Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast

Throughout history, God has always had those who faithfully represented His character and, in obedience, followed His purposes. God’s people are those who have been called and who have accepted His invitation to be partakers of His grace. All of them have been—and continue to be—God’s instruments for the fulfillment of His mission. Read Genesis 12:1–3 and Deuteronomy 7:6, 11, 12. What was God’s or...

Read Revelation 14:6, 7. What aspects of God’s mission can you identify in the “eternal gospel” (NRSV) presented by the first angel of the three angels’ messages? This is the only place in Scripture in which the words “eternal” and “gospel” are connected. The gospel is the good news of grace offered to all through Jesus Christ. He came into our world to show us “grace and truth” (John 1:14). He li...

Read Matthew 28:16–20. What elements of discipleship can you identify in this passage? Matthew 28:16–20 declares the biblical mandate, commonly identified as the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20), in which Jesus instructs His followers to move outward and make disciples, teaching them in faith, and initiating them into fellowship (see also Mark 16:15, 16; Luke 24:44–49; John 20:21–23; Acts 1:8).Th...

The mission of God in Scripture has Jesus at the front and center as the only way to salvation. Christ Himself declared: “ ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’ ” (John 14:6, NKJV). But Jesus also helps us understand the centrality of the triune God to His mission. Everything Christ did was either for or from His heavenly Father (see John 4:34, John...

Read for This Week’s StudyJohn 20:21, 22; Matt. 28:16–20; Rev. 14:6, 7; Deut. 7:6, 11, 12; Rev. 7:9, 10.Memory Text:“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, NKJV).The theme, that of God as a God of mission, runs throughout Scripture. It is the connecting thread of human history, and it demon...

The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of ‘the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal.’ Romans 16:25, R. V. . . . It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of...

Read John 14:1–3. In what ways is it connected with the end-time message found in the Scriptures? During His earthly ministry, one of Christ’s most precious promises, the blessed hope, reflects once again the Creator’s desire to be with us for eternity. Jesus affirmed, “ ‘I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’ ” (John 14:3, NIV; emphasis added).According to th...

Jesus’ life and ministry were God’s ultimate revelation. In about three years God was able to reveal more about who He was and what His mission was all about than in all He had done through any other method in previous generations. Christ was the perfect “image of the invisible God,” the One in whom “all the fullness should dwell, . . . having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:15,...

The Old Testament presents how the Creator began to implement a plan through a people who were supposed to represent His nature and purpose to the world. Everything God did was according to His missionary strategy. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said: “ ‘I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, . . . saying, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplis...

Read Genesis 17:7, Genesis 26:3, and Genesis 28:15. What was the main focus of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants in these verses? In the Old Testament narrative, God continues to act according to His missionary nature in order to fulfill His purposes. For instance, after the Flood the people of Babel decided to gather in one place to build a city and a tower that would reach to the heav...

God created us in His image and likeness. He gave us a perfect world, and His purpose was that we would live in perfect connection with Him, a relationship centered in His most precious attribute: love. But for love to be real, God also gave us another precious gift: free will—the freedom to choose which way to follow. Of course, God gave clear instructions to Adam and Eve about the danger and dea...

Read for This Week’s StudyGen. 3:9–15; Gen. 28:15; Exod. 29:43, 45; Matt. 1:18–23; John 1:14–18; John 3:16; John 14:1–3.Memory Text:“Then the Lord God called Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ ” (Genesis 3:9, NKJV).Mission finds its origin and purpose only in God. This mission did not begin with Abram’s call (Gen. 12:1–4) or with the Exodus (Exod. 12:31–42). It did not begin even with Jesus Ch...

Introduction - Quit talking and start doing something!

We conclude by reflecting on Ephesians 6, where we discover that we, the church, are the peace-waging army of God. In Ephesians, Paul has portrayed the church as the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22, 23; Eph. 4:11–16), as God’s temple (Eph. 2:19–22), and as the bride/wife of Christ (Eph. 5:21–33). In Ephesians 6:10–20, Paul describes the church as God’s army and offers a vigorous call to arms. It is a pa...

