Sabbath School lesson is one of the world-wide lessons studied by Seventh-day Adventist Church members for quarter two of 2023. The adult Bible study lesson for this second quarter was written by Pastor Mark Finley. The topic for this quarter is “Three Cosmic Messages,” and the Sabbath School lesson for this week April 15-21, “Fear God and Give Glory to Him” Join Pastor Mark Finely as he gives a short preview of this week’s lesson.

<p>Sabbath School lesson is one of the world-wide lessons studied by Seventh-day Adventist Church members for quarter two of 2023. The adult Bible study lesson for this second quarter was written by Pastor Mark Finley. The topic for this quarter is “Three Cosmic Messages,” and the Sabbath School lesson for this week April 15-21, “Fear God and Give Glory to Him” Join Pastor Mark Finely as he gives a short preview of this week’s lesson.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

2nd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

01 Jesus Wins- Satan Loses

02 A Moment of Destiny

03 The Everlasting Gospel

04 Fear God and Give Glory to Him

05 The Good News of the Judgment

06 The Hour of His Judgment

07 Worshiping the Creator

08 The Sabbath and the End

09 A City Called Confusion

10 Satan’s Final Deceptions

11 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 1

12 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2


We're traveling through the book of Revelation in this series in our Sabbath school called 3 Cosmic Messages. In the first 3 lessons, let's review them a moment. In lesson number 1, we titled it Jesus Wins and Satan Loses. In that lesson, we showed that Christ has been victorious over every battle with Satan through ceaseless ages of eternity. And he'll be successful in this battle, victorious in this battle, an overcomer in this battle at end time.

And because Jesus overcame, we can overcome. In the second lesson, we studied the importance of choice. We called it a moment of destiny. Although there is a moment of destiny when Christ comes, every moment in our life is a moment of destiny. We looked at the 2 harvests in that second lesson, the golden grain representing the righteous, the gory grapes representing the wicked.

And we noticed the fact that in Jesus, because of Jesus and through Jesus, we can make positive choices and live eternally. In the third lesson, lesson number 3 for the week number 3, in this second quarter of 2023, we studied the fact of the everlasting gospel and a message to go to the ends of the earth. And we noted that because of Jesus and his death on the cross, his blood covers our sins, that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, that eternal life is ours as We reach out and take it by faith, not because of who we are, but because of what Jesus has done for us. We noticed as well in that third lesson that there's purpose in life and meaning in life as we sense that we were born for this moment. We could have been born 100 years ago or 500 years ago.

We were born for this moment, to participate with Christ in sharing the gospel with people around us, And some of us going on mission trips and taking it to the ends of the earth. Revelation 14, 6 says, I saw another angel flying in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel, to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Then verse 7, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him that made heaven, earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters. So in our lesson this week, we're looking at 2 expressions, fear God and give glory to him. Revelation 14, 7.

Now there are some people that have this idea, they say, it's kind of frightening to think about the expression, fear God. The expression fear God does not necessarily mean to shake and tremble and quake in God's presence. If we're not living in harmony with God's will, it may be necessary to shake sometimes, to shake us into repentance. But in this text, fear God does not necessarily mean that. It means respect God, reverence God, or reverence him enough to obey him.

Often, fear God in the Bible is acquainted with obeying God. You find that throughout Scripture. Let me just give you 1 example of that in the book Ecclesiastes. In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon, we read these words. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 13 and 14.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it's good or whether it be evil." Notice, fear God, keep his commandments, And God will bring every work into judgment. Notice we had the everlasting gospel in verse 6. We had fearing God in verse 7.

And also in the middle of verse 7, you have the judgment. So fearing God has to do with loving Christ sufficiently enough to obey him. So fear God is taking God seriously. That's what fearing God is all about. It's taking God seriously.

It's not playing around with faith, but it's having a serious approach to religion where God becomes number 1 in my life. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6, verse 33, seek you first the kingdom of God. So the expression fear God has to do what I think. It has to do with a mind totally committed to Christ. It has to do with a mind totally dedicated to Christ.

It has to do with a mind where there's nothing between me and Jesus, that I've taken God seriously, that I've respected him, I've reverenced him, and that leads to something in my life. Fear God and do what? Give glory to him. What does it mean to give glory to God? To give glory to God means to honor him in my lifestyle.

