Sunday, March 10, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Lesson Study 11 March 9-16
Lesson 11*March 9-15
Sabbath: A Gift From Eden
SABBATH AFTERNOON
Read for This week’s Study: Gen. 2:1-3; Heb. 4:3, 4; Deut. 5:12-15; Ezek. 20:12; Mark 2:27,28; 2 Pet. 3:3-7.
Memory Text: “For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Matthew 12:8).
At the end of the sixth day, the Creation had been completed
(Gen. 2:1, 2). The world had been formed into a habitable place, and it had been filled with living creatures. Adam and Eve had been created in God’s own image and had been given a beautiful, well-provisioned Garden in which to live. They had formed the first marriage and established the first home. God was satisfied with what He had made. Something else, however, was added to this paradise: the seventh-day Sabbath (see Gen. 2:1-3).
Genesis 2 disproves the common notion that the seventh-day is the “Jewish Sabbath.” Why? Because God “blessed the seventh-day and sanctified it” back in Eden, before the Fall and certainly before any Jews existed.
Plus, too, the Sabbath is a memorial to the creation of all humanity (not just the Jews), and thus, all humanity should enjoy the blessings of the Sabbath day.
This week we will explore the biblical teaching on this, another gift from Eden.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 16.
Creation and the Seventh-Day Sabbath
In Exodus 20:8-11, the fourth commandment refers directly to the Creation week. This is important, because it points back to Eden itself, to a world without sin, a perfect world coming fresh from the Creator. “The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been founded at creation. It is to be remembered and observed as the memorial of the Creator’s work.”-Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 307.
Read Genesis 2:1-3. How is the seventh-day Sabbath tied directly to the Creation itself? How do these verses help to reinforce the idea that God did, indeed, create our world in six days, as opposed to the long ages postulated by theistic evolution?
In those three verses, it’s worth noting that reference is made to the seventh day five times: in three of these five it is specifically called “the seventh day” and twice the day is referred to with the pronoun “it.” In these verses, we are left with no ambiguity about either the day or what it is specifically referring to, and that is the six days of Creation that preceded the seventh.
Read Hebrews 4:3, 4. To what event does the author of Hebrews point in his discussion of rest, and why is this important?
This is a clear New Testament reference to the Genesis Creation account, and it provides additional evidence for the historical truth of Creation in six days, followed by a day of rest.
Many today resist the idea that Creation took place in six days. They demand scientific evidence that the record is true. But science itself comes with many contingencies, uncertainties, and presuppositions. Plus, how could a literal six-day Creation be proved, anyway?
God “has not removed the possibility of doubt; faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration; those who wish to doubt have opportunity; but those who desire to know the truth find ample ground for faith.”-Ellen G. White,Education, p. 169.What are the reasons you have for faith? Why do they trump all the reasons to doubt?
The Rich Meaning of Sabbath Rest
Read Deuteronomy 5:12-15. How does the emphasis of the Sabbath commandment here differ from Exodus 20:8-11?
Here Moses reminds the Israelites that they should keep the Sabbath, and he states that they should do this because God delivered them from Egypt. The texts say nothing about the six days of Creation or about the Sabbath being God’s rest. Instead, the emphasis here is on Salvation, on deliverance, on Redemption, in this case the redemption from Egypt, a symbol of the true Redemption we have in Jesus (see 1 Cor. 10:1-3).
In other words, there is no conflict between the texts, no justification for trying to use one passage to deny the truth of the other. Moses was showing the people that they belong to the Lord, first by Creation, and then by redemption.
The passages that mention sanctification remind us that only God can make us holy. Only the Creator can create a new heart within us.
Consider, then, three reasons given for Sabbath observance and how they are related. We observe the Sabbath on the seventh day in recognition of the fact that God created in six days and rested on the seventh. We also observe the Sabbath on the seventh day because God is the one who redeemed us, saved us in Christ. And also He is the One who sanctifies us, which comes only from the creative power of God, as well (see Ps. 51:10, 2 Cor. 5:17).
Theories, therefore, that deny the six-day Creation tend to diminish God’s grace and magnify the value of our own efforts to be good enough to be saved. The Creation story reminds us of our total dependence on grace and the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ in our place.
