Sabbath School with Branch Davidians

  All three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) deal with Jesus answering the question: What shall I do to inherit eternal life? We all know the simple answer is to keep the commandments. While we're going to focus on a lesson we can learn from the Gospel of Luke, to better understand the point in Luke, we'll first take a brief look at different aspects within Matthew and Mark and dev...

The parable of the net or the dragnet is familiar to most of us, but why are some of the believers caught by the gospel – "The Gospel Net" – in the parable not acceptable? I'll read the passage (which is Matthew 13:47-50), discuss it, and answer this question. For more study, see: The Full Article: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-tau...

Most people are familiar with the parable of the wheat and the tares. Well, there's an important lesson often overlooked concerning whether good deeds (our works) are necessary for entering God's kingdom. We'll read the parable (which we find in Matthew 13:36-43) and then we'll discuss it a bit.   For more study, see: The Full Article: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wild...

Will inequity (or sin) keep us from entering God's kingdom? In this study we'll   look at a couple of passages that answer this question: Matthew 7:21-23 and   Luke 13:23-27. For more study, see: The Full Article: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-right-and-wrong/ Only the section: The Fate of Those Who Work Iniquity...

Have you ever wondered: ultimately what is the deciding factor, the decisive factor that determines if we make it to God's Kingdom? Today we're going to read a passage from The Gospel Of Mark where Jesus himself answers that question. Join us as we take a look at what Jesus taught about ending our destructive sin to make us fit for God's kingdom. For more study, see: The Full Article: "What Jesus...

Have you thought about the standard God sets to reach His Kingdom? Is there a point on the continuum from morally bad to moral perfection, where we are acceptable for the kingdom of God? Join us as we take a look at what Jesus taught about what level of morality is necessary to reach God's kingdom.   For more study, see:  The Full Article: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent...

Season 13 Lesson 2 What does Jesus mean by this statement: "You shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect. (Mathew 5:48)" What kind of perfection does He mean? Join us as we look at the six laws Jesus covered in the Sermon on the Mount to discover the answer.   For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-tau...

Many Christians interpret the passage Matthew 5:17-20 to teach that people who break the least of the commandments and even teach others to also break them will make it into God's Kingdom, but be given the title "LEAST."   Is that consistent with Jesus' teaching? Join us as we look at 6 reasons to understand what Jesus is saying in Matthew 5:17-20 differently. For more study, see:  "What Jesus Tau...

The record of Jesus' answer to a Pharisee's question highlights Jesus' emphasis for Moral Perfection in our lives.  Jesus would not have taught that we should keep the law and achieve moral perfection if He didn't believe we could do it. Jesus taught we could achieve total consecration to God.   For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde   https://www.bdsd...

Jesus said no one can serve two masters. He also said that everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin. In this study, we address the unavoidable conclusion these statements lead to as far as what being a servant of God entails.   For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-right-and-wrong/ Jesus Ta...

In John 5:14 and John 8:11, Jesus tells people to sin no more. Did He believe people could possibly live without continuing to sin? Join us in this study as we talk about the implications of the words of Jesus in these verses. For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-right-and-wrong/ Jesus Taught Practi...

Do we have the potential to do the same works Jesus did? According to what Jesus taught, yes we do. In this study we look at a number of teachings of Jesus in the Gospel of John in which He  flat out says that His followers have the potential to not walk in darkness but rather do the works of truth and come into the light, and that if we do this, we will be able to do the same sorts of things that...

What is our moral potential according to Jesus? In Mark 10:17-20, Jesus tells His disciples that moral perfection is necessary in order to receive everlasting life, and that although this is impossible with man, moral perfection is possible with God's help. For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde   https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-rig...

Is it possible to always do the right thing and always avoid doing wrong? Many Christians think this is impossible, nor the standard for the Christian here in this life. But what we will look at in this podcast is one teaching of Jesus found in Matthew 4:17 and 7:16-18, and also in Luke 6:43-44, that dispels the idea that Jesus thought moral perfection is impossible for us here in this life. For m...

Christians, for the most part, have the idea that if they "believe in Jesus," and if they love Him, they're golden, so to speak, on the basis of this profession or sentiment towards Him alone. But is this really the case? Today We're going to look at a teaching of Jesus found in John Chapter 14 that shows practical morality – the actual doing of right and the avoidance of doing wrong is inseparabl...

There are places in the gospels where we can plainly see that Jesus was very much concerned about teaching us the importance of practical morality. He emphasized the actual doing of right things and the avoidance of doing wrong things. Once such example is Matthew 19:16-19, where Jesus tells a questioner, "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." Join us as we discuss what this mean...

Jesus likens Himself to a doctor in Mark 2:15-17 when answering the scribes and Pharisees as to why He was meeting with sinners and tax collectors. Does this analogy line up with how many Christians understand Jesus' way of dealing with sin?   For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-right-and-wrong/  ...

In today's study we look at Luke 6:46-49, where Jesus was speaking to a group of people who called Him "Lord," but weren't doing what He said to do. Join us as we look closely at Jesus' warnings about hearing Jesus' words but not doing what He said. For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde, https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-right-and-wr...

Many people believe that what Jesus wants most from us is for us to associate with Him – like, by acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior. But in today's study, we'll look at Jesus' teaching concerning the importance of practical obedience to God's will, and we'll see that see that He held it of higher importance than association with Himself.   For more study, see: Are Good Works Important? John the...

We're going to start doing something a little different with our Sabbath School podcasts. Instead of doing studies that directly pertain to the subject matter presented in the quarterly lesson, we'll be addressing various important and current topics that relate to us as SDAs.   That said, today's topic is on the question of the importance of works. Many Christians don't place a lot of emphasis on...

T he Sabbath School quarterly mentions that, " Adventists have sometimes shied away from resurrection morning because of the way it is misused to support Sunday sacredness." Sabbath School Quarterly Lesson, Saturday, September 21, 2024. Some who feel this way might think that whatever is used to support Sunday is a potential threat to the Sabbath truth. But really, even if Sunday could be shown to...

Have you ever wondered about the calculus of Jesus' "sign of Jonah"  statement? Jesus said, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40 WEB). This is usually understood as referring to Jesus' time in the tomb, but this interpretation runs into some obvious difficulties....

Was there a bible canon in Jesus' day?   A bible canon is a set list of writings that are considered to be THE list that's authoritative for a religious community. That means that if we want to know if there was a bible canon in Jesus' day, we have to determine if, at a minimum, the Jews were agreed on which books were scripture. Did they have some sort of official list of books they accepted to t...

Why is God's law good? Often, people think it's good because God said it and whatever God says is good by default. While this might initially sound good and honoring to God, we need to consider whether this sort of explanation really makes sense. Consider, if anything God says is good by virtue of him saying it, could *anything* be good so long as God said it? Like, hypothetically, if God were to...

In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus taught his audience that the kingdom will start small then grow large, and by implication, that we shouldn't disregard or bias ourselves against something on the basis of its small size. Of course, this was very relevant when Jesus spoke the parable since his band of followers was very small as compared to other religious groups in the world and even as co...