Hope Sabbath School Lesson 3 The Word Of God As Our Teacher

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god i'm excited today as we continue our series on lessons for life it's education from the word of god and today as we're studying about learning from the word of god the word of god our teacher i know you'll gain lessons that will bless your life and bless others too if you've missed any so far in this series go to our website hopetv.org hope ss lessons for life you'll gain some insights uh if you missed the first two glad you're here good to have the team take a look we're just a little band here today someone's wondering did you fire the other seven members of the team and the answer is no we're filming during a global health pandemic but do you know what we've discovered god can work with many or few god is a great and awesome god and we're blessed to be part of the study we're glad you joined us too we're always happy to hear from our hope sabbath school members around the world and i just want to share a few of those emails with you from australia jim writes and he says just want to say thank you for a great bible study as a retired church school teacher i appreciate the effort that it takes to prepare each program we really appreciate jason for his enthusiasm jason give a wave to australia maybe someone will see you there it mentions a couple of other people who aren't here today but it says years ago at our church in australia we were fortunate to have two young men who'd been on the hope sabbath school team my wife and i try to visualize what each member does in day-to-day life so they're all looking at looking at billy and saying what does he really do i don't know billy should we tell them what you do yeah what why don't you just take a moment tell us tell us what you do besides volunteering for the hope savvy school team sure so i'm a humanitarian aid worker so i take care of emergencies around the world and sometimes i get deployed to uh on disasters around the world so it's something that i love doing the way i see it is like i'm getting paid to do something that i love doing and you actually work for adra correct which is the adventist development relief agency yes and you go sometimes to some risky places yeah and that's a great need yeah i don't know and i bet that smile sets me exactly uh well at least the folks around the world you know what one of our team is doing and you're wondering about the others so you'll have to stay tuned for another hope sabbath school program but we're real people we're volunteers part of this great mission here's a note from just right next door to our studio in silver spring maryland in the united states rose marie writes and she says i've been meeting to make this comment for a long time we're like oh no what's the comment she says two things i really appreciate about hope sabba school one so many ethnic groups are represented by the team just like heaven amen well take a look at the small team here i know we're just this group of five here but you know we look like the world we represent actually every nation kindred tongue of people rosemary says i really appreciate that even more i appreciate that hope sabbath school shows everyday people actually reading the bible amen she says i've never seen that before either people are just referencing the bible on a screen or occasionally a reference of a text but there's nothing more powerful than actually seeing young people reading from the bible so hope sabbath school is modeling how we should read and study the bible god bless you all amen amen rose marie we're excited thank you do a little jump here uh because the word of god is living and active right it's a lamp to our feet and a light to our path but it's nice that we're not just talking about the bible yeah but actually reading the bible for ourselves that's right next door in silver spring here's from elizabeth in south africa and she says i greet you in the name of our lord and savior amen amen amen hope this finds you well i am an african-speaking person from cape town south africa i just need to say what a blessing it is especially during the pandemic to learn so much more about jesus i hardly had time to study the bible as i spent most of the time with children in their bible study at church thanks for being a blessing to others well elizabeth we've discovered that god is working good even in this pandemic here we are with five people not allowed to sing it's it's it's amazing that god can work miracles in the midst of the challenge right and he's done it for elizabeth thanks for sharing with us here is a note from a couple from a donor couple in ohio and i just want to say thank you we're a donor-supported ministry especially at this time of the year if you're thinking about partnering with us hope tv.org donate we're part of a great miracle this couple writes and says we decided to send a small gift to help hope sabbath school we admire the class members very much may god richly bless you all also we love the scripture songs and they sent a gift of one hundred dollars now you might say pastor derek how can a hundred dollars help run a global media network with 59 affiliates broadcasting in 70 languages and the answer is one partner at a time right one commitment at a time so thank you to all of you for supporting this ministry one last note from anna lucia in honduras she writes hello hope sabbath school hello got a smile there my name is anda lucia my husband renee and i have been watching your channel especially during these hard times here we are again middle of a health pandemic we are seventh-day adventists from honduras we would like to thank you for helping us with our bible study amen congratulations for doing such a great job hope sabba school we know