Shows / Sabbath School From Home
Sabbath School From Home
Sabbath School is perhaps the most communal and participatory element of a regular Seventh-day Adventist church event (after foot-washing), but social distancing has us all isolated at home. This is a weekly Sabbath School styled conversation on Biblical themes and passages. Join in the conversation by writing comments/questions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com .
Episodes
- Sabbath School From Home
Daniel 10 - Prince of Persia
Babylon was already archaic by the time Revelation was written, so how do we understand it today? It is interesting that Babylon is invoked in Revelation to…
- Sabbath School From Home
Exodus 20 - Earth, sea, and everything
Sabbath, Creation, and the End seem to deserve a bit of untangling. The lesson this week sets out to discuss Sabbath and issues of worship in the End Times…
- Sabbath School From Home
Revelation 14 - Worship Him who made
Does worshiping "Him who made the heavens and earth" require a particular understanding of how creation happened? There is a wide variety of Christian pictures…
- Sabbath School From Home
Daniel 8 - How long?
Does prophetic time have room for measurement uncertainty? The Adventist church has a deep penchant for timekeeping, most vividly on display in our 7th day…
- Sabbath School From Home
Daniel 7 - Judgement in favour
How "infinite, minute, exact, and detailed" really are the heavenly records of Judgement? This combination of adjectives is striking, and goes straight to the…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 21 - Do not be afraid
What does it mean to "fear God" when so many angelic messages start with "do not be afraid"? The angel in Revelation 14 who shouts "fear God" is unique in the…
- Sabbath School From Home
Revelation 14 - Fear God
We finally reach the core "Three Angel's Messages"! This section of Revelation 14 has seemed fairly scary to many throughout history, but the Adventist Sabbath…
- Sabbath School From Home
Revelation 14 - Another angel came
How many angels are there in Revelation 14? While this passage is often referred to as the "Three Angels' Messages", we're looking at the second half of the…
- Sabbath School From Home
Numbers 22 - The donkey saw the angel
Messages from angels are not proof of superiority. This season will focus on the Angels Messages in Revelation 14, and we begin by acknowledging a few…
- Sabbath School From Home
Revelation 22 - Bringing my reward
Thinking about the "Rewards of Faithfulness" leads to an exploration of motivation. At first, "rewards" seems to be difficult to isolate from a merit-based…
- Sabbath School From Home
Nehemiah 4 - The builders had a sword
Tough times call us to seek our own survival, but also to lean on the Lord. We turn to the story of Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem after the exile, which…
- Sabbath School From Home
Luke 12 - Life is not measured
We can't take wealth with us after death, so where should it go? Yet again we find a tension between "responsible financial planning" (ie saving for…
- Sabbath School From Home
Joshua 7 - I took them
Beware of covetousness - and watch out for genocide? Coveting is called out in the Ten Commandments, and certainly fits in the broader theme of stewardship for…
- Sabbath School From Home
1 Timothy 5 - Worse than unbelievers
How does responsible financial planning fit with "building treasure in heaven"? A tension seems to exist between being a good and responsible steward of our…
- Sabbath School From Home
Matthew 25 - The least of these
"Helping the poor is not just an option." We resonate with this sentence from the Sabbath School lesson, and explore the famous parable of sheep and goats. The…
- Sabbath School From Home
Mark 8 - What will you gain?
