Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast

• Episode 2505 - Lesson 10 - Tuesday Sep. 02 - Power to Obey

  Power to ObeyRead Ezekiel 36:26-28. How does obedience take place in our lives?On three occasions, the Israelites fervently declared that they would obey God (Exod. 19:8; Exod. 24:3-7). Obedience is important, even if the Bible teaches that we humans are weak, broken, fragile, and sinful. This sad truth has been revealed not only through the history of ancient Israel, but through the history of all His people.How, then, are we enabled to follow God faithfully?The good news is that what God commands, He empowers us to do. The help that is not inside of us comes from outside, enabling us to do what God requires. It is His work. In the core of his theological summary in Ezekiel 36:26-27, the prophet Ezekiel makes this point very clear. Only God can perform a heart transplant, and He does so by removing our heart of stone and replacing it with a sensitive heart of flesh. As Joshua reminded his audience: "You are not able to serve the LORD" (Josh. 24:19, NIV).We can decide to follow God; that is our role. We have to make the choice, the moment-by-moment choice to surrender to Him. And that is because we do not have the power to fulfill even our conscious choice to serve Him. But when we give our weakness to God, He will make us strong. Paul says: "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10, NKJV).Notice the divine "I" in Ezekiel 36:24-30: God gathers, cleanses, removes, gives, puts, and moves you to carefully keep His law. What He is doing, you will do. He identifies with you, and if you associate closely with Him, His doing will be your doing. The unity between God and you will be dynamic, powerful, and lively.Again, the emphasis in this passage is on God’s doing. The New King James Version reads: "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them" (Ezek. 36:27, NKJV). God commands people to obey and then gives the power to obey. What God requires of His people, He always helps them to do. Obedience is God’s gift (not just our performance or achievement), just as justification and salvation are His gifts, too (Phil. 2:13).If we have been promised the power to obey, why do we find it so easy to fall into sin anyway?

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• Episode 2504 - Lesson 10 - Monday Sep. 01 - Seeing God

  Seeing GodRead Exodus 24:9-18. What amazing experience were the children of Israel given here?After the firm reestablishment of the covenant with God, Moses again climbed Sinai. In the beginning of this climb, Moses was not alone. He had the excellent company of 73 Israelite leaders. For the leaders, this was the pinnacle experience: they saw God (theophany), and twice the text underlines this amazing reality. It was also a time for the leaders, by eating together, to seal the covenant with God. This was a banquet, and the God of Israel was their Host. These leaders were deeply honored by God.In the Middle East during biblical times (and to a certain extent today), eating together was a high experience, great honor, and privilege. It offered forgiveness and formed a bond of friendship. It implied being there for each other and staying together in times of crisis and problems. By eating together, they promised each other, without words, that if something should happen to one party, the other would be obliged to come and help. To be invited to a meal was a special treat that was not extended to everyone.Meanwhile, to refuse an invitation was one of the worst kinds of insults. This insight helps us to understand the stories in the New Testament where Jesus Christ was heavily criticized for eating with sinners (Luke 5:30). When believers celebrate the Lord’s Supper, they also establish this close bond with other believers who are sinners like themselves. During this meal, we celebrate the forgiveness and salvation that we have in Jesus (see Matt. 26:26-30, Mark 14:22-25, 1 Cor. 11:23-29).Tragically, some of the men who had gone up with Moses later fell into sin and lost their lives (see Lev. 10:1-2, 9). Even though they had such a deep experience with God there, they were not transformed or converted by that experience. What a powerful lesson about how possession of truth and sacred privileges does not automatically mean conversion. Having experienced what they did, these men should have been the last ones to have done what they would later tragically do.Dwell more on the story of these very privileged men, even sons of Aaron. What warning should this give to us, as Adventists, who, with the light we have been entrusted with, are indeed privileged?