that many others are also blessed god bless you and everyone and your ministry always well anna lucia thank you for encouraging us and i want to encourage you during this challenging time to let the light of jesus shine through you through renee make a difference in honduras because jesus is in your heart well right now we want to sing our theme song for the series actually we need you to sing it because we're not allowed to sing here because of social distancing but it's taken from proverbs chapter 19 and verse 20. beautiful listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days let's sing it together listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days listen to counsel receive instruction [Music] that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding listen to cancer receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter [Music] a days heart does good like medicine but a broken spirit dries their bones a merry heart does good like medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise [Music] you may be wise in your last day listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days pleasant words are like a honeycomb sweetness to the soul and hell to the bones pleasant words are like a honeycomb sweetness to the soul and health to the bones listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days you may be wise in your latter days let's pray together father in heaven we are so thankful that we can study today lessons for life we want an education but we want it from your word from you as you've guided through your prophets and most clearly through jesus as we talk about learning from the word of god as our teacher today i pray that your holy spirit would guide us into the most important lessons as we learn together and i pray a blessing in the name of jesus amen amen if you could say there's one lesson samiso one lesson more than any other lesson that god would want to teach us through his word what would it be well before you answer the question maybe you can read the scripture for us in deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5 because i firmly believe you probably would have given this answer and there's more complexity to the answer than just this verse but some people think that god's just trying to catch people doing wrong things and punish them forever and ever that just is not the character of god at all what's the lesson we learned in deuteronomy 6 and verse 5. i'm reading from the new king james version verse 5 says you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength all your heart soul and strength love the lord your god all right would jesus agree with that did he say that somewhere billy where was that found was that in matthew 22 um yeah i was also thinking um john 3 16. oh that god so loved the world okay yeah so he's in a lot more embodied in him take a look at matthew 22 for us as well if you would 37 to 39 but that's a good point even in that very concise statement about salvation god so loved the world so there's a lesson for life and that is whatever deceptions we've been told about the character of god whatever lies we've been told the truth is that god loves us and he wants us to love him with all of our hearts what does jesus say in matthew 22 37-39 sure and i'll be reading from the king james version it says jesus said unto him thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first great commandment and the second is like unto it thou shalt love shalt love thy neighbor as thyself now we've heard those two great commandments right did jesus make the second one up or is that in the bible too love your neighbor as yourself is that a new testament commandment you say i don't think so i think it's in leviticus chapter 19 right maybe you have it kim do you have that in your parallel version i just thought we should mention that jesus he knew the scriptures didn't he in leviticus 19 and verse 18 we'll find that that same principle is found let's take a look at leviticus 19 and verse 18. i'll be reading from the english standard version you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself oh there it is now jesus will take it to the next level because he will say in the new commandment i give you in john 13 34 you shall love one another as i i have loved you and he uses the agape love there right right so you need the love of god in your heart so you can love as i've loved you but this theme is woven throughout all of scripture and sabino could you take us to first john by the way john recorded the words in john 3 16. but in first john chapter 4 in his letter to christians he also speaks about the love of god and in first john right before the book of revelation these little letters chapter 4 verses 7 through 11. let's see we're talking here about the word of god as our teacher and one lesson is to know the truth about the character of god who loves us yes okay i'll be reading from the new international version first john chapter four verse seven dear friends let us love one another for love comes from god everyone who loves has been born of god and knows god whoever does not love does not know god because god is love so if you read on down to verse 11 please oh sure this is how god showed his love among us he sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him this is love not that we loved god but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins dear friends since god so loved us we also ought to love one another billy that's almost kind of referring back to john 3 16. did you notice that so this is overarching theme in scripture that god loves us and he wants us to love him and to love each other some of might go oh derek that's that's kind of lovey-dovey but we're not talking about love as a superficial emotional