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.
Sabbath: Complete in Christ
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 28th of February 2026
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study
Colossians 2:1-23; Hebrews 7:11; Isaiah 61:3; 1 Corinthians 3:6; Deuteronomy 31:24-26; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 7:7.
Memory Text: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17, NKJV).
Have you ever been asked why you keep the Sabbath? Perhaps even this week’s memory text was used as “evidence” against it. Yet, the text was written not about the fourth commandment, but in response to errors taught by some false teachers in the church. What were these errors?
First, the false teaching is described as “philosophy,” “the tradition of men,” “the basic principles of the world,” and “not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8, NKJV).
It also involved circumcision and the keeping of Jewish festivals (Colossians 2:11,16), along with Jewish purity rituals and regulations connected with food (Colossians 2:16,21). It involved the worship of or with angels or an attempt to emulate angelic worship (Colossians 2:18).
And, finally, it was based on “the commandments and doctrines of men” and possibly involved ascetic practices (Colossians 2:22-23).
These false teachers were clearly religious and sincere, but they also got the gospel wrong. This week we’ll see why. And we will see why the memory verse has nothing to do with our keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 7.
Inside Story: Moving the Two-Day Weekend
Inside Story for Friday 27th of February 2026
Rene Tucaldo is chief financial officer of the 1000 Missionary Movement, whose headquarters in Silang, Philippines, were constructed with the help of a 1996 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. Read more next week.
After losing two jobs because of his Seventh-day Adventist faith, Rene prayed to God again in the Philippines. “Lord,” he said, “it seems that being Adventist is only for the rich. I can’t find a job that doesn’t require me to work on Saturdays. How can we survive?”
Image © Pacific Press
Even though he had a university degree, Rene took odd jobs at construction sites. The pay, however, wasn’t enough to feed his growing family. He now was the father of two young children. He prayed again, “God, can You help me find a job that will support my family?”
Then he saw an advertisement for an accounting job in the Middle East. He would have to leave his family in the Philippines. He applied for the position and, after an interview, was hired. It was a challenging time.
When Rene arrived, he learned that the national weekend was on Thursdays and Fridays. That meant people were required to work on Saturdays and Sundays.
While Rene had to go to the office on Saturdays, he didn’t actually have to work. He read the Bible and Ellen White’s writings. His boss only came in on Saturday nights, so Rene didn’t work during the day. But he still felt bad. He was at work on Sabbath. He felt as though he was compromising his faith, and he longed to go to church on Sabbath. “God,” he prayed, “if You give me a chance to go to church on Saturday, I will keep the Sabbath holy until I die.”
For two years, he prayed this prayer. Then he spoke with his boss.
“Please give me Saturday for my Sabbath rest,” he said.
“No, I can’t allow you,” his boss replied. But he allowed for an exception, saying, “If my king declares Friday and Saturday to be the weekend, then you are free to rest.”
Rene prayed, “You heard what my boss said. Can You please help?”
Three months later, Rene’s boss was in Europe when the king signed a decree that the country’s weekend would be moved to Friday and Saturday. Rene, who had been praying the whole time, didn’t hear the news and went to the office as usual at nine o’clock on Saturday morning. After sitting down, he checked his email to see if any important messages had come in. It was then that he saw the message from his boss. He read, “Rene, I heard the news from my king. I remember my promise to you that you are free to rest if my king declares Friday and Saturday to be the weekend.” Rene closed the office and went to church. He was so happy that he cried.
Friday: Further Thought – Reconciliation and Hope
Daily Lesson for Friday 27th of February 2026
Further Thought
“We have no righteousness of our own with which to meet the claims of the law of God.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
But Christ has made a way of escape for us. . . . If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.
“More than this, Christ changes the heart. He abides in your heart by faith. You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the continual surrender of your will to Him; and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. . . .
“So we have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us.”—Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, Pages 62, 63.
“The light given me has been very forcible that many would go out from us, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. The Lord desires that every soul who claims to believe the truth shall have an intelligent knowledge of what is truth.”—Ellen G. White, Evangelism, p. 363.
Discussion Questions
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Thursday: Power of the Gospel
Daily Lesson for Thursday 26th of February 2026
Read Colossians 1:28-29. What is Paul’s focus? Why do you think “everyone” (ESV) is repeated three times?
The focus of Paul’s preaching was Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23). According to Ephesians 5:27, the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice is “that He might present her [the church] to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (NKJV). Thus, the aim of Paul’s gospel preaching is to “present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28, ESV). He does this by teaching and warning—teaching the various points of Christian doctrine and practice (2 Thessalonians 2:15, 1 Timothy 4:11, 1 Timothy 5:7, Titus 1:9) and warning of the consequences for rejecting the gospel and of the dangers of false teachers (Acts 20:29-31, Romans 16:17).
Image © Krieg Barrie at Goodsalt.com
This is how we grow to be mature Christians, by accepting the teachings and heeding the warnings of Scripture. Maturity is an important concept. The parents of a newborn baby celebrate every milestone—first words, learning to walk, and learning to read. What parent would not be alarmed if their child, after several years, was still unable to walk or talk? Growth and development are normal and expected. The same is true of the Christian life.
The Greek word translated “mature” (teleios) means perfect and without defect. Through the process of Christian growth, we become keenly aware of the depth of God’s law and that its requirements are “exceedingly broad” (Psalms 119:96, NKJV). We understand it extends to “the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
But we need to be careful, which is why Paul used the word “warning” in Colossians 1:28. The way that “seems right . . . is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12, NKJV). Spiritual discernment comes from a Spirit-guided knowledge of God’s Word. False teachings usually have some truth but either add to or take away something of what the Bible says (see Isaiah 8:20). The latter often succeeds, if not by directly doubting what God says, then at least by questioning whether it is really possible or whether it is applicable to our day. We must be wise as serpents but harmless as doves when it comes to discerning doctrinal truth from error.
How do you understand what it means to be “perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:28)? How does an understanding of what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross help in knowing what it means to be “perfect in Christ Jesus”?
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