Sabbath School teaching tip: As a group leader, your duty is to protect the experience of the whole group. If you have a person in your group who tends to take the conversation into highly (off-topic) personal concerns and/or excessively long (off-topic) stories, you owe it the group to redirect the focus. (This differs from a 1:1 setting where the right thing might well be to just “let them talk.”). You can say, “You’ve raised some issues that open up a whole another realm beyond today’s lesson. For now, let’s get back to the lesson, but I’d be happy to follow up with you 1:1 to explore that more with you.”

1. Elijah (1 Kings 19: 1-16) became depressed and our author suggests he may well have felt that he had failed at his ministry. What, if anything, do you worry about “failing at,” at this point in your life?

2. Looking at the whole story of what Elijah went through, what else might be contributing to his discouragement? Can you relate to those experiences as well?

3. In 1 Kings 22:8, King Ahab says of Elijah, “I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Have you ever been the one who was defensive against feedback that challenged you to change…only to later realize it was a truth you needed to hear?

4. In Israel, no one (neither king nor priest) was above God’s law. Hence a prophet could challenge authorities on moral grounds. This differed from many surrounding kingdoms, where great emperors and kings often declared themselves “gods.”  When you think about people with authority in your own world (parents, boss, teacher, church leader, governmental leader, etc) what is your experience of their ability to accept feedback? How does the answer affect your feelings towards them, and their effectiveness?

5. Can a prophet be authentic if there is no resistance to him or her? Why or why not?

6. Where do you see examples of false prophets today in the Christian world? How can you recognize it as false? What typically motivates such distorted Christian leadership?

7. When King Josiah wanted to consult what the Lord wanted, everyone agreed they should check in with Huldah the prophetess (2 Kings 22:11-14). In the church you grew up in (whether Adventist or not), what role models were you given for ministry and leadership by women? How about the Adventist church today—how do you think we’re doing at providing our girls with role models for ministry and leadership that encompass all the gifts God gives them?

Print/PDF/Email