reaction here are we we're talking about self-sacrificing love that would cause samiso who's been married now for a few months to lay down his life for his wife right or in the christian family to lay down your life for a brother or sister in christ you say that's not that's not just a superficial love is it that's a deep self-sacrificing love the word of god is our teacher and these are lessons for life you'd say well that challenges our culture that kind of self-sacrificing love i heard one time someone was getting married and and her marriage vow was our promise to be faithful to you as long as i love you wow and i'm thinking that sounds problematic to me that's not a self-sacrificing love billy and also it challenges us to love people that you know who doesn't love us back um i think in matthew 5 talks about that god jesus is asking us to even pray for those who persecuted us and that's right so we don't love people that that love us back but we also love people who don't who persecute us and and hate us even that you know we should have that type of love in the sermon on the mount matthew 5 love your enemies bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you by the way i could only remember that because my wife wrote a scripture song right that you may be called children of your father in heaven if we just learned one lesson for life yeah from the word of god as our teacher it would be to love to love god loves us and he wants us to love him and love each other how do you think kim that that understanding of the character of god how would that affect the way that we come to scripture to learn lessons for life yeah it changes everything i think when you have a foundation that god is love you want to read his word it's like a love letter to you and you want to spend time with him and he's not somebody that wants to punish you for anything but he wants to love you and you to love him as well no i don't know of course my wife and i courted many years ago you know this is before email before text messages but we would write letters to each other and and those letters were precious we're struggling now to decide whether we keep them forever what what is it about that that that makes those so valuable well you can't relate no what do you think sabine i i think it's just because it's coming from someone that you love as well and that loves you so you wanna keep it it's just a symbol of a relationship right yes it's not the paper yes yes it's a symbol of the relationship jason and the items in it are unique to you and the other person and the experience that you share so as kimberly said when i come to scripture knowing god's like i love you precious daughter and i want you to be filled with my love to love me and love others i come with a totally different attitude right sabine and furthermore i think that also looking at the word of god knowing that it comes from a loving god makes me trust in it more so there are so many things here we are going to learn further that are recommendations that god gives to us on how to live a good life and not lessons for life and knowing that it comes from a loving god makes me feel calm and confident that i can just obey him because he loves me and that he wants the best for me and that's a good sequel to the next section of our study which is showing us our great need if we didn't know that god loved us you know it wouldn't be that good news that he would come to us and show us our great need in the word right but let's see what uh moses told the children of israel in deuteronomy 31 and we'll see that reinforced in the new testament jason deuteronomy 31 24-27 moses is coming to the end of his life and what does he say to the children of israel and i'm reading here from the new king james version deuteronomy chapter 31 verses 24 to 27 so it was when moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book when they were finished that moses commanded the levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the lord saying take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the lord your god that it may be there as a witness against you for i know your rebellion and your stiff neck if today while i am yet alive with you you have been rebellious against the lord then how much more after my death it sounds a bit stern this is going to be a witness against you but actually if god loves us and we're heading in the wrong direction a witness is actually a reminder it is a reminder but it may actually be a blessing right right yeah let's look at a couple of texts in the book of romans uh which remind us why we may at some point or maybe many points in our life need a witness against us in romans chapter 3 verse 10. samiso do you have that verse 10 and verse 23 verse 10 and verse 23 romans 3 verse 10 reading from the new king james version it says as it is written there is none righteous no not one verse 20 therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin actually verse 23 if you would read that for us verse 23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god so here's a challenge a person comes and says i'm not a bad person i haven't killed anybody and you know i haven't done anything terribly wicked they need a witness against them which shows them what we've all sinned and then we've all sinned and by the way if i keep reading in the book of romans isn't it chapter 6 and verse 23 which says the wages of sin is so the loving thing for god to do is to say here's my word to let you know yeah that you're out of harmony yes now in the in the let's say the old days in the hebrew scripture time god would at times send a prophet to do that right he could do that today but he can also bring our attention to the word and we go oh that's me but can you think of any stories in the scriptures