not, we end up cheating others and even ourselves.
There are different ways to deceive. One of the most common is through language. Some of the proverbs this week deal with words, lying words, flattering words, pretty words that use nice sounds and wonderful sentiments to cover ugly thoughts and intentions. We need to be careful not only about what we say to others, but about how we interpret what others say to us. Perhaps this week’s message could be summed up this way: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves
(Matt. 10:16).
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 7.
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all the books of Proverbs contains wisdom that we can use in our daily life
I am new here and I have been learning a lot.
Welcome on board Nicanor! We are glad to have you. Stay blessed
Well thank you Mark, I am glad I chose the right path.
I understand that we all have a satanic side to us. Some even go as far as to qualify it as the flesh, others the carnal nature, the Bible refers also to the natural man. None of this will inherit eternal life. Your faith, that is what counts and no matter how much the Devil would deceive us into believing a lie about ourselves if we stick to the Truth about God and His character we are being changed into His likeness. That is perfection and that is the spiritual man, born of the spirit of God and that is who we are really. We are not both good and bad, unless we think that we are. In fact except that we do have sin in our lives or we call God a liar. We are bought with a price and precious to the One who paid such a stupendous price for our souls. Don't be deceived, you are not your sin. Also, attempting to preserving one's life through withdrawal from the world will be in the end a fatal mistake. We are now the children of God and the world around us is perishing. I say rescue the few who are in your sphere of influence now by your unconditional acceptance and love and forget about who is acting and who is still in his flesh. If you do not have love as it is described in 1 Cor. 13 you are nothing anyway for God and you will most certainly fail in the important aspects of life. God is for you, and not against you, unless you fail to exercise the faith to believe it. Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another and you shall be the children of your Father, God.
Excuse me for my bad English! Brother I want to remind you that human kind has the freedom of choice only. Human stunds between God and satan. All this human is doing he is guided by by the one he chose. So I'm not free to do all I want because there is a other power which is using me.
When Abraham was deceptive about Sarah not being his wife in order to save his life (Luke 9:24) he convinced himself saying, "Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother."" (Genesis 20:12, 13). He deceived himself and sought to make God complicit.
A Christian may first decide what he wishes to believe or do and then proceed to devise a narrative to justify it. The next step is to claim God’s blessing.
A major barrier to reception of the Three Angels' Messages is intellectual and spiritual dishonesty. There is a widespread tendency to deny clear facts and refusal to acknowledge even the obvious, if there is a perceived threat to one’s doctrinal position and one cannot afford to be wrong. That is, there is an overwhelming sense of self preservation or pride, and concession will only make one look smaller than he thinks he is. So there is an impulse to defend and resist at all costs, including self-deception.
Even those who are otherwise smart may fall into this trap, from which it is difficult to recover. Saul found himself in such a position when his high regard for himself overtook his humility (1 Samuel 15:16-19). The spirit eventually departed from him (1 Samuel 16:14) and although he sought God’s blessing (1 Samuel 28:6, 11) there was no longer hope he might receive the necessary eye salve that he could see clearly again (Revelation 3:18).
Within the SDA church we may also get caught in the same trap if we do not die to self. Anything that is alive grows, and self tends to outgrow its nobler characteristics. The faithful acknowledge their nothingness, weakness and any lack of knowledge. They shun deception in all its forms and grow in grace and retain God’s blessing (2 Peter 3:18).
So many times we get caught up in the flattery that we loose focus of God. We must die to self daily. Thank you Hugh Dalhouse for your comments. They really make me think. God bless.
The memory verse Prov.25:6 is talking about two important things to avoid when in the presence of an important individual, such as a king or ultimate authority. Don't brag about your qualifications, or pretend that you are someone important. While this may not be the same as shifting the blame it is similar in that we try to downplay or separate ourselves from negative situations by diversion. Adam basically blamed God for his sin. He used logic in defense of his case. We use similar tactics if it looks like it will fly. Of the 3000 proverbs that Solomon spoke there will be similar topics, and this is one that was touched on, back in January.
The use of words as a medium of insightful communication is an important aspect relevant in positive expression. However many times we use them to achieve our own selfish needs and indeed we then lie! Not only are we against God's will in such a case but we put our future in jeopardy as the negativity of our statements comes into play! it's high time we learnt to answer no or yes and provide valid statements for valid occasions!
Behind the mask:
Behind that serpent that spoke to Eve, was the devil
Will it be that behind us as we speak is the devil? Self pretense in preserving our, "dignity", our "name"
Who is behind our words, who's behind my interpretation of others' words to take advantage of and twist them in order to accuse or cause discord?
