Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast

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English Sabbath School Bible Study podcast - an unpretentious and fun way to study the Bible Classe da Escola Sabatina em inglês do Unasp SP. English Sabbath School Class at Unasp SP Brazil

  1. 1 HR AGO

    Episode 2738 - Tuesday April 21 - Bible Truth 📖

    Bible Truth A trend among some liberal theologians in the 1960s was to write God out of the field of theology. In 2017, a cover story of Time magazine featured the headline “Is Truth Dead?” It’s interesting because this trend illustrates the position of our society today. The very idea of “truth” itself is decaying to such an extent that no one knows what truth is anymore. According to popular culture, there is no measuring stick, no foundation that remains constant and can be depended upon to endure the test of time. Contrary to this, Jesus said, “I am the … truth” (John 14:6). His Word testifies about Him as truth in complete purity. Read the following three verses slowly, and then read them again a second time. What do you notice about these messages? John 17:17 Prov. 30:5-6 Ps. 12:6 The Bible declares that basic truth, Jesus Himself, doesn’t change (Heb. 13:8). At the same time, as we read God’s Word, our understanding of God and His truth can grow. “There are mines of truth yet to be discovered by the earnest seeker.”--Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 704. In speaking of “truth,” Ellen G. White always referred to truth as given by God through His Word. We can search for additional light in the Bible because the Bible never contradicts past truths, but instead builds on them. Read 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Psalm 33:4-5; and Ephesians 1:13. What is the message there? In the end, the Bible, and the Bible alone, must be the foundational source of what we understand as truth. All other sources must be tried and tested by the Word of God. Even what we deem “reason” needs to be tested by the Word of God. Some people want to argue that there is no truth. Why is that statement self-contradictory? That is, why is making the claim that there is no truth an attempt to proclaim truth, and thus self-refuting?

    16 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    Episode 2737 - Lesson 4 - Monday April 20 - Scripture, the Authority

    Scripture, the Authority The Bible’s authority and function are clearly declared within its pages. Read and copy out 2 Timothy 3:15-17. Take note of what these verses tell you about the function of the Bible. When it comes to personal Bible study, we must be careful not to expect the Bible to serve our purposes or perspectives, which are not always the same as God’s. For example, we shouldn’t use the “close my eyes and point to a text” method, because this isn’t how God wants to communicate with us through His Word. God is not a puppet on a string, waiting to serve our needs and will. His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours (Isa. 55:9), and so we should never try to control His words to us. Neither should we pick and choose only the parts of the Bible that feel comfortable to us. Instead, we should see the Bible as a whole package rather than reading the easy, familiar passages and leaving out the confronting or challenging ones. If we truly want God to speak into our lives, we must take the Bible as a whole and use sound methods when we engage in careful Bible study, trusting that God will reveal what we need to hear when we need to hear it. Also, Jesus Himself tells us: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37, NKJV). That is, God doesn’t want us to ignore our minds; rather, He wants to inform our minds with His vast reaches of knowledge and understanding, which are revealed, in part, through His Word. We can read many biblical narratives in which God had discussions with such people as Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and Job, in addition to many conversations that Jesus had with people. God doesn’t bypass human reason but invites us to submit it to His Word and wisdom when “working out” our salvation. Human reason, however, is still human--capable of error and deception. It’s never infallible. It's possible for human reason to push God aside to try to work things out on our own, which places self as equal to, or above, God when it comes to thinking. People can approach Scripture with an arrogant and critical spirit, thinking they’ve heard it all before and that there is nothing new. It’s when we feel important, confident, self-sufficient, and in need of nothing that we neglect our relationship with God and rely on our own limited knowledge and faulty reasoning.