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• Episode 2503 - Lesson 10 - Sunday August 31 - The Book and the Blood

  The Book and the BloodRead Exodus 24:1-8. What roles do the reading of the Word of God and the sprinkling of blood play in the ratification of the covenant between God and His people?The living God of the Bible is the God of relationships. The important element for our Lord is not a thing or an agenda but the person. Thus, God pays close attention to people, and the primary purpose of His activities is to build a personal relationship with humans. After all, a God who "is love" would have to be a God who did care about relationships, for how can there be love without relationships?Jesus said: "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32, ESV). God is interested not only in our ethical behavior, right doctrine, or in a set of proper actions, but, above all, in a personal, intimate relationship with us. Both creation institutions (Genesis 1-2) are about relationship: the first about the vertical relationship with God (the Sabbath) and the second about the horizontal relationship between humans (marriage).The ratification of the covenant at Sinai was to reinforce the special relationship that God wanted to have with His people. In the ceremony, the people twice shouted that they would obey God in everything that He required. "All that the Lord has said we will do," they proclaimed. They meant it, too, but they did not know their brokenness, fragility, and lack of power. The blood of the covenant was sprinkled on the people, indicating that only by Christ’s merits was Israel able to follow God’s instructions.We do not want to accept that our human nature is fragile, weak, and thoroughly sinful. We have an inherent tendency toward evil. To be able to do good, we must have help from outside ourselves. This help comes only from above, from the power of God’s grace, from His Word, and from the Holy Spirit. And even with all this at our disposal, evil still comes so easily to us, does it not?That’s why a close personal relationship with God was as essential to the people then, at Sinai, as it is to us today."Everything the LORD has said we will do" (Exod. 24:3, NIV). How many times have you said the same thing, only to fail? What is the only solution?

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• Episode 2502 - Lesson 10 - Sabbath August 30 - The Covenant and the Blueprint

  Sabbath AfternoonRead for This Week’s Study: Exod. 24:1-18; 1 Cor. 11:23-29; Lev. 10:1-2; Ezek. 36:26-28; Exod. 25:1-9; Exod. 31:1-18Memory Text: "So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the LORD has said we will do’" (Exodus 24:3, NKJV).As their God, Creator, and Redeemer, the Lord desired to be with His people and to dwell in their midst. He created us to be in close fellowship with Him. Yet, if meaningful relationships with other people can be built only with time and effort, the same is true with our vertical relationship with God. It can be an uplifting and growth-filled experience, but only if we spend time with Him. In practical terms, this means studying His Word (God speaking to us), praying (opening our hearts to God), and witnessing to others about Christ’s death, resurrection, and return (engaging in God’s mission). As God blesses us, we will be a channel of blessings to others.The focus should be on God, not on ourselves (Heb. 12:1-2). By our connecting with Him, God can empower us to follow His teachings, which means obedience to His Word. No wonder the end-time generation of Christ’s followers are described as people "who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12, NKJV).It's simple, really: we love God, and, out of that love, we obey Him.Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, September 6.

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• Episode 2501 - Lesson 9 - Friday August 29 - Further Thought

  Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, "The Law Given to Israel," pp. 310-314, in Patriarchs and Prophets.Because we live in the territory of our enemy, it is no wonder we may be hurt in real life by his skillful and deceptive schemes. Who among us has not known pain and suffering, all brought about because of sin and the sinful fallen world in which we live? It’s just part of life now, unfortunately. However, God gives us power to cope."The precious Saviour will send help just when we need it. The way to heaven is consecrated by His footprints. Every thorn that wounds our feet has wounded His. Every cross that we are called to bear He has borne before us. The Lord permits conflicts, to prepare the soul for peace. The time of trouble is a fearful ordeal for God's people; but it is the time for every true believer to look up, and by faith he may see the bow of promise encircling him."—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 633.People through the centuries have struggled with the fact that the Lord had those pagan nations driven out of their land, and sometimes even wiped out. It is, indeed, troubling. However, how should realizing that God’s love must also manifest justice help us trust that, even in these events, His love, not just His justice, was revealed?Dwell more on the fact that right after all Jesus’ words about loving others, even our enemies, and even those who hate you, He says to us, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48, NKJV). Why would Jesus have this command follow right after these other commands? What was He telling us here about what it means not only to be "perfect" but to be as perfect as "your Father in heaven"?The apostle Paul had a positive and uplifting attitude toward God’s law and its functions, yet he was against the misuse of the law. What does his statement mean that "you are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14, NIV)? What are ways that we can misuse the law?What is the difference between justice and vengeance? Are they completely different concepts or just different manifestations of the same idea? How do we know if our desire for justice is not really a desire for vengeance?Discussion Questions:

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