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Re: Lesson #1 - Paul and Rome
[Re: Rosangela]
#126167
07/01/10 05:36 AM
07/01/10 05:36 AM
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SDA Active Member 2023
5500+ Member
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 5,636
California, USA
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Due to some restructuring, I will be involved in the adult SS this coming quarter. So it looks like I'll have the opportunity to hang out here again. I hope you participate not only this quarter, but in all the subsequent ones. I think a discussion of the SS lesson during the week makes us better prepared to present/discuss it on the Sabbath. I hope so. And I definitely agree that discussion and debate during the week helps us learn and teach better.
By God's grace, Arnold
1 John 5:11-13 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
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Here is the link to this week's Sabbath School Lesson Study and Discussion Material: Click Here
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Re: Lesson #1 - Paul and Rome
[Re: Rosangela]
#126177
07/02/10 08:18 PM
07/02/10 08:18 PM
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Brazil
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Called to be saints. What does that mean? A saint is someone consacrated to a holy life. Therefore, those called to be saints are called to be holy. Our sanctification is God's object in all His dealing with us. He has chosen us from eternity that we might be holy. ... As Christians we have pledged ourselves to fulfil the responsibilities resting on us, and to show to the world that we have a close connection with God. ...
God expects of us perfect obedience to His law. This law is the echo of His voice, saying to us, Holier, yea holier still. Desire after the fullness of the grace of Christ, yea, long--hunger and thirst--after righteousness. The promise is, "Ye shall be filled." Let your heart be filled with a longing for this righteousness. ... God has plainly stated that He expects us to be perfect, and because He expects this, He has made provision for us to be partakers of the divine nature. Only thus can we gain success in striving for eternal life. The power is given by Christ. ...
God's people are to reflect to the world the bright rays of His glory. But in order for them to do this, they must stand where these rays can fall on them. They must cooperate with God. The heart must be cleansed of all that leads to wrong. The Word of God must be read and studied with an earnest desire to gain from it spiritual power. The bread of heaven must be eaten and assimilated, becoming part of the life. Thus we gain eternal life. Thus is answered the prayer of Christ, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17.
"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." Is it your will that your desires and inclinations shall be brought into harmony with the divine mind? {OHC 213.2-7} Isn't this beautiful? A longing to be holier and holier should characterize our lives. God has from eternity chosen men to be holy. "This is the will of God concerning you, even your sanctification." The echo of His voice comes to us, ever saying, "Holier, holier still." And ever our answer is to be, "Yes, Lord, holier still."
No man receives holiness as a birthright, or as a gift from any other human being. Holiness is the gift of God through Christ. Those who receive the Saviour become sons of God. They are His spiritual children, born again, renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Their minds are changed. With clearer vision they behold eternal realities. They are adopted into God's family, and they become conformed to His likeness, changed by His Spirit from glory to glory. From cherishing supreme love for self, they come to cherish supreme love for God and for Christ. {ST, December 17, 1902 par. 1, 2}
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Re: Lesson #1 - Paul and Rome
[Re: Rosangela]
#126178
07/02/10 08:23 PM
07/02/10 08:23 PM
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We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were “saints” in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are “saints” whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, “We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves.” Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are “called to be saints” by that same voice which constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian’s duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, “looking unto Jesus,” and our saintship will soon be apparent.
C. H. Spurgeon http://reformedbaptistfellowship.wordpress.com/2009/07/05/%E2%80%9Ccalled-to-be-saints-%E2%80%9D/
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