Daily Lesson for Sunday 18th of January 2026

It must have been a tremendous disappointment for Paul to see the church that he established and loved so much racked with rivalry and consumed with contention. He uses very strong language to describe the problems. “Selfish ambition” translates a word (Greek, eritheia), used earlier in Philippians 1:17 (ESV) to refer to Paul’s self-interested rivals in Rome who were bent on promoting themselves rather than advancing the cause of Christ.

Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com

“Selfish ambition” is among the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:20, NKJV), and as James indicates, “where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there” (James 3:16, NKJV). The Greek word for “conceit” is used only here in the New Testament, but appears in extrabiblical literature in the sense of arrogance, hollow pride, and having an inflated sense of oneself. Paul uses a closely related word in admonishing the Galatians: “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:26, NKJV).

Note the remedies Paul lists for these problems:

1. Consolation in Christ. Paul will proceed to use Christ’s own example as a powerful motivation.

2. Comfort of love. Jesus reveals divine love and commands us to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

3. Fellowship of the Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit creates a close Christian relationship like the one that pervaded the early church (Acts 2:42; compare 2 Corinthians 13:14).

4. Affection (or compassion). We see this divine quality frequently manifested in the life of Christ (see Matthew 9:36, Matthew 20:34, and Mark 1:41) and described in the parables of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:33) and the prodigal son (Luke 15:20).

5. Mercy. This quality, exemplified by Jesus, is to be seen also in the lives of His followers (Luke 6:36).

6. Being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. What a picture! It is difficult to imagine how Paul could emphasize the importance of unity more strongly. As Paul will point out, the mind we are to have “was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-04-disunity-in-philippi/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-04-disunity-in-philippi

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 17th of January 2026

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study: Philippians 2:1-11, Jeremiah 17:9, Philippians 4:8, 1 Corinthians 8:2, Romans 8:3, Hebrews 2:14-18.

Memory Text:

“Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:2, NKJV).

Unity is strength. But knowing what is true is not the same as doing it. We all fail sometimes, despite our best efforts at unity. But that’s not the same as deliberately undermining unity. No wonder, then, that as Paul continues writing to the Philippians, he wants them to be “of one accord, of one mind.”

Paul bases the necessity of unity on the teaching and example of Jesus. It’s a theme that we find throughout the New Testament and especially in the epistles. The origin of disunity in the universe stemmed from the pride and thirst for position and power of a single angel in heaven, a sentiment that spread quickly, even within a perfect environment (see Isaiah 14:12-14). It then gained a foothold in Eden through a similar discontent with the rules God had put in place and the desire for rising to a higher sphere than that which God had designed (Genesis 3:1-6).

This week we’ll look at the biblical basis for unity in the church, focusing especially on the amazing condescension of Jesus, the lessons we can gain from beholding Him, and how we can grow to be more like Him.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 24.

Sunday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-04-unity-through-humility/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-04-unity-through-humility

Inside Story for Friday 16th of January 2026

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An outbreak of baby cobras alarmed Beulah Fernandez, director of Sunshine Children’s Home and School on a Seventh-day Adventist campus in Bangalore, India. She had good reason to be worried. Five years earlier, a boy had been bitten by a cobra while chasing a calf through a mango grove. Even though he had been rushed to the hospital, he had ended up undergoing several operations and a year of complicated treatments before recovering.

Now baby cobras seemed to be everywhere on the 10-acre campus: on the road, in the garden, under the car, and even outside the door of Beulah’s house.

“O Lord!” she prayed. “This is supposed to be a safe place for children. Please help!”

Snake catchers were called, but they were accustomed to catching snakes in city buildings and closed spaces.

It was a difficult task to find the baby cobras on the large campus of trees bearing mangos, bananas, jackfruit, sapota, papaya, custard apples, avocados, coconuts, guavas, figs, passion fruits, and soursop.

Staff members and children prayed earnestly.

Then a staff member spotted a peacock on the campus. Could it be? A peacock on the campus in the middle of a big city? Peacocks are known to eat venomous snakes.

A short time after that, another staff member saw a second peacock.

A few evenings later, staff members and children were treated to a majestic display of a peacock and his female counterpart, a peahen, majestically strutting around the garden.

Everyone watched in wonder as the shiny blue peacock fanned out its long, brilliant tail feathers marked with eye-like designs.

After that evening, the baby cobras disappeared.

Even though the snakes were gone, the peacock and peahen remained on the campus like stately guardians to the children and staff members.

Even today, someone screams out almost daily, “Peacock!”—and the children run out to look at a beautiful bird.

Beulah believes that the peacocks were the answer to their fervent prayers. In the 45-year history of the school and children’s home, no peacocks had ever before visited the campus.

“We believe that God sent the peacocks,” she said. “God indeed does love and care for His children and can still amaze us with beautiful solutions to all our troubles.”

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-03-inside-story-peacocks-to-the-rescue/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-03-inside-story-peacocks-to-the-rescue

Daily Lesson for Friday 16th of January 2026
Further Thought:

“From the rack, the stake, the dungeon, from dens and caves of the earth, there falls upon his ear the martyr’s shout of triumph.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

He [Paul] hears the witness of steadfast souls, who, though destitute, afflicted, tormented, yet bear fearless, solemn testimony for the faith, declaring, ‘I know whom I have believed.’ These, yielding up their lives for the faith, declare to the world that He in whom they have trusted is able to save to the uttermost.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 512.

“Never was there so great a diversity of faith in Christendom as at the present day. If the gifts [of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-13)] were necessary to preserve the unity of the primitive church, how much more so to restore unity now! And that it is the purpose of God to restore the unity of the church in the last days, is abundantly evident from the prophecies. We are assured that the watchmen shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Also, that in the time of the end the wise shall understand. When this is fulfilled there will be unity of faith with all whom God accounts wise; for those that do in reality understand aright, must necessarily understand alike. . . . From considerations like these, it is evident that the perfect state of the church here predicted is still in the future; consequently these gifts have not yet accomplished their purpose.”—R. F. Cottrell, “Introduction,” in Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 140.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-03-further-thought-life-and-death/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-03-further-thought-life-and-death

Daily Lesson for Thursday 15th of January 2026

Image © Review and Herald Publishing Assn. Goodsalt,com

Satan’s strategy is to divide and conquer. Disunity is deadly. Jesus said, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25, NKJV). It’s a simple principle that Satan is delighted for us to forget. Our unity helps enable us to fulfill our prophetic role as the remnant of Bible prophecy (Revelation 12:17), proclaiming the “everlasting gospel” to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). Because unity is crucial to fulfill our mission to spread this God-given message, and Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1-26 highlights “the truth” of God’s Word as one of the most important keys for unity (John 17:17,19), our message cannot be separated from our mission or our unity. All three stand or fall together. If one of these three keys is missing, we can’t succeed. However, if we have all three in place, there is nothing to fear. We need not be “in any way terrified” by opposition (Philippians 1:28, NKJV). Satan is a defeated foe. Even if we should be put to death for our faith, nothing can harm us if we “become followers of what is good” (1 Peter 3:13, NKJV). The devil is powerless to stop the onward march of God’s truth.

Life itself in this fallen world is hard, even for the “best” of us. Job was a righteous man; even the Bible says that he “was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1, NKJV). And yet, overnight, calamity struck him and his family. Who hasn’t learned, either by personal experience or by seeing what happened to others, that life here is lived, it seems, on a precipice, and you never know when you will go over the edge? Suffering, to some degree, is the lot of us all. In the end, though, better to suffer for Christ’s sake than for anything else.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-03-united-and-fearless/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-03-united-and-fearless