View an in-depth discussion of Free Will, Love, and Divine Providence/a> in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
Click on the image below to view the video:

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With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/8-free-will-love-and-divine-providence-hope-sabbath-school-video-discussion/

The studies in this quarters pamphlet encourage us to see God’s Love and Justice, just as we may sing in 
Hymn 79 – O Love of God, How Strong and True! which is a beautiful theme hymn for our studies.

Our memory text this week shows us that we may have
Wonderful Peace – Hymn 466.

With all the choices we make as humans, we wish to
Trust And Obey – Hymn 590 and follow where God wants to lead us, for our own best. The time of learning in Monday’s study shows us that “God is all-powerful (omnipotent)”, as does
Hymn 84 – God The Omnipotent.

Tuesday has us singing 
The Wonder Of It All – Hymn 75, the wonder of God’s love, as do 
Hymn 79 – O Love Of God,
How Strong And True! and 
Hymn 77 – O Love Of God Most Full. This love is so freely given as is found in verse 2 of 
Hymn 189 – All That Thrills My Soul.

“Christ Has Overcome The World” (Thursday’s title) is sung in 
Hymn 491 – In The Hour Of Trial and then gives the beauty of John 16:33 where “Christ has overcome the world”. Oh, 
What A Wonderful Saviour – Hymn 335.

The Final Thought on Friday gives us the blessed assurance story, 
For God So Loved The World – Hymn 78.

Please continue to search the scriptures this week to be blessed, and to bless others.

To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/

Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org/Search and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.

 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.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/8-free-will-love-and-divine-providence-singing-with-inspiration/

Key Thought : While God is omnipotent, He does not determine everything that happens. But God can transform a terrible situation into a blessing.
February 22, 2025

1. Have a volunteer read Psalm 81:11-14; Isaiah 30:15,18; 66:4; Luke 13:34.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What do these texts say about the question of whether God’s will is always being done here?
3. Personal Application: What kind of deep problems would the idea that everything that happens is God’s direct will? How would that connect God to evil choices? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “If God doesn’t always get wehat He wants, how does that influence the way we think about what happens in this world? How does this have practical implications that God has unfulfilled desires for us and the world?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Revelation 11:17; Matthew 19:26; Luke 1:37; Jeremiah 32:17-20.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What do these texts teach us about God’s power?
3. Personal Application: What have you done that you Knew God didn’t want you to do? What does this teach us about the reality and consequences of free will? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Since God is all-powerful, He wants to save everyone, then everyone will be saved. All these texts about judgment are just warnings to scare us into being obedient and following His will.” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Ephesians 1:9-11.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Is this text saying that some are predestined to be saved, and some are predestined to be lost?
3. Personal Application: What kind of attitude and response to God might people have if one believed in predestination? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “How can God make all things work together for good even if He knows all the choices, even bad ones, that people will make? Can we draw any comfort in this?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read John 16:33.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What hope, even in trials and suffering, does this text offer us?
3. Personal Application: How often do you think about the fact that God is grieved by suffering as welll? 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).

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/8-free-will-love-and-divine-providence-teaching-plan/

Daily Lesson for Monday 17th of February 2025

Throughout Scripture, God’s amazing power is made manifest. The Bible includes countless narratives of His exercising His power and working miracles. And yet, despite this, many things happen that God does not want to happen.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

These texts and others teach that God is all-powerful and that He sustains the world by His power. Indeed, Revelation repeatedly refers to God as the “Lord God Almighty” (for example, Revelation 11:17; compare with 2 Corinthians 6:18, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 16:14, Revelation 19:15, Revelation 21:22) and the word translated “Almighty” (pantokrator) literally means ­“all-powerful.” The fact that God is all-powerful is not only affirmed in words but also manifest in the many amazing instances in which God uses His power to deliver His people or otherwise miraculously intervenes in the world.

However, to say God is “all-powerful” does not mean that God can do anything whatsoever. Scripture teaches that there are some things God cannot do; for example, 2 Timothy 2:13 declares, God “cannot deny Himself” (NKJV).

Accordingly, most Christians agree that God is all-powerful (omnipo­tent), meaning that God has the power to do anything that does not involve a contradiction—that is, anything that is logically possible and consistent with God’s nature. That some things are not possible for God because they would involve a contradiction is apparent in Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane. While Christ affirmed that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26), He also prayed to the Father as the crucifixion neared, “ ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will’ ” (Matthew 26:39, NKJV).

Of course, the Father possessed the sheer power to deliver Christ from suffering on the cross, but He could not do this while also saving sinners. It had to be one or the other, not both.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-08-pantokrator/

Daily Lesson for Sunday 16th of February 2025

“God is sovereign,” the youth pastor taught his middle school group. “That means He controls everything that happens.” One puzzled middle schooler replied, “So God was in control when my dog died? Why would God kill my dog?”

Trying to answer this question, the youth pastor replied: “That’s a tough one. But sometimes God lets us go through hard times so that we’re prepared for even more difficult things in the future. I remember how hard it was when my dog died. But going through that helped me deal with an even more difficult time later when my grandma died. Does that make sense?”

Image © Rolf Jansson at Goodsalt.com

After a long pause, the middle schooler replied, “So God killed my dog to prepare me for when He’s going to kill my grandma?”—Marc Cortez, quoted in John C. Peckham, Divine Attributes: Knowing the Covenantal God of Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2021), p. 141.

People sometimes assume that everything that occurs happens just as God wants it to. Whatever happens in the world is precisely as God wanted to have happen. After all, God is almighty. How, then, could anything occur that God does not want to occur? Hence, no matter what happens, no matter how bad, it was God’s will. That, at least, is what this theology teaches.

While many people believe that God must always get what He wants, the Bible tells a quite different story. Again and again, Scripture depicts God as experiencing unfulfilled desires. That is, what happens often runs counter to what God states that He actually prefers to happen. In many instances, God explicitly declares that what is happening is the opposite of what He wants. He willed one outcome for His people, but they chose another instead. God Himself laments: “ ‘My people would not heed My voice. . . . Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies’ ” (Psalms 81:11,13-14, NKJV).

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-08-our-sovereign-god/