where god sent a prophet not not just to be mean but out of love to say you're out of harmony you're in the wrong place and call people to recognize their need for forgiveness and their cleansing is the story jason so i think of the story of the prophet nathan with king david and that story is recorded we won't read the whole story but it's recorded in the second samuel 11 i think what was the uh what was the failure that that david had stumbled or fallen into so david had engaged in adultery and uh led to murder because he tried to cover it up by having the husband killed and then he took the wife for himself and he had thought he could get away with it but then the prophet nathan came to him and shared a little parable which got david not unwittingly realized unwittingly saying that the person who had done the wrong thing should be punished i want you to read the story all right sure the story of the adultery and the murder and the cover-up it sounds like a modern day saga you know is in second samuel 11. could you read second samuel chapter 12 perhaps you could read verses 1 through 13. and in that story um again we have to ask is god telling confronting david because he hates him wants to hurt him wants him to be lost or is he confronting him because he loves him wants him to repent wants him to be cleansed and to be forgiven and with him forever how does the story come instead of just a bible text which the holy spirit could bring god sends a prophet named nathan yes second samuel chapter 12 verses 1 through 13 i believe sure all right new king james version says it like this then the lord sent nathan to david and he came to him and said to him there were two men in one city one rich and the other poor the rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds but the poor man had nothing except one little you lamb which he had bought and nourished and it grew up together with him and with his children it ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom and it was like a daughter to him and a traveler came to the rich man who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him so david's anger was greatly aroused against the man and he said to nathan as the lord lives the man who has done this shall surely die and he shall restore fourfold for that lamb because he did this thing and because he had no pity then nathan said to david you are the man hold it right there you are the man how is nathan feeling billy at this moment maybe he's about to write his will because david can kill him because you know he's he's talking to a king who has control over whom who can kill him basically you know if he wants to that's how nathan might be feeling what about king david he's he's being totally confronted convicted confronted confronted first yes what do you think is going on in his mind it is laid it plain his his level of hypocrisy that he's he's angry at this man this hypothetical situation is angry at that person but he has done even worse and he says you are this man do you imagine sabina that he's kind of processing what's the character of god like i mean david loved the lord right it's it's troubling and it should cause us reflection that we could stray away and do such terrible things even though we've given our heart to god yes yeah what he's processing you know is god going to strike me dead right here uh will god he's processing what do you think's going on in his mind yeah i think he probably is wondering hopefully like repenting already his heart considering what did i do wrong how did i come how did i end up here is there mercy for me is there forgiveness and i think that in his place i would also be afraid even though knowing that god is love and that he loves me i would for at that moment at least i would say okay so i came to the edge how do i go far from here perhaps the same thought that saul of tarsus felt struck down on the damascus road something like that when jesus says i am jesus who you are persecuting the fear of the lord that comes upon you when you realize that you did something wrong and god convicts you and challenges you so mentioned two words one is confronted and then hopefully go just to verse 13 if you would of second samuel chapter 12. we would hope that the function of the word of god through the prophet or the word of god through scriptures to us would be to bring conviction how does david respond in verse 13 of second samuel chapter 12 second samuel 12 12 verse 13 says this from the new king james version so david said to nathan i have sinned against the lord and nathan said to david the lord also has put away your sin you shall not die now there's a beautiful psalm some of you have read your scriptures and you know them there's a beautiful psalm samiso i think you know it don't you that david wrote a scripture song in response to this not only confrontation but conviction and i see you turning in your bible it wasn't in our text here but but the holy spirit's saying read it to me so where's it found psalm 56 psalm actually psalm 51 right right psalm 51 and we could read the whole psalm but i wonder if you could at least read for us in psalm 51 verses 10 through 12. psalm 51 verses 10 through 12. psalm 51 10 through 12 it says create in me a clean heart o lord and renew a stat for spirit within me do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit away from me restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your righteous by your generous spirit verse 13 oh you want to read that too okay keep going it's a beautiful song verse 13 of psalm 51. it says then i will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you it's interesting god not only wants to heal us and transform forgive us and cleanse us but also use us to lead other people to jesus isn't that beautiful