Dwell on the fact that we are as dependent upon God for Redemption as we are for existence (after all, how much say did you have in your own birth?). How can the Sabbath help us to better understand our absolute need of God’s grace for everything in our lives? How should this knowledge impact the way in which we live?
Jesus and the Sabbath
Read Mark 2:27, 28. What crucial truth about the Sabbath does Jesus reveal here? How can we take this principle and apply it to our own Sabbath experience?
Jesus and His disciples had just walked through a field of grain, and the disciples, hungry, had picked some of the grain and eaten it. The act of picking grain while one was passing through a field was not a problem, as the rules of the society permitted this. Food is a necessity, and it was perfectly acceptable for the disciples to relieve their hunger by eating what they found as they walked along. The problem was that religious leaders regarded their own made-up rules for Sabbath observance as more important than was human need. This was a continuing point of controversy between Christ and the Pharisees. Jesus’ response indicated that their priorities were wrong. The Sabbath should be a day for human blessing, not used as an excuse for prolonging suffering.
What other activity did Jesus do on the Sabbath, despite the controversy that it engendered? See Matt. 12:9-13, Luke 13:10-17, John 5:1-17.
Nowhere in all the Sabbath controversies recorded in the Gospels does the question of the validity of the Sabbath ever arise. The issue, instead, was how should the seventh-day be kept, not whether it was to be abolished or superseded by something else.
Jesus’ example shows not only that the Sabbath remains something that should be observed but also shows us how the Sabbath should be kept. And one thing we can clearly see from His example is that work done on the Sabbath to help relieve human suffering does not violate the Sabbath. On the contrary, if anything, His example shows that doing good for others is exactly how the Sabbath should be kept.
In what ways could your Sabbath keeping better reflect the principles seen in Jesus’ example to us?
Sabbath and the Last Days
Read 2 Peter 3:3-7. Compare the description of the last day scoffers with our contemporary society. What do the scoffers deny, and why?
The scoffers claim that nature has continued on without interruption, a claim known among scientists as “uniformitarianism.” This is equivalent to denying that miracles occur. This claim is then used to deny that the Lord is going to come as He promised.
Notice, though, how Peter links their denial of the second coming of Christ with their denial of the Creation account (plus the Flood, as well). Denial of one leads to denial of the others!
Read Revelation 14:6, 7. Amidst the doubts and caviling of the scoffers, what message will be proclaimed with heavenly power?
The scoffers are wrong. Judgment is coming, and we are called to worship the One who “created the heavens and the earth, the seas” and everything else. This is Creation language. The text alludes to Exodus 20:11 and points out the significance of Creation and Sabbath in the end times. As the Sabbath symbolizes the biblical story of Creation and Redemption, so rejection of the Creation story leads to rejection of the seventh-day Sabbath and to the establishment of a man-made substitute. The result, indicated in Revelation 14:8-10, is spiritual fornication and separation from God.
God is calling people to worship Him as the Creator, and nowhere in the Bible do we find anything that points so fully to Him as the Creator as does the seventh-day Sabbath. It is no wonder, then, that we see the Sabbath, the original sign of God as Creator as being pivotal in the last days.
Think it through: how does a rejection of a literal six-day Creation weaken the importance of the seventh-day Sabbath? And if our understanding of the seventh-day Sabbath is weakened, why adhere to it when persecution comes?
A Psalm for the Sabbath
Read Psalm 92. What does this tell us, at least in part, about what the experience of Sabbath keeping should be like? Why, when thinking about the Lord, should we express the kind of joy expressed in this psalm?
The psalmist obviously knew the Lord, knew what the Lord was like, knew what the Lord had done, and knew what the Lord was going to do one day. And it is for these reasons that he expresses the joy that he does.
Look, too, at the rich themes expressed in this, a “psalm for the Sabbath day.”
First and foremost, there is praise and thankfulness to God for His loving-kindness and faithfulness. Plus, any “psalm for the Sabbath” would, of course, include acknowledgment of God as Creator, which we see here, as well.
Also, look at the theme of judgment here. In the Bible, God’s judgment is not just against the wicked but also in favor of the righteous (see Dan. 7:20-28). These two aspects of judgment are revealed here in the psalm, as well. Even if we don’t see these promises fulfilled now, we have the promise that this judgment ultimately will come at the end of time, when God creates all things new (Rev. 21:5).