The moment we choose to "confuse the mind" of another, we have chosen to distance ourselves from God and hence elevating ourselves above Him becos we no longer care wat matters to Him but to our reputation.
Let's allow God the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and convict us John 16:8 and to lead us to repentance.
MANUSCRIPT RELEASE NO. 926, PAGE 66
The Lord hates all manner of pretense and deception and fraud. Men may appear outwardly moral while the fear of God is not before their eyes. Those who leave the path of uprightness to walk in the deceived imagination of their own human unsanctified judgment are under the control of satanic agencies. If the weak and erring ones would only receive counsel they would be helped.
MANUSCRIPT RELEASES, VOL. 16 [NOS. 1186-1235], PAGE 314
God, who searches the heart, takes notice of its desires.
He will forgive your past life of frivolity, your pretense, your deception, if you will now repent and seek His grace, that you may live unto Him and Him alone.
I need help on this week's lessons because I'm leading out a study this week on sabbath.
Deception has always been the hallmark of the devil. We will however see right through his deception and like Jesus say to him “Away from me, Satan!”, if we put our trust in God and steadfastly feed on His Word.
Lest we become fully under the dominion of the devil and through the use of flattery, half-truths and all manner of deceptions become the devil’s agents of deceit. Gladly doing our “father’s” bidding because of the immediate yet temporal rewards it offers.
The Good Book warns: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
love this week lesson
no wonder Jesus mentions deception as one of the signs of His return in Matthew 24 , greater than anything this world is going thru , most of us trust sweet sentiments from friends and relatives in regards to choices , i have come across words like ' only this once ' and '' man this is good wine '' or '' bacon '' or ham . All these have been made to look and feel good yet they only please satan and make us disobey God
Do not allow his good his good food to tempt you! Verses 6-8 of Proverbs 25 reveals that some people pretend to be our friends. But they do not care about us. They might say the right words. They might invite us to their homes. But they do not want to share their possessions with us. Instead they want to keep their things to themselves; this is what I tend to find out from the bible commentary over the Memory Text for this weeks lesson No.10 from February 28 - March 6 under the topic of Behind the Mask:- a cover or partial cover for the face used etc.., for disguise. Amen!?
It is Easy To confuse oneself before a King. The worst enemy is When We Chose To use flatter To impress others. We end up being liars for we want to create an impression thats not there. The Book of Proverbs 3:5-6New American Standard Bible (NASB) says "
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
When Jesus as Well commissioned His disciples, He Promised them hard Road before them. They were not to Rely on themselves. He knew if left by themselves they would loose the point which was to be a testimony to them all. Below is a good Extract on why we Should always submit fully to God. Jesus knew, these people when exposed to challenges could easily give false words to evade the Judgement and persecution. Did you know even the Father let Jesus to go through the same thing. The difference is that when he went before them, God made him speak like an Original son not like a pretender
See what he advised his Disciples
A Hard Road before Them
16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so [r]be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; 18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. 20 For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and [s]cause them to be put to death. 22 You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.
23 “But whenever they persecute you in [t]one city, flee to [u]the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.
The memory verse for this lesson reminds me of something Jesus said:
Besides this there is a lot that Jesus had to say about pride and hypocrisy and what not to do such as Mat 6:1-6.
I appreciate God's word that lead and guide us into all truth. Think of the many people in the world who go to all lenghts to flattery a boss or co-worker so that he/she can advance in a job position or be included in social events.
As Christians we should always arm ourselves with the true gospel against the dragon. We should remember, we cannot mock God by pretending and flattering
I have a question, for a example a Project Manager in a construction site, he made a final decision to end the contract of a worker since he ( worker ) violates the standard rules at site, the manager didn't deal it personally for he did it based on his duty only,to terminate. The Proj. Manager didn't consider what will happen to the worker if he lost his job, if he has children to feed. The worker was so worried about what happen since it takes weeks or even months before he can get another job. Does the Project Manager commit sin for what he did?since he is only doing his job too? but not considering a second chance to the worker.
I think that he was a folly person because he didn't think of about no boby but his seft
Malou, the Project Manager in my opinion was not totally wrong. I had a similar situation when I was a Manager working for Revenue collection Agency. My staff were stealing money. I had a mechanism in place to check them. One particular staff was caught on CCTV stealing. I showed him the footages and on the third occasion reported him and he was sacked. He had children and the wife was some one I knew. Now we are working in the same company. I do not feel guilty at all for my act because I had a duty to protect the Company