Key Thought: By praising sentiments of higher criticism, evolution, spiritualism, theosophy, and pantheism, Satan is leading souls into forbidden paths,
March 7, 2026

1. Have a volunteer read Isaiah 61:3, Matthew 3:10, I Corinthians 3:6.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. How do these verses illustrate the plant metaphor as a symbol of believers?
3. Personal Application: What has been your experience in dying to self to receive Christ? Why is this a continual process? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “When we accept Christ, His Spirit comes to dwell in us. Thus, we are led by the Spirit, so we don’t have to worry about sin or wrongdoing because God dwells in us. We are saved, filled with the Spirit, and free from the curse of the law.” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Colossians 2:11-15.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What issues does Paul seem to be combating here?
3. Personal Application: “Are there problems that are brought out that come with the use of these texts? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “The Sabbath, along with all the other commandments were nailed to the cross. We are no longer under the law, but under grace. You Adventists try to get people to keep the old Jewish Sabbath, classify food as clean and unclean, and are legalistic to try to get Christians to follow the Old Testament..” How would you respond to your relative?

3. Have a volunteer read Colossians 2:16,17.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What Jewish – Christian practices are highlighted by Paul?
3. Personal Application: How do we apply this counsel rule to any area of Christian living, including the Sabbath? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “We should be keeping the Passover and other ceremonial laws as well because they are in the Scripture. It’s better than keeping the pagan days of Easter and Christmas.” How would you respond to your friend?

4. Have a volunteer read Colossians 2:20-23.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How do you understand Paul’s admonitions based on other elements discussed in this chapter?
3. Personal Application: IS our salvation based on what Jesus has done for us, outside of us, in place of us, regardless of what He does in us? 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).

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/10-complete-in-christ-teaching-plan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-complete-in-christ-teaching-plan

Daily Lesson for Thursday 5th of March 2026

As in his epistle to the Galatians, Paul characterizes the concern over keeping Jewish ceremonies as “the basic principles of the world” (Colossians 2:8,20, NKJV; compare Galatians 4:3,9). In other words, like the earthly temple, these things belong to the earth, but our citizenship is in heaven. We need not be encumbered with the ceremonial law because it merely foreshadowed the reality that we now enjoy through Christ. That is, even though originally given by God, these ordinances, having served their function, are no longer needed.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

Because all these regulations were done away with at the Cross, as indicated by the divine hand rending the temple veil (Matthew 27:51; compare Daniel 9:27), Christians (including Jewish-Christians) are not subject to these regulations. By submitting to them, we would actually be identifying ourselves with this world, which is passing away, in contrast to the new world promised us in Christ.

After all, we look forward to “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13) and not merely a renovation of this old one.

Besides the fact that Pharisees and scribes had added additional human requirements on top of the Mosaic regulations (see Mark 7:1-13), the perpetuation of Old Testament ceremonies, which had been fulfilled by Christ, could no longer be considered divinely required, but only as humanly imposed duties. Indeed, it seems that they were becoming a burden to faith, as opposed to something that would enhance it. It’s so easy to start to look at doing all these things as not only making oneself superior to those who don’t, which is bad enough, but also perhaps even subtly as somehow being meritorious for salvation, a trap into which we don’t want to step.

Throughout Christian history, Bible experts have succumbed to the temptation to make religious pronouncements, usurping the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding believers as to what the text means. Christ Himself is the fountain from which springs the truth of the Scriptures as taught by Paul and the other Bible writers.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-10-commandments-of-men/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-10-commandments-of-men

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, Dr. Clinton Wahlen, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson,

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/10-complete-in-christ-it-is-written-discussion-with-the-author/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-complete-in-christ-it-is-written-discussion-with-the-author

View an in-depth discussion of Complete in Christ in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
Click on the image below to view the video:

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

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 4th of March 2026

To this day, scholars do not agree on exactly what the issues were that Paul was addressing here. What we can be sure of is that Paul’s epistle itself provides quite a bit of information on what seems to have been a Jewish-Christian divisive influence on this predominantly Gentile church (Colossians 2:13). That is, the Jewish believers were pushing things that were not necessary for the members to follow.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing from GoodSalt.com

Clearly, Colossians 2:16 lists a number of regular Jewish practices that were apparently continued among some Jewish converts to Christianity. But even the elements in Colossians 2:18 fit the same context. Jesus criticized pretensions to humility among the religious leaders (for example, Matthew 6:1,5,7,16). From the scrolls of Qumran, we learn that angels featured prominently in some Jewish conceptions of worship. So, the problems that Paul was confronting in Colossae were most likely similar to those he confronted elsewhere.

Since Colossians 2:16 is so often misunderstood, it is important to consider it in greater detail. Notice these points:

Paul’s use of “therefore” (ESV) signals that this is a conclusion drawn from what he has already said. Previously, the need for literal circumcision was dismissed because it is the inward change of the heart that matters (Colossians 2:11-15).

“Food and drink” refer to the meal and drink offerings that the Israelites brought to the temple.

The specification of “a festival or a new moon or sabbaths” (Colossians 2:16, NKJV) apparently alludes to Hosea 2:11, where the same sequence of ceremonial days are referred to, which includes ceremonial sabbaths (see, for example, Leviticus 23:11,24,32).

Crucial to our understanding of this verse is Paul’s own interpretation: that these “are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:17, NKJV). These ceremonial days, like the sacrifices, pointed to the work of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Corinthians 15:23). The seventh-day Sabbath, in contrast, was instituted in Eden, before sin, and long before the ceremonial sacrifices of the sanctuary were adopted; therefore, it was not a shadow to be done away with after the Cross.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-10-shadow-or-substance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-10-shadow-or-substance