Tag / Adult Seventh-day Advnetist Sabbath School lessons

by In Light Of The Cross

11: The Impending Conflict-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class on June 15, 2024.

Main Theme: Lucifer attempts to undermine God’s law in order to establish his own dictatorship. Those who remain loyal to God’s law show their loyalty to God as their Creator and Redeemer.

Read in Class: Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 14:12. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: How does worshiping the Creator find its final expression?

Apply: Read Daniel 6:4-5. On what basis was Daniel accused and persecuted? Have you ever seen
anyone being persecuted for being loyal to God’s law? Have you ever been persecuted for remaining loyal to God’s law?

Share: Your friend quits keeping the Sabbath to avoid conflict with his wife and her family. He says God understands he has to keep peace in the family. What do you tell your friend? See Matthew 10:34-39 and Revelation 2:10.

Read in Class: Revelation13:1-10. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: Where does the beast rise from and who gives itauthority?

Apply: How do we live in expectation of the second coming without becoming alarmists every time something happens?  

Share: Your friend asks what this beast does to commit blasphemy? Why was Jesus accused of blasphemy? Is the beast committing blasphemy by claiming to be God? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Revelation 13:11-18. Summarize this passage.

Study: How does this beast differ from the first beast in Revelation13?

Apply: What change do you see in this beast, and how does it speak? Think about the political instability in America today. How might that one day lead to the fulfillment of this prophecy?

Share: Your friend says there is no way a country based on religious freedom could ever turn around and  persecute its own people for religious reasons. What do you tell your friend? What instances in both Biblical and secular history might you base your answer on?

According to Time, Read in Class: Daniel 3:4-24 or portions of this passage.

Study: What parallels do you see between Daniel 3 and Revelation 13?

Apply: What specific things happen in Daniel 3 that encourage you to be faithful to God when Revelation
13 plays out.

Share: Can you think of someone who may be suffering persecution in one way or another who could use some encouragement? How can you encourage them this week?

by In Light Of The Cross

10: Spiritualism Exposed-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, June 8, 2024.

Main Theme: Our only safeguard against Satan’s last-day delusions is a personal relationship with Christ and a solid grounding in the teachings of the Bible. This includes its teaching about death, regardless of what our eyes and ears and hearts might try to tell us.

Read in Class: Ecclesiastes 9:5, Job 7:7-9, and Isaiah 8:19-20. Define the common theme of these passages.

Study: What do these Bible passages teach us about death and communication with the dead?

Apply: What has been your experience with trying to explain the state of the dead to other Christians? What, if anything, have you found effective?

Share: Your friend says that her late husband appeared to her in her home the other night and even embraced her. She says she knows it was her husband because she saw and felt him, and they talked about things only the two of them knew about. What do you tell your friend? More importantly, what do you share with them from the Bible?

Read in Class: Psalm 6:5, Pslam 115:17, 1 Kings 2:10. Define the common thread in these passages.

Study: What do these verses teach about the state of the dead?

Apply: In the music you hear, and the shows you have watched where have encounterd spiritualism, and what has been your reaction?

Share: Your friend says that it is only our bodies that die. Our spirits and souls are naturally immortal and never die. What do you tell your friend? For help see 1 Timothy 6:15-16, Eclessiasted 12:7, Job 27:3 and Matthew 10:28.

Read in Class: John 11:11-14, John 11:21-25, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these New Testament passages teach us about death?

Apply: Why is the resurrection such a powerful hope for the Christian faith? What if we had the cross but no resurrection? What hope would we have? Why, then, is the resurrection such an important part of our faith?

Share: Your friend says that it is comforting to think that her late husband is in heaven right now with thier child they both lost. She says it is comforting to know they are both watching her from heaven. What do you tell your friend? How does 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 tell us to comfort each other?

Read in Class: Matthew 24:5, Matthew 24:23-27, Revelation 13:13-14, and 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What kind of deceptions will people face in the last days? What do these passages tell us about Satan’s deceptive power and manner of working?

