1. Jesus came to show us what God is like. For four thousand years, God had revealed Himself to His people through miracles, visions, prophets and many other ways. But as marvelous as God’s revelations were, even the leaders of God’s people too often seemed oblivious to the nature and character of God. They wanted to do things their way.  Can you imagine an attitude like that in the people of God? Even today?
2. Mary’s song. Wouldn’t it have been enough for Mary to give birth to a baby whose coming was a miracle? How was Mary affected by the news that she was about to have a baby who was divine in every sense of the word? Do you think that her early childhood instruction in Biblical matters had anything to do with her breathless but confident acceptance of this blessing? In what ways was the kingdom Jesus was born to establish an “upside down kingdom”? How did Mary express the extraordinary characteristics of a divine rule that would offer salvation to all?
3. Why Jesus heals. True or false: Jesus won many friends with His healing miracles. Wasn’t this the primary purpose for His work as a healer and restorer of life? Or was there another reason for His miracles of healing? According to Matthew, Jesus “warned” His followers not to make Him known. Why not? Based on his healing ministry alone, could not Jesus have established His throne as the ultimate source of power and success? What overwhelming objective did He choose instead? 
4. Clearing the temple. Jesus, Master of tenderness and caring, snapping a whip and shouting at the rabble rousers in the temple to cease their activities. How does this picture of Jesus fit others that show Him to be gentle and loving? Your lesson hints that such demonstrations to oppose God’s work are invitations to stern action to defend it. What do you think we can do these days to pull our church away from actions of unwarranted anger and guilt?
5. The cross of Christ. Yes, the cross is a beautiful symbol of God’s love for us. But do you cringe at the very thought of the Master of the Universe, the Ultimate Expression of Love, suffering anguish and humiliation on the cruel cross while His enemies shout jeering insults? The Son of God, murdered for our sins, dying for us–what can we do to remember that Jesus, the One who died for our sins, our Substitute, loves us with everlasting love and looks to us to show those around us the depth and power of that love? 

Amen!(0)

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The memory verse gives us two hymns:
Hymn 378, “Go, Preach My Gospel” and Hymn 354, “Thy Love, O God”.

Compassion for the poor and oppressed is voiced in
Hymn 353, “Father, Help Your People” and
Hymn 352, “This Is My Will”. Are we ready to go and help?
Hymn 359, “Hark! The Voice of Jesus Calling”.

Jesus heals the sick in
Hymn 363, “Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service”,
Hymn 364, “O Jesus Christ, to You”,
Hymn 370, “Christ for the World”,
Hymn 475, “Balm in Gilead” and
Hymn 523, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place”.

On Thursday there are many hymns from which to choose about Jesus going to the cross to pay for my sins:
Hymn 157, “Go to Dark Gethsemane”,
Hymn 156, “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”,
Hymn 158, “Were You There?”,
Hymn 159, “The Old Rugged Cross”,
Hymn 163, “At the Cross” and
Hymn 164, “There is a Green Hill Far Away”, to name just a few.

The Great Controversy excerpt on Friday reminds us that we are
“Redeemed” – Hymn 337/338.

Blessings on your week and the beautiful Sabbath Day of rest.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Amen!(0)

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Key Thought: Jesus demonstrated the work of the Prophets : good news for the poor, freedom for the oppressed, healing for the broken-hearted.

August 17, 2019

1. Have a volunteer read Luke 4:16-21.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why do you think Jesus presented His ministry as the Messiah in this manner?
3. Personal Application: How do we balance meeting the physical needs with sharing the three angel’s messages to the world? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “Jesus healed many people in His ministry. He gave His apostles the power to do the same. But today we see very few manifestations of miracle healing happening. Is it because of a lack of faith, more modern medical cures, or something else? ” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Matthew 12:15-21.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What does healing all the people that came to Him and telling them not to reveal it tell us about Jesus?
3. Personal Application: Why should we avoid politics in trying to help the downtrodden? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Why does the prophecy say that the Gentiles should trust in His name? I thought Jesus was a Jew who came to the House of Israel? Wouldn’t this inflame the Jews in prejudice and hatred against the Gentiles and make it harder for Jesus to be accepted by the Jews?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Matthew 21:12-16.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. Why were the priests and scribes so displeased by Jesus’ healing the blind and the lame?
3. Personal Application: What are some of the dangers that a church today could get involved in that focuses more on income than in helping the poor? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “Do you think there is anything wrong with having benefit suppers, fairs, auctions, and yard sales at the church? Does this distract from the focus of our church’s mission?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Isaiah 53:3-6.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. How might we today be guilty of not desiring Christ, hiding our faces from Him, esteeming Him not, and being like sheep gone astray
3. Personal Application: Why show we always keep the injustice of Christ being punished for our sins before us as we seek to help the downtrodden? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

Amen!(0)

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Whether it was the prescribed reading for the day or whether Jesus intentionally found the relevant verses (Isa. 61:1-2) in the scroll He was given to read, it was no coincidence these verses were the text for His first public sermon. Neither is it a coincidence that the story of Jesus’ short sermon in Luke 4:16-21—“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21, NIV)—begins Luke’s record of Jesus’ public ministry.

Jesus Mission

Jesus seemed to be picking up the tune from Mary’s song of an “upside-down kingdom” and beginning to put it into effect in His ministry. Jesus—and Luke in his retelling of Jesus’ story—used the prophecy of Isaiah to explain what Jesus was doing and was about to do, but it was also another way of expressing what Mary had described 30 years earlier. The poor, the hurting, and the oppressed are the special focus and recipients of the good news that Jesus was bringing.

Jesus adopted these verses from Isaiah 61 as His mission statement. His ministry and mission were to be both spiritual and practical, and He would demonstrate that the spiritual and practical are not as far apart as we sometimes assume. For Jesus and His disciples, caring for people physically and practically were at least part of caring for them spiritually.

Read and compare Luke 4:16-21 and Luke 7:18-23. Why do you think Jesus answered in this way? How would you respond to similar questions about the divinity and messiahship of Jesus?

When Jesus sent out His disciples, the commission He gave to them was also in accord with this mission. While they were to announce that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matt. 10:7, NIV), Jesus’ further instructions to His disciples were to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give” (Matt. 10:8, NIV). Their ministry in His name was to reflect and enact the values and principles of Jesus’ ministry and the kingdom He invited people to. The disciples, too, were to join with Jesus in His mission to lift up the last, the least, and the lost.

Amen!(1)

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