Read for This Week’s Study

Gen. 10:1–12, Gen. 12:1–9, 1 Sam. 8:4–18, Matt. 20:25–28, Rev. 18:1–4.

Memory Text:

The book of Revelation shows us God’s solutions for our fallen world. In the final chapters, access to the tree of life is restored, the curse is lifted, and we are readmitted into the presence of God. Revelation, in some ways, is the book of Genesis in reverse, which is why Genesis remains an important key to understanding how the world’s problems developed in the first place.

One of the key issues in both Daniel and Revelation is worldly government, a succession of human attempts to control a planet that rightfully belongs to God, who will—once this horrible episode of sin and rebellion is forever ended—ultimately rule in righteousness.

It is a very long process that leads to this moment, covering thousands of years of human experiments in self-government. They have never worked; even those expressing the highest ideals have always fallen short, often terribly short, of those ideals. So much of the sad history of humanity through the millennia is nothing but accounts of the tragedy that these failed systems have brought upon us. And it only will get worse until God’s “everlasting kingdom” (Dan. 7:27) finally is established.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 26.

“ ‘Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed’ ” (Daniel 7:14, NKJV).

O que acontece com sua família quando você se vê como um "oiknomos," ou seja, um mordomo da multiforme graça de Deus?

Episódio apresentado na Igreja Adventista Luso-brasileira de Newark, NJ, EUA, em 8 de Fevereiro de 2025.

Minhas anotações:

Mordomo = oikonomos

1 Ped. 4:7-10 - “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards [oikonomos] of the manifold grace of God.”

Oikonomos: a house-distributor (i.e. manager), or overseer, i.e. an employee in that capacity; by extension, a fiscal agent (treasurer); figuratively, a preacher (of the Gospel): chamberlain, governor, steward. (Strong)

1 Cor. 4:1 - “Assim, pois, importa que os homens nos considerem como ministros de Cristo e despenseiros dos mistérios de Deus.”

1Coríntios 9:16-17 - “Se anuncio o evangelho, não tenho de que me gloriar, pois sobre mim pesa essa obrigação; porque ai de mim se não pregar o evangelho! Se o faço de livre vontade, tenho galardão; mas, se constrangido, é, então, a responsabilidade de despenseiro que me está confiada.”

“Mordomia Cristã é o desenvolvimento da experiência espiritual, mediante a fé atuando pelo amor (Gl 5:6). É um programa de ensino permanente, da parte de Deus através do ministério e oficiais da igreja, para conscientizar o homem dos grandes propósitos Seus….” Albino Marks

“Mordomia é... a experiência de relacionamento de Deus para com o homem e do homem para com Deus, interessados na realização de um propósito comum - a consumação do plano redentor e restaurador de Deus....” Albino Marks, jubilado, pioneiro da Mordomia Cristã na América do Sul.

“… Mordomo, é aquele que aceita a missão de testemunhar da graça redentora, e promover o Reino de Deus mediante a entrega de si mesmo, habilidades, tempo e recursos materiais.” Albino Marks

Be blessed with this encouraging message.

Allusions Images Symbols: How to Study Prophecy — Images From Marriage — Further Thought:

Join us as we study the Bible Study Guide for the second quarter of 2025 called Allusions Images Symbols: How to Study Prophecy. We are studying the lesson for week 3 called Images From Marriage.    

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Read John 2:1–11, Matthew 22:1–14, 2 Corinthians 11:1–5, and Matthew 25:1–13.

Once you realize how much data is available in the rest of the Bible to help you broaden your understanding of prophecy, it can be tempting to over-apply it. Throughout the centuries, some Christians have emphasized the symbolism and imagery found in Bible stories to the point where they virtually begin to treat the historical narrative as a myth. While layers of meaning are to be found just about everywhere in Scripture, we must always remember that God has a way of taking real events that involve real people and using them to teach us things about His future interactions with the church.

The wedding feast in Cana, for example, may offer insights into the metaphor of marriage used by prophecy, but the wedding was a literal event. “The word of Christ supplied ample provision for the feast. So abundant is the provision of His grace to blot out the iniquities of men, and to renew and sustain the soul.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 149.

Or as she writes here: “ ‘The Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.’ While ‘the secret things belong unto the Lord our God,’ ‘those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.’ Amos 3:7; Deuteronomy 29:29. God has given these things to us, and His blessing will attend the reverent, prayerful study of the prophetic scriptures.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 234.

Discussion Questions:

Read John 2:1–11. There are many elements in John’s Gospel that foreshadow Christ’s future work, and commentators have noticed the deliberate way in which John moves his readers forward to the Cross. Where do you see various aspects of Christ’s character and future kingdom being demonstrated in this story? What does it teach us about the plan of salvation or about the ultimate marriage feast that has been promised to God’s Son?

The parable of the ten virgins is widely known and much loved by students of the Bible. What does this important story teach us about last-day events? Is it significant that the groom is delayed? What lessons might this parable teach about our individual relationships to Christ versus the way that Christ relates to the church corporately?

Think about false practices that have entered into Christianity from outside the faith. Besides the obvious one, Sunday, as opposed to the biblical Sabbath, what other false beliefs have come in? How have they come in, and what can we do not only to protect ourselves from them but to help others see what they really are? In what ways are the three angels’ messages an attempt to do just that, to help people see the false beliefs that have entered the faith?