Apply: Why is understanding the truth about how Christ returns, as well as the state of the dead, so important in order not to be deceived?

Share: Can you share some encouraging Scriptures this week with someone who may be mourning the loss of a loved one?

by In Light Of The Cross

9: Foundation of God’s Government-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, June 1, 2024.

Main Theme: 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 also will explore the relevance of the Sabbath to an end-time generation.

Read in Class: Revelation 11:19 and Revelation 12:17. Summarize these passages.

Study: What was in the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary? Who does the dragon make war with and why?

Apply: When you became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, did you experience any opposition from family or friends? If so, why did they oppose you becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian?

Share: Your friend asks you exactly what is the testimony of Jesus? What do you tell your friend? See Revelation 19:10.

Read in Class: Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11 and Matthew 5:17-19. Summarize these passages.

Study: What is the relationship between Creation, the Sabbath, and the law of God?

Apply: Most Seventh-day Adventists have faced the charge of being legalistic, and that charge is usually connected with our keeping the Sabbath. Discuss the Sabbath as a symbol of Redemption and righteousness by faith. Why would obeying God’s command to rest lead people to think we are trying to work our way to heaven?

Share: Your friend asks, doesn’t Colossians 2:14-17 tell us the law and Sabbath were done away with? What do you tell your friend? See Which Laws Were Abolished at the Cross.

Read in Class: Revelation 14:6-8. Define the main idea of these passages.

Study: What events do the first and second angels tell us about? Why are they so important to God’s people in the last days?

Apply: The world is changing so quickly, so dramatically. Why must we always be vigilant so that last-day events don’t catch us unprepared?

Share: Your friend asks, “How does an understanding of the judgment and the law of God harmonize with the fact that we are saved by grace alone?” What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Revelation 13:16-17 and Revelation 14:9-12. What is the common thread of these passages?

Study: How are those who take the mark of the beast trying to be saved by thier works? How are those who keep the commandments showing their faith in Jesus.

Apply: When you rest on the Sabbath how are you demonstrating grace? How would working on the Sabbath demonstrate legalism?

Share: How can you share the three angel’s message with your friends this week?

by In Light Of The Cross

7: Motivated by Hope-Sabbath School Leson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt for Sabbath School class, May 18, 2024.

Main Theme: The second coming of Christ has filled the hearts of believers with joy through the centuries and how we can be ready for that great event.

Read in Class: John 14:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and Titus 2:11-14. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: Why did these Bible passages give such hope to Christians through the centuries?

Apply: Why is the Second Coming so important to our faith? Especially because we know that the dead sleep (see lesson 10), why does this teaching take on such importance? Without it, why would we be, as Paul said, in an utterly hopeless situation. See 1 Corinthians 15:15-18.

Share: Your friend says she grew up in an Adventist church and school, where she kept hearing that Jesus is surely coming in the next 5 years. She is now 70 years old and says she is tired of hearing the church cry “wolf.” She doubts Jesus is ever really coming again. What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class, Acts 1:9-11, Revelation 1:7, and Matthew 24:27-31. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these verses teach us about the manner of our Lord’s return?

Apply: Read 1 Thessalonians 5:2-5; Hebrews 9:28. What encouragement do these verses give us regarding the manner of Christ’s coming?

Share: Your friend says Luke 17:31-37 and Matthew 24:37-44 teach about a secret rapture. What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Daniel 9:24-27. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: When would this entire prophetic period begin? What major events do these verses predict?  How would the 70-week prophecy end?

Apply: Seeing the fulfillment of the prophecy of the 70 weeks, what hope does this give you regarding the surety of the second coming?

Share: Your friend asks you, if the Bible told us when Christ would come the first time, why doesn’t it tell us when He will come the second time? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Daniel 8:14. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: What event was to occur at the end of the 2,300 days?

Apply: How does the 2,300- day prophecy help us understand where we are it in the history of the great controversy and why Christ has not returned yet? What we are to be doing now?

