Junior and/or Earliteen
Sabbath School
January 31, 2009
This Quarter the Thirteenth Sabbath
Offering is going to the
Southern Asia-Pacific Division
Information adapted
from Adventist
Mission, Youth and
Adult Magazine and
the SDA
Encyclopedia.
The Thirteenth Sabbath Offering
will be used to help:
•Build a junior college classroom
block for Palawan Adventist Academy
in northern Philippines
•Build a classroom block for a
secondary school in Dumaguete,
central Philippines
•Complete a secondary school in
Zamboanga, in southern Philippines.
The Southern Asia-Pacific Division includes 20 countries,
almost 744 million people and more than 876,000
Adventist members in the countries of Bangladesh,
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
It also includes several islands in the Pacific north of the
equator.
Dumaguete [doo-mahGEH-tee] is a city in
central Philippines and
is located by the ocean
on the island of Negros .
Dumaguete has a
primary school, but
when students finish the
sixth grade they must
either attend the
government high school
or travel far away to
another island to study
in an Adventist school.
Picture by Rick McEdward
Picture by Rick McEdward
Adventist church members in the city of Dumaguete want their
high-school-age students to be able to study and live at home.
Attending public schools would mean students face scheduling
problems and standards of conduct that conflict with Adventist
beliefs. Part of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help build
an eight classroom block, the first step in completing an
Adventist secondary school in Dumaguete.
Once more Adventist students ask your help in
providing a Christian secondary school in which to
study and prepare for leadership positions in society
and in the Adventist Church. Your Thirteenth Sabbath
Offering will make a big difference to the believers in
central Philippines.
This quarter’s projects deserve our
faithful support and fervent prayers.
Please give a generous offering this
Thirteenth Sabbath for the millions
who need to meet the Savior in the
Southern Asia-Pacific Division.
Unlike these fishermen, you can
seek something even better
than food, and with your
generous offering can be fishers
of men.
Collect Offering
Exploring God’s World
In this section we study one of the countries in the division where our Thirteenth Sabbath offering is going.
Today we are going to
learn about Sri Lanka.
Where is Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Flag
Time for the Mission Story
We are taking the good news to
the entire world.
Read the Mission Story on pages 12 and 13 of the First Quarter Adventist Mission Youth and Adult Magazine
while slowly progressing through the next 3 slides.
The name of
the person
in the story
is “Mark.”
This story is from the Philippines.
The title of the story is “Mark’s Second Chance.”
Lesson Study
Time
THE REAL PRODIGAL
Photo by Neva MacPhee
Did you hear on the
news about the car
hijackers who took off
with a baby still
strapped into its car
seat?
Down the road a ways
they opened the door
and pushed out the
baby, car seat and all!
How do you feel about people
who can do something like
that?
Photo by Neva MacPhee
How
does
God
feel
about
them?
POWER
POINT
Grace reminds us of
God’s lavish love.
POWER
TEXT
1 JOHN 3:1, NIV
“How great is the love
the Father has lavished
on us, that
we should
be called
children of
God!”
“Got any work, sir?” the
unemployed laborer
asked the farmer. “I can do
anything.”
Sure you
can! With
soft white
hands like
that. What
do you
take me
for?
“I see you eyeing my
clothes, sir. They are a
bit shabby; I’ve been
down on my luck.”
Sure you have! Aren’t
we all? This famine is
hard on all of us.
But you don’t
look like
you’ve been
starving long.
Your eyes don’t look
clear like a farmer’s
either. I bet you’ve
had more than your
share of alcohol.
You probably
have a daddy
somewhere
who is up
nights praying
for you.
“OK, boy!
I do have
work.
You start
at the
bottom
and work
up. Haha-ha.”
“See down there; it’s the
pig pen! Muck it out.
Take this shovel and
when you are done, stay
down there.”
“You can shake the pods
from the trees and
feed the hogs with
them.
Take it
or leave
it.”
“I’ll take it, sir.” So the
laborer, proud shoulders
slumped, plodded down
to the hog pen.
As the young man
shoveled the muck from
the pig pen, he tried to
forget the awful stench
by remembering
better times.
He
remembered
the fine
apartment
he once had
in the city.
And all the
friends.
He had once
been the toast
of the town.
His lavish
parties were
famous.
Expensive too.
Had he really run through
his entire inheritance?
Well, there would be no
more where that came
from.
With a pang of conscience
that nearly doubled him
over with pain, the young
man
remembered
the day his
dad had
handed over
the money.
The old
man had
aged
overnight,
it seemed.
“Now there's a thought!”
the laborer croaked to the
pigs.
“Dad knew it
would
probably
come to this!
That’s what
he was trying
to tell me!”
The shoveling complete,
the laborer climbed a tree
that overhung the hog pen.
By rocking back and
forth he hoped to shake
down more than enough
pods for the animals and
some extra for himself.