then i will teach transgressors your ways so we've learned some important lessons with the word of god as our teacher and that is that god loves us and he wants us to love each other and to of course love him and love each other but he also wants to show us our need we don't have time to unpack a lot of other stories but there are some aren't there where god um stories that show us our need for forgiveness is it one that jumps out at your mind how about the woman thrown at the feet of jesus caught in the very act of adultery how about peter when he says i don't even know who jesus is there's lots of stories you wonder why did they put those in the bible you know how embarrassing is that like the one with david and the answer is what did moses say as a witness against you so that you say you know what i've done that too i've been silent when i should have said i'm a follower of jesus or i've uh you know i've acted inappropriately when i thought no one was looking yeah so testimony time can you remember a time in your life when when you came under the conviction through the word of god that your life was out of harmony and that you needed forgiveness and cleansing sabine i see you you know you don't have to share anything that you're not comfortable sharing but i know you didn't grow up in a in a home that was very deeply committed to jesus so you've been on a journey here you are now totally committed maybe some people watching go sabina would never understand what i'm going through you know she's probably been holy her entire life but the truth is we've all been on a journey right yeah can you think of a time when god brought conviction absolutely through his word i think that the moment where i first had this conviction that i needed god's grace and his mercy for me was when i was 15 years old that's a time when my father was diagnosed with cancer and i started wondering and pondering what was the meaning of life and you know if there was anything beyond working the whole day and you know coming back to coming back home tired and eventually passing and my father was a very important person to me so that experience led me to realize that there should be something else that i was not aware of and as you know i came it's a long story and i know we don't have all the time but i remember one day i entered into my bedroom and i kneeled down and i prayed and i said you know if there is any one true god out there i don't know your name and then i started reciting the names of gods that i had heard from different religions and and i said whomever you are i just care that you are the one true whoever is your name please reveal yourself to me because i need you i know i need truth in my life and it sounded like there was no truth before that or that i was probably confused about the reason why i was alive and well here i am jesus reached me in a process of about a year and in this process of course things started coming up to surface about my my personality about my character that needed to be treated and up to now right we are all a work uh progress in progress right so i'm glad that he he met me where i was and now i can say that i know the one true god that he loves me and that i love him i can imagine there's someone kimberly with tears running down his cheeks right now listening to sabina's testimony what what good news do you hear in in her testimony um that jesus never left her and he was always there the holy spirit was always working on her heart and here you reach out to him and he's not hiding yes he's right there yes yes and here you are now sharing the word of god with yes and and i usually say if there is any something out there that apart from jesus this whomever never took interest in my life if there is one person who responded to my prayers that was the god of the bible amen amen so what are we learning lessons for life with the word of god as our teacher god loves us yeah and he wants us to love him back and love each other with his self-sacrificing love we've learned that he may point out that we're heading down the wrong road or or not in the path he has for us but why is he doing that because he loves us because he loves us and we're going to look in this third section after semester's comment at another blessing of the word of god as our teacher and that is showing us how to live but again remembering the character of god it's not and you better live right or god's going to hurt you he's going to punch you forever no we want to learn how to live to honor god because we love him amen and he loves us too see me sir so i also had an experience where i realized my need for forgiveness and grace recently actually i was teaching a lesson and in that lesson we're addressing uh being intolerant and how that can impact other people and being a good witness and we were discussing how we have been intolerance to specific groups of people and so forth and it was just going well then one of the elders raised his hand and he made a point which really convicted me he said we should be tolerant to the intolerant as well that really spoke to me like we're looking at one direction that we should not be intolerant but love goes both ways we are supposed to love everyone so i want to say that again because i think it was profound we are to be tolerant to the intolerant we've talked about that in in other studies we we should show love to those who don't deserve it yeah didn't god do that to us yes but that challenges us to go beyond our human love doesn't it we need forgiveness we need cleansing we also need to learn how to live and with the bible as our teachers so we're talking about some lessons for life here let's go back to a young leader named joshua in joshua chapter 1 verses 7 and 8. and the lord has uh called this young man to lead