How do we "lay up Treasure in Heaven"? There seem to be a variety of ways to think of this concept, and we notice a few that don't work so well for us. The…
- Sabbath School From Home
Deuteronomy 15 - They will not rule
Is debt more about stewardship or exploitation? The lesson this week makes some bold statements about the undesirability of debt, and even the Bible sounds…
- Sabbath School From Home
2 Corinthians 9 - A person who gives generously
How can offerings fit into the habits of generosity? In Christian vocabulary, Offerings are regularly found close to tithe - but the words are not synonyms. We…
- Sabbath School From Home
Acts 20 - More blessed to give
How did tithe actually work, and can it be more creative? It is all very well to say that the Old Testament tithing system was to support the Levites, but what…
- Sabbath School From Home
Malachi 3 - Enough food in my Temple
How does tithe relate to generosity? There are clear words on the page in Malachi 3 that suggest a tight relationship between tithe and blessing, and yet…
- Sabbath School From Home
1 John 3 - Already God's children
Reflecting on what "God's Family" means. The Sabbath School lesson for this new season explores the theme of stewardship, and we are reluctant to jump in with…
- Sabbath School From Home
Ecclesiastes 12 - Fear God
Does believing in resurrection automatically lead to a good way of living? At the end of a season discussing beliefs about what happens after death, we finish…
- Sabbath School From Home
Acts 19 - But who are you?
Is our doctrinal emphasis more biblical or cultural? Coming near the end of this season exploring death and the afterlife, we explore how beliefs on this topic…
- Sabbath School From Home
Acts 10 - Made it clean
What if the Spirit guides us beyond our "Biblical" worldview? Being a Bible-valuing and Spirit-led follower of Christ can lead to tension - sometimes we need…
- Sabbath School From Home
Matthew 7 - A house on sand
How does the person of Christ fit with His teachings? We turn to the parable of the building on sand versus rock foundations in an attempt to discuss the role…
- Sabbath School From Home
Matthew 22 - Invite everyone you see
There's a tension between discontinuous change and continuous transformation. The lesson explores the fires of hell and the theory of purgatory, and from an…
- Sabbath School From Home
Luke 16 - A great chasm
What to do with the Rich Man and Lazarus? This season on death and resurrection would certainly be incomplete without a discussion of the parable Jesus tells…
- Sabbath School From Home
2 Peter 3 - Isn't really being slow
It seems "soon" is ambiguous in God's vocabulary. We explore the fundamental conundrum of waiting 2000 years for the "soon" return of Christ. There are a…
- Sabbath School From Home
Luke 24 - They recognised him
How did Jesus' disciples respond to his resurrection? The Bible contains a few fascinating anecdotes about how the disciples responded to the resurrection. We…
- Sabbath School From Home
Acts 5 - Guilty of this man’s blood
What does Christ's death on the cross mean for us? It almost seems a silly question, but there's a surprising variety of aspects to unpack on this topic. We…
- Sabbath School From Home
1 Kings 17 - Your son is alive!
Resurrections before the cross often involve children. We look at the story of Elijah saving a young boy's life twice - and the second time is after he's died…
- Sabbath School From Home
Job 19 - I will see Him
What is hoped-for in the Old Testament? Some OT passages seem to fit our picture of the resurrection, but there are others which seem to come from a different…
- Sabbath School From Home
Ecclesiastes 12 - While you are young
What if the pondering the state-of-the-living is more valuable than the state-of-the-dead? This is a shorter episode because life seems particularly busy for…
- Sabbath School From Home
Ezekial 28 - You will be no god
Is theology more like an umbrella or a colander? Travel plans over the long weekend made it difficult to schedule a recording. Instead, here is a tasty morsel…
- Sabbath School From Home
Ezekial 28 - The day evil was found in you
We consider the origin of evil, and wonder how much can be learnt of this story from old testament metaphor. To launch a new season on death, dying, and the…
- Sabbath School From Home
Matthew 4 - To be tempted there
Wilderness temptations are a crucible for Christ. These are recorded in both Matthew and Luke (with an interesting difference of sequence), and immediately…
- Sabbath School From Home
Luke 8 - Don't bother the teacher
We help Cameron write a sermon about responding to people in crucibles. Luke 8 has featured previously (season 2), but Cameron wants to preach on it and so we…
- Sabbath School From Home
Matthew 25 - Do not know the hour
Waiting is never easy, but it is often unavoidable. We start with the story of David being anointed king in 1 Samuel 16 David - well before he actually takes…
- Sabbath School From Home
Ezekial 24 - Heads will remain covered
A rough time for Ezekial has us wondering about meekness in suffering. The story of Ezekial being instructed by God not to mourn after his wife suddenly dies…
- Sabbath School From Home
2 Chronicles 20 - Praising his majestic holiness
Not every army has an array of singers praising the Lord! It is not always easy to see how God's actions all fit together, and sometimes praise doesn't feel…
- Sabbath School From Home
2 Kings 6 - Open his eyes
Elisha's servant got to see chariots of fire, but where does that leave faith? The Sabbath School lesson talks about "Seeing the Invisible", especially when…
- Sabbath School From Home
Jeremiah 36 - Get another scroll
Baruch's scrolls give us an opportunity to explore the idea of hope.