But by the time his stiff
legs got him down, the
hogs had snuffled up
everything.
And that’s when the
first memories of home
cooking burned into his
consciousness.
He wondered what they
were eating at home.
His dad was a rather
decent employer who
had the farmhands eat
at his own table. Not
like this stingy farmer.
“Real quality, my
dad,” the boy
muttered. “If
only . . . nah! I
couldn’t do that.”
Dreary day after dreary day
followed this predictable
pattern. Until the day he
realized he had hit rock
bottom.
There was no place to go
but up. And then the coin
dropped; the window
opened in his recently
defogged brain.
Why had he
not thought
of it sooner?
I will go home to my
father’s house, where
there is food to eat and
self-respect for everyone.
I will tell my dad, “I
have sinned. Let me
muck out your barn!”
And before he realized it,
he was running, stumbling
toward home.
And all the way he
rehearsed his confession.
Father, I have sinned
against God and against
you.
The father saw his son a
great way off and ran to
welcome him. The old
man didn’t seem
to hear the
heartbreaking
confession.
Instead, he eagerly led the
boy inside, called for a rich
robe to cover the filthy
clothes, and laid plans for a
lavish welcome-home party.
“This my son was dead but
is alive again; he was
lost but is found,”
the old man
sang over
and over.
Even the jealous jabs from
the older son could not
stifle the old man’s joy.
“He was dead but is alive
again; the lost is found!”
This is a story of grace.
The sinner goes to the
far place, but the Father
never stops loving him.
Grace always reminds us
of God’s lavish love.
Photo by Neva MacPhee
Exploring
the Bible
Luke 15:11-32
The word “prodigal” means
recklessly extravagant or lavish to
the point of being wasteful. What
word in Luke 15:13 indicates that the
younger son is prodigal?
What besides money does
he squander?
(His family relationships,
his health, his self-respect,
his opportunities, his
youthful years, etc.)
Ellen White says, “Every life centered in
self is squandered. Whoever attempts to
live apart from God is wasting his
substance. He [or she] is squandering the
precious years, squandering the powers of
mind and heart and soul, and working to
make himself bankrupt for eternity”
(Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 200, 201).
But wait; there are two more
prodigals in the story. We find
one in verse 28. Who is he?
This story is about grace, so we
don’t want to talk much about the
big brother, except to say that he
doesn’t get it. He thinks that it’s
about what you do; but it isn’t.
Grace is about what God does for
us. So at the end of the story this
son is outside. He is relying on
his works. He is far off from
grace.
Now let’s find the third
prodigal.
Look at verses 22, 23.
Who is it?
In what way is he
wasteful or extravagant?
(With his love.)
So is this a grace
story about the
prodigal son, or is
it really about the
prodigal father?
(Both, but Jesus
told it to make a
point about
God.)
What did the father do
after the prodigal left?
Look at verse 20.
Remember, no matter
where you have gone or
what you have done, God
is waiting for you with
open arms.
Read Luke 15:7
So now we can understand the Power
Text:
1 John 3:1, NIV.
How great is the love the Father has
lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God!
How could you help God lavish love on children
in the following situations?
A little person you are babysitting
for the evening has deliberately
trashed your room. When he sees
that you are mad, he acts really
sorry. But it’s too late to save your
stamp collection.
(Note that the father never points out the
sin or lays blame. He just lavishes love
and reinstates the repentant sinner.)
Yesterday a little neighbor
rode her bike through your
dad’s flower bed and talked
back when you asked her to
stop. You had to replant the
flowers.
Today she wants you to play ball
with her. How could you tell her
about God’s lavish love?
Grace reminds us of God’s lavish love.
Important Information
PowerPoints® art copyrighted © 2003 by the Review and
Herald® Publishing Association.
Text and illustrations from Adventist Mission Youth and
Adult Magazine is copyright © by the General
Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists.
Scriptures quoted from NIV are from the Holy Bible, New
International Version, copyright © 1973, 1980, 1984,
International Bible Society. Used by permission of
Zondervan Bible Publishers.
ClickArt Infinity by Broderbund, © 1999 TLC Multimedia
Inc.
Notes to Teachers
You will want to have a hard copy of the Mission Story ready to
read during the Mission Story section. You can find the story
on pages 12 and 13 of the First Quarter Adventist Mission Youth
and Adult Magazine. The title of the story is “Mark’s Second
Chance.” You can go to the website
http://www.adventistmission.org/ and find the link titled
“Publications” to download the Adventist Mission Youth and
Adult Magazine.
Copyright Notices
Art and graphics copyrighted by the General Conference and
the Review and Herald® are included on slides 38-43, 45-50,
53-56, 60-62, 64 and 66-74.
Images and artwork are copyrighted by the Pacific Press
Publishing Assoc., Review and Herald Publishing Assoc., It Is
Written and others. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Copyright Grants Pass Seventh-day Adventist School