Sabbath School Study Hour: Recent Episodes
Amazing Facts - God's Message Is Our Mission!
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What can you yourself do in order to remain faithful to God and to the truth He has given us? That is, what choices are you making that reveal who truly has your heart?
In our lesson for this week, Paul provides some vital principles for how a Christian family functions best. Paul also gives other valuable principles that are helpful for a variety of social relations, both inside and outside the home.
In this week’s lesson Paul teaches that if we’re too focused on earthly things, we can’t be useful to God. Setting our minds on things above (Col. 3:1) gives us the strength to live out Christlike, practical love—like blessing those who mistreat us (Matt. 5:44–45). We can’t do this by human effort; we must die to self so Christ can live through us, transforming our lives now and for eternity.
In this week’s lessons we’ll see Paul warn the Colossians about false teachers promoting human traditions, rituals, and ascetic practices. He shows that Colossians 2 isn’t dismissing God’s Sabbath but addressing man‑made regulations that distracted from Christ.
In this week's lesson, Paul shows that reconciliation through Christ’s death extends from the entire universe to each individual. Once separated from God by sin, people are personally restored through faith as the cross actively transforms lives and reveals God’s hidden plan in the gospel.
This week we will look at one of the most comprehensive and sublime statements about Jesus in the New Testament. What does it mean that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God,” yet also “the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15, NIV)?
This week’s lesson concludes our study of Philippians, and it is packed with valuable lessons and maxims for daily living.
To guard against the possibility that some might consider their works as contributing to their salvation, Paul makes it clear that righteousness is from Christ as a gift that comes by faith, not by the law.
The light and power of heaven is available to all of us who have surrendered our lives to Jesus. But too often either we expect God to do it all or our own ideas and plans get in the way.
This week we’ll look at the biblical basis for unity in the church, focusing especially on the amazing condescension of Jesus, the lessons we can gain from beholding Him, and how we can grow to be more like Him.
Life is short, and it is vital to make the biggest impact possible for God’s kingdom within the span of the years that God grants us. No small part of that impact has to do with our encouraging “the unity of the faith.” As we shall see beginning this week, this theme was one important reason for Paul’s writing to the Philippians.
In this lesson, we will see how Paul intentionally begins his epistles with words of greeting, thanksgiving, and prayer, acknowledging God’s grace and peace (Col. 1:2–3). We will reflect on the many reasons we, like Paul, have to be thankful—especially for God’s grace and the peace that comes from His love. As we explore Paul’s opening prayers in Philippians and Colossians, we will learn how gratitude, humility, and dependence on God can deepen and strengthen our own prayer life.
In this lesson, we will see how God can use hardship for a greater purpose. We will look at the experience of an Adventist pastor who was falsely imprisoned for nearly two years and discovered that prison became his mission field, where he preached, shared literature, baptized inmates, and witnessed changed lives. We will also study Paul’s imprisonment, during which he wrote Philippians and Colossians and, with Silas, prayed and sang hymns despite being unjustly jailed (Phil. 1:7; Col. 4:3; Acts 16:24–25). Through these examples, we will learn how God works through trials and how we can trust Him and rejoice, even in difficult circumstances.
The final chapter of Joshua is set in the context of a covenant renewal ceremony, but this time conducted by the aged leader of Israel. Although not a covenant itself but rather a report of a covenant renewal ceremony. Joshua is close to the end of his life; no replacement is on the horizon. The covenant renewal is a reminder to Israel that their king is Yahweh Himself and that, if they remain loyal to Him, they will enjoy His protection. Israel does not need a human king. As a theocratic nation, they have to ever keep in mind that their only king is the Lord.
The aim of this lesson is to show the link between the sanctuary, God’s law, the Sabbath, and the coming crisis over the mark of the beast. We will also explore the relevance of the Sabbath to an end-time generation.*Study this week’s lesson, based on chapters 25–27 of The Great Controversy.
This week we will study some intriguing passages that people use to justify the natural immortality of the soul. These reflections should strengthen our own convictions and help us to answer kindly those who question this crucial teaching.
Every passing day brings us one day closer to the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven. Though we don’t know when He will come, we can be certain that He will, and that is what really matters.
This week we will look at Christ’s resurrection and all the convincing evidence He gave us to believe in it.
This week we will focus on Christ’s death and what it means for the promise of eternal life.
This week we will reflect more closely on the resurrections that occurred before Christ’s own death and resurrection.
This week we will reflect on how the notion of the final resurrection unfolded in Old Testament times, with special focus on the statements of Job, some psalmists, and the prophets Isaiah and Daniel.
Is there an immaterial soul or spirit that consciously survives physical death? This week we will consider how the Old Testament defines human nature and the condition of human beings at death.
This week we will reflect on the fall of Adam and Eve, on how sin and death took over our world, and on how God planted a seed of hope for humanity even back in Eden.
Christ speaks of God’s unconditional love for all human beings as the pattern for all our own interactions. How can you reflect this pattern more closely within your family and church?
Though God intimately knows the future, we are still free in the choices we make. How do we reconcile these two ideas?
What are ways that others should be able to see, from the kind of lives that we live, the reality of our God? Though we can be forgiven and accept God’s forgiveness, how do we learn to forgive ourselves, no matter how unworthy we are of that forgiveness?
