Daily Lesson for Sabbath 27th of September 2025

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study Deuteronomy 18:15-22; Joshua 1:1-18; Hebrews 6:17-18; Ephesians 6:10-18; Psalms 1:1-3; Romans 3:31.

Memory Text: “ ‘Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go’ ” (Joshua 1:7, NKJV).

Benjamin Zander, musical director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, taught a music interpretation class. He observed the students’ anxiety as they faced the evaluation of their performance. In order to put the students at ease and to open them up to their full potential, he announced on the first day of the class that everybody would get an “A.” This “A” was not an expectation to live up to “but a possibility to live into.” The only requirement was for the students to write a letter within the first two weeks of the semester but dated at the end of the class. The letter explained why they deserved the high grade.

The book of Joshua is about new possibilities. Moses, who had dominated 40 years of Israel’s history, belonged in the past. The Exodus from Egypt and the wanderings in the wilderness, tragically marked by rebellion and stubbornness, had ended. A new generation, willing to obey God, was ready to enter the Promised Land, not as an expectation to live up to but as a possibility to live into.

Let’s study the way God opened up a new chapter in Israel’s life and how He can do the same in ours, as well.

Sunday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25d-01-recipe-for-success/

Image © Pacific Press

The book of Joshua marks the transition from the leadership of Moses to that of Joshua. It begins with the story of Israel entering the Promised Land and ends with them settled in that land.

Joshua, indeed, had a tough act to follow. That is, to pick up where Moses (Moses!) had left off. But that challenge was only the beginning. Joshua was to do what Moses never did: take the nation, after 40 years in the desert, across the Jordan and into Canaan, according to the promise that God had made to the fathers years before.

“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel” (Josh. 1:2, NKJV).

The key to the whole story is found here, in the Lord’s words to Joshua: they are going to enter “the land which I [YHWH] am giving to them.”

Yes, Joshua is not going to do it alone, but only through the power and guidance of the Lord, who would have brought the people into the land a generation earlier had they obeyed their end of the covenant. Unfortunately, they didn’t, and thus, they met the consequences of their actions.

The fact is, during the preceding 40 years, Israel had faced the negative side of the covenant. Because of their rebellion against God, the entire adult generation who experienced the wonders and marvels of Exodus, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, perished in the desert. Four of the five books of Moses deal with what happened to them as they wandered in the desert all that time. Now, under the leadership of Joshua, the second generation was ready to undertake the challenges of possessing the land.

“Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” (Deut. 31:7, 8, NKJV).

The promises of God given to the patriarchs and to Moses are about to be fulfilled. There is an air of expectation and excitement, a new beginning for the people, long homeless and dispossessed. God has been faithful in delivering them from slavery, and He can certainly be trusted to fulfill His promises concerning the land.

“The primary purpose of the book of Joshua is to describe Israel’s entry into the land of promise, the conquest of the land, and its division among the tribes. This purpose underlies the message of the book, namely, the faithfulness of God in fulfilling the promise of land made to Abraham. The book emphasizes God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises (Josh. 21:43-45).”—Andrews Bible Commentary (Andrews University Press, 2020), p. 365.

We will discover together that, though the book of Joshua was written more than three millennia ago, the world in which we live today is not so different from that of Joshua’s in its spiritual challenges. We might face challenges of a different nature, but nonetheless there are challenges, especially spiritual ones, that threaten our security, our faith, and the fulfillment of the mission God has entrusted to His people. The example of Joshua will certainly inspire us to claim God’s promises concerning our times and to succeed through His power, as he did.

Barna Magyarosi currently serves as the executive secretary of the Inter-European Division and chair of the Biblical Research Committee of the division. He began his service for the church as a pastor and department director in the South Transylvania Conference, Romania, and continued as a theology teacher and president of Adventus University, Romania.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/introduction-second-chances-the-book-of-joshua/

Our Sabbath School program has always been linked to the support of the Seventh-day Adventist Mission program. This video provides a little insight into this important work.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-september-27/

Inside Story for Friday 26th of September 2025

By Andrew McChesney

Fernando Joaquim Ge joined a big construction company in Mozambique with the understanding that he wouldn’t work on Sabbath. But after three years, the company boss asked him to go on a business trip on Saturday. Fernando reminded his boss, Alexander, that he didn’t work on Saturdays.

Still, at 5 a.m. Saturday, Alexander pulled up at Fernando’s house to drive to Zimbabwe. When Fernando declined to go, Alexander barred him from returning to work until they had a one-on-one meeting.

At the meeting several days later, Alexander suspended Fernando for seven days without pay. He also gave him three options: resign, work on Saturdays, or forfeit two days’ pay for every Saturday that he missed work. He told Fernando to submit his decision in writing after seven days.

Fernando turned in a 10-page document with his decision. He wrote that he couldn’t resign because he needed the job. He wrote that he couldn’t work on Saturdays because he obeyed God, and he included a number of Bible verses about the Sabbath. He concluded that he was willing to take a pay cut for every Saturday that he missed work, and he also was ready to make up Saturday work on Sundays. Taking the document, Alexander told Fernando to keep working while he discussed it with his management team.

A week passed, and Alexander called Fernando on a Sunday to come to his house. The house was in another town, and Fernando arrived by public bus. Alexander instructed Fernando to drive a company car to a town 70 miles away to inspect a company project. Fernando returned late that night, after the public buses had stopped running, and he slept at Alexander’s house. The next Sunday, Alexander asked Fernando to come over again. This time, he wanted him to take his mother out in the company car.

The following day, on Monday, Alexander called a company meeting and asked Fernando to stand up. “Fernando took a pay cut because of his faith in God,” he said. “But now we see that he is sincere, so he doesn’t need to work on Saturdays.” Then he presented Fernando with keys to a company car. “Use this car for all company business,” he said. “And if you have business for your church, you also can use it freely, and we will pay for the gas. We only have one request. Ask your pastor to pray for our company to prosper.”

From that day in 2003 until today, Fernando has never had any Sabbath problems at work. The company car has proven to be a blessing to the church, and Fernando has used it to visit sick and elderly people, to participate in evangelistic programs, and to engage in other church activities. Every time people see the car, they remember that Fernando keeps the Sabbath. “It is worthwhile to be faithful to God,” Fernando said. “There is a great reward.”

Pray for the gospel to be proclaimed in Mozambique and other countries in the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division, the recipient of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering this week.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-13-inside-story-great-reward-of-the-sabbath/

Daily Lesson for Friday 26th of September 2025

Further Thought:

Read Ellen G. White, “The Tabernacle and Its Services,” Pages 353–358, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“The construction of the sanctuary was preceded by a divine act of redemption, namely, the deliverance of Israel from the enslaving power of Egypt. This, in turn, was followed by God’s willingness to enter into a permanent covenant relationship with His people. He would be their God, and they would become His people (Exodus 6:7). The way they would relate to Him and to each other was defined by the covenant law. The tabernacle was indeed a place of meeting, a place where God and humans came together. It was only after redemption and the establishment of permanent union with God through the covenant that the people had access to God in His dwelling place.”—Andrews Bible Commentary: Old Testament, “Exodus” (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2020), p. 226.

Meanwhile, Ellen G. White describes the purpose of the sanctuary services: “Thus in the ministration of the tabernacle, and of the temple that afterward took its place, the people were taught each day the great truths relative to Christ’s death and ministration, and once each year their minds were carried forward to the closing events of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the final purification of the universe from sin and sinners.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 358.

Discussion Questions

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-13-further-thought-the-tabernacle/