Presenting a Biblical response by concerned former Seventh-day Adventists to the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide.

This website is NOT connected to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The offical Seventh-day Adventist Church website is linked here.

HOME | 2012 | SECOND QUARTER | WEEK 1 | DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | DAY 7

BibleStudiesForAdventistsHead

Commentary on "Defining Evangelism and Witnessing"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 5: Wednesday, April 4, 2012 - Telling Our Stories

 

Overview

Today’s lesson makes the point that telling our stories is “the most powerful witnessing that a believer can do for Jesus”. A testimony should not be too long and should have three parts: one’s life before Jesus, how one met Jesus, and one’s life after accepting Jesus as one’s Savior.

 

Observations

On the surface, today’s lesson makes a valid point: we all need to be able to give a brief version of our story of meeting Jesus.

The problem with this lesson is not its actual words; it’s the underlying reality: the point is that the average Adventist is being asked to be able to give his or her testimony to anyone who might need to hear it—and most Adventists have no testimony except their experience of trying to commit to Jesus within an Adventist worldview.

The Adventist Jesus is not the Jesus of Scripture. The Adventist Jesus could have failed. He did not have an immaterial spirit that survived his body when He died. He had Mary’s gene pool, so he had her propensities to sin. He could not see through the portals of the tomb. He did not complete His atonement at the cross. He continues to battle Satan for the souls of men, and humans are still helping him win the battle.

This Adventist Jesus leaves Adventists with no security. This Jesus is not their full Substitute; He is their example. He showed them how to live, how to keep the law, how to keep the Sabbath, how to turn the other cheek. He showed them how to avoid sin by praying and by obedience.

This “Jesus” has no power, no ability to guarantee the Adventist’s eternal security. He is the son of God, but He gave up the divine attribute of omnipresence. He is not “one substance” with the Father.

Without knowing the REAL Jesus, a person has no true testimony. It is not surprising that most Adventists are uncomfortable “witnessing”; they have no story to tell; they have not been born again.

Jesus said in John 3:3-6 that being born of water and the Spirit is the requirement for seeing the kingdom of God. We cannot be born again without encountering the biblical Jesus—the Jesus who completed everything necessary for the atonement at the cross, the Jesus who rose from death and thus saves us. We cannot be born again without repenting of our sin—our inability to avoid sin, even by prayer—and trusting the shed blood of Jesus to pay for our sin.

It is not witnessing to tell subjective stories about the difference God makes in one’s life—Mormons have similar stories. A true testimony is a personal witness of Jesus convicting us, of forgiving us at the cross, and of giving us eternal life.

Jesus has to become our true Sabbath rest; if we place any value on day-keeping or special foods when we think about salvation, we are not trusting Jesus. Unless we give up every form of security and trust Jesus alone, believing His promises and receiving His justification, we are not trusting Him. We cannot “fake” being born again; it is a miracle of God.

The Jews asked Jesus what they had to do to do the works of God. His answer was this: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (Jn. 6:29).

That’s it: the ONLY work God requires of us to believe. Believe in Jesus. Believe He has fulfilled the law. Believe He has completed the atonement and that when we believe, we pass at that moment from death to life (Jn. 5:24) and that NOTHING can take us out of His hands (Jn. 10:27-29).

Unless you have placed your trust in the true Jesus of Scripture, your “story” will be powerless, and you will instinctively know that it is hard—even embarrassing—to tell.

God to Scripture. Read John 1, John 3, 4, and 6. Find out who He is. Read for yourself that He is eternal God, that He does all things His Father does. He is not God with only some attributes. He is King and Lord, and He saves. He judges. He gives life to the spiritually dead; He will give life to the physically dead.

Jesus is everything. He is all you will ever need. Trust Him.

 

Summary

  1. Telling one’s story is effective only if one knows the real Jesus.
  2. The Adventist Jesus is not the biblical Jesus; he is fallible, an example, could have failed, could not see through the portals of the tomb, devoid of omnipresence.
  3. The biblical Jesus is almighty God, one substance with the Father and the Spirit.
  4. Being born of water and the Spirit is the requirement for seeing the kingdom of God.
  5. You cannot be born again by believing in the wrong Jesus.
  6. Read John 1, 3, 4, and 6.
  7. Trust the real Jesus. He is all you will ever need.

 

GO TO DAY 6

 

Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised April 3, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

Standard Edition Study Guide Week 1

Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 1

Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 1

SSNET Study Guide Week 1

Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings

 

Please Support This Project

ONLINE DONATION LINK

quarterly20122EGW
quarterly20122