Jesus Emphasized Works Over Profession
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
In today's study we look at Luke 6:46-49, where Jesus was speaking to a group of people who called Him "Lord,” but weren’t doing what He said to do. Join us as we look closely at Jesus’ warnings about hearing Jesus’ words but not doing what He said. For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde, https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-right-and-wrong/ 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 4, "Jesus Emphasized Works Over Profession" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. ...
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Jesus Emphasized the Importance of Doing God's Will Over Association With Himself
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Many people believe that what Jesus wants most from us is for us to associate with Him – like, by acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior. But in today's study, we'll look at Jesus' teaching concerning the importance of practical obedience to God's will, and we'll see that see that He held it of higher importance than association with Himself. For more study, see: Are Good Works Important? John the Baptist and Jesus Said, "Yes!" https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/34121406 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 4, Study no. 2, "Jesus Emphasized the Importance of Doing God's...
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Are Good Works Important? John the Baptist and Jesus Said, "Yes!"
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
We're going to start doing something a little different with our Sabbath School podcasts. Instead of doing studies that directly pertain to the subject matter presented in the quarterly lesson, we'll be addressing various important and current topics that relate to us as SDAs. That said, today's topic is on the question of the importance of works. Many Christians don't place a lot of emphasis on works in comparison with other aspects of Christianity - works pretty much take a backseat as far as importance goes. But Jesus didn't shy away from emphasizing works. To the contrary, He...
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Sunday Keeping Doesn't Warrant Changing the 7th-Day Sabbath
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
The Sabbath School quarterly mentions that, "Adventists have sometimes shied away from resurrection morning because of the way it is misused to support Sunday sacredness." Sabbath School Quarterly Lesson, Saturday, September 21, 2024. Some who feel this way might think that whatever is used to support Sunday is a potential threat to the Sabbath truth. But really, even if Sunday could be shown to be divinely appointed as a day of worship, this wouldn't show that the Sabbath has changed from Saturday to Sunday, nor would it show that the command to keep the 7th-Day Sabbath is no longer...
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How Was Jesus Three Days and Three Nights in "The Heart of the Earth"?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Have you ever wondered about the calculus of Jesus' "sign of Jonah" statement? Jesus said, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40 WEB). This is usually understood as referring to Jesus' time in the tomb, but this interpretation runs into some obvious difficulties. The gospels leave a very plain record that Jesus was buried Friday evening soon before the Sabbath and that he was resurrected early Sunday morning. That's a span of about 36 hours, which is...
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Was There a Bible Canon in Jesus' Day?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Was there a bible canon in Jesus' day? A bible canon is a set list of writings that are considered to be THE list that's authoritative for a religious community. That means that if we want to know if there was a bible canon in Jesus' day, we have to determine if, at a minimum, the Jews were agreed on which books were scripture. Did they have some sort of official list of books they accepted to the exclusion of others - did they have that sort of thing or not? Did they have a council that approved a list, or was there a list that everyone had a consensus on? Today we are going to...
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Does God Have a Moral Standard Outside of Himself?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Why is God's law good? Often, people think it's good because God said it and whatever God says is good by default. While this might initially sound good and honoring to God, we need to consider whether this sort of explanation really makes sense. Consider, if anything God says is good by virtue of him saying it, could *anything* be good so long as God said it? Like, hypothetically, if God were to say, "Thou shalt not take care of the sick, the elderly, or the infants," would that *actually be good* just because God decided to make it a commandment? And how about other things, like racism,...
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Is the Principle in the Parable of the Mustard Seed Still Relevant?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus taught his audience that the kingdom will start small then grow large, and by implication, that we shouldn't disregard or bias ourselves against something on the basis of its small size. Of course, this was very relevant when Jesus spoke the parable since his band of followers was very small as compared to other religious groups in the world and even as compared to other groups among the Jews. But now that the SDA membership is 22 million or so, is it safe to say we are done now with the principle Jesus laid out in the parable of the mustard seed?...
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Is it Okay to Question the Traditional Authorship of the Gospels?
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
None of the 4 gospels in the New Testament list the name of is author, nor are they listed anywhere in the bible. So, is it okay to question the traditional authorship of the gospels? Or is that a doctrinally off limits thing to do? Like, is someone who questions these authorship traditions to be considered someone who doesn't really have a high view of scripture or something like that? Is it theologically okay to question a tradition if we are basing our doctrines on scripture alone? In our study today, we consider this. For more study, see: Is Merely Mental Prayer...
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You Can't Make Sense of an Immaterial Soul | Early SDA D.M. Canright
Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
Are humans dualistic beings – two part beings, composed of a material body plus an immaterial soul? The reason some have this idea is the belief that matter cannot be organized to think, and therefore, the thinking ability of humans must be attributed to something immaterial. This is then used as a basis for the belief in the soul's naturally immortality. If it's immaterial, it has no parts, so it can't be destroyed and must endure forever. While that might *seem* to make sense, it depends on the idea that the mind is immaterial. And the apparent necessity for that vanishes if matter can...
info_outlineIn this study we discuss a principle to keep in mind when reading any author's work - a principle that will help us understand more clearly what an author is trying to communicate. The principle: it's important to judge the writings of each author on their own merits rather than judging them by their association with other writings. This is important when we're talking about any writing that could potentially be a product of divine inspiration.
As we go through this, we'll introduce you to some facts that might be new and even surprising in regard to the Psalms, the topic of this quarterly study. For example, did you know the 150 psalms in the Protestant bible aren't the only psalms out there?
In the 1940s and 50s, Bedouin and archaeologists discovered a significant number of ancient manuscripts in locations by the Dead Sea. These became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Included among these manuscripts were 40 Psalm scrolls dating from the 2nd century BC to the first century AD. Some contain familiar psalms in an unfamiliar order, and several of the scrolls include others psalms side by side the psalms in our bibles simply as part of the collection. This includes Psalm 151 as well as the psalms known as Psalm 154 and 155. But there are also psalms that were completely unknown to modern people until they were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is hugely significant because it is plain manuscript evidence showing that at the time of Jesus and the apostles, there was no one book of Psalms like we have in our bibles today.
We've included links to where you can read English translations of the Psalms scrolls from the Dead Sea Scrolls along with the Psalms known as Psalms 151-155.
Dead Sea Scrolls Psalm Scrolls - http://dssenglishbible.com/ScrollsPsalms.htm
Psalm 151 - https://opensiddur.org/.../psalms-151-according-to-the.../
Psalm 152 and 153 - https://opensiddur.org/.../psalms-152-and-153-a-hebrew.../
Psalm 154 - https://opensiddur.org/.../psalms-154-according-to-the.../
Psalm 155 - https://opensiddur.org/.../psalms-155-according-to-the.../
For further study, see our "Scripture Canon" playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8ykUZG-bwezbikTsIHG2_eaNcbLd0SW&si=uBo_5B3_t3Ie-rk-
Sabbath School Q1 2024: Psalms – Week 1
A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.
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