Sabbath School From Home

This new quarter has the theme "Education", and so we're going back-to-school with our podcast. For a fresh perspective on "Education in the Garden of Eden" Cameron takes us on a wild journey into randomness and meaning - with magic tricks! At one point in this episode we talk about a fantastic pattern created "randomly" called the Sierpiński triangle fractal, which is difficult to explain in a pu...

At the end of a quarter on Witnessing, the lesson "A step in faith" has us turning to James 1 for some wise perspectives. Feel free to join the conversation by emailing sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com and we can use your insights and questions to guide future episodes.

This week's lesson on "A message worth sharing" is quite focussed on the book of Revelation, and we ponder this topic from the perspective of Jonah 3. The Seventh-day Adventist emphasis on the messages in Revelation has certain similarities to the message Jonah preaches against Nineveh. We explore this story to ponder what it might mean for a message to be "worth sharing". Importantly, we discover...

Apollos, who taught about Jesus with accuracy but still needed somethings explained more accurately, is an interesting starting point for a conversation about the lesson "Sharing the Story of Jesus" and the idea of witnessing from authentic personal experience. Apollos is mentioned in Acts 18:24 - 19:7, and also in Pauls writings to the Corinthians. This story offers an interesting perspective on...

This week's lesson "An Exciting Way to Get Involved" explores small groups, and so we turn to the story of Daniel and his three friends. Small groups have been almost fads in recent church history, but the core idea goes back deep throughout human history. We start with a more general discussion of small groups before focussing on Daniel 2:1-19 as an interesting angle from which to approach this t...

In "Developing a Winning Attitude", the lesson this week explores more deeply Jesus’ attitude toward people. It tackles the challenge of speaking the truth in love, which turns out to be quite a can of worms! Our conversation is centered around the story of Jesus clearing the traders from the temple, which is in all four gospels. We discuss the version in John 2:13-22 and discover a few surprises....

Jesus healing the bleeding woman and Jairus' daughter is a perfect double story to look at in the context of this week's lesson "Ministering Like Jesus". Luke shares some really interesting insights about this story that launch a conversation that reaches back to the Centurion's servant and forward to the present day. We look at the story in Luke 8. Share your comments and questions with us at sab...

Touching on this week's lesson "Sharing the Word", we start with the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch and end up dwelling on Jesus as The Word. The story of Philip and the Ethiopian is in Acts 8:26-39, and John chapter 1 opens with a delightful meditation on The Word of God. Send comments and questions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com so that we can share them with the broader listening...

The lesson this week is called "Unlimited Possibilities", but seems to be about spiritual gifts - and so we turn to the story of Balaam! The story is in Numbers 22 , and we focus on verses 21-35. Although the conversation focuses a bit around the gift of tongues, we explore a number of ideas that relate to spiritual gifts more broadly. This episode also highlights the occasionally useful gift of "...

To explore this week's lesson on "Spirit-empowered witnessing", we turn to the story of Peter baptising the gentile Cornelius and his household. This story is in Acts 10 , and we focus on verses 34-48. If you'd like to answer any of our various questions at the end of this episode (or share any other comments), write to us at sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com

This week's lesson is "Prayer Power: Interceding for Others", and we explore Jesus' teachings on prayer in Luke 11. The passage contains The Lord's Prayer, and then immediately follows it with a somewhat difficult parable about asking persistently. In fact, this is similar to the parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 18:1-8.  If you'd like to answer any of our various questions at the end of thi...

Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 is an excellent story to explore for this week's lesson "Seeing People Through Jesus’ Eyes". [Abrupt ending is intentional] We're delighted to have Clansi join in again this week with some asynchronous comments. In the interests of time, we didn't read the bible passage in full this week. The core of the story that we discuss is John 4:5...

We find a slightly different angle on this week's lesson "The Power of Personal Testimony" by discussing Jesus' parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Since it's school holidays and kids are visiting grandparents, Lachlan's wife Clansi joins as a special guest. Luke 16 begins with the parable of the Shrewd Manager, and this turns out to help us explore interesting aspects of the Rich Man and Lazarus...

It's the start of a new quarter and we explore this week's Sabbath School lesson "Making Friends for God". Isaiah 49:6 speaks of being a "light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth", and this is quoted by Paul in Antioch as a commandment - so what does it mean for us? For Season 2 of Sabbath School from Home we're going to try pulling topics from the lesson study, a...

Psalm 24 is full of joyful praise, and we find it to have a wonderful kind of timelessness. It seems nearly as applicable to our Christian experience as it was to the world of the psalmist. We're wondering what to do with this podcast for the next 13 episodes, so write to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com with your comments and suggestions.

In this second half of our conversation comparing Psalms 22 and 23 we explore more of the messianic aspects and ponder how these famous passages can apply to our everyday lives.  Send comments and questions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com and we can include them in future episodes.

We're trying something different, and tackling two Psalms at once! Psalm 22 and 23 appear initially to be quite different in tone, but both have been seen as messianic prophecies.  With two Psalms as source material, this conversation will span across two episodes - so keep an eye out next week for the second installment. In this first half we align with the Sabbath School lesson on "The Bible and...

Psalm 114 uniquely describes the Exodus as leaving "a people of strange language", and we explore some implications for understanding the bible as history. This episode deliberately aligns with this week's Sabbath School lesson. The focus on this Psalm was partly inspired by an interesting essay on Psalm 114 .

We enjoy the beginning of this Psalm, but are all slightly troubled by the Old Testament taunts in the middle. After some fruitful discussion we agree that it's more important to be on God's side than to claim He is on ours. In particular, the troubling verses are 7-9: 7 God has promised in his holiness:     “With exultation I will divide up Shechem     and portion out the Valley of Succoth. 8 Gil...

Psalm 104 is full of echoes of the creation story, and so our meander through the Psalms aligns this week with the Sabbath School lesson.  We tend to agree with the SDA Bible Commentary that this Psalm "is remarkable for the movement and vividness of the images", and "is probably unsurpassed in literature". You can share any answers/thoughts/comments (and any other questions) with us at sabbathsch...

Psalm 131 is just one verse each for Cameron, Lachlan, and Ken - but there's plenty to discuss. Imagery of God as a mother is explored (a week late for Mother's Day, unfortunately), and we wonder how this Psalm fits with the desire to think about great and marvelous things. Ken poses 2 questions for you to think about beyond this episode:  When and how does false humility arise? What is involved i...

We take a look at Psalm 127, attributed to Solomon. It turns out to have fascinating relevance for our modern world, and our attempts to summarise end up being longer than the Psalm itself. The opening verses of this song are the School Psalm at the school where Cameron works. The subsequent verses about having many children seem surprisingly unrelated, but we discovered some ways to seem the them...

Cam, Lachlan, and Ken learn from some listener comments, and explore the almost unbearable positivity of Psalm 91. A listener (Ben) shared a fantastic example of a contemporary song that might be similar in some ways to the more raw and dark of the Psalms. You can enjoy listening to Laura Story's song Blessings on YouTube .  Psalm 91 contains the verses "He will command his angels concerning you t...

We discuss Psalm 138, next in sequence from last week but substantially more positive; Cam shares a particularly amusing (and relevant) anecdote about the Disappearing Fire. Luke was otherwise occupied this week and so the conversation is between Cameron, Lachlan, and Ken. Psalm 138 was chosen for this week's topic on the basis that it was different from Psalm 137 (last week) and also simply the n...

We chat about Psalm 137 and its challenging ending invites us to engage a little deeper, helped by some new ideas emailed by listeners. As always, send in your comments and questions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com and we will use them to broaden the conversation.