Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, November 4, 2023.

Main Theme: We can learn from the story Jonah about what happens when we have the wrong attitude towards mission.

Read in Class: Jonah 2:13, 7-10. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: What do these verses reveal about how Jonah started to understand God’s providence?

Apply: Winning souls is hard, too hard for humans to do on their own. How can we learn, instead, to let God win souls, but through us and our life and witness?

Share: Your friend says that he sees God’s providence leading him into soul winning, but he has many fears about opposition and rejection? How could the story of Jonah help you answer your friend? Or even the story of Joshua in Joshua 1:1-10?

Read in Class: Jonah 3:1-10. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: How did the people respond to what Jonah had preached? What lessons are here for us about witnessing?

Apply: What sacrifice is God asking you to make—or be ready to make—for the sake of sharing His love with someone else? How completely do you trust that He will fulfill His promise to enrich your life through sacrifice?

Share: Your friend asks, “What made the people change their minds so quickly about God? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Jonah 4:1-11. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: What was wrong with this man?

Apply: The story doesn’t resolve with an ending of Jonah’s repentance. Rather, the unfinished story pivots to us. What will we do about God’s concern for the wicked, for the bullies, for the unreached across the globe?

Share: Your friend says, that in the end God really does not want to punish people. He wants to save us all. So in the end no one will really be lost. What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Isaiah 6:1-8. Define the main idea of this passage.

Apply: If you had been in Isaiah’s place what would your response to the question, “Who will go?” and why?

Challenge: On a blank sheet of paper or in your prayer journal, make a list of ten people you know are not believers. We will call them your “disciples.” List them by name if possible. Keep this list close by, and for the rest of the quarter, pray daily for each of your ten disciples. Pray that God will help you become casual friends with those who are acquaintances. Pray that you can develop deeper, closer, trusting friendships with your casual friends. As you deepen your relationships, carefully watch and listen so you can identify their specific needs, hurts, and pain. Then pray that God will meet them in that area of need.

Challenge Up: Choose a city near you as well as a city in another part of the world. Begin praying for the people who live and work in each. Ask that God will raise up a strong Adventist presence that can share the truth as we know it—the truth about the soon coming of Jesus.