If we get nothing else out of this psalm, we should see that the Sabbath, however sacred, is a time to delight in the Lord, to rejoice in Him and in all that He has done for us and has promised to do. The whole tone of the psalm is that of praise, joy, and happiness, not because of anything that the psalmist had done but only because of all that the Lord had done and promised to do.
What a gift to be given: one-seventh of our lives set apart every week to rest and to be able—free from the busyness and stress of mundane existence—to rejoice in the works of the Lord for us.
How can you learn to rejoice in the Sabbath as does the psalmist here in this psalm? If you are not having that experience, why not?
Further Study: “God created man in His own image. Here is no mystery. There is no ground for the supposition that man was evolved by slow degrees of development from the lower forms of animal or vegetable life. Such teaching lowers the great work of the Creator to the level of man’s narrow, earthly conceptions. Men are so intent upon excluding God from the sovereignty of the universe that they degrade man and defraud him of the dignity of his origin. He who set the starry worlds on high and tinted with delicate skill the flowers of the field, who filled the earth and the heavens with the wonders of His power, when He came to crown His glorious work, to place one in the midst to stand as ruler of the fair earth, did not fail to create a being worthy of the hand that gave him life. The genealogy of our race, as given by inspiration, traces back its origin, not to a line of developing germs, mollusks, and quadrupeds, but to the great Creator.”-Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 45.
Discussion Questions
- Why is the relationship between Sabbath and Creation so significant in these last days? How is this truth expressed in Revelation 14:6, 7? Look again at the question at the end of Wednesday’s lesson as you discuss the above question.
- At about the same time that Charles Darwin started promoting his theory of evolution, God raised up a church that upheld the seventh-day Sabbath as a distinctive belief. More so, God raised up that church to proclaim the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14, which calls upon us specifically to worship the One who created the heavens and the earth. What, then, could be more tragic, or a deeper fall from faith, than for those professing to be members of that church to argue in favor of evolution?
- In recent years, science has revealed a complexity in life that boggles the mind. Charles Darwin had no clue whatsoever about just how complicated even the so-called “simple” cell really is. We know now that even the most “simple” cell is more complicated and more intricate than Darwin probably ever imagined. Look at the irony here: many scientists believe that life arose by chance alone. Yet, the more complexity that science finds in life, the less likely it becomes that chance could have done it. That is, the more that science reveals about the complexity of life, the less likely science’s grand theory about the origin of life, atheistic evolution, becomes. Discuss.
Embracing the World’s Cities, 2
As we look at the mission field, we must look through the compassionate eyes of Jesus. We’re not looking at a target group or mere statistics; we’e looking at real people. They may have given up on church and religion, but they’e open to those who follow Christ and show the love and sympathy of their Master.
And if we’e going to minister to needs, we need to know what those needs are. We need to study our communities. What are people reading, what are they watching, what are they listening to? How do they spend their spare time? What’s causing them pain? What’s bringing them joy?
A few years ago Wayne Krause, the pastor of a church near Sydney, Australia, discovered that some students were arriving at the local public school each day without breakfast. He presented the challenge to his church, and soon the church members were providing food to these hungry kids. Later, when the school decided to hire a chaplain, they turned to the Adventist church. Today Rochelle Madden serves as the school’s chaplain.
“I see my role as chaplain to be a window to Jesus,” says Rochelle. “ want the students, parents, and teachers to see a Christian as someone who really cares about them and what’s going on in their lives.”
Seventh-day Adventists should make cities better places. Are people hungry? Let’s feed them. Are immigrants struggling to adapt? Let’ help them. Does a city park need a clean up? Let’s roll up our sleeves.
In the book of Jeremiah God instructed the Jewish exiles how to live when they got to Babylon: “ut seek the welfare [shalom] of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for its welfare [shalom] and you will find your welfare [shalom]” (Jeremiah 29:7, NIV).
The Hebrew word shalom conveys thoughts of peace, well-being, and prosperity. God is urging the exiles to work and pray for the good of the city. We must do the same today.
Jesus modeled a wholistic ministry that balanced the spiritual and the physical: “esus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness” (Matthew 9:36, NIV). We should use Christ’s ministry as our example and care for physical as well as spiritual needs.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Church Bulletin March 2 2013
CHURCH AT WORSHIP
March 2nd, 2013▪
11:00 a.m.
