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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

Adventist Education: Is it Really Worth It?

Well, today we're looking at Adventist education.

And I was encouraged when I saw the number of hands that were raised just a few moments ago that have had an experience of 1 way or another with Adventist education.

I hope a good experience with Adventist education, and I hope a long experience with Adventist education.

I was figuring up myself I've been in the Adventist school system for 24 years and it continued to be even now in the Avendis School system as an enrolled student at Andrews University and so I still get the student discount at some places.

But sometimes it's easy to ask this question, is it worth it?

Have you ever asked that question, honestly, parents?

Is it really worth it, especially after registration and then there's not only the insurance fee but then you have to pay for the first month and all this kind of thing, and you start figuring out, okay, this is for 1 child, that's painful enough.

Now 2, okay, 3, 4, and you start to wonder, okay, we can't eat anymore, is this worth it?

I think the lady in this picture, she probably does the finances and she was really hoping for a new pair of shoes and she's wondering, is it worth it?

What's the largest item in the church budget?

Is it keeping the lights on, keeping the temperature comfortable here in this building?

Administrative office and all that goes with that Could it be the pastor discretionary fund?

That That could be nice as the largest item on the church budget.

Christian education or Sabbath school supplies, that's another big chunk.

But by far, any of you that has ever sat on a finance committee or church board knows that Christian education is by far at the top.

But it's not an expense that we are worried about because it's an expense that we believe in.

We never ask the question, are we gonna keep doing this?

We always feel good about, and feel privileged to be able to do this and to support our school, Captain Gilmer Christian School.

If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me.

I'm not going to put all the verses on the screen and we're not going to look them all up either but I want to hear those Bible pages turning a little bit.

Now we're going to start in Proverbs chapter 3 beginning verse 13 and Listen to these words from 1 of the wisest men who ever lived.

He says, verse 13, happy is the man who finds what?

For her proceeds are better than profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold.

She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

Going on, verse 18, she is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her wisdom.

And then skipping down to verse 21, My son, let them not depart from your eyes.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion, and so they will be life to your soul.

So again, we ask the simple question, Is it worth it?

We'll ask that question and look at that a little bit later.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

And it says, these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

And you shall teach them diligently to your children.

You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." These are the commands of God.

These are what God has to say to his people and his parents.

He's saying you need to communicate this to your children.

And so wherever you are, whatever you're doing, if you're cutting the grass, if you're on a hike, if you're shopping around town, whatever you're doing, Friday night worships impart these things to your children.

Now the grade school level, children are with their teachers like, what, 30, 35 hours a week or something.

How much of the time do you have your kids?

Now, you might have them in your home or in your presence, but how much of that time are you imparting knowledge to them?

Do you want to just send them off to any school?

A mixture maybe of some Bible stuff but also some worldly things and maybe they don't mix together.

Maybe it's the knowledge of good and evil, I don't know.

But what if you had a place and we do that you could send your child you do Where they can be poured into?

With a scriptural basis and foundation That is not just in Bible class, but is in every class, science class and reading class and everything else, you're going through things that are building on that foundation, and that's important.

That's the wisdom that Solomon was talking about.

Genesis 127 says, God created man in his own image.

That's how God created the human race, in his image.

Sin entered into the world And that was marred, that was destroyed.

In Education, page 15, it says, it was his, God's purpose, that the longer man lived, the more fully he should reveal this image, the image of God, the more fully reflect the glory of the Creator, is what's written.

To restore man in the image of his maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created.

To promote the development of body, mind, and soul.

The divine purpose in his creation might be realized.

And so this same method, this same means is now his work of redemption.

To promote the development of these 3 characteristics, body, mind, and soul.

You could say physically, you could say mentally, you could say spiritually, same thing.

Pastor Hyman quoted that education and redemption are 1 and the same.

And then it says this is the object of education, the great object of life.

I mean isn't redemption basically the whole object of our existence here and now anyway.

First our own redemption and then the redemption of others.

I had a parent come to me and say, well I like our Adventist school and she really likes it too, but I don't think it's challenging her academically enough.

They don't have this and this extra thing and that extra thing and this language and da da da da da da.

So I took her out and I put her in this other school.

And I'm thinking to myself, and I tried to make some comments, but it was falling on dead ears, and she really wasn't looking for my comments, so I let it go.

But I'm thinking to myself, and I go home and I tell my wife, I say, what difference does it make If your child knows 9 different languages, are you with me?

And can do pre-calculus as a kindergartner, what difference does it make if they're lost?

If they gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul.

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Adventist Education: Is it Really Worth It?

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