his people he's taking over from who what great leader from moses right yeah i mean that's that's like that's like following jesus you know almost right it's great leader uh it's like timothy following in the footsteps of the apostle paul but what word do we find there billy in joshua chapter one verses seven and eight okay and i'll be reading from the king james version only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which moses my servant come in commended thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the or to the left that thou mayest prosper with whatsoever on the algorithms this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou thou shalt have success good success so i want you to notice if you just read the first part you'd say oh here he is again you've got to obey all of these commandments but why is god asking his people to do that jason it says meditate it day and night think about it let it become part of you because then it'll actually be good for you he wants us to be blessed and we're blessed when we make the word become part of us prosper i think is the word that we heard there right yeah and that's not just talking about financial prosperity yeah yeah but to flourish in every aspect of your life yes sabine and also they were about to enter in the promised land right they had been journey in the desert for years and years and now that's the moment where they're going to take over the place that god had promised to them so i'm sure that god wanted to remind them that even in the prosperity that they were about to enjoy that they had to remember the law of god look at the experience of hezekiah in second chronicles 31 uh here's a paradigm shift or a change of understanding that living in harmony with the word of god or obeying the word of god is actually for our blessing and not to just confine us in some way second chronicles 31 kim if you have that verses 20 and 21 what was the experience of hezekiah i'll be reading from the english standard version thus hezekiah did throughout all judah and he did what was good and rightful and right and faithful before the lord his god and every work that he undertook in the service of the house of god and in accordance with the law and the commandments seeking his god he did with all his heart and prospered all right what was the last word so he did it with all his heart and god blessed him there's another beautiful promise in proverbs chapter 6 solomon writes verses 20 to 23. i want us to just get this picture that following the teaching of the word is the best way to live yes proverbs chapter 6 jason do you have verses 20 to 23 i'm reading here from the new king james version proverbs chapter 6 verses 20 through 23 my son keep your father's command and do not forsake the law of your mother bind them continually upon your heart tie them around your neck when you roam they will lead you when you sleep they will keep you and when you awake they will speak with you for the commandment is a lamp and the law a light reproofs of instruction are the way of life it's like this is the good way i like those three aspects there um when you roam they will lead you leave you does that make sense yeah because you have these principles of truth right yeah from a god who loves us loves us right when you sleep they watch over you what does that mean when you sleep they'll watch over you sabrina jason just said what protect detect keep keep you and to guard you as you sleep i remember a friend yes who had a dream someone was trying to attack her could god protect a person even in a dream yes you say derek that's a radical thought could could his word keep you yes yes even when you sleep yes yes i believe so do you know what happened to this young lady in her dream she began to sing one of my wife's scripture songs in her dream in the night his song shall be with me a prayer to the god of my life keep me as the apple of your eye hide me under the shadow of your wings she's saying that to me so in her dream wow and the threat subsided and the peace of god filled their heart amen you say that wasn't real and the answer is the experience with god was real yes when you sleep they will keep you and when you awake they will speak with you yeah so that's the beauty of having the word as our teacher teaching us the best way to live now it's interesting we're going to go to revelation that one of the identifying characteristics of god's remnant people in the last days of earth's history is obedience the question is why are they obeying god you say well because he's god but what is their motivation well let's look at a couple of texts together revelation chapter 14 and verse 12. revelation 14 and verse 12 samiso do you have that and then revelation 12 and verse 17 maybe sabine you can read that for us first revelation 14 12. revelation 14 12 from the new king james version it says here is the patience of the saints here are those who keep the commandments of god and the faith of jesus all right so this is not separated from jesus at all right but they keep the commandments and obedient people what does it say sabine in revelation 12 and verse 17. okay i'll be reading from the new international version and it says then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring those who obey god's commandments and hold to the testimony of jesus got jesus there again too right so why are they obeying that's that's a key question are they obeying trying to earn god's favor hoping that maybe someday god will love them why are they obeying it's a characteristic of his end time people sabina i think that the main reason is because they love jesus yes i think that's the best reason why would i would keep persevering and knowing his faithfulness in his love towards me but also because i love