Prepared for Sabbath School Class on August 1.

Photograph by William Earnhardt

Key Text: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV).

Read in Class: 1 Corinthians 8:-13.

Study: Why does Paul contrast knowledge with love, and what is the context here? What point is he making?

Apply: Paul argues that, without love, knowledge may become a bad thing (1 Corinthians 8). In what situations can knowledge without love indeed be bad?

Share: Your friend asks if Paul says we were not to make an issue of eating food sacrificed to idols, then why is it condemned in Revelation 2:20 in the message to Thyatira? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: 1 Corinthians 9:1-6.

Study: How does this passage provide a practical example of what it means to practice self-denial motivated by love?

Apply: What are things that, though they perhaps are due you, you might still be better off relinquishing in order to be a more effective witness for the Lord?

Share: Your friend says it is not fair for the pastor to expect her husband, who is a local elder, to preach for no charge, while the pastor gets paid to preach. What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: 1 Corinthians 10:5-22

Study: What sins did Israel commit in the wilderness, and why do the privileges granted to them make their sins even worse? Why must we flee from idolatry?

Apply: An idol doesn’t have to be a stone statue. We can make an idol out of just about anything. What idols, if any, do you need to flee from in your own life?

Share: Your friend says it’s hard to believe 1 Corinthians 10:13 when he keeps trying and trying to overcome his addiction and always failing. What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Mark 1-:17-22, Mark 12:38-31, and 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Study: How can 1 Corinthians 10:31 help us have the proper motivation in keeping the Spirit of the law? How can it also help us guard against legalism?

Apply: As you examine your actions and activities over the last week, how many of those actions and activities glorified God? How can we make sure we are glorifying God in all we do?

Share: Your friend says that when we break the commandments, we put ourselves first rather than God and others. and thus making idols of ourselves. What do you tell your friend?

Mission: How can you show and encourage your friends and family to glorify God in their weekly activities?

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/5-all-to-the-glory-of-god-sabbath-school-lesson-teaching-plan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-all-to-the-glory-of-god-sabbath-school-lesson-teaching-plan

Daily Lesson for Sunday 26th of July 2026

Paul uses the theme of food offered to idols in order to address a deeper issue: the lack of love for others (1 Corinthians 8:1-13). The matter of food offered to idols split the church of Corinth into two groups. Some believed that their knowledge about the nonexistence of other gods gave them the right to eat anything (1 Corinthians 8:4). These are referred to as the “strong” (1 Corinthians 4:10). Those who opposed this behavior are called the “weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9-12). Paul uses such a label because they did not overcome some superstitious beliefs that marked their previous pagan experience. When seeing the “strong” eating food offered to idols, they might conclude that Christianity and idolatry were compatible. So, Paul did not want the “strong” to become a stumbling block to the weak.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

The Bible sees the act of eating food offered to idols very negatively (Acts 15:20,29; Acts 21:25; compare with Revelation 2:14,20). However, Paul does not utter as radical statements as one sees in these passages. This is because his primary concern regards the lack of unity that the misuse of knowledge could cause. Paul is not criticizing knowledge as evil in itself; instead, he’s against the kind of knowledge that leads to arrogance and division in the church. Knowledge without love is not true knowledge at all (1 Corinthians 8:2). True knowledge arises only when one loves God and is known by Him (1 Corinthians 8:3).

Quoting Deuteronomy 6:4, Paul shows that believers must know that there is only one God (1 Corinthians 8:4-6). Interestingly, he follows the same idea one sees in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, where the statement that our God is one is followed by the command “You shall love the Lord your God” (NKJV). For both Paul and Moses, knowledge without love is worthless.

Confident in their knowledge, the “strong” believed that eating food sacrificed to idols was harmless. As we will see on Wednesday and Thursday, Paul conceded to them that right under certain conditions. However, if that became a stumbling block for the “weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9), it should be avoided. Christians are supposed to practice self-denial out of love for Christ and others.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26c-05-knowledge-versus-love/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26c-05-knowledge-versus-love

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 25th of July 2026

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study

1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Acts 15:20; 1 Corinthians 9:1-6; 1 Corinthians 10:5-22; Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Mark 12:28-31.

Memory Text:

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV).

1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 1 Corinthians 9:1-27; 1 Corinthians 10:1-33 brings the discussion on sexuality (in chapters 5–6) to a conclusion at the same time that it introduces Paul’s answers to specific questions asked through a letter (1 Corinthians 7:1) from the Corinthians. These answers will dominate the remainder of 1 Corinthians.

The transitional nature of 1 Corinthians 7:1-40 indicates that sexual immorality (chapters 5–7) and idolatry (chapters 8–10) are related topics. Indeed, they are often mentioned together in the New Testament (see Acts 15:20,29; Acts 21:25; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:15).