Share: Can you think of a friend who would be encouraged by the hope of the second coming? What can you do to share it with them this week?

by In Light Of The Cross

6: The Two Witnesses-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, May 11, 2024.

Main Theme: No matter how hard atheism has tried to silence the Bible, it continues to speak and to be heard.

Read in Class: Revelation 11:3-6. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study:  List five identifying features of the two witnesses you discover in this passage.

Apply: Search Zacheriah 4:1-14, John 5:39 and Matthew 24:14. Based on these passages aloing with Revelation 11, who or what do you believe the two witnesses are?

Share: Your friend says that he is a New Testament Christian and does not bother reading the Old Testament because it is now obsolete. What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Revelation 11:7-9. Discuss the main idea of this passage.

Study: Remembering that the language is symbolic, what do these verses predict would happen to God’s two witnesses, the Old and New Testaments?

Apply: Revelation 11:9 says that the bodies of God’s two witnesses would lie unburied for “three-and-a-half days” (NKJV), i.e., prophetic “days” representing three and a half literal years. Atheism was at its height in the French Revolution, at least for about three and a half years. This period extended from November 26, 1793, when a decree issued in Paris abolished religion, to June 17, 1797, when the French government removed its restrictive religious laws. In what other periods of earth’s history has atheism tried to silence the Bible? How are people today trying to silence God’s Word? Is even the church trying to silence certain parts of God’s Word today?

Share: Your friend tells you that so many people do not believe in the Bible anymore. Brilliant phillosephers think its all just made up. Your friend asks you why you still believe in the Bible? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Revelation 11:11. Discuss the main idea of this passage.

Study: What prediction does this text make about the Word of God?

Apply: According to Psalm 119:89 and Psalm 111:7-8, why can we trust the Bible?

Share: Your friend asks you what your favorite portions of Scripture are and why? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Revelation 11:15-19. What is the main idea of this passage?

Study: According to these verses, what events take place at the close of time when the seventh trumpet sounds? What did John see opened in heaven? And what did he see as he looked up into heaven?

Apply: How does the striking contrast between the godlessness of the French Revolution and the glorious climax pictured in Revelation 11:1-19 speak to us today?

Share: Who can you share God’s Word with this week? How can you share it with them?

by In Light Of The Cross

2: The Central Issue: Love or Selfishness?-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, April 13, 2024. 

Main Theme: By patiently sharing the love of Christ even amidst persecution, we help God win the great controversy between good and evil. 

Read in Class: Luke 19:41-44, Matthew 23:37-38, John 5:40. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these verses tell you about Jesus’ attitude toward His people and their response to His loving invitation of grace and mercy? What revelation of God’s character do you see?

Apply:Read Matthew 24:15-20. What instruction did Jesus give to His people to save them from the coming destruction of Jerusalem? 

Share: Your friend says, “There is so much persecution of Christians in the early church, and today there is so much persecution, needless bloodshed, heartache, and sorrow. How can you possibly see God’s love in all this pain and suffering?” What do you tell your friend? 

Read in Class: Hebrews 11:35-38, Revelation 2:10 and Acts 2:41, and Acts 5:42. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these passages tell us about the reality of the challenges facing the early church, and how it continued to grow despite those challenges? 

Apply: What can we learn from the early church that could help us, the end-time church?

Share: Your friend asks why God allows the church to be persecuted? What value does it serve? What does it accomplish? What do you tell your friend? 

Read in Class: Read Acts 2:44-47; Acts 3:6-9; Acts 6:1-7. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: Although circumstances vary, what principles can we learn from these passages about authentic Christianity?

Apply: How do the ways your church serves the community help prove that Satan’s accusations about God and His church are wrong? In other words, how does your church let the community see the love of God in practical day to day living? 

Share: Your friend says that the pathfinders in her church are helping to care for the lawns of widows in the neighborhood, and that some of the deacons helped a farmer build a new barn after his old one burned down. However your friend thinks in these times of earth’s history we should just be spending our time warning people about the mark of the beast instead of just helping people with their daily living.  What do you tell your friend? In what ways might the pathfinders and deacons be preparing the community for the mark of the beast or the seal of God? See Winning the Great Controversy in Every-day Life.