    14 min

  3. 2 DAYS AGO

    Episode 2736 - Lesson 4 - Sunday April 19 - The Most Powerful Weapon

    The Most Powerful Weapon Before we explore why the Bible is so valuable and how to dig deeper in our personal Bible study, we must understand something: One of the most significant attacks Satan can make on you is to stop you from spending time with God in His Word. Keeping people away from their Bibles through business, apathy, tiredness, or doubt is his number-one strategy. He knows that when we spend time with God in His Word, it revives our lives and nourishes our souls, so of course he would do everything to prevent this! We are told that “Satan employs every possible device to prevent [people] from obtaining a knowledge of the Bible; for its plain utterances reveal his deceptions.”--Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 593. Satan knows that God’s powerful Word makes him powerless. Satan knows that prayer and Bible study are the most powerful weapons humanity can use against him (Eph. 6:17-18; Heb. 4:12), so he does everything he can to stop us from reading and praying. He knows that God’s words are powerful and that they not only spoke this world into existence (Ps. 33:6), but they can raise the dead (John 11:41-44) and give us strength to overcome (Matt. 4:1-11). By keeping God’s people away from their Bibles, Satan affects not only our relationship with God but our relationships with others. Our marriages become strained, we yell at our kids, and we don’t have patience with our friends or coworkers. Life seems too busy; we feel stressed and burdened, with no escape route. And surprisingly, we don’t often pause long enough to realize what’s happening. We might think we’re close to God, but in reality, when days and weeks pass by without our ever opening God’s Word, we’re weakened more every day. Even when we have an up-and-down and very inconsistent relationship with God, God is wonderfully constant, as Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us. What do you notice in these verses, and how do they compare with our human natures? As the covering cherub before he fell (Ezek. 28:14-17), Lucifer heard God’s words and knew their incredible power. He now hates this truth, so it’s clear why our minds grow numb and our hearts grow dull when we don’t choose to hear and bring God’s words into our daily lives. How wishy-washy or inconsistent are you in your devotional life? What should your answer tell you about making some changes, if needed?

    10 min

  4. 3 DAYS AGO

    Episode 2735 - Lesson 4 - Sabbath - April 18 - The Role of the Bible

    Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Lam. 3:22-23; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; John 17:17; Eph. 1:13; Ps. 119:11; 1 Cor. 2:14 Memory Text: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, NJKV). The Bible. No doubt you own one copy or perhaps many. Throughout history, this precious book has been copied in secret, smuggled, and banned. It’s the most published book in the world, in any language, and also one of the oldest. Some have died so that the Bible could be preserved. Where is the Bible in your life? Do you read it or does it sit beside your bed or on a bookcase gathering dust? Is life too busy for you to find time to really study the Word of God or do you feel too tired to open its pages? God’s Word is living and powerful, and God is calling for you to let it speak to your heart, to encourage you, to challenge and change you, and to give you guidance and hope. The Bible is not just an academic book or a collection of old stories. Instead, it is a beautiful, profound account of how the Creator of the universe seeks to draw us close to Him. If you have a desire to grow in your relationship with God, the best thing you can do is commit to spending quality time with Him daily praying, reading His inspired Word, and surrendering your will to what it teaches. *Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 25.

    11 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    Episode 2734 - Lesson 3 - Friday - April 17 - Further Thought

    Further Thought: “The nearer we come to Jesus and the more clearly we discern the purity of His character, the more clearly we shall discern the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the less we shall feel like exalting ourselves. Those whom heaven recognizes as holy ones are the last to parade their own goodness.” --Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 160. “Before honor is humility. To fill a high place before men, Heaven chooses the worker who, like John the Baptist, takes a lowly place before God. The most childlike disciple is the most efficient in labor for God. The heavenly intelligences can co-operate with him who is seeking, not to exalt self, but to save souls …. “When men exalt themselves, feeling that they are a necessity for the success of God’s great plan, the Lord causes them to be set aside …. “It was not enough for the disciples of Jesus to be instructed as to the nature of His kingdom. What they needed was a change of heart that would bring them into harmony with its principles …. The simplicity, the self-forgetfulness, and the confiding love of a little child are the attributes that Heaven values. These are the characteristics of real greatness …. “The sincere, contrite soul is precious in the sight of God. He places His own signet upon men, not by their rank, not by their wealth, not by their intellectual greatness, but by their oneness with Christ.”--Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 436, 437. Discussion Questions: What additional insights do the following passages have about pride and humility? Matthew 23:12; Psalm 25:9; Psalm 149:4; and James 4:6, 10.Think honestly: When did you last “parade your own goodness”? How did this impact your relationship with God or those before whom you paraded it?What might you need to change in your life to humble yourself before God in order to strengthen your walk with Him?Summary: Pride can be one of the greatest blocks to growing in a relationship with God. If we feel self-sufficient and don’t realize our need of this relationship, we simply won’t pursue it. In contrast, Jesus was the humblest Man on earth and the most perfect example of how to have a close relationship with God.

