Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, April 6,2024.

Main Theme: Love cannot be forced. Only by love can love be awakened. Love will overcome all evil and reign forever.

Read in Class: Revelation 12:4, Revelation 12:7-9, Isaiah 14:12-14, and Ezekiel 28:12-15. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these passage reveal about the freedom existing in heaven and the origin of evil? When Lucifer rebelled, in what ways could God have responded? What went on in the mind of this angelic being called Lucifer that led to his rebellion?

Apply: What tactics and weapons do you think Lucifer used in his “war of the minds” in heaven? What methods of gaslighting, narcissism or maybe even flattery have people tried to use with you that Lucifer may have used in heaven?

Share: Your friend says, “God could have allowed Lucifer to have free choice but then just destroyed him the minute he rebelled before things got so bad?  Or, He since God knows the end from the beginning, He could have not created Lucifer at all. God can give free choice and  then only create people who will choose to serve Him” Do you agree with your friend? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Genesis 3:1-8, Genesis 3:16-19,Romans 3:23, and Romans 6:23. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What tactics did Lucifer use to get Adam and Eve to disobey God, and what were the results of their disobedience?

Apply: What tactics do you see the serpent using with Adam and Eve that Lucifer may have used with the angels in heaven?

Share: Your friend asks, “why such a harsh penalty for such a small sin?” What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Genesis 3:15, Genesis 3:21, John 1:29, and John 3:16. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What was God’s solution for the sin problem?

Apply: How does Jesus’ death on the cross not only pay the penalty for your sins, but also expose all of Satan’s lies about God in the war between good and evil? How does the cross keep you from falling for Satan’s lies and temptations now?

Share: Your friend asks you to share the plan of salvation. What do you tell your friend? Need help? See Salvation in Light of the Cross.

Read in Class: Hebrews 4:15-16 and Hebrews 7:25. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: How do these verses give us assurance in a world of temptation, suffering, disease, and death?

Apply: According to John 17:24-26, what is Christ’s longing desire in the great controversy between good and evil?

Share: Your friend asks, “Why did Christ have to sacrifice Himself in order to save us?” What do you tell your friend?

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Inside Story for Friday 5th of April 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Cuban missionary Misael Delgado Rodríguez faced a major challenge on his first Sabbath in the Canary Islands. Only five people came to worship.

Misael dove into mission outreach work, visiting former church members and others on La Palma island. A month later, he rejoiced with a first baptism. But then COVID-19 suspended outreach efforts, and his problems seemed to multiply. A fire broke out in the north of the island, leaving some members without homes. Then a fire broke out in the south. Then a volcano erupted for 85 days, leaving islanders grappling with earthquakes, toxic gas, and ashes. Two church families lost everything.

Amid the storms, something amazing happened. Faith blossomed. Three years after Misael’s arrival, 45 people were regularly worshipping on Sabbath. In addition, seven people had been baptized, five were preparing for baptism, and 15 were taking Bible studies. What happened?

Misael said intercessory prayer was key. “We pray every day at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 9 p.m.,” he said. “Each member prays for five people.”

Each church department also embraced practical evangelism. One project, an initiative of the Spanish Union of Churches Conference, saw church members calling contacts over the phone and offering Ellen White’s Steps to Christ and related Bible studies. Other projects included educational courses on the church’s Facebook page aimed at the needs of families, young people, and little children; musical evangelism in which Adventist young people held mini-concerts on the street or while visiting the sick and needy; a program with ADRA in which members handed out cards that could be presented for food in supermarkets; health presentations; Bible studies; and the distribution of The Desire of Ages and other books. On holidays, such as Mother’s Day, church members placed a special card inside each book.

The church also opened a discipleship school where laypeople could learn how to evangelize, and four small groups were meeting regularly in homes.

Friendship evangelism has proven very successful, Misael said. While the volcano was erupting, church members spent two months passing out masks and literature with health information related to volcanoes. “That way the church became well known,” Misael said. Indeed, many of the 15 people taking Bible studies lost everything in the volcano, and they have acknowledged that the crisis led them to God, he said. “Otherwise, they would not have been interested in learning about God,” he said.

Misael looks back at his experience in the Canary Islands with joy. “The beginning was very difficult,” he said. “We have been through a lot. But the results are very satisfying. We have seen how God has blessed us.”

Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help spread the gospel in the Canary Islands and around the world.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24b-01-inside-story-volcano-fires-and-covid-19/