Read in Class: John 13:35 and 1 John 4:21. Define the common thread of these passages. 

Study:  What do these passages reveal about Satan’s challenge against the government of God in the great controversy? What do they tell us about the essence of genuine Christianity?

Apply: What is the obvious message for us here? How do we learn to die to self so that we, too, can manifest this same selfless spirit? It’s not easy, is it? 

Share: What are some practical ways your Sabbath School class and/or family can reach out to your community this week to let them know God is love? 

by In Light Of The Cross

1: The War Behind All Wars-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, April 6,2024.

Main Theme: Love cannot be forced. Only by love can love be awakened. Love will overcome all evil and reign forever.

Read in Class: Revelation 12:4, Revelation 12:7-9, Isaiah 14:12-14, and Ezekiel 28:12-15. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these passage reveal about the freedom existing in heaven and the origin of evil? When Lucifer rebelled, in what ways could God have responded? What went on in the mind of this angelic being called Lucifer that led to his rebellion?

Apply: What tactics and weapons do you think Lucifer used in his “war of the minds” in heaven? What methods of gaslighting, narcissism or maybe even flattery have people tried to use with you that Lucifer may have used in heaven?

Share: Your friend says, “God could have allowed Lucifer to have free choice but then just destroyed him the minute he rebelled before things got so bad?  Or, since God knows the end from the beginning, He could have not created Lucifer at all. God can give free choice and  then only create people who will choose to serve Him” Do you agree with your friend? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Genesis 3:1-8, Genesis 3:16-19,Romans 3:23, and Romans 6:23. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What tactics did Lucifer use to get Adam and Eve to disobey God, and what were the results of their disobedience?

Apply: What tactics do you see the serpent using with Adam and Eve that Lucifer may have used with the angels in heaven?

Share: Your friend asks, “why such a harsh penalty for such a small sin?” What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Genesis 3:15, Genesis 3:21, John 1:29, and John 3:16. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What was God’s solution for the sin problem?

Apply: How does Jesus’ death on the cross not only pay the penalty for your sins, but also expose all of Satan’s lies about God in the war between good and evil? How does the cross keep you from falling for Satan’s lies and temptations now?

Share: Your friend asks you to share the plan of salvation. What do you tell your friend? Need help? See Salvation in Light of the Cross.

Read in Class: Hebrews 4:15-16 and Hebrews 7:25. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: How do these verses give us assurance in a world of temptation, suffering, disease, and death?

Apply: According to John 17:24-26, what is Christ’s longing desire in the great controversy between good and evil?

Share: Your friend asks, “Why did Christ have to sacrifice Himself in order to save us?” What do you tell your friend?

by In Light Of The Cross

12: Worship That Never Ends-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, March 23, 2024.

Main Theme: Worshiping God as a faith-community also involves every aspect of our personal lives.

Read in Class: Psalm 33:3, Psalm 40:3, and Psalm 96:1.

Study:  What is the common motif in these texts?

Apply: Read Isiaih 42:10-12, Revelation 5:9 and Revelation 14:3.  What can we infer about the “new song” from these biblical texts?

Share: Dwell on God’s blessings in your life. If you were to share a new song, what would it be?

Read in Class: Pslam 15:1-5. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: Who are the people worthy of worshiping in God’s presence?

Apply: Read Psalm 24:3-6 and Pslam 101:1-3. How do our choices and how we spend our time help reveal to ourselves and others who or what it is that we worship and praise?

Share: Your friend tells you the things of this world keeps distracting her from Bible study and prayer. She asks how you keep from being distracted by the world? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Psalm 96:1-13. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: What manifold aspects of worship are mentioned in this psalm?

Apply: Compare Psalm 96:1-13 with the three angels message in Revelation 14:6-12. In what ways does it teach the same basic truths as does this end-time message that we are to proclaim to the world?