    15 min

  6. 5 DAYS AGO

    Episode 2733 - Lesson 3 - Thursday April 16 - Look at Him

    Look at Him Read Luke 22:27 again. What is the key message for all of Christ’s followers here? In stark contrast to the disciples’ desire to be superior and their belief that they were better than the next guy, we see Jesus--the ultimate example of humility. Jesus, who said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27, NKJV). Jesus, who every day gave to those in need around Him because He was filled with compassion and saw the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd. He knew that humanity needed Him more than anything else in life, though few realized this simple truth. Jesus, who gave up heaven to die for the human race in the hope that they would understand His act of grace and respond to His invitation to have a relationship with Him. Read Philippians 2:3-8. What does this tell us about how we should live in light of the Cross? Jesus did it all. He bore all. When we pause long enough to see Him--truly and purely--we can’t help realizing our impurity, our filth, and our desperate need of Him in our lives today. When we look to Him, everything else (especially ourselves and our own perceived greatness) pales into complete insignificance. Who Jesus is, what He has done, and how much He loves His creation becomes front and center. Self will surely disappear when we look at Him. Jesus. What a beautiful, mighty name. He is the epitome of humility. When our open hearts learn about Him, when we understand what He has done for us, and when we allow His words of life to seep into our minds, we realize how proud and wretched we really are. If His own disciples, who lived and learned from Him, struggled with pride, we can’t fool ourselves that we are any different. Ultimately, we can grow in our relationship with Jesus only when we are humble. Spend some extra time with Him right now. Take your Bible, a pen, and a journal or some paper and find somewhere quiet-- perhaps even outside. Invite God to soften and speak to your heart. Write out Psalm 138, word for word. As you write, what words especially stand out to you?

    13 min

  7. 6 DAYS AGO

    Episode 2732 - Lesson 3 - Wednesday April 15 - The Greatest Offense

    The Greatest Offense Imagine being a disciple of Jesus. You travel with Him, eat with Him, sleep near Him, and learn from Him as He transforms countless lives, including yours. People clamor after Him, and you realize how special it is that He chose you to be one of the 12 closest to Him. Then you start to wonder: Who really is the greatest of all the disciples? In Luke 22:24-27, read Jesus’ response to the disciples’ dispute about what greatness means. What one statement captures the heart of Jesus’ message here? One would have thought that after all this time of being close to Jesus, this kind of debate would have been the last thing on their minds. But that is not what happened. Instead of these men being content with their calling, pride rose in their hearts to where each one thought he was better than the others. It’s easy to allow such thoughts to dominate our minds. But we are told that “there is nothing so offensive to God or so dangerous to the human soul as pride and self-sufficiency. Of all sins it is the most hopeless, the most incurable.”--Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 154. This is very serious for us. Our pride offends God more than anything else, and it’s a character trait that is difficult to overcome because we often don’t see it for what it is. In our state of self-sufficiency, we choose not to self-evaluate, for surely pride is king. We need to stop, self-diagnose, and ask that God will open our eyes to our true state, because pride may be the number-one factor that keeps us from having a close relationship with God today. If you realize that God alone can do the work to remove pride and selfishness from your soul, pause and pray this prayer right now: “Lord, take my heart; for I cannot give it. It is Thy property. Keep it pure, for I cannot keep it for Thee. Save me in spite of myself, my weak, unchristlike self. Mold me, fashion me, raise me into a pure and holy atmosphere, where the rich current of Thy love can flow through my soul.”--Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 159.

    8 min

  8. 14 APR

    Episode 2731 - Lesson 3 - Tuesday April 14 - Moses, Humble Servant

    Moses, Humble Servant The grand halls of the Egyptian palace boasted of opulence, pleasure, and ease. “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22, NKJV). A life of power, riches, and popularity were his for the taking, yet Moses chose something very different. “As historian, poet, philosopher, general of armies, and legislator, he stands without a peer. Yet with the world before him, he had the moral strength to refuse the flattering prospects of wealth and greatness and fame, ‘choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.’”--Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 246. What does Hebrews 11:24-26 tell us about why Moses chose a different path and humbled himself? Moses’ later humility is remarkable, considering the powerful man he was and where he had come from. Yet, through an impulsive sinful act (Exod. 2:12), he lost his self-confidence and self-sufficiency. With mountains as his classroom walls and with pride swept aside, for 40 years Moses was taught by God what he needed to know to lead a nation out of slavery into the Promised Land. The power and riches of what could have been another life in Egypt paled in significance when Moses considered eternity. God had called him very specifically, and Moses followed. Perhaps most significantly in light of this topic, Numbers 12:3 tells us: “(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth)” (NKJV). Moses, one of the great patriarchs of the Bible, is known for his humility, his meekness. Consider how different his life and leadership would have been had pride crept into each of these big events in his life: the burning bush, the plagues in Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, manna falling from heaven, talking directly to God, receiving the Ten Commandments, and hearing God’s words after Moses struck the rock. Reflect back over your life. If someone were to describe you, would they include “humble” or “meek” in the list of adjectives? Why or why not? The truth is that we can’t be humble in and of ourselves. Sin is part of our lives, which is why we need Jesus so much. Listen to or read the words in the hymn “I’d Rather Have Jesus” and consider these words in relation to Moses’ life and yours.

    14 min
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English Sabbath School Bible Study podcast - an unpretentious and fun way to study the Bible Classe da Escola Sabatina em inglês do Unasp SP. English Sabbath School Class at Unasp SP Brazil

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