him so much and i just want to go and live with him in eternity so i'm looking forward for that day and overcome all those things that we are going through isn't it say somewhere in the bible just find out what pleases him yeah you know this is a an obedience motivated by love yeah really no i was going to say that um yeah like sabrina says that you know love is the motivation and they choose uh god over everything else so i think it's it's it's that free will that god is not forcing them to even if you know they see danger they say no i'm still going to follow god so it's a choice it's a um you know when you're facing death i think that's when you have to choose you make the sort of like the most radical decisions and these people have chosen god so it's a choice not being forced of course by god it's free will i think in that in that regard it's a joyful obedience yeah yes motivated by love samisa i just want to point out that the obedience is not fear of punishment obedience is love so they have developed that relationship with jesus and they trust jesus and it's all christ-centered obedience beautiful which brings us to the the last part of our study because we're talking about the word of god as our teacher lessons for life we've discovered a revelation of the character of god which is what love he loves us with an unfailing love wants us to love him and love each other yes the word of god also shows us our great need again because he loves us right yes he wants us to come onto the path of life and the the place of blessing he wants to show us the best way to live right and we are responding out of loving obedience but i think one of the other really important areas of learning from the word of god is our teacher is learning about jesus yes think about it for a moment how much would we know about jesus if we didn't have the bible nothing not good how much would we know very little nothing nothing billy's like i don't know maybe god would send an angel uh maybe no i was gonna say i feel like um jesus has the way jesus interacted with people i think you know um yeah the bible is our main source but i believe that um there might be some other sources that that testify of you know what he's doing because you know he impacted everybody um and that i think yeah you know thank god for the bible so that we can know more details um but maybe that's something you know to wonder you know what if we didn't have the bible you know how else can we and i haven't i have an opinion on that and i may get a lot of emails there are a few references tacitus from the roman senate josephus the jewish historian but but i do believe that the enemy of our souls tried to eradicate every witness or testimony about jesus but when it came to scripture the same holy spirit who inspired the prophets and who was active in the ministry of life and ministry of jesus preserved that scripture for us people gave their lives so that we could read this today amen and jesus said some startling things about the scriptures he said actually they're all about me yeah can you remember where where he said that john john 5 samiso would you read that for us i think in verse 39 and 40. john 5 39 and 40 from the new king james version you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me but you are not willing to come that you may have life now at that point jesus was referring to the hebrew scriptures right because the new testament scriptures had not yet been written right so he's basically saying all of the writings of the prophets yeah they point to me yeah yeah is there an incident where jesus demonstrated that can you think of a story in the gospels where jesus demonstrated what he said that they all point to me sabina i can think of they walk in the way of emails uh-huh that's right after the wrestling exactly after the resurrection when he encountered the disciples and he pointed them to the bible to indicate that he was talking about him and was the prophecies that were fulfilled in him would you read a portion of that text for us in luke 24 verses 25 to 27 by the way the two disciples we know one of their names cleopas the other we don't know but did they think he was alive no no they thought he was still dead uh and jesus gives him a bible study now scripture says that they didn't recognize him i don't know whether he had a you know a piece of cloth over his head or or whether they were just kept from recognizing him so that they'd hear the bible study but let's look at luke 24 verses 25 to 27 because jesus not only says the scriptures are all about me but he illustrates it right here yes so i'll be reading from the new international version and it says he said to them how foolish you are and how is law of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken did not the christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory and beginning with moses and all the prophets he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself i wish i could have been there samiso i would have written down all of the scripture references yeah um could the holy spirit have revealed that to luke when he wrote this story down yeah could he have given him a dream hey karen a vision absolutely yes of course god can if you read later in the chapter it says also he went to the psalms and showed them from the psalms exactly uh so why do you think he didn't give us all the references all right they heard them yeah could it be that he wants us to study for ourselves exactly yeah to go back and go ah that points to jesus or that prophecy tells me where he'll be born yes well that prophecy talks about him going into jerusalem on the on a donkey you know and the disciples they were blessed to live with jesus and have spent time with jesus and even right now after the resurrection