Share: Your friend asks how we can make sure our praise and worship does not just become another meaningless ritual? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Psalm 40:6-8. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: What is the best way to worship God?

Apply: According to John 4:23-24 what is the best way for us to worship God? How do you practice worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth?

Share: Can you think of someone who has not been to worship service in a while? Can you invite them this week to share the worship service with you next week?

by In Light Of The Cross

11: Longing for God in Zion-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, March 16, 2024.

Main Theme: The blessings of Zion overflow to the ends of the earth because the Lord’s person and grace exceed the boundaries of any holy place. Zion is the joy of all the earth affirming that the whole earth belongs to God.

Read in Class: Psalm 84:1-12 and Plsam 122:1-5. What is the main idea of these passages?

Study: Who is blessed by being in God’s house and what exactly are those blessings?

Apply: What are some practical ways we can make being in God’s house here on earth a blessing?

Share: Your friend says ever since her divorce she does not feel accepted at church anynore. She prefers to just watch online sermons at home on the Sabbath. What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Psalm 87:1-7. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: What is said about Zion that makes it such a wonderful place?

Apply: How does Zion’s readiness to adopt all people find its fulfillment in the church’s Great Commission to preach the gospel to every nation (Matthew 28:18-20)? How does this idea fit in with our call to preach the three angels’ messages?

Share: Your friend points out that Psalm 87:6 says that it will be noted who is born in Zion when being registered. Your friend says this means that God will take into consideration where each of us were born and raised when He judges us? Is that an accurate application? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Psalm 46:1-11. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: How is the world poetically depicted here?  What is God’s response to violence and destruction in the world?

Apply: How do we learn to have peace and to trust God amid a world that, indeed, has so much turmoil?

Share: Your friend asks, “How has God been a very present help to you in times of trouble?” What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Psalm 125:1-5. Define the main idea of this passage?

Study: How are those who trust God portrayed here?

Apply: How are the righteous tempted and what can we learn from this description of temptation?

Share: Your friend says God is no longer with the Seventh-day Adventist church, because it has apostasized and become like Babylon. What do you tell your friend?

by In Light Of The Cross

10: Lessons of the Past-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, March 9, 2024.

Main Theme: Each generation of God’s people plays a small but significant part in the grand historical unfolding of God’s sovereign purposes in the great controversy.

Read in Class: Psalm 105. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study:  What historical events and their lessons are highlighted in this psalm?

Apply: How should we, as Seventh-day Adventists, see ourselves in this line of people, from Abraham on? (See Galatians 3:29.) What lessons should we learn from this history?

Share: Your friend asks, why do we need to study the stories of the Old Testament when those laws don’t deal with us anymore. We are in the New Testament now? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Psalm 106:1-23. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: What historical events and their lessons are highlighted in this psalm?

Apply: Psalms 106:13 reads: “They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel” (NKJV). Why is that so easy for us to do in our own lives, as well?

Share: Your friend mentiones that Pslam 106:12 says they sang praises and Exodus 15 says Mirriam the prophetess led the people in singing and celebrating the Egytpians demise in the Red Sea. Why were they celebrating the death of the wicked? We aren’t supposed to celebrate anyone’s death are we? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Psalm 80. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: How are God’s people portrayed in this psalm, and what great hope do they plead for?

Apply: How have you experienced for yourself repentance as a return to God?

Share: Your friend says he has done too many bady things and it is too late in life for him to seek forgiveness and change his ways. What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Psalm 135. Define the main idea of this passage.

Study: What historical events are highlighted in the psalm? What lessons does the psalmist draw from them?

Apply: How can we make sure that we don’t have idols in our own lives? Why might idolatry be easier to do than we realize?

Share: Your friend says the reason history repeats itself is because human nature is the same regardless of place and time. Studying history is actually studying human nature. She asks what lessons history (In the Bible and even our history school books) has taught you, and how studying history has stopped you from repeating the mistakes of those we lived befroe us? What do you tell your friend?