Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “John Wycliffe,” pp. 79-96;
“Luther Before the Diet,” pp. 145-170, in The Great Controversy; also read section 4.a.-j. from the document “Methods of Bible Study,” which can be found at the following link: www.adventistbiblicalresearch .org/materials/bible-interpretation-hermeneutics/methods-bible-study.
“In His word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an authoritative, infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience. . . . Yet the fact that God has revealed His will to men through His word, has not rendered needless the continued presence and guiding of the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, the Spirit was promised by our Saviour, to open the word to His servants, to illuminate and apply its teachings. And since it was the Spirit of God that inspired the Bible, it is impossible that the teaching of the Spirit should ever be contrary to that of the word.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 9.
Discussion Questions:
• Regardless of how many translations of the Bible exist in your language, what can you do to make the most of what you have? How can you learn to cherish the Bible as the Word of God and to seek, by faith, to obey what it teaches?
• Think about the difference between what the Word of God teaches about human origins (that we were created by God on the sixth day of Creation) and what humanity itself, under the name of “science,” teaches, which is that we evolved over billions of years. What should this vast contrast between the two tell us about how important it is to stick to what the Bible teaches, and how far off humanity can get when it veers away from the Word of God and what it plainly teaches?
• What Bible tools, if any, are available to you that can help you better understand the Bible? And even if you don’t have any extra tools, how can you learn to apply some of the lessons learned this week about how to interpret the Bible?
• The children of Israel were told to teach their own children the great truths committed to them and to retell the stories about God’s leading in their lives (Deut. 4:9). Putting aside the obvious benefit of passing the faith on, what is it about the teaching and the telling of stories about God’s leading in our lives that tends to increase our own faith? That is, why is sharing biblical truth with others beneficial to ourselves, as well?
Inside Story
“I Have Chills!”
By kAMil Metz
Liz was busy working in her home in Houston, Texas, United States, when suddenly something told her to be still for a moment. Just then, she heard a knock at the door.
When she opened the door, however, she didn’t see anyone. David Pano already had left her porch and was swiftly walking to the next house. Seeing his retreating figure, Liz called out to let him know she was there. Pano heard her call and returned to her home.
He smiled and handed her a GLOW tract. “Is this from a cult?” she asked. Pano assured her that it was not and that it was just a Christian tract.“I have chills right now!” Liz exclaimed. “Not too long ago I had a dream.
In the dream, I saw two ministers of the gospel coming to my house sharing literature. And I knew that they were not a cult.”
Pano, a minister who works as assistant ministries director at the Seventhday Adventist Church’s Michigan Conference, was thrilled to hear about her dream. The only problem with its fulfillment, he quietly pondered, was that he was there by himself.
Just then, Taylor Hinkle (pictured), his ministry partner on that street, arrived. Hinkle, a chaplain and Bible teacher at Great Lakes Adventist Academy in Michigan, had run out of GLOW tracts on his side of the street, so he had come to Pano to get some more tracts. There were now two ministers of the gospel at her door!
Liz looked at Pano and Hinkle. “I believe that this is from God,” she said. “In my dream, I saw two min-isters at my door bringing hope to me. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is your last chance. I’m coming back soon!’
“Please pray for me,” she said. “I need Jesus in my life.”The two young ministers, who were going door to door with other young adults during GYC’s annual convention in Houston on December 30, 2016, gladly prayed for her. Liz signed up to take Bible studies with a local church.
God sends His people as ministers of hope into this dark and gloomy world to introduce souls to the Source of hope. Adventist Church cofounder Ellen G. White wrote, “We are to minister to the despairing, and inspire hope in the hopeless” (The Desire of Ages, p. 350). Why not choose today to be a minister of hope for Jesus? tAylor hinkle is pictured. kAMil Metz is the international director for the GLOW ministry.
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