We are slow to reach Isaiah 7 because further reflections force us to revisit the difficult verses of Isaiah 6. The lesson this week explores the message of Isaiah to King Ahaz of Judah. We do get there, but spend most of our time revisiting the tough verses from last week: ‘Keep on hearing,[c] but do not understand; keep on seeing,[d] but do not perceive.’
The Sabbath School lesson "Crisis of Leadership" focuses mostly on Isaiah 6, and we ponder God saying "harden the hearts of these people". Our focus is particularly on verses 9, 10: And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’ Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for...
We're starting a new season exploring the book of Isaiah, and we look for some key themes in the first chapter. This season we'll be staying in sync with the SDA Sabbath School lessons progressing through Isaiah. There are way more than 13 chapters in this book, and so it will be necessary to pick and choose excerpts and themes as we go through each week - otherwise the podcast episodes would end up being many hours long!
The final lesson of this quarter is Eternal Learning, and we contemplate this topic through a couple of book reviews. Our conversation focuses on "Leaf by Niggle" by J. R. R. Tolkien, and "Pilgrims Regress" by C. S. Lewis, and touches on some other works that help us explore the idea of learning in Eternity.
This week's lesson is on Sabbath and personal development, and so we explore the non-employability value of education. This episode is a direct sequel to last week's discussion about work and employment, so you may want to catch up on that episode (s3e11) first. During today's conversation we dip into Jeremiah 28 and Romans 12.
As Christians who work, the topic "The Christian and Work" has us reflect on our own experiences. Contribute by emailing us at sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com
The book of Daniel launches an interesting exploration of "Education in the Arts and Sciences" throughout the Bible. We found more Bible references to this kind of education than we first thought, and this episode touches on Daniel 1 Judges 6 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Luke 2 Genesis 2 Send your comments/questions/suggestions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com
We explore the difference between Education and Indoctrination for this week's lesson topic "The Church and Education". The conversation turns to Proverbs 22 and Proverbs 2. Feel free to join the conversation by emailing comments/thoughts/questions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com.
The topic "Redemption and Education" provides a great opportunity to talk about Restorative (or "Redemptive") Justice, which increasingly forms the basis for school discipline systems. We're joined by friend and school teacher Clinton Jackson. His school has been using Restorative Practice for some years now, and he shares some of the profound ways that this way of thinking impacts our relationships and theology.
The lesson this week is on "Worship in Education", and so we asked Ken to educate us about a worshipful poem. Worship often involves music, but in our church tradition it does not feature poetry anywhere near as much. Pondering this wonderful poem makes it seem as though we might be missing something valuable. As Kingfishers Catch Fire By Gerard Manley Hopkins As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame; As tumbled over rim in roundy wells Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each h...
One remarkable feature of Masters is that they break the "rules" due to their deeper insight - and Jesus the Master Teacher seems to be no exception! Just like the Sabbath School lesson, this episode continues the theme from last week. We ponder what sort of expertise Jesus would be in the modern world, and discuss the rules he "breaks" as a master - especially the Sabbath!
The lesson on "Jesus as the Master Teacher" opens up a wider conversation about masters and mastery. This week we didn't anchor as closely to a bible passage as we normally do, but exploring the qualities of a master led us to a few references. Philippians 2 speaks of the attitude of Christ, and especially the humility that led him to "not consider equality with God a thing to cling to".
This week's lesson is on "The Biblical Worldview", which turns out to be a bit more complicated than it often sounds. The bible was written over enough history that it might be better to think of various worldviews represented in the bible. In the 21st century even followers of Christ see the world through very different eyes to anyone in the Bible. This episode features special guest Clansi Rogers, sharing some of the insights she has from studying ancient history.
To discuss "The Law as Teacher" we turn to our resident legal expert, Ken, for a fascinating exploration of law and its ability (or inability) to teach. This episode explores a variety of aspects of the law, and has fairly natural focus on civil law as well as biblical or spiritual law. Romans is an obvious place to turn, and chapters 5, 6, 7 are all brought into the conversation. We enjoy hearing your comments at sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com.
We turn to aviation and pilot training for an interesting perspective on this week's topic of "Education in The Family". Ken shares a gripping story of having to make an emergency landing after his plane's engine stopped during aerobatics, and it is fascinating to reflect that pilot training is somewhat different to much of the education we experience in life - but perhaps not so different to some of the ways kids learn in families. We're always happy to hear your comments and feedback via email...
This new quarter has the theme "Education", and so we're going back-to-school with our podcast. For a fresh perspective on "Education in the Garden of Eden" Cameron takes us on a wild journey into randomness and meaning - with magic tricks! At one point in this episode we talk about a fantastic pattern created "randomly" called the Sierpiński triangle fractal, which is difficult to explain in a purely audio format. Cameron has created a video animation of the random walk process to produce the S...