As you read Ephesians 5, reflect on how Paul asks us to live out the gospel in our relationships with others. Which of his exhortations is especially meaningful to you? If you start reading Ephesians 5 at its beginning, you may miss the full power of an important theme. So, start instead with Ephesians 4:32, in which Paul tells the Ephesians to “be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one...

In Ephesians 4, Paul asks believers to stop doing some things and to be sure to do others. What are those things? Ephesians 4 begins and ends with calls to care for each other as church members (Eph. 4:1–3, 32). Between these invitations, Paul offers strong support for the idea that we should nourish unity in the church. He begins by listing seven “ones”: There is one body, one Spirit, one hope, o...

Why is it both important and exciting to be part of God’s church? Ephesians 3.We are encouraged when we hear church members say positive things about the church. However, the most enthusiastic among us falls short of Paul’s exuberant testimony in Ephesians 3 about the church. Paul starts a report of his prayers for believers in Ephesus (Eph. 3:1; compare Eph. 1:15–23, NKJV) but breaks off to discu...

As you read Ephesians 2, seek to answer the following question: What has God done for us through His Son Jesus Christ?“But God. . . .” Those two words must be the most hope-filled ones known to humankind. In Ephesians 2:1–10, Paul describes the grim past of his audience. Sharing the plight of all humanity, they were bent toward rebellion against God, their lives dominated by sin and Satan (Eph. 2:...

Someone has described Ephesians as the Alps of the New Testament. Paul, our mountaineering guide, takes us on a rapid ascent in Ephesians 1. We are quickly breathless and amazed at the view from the summit. Reflect on Ephesians 1. What especially inspires you? What peaks do you see? Ephesians 1:3–14 functions like a map at a mountain’s summit that identifies the peaks on the horizon, as Paul orien...

Read for This Week’s StudyEphesians 1–Ephesians 6.Memory Text:“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8–10, NKJV).Visitors to London climb on board the London E...

“An army in battle would become confused and weakened unless all worked in concert. If the soldiers should act out their own impulsive ideas, without reference to each other’s positions and work, they would be a collection of independent atoms; they could not do the work of an organized body. So the soldiers of Christ must act in harmony. They alone must not be cherished. If they do this, the Lord...

In concluding his battle exhortation, Paul urges believers as soldiers to participate in crucial, continuing prayer “for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18, NKJV) and for himself as imprisoned ambassador (Eph. 6:19, 20). This call to prayer can be seen as an extension of the military imagery, since calling out to God (or to the gods) in prayer was a common practice on the ancient battlefield. To cite a bi...

When and how should believers as combatants in the great controversy use the shield, the helmet, and the sword? Eph. 6:16, 17.Paul’s shield is the large, rectangular shield of a Roman legionnaire. Made with wood and covered with leather, its edges curved inward to guard against attacks from the side. When soaked in water, shields were “able to quench . . . fiery darts” (NKJV), extinguishing arrows...

A Roman soldier, preparing for battle, would tie on a pair of sturdy, military sandals. A multilayered sole featured rugged hobnails, helping the soldier hold his ground and “stand” (Eph. 6:11, 13, 14). Paul explains this military footwear with language from Isaiah 52:7, which celebrates the moment when a messenger brings the news that Yahweh’s battle on behalf of His people is won (Isa. 52:8–10)...

How does Paul imagine believers beginning their preparation for the battle against evil? Eph. 6:14; see also 1 Pet. 4:1, 1 Pet. 5:8, Rom. 8:37–39.Paul’s warning of an intense battle (Eph. 6:13) prepares readers for his final call to stand (his fourth, compare Eph. 6:11, 13) and is a detailed call to arms (Eph. 6:14–17). Paul describes the action of “girding up one’s waist” (compare Isa. 11:5). Anc...