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-20/

Inside Story for Friday 19th of September 2025

By Andrew McChesney

Baatka felt so lonely in Mongolia. He often stood at the window of his home, looking outside for a real friend who would be with him forever.

The shy and timid 14-year-old boy was the only son in his family. Father was always at work. Mother had mental health issues, and she spent a month in the hospital every year. Baatka felt so alone. He contemplated death.

Then a cousin, Doogii, invited him to go to a Seventh-day Adventist church in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. “Come to church,” she said. “Something interesting will happen there.”

Image © Pacific Press

Baatka went because he was lonely. He didn’t hear a word of the sermon. The microphone wasn’t working because of electricity problems, and he had a hearing impairment that made it difficult to hear the preacher. But he liked the church members. They smiled and accepted him. They treated him like a friend. He also liked the singing. The church gave him goosebumps, and he returned the next Sabbath to feel the goosebumps again.

Church members spoke about God as their best friend.

“God can be your forever friend,” one told the boy.

“You’ll never be alone,” said another.

Baatka wondered if God was real. I can’t see Him. Can He be my friend? he thought.

After that, he went to the church every Sabbath. The church became the only positive place in his life, and the church members became his family. Life gained meaning, and Baatka found a desire to live.

Little by little, Baatka began to believe that God was real. His ears didn’t hear God speak, but his heart heard God’s voice. God became his forever best friend, transforming his mind and changing his life.

Today, Baatka Orgil is 31 and a new person in God. The once quiet and timid boy is now a Global Mission pioneer, planting churches in unentered areas of Mongolia. “I love to share how my life has changed,” he said. “I want to help people like me. That’s why I am serving as a missionary.”

Baatka, who is married and has two children, said he once thought that God chose only talented people as missionaries. “But now I understand that He chooses only the right people.”

“Even though I didn’t believe in myself, God believed in me,” he said. “If God could believe in me, I want to believe in Him, too.”

Thank you for your prayers for Global Mission pioneers who, like Baatka, face huge challenges planting churches among unreached people groups around the world. Learn more about Global Mission pioneers on the Adventist Mission website: bit.ly/GMPioneers.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-12-inside-story-baatkas-forever-best-friend/

Daily Lesson for Friday 19th of September 2025

Further Thought:

Carefully read Ellen G. White, “Idolatry at Sinai,” Pages 327–330, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

On a gloomy day, a father and son visited a cathedral. As they looked at the stained-glass windows with beautiful depictions of different biblical scenarios, the sun suddenly began shining through the glass picture of people, brightly illuminating them with impressive light. The small boy asked his father: “Daddy, who are these people?” The father didn’t know much about Christianity, Christ, or His disciples but quickly replied: “These people are Christians.” This dazzling picture stayed in the mind of the son. One day the boy’s teacher asked in class: “Children, do you know who Christians are?” The small boy remembered the bright picture in the cathedral and answered: “I know; Christians are shining people.” Along the same line, Jesus said to His followers, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16, NKJV). Only shining people can be agents of change.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-12-further-thought-please-show-me-your-glory/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 18th of September 2025

After God revealed His character of love to Moses, Moses descended to Israel’s camp with a radiant face. Did Moses know at first that his face was radiant? Not at all. The closer one is to the Lord, the more keenly aware the person is of his or her imperfections compared to God’s holiness.

Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com

What was the cause for Moses’ transformation that resulted in his face becoming radiant? The reason was not in the simple fact that he was in God’s presence, because several times previously he had been with the Lord and his face did not become radiant after those encounters. However, if he had never been in the Lord’s presence, his face would never have shone. It was only when he understood God’s goodness and kindness, and he completely opened himself to God because of the beauty of His character, that Moses was transformed, and his face shone. Our hearts and minds can experience a change when we surrender to God and allow Him to be the Lord and King of our lives.

Paul compares Moses’ shining face with Jesus Christ and that the glory of Jesus (in whom God’s law and grace were personified) surpasses the glory of the law with Moses. Christ, together with His law, can be engraved in our characters only when we fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 12:2) and only by the power of the Spirit of God (2 Corinthians 3:12-18).

Moses is a model for us, demonstrating what God can do for us when we allow Him to change our characters and to mold us into His divine image. This is what Paul means when he talks about walking in the “newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-12-the-shining-face-of-moses/

Introduction: If I asked you to “describe God’s glory,” how would you answer? Would you recite what God did to the Egyptians? How  God bent nature to support His people on their desert journey? How God gave His people a better way of living? Would it occur to you to answer that the glory of God is that He decides to save some and not others? Let’s plunge into our study of Exodus to see how God answers that question!

I. Meeting GodA. Read Exodus 33:7. If this is a tent to have meetings, why is it “far off” from the camp? (It is a place, we will learn, that Moses met with God. The reason it is far off is because God is distancing Himself from the people after the Golden Calf rebellion we discussed last week.)

B. Read Exodus 33:8. What lesson do you learn from the people watching Moses enter the Tent of Meeting? (When we read Exodus 32:1 the people were not showing respect to Moses. In Exodus 33 the people are now respecting Moses.)

