How Shall We Wait? Discussion Starters
- Memory Text: Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.—Romans 12:11-13 NIV. [Lesson 13, September 24, 2016]
Were you impressed when you read the summary of Christian witnessing in northern California on the sea coast by our church members in the early 1900s? Is this text a summary of what all of our churches should be like today? What moved those people to engage themselves in such a wide variety of work for God?
Image © Bjorn Thorkelson from GoodSalt.com
- While We Wait for Jesus. A little while ago I was waiting for someone to answer the phone to answer a computer question. Nothing happened. Then I noticed the cell phone I was using was out of power. How could I connect to the help line without power? How can we connect with Jesus unless we ask for His power? And, finally, how can we be ready for the Coming of Jesus unless we are allowing His power to multiply whatever resources He has placed within our reach? How can we share our love with others unless we are asking God to prepare us day by day for an abundance of His love overflowing in our hearts even as we wait for His soon appearing?
- Revival and Reformation While We Wait. If we in our power can’t bring people to repent of their sins, how can we reach them? The study guide asks: Is it possible to study the Bible for hours every day and still be a selfish person? How can we obtain an “attitude of repentance” and a revival when we are sound sleep? Jesus hasn’t come yet. Does that make his Second Coming any less real? How do we find people in need now so that we can reach them with God’s love? Or can we?
- The Mission of the Church While We wait. Nobody likes to wait. Who of us wouldn’t rather be enjoying the peace and tranquility of heaven right now? Instead, we have a church to feed and support, a world to warn and win, sin to conquer and destroy. Is ours the only church that accepts ALL of the teachings of the Bible as true and worthy of our praise? How should we let our friends and neighbors know how high our regard is for all Scripture? But what if we are not understood? Should we still focus on what we see in the Bible?
- Preparing for the Final Harvest While We Wait. In what ways is the final harvest, the one that ends with the trumpets and angels proclaiming the end of sin, ready for you and me to get busy and help with its harvest? What do people around us need from us to rouse them to prepare for the end? Did you have an opportunity this week to let someone know you believe Jesus is coming soon? How did that “go over” with the listener? What would you change at the next opportunity of sharing the thrill of the Second Coming?
- The Wait is Over. What are the “two cities” our lesson author suggests are told as a “tale of two cities” in the Bible? Is Babylon, as mentioned dozens of times in the Bible, a single church entity? How does Babylon lead Christians to follow spiritual adultery? How does Satan manage to close the ears of millions of sincere people so that they accept the doctrines of men rather than of God? Or is their perspective that we Adventists grind every little piece of “truth” from the Bible until the rest of us are sick of our perspective of Christian living? What should we be doing every day during the “wait” to lead others to love God’s Word?
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I would like to thank the person (s) that write the discussion questions. Each really help to add to the class
I was thinking about waiting and the question came to mind, waiting for what? The person that wonders with a series of questions such as: Is there such a being as God? If so what is He like? What is His name? Where is He physically? How can I be sure one way or another? If I can asked someone that I trusted, what would they tell me?
When contemplating what I might say, where does one start? Genesis in the Bible? Certainly not Revelation. An unchurched skeptic with a touch of curiosity, may be a challenge. I am not forgetting the promptings of the Holy Spirit, but when an opportunity presents it's self, do I have all the answers just because I am a church member with loads of scripture? If I am lead, I pray for all the correct answers if the opportunity is ever available.
An addendum answer to waiting for what, is 1Thessalonians 1:9,10. A text that has not been mentioned that I am aware of. It seemed appropriate when discussing the reasons for waiting.