see jesus themselves in person but what about us you know so if he if he was not teaching the disciples how to look and refer to scripture pointing to jesus and letting us know that we also have to do the same i think we would be lost so that was the hebrew scriptures a great blessing jesus recognized them as the word of god but but we also have what we call the new testament scriptures right which are the clearest description of the life and teachings of jesus the gospels and the new testament book of acts and the epistles all pointing to jesus even the book of revelation is the revelation of jesus christ now it's startling to me that people who say they are followers of jesus have never read those books i taught a class on the life of jesus for many years many students coming in had never read one of the gospels what what why would that be really it might be the culture or just the environment um because because i know some friends um who are you know specific religion and the religion not forbids them but basically the practices that you know uh the the preacher is the one who's teaching you ah so the results read the bible for yourself exactly so some of them actually they generally think that it's not my responsibility that's part of the reason why i attend church so that i can learn but they don't see that you know they have access to the word of god so um but i do think that you know some are genuinely you know just following their call the religion um and and if the religion dictates that no it's the priest it's the pastor or it's the deacon um that you know they just you know follow that sure sure the truth of the matter is his word is a lamp to our feet so we need to be reading it for ourselves don't we yeah if the word's going to be our teacher we need to read it for ourselves because maybe something that human teacher tells me is not in harmony with what the word of god is teaching me so i need to study that for myself and let it lead me fear a time in closing we're almost out of time in our study and love to hear from you our viewers around the world a time when god taught you an important lesson for life through his word the bible teacher someone like to share a time when ah god taught me through his word didn't send nathan the prophet but he taught me an important lesson through his word anyone have a testimony to share kim so when i was a teenager i struggled a lot with anxiety i was always worried like when my parents get sick would i get sick but god reminded me of the verse in proverbs 3 verses 5 through 6 to trust in him and to trust in the lord with all my heart and not to lean at all on my own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge him and he'll do what he'll direct my past you memorized that didn't you yes what did that do for you even as a teenager um it taught me not to rely on myself at all and that i could trust trust that god wants the best for me in my life and my family's life and how long did it take for that to really sink in for you um a few years i'm still learning too okay so it's a journey yes but you're believing that god is a loving god has your best good at heart and his word is not there to trap you or condemn you it may be there as a witness against you to show you your great need of him right but shows you the best way to live and uh it most of all points you to jesus who loves you with a measurable and unfailing love one more verse yes billy oh oh verse or or testimony i'd say uh jonah uh the fact that you know when i was growing up it the story was always like jonah's trying to save uh the ninevites but i think i was reading maybe this year or last year the fact that god was also using the ninevites to save jonah so this is the prophet who ran away and didn't want to tell the ninevites a wicked city that they should repent because actually god loved them exactly what a startling thought that is right yeah in the fact that god is using the people that you know we're trying to reach to reveal something deep inside of us that we know we need to give up or we need to surrender to him and so it's both ways so god sends us to reach somebody or save somebody but he's also using these people to to change us too to make us better people because at the end of the day for instance jonah jonathan became a better person because god revealed to him that he was prejudiced that he he he was not acting the way he was supposed to um so god is is using the people that we're trying to reach in order to change us and that's the story there is a story in the bible my friend there's a story for you and a story from me it's actually just the word of god that we need to hear and so i would encourage you to be regularly reading the word of god let the word of god be your teacher let jesus most of all the living word of god be your teacher lessons for life that could bless your life and those around you let's pray father in heaven the bible is so powerful because you god are so awesome you're a loving god you want to lead us in the way of life to bless us and even to show us where we're straying into a dangerous path thank you for your immeasurable and unfailing love may we come to the scripture with a joyful anticipation that you will teach us in jesus name amen amen well thanks for joining us for hope sabbath school today so much to learn but god's blessed you with the word of god read it listen to it follow it with a receptive heart and be a blessing to those around you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: HopeSabbathSchool

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Keywords: Hope Sabbath School, Seventh-Day Adventist, Derek Morris

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Length: 58min 32sec (3512 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 11 2020