Digital Diary | Robby – a short film . . . .

[Burnt Mills Sabbath School]

 

Dear Friend,

Welcome to Burnt Mills Sabbath School.  We trust you had a good week. We invite you to come study, fellowship and worship at Burnt Mills this sabbath – August 27th.

 

Our Sabbath School program at 10:30 a.m. features Digital Diary | Robby – a short film about accepting others just as Christ accepts you (Romans 15:7).  Sometimes, when we are alone and feeling trapped, we have the best chance of catching glimpses of God in our life.  Robby is a coming-of-age story, and yet a story for us all, in which Robby learns to accept his family and gain strength from his relationship with God. 

 

We know you have been blessed by the contemporary comments on the weekly lessons - often tied to a current national or world event.  Be sure to study and share your own views and understanding of this week’s lesson.  It will be a blessing to others in your class.

 

Freedom In Christ | August 28, 2010 | Adapted from Contemporary Comments

 

Romans 8:1-17 (New International Version)

 

Life Through the Spirit

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  The mind of sinful man[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

 

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

 

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.  For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

 

 

 

“After a 12-hour standoff in a Filipino tour bus, eight Hong Kong tourists died when a disgruntled ex-police officer took the people hostage. Seven Chinese hostages died as well as the gunman who wanted to get his job back.

 

Fortunately, there were survivors. After police officers shot the tires of the bus out, people began crawling out the back door of the vehicle. The bus driver crawled out a window and ran to safety. Earlier in the day the ex-police officer had released nine people including some children.

 

Rolando Mendoza stormed the bus carrying an M16 rifle as a way to demand that he be reinstated into his former position in the police force. A couple years ago he was charged with four other officers of robbery, extortion, and threatening a Manila hotel chief.

 

In a similar sense, we live on a planet that has been hijacked. Satan has captured the human race and holds over our heads threats to destroy us. And millions have died at the hands of his cruelty. The Devil demands his position be reinstated. Unless he gets his way, he plans to take the whole human race with him. We are in his trap, condemned to die.

 

Can we get out alive? Where is the door to freedom?

 

The Bible says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). In this week’s lesson we will focus on the freedom every Christian may have in Christ.

 

Our freedom was purchased at an infinite cost. The perfect Son of God stood before the murderous threats of the hijacker and said, “Let all these prisoner’s free. I will die in their place. Your hatred is most directed toward Me. So, unleash all hell’s fury at Me. I will die so that they may live.”

 

Romans 8 takes you off one bus (as it were) and puts you on another bus. One bus we were born onto—living in the flesh, letting our carnal nature rule our hearts. The other bus is one we choose to get into—life in the Spirit. We do not have power to free ourselves from being hostage to self. We are trapped. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11), to give us power to live in a brand new way.

 

In this sinful world that is ruled by the Prince of darkness, there is death. Injustice reigns everywhere. The global peace index ranks the Philippines as 130 out of 149 countries 4 when it comes to violent crimes, access to weapons and political instability. Just recently a Methodist Korean pastor was shot and killed on his way to the Manila airport. It is a cruel world.

 

The Apostle Paul is well aware of this when he writes, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39).

 

Could you be on a tour bus with a mad gunman waving an M16 in your face, and still have the peace that nothing can separate you from Christ? My heart breaks for the families who lost loved ones in this sad and horrific incident. I want to be safe in Jesus, no matter where I may find myself. In Christ there is no condemning gun pointing at me cutting my eternal connection to God. He loved me so much, that He took the ultimate hit for me, so that I could spend eternity free from evil hijackers.”

 

Wishing you an abundance of God's sabbath blessings.

 

Regards,

 

Joseph Pakkianathan

Burnt Mills Sabbath School