Coming into the
presence of the one and only true God
Prelude
Song Service Praise
Team
*Introit “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent” Hymn #662
Welcome & Announcements Elder Charlie Reid
Celebrating God’s Presence
+Opening Hymn “Just When I Need Him” Hymn # 512
Call To Prayer “As We Come To You in Prayer” Hymn #671
*Intercessory Prayer Elder Charlie Reid
*Prayer Response “O Thou Who Hearest” Hymn #668
Ministry in Giving:
Offertory Blessing Byron
Hamilton
Worship in Giving: Local Church Budget
Children’s Story Daniel Thompson
School Offering Byron Hamilton
Ministry in Music Ronneil Harewood
Proclamation
Scripture Reading Peter Andre
Ministry in Music
Leroy Gilbert
Sermon “Legacy of Leadership” Gary Thompson
Closing Hymn “Standing on the Promises” Hymn # 518
Sunset Next Friday: 5:53 P.M.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Lesson Study 10 March 2-8 2013
Lesson 10*March 2-8
Stewardship and the Environment
SABBATH AFTERNOON
Memory Text: “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth’ “(Genesis 1:28, NKJV).
The world in which we live is a gift of love from the Creator
God, from ‘Him who made heaven and the earth, the sea and the springs of water’ (Rev. 14:7, NKJV). Within this creation He placed humans, set intentionally in relationship with Himself, other persons, and the surrounding world. Therefore, as Seventh-day Adventists, we hold its preservation and nurture to be intimately related to our service to Him. . . .
“Since human poverty and environmental degradation are interrelated, we pledge ourselves to improve the quality of life for all people. Our goal is a sustainable development of resources while meeting human needs. . . .
“In this commitment we confirm our stewardship of God’s creation and believe that total restoration will be complete only when God makes all things new.”-Excerpted from “Caring for Creation—A Statement on the Environment by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.”
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 9.?
Dominion Given at Creation
According to Genesis 1:26, Adam’s dominion extended to all other created entities—in the sea, on land, and in the air. Dominion includes the idea of ruling or having power over these creatures. Nothing is said about dominion over the forces of nature themselves but only over the creatures. And, according to the text, this rule was universal: Adam was to be, essentially, the ruler of the earth.
Read again Psalm 8. What is David’s response to the honor God gave to humans? What does it mean that we have been given “honor and glory,” especially in the context of humans having been given dominion over the earth?
According to Genesis 2:19, one of Adam’s earliest tasks was to name the animals. Names had great meaning in biblical times. One’s name represented one’s person and, often, one’s status. The authority to give names to the birds and beasts was confirmation of Adam’s status as ruler over the animals.
Read Genesis 2:15. In what ways do you see the principle of stewardship revealed here?
Adam was assigned the task of caring for the Garden, to manage it and tend to its needs. The Hebrew root, smr, translated here as “keep” it, often means “to watch over” or “to protect.” The Garden was a gift to Adam, an expression of God’s love, and Adam was now given responsibility over it, another example of the dominion that Adam received at the time of Creation.
How should our understanding of God as the Creator, or even more specifically our understanding of the Creation story itself, impact the ways in which we treat the environment? Why should our understanding of these things protect us from either gross indifference toward the environment or, in contrast, a fanatical devotion to it?
Caring for Other Creatures
“For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Ps.50:10). What in this text touches on the topic of our stewardship of the earth?
Read Revelation 4:11. How does this text contrast radically with the common atheistic notions of a creation without a creator, a creation that comes into being purely by chance alone?
Creation of the animals was not an accident or an afterthought. God intentionally created them. It was His will that they should exist, and this principle should guide our treatment of them (see also Exod. 23:5, 12; Prov. 12:10; Luke 14:5).
Indeed, cruelty toward animals and indifference toward their suffering are widely recognized as symptomatic of personality disorders. Many organizations have been established to promote good treatment of animals, and rightly so.
However, at the same time, some people have gone so far as to claim that humans are not intrinsically more important than animals, and so humans should not be given preferential treatment. This, in many ways, is a train of thought that flows logically from an evolutionary model of human origins. After all, if we and the animals are separated only by time and chance, why should we be any more special than they are? One philosopher has even argued that a chicken, or even a fish, has more “personhood” than does a fetus in the womb or even a newborn infant. However ridiculous these ideas might sound, they can be derived, with a fair amount of logic, from an atheistic evolutionary model of human origins.