In general, while in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 6:1-20; 1 Corinthians 7:1-40 Paul deals with the problem of sexual immorality, in 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 1 Corinthians 9:1-27; 1 Corinthians 10:1-33 his main concern is the issue of idolatry. He states that Christians must flee from both (1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Corinthians 10:14).

Last week, we saw that by being a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), one can flee from sexual immorality. This week, we will see that one can flee from idolatry by doing “all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV).

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 1.

Sunday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26c-05-all-to-the-glory-of-god/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26c-05-all-to-the-glory-of-god

Inside Story for Friday 24th of July 2026

By Sandra Dombrowski

Cameras are poised, ready to shoot. Models sporting hairstyles that defy gravity and trend-setting fashions wait to walk the runway. A high-end fashion show in New York City is about to begin.

If you peek backstage, you’ll see Isabelle, the woman running the show, pray with each model before sending them down the catwalk.

Isabelle has rubbed shoulders with well-known fashion designers and celebrities. But what stirs her heart most is the ministry happening at Bryant Park Life Hope Center, an urban center of influence where Adventists are reaching people for Christ.

Raised as an Adventist, Isabelle was taught that the world is a ripe field of souls for God. Whatever she has done—ballet, modeling, skateboarding, and now fashion design—she does for Christ. But since God cured her from a debilitating injury, her desire to serve Him has intensified.

When Life Hope Center began in 2021, she had recently been healed. “At that moment, I had experienced so many miracles in my life that I wanted everybody to know,” Isabelle said. “When the Life Hope Center leaders asked for volunteers, I said yes.”

But Isabelle’s impact reaches beyond the doors of the center. Because God has blessed her with success in the fashion world, she has the opportunity to influence an industry where few if any Adventists mingle. She leverages her design concept, fashion show themes, and personal interactions to point people to Christ.

Isabelle issues press releases with an explanation of the inspiration behind the shows, so no one misses the message. “In every collection of clothing I present, ultimately, I’m always pushing the same button, asking the audience to search their hearts, investigate their own actions and motives, and ask themselves, is there a God out there? Should I change? Is there hope for me?” Isabelle explains.

Isabelle also reaches out with her warm personal touch to share God’s love and peace. “After Fashion Week, the people who work with me would call me just to listen to my voice because they said it gives them peace,” she said. “I know that’s God, because I speak too fast to be peaceful!” She prays with the models, the organizers, and anyone in this highly competitive industry who appears anxious. “Some people ask me what church I go to. They say, ‘Wherever you go, I want to go.’ ”

Then Isabelle brings them to Life Hope Center for a program or Bible studies or to one of the area Adventist churches. She finds joy in volunteering at this center of influence. But wouldn’t you say that as she intentionally uses every aspect of her life to win people to Christ, she, herself, is a center of influence? What would happen if every follower of Jesus saw themselves as a center of influence?

To learn more about urban centers of influence and their ministry to plant new groups of Adventist believers, visit urbancenters.org.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26c-04-inside-story-high-end-fashion-for-christ/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26c-04-inside-story-high-end-fashion-for-christ

Daily Lesson for Friday 24th of July 2026

Read Ellen G. White, “A Message of Warning and Entreaty,” Pages 298–308, in The Acts of the Apostles.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Interestingly, in the catalog of vices in 1 Corinthians 5:10-11 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, idolatry and drunkenness are listed along with sexual immorality. As Paul recalls in 1 Corinthians 10:7 (compare with Exodus 32:1-6), idolatrous festivals were usually marked with excessive eating and drinking, which opened the door for sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 10:8). Ellen G. White says:

“It is impossible for any to enjoy the blessing of sanctification while they are selfish and gluttonous. . . . The power of the human constitution to resist the abuses put upon it is wonderful, but persistent wrong habits in excessive eating and drinking will enfeeble every function of the body. In the gratification of perverted appetite and passion even professed Christians cripple nature in her work and lessen physical, mental, and moral power.”—The Sanctified Life, Pages 25, 26.

“When one is fully emptied of self, when every false god is cast out of the soul, the vacuum is supplied by the inflowing of the Spirit of Christ. Such a one has the faith which works by love and purifies the soul from every moral and spiritual defilement.”—Ellen G. White, The Home Missionary, November 1893.

“God is seeking to exalt us to His high, pure, heavenly standard. For this purpose His Spirit is constantly striving with us. . . . Our natural tendencies, unless corrected by the Holy Spirit of God, have in them the seeds of moral death.”—Ellen G. White, Manuscript 12, 1888.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26c-04-further-thought-sin-in-the-church/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26c-04-further-thought-sin-in-the-church