Sabbath School Today, Volume 9 - Paul E. Penno

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Chapter 29 Life in the Early Church In the space of a few weeks the most significant events in human history had happened: Jesus completed His ministry, was crucified, was resurrected, and had ascended to heaven. His confused and frightened followers huddled together as Jesus had instructed them to do. They used their time wisely, probably searching the Scriptures then available to understand how Christ had perfectly fulfilled all the Messianic prophecies. We can almost imagine the men who walked with Christ on the Emmaus Road repeating everything they could remember of how He had explained the Scriptures to them. No matter how compelling, the method of using various texts to prove theological points, argument alone is inadequate. Preaching never reaches the heart without the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that and told His disciples "I will not leave you as orphans" (John 14:18, New American Standard Bible; "comfortless" in the King James Version). Jesus promised, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you" (John 14:16, 17). Ezekiel had predicted this centuries before: "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances" (Eze. 36:27). The Ezekiel passage defines the process of God's way to achieve righteousness in sinful humans and shows the essential role of the Holy Spirit in this process. Thus, Pentecost fulfilled both the Ezekiel prophecy as well as Christ's promise that the Holy Spirit would go from "abides with you" to "will be in you." 119
The early believers had achieved a level of unity during their study time in the upper room waiting for Pentecost. However once the Holy Spirit was given, more study was necessary to fully understand Christ's mission, even though most of them had witnessed what He had done. As our lesson notes (page 24), the character of worship in the early church was based on their Jewish origins. Especially for those living in Jerusalem, going to the temple to worship would have been logical. God gave them time and circumstances that allowed them to devote study to the grand implications of the cross and how the Jewish sacrificial system fit into this picture. The practice of Judaism had become so formalized that adherents had lost sight of the significance of the sacrificial system. It was not seen as a system designed to typify the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, but as a means of manipulating God. The Jews believed that the act of bringing a sacrifice was what saved, not the ultimate Sacrifice to which it pointed. Their ancestors had made that old covenant mistake centuries before when they told Moses at Saini that "everything you say we will do," the implication being that then God was obligated to do what He promised. The ingrained thinking of the early Christians had been formed in Judaism and needed clarifying. They needed to understand that the sacrificial system was never given as a method of "works righteousness," but was meant to constantly remind people of their need for the living sacrifice that Christ made with His own body. Their misunderstanding of Christ's mission was grounded in their misunderstanding of God's promises made to Abraham. "God promised a great household to Abraham. But this house was to be built upon the Lord, and Abraham so understood it, and began at once to build. Jesus Christ is the foundation, for 'other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' 1 Cor. 3:11. The house of Abraham is 120
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SABBATH SCHOOL TODAY VOLUME 9 Paul
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did you make? Christ reverses our m
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Peter's thing when he denied Christ
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Chapter 2 I See, I Want, I Take The
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the faith of Jesus; therefore it is
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Chapter 3 God or Mammon A fundament
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preamble, when we appreciate what t
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elieve in the power of God to deliv
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ighteousness. Only when we allow ou
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92. 6. A. T. Jones, "The Third Ange
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Jeremiah (31:22); and what He wants
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Second, to consider Christ continua
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Chapter 6 The Marks of a Steward Th
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not the source your pleasures that
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Chapter 7 Honesty With God Is there
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nothing like it presented publicly
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and the same. ... God's covenants w
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olster our sagging self-esteem. In
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God to die for us on His cross. Tha
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which worketh by love" (Gal. 5:6; I
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through us. We plead on Christ's be
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His righteousness. It is a message
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ealized that, he took a deep breath
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When the Father gave His Son, Chris
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His Father wakened Him morning by m
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Chapter 13 The Result of Stewardshi
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LORD which exercise lovingkindness,
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nature, "sin shall not have dominio
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Chapter 15 Daniel and the End Time
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ody have a corporate concern. If "o
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denominational repentance, followed
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Commandments through the power of J
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cleanse, to purify, to sanctify, to
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evealing to us His work as our high
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Page 75 and 76: --Paul E. Penno Endnote: [1] Ellen
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Page 79 and 80: doctrines," for she said it was "fr
Page 81 and 82: Chapter 20 Matthew 24 and 25 The sp
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Page 89 and 90: Did this take place when Christ pai
Page 91 and 92: Chapter 23 America and Babylon Befo
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Page 95 and 96: dragon," and then the "image of the
Page 97 and 98: Chapter 24 Gods Seal or the Beasts
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Page 101 and 102: Chapter 25 Babylon and Armageddon T
Page 103 and 104: his advantage. This is the conditio
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Page 115 and 116: Chapter 28 Pentecost "Pentecost" is
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Page 123 and 124: children of Abraham." [2] God expla
Page 125 and 126: Chapter 30 The First Church Leaders
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Page 129 and 130: Chapter 31 The Conversion of Paul A
Page 131 and 132: oken and contrite heart. "Lord, exp
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Page 135 and 136: Chapter 32 The Ministry of Peter Fr
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Page 139 and 140: Endnote: [1] Ellen G. White, Select
Page 141 and 142: verse 46 Paul addressed the Jews wh
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Page 145 and 146: who persecuted Paul and Barnabas."
Page 147 and 148: Conference. This was wise advice, b
Page 149 and 150: Chapter 35 The Second Missionary Jo
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Page 153 and 154: Chapter 36 The Third Missionary Jou
Page 155 and 156: On the north side of the city stood
Page 157 and 158: Chapter 37 Arrest in Jerusalem One
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Page 167 and 168: international strife. Two world war
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Chapter 40 Creation and Fall Not a
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Are we sinful? Of course we are! Bu
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Chapter 41 Causes of Disunity How p
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If the Lord was capable of sending
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In summation, any message of righte
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In the celebrated 1848 Sabbath Conf
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Chapter 43 Christ, the Key to Unity
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you shall die") that the day Adam s
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--Ann Walper Endnotes: [1] Ellen G.
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"the former rain," and the "latter
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Chapter 45 Images of Unity The Bibl
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Since the only flesh that there is
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Chapter 46 When Conflicts Arise The
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Those who "seemed to be pillars" (C
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Chapter 47 Unity in Faith The Quart
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H. Kellogg at Battle Creek, and inf
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common temptations and inclinations
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[9] Ellen G. White, The Desire of A
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proclaim the gospel for two thousan
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... "Christ desires unity, but He d
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John 4:10). Truly this "propitiatio
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Here is where the "gospel" comes in
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Chapter 50 Unity in Worship Meeting
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oth you and the sons of Israel; and
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Chapter 51 Church Organization and
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years of Ellen White's long lifetim
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of organization; it is the collecti
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accordingly. They are the ones who
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present age, while we wait for the
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Sabbath School Today, Volume 9 - Paul E. Penno

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