Sabbath School Study Hour

We will study Satan’s twofold strategy both to deceive and destroy God’s people. What the evil one fails to accomplish through persecution, he hopes to achieve through compromise. God is never caught by surprise, and even in the most challenging times He preserves His people. Study this week’s lesson, based on The Great Controversy, chapters 1–2

If God is so good, why is the world so bad? How can a God of love allow so much evil to exist? Why do bad things happen to good people? In this week’s lesson, we will explore the age-long conflict between good and evil.

If there is a final word that we can draw from the Psalms, it should be “wait on the Lord.” Waiting on the Lord is not an idle and desperate biding of one’s time. Instead, waiting on the Lord is an act full of trust and faith, a trust and faith revealed in action.

The Lord’s people are identified with the righteous, who worship the Lord and whose hope is in Him and in His love.

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 (Ps. 48:2), affirming that the whole earth belongs to God.

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.

In all the Psalms, through the psalmists’ laments, thanksgivings, praises, and cries for justice and deliverance, we can hear the echoes of Christ’s prayer for the salvation of the world.

Wisdom for righteous living is gained through the dynamics of life with God amid temptations and challenges.

God’s people take comfort in the fact that the Lord is faithful to His covenant.

The Lord is longsuffering and holds His wrath in His great forbearance, not wanting anyone to perish but to repent and change their ways (2 Pet. 3:9–15).

As we already have seen, the psalmists acknowledge God’s sovereign rule and power, as well as His righteous judgments.

We should remember that the proper response to the Lord’s nearness consists in a life of faith in Him, and of obedience to His commandments.

God has both the perfect knowledge of us and of our circumstances, and also the means to help us. Therefore, His promises of help and deliverance are not shallow platitudes but firm assurances.

This week we will look at the role the Psalms played in helping God’s people traverse their life journey and grow in their relationship with God.

The Psalms are inspired prayers and praises of Israel, and so in the Psalms the voice is that of God intermingled with that of His people.

In this quarter’s final lesson, we will see that Revelation is a missionary book focused on a missionary God who is calling us to be a missionary church.

In its own unique way, this story shows how God’s people, even in foreign environments, can witness for truth. What are some of the challenges to your faith that you face in your own culture? How do you respond to them?

What is the difference between faith and belief? Why might people who have the correct belief be found void of faith when Christ returns?

What bridges and points of contact can you think of that would open opportunities for deeper conversation with others with whom you come in contact?

Why must we be careful of the trap of thinking that because “we have the truth”, then the knowledge of this truth alone is enough to save us? How many souls will be lost who had more than enough knowledge, even of the three angels’ messages, to be saved?