. . . you are no longer foreigners and strangers !
Burnt Mills Sabbath School
Dear Friend,
Welcome to Burnt Mills Sabbath School !
Our Sabbath School Program at 10:30 am on November 6, 2010 takes another look at the mission emphasis this quarter – the Inter-American Division. The Inter-American Division is made up of the countries of Central America, the four northernost countries of South America, and the islands of the Caribbean. One of these islands, Hispaniola, is home to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help :
- rebuild or repair some of the 115 churches that were destroyed or severely damaged
- rebuild the women’s dormitory and repair the men’s dormitory on the campus of Haiti Adventist University
- provide funds to help children buy school uniforms, shoes, and textbooks so they can return to school.
We hope the following weekly comments on the lesson from Contemporary Comments and Ellen White is a blessing.
Uriah: Faith of a Foreigner | November 6, 2010 |
1 Samuel 26:5-11 - (New International Version)
5 Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.
6 David then asked Ahimelek the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?” “I’ll go with you,” said Abishai.
7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.
8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”
9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?
10 As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “the LORD himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.
11 But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”
Esther 8:17 - (New International Version) “In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.”
Psalm 51 – (A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.)
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Isaiah 56:3-7 – (New International Version)
3 Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say,
“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let no eunuch complain,
“I am only a dry tree.”
4 For this is what the LORD says:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant—
5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.
6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD
to minister to him,
to love the name of the LORD,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.”
Ephesians 2:19 - (New International Version)
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household . .
Comments from Ellen White:
“The Bible has little to say in praise of men. Little space is given to recounting the virtues of even the best men who have ever lived. This silence is not without purpose; it is not without a lesson. All the good qualities that men possess are the gift of God; their good deeds are performed by the grace of God through Christ. Since they owe all to God the glory of whatever they are or do belongs to Him alone; they are but instruments in His hands. More than this—as all the lessons of Bible history teach—it is a perilous thing to praise or exalt men; for if one comes to lose sight of his entire dependence on God, and to trust to his own strength, he is sure to fall. . . .
“It is impossible for us in our own strength to maintain the conflict; and whatever diverts the mind from God, whatever leads to self-exaltation or to self-dependence, is surely preparing the way for our overthrow. The tenor of the Bible is to inculcate distrust of human power and to encourage trust in divine power.
“It was the spirit of self-confidence and self-exaltation that prepared the way for David’s fall. Flattery and the subtle allurements of power and luxury were not without effect upon him. Intercourse with surrounding nations also exerted an influence for evil. According to the customs prevailing among Eastern rulers, crimes not to be tolerated in subjects were uncondemned in the king; the monarch was not under obligation to exercise the same self-restraint as the subject. All this tended to lessen David’s sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. And instead of relying in humility upon the power of Jehovah, he began to trust to his own wisdom and might.”— Conflict and Courage, p. 177.
Adapted from Contemporary Comments:
“How would you like to receive a bomb in the mail? That almost happened this last week to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In fact, four parcel bombs were discovered in Athens, Greece this last Monday. According to BBC News, “One of the bombs, addressed to the Mexican embassy in Athens, exploded in the offices of a private courier company, slightly injuring an employee. The other two parcels were addressed to the Belgian and Dutch embassies in the city.”
Late last week a couple more bombs were discovered by German officials in Yemen that were addressed to a couple of synagogues in Chicago. The cargo bombs were made of the explosive PETN and were planted in printer toner cartridges that were wired to the circuit boards of cell phones. The explosives could have caused “significant damage” if they had gone off.
A critical tip off supposedly came from a defected al-Qaida supporter who gave an 11th hour tip. The CIA has been working with Gulf spy agencies to place double agents into the al-Qaida system. One of the defectors was discovered and assassinated. But the former Saudi jihadist who spoke up actually gave tracking information that saved many lives.
Our Sabbath school lesson for this week reveals a parcel that was delivered that resulted in lost lives. When King David sleeps with Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba), he desperately tries to cover his sin by encouraging his faithful servant to take a break from war and go home and sleep with his wife. Uriah loyally sleeps outside the palace gates and refuses to go home. So David sends a secret letter with Uriah (a letter bomb if you will) to give to Joab, the head of Israel’s army. In the letter David asks Joab to push Uriah to the front of the fighting and then pull back the troops leaving Uriah alone to fight and die.
The domino effect of David’s sin not only causes the death of Uriah, but the loss of Bathsheba’s baby and a deterioration in David’s family that eventually impacts the whole nation. Little did Uriah know he was carrying his own death sentence in a letter. Oh, for an 11th hour interception!
We are Uriah. We carry a death sentence in our very genes. Without an interception, we are doomed to die in fighting our own battles against the enemy of our lives. But Jesus came and gave the critical tip off information that saved our lives. The life saving message is called the gospel.
Every day Satan sends me letter bombs. He wants me dead. I’m glad for heavenly agents who intercede. I’m glad for the greatest tip off in history. I stand behind Jesus. He took the hit.”
Wishing you an abundance of Sabbath blessings – fellowship, nurture, peace, love, joy, rest . . . . !
Regards,
Joseph Pakkianathan
Burnt Mills Sabbath School