Wow, only one class left...but it will be a great one. Meet in class (E105) at 9:AM for a surprise, sweet parting words from Cathy and then head to the Town Centre for a free, fabulous Brunch of Thanks at 10:30. Yum and Fun all just for you.
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So here it is.
CROWNS
Crown of Righteousness – II Tim. 4:7-8 – given to those who love His appearing and have lived faithfully serving Him.
Crown of Eternal Life – Rev. 2:10; James 1:12 - given to those who love Him and who have endured testing and temptation.
Imperishable Crown – I Cor. 9:25 – given to those who have faithfully run the race and who have exercised self-control in order to serve the Lord and finish the race.
Crown of Glory– I Pet. 5:4 – given to those who are the undershepherds (Jesus being our Chief Shepherd), who have faithfully cared for the flock of God. Context: Peter is speaking to the Pastors/Elders/Bishops
In all of the above passages, the Greek word for "crown" is stephanos which means a wreath or garland given as a prize to victors in public games. It is a mark of royal or exalted status.
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Margie Smith was gracious enough to send her testimony our way. But also, Cristine Cole's testimony is posted after Margie's, so don't forget to scroll down. It was requested that it be published so anyone who has Seventh Day Adventists in their life might have a educated perspective on what they believe. Thank you Margie and Cristine.
My Testimony
by Margie Smith
My parents brought us all up in the church. Palmcroft Baptist Church was founded by my parents and a core group of believers that became my extended family especially while my dad was in the navy during my early years of my life. My parents exposed me to many role models of the Christian faith, other than their own lives. Both of my grandmothers, several missionaries that our family supported and were guests in our home and were friends of our family, church families that frequented our home all touched my life.
It is interesting how the four of us kids responded to a similar up-bringing. My two oldest brothers remained distant and rebellious to the church and the rules that the Baptist beliefs put upon us. My youngest brother and I respected and followed whatever our parents and the church dictated. I was baptized at age 8 after my pastor, Leroy Thomas talked to me and said I understood and was ready to make a public statement of faith.
Because my youngest brother was becoming friends with some kids that were a negative influence on him, my parents moved from McDowell and 13Th Street to 16Th Street and Indian School so he could attend Phoenix Christian High School (in fact, we lived right across the street). It was there he flourished as a popular guy and found the girl that eventually became his wife.
During my early years at Christian High, I began to question whether I was really a Christian. Christian High was made up of several church denominations, and a great number of young people did not believe in eternal security…the idea that when you sinned you could loose your salvation. During one of the chapels in my sophomore year, when an evangelical pastor Dick Marcado preached about salvation, I renewed my faith in Christ, established the fact that I would not go to hell if I sinned and consider that date my birth date into the faith.
The scriptures that were foundational to that belief were John 10: 28-29:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand…And Romans 8:35-39
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation…"So I do not take up too much space here, please look these up and read them in their entirety. They are precious to our faith.
During my years at Christian High, I met my future husband, and after 7 years of dating and now 46 years of marriage, I can see how God has overseen all events of my life, the good and the tough times, for my growth and understanding of Him.
In faith I know these things to be true:
- God is full of love and grace, and he fills me with those qualities the more I walk with Him. Psalms 37:25 David writes "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken". A missionary friend of our family stated this as a great philosophy of life: "Those who leave everything in God’s hand will see God’s hand in everything".
- I am still a work in progress and am not there yet. It took me a while to recognize the benefits of failure. Failure teaches you what doesn’t work. They say Thomas Edison said "Don’t call it failure, call it an education" I am confident in Philippians 1:6 "that he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus"
- I want to be faithful to God until I die. When He returns, I want to be caught looking forward to that return and doing whatever He has created me to be…a purpose driven life. Faithful servants never retire from serving God. Matt. 25:23
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My Testimony
by Cristine Cole
The first one was worshiping on Saturday (or "Sabbath" as we liked to call it). As a Seventh-day Adventist, or SDA, I was taught that it was of utmost importance to worship on Saturday, the "seventh day" of the week (Hence the name "Seventh-day Adventist"). Worshiping on Sunday was considered to be breaking the fourth of the Ten Commandments and at the End Times this would cause you to have The Mark of the Beast! (talked about in Revelation). Not only were we taught to worship on Saturday, we were taught to "keep it holy". This meant doing nothing secular from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. The interpretation of "secular" varied depending on which part of the country or world you lived-so it was very subjective and caused a lot of hypocrisy.