- Sabbath School From Home
Matthew 5 - Gouge it out
How does self-control come into our consideration of life's crucibles? This part of the Sermon on the Mount is well known, and is often puzzling. Cutting off…
- Sabbath School From Home
Job 1 - Blaming God
Job is challenging and perhaps comforting for those in the crucible. The lesson places a bit of attention on Job chapter 1, but we feel it is necessary to…
- Sabbath School From Home
Romans 8 - Shape of our lives
The wonderful theme of "image" turns up Immediately following last week's verse in Romans 8. What does it mean for us to be "conformed to the image of His…
- Sabbath School From Home
Romans 8 - Work together for good
What do we say and do for people who have difficulties in life that challenge faith? This episode comes to you from a shack on the north west coast of…
- Sabbath School From Home
1 Peter 5 - Like a roaring lion
If crucibles can be like a roaring lion, what exactly is a lion like? We push the metaphor here in 1 Peter slightly too far to explore what it might mean for…
- Sabbath School From Home
Psalm 23 - Your rod and staff
The theme of "crucibles" takes us back to ponder the valley of the shadow of death. For the first time ever, we turn back to a chapter that we've already…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 38 - She is more righteous
Tamar is yet another somewhat troubling parenthetical side story. Awareness of some of the cultural expectations around marriage, descendants, and inheritance…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 30 - Give me children, or I’ll die!
Joseph's story begins a few chapters before his famous childhood dreams. Jacobs wives, Rachel and Leah, compete in some "competitive childbearing" that echoes…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 17 - I will bless her
We revisit Sarah to ponder the paucity of particularity in God's plan. This episode is a step back into the story of Abraham in response to a bit of a theme…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 34 - You have brought trouble
It seems nobody is particularly good in this troubling story. Genesis 34 tells the difficult story of Dinah, which certainly contains adult themes and…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 24 - And he loved her
The story of Rebecca is refreshingly pleasant after the foibles of Abraham. A number of remarkable things happen when Abraham's servant travels to find a wife…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 20 - No one reveres God here
Abraham lies about his wife, and fails to recognise that others respect God. A remarkable detail in the story of Abraham is that he lies about Sarah being his…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 13 - After Lot had gone
We come back to Lot and ponder some alternative histories. In the previous episode our exploration of Abram and Lot drifted off course, and so this week we…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 13 - Called on the name of the Lord
A curious phrase leads us to discuss worship. We set out to discuss Abraham's nephew Lot, but the phrase "Called on the name of the Lord" leads to an…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 11 - Come let us build
The Tower of Babel has many echos of the story of Cain. We notice a number of interesting details linking this story to that of Cain (Gen 4) and of "the Fall"…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 6 - And the Lord was sorry
Our favourite repentance recipes are remarkably absent from Genesis. This conversation follows on from last week's episode about Cain, because many of the…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 4 - Some of his crops
Cain causes quite a few interesting things go wrong with the story. There are many ways to read the story of Cain and Abel: a test of true worship, an allegory…
- Sabbath School From Home
Genesis 3 - I was afraid
The "fall" reminds us that falls are all too common. Perhaps the story in Genesis 3 is most important not because "it happened", but because "it is always…