Of course, such ideas are not supported in Scripture. Humans have special status in God’s plan in contrast to the animals.(See Gen. 3:21, Exod. 29:38, Lev. 11:3.)
Put yourself in the mind of an atheist evolutionist and work through the reasons for why you think that animals should be treated no differently than humans. What should this tell you about how important our presuppositions are in determining the outcome of our thought?
The Sabbath and the Environment
As we have seen, the concept of stewardship, in the context of the way in which we take care of the planet, is tied directly to the Creation. Our views on Creation will influence our views on the way in which we should relate to the Creation.
For some, the Creation is to be exploited, used, even pillaged to whatever degree necessary in order to fulfill our own desires and wants. Others, in contrast, all but worship the Creation itself (see Rom. 1:25). Then there is the biblical view, which should give us a balanced perspective on the way in which we relate to the world that the Lord created for us.
Read Exodus 20:8-11. What do we find in this commandment that relates to stewardship?
“God set aside the seventh-day Sabbath as a memorial and perpetual reminder of His creative act and establishment of the world. In resting on that day, Seventh-day Adventists reinforce the special sense of relationship with the Creator and His creation. Sabbath observance underscores the importance of our integration with the total environment.”-Excerpted from “Caring for Creation—A Statement on the Environment.”
By pointing us to the fact that God created us and the world that we inhabit, the Sabbath is a constant reminder that we are not wholly autonomous creatures able to do whatever we wish to others and to the world itself. Sabbath should teach us that we are, indeed, stewards, and that stewardship entails responsibilities. And, as we can see in the commandment itself, responsibility extends to how we treat those who are “under” us.
Think about how you treat other people, particularly those who are under your dominion. Are you treating them with respect, fairness, and grace? Or are you taking advantage of the power that you have over them? If the latter, remember, you will one day have to answer for your actions.
Stewards of Our Health
As we have seen throughout this quarter, God’s original Creation was “good,” even “very good.” Everything and everyone came forth from the hand of the Creator in a state of perfection. There was no sickness, no disease, no death. Contrary to the evolutionary model—in which disease, sickness, and death are part of the very means of creation—these things came only after the Fall, after the entrance of sin. Thus, it is only against the background of the Creation story that we can better understand the biblical teaching about health and healing.
Our bodies are the vehicle for our brain, and it is through our brain that the Holy Spirit communicates with us. If we wish to have communion with God, we must take care of our bodies and brains. If we abuse our bodies, we destroy ourselves, both physically and spiritually. According to these texts, the whole question of health itself, and how we take care of our bodies, the “temple of God,” is a moral issue, one filled with eternal consequences.
Care of our health is a vital part of our relationship to God. Obviously, some aspects of our health are beyond our power. We all have defective genes, we all are exposed to unknown chemicals or other damaging agents, and we are all at risk of physical injury that may damage our health. God knows all this. But to the extent that lies within our power, we are to do our best to maintain our bodies, made in the image of God.
“Let none who profess godliness regard with indifference the health of the body, and flatter themselves that intemperance is no sin, and will not affect their spirituality. A close sympathy exists between the physical and the moral nature. The standard of virtue is elevated or degraded by the physical habits. . . . Any habit which does not promote healthful action in the human system degrades the higher and nobler faculties.”-Ellen G. White, The Review and Herald,Jan. 25, 1881.
Stewardship Principles
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17, NIV). How does this text help to set the foundation for a biblically based concept of stewardship?
We often tend to think of stewardship in terms of money. As we’ve seen this week, however, stewardship involves much more than just that. Yet, whether dealing with money or with environmental concerns or our own health, there are certain principles involved in good stewardship, principles that have their ultimate foundation in the Creation, as depicted in Genesis. In the end, because God is our Creator, and because everything we have is a gift from Him, we are obligated before Him to be good stewards of whatever has been entrusted to us.
Read Matthew 25:14-30 to see how this parable illustrates the rewards of good stewardship. What is the message of this parable regarding the principles of stewardship in general?
“To His servants Christ commits ‘His goods’-something to be put to use for Him. He gives ‘to every man his work.’ Each has his place in the eternal plan of heaven. Each is to work in co-operation with Christ for the salvation of souls. Not more surely is the place prepared for us in the heavenly mansions than is the special place designated on earth where we are to work for God.”-Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 326, 327.