How can we learn to trust God and cling to His promises when events don’t appear providential at all, and indeed, God seems silent?
What are the idols of our culture, our civilization? How can we make sure we aren’t worshiping anyone or anything other than the Lord?
How can we learn to trust God when we don’t see “justice” being done, when we see people who do evil get away with it, or when we see the innocent suffer?
Why is it so comforting to know that while not all things are God’s will, He is still in charge?
How can we learn to keep focused on Christ and His righteousness as our only hope of salvation? What happens if we try to start counting up our good works? Why is it important that we not give up, despite times of doubt?
What kind of influence do our actions have on others? What kind of message are we sending about our faith by our actions?
What example do we have from history, or even the present, of the trouble that can come from those who seek to make a name for themselves?
What lesson can we learn from the Noah story regarding our role in warning the world about coming judgment?
If Satan was able to deceive a sinless Eve in Eden, how much more vulnerable are we? What is our best defense against his deceptions?
Think about the vast power of God, who upholds the cosmos, and yet can be so near to each of us. Why is this amazing truth so amazing?
Why is it important to remember that God is leading us as a group? What are my responsibilities to the group? What are the best indicators that brotherly love is strong in a congregation?
The shaking of the heavens and the earth means, then, the destruction of the earthly powers that persecute God’s people and, more importantly, the destruction of the evil powers (Satan and his angels) who stand behind the earthly powers and control them.
Why is it important to recognize that our faith results from and feeds on God’s faithfulness? How can we learn more to trust in His faithfulness to us and to the promises He has made to us?
Why should the reality of what Christ has done, not only on the cross but what He is doing now in heaven, give us assurance of salvation?
The sanctuary sacrifices teach us that the experience of salvation is more than just accepting Jesus as our Substitute. We also need to “feed” on Him, share His benefits with others, and provide reparation to those whom we have wronged.
By living a perfect life, and then by dying in our place, Jesus mediated a new, better covenant between us and God. Through His death, Jesus canceled the penalty of death that our trespasses demanded and made possible the new covenant.
What do you feel when you think that God has made an oath to you? Why should that thought alone help give you assurance of salvation, even when you feel unworthy?
God is holy, and sin cannot exist in His presence; so, our own corrupted nature separated us from God. This week, we are going to study the amazing things the Father and the Son did to bridge that gulf.
What are ways that you can learn to experience more deeply that reality of just how close Christ can be to you? Why is having this experience so important to your faith?
Look at all the promises God fulfilled in the past. How should this help us to trust Him for the promises not yet fulfilled?
Paul wrote Hebrews to strengthen the faith of the believers amid their trials. He reminded them (and us) that the promises of God will be fulfilled through Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and who will soon take us home. In the meantime, Jesus mediates the Father’s blessings to us. So, we need to hold fast to our faith until the end.
Why is it good at times to remember how God first worked in your life to bring you to Him?
How does the story of Moses’ death and later resurrection show us how the New Testament, though often based on the Old Testament, does take us further than the Old Testament and can indeed shed much new light upon it?
Whether using direct Old Testament quotations, or allusions, or references to stories or prophecies, the New Testament writers constantly used the Old Testament to buttress, even justify, their claims.
This week we will focus on how the book was used by later writers. What parts of Deuteronomy did they use, and what points were they making that have relevance for us today?
God often tells His people to remember all the things that He has done for them; to remember His grace for them and His goodness toward them. How easy it is to forget what God has done for us.
Because we are sinful, repentance should be a central part of our Christian existence. And, this week, we will see the idea of repentance as expressed in Deuteronomy.
Right from the start, the Bible presents us with just one of two options: eternal life, which is what we were originally supposed to have, and eternal death, which in a sense is merely going back to the nothingness out of which we first came.
Deuteronomy could be seen as one big object lesson in grace and law. By grace God redeems us, doing for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves, and in response we live, by faith, a life of obedience to Him and to His law.
What does it mean to add or to take away from God’s commands? Outside of the obvious, such as the attempted change of the Sabbath, how might something like that happen so subtly we don’t even realize what is happening?
Loving God with all the heart and soul and strength means that our love for Him should be supreme over our love for everything and everyone else, because He is the foundation and ground of all our being and existence and everything else.
God out of His saving grace and love offers you a salvation that you do not deserve and cannot possibly earn; and you, in response, love Him back “with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30, NKJV), a love that is made manifest by obedience to His law: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:3, NKJV).
Just as the children of Israel are finally to enter Canaan, Moses gives them a history lesson, a theme that is repeated all through the Bible: remember what the Lord has done for you in the past.
This week, we look at how we can rest in Jesus in the face of global unrest and our own personal unknown future, at least in the short term. In the long term, things look very promising, indeed!
This week, let’s look at Jonah and what we can learn from his restlessness and lack of peace.
How can you help others find rest in Jesus when they think that their sins have been too grievous, that their hearts cannot be changed, and that their cases are truly hopeless?
Sabbath is a celebration of freedom from all the things that keep us in bondage. On Sabbath, we are reminded that there is freedom from sin, not in our own power but in the power of God, which is offered to us by faith.
During this week, we will study God’s wonderful invitation to enter into a dynamic rest, again and again, with every seventh day. How can keeping the Sabbath holy be a reminder of freedom and liberation? How can we avoid making it restrictive and legalistic?