We bring out this in a couple significant passages in the lesson. If you go over to Wednesday's lesson, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19 and 20. How do we give glory to God? Fearing God has to do with our thinking. Giving glory to God has to do with the way we live.

Fearing God has to do with our mind and our thoughts. Giving glory to God has to do with our actions. And so, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19 and 20. I bring this out in Wednesday's lesson. 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verse 19 and 20.

What? Know you not Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own. Verse 20 puts it this way. It says, Therefore, therefore, whatever you Eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all what? Do all to the glory of God.

It says, for you're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Glorify God in your body, your spirit. First Corinthians 10.31 adds this to us. In First Corinthians 10.31, it says, whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So glorify God in your body, that is the things you take in. In the food that I'm eating, am I glorifying God? In the things that I'm imbibing in and placing in my body, am I glorifying God? Do I glorify God with my body in all of the practices of my life, my physical practices. Am I glorifying God?

And then it says, whatever you eat or drink, whatever you do, am I glorifying God in the things that I'm watching on the internet? Am I glorifying God in the music that I'm listening to, my glorifying God in the places that my feet take me to go. So when the Bible says, fear God and give glory to him, we fear him by taking him seriously in what we think, by placing him first in our lives. Like the Bible says in Colossians 3, verse 1 and 2, set not your affection on things below, but set your affection on things above where Christ is sat at the right hand of God. You find that quotation in Tuesday's lesson.

And Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 says, looking unto Jesus. I've made a comment on this idea of the mind and fear of God having to do with the mind. You know, in Philippians 2, verse 5, it says, "'Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.'" And I make a comment on that. "'The mind is the citadel of our being. It's the wellspring of our actions.

The word let means to allow or to choose. It speaks of a volitional act of the will. The choice to have the mind of Christ is the choice to allow Jesus to shape our thinking by filling our minds with the things of eternity. That has to do with fearing God. Now, what about giving glory to God?

I have placed, I've talked a little bit about that here in Wednesday's lesson, where it says, when God is the center of our lives, see that's what it means to fear God, it's live to live a God-centered life. When God is the center of our lives, our 1 desire is to give him glory to him, whether that's through our diet, our dress, our attainment, or our interaction with others. We give glory to God as we reveal his character of love to the world through our commitment to doing his will. The lesson ends on Friday with some very pertinent questions. And in the second question on page 36 says, how can we avoid illegalism when we discuss the biblical concepts of holiness, overcoming and victory?

Why must we always understand that it was Christ's victory for us at the cross that alone remains the foundation of our hope of salvation, regardless of our victories or even our failures here and now? I want you to spend time in this lesson focusing on 2 things. 1, that our thinking leads to actions, but actions lead to more thinking. So fearing God, taking him seriously, making God the center of our thoughts. When we finish the class as a teacher or we finish the class as a student, we want to reemphasize the fact of God-centered living, of making God the center of every thought, bringing every thought into captivity, as Paul says in Corinthians, to Christ.

Then we want as well to emphasize very clearly in this lesson that not only what we think is important, but how that's translated into our actions. How do we translate our thoughts into actions by making a positive choice to serve Christ in every single thing we do? The discussion can revolve around What does it mean to live an obedient life and not be legalistic? What is legalism? Can you ever be legalistic if you do what God says?

Can you be legalistic? Can you be saved by grace and not do what God says? Is it possible to be saved by grace and live knowingly disobedient lives? So wrestle with some of those thoughts. Let's pray that God will help us to take him seriously.

Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity to take you seriously. Thank you that in everything we can do, we can follow you. We want our lives to glorify you every moment. In Christ's name, amen. This media was brought to you by Audioverse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more.

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Series

2nd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

04 Fear God and Give Glory to Him

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 Jesus Wins- Satan Loses

10m

02 A Moment of Destiny

8m

03 The Everlasting Gospel

9m

04 Fear God and Give Glory to Him

11m

05 The Good News of the Judgment

7m

06 The Hour of His Judgment

11m

07 Worshiping the Creator

8m

08 The Sabbath and the End

10m

09 A City Called Confusion

13m

10 Satan’s Final Deceptions

13m

11 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 1

15m

12 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2

12m

Sound Doctrine