C. Read Exodus 33:9-10. Is God doing anything to discourage the people from idol worship? (Making an idol gave them something tangible to worship. Here we see the people worshiping when they see the “pillar of cloud” coming down and standing at the entrance to the tent.)

D. Read Exodus 33:11. Can you imagine speaking face-to-face with God? Do you think that Moses is actually looking at God’s face? (Read Exodus 33:20-23. This reveals that Moses must have been facing God in the tent, but something was protecting Moses from seeing God’s face. We see later on that God takes special care that Moses does not see His face, because otherwise Moses would die.)

1. What do you think it means that Joshua stayed at the tent of meeting? Was he speaking to God after Moses left? (No. I think this tent was considered sacred space and Joshua was protecting it. Exodus 33:7 seems to say that when the people had something they wanted to bring before God, they would go outside the tent of meeting and pray.)

a. Why would the people decide to pray near a place that Moses met God? (This reflects pagan thinking. Idols were built on the top of high places based on the thinking it was nearer to the god. We can pray to God anywhere.)

II. The Leading of God

A. Read Exodus 33:12-13. What is Moses’ request? (He has two requests. That God send someone to go with him in leading the people and that he can know God better.)

1. Is there a specific reason Moses is asking for leadership help? Doesn’t he have Aaron? (Read Exodus 33:1-3. God promised Moses that He would send an angel to lead, but He also said He would not go because He might destroy the rebellious people.)

B. Read Exodus 33:2-3. God says that He will not personally go with Moses. Why not? (God says that the Hebrews are “stiff-necked” meaning that they are rebellious and God might destroy them.)

C. Read Exodus 33:14-17. What is Moses’ argument about why God Himself should go with them? (Moses says he does not want to go without God. Going with God makes all the difference. It distinguishes them from all others.)

1. Have you asked God to go with you? (I am afraid to make a decision to try to live without God. Once when I was young, and another time when I was much older, I was faced with a decision that I thought would turn my back on God. Both times I decided that I could not make my journey in life without God.)

III. The Glory of God

A. Read Exodus 33:18. Why do you think Moses asks this question? (Moses previously (Exodus 33:13) said that He wanted to know God better. Moses may also be asking for proof God will be with them. He has just gotten God to say that He will be with them. Now Moses says “please show me.”)

B. Read Exodus 33:19. Notice the way God answers the question about revealing His glory. What is the first aspect of God’s glory? (His goodness.)

1. Notice God also answers the “glory” question by saying that He will be arbitrary when showing graciousness and mercy. How is God’s glory shown in selectively showing mercy and grace?

C. Read Matthew 7:21-23. This is one of the most difficult texts for me to understand. These are mighty works that could not be done without the power of the Holy Spirit. How can Jesus say He “never” knew them? They were working with another member of the Trinity!

1. Jesus calls them “workers of lawlessness,” yet their works were casting out demons, prophesying, and many mighty works! This makes no sense on the surface.

D. Read Romans 9:15-16, where Paul comments on our reading in Exodus. How does Paul understand God’s statement on what appears to be arbitrariness? (Paul says that we earn nothing when it comes to salvation. While I do not doubt the statements of the miracle workers in Matthew 7, they think they are entitled to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This shows the most basic misunderstanding of God’s glory. Our salvation comes only by His mercy. Only by faith in Jesus. Genuine grace is freely given by God. That is what God was showing Moses when he sought to better know God and see His glory.)

E. Read Exodus 33:20-23. Is the fact that Moses cannot see God’s face and live connected to the discussion about God’s unmerited mercy? (Yes! Humans must admit that they are not God. They are not entitled to second-guess God. God’s glory is in Jesus.)

IV. Second Chances

A. Read Exodus 34:1-2 and Exodus 34:4-8. How does God describe what His name means? (Merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.)

1. Is God showing that He will forgive sin? That He will give second chances?
2. What does God say about the guilty and their descendants? (God forgives, but if we choose sin and self-dependence God will not ignore that decision. The evil results affect the lives of our descendants.)

B. Read Exodus 34:28. Why do you think God has Moses with Him for forty days? (He is running the people through the same temptation that caused them to create the Golden Calf.)

V. A Shining Face

A. Read Exodus 34:29-30 and Exodus 34:32-35. Why is Moses’ face shining? Why does Moses veil it when he speaks to the people? (Moses’ face reflects the glory of God. Each time Moses goes to the tent to meet with God, when he comes out his face is shining again.)

1. Is there a lesson in this for us? Does your face “shine” when you seek to know more about God? Does your attitude and appearance change?

B. Read 2 Corinthians 3:18. What is God’s goal for our lives? (That we will be transformed to reflect His glory.)

1. How does this happen as a practical matter? (Through the power of the Holy Spirit.)

C. Friend, the glory of God is the grace and mercy that He extends to each of us. We can make no demand on God based on our supposed good works. His salvation for us is entirely grace. Will you ask Him today to save you by His grace? Why not ask right now?

VI. Next week: The Tabernacle.

Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/12-please-show-me-your-glory-exodus-33-34-teaching-outline/