Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 41:37-46; 1 Kings 3:12; Genesis 42:1-38; Romans 5:7-11; Genesis 43:1-34; Genesis 44:1-34, Genesis 45:1-28.

Memory Text: “And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt’” (Genesis 41:41, NKJV).

Joseph is now leader of Egypt, and his own brothers will bow before him without knowing who he is (Genesis chapter 42). Joseph’s brothers will humble themselves when Joseph forces them to return with Benjamin (Genesis chapter 43), and — when Benjamin’s safety is, they fear, threatened (Genesis chapter 44) — they will plead for grace before this powerful man, whom they see as “like Pharaoh.” At the end, when Joseph reveals his identity, they will understand that, despite what they had done, God had brought good out of it all.

Interestingly, this whole next sequence of events, which were supposed to be about Joseph’s success, are more about his brothers’ repentance. Their back-and-forth journeys from Joseph to their father, and the obstacles they encounter, made them remember their wicked acts toward Joseph and their father, and they realized their iniquity toward God. Joseph’s brothers live that whole experience as a divine judgment. And yet the moving emotional conclusion, which brings everyone to tears and joy, also contains a message of forgiveness for them, despite their unjustifiable acts of evil.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, June 18.

Sunday–>

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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVSC9nkrnXM&w=560&h=315]

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This video is produced by the South Pacific Division Discipleship team.

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An Eternal Gift

By Andrew McChesney

Tragedy struck young Vishalini’s life when her parents divorced over a misunderstanding in the extended family. Vishalini sadly said good-bye to Mother after Father gained custody of her. Before long, Father remarried, and Vishalini had a stepmother. Vishalini felt so alone.

Image © Pacific Press

Her new stepmother did not like Mother at all.

Vishalini deeply loved Mother, and she looked forward to her occasional visits. The girl would smile and give Mother a big hug. Mother also smiled and gave Vishalini a big hug. Mother often had something else for the girl as well. She brought gifts. “Here is something for you,” Mother would say, pressing tasty treats into her little hand.

Vishalini smiled happily. She liked gifts and she liked tasty treats. But before she could eat them, her stepmother often snatched them away. “You are not allowed to accept any of her gifts,” her stepmother said, sharply.

Vishalini felt so alone. She grew up into a teenager, and Father sent her away to study at a boarding school in another part of Tamil Nadu state. It was scary to leave home for the first time, but Vishalini was glad to be away from family tensions and to be among friendly children and teachers. As the weeks passed, she became especially interested in hearing about Someone whom the children called “the real God.” She wanted to know more, and she began to learn about Jesus.

Today, Vishalini calls Jesus her Friend and says she will never feel alone again. Why? Because Jesus has promised, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20; NKJV). Vishalini has one Gift that no one can ever take away.

Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering that helped construct a new girls’ dormitory at Vishalini’s school, James Memorial Higher Secondary School, in Tamil Nadu state in southeastern India. The new dormitory allowed Vishalini and the other girls to move out of a dilapidated building that no longer was a healthy place to live.

This mission story illustrates the following components of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: Mission Objective No. 2, “To strengthen and diversify Adventist outreach in large cities, across the 10/40 Window, among unreached and under-reached people groups, and to non-Christian religions”; Mission Objective No. 3, “To make developing resources for mission to non-Christian religions and belief systems a high priority”; and Spiritual Growth Objective No. 7, “To help youth and young adults place God first and exemplify a biblical worldview.” Read more: IWillGo2020[dot]org.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

Ellen G. White, “Joseph in Egypt,” Pages 213-223, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

“In early life, just as they were passing from youth to manhood, Joseph and Daniel were separated from their homes and carried as captives to heathen lands.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Especially was Joseph subject to the temptations that attend great changes of fortune. In his father’s home a tenderly cherished child; in the house of Potiphar a slave, then a confidant and companion; a man of affairs, educated by study, observation, contact with men; in Pharaoh’s dungeon a prisoner of state, condemned unjustly, without hope of vindication or prospect of release; called at a great crisis to the leadership of the nation — what enabled him to preserve his integrity? …

In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of God. Often in his father’s tent, under the Syrian stars, he had been told the story of the night vision at Bethel, of the ladder from heaven to earth, and the descending and ascending angels, and of Him who from the throne above revealed Himself to Jacob. He had been told the story of the conflict beside the Jabbok, when, renouncing cherished sins, Jacob stood conqueror, and received the title of a prince with God.

A shepherd boy, tending his father’s flocks, Joseph’s pure and simple life had favored the development of both physical and mental power. By communion with God through nature and the study of the great truths handed down as a sacred trust from father to son, he had gained strength of mind and firmness of principle.

In the crisis of his life, when making that terrible journey from his childhood home in Canaan to the bondage which awaited him in Egypt, looking for the last time on the hills that hid the tents of his kindred, Joseph remembered his father’s God. He remembered the lessons of his childhood, and his soul thrilled with the resolve to prove himself true — ever to act as became a subject of the King of heaven.” — Ellen G. White, Education, Pages 51, 52.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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