Finding Hope Through Discovery in Bible Study

--> December 19, 2015 Class Notes by Larry R Evans (Follow Twitter:  @DrLarryEvans) Introduction Oswald Chambers has observed, “When we are in an unhealthy state physically or emotionally, we always want thrills.   And in the spiritual domain, if we insist on getting thrills . . . it will end in the destruction of spirituality.” (Quoted in A Lifetime of Wisdom—Embracing the Way God Heals You, by Joni Eareckson Tada, p. 88.)   There weren’t a lot of “thrills” in the transition from the flesh pots of Egypt (Ex. 16:3) to the land of milk and honey (Ex 3:8). The bondage in Egypt (Ex. 20:2) was seemingly exchanged for a different kind of bondage in the wilderness (Ex. 16:3). Regardless, the people Moses was called to lead preferred Egypt to wandering in the desert. They had a selective memory. What they failed to see was what the wandering in the desert was meant to reveal:   They had an unhealthy spiritual experience with God.   We begin our study today

November 14, 2015 Larry R Evans Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Sabbath School Class Introduction There are many ways we could begin our study today but I’d like to begin with a fundamental truth that will help put the crisis Jeremiah faced in perspective.   The principle or truth is stated well in 1 John 3: 1. We’ll also include the last part of verse 2: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.   . . . But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”   (1Jn 3:1,2b) The opening words of this verse, “How great” meant originally “of what country?”   God’s love is so unlike or so foreign to this world’s love that John raises the question: From what country does such a love come!   Yet, that same God refers to us as His children.   God gives us this privileged design

Sabbath School Study Outline August 29, 2015 Larry R Evans, Teacher Introduction   “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’” (Acts 10:34-35 ) This is a key verse in our study today but before we get to it, let’s remind ourselves of the setting first: ·       Before Peter was brought to Cornelius in Caesarea he was staying in Joppa with a man called Simon.   Does the city of Joppa sound familiar?   It was the port city where the prophet Jonah boarded a ship to flee from his mission assignment hundreds of years earlier (Jonah 1:3).   His mission?   To go to the self-acknowledged wicked city of Nineveh and appeal for repentance.   ·       Peter was staying in the home of a “tanner”.   Tanners had low social status.   The tanning process took animal hides and treated them with animal and human waste.   No wonder they live

The Jonah Saga: When the Chosen Disappoint God Sabbath School Bible Study July25 Presented at Sligo by the Sea by Larry R Evans Reflective Questions 1.               When the chosen of God go contrary to His wishes, God starts all over with a new people and new prophets.   True or False? 2.               God’s mission as described in the Bible is about “going ” not “coming.”   True or False? 3.               The first question a Christian must ask himself or herself is:   “What must I do?   This is what Jonah didn’t do and where he made his first mistake. True or False? 4.               It is possible for “pagans” to have a more realistic belief in God than the “chosen ones” of God who have been schooled in the teachings of the Bible.   True or False? 5.               Jonah needed to experience “Salvation comes from the Lord” before he could offer it to the Ninevites.   True or False? 6.               Jonah ran “from” God and then “to”