What are you doing with the talents with which you have been entrusted (remember—everything good comes from “the Father of the heavenly lights”)? What choices can you make that will enable you to use these gifts in better service for the Lord’s work?
Further Study: “Christ’s followers have been redeemed for service. Our Lord teaches that the true object of life is ministry. Christ Himself was a worker, and to all His followers He gives the law of service—service to God and to their fellow men. Here Christ has presented to the world a higher conception of life than they had ever known. By living to minister for others, man is brought into connection with Christ. The law of service becomes the connecting link which binds us to God and to our fellow men.”-Ellen G, White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 326.
Discussion Questions
- Some secularists have proposed that the value of life should not be measured by whether the life is human but by its potential to live a pleasant life. They might value a young, healthy chimpanzee more than they do an old, diseased human. For instance, read the following quote from Australian Peter Singer, who argues that, in certain cases, humans shouldn’t have any more rights than some animals do: “Far from having concern for all life, or a scale of concern impartially based on the nature of the life in question, those who protest against abortion but dine regularly on the bodies of chickens, pigs and calves show only a biased concern for the lives of members of our species. For on any fair comparison of morally relevant characteristics, like rationality, self-consciousness, awareness, autonomy, pleasure, pain, and so on, the calf, the pig, and the much-derided chicken come out well ahead of the fetus at any stage of pregnancy—while if we make the comparison with a fetus of less than three months old, a fish would show more signs of consciousness.”-Peter Singer, Writings on an Ethical Life (New York, N.Y.: The Ecco Press, 2000), p. 156.Singer, of course, is an evolutionist; thus, he believes that there’s really no overt qualitative difference between us and the animals. We just have evolved into something different from what they did, that’s all.What is radically wrong with this picture? How should we as Christians respond to this kind of thinking?
- If you can find it, bring to class the entire text of “Caring for Creation—A Statement on the Environment.” (This statement can be found at adventist.org/beliefs/statements/main-stat5.html.) Otherwise, use the sections quoted in this week’s Sabbath study. Focus on how it ties in the Genesis Creation to the environment. Dwell more on how a proper view of Creation can protect us from taking an extreme position.
A Heart Full of Thanks
Ujjal is a young man, but a hole in his heart had left him chronically tired and subject to fainting spells. He couldn't work or even ride his bicycle.
One day Ujjal's friend Panalal told him that he was learning about Jesus, the powerful and loving God whom Christians worship. Panalal invited Ujjal to a meeting in his home. Ujjal went, hoping that the God of the Christians would heal him. He listened intently as Gopal, the Global Mission pioneer, explained that God forgives our sins if we believe and ask Him.
When Gopal finished his talk, he invited those with special prayer requests to stand. Ujjal stood. Gopal asked what his prayer request was, and Ujjal described his heart problem. Ujjal bowed his head while Gopal prayed. Immediately Ujjal felt an energy surge through him. He told Gopal that he believed he had been healed and that he wanted to become a Christian.
Gopal came to Ujjal's home to study the Bible, and soon Ujjal, his parents, and his two younger brothers accepted Jesus as their Savior.
The family attended an Adventist church in town, but Ujjal wanted to share his faith with others living in a nearby village. With his heart trouble gone, Ujjal rode his bicycle to the village and began sharing the gospel. He met a man with chronic stomach trouble and told him, "I know who can heal you without medicine." He told the man about Jesus and offered to pray for him. Ujjal took his pastor and Gopol to pray for the man as well, and soon this man and his family accepted Jesus as their Savior and asked to be baptized.
Ujjal asked the family to open their home to hold prayer meetings. The other villagers had been watching the family and saw the changes in their lives. One by one the man and his family invited their neighbors to let Ujjal visit them and pray for them. As the people learned about Jesus, they began taking Bible studies and preparing for baptism.
Ujjal became a lay evangelist, and so far has led more than 50 people in this village to Christ. He also began working in another village where more people are learning about the loving and all-powerful God and accepting Jesus as their Lord.
Our mission offerings help support the work of Global Mission workers such as Gopol and Ujjal in Southern Asia and around the world.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. email: info@adventistmission.org website: www.adventistmission.org
Monday, February 25, 2013
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