The second doctrine that affected my life was the doctrine of the Investigative Judgment which taught that there is an actual Sanctuary in heaven, of which the earthly Tabernacle, or Sanctuary of the Israelites, was a type. They misinterpret Hebrews 9 and teach that when Christ ascended to heaven, He, as our High Priest, went into the Holy Place only, (just as the Levitical priests did daily) and did not enter the Most Holy Place (something that the High Priest did only once a year on the Day of Atonement) until October 22, 1844. At that date, they teach that Jesus finally finished His work by cleansing the Heavenly Sanctuary of all sins and started reviewing, or investigating, the records of every believer to see if he had confessed all sins. Unfortunately one never knew when his/her name would come up to be investigated. Those who didn't pass this review would not be saved! As a result, one could never be sure if he/she was saved. There was no such thing as Security of Salvation within the SDA Church. So I grew up in constant fear; fear that I hadn't "kept" the Sabbath properly or fear that I hadn't confessed all my sins.
God intervened in my life in a big way when my first child was born and I was invited to Bible Study Fellowship, or BSF, a nondenominational Bible study. I was expecting a little Bible Study with some nice Christian fellowship with other young moms, but God had other plans for me! He radically changed my belief system! It took several years, but after studying the Bible alone with the help of the Holy Spirit, God was able to teach me about Christ and the true Gospel, the Good News of how His death washed away all my sins if I believed in Him and accepted His forgiveness and that He freely gives me eternal life. The doctrine of the Investigative Judgment was wrong! Christ's work of Redemption was accomplished at the cross and He didn't have to wait until 1844 to complete it!! Hebrews 8:1 says, "We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven". Romans 8:34 says, "Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." It was a glorious, glorious day when I finally grasped that passage in Ephesians 2:8,9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." What a relief to know my salvation did not depend on anything I did but had everything to do with what Christ did for me! It felt like a huge load had been lifted off of my shoulders!
During my 8th year in BSF, we studied the New Testament epistles, including the book of Hebrews! For the first time I learned that as believers we now live in the New Covenant, thanks to Jesus' life, death and resurrection opening the way. This made the Old Covenant with all its rules and regulations obsolete (Hebrews 8:13)! I realized that as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, I had not let go of the Old Covenant way of life and was hanging onto the old rules and regulations, especially in regard to the day of worship (Saturday). As I continued to study, several passages became very meaningful to me and I clung to them. One of these was Galatians 5:1 which says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yolk of slavery." Paul had written this to the Galatians who, as new Christians were falling back to living under the Old Covenant and its rules and regulations. In the New Covenant I found out that I am no longer bound to worshiping on a particular day. Colossians 2:16,17 says, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." Romans 14:5,6 says, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord." We are told in Hebrews 10:25 to "not give up meeting together"; however, that is very different than equating a particular day of worship with salvation, as I was taught.
In 1998, 9 years after I first started BSF, I made the decision to leave the SDA denomination and follow God and His Word alone. It was a very major and frightening step for me but God promised He would never leave me and He has kept His word. At first, I experienced rejection from my parents, but that has since changed and they respect my decision to leave their church. God has blessed me with a very large family of believers in the churches I have attended since leaving. Through the years He has helped me grow in Him through Bible studies such as this one in Hebrews. He has taken away the fears I had and has replaced them with peace and security in Him and a desire to love, obey and please Him. Before, my obedience was motivated by fear; now, I obey Him because of what He has already done for me.
I thank God for giving me the freedom that only He can offer and I try to share that freedom with others who will listen. Shortly after I left the SDA Church, God opened up a ministry in which I am able to help other SDA's who are discovering the true Gospel and need encouragement as they leave the SDA denomination.
All I can say is, TO GOD BE THE GLORY FOR ALL THE THINGS HE HAS DONE IN MY LIFE!
Thank you all for letting me take your pictures in class and for your commitment to making our class the best ever.
Let's party this coming Tuesday and celebrate our love of Cathy and Hebrews.
The happy blogger, Meribeth
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Cathy's Web Site
Cathy's email: cathywilson@q.com
Hebrews Week 8
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Luke 9:23-24 – "And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.’"
In our daily lives, what does dying to self look like?
When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you sting and hurt with the insult of the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ – that is dying to self.
When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence – that is dying to self.
When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance, when you can stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus endured it – that is dying to self.
When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any attitude, any interruption by the will of God – that is dying to self.
When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works, or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown – that is dying to self.
When you see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances – that is dying to self.
When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself, can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart – that is dying to self!***************************************
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