Key Thought: God gave Israel not only the Ten Commandments, but also the ordinances, rules, laws, and regulations. These laws were practical applications of the Decalogue to daily living.
August 30, 2025

1. Have a volunteer read Exodus 21:12-19.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What specific regulations were given concerning Hebrew slaves, homicide, and bodily injuries?
3. Personal Application: How is loving others, even our enemies, making us perfect? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “We are not under the law, but under grace. How does this statement give people the idea that the law can be ignored, forgotten, or misused even in regulations related to practical application to the law?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Exodus 22:16-26.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What issues were dealt with in these laws, and how?
3. Personal Application: How graceful and patient are you when others reject some of the truths of God’s words, of Jesus Himself? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Why didn’t God just drive out all the people in the land He gave Israel? Then Israel wouldn’t have been tempted to backslide and cause Israel problems?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Matthew 5:38-48.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How did Jesus interpret the meaning of the retaliation law? How should we apply it today??
3. Personal Application: How should the realisation that justice will come one day help you deal with the injustices we see in the world today? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “What is the difference between justice and vengeance?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Romans 12:19.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2.  What promise and command are found in these verses, and how are they closely related?
3. Personal Application: What are the ways we can learn to love in the way we are commanded to? Why does it always include death to self.”? 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).

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/9-living-the-law-teaching-plan/

Daily Lesson for Sunday 24th of August 2025

At Sinai, with the giving of His law, God set the foundation for teaching His people how, through connection with Him, they could live holy lives. But the principles of the law needed to be applied in everyday life, so God gave them additional laws, the so-called “Code of the Covenant.” It was the responsibility of judges to watch over these laws and to apply them correctly.

Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com

“The minds of the people, blinded and debased by slavery and heathen­ism, were not prepared to appreciate fully the far-­reaching principles of God’s ten precepts. That the obligations of the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced, additional precepts were given, illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments. These laws were called judgments, both because they were framed in infinite wisdom and equity and because the magistrates were to give judgment according to them. Unlike the Ten Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses, who was to communicate them to the people.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 310.

The Code of the Covenant is described in several chapters (Exodus 21:1-36; Exodus 22:1-31; Exodus 23:1-19). All these regulations and laws were issued to stop the avalanche of evil and to build an orderly society.

The slavery laws were special and should not be confused with the vicious and evil practice of modern or medieval slavery. Hebrew slaves were, in fact, protected and valued. In modern and medieval societies, servants and slaves were the property of their owner, who could do whatever they wished with them. In contrast, biblical laws regulated things differently. Servitude was limited to six years (Exodus 21:1-2; Jeremiah 34:8-22), and in the seventh year, all slaves had to be liberated unless they wanted to stay with their master. Masters also had to give them Sabbaths off (Exodus 20:9-10) and provide for their basic needs.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-09-the-code-of-the-covenant/

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-august-23/

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 23rd of August 2025

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study: Exodus 21:1-32, Exodus 22:16-31; Exodus 23:1-33, 2 Kings 19:35, Matthew 5:38-48, Romans 12:19, Matthew 16:27.

Memory Text:

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: “You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves” ’ ” (Exodus 20:22-23, NKJV).

God desired His people to be different from the surrounding nations. He wanted them established as a devoted community of faith who would live under His leadership and authority. Everyone would be subject to His law. Judges were to be appointed as administrators of the law, and the priests were to teach it. Parents also played a crucial role.

In any culture, the laws reveal the ideals, goals, intent, and character of the lawmaker. For example, when Pharaoh ordered every Hebrew male baby killed, this law revealed what he was like: evil. In contrast, if a king made a law that every 18-year-old in the kingdom would be awarded a free higher education, many would consider this evidence of the king’s generosity and desire for his country to prosper.

God’s law reveals Him, that is, His goodness, love, values, righteousness, and His restraints against evil. As the law is holy and just, so is God. While creating space for an abundant life, the law also helps protect us from dangers and calamities. Respect for God, for each other, and for life’s values were the basis of His legislative system.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 30.

Sunday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-09-living-the-law/

Inside Story for Friday 22nd of August 2025

By Andrew McChesney

Eniah Ngulube grew up in a non-Adventist home that observed the seventh-day Sabbath in Zambia. In addition to the Sabbath, her parents’ church taught that sick people should refuse medicine and instead seek prayer from church leaders. If an ill person died, church members accepted it as God’s will. Many church members died of malaria and other treatable diseases.

Eniah loved her parents and their faith. But as she grew into a teen, she and a sister began going to church on Sundays. Five of her other siblings joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church and kept worshiping on Saturdays. Their parents didn’t mind which church the children attended.

As a teen, Eniah also wanted to become a nurse. Even though she had been raised to reject medicine, she wanted to care for the sick. She dreamed of studying at Mwami Adventist School of Nursing in the town of Chipata, located about 20 miles away from her home. When she finished high school, she shared her desire with her brother, Kenson, who was an Adventist church elder. Kenson liked the idea of his sister studying in an Adventist school, and he contacted the president of the East Zambia Field to ask when the school would open enrollment for the next school year. Learning that enrollment had ended, he pleaded for a place for his sister. The East Zambia Field president, Moses Banda, called the school and discovered that it was unlikely that she would get in. Classes were packed. But a day or two later, the school found a place for her. Eniah couldn’t believe it, especially because she was not a Seventh-day Adventist. Her dream had come true!

A week after her arrival, the school held a week of spiritual emphasis. Her heart was stirred as she listened to the speaker, Zambian police chaplain Godfrey Sianga, talk about baptism. She had not been baptized by immersion. She thought, Let me get baptized like Jesus. He’s coming soon. At the end of the week, Eniah was baptized and joined the Adventist Church.

Eniah is among many students who have grown in their knowledge of Jesus at Mwami Adventist School of Nursing, said Emmanuel Mwale, Adventist Mission coordinator for the East Zambia Field. “Like Eniah, many non-Adventist students are coming to Mwami Adventist School of Nursing and receiving Jesus,” he said. “The Mwami Adventist School of Nursing actively shares the love of Jesus with new students every year.”

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

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-08-inside-story-a-dream-comes-true/