At the end of a quarter on Witnessing, the lesson "A step in faith" has us turning to James 1 for some wise perspectives. Feel free to join the conversation by emailing sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com and we can use your insights and questions to guide future episodes.
This week's lesson on "A message worth sharing" is quite focussed on the book of Revelation, and we ponder this topic from the perspective of Jonah 3. The Seventh-day Adventist emphasis on the messages in Revelation has certain similarities to the message Jonah preaches against Nineveh. We explore this story to ponder what it might mean for a message to be "worth sharing". Importantly, we discover that sometimes the benefits of the message are actually intended for the messenger! You can send co...
Apollos, who taught about Jesus with accuracy but still needed somethings explained more accurately, is an interesting starting point for a conversation about the lesson "Sharing the Story of Jesus" and the idea of witnessing from authentic personal experience. Apollos is mentioned in Acts 18:24 - 19:7, and also in Pauls writings to the Corinthians. This story offers an interesting perspective on the lesson's claim that "We cannot share what we do not have ourselves", and the episode wanders ont...
This week's lesson "An Exciting Way to Get Involved" explores small groups, and so we turn to the story of Daniel and his three friends. Small groups have been almost fads in recent church history, but the core idea goes back deep throughout human history. We start with a more general discussion of small groups before focussing on Daniel 2:1-19 as an interesting angle from which to approach this topic. You can share your comments by emailing sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com .
In "Developing a Winning Attitude", the lesson this week explores more deeply Jesus’ attitude toward people. It tackles the challenge of speaking the truth in love, which turns out to be quite a can of worms! Our conversation is centered around the story of Jesus clearing the traders from the temple, which is in all four gospels. We discuss the version in John 2:13-22 and discover a few surprises. Join the conversation by emailing us at sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com and we can share your comme...
Jesus healing the bleeding woman and Jairus' daughter is a perfect double story to look at in the context of this week's lesson "Ministering Like Jesus". Luke shares some really interesting insights about this story that launch a conversation that reaches back to the Centurion's servant and forward to the present day. We look at the story in Luke 8. Share your comments and questions with us at sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com so that we can share them with the broader listening community....
Touching on this week's lesson "Sharing the Word", we start with the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch and end up dwelling on Jesus as The Word. The story of Philip and the Ethiopian is in Acts 8:26-39, and John chapter 1 opens with a delightful meditation on The Word of God. Send comments and questions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com so that we can share them with the broader listening community.
The lesson this week is called "Unlimited Possibilities", but seems to be about spiritual gifts - and so we turn to the story of Balaam! The story is in Numbers 22 , and we focus on verses 21-35. Although the conversation focuses a bit around the gift of tongues, we explore a number of ideas that relate to spiritual gifts more broadly. This episode also highlights the occasionally useful gift of "tongue-in-cheek". Send comments and questions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com so that we can shar...
To explore this week's lesson on "Spirit-empowered witnessing", we turn to the story of Peter baptising the gentile Cornelius and his household. This story is in Acts 10 , and we focus on verses 34-48. If you'd like to answer any of our various questions at the end of this episode (or share any other comments), write to us at sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com
This week's lesson is "Prayer Power: Interceding for Others", and we explore Jesus' teachings on prayer in Luke 11. The passage contains The Lord's Prayer, and then immediately follows it with a somewhat difficult parable about asking persistently. In fact, this is similar to the parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 18:1-8. If you'd like to answer any of our various questions at the end of this episode (or share any other comments), write to us at sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com...
Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 is an excellent story to explore for this week's lesson "Seeing People Through Jesus’ Eyes". [Abrupt ending is intentional] We're delighted to have Clansi join in again this week with some asynchronous comments. In the interests of time, we didn't read the bible passage in full this week. The core of the story that we discuss is John 4:5-26 culminating with Jesus telling the woman that he is the Messiah. Follow the link to review the s...
We find a slightly different angle on this week's lesson "The Power of Personal Testimony" by discussing Jesus' parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Since it's school holidays and kids are visiting grandparents, Lachlan's wife Clansi joins as a special guest. Luke 16 begins with the parable of the Shrewd Manager, and this turns out to help us explore interesting aspects of the Rich Man and Lazarus. As always, send comments and questions to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com so that we can share the...
It's the start of a new quarter and we explore this week's Sabbath School lesson "Making Friends for God". Isaiah 49:6 speaks of being a "light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth", and this is quoted by Paul in Antioch as a commandment - so what does it mean for us? For Season 2 of Sabbath School from Home we're going to try pulling topics from the lesson study, and this episode centres around Isaiah 49:6 which says (ESV) he says: “It is too light a thing that y...
Psalm 24 is full of joyful praise, and we find it to have a wonderful kind of timelessness. It seems nearly as applicable to our Christian experience as it was to the world of the psalmist. We're wondering what to do with this podcast for the next 13 episodes, so write to sabbathschoolfromhome@gmail.com with your comments and suggestions.
