Category: Lessons

Trusting God’s Goodness (Habakkuk)

• Lesson 8 for the week of May 18 to May 25

Theme: Trusting God’s Goodness Leading Question: Does Habakkuk teach us how to ask questions, find answers or simply to trust? The opening paragraph of J. P. Hyatt’s commentary on Habakkuk in Peake’s Commentary on the Bible (1962) is a...

Continue reading →

God’s Special People (Micah)

• Lesson 7 for the week of May 11 to May 18

Theme: God’s Special People Leading Question: What kind of messiah would one expect if one only had the book of Micah? Introductory note: Micah’s ministry spanned some four eventful decades, years that witnessed the end of the Samaria...

Continue reading →

Eager to Forgive (Jonah)

• Lesson 6 for the week of May 4 to May 11

Leading Question: When Jonah threatened Ninevah with destruction in 40 days, did he do that on his own nickel or at the direction of the Lord? Note: Three of the minor prophets are especially important for exploring...

Continue reading →

Seek the Lord and Live! (Amos)

• Lesson 5 for the week of April 27 to May 4

Discussion issues: 1. Is the Day of the Lord good news or bad? Both in biblical times and in our day, “judgment” is a very ambiguous words . Psalm 96 and 98, for example, represent the positive...

Continue reading →

Lord of all Nations (Amos)

• Lesson 4 for the week of April 20 to April 27

Leading Question: What happens when God’s people hear that they are no better in God’s eyes than the more obvious “sinners” in the world? Discussion Issues: 1. Startling Comparisons: Israel and her neighbors. The book of Amos...

Continue reading →

A Holy and Just God (Joel)

• Lesson 3 for the week of April 13 to April 20

Leading Question: What do natural disasters tell us about the God we serve? Note on the book of Joel: The book of Joel offers several “special” themes that are worth pursuing in a Sabbath School study: Theology: What...

Continue reading →

Love and Judgment: God’s Dilemma (Hosea)

• Lesson 2 for the week of April 6 to April 13

Theme: Love and Judgment: God’s dilemma (second of two lessons on Hosea) Leading Question: How do we know when to use the heavy hand instead of the gentle hand with dealing with God’s people? The sharp contrasts...

Continue reading →

Spiritual Adultery (Hosea)

• Lesson 1 for the week of March 30 to April 6

Theme: Spiritual Adultery Leading Question: “Why should modern Christians read the “minor” prophets? All of our lessons this quarter focus on the so-called “minor” prophets, the last 12 books of the Hebrew Bible. The official study...

Continue reading →

Introduction to the Study of the Minor Prophets

• Introduction

Introduction to the Study of the Minor Prophets The twelve small books at the end of our English Bibles are known as the “minor” prophets simply because they are so much smaller than the “major”…

Creation, Again

• Lesson 13 for the week of March 23 to March 30

Major texts: Rev 21:1-5, Gen 3:19,1 Cor 15:52-58, Gen 6:11-13, Isa 11:6-9, John 14:1-3 The final lesson for this quarter invites us to think of creation once again. In this case, it is not about creation as it once happened...

Continue reading →

Creation and the Gospel

• Lesson 12 for the week of March 16 to March 23

Major texts: Gen 3:21; Ps 104:29,30; John 1:4; Rom 5:6-11; Gal 3:13, Matt 27:46 This week, the lesson invites us to look at the connections between creation and the gospel. If this is to happen, several connections of thought need to...

Continue reading →

Sabbath: A Gift from Eden

• Lesson 11 for the week of March 9 to March 16

Major texts: Gen 2:1-3; Heb 4:3,4; Deut 5:12-15; Ezek 20:12; Mark 2:27,28; 2 Pet 3:3-7 One can hardly complete a reading of the creation account in Genesis without noticing the last act of the drama, namely the establishment of the Sabbath...

Continue reading →

Stewardship and the Environment

• Lesson 10 for the week of March 2 to March 9

Major Texts: Ps 8, Gen 2:15, Rev 4:11, Ex 20:8-11,1 Cor 3:16 One of the eventualities that emerge from the story of creation is that all living creatures on earth, indeed all living things on earth, share a common...

Continue reading →

A Gift From Eden

• Lesson 9 for the week of February 23 to March 2

Major Texts: Gen 2:18-25, Mark 10:7-9, Eph 5:22-25, Matt 5:27-30, 2 Cor 3:18 One of the notable things that emerges from the creation account in Genesis, something that is and has been ubiquitous in human experience, is marriage. It is...

Continue reading →