Junior and/or Earliteen Sabbath School December 13, 2008

This Quarter the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering is going to the Northern Asia-Pacific Division Information adapted from Adventist Mission, Youth and Adult Magazine and the SDA Encyclopedia. Mongolia China North Korea

This quarter the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will be used to help: build a dormitory for Adventist students in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia build a dormitory for Adventist students in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia fund Chinese-language television and Internet broadcasts from Taiwan fund Chinese-language television and Internet broadcasts from Taiwan plant a Chinese-language church in the heart of Tokyo, Japan plant a Chinese-language church in the heart of Tokyo, Japan

The Northern Asia-Pacific Division consists of China, Japan, Mongolia, North and South Korea, and Taiwan. With 1.5 billion people, roughly a quarter of the world’s population, the Northern Asia-Pacific Division is the most populous division in the world.

Focus on Mongolia Mongolian culture dates back thousands of years. At one time the Mongols, as the people of Mongolia are known, formed the largest empire in the world under the leadership of Genghis Khan, a fierce warrior. For centuries Mongolians have been nomadic cattle herders, raising sheep, horses, camels, and goats on the grasslands that stretch across the country. These nomadic people live in portable felt-covered homes called gers. Their homes keep them from freezing in one of the coldest regions inhabited by humans.

Buddhist monastery in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia is a hard-to-reach country, both physically and spiritually. Forty percent of Mongolia’s 3 million people claim no religion. The majority of young adults are atheists while many of the older generation have reconnected with their Buddhist roots. Mongolian culture makes it difficult for young people to share their faith with their elders, and there were no Adventists in the country until after 1991 when nearly 70 years of atheistic communist rule ended.

The first Seventh-day Adventist church members in modern Mongolia were baptized in 1993 after a couple sent by Adventist Frontier Mission, an Adventist lay ministry, went to Mongolia. The first Adventist church was established in 1997 with 26 members. Things are changing in Mongolia. These kids are getting to learn about Jesus.

Today there are some 1,200 Seventh-day Adventists, mostly in their 30s or younger, in Mongolia. One fifth of these Adventists are college students who move to the capital city, Ulaanbaatar [OOH-lahn-BAH-tr], to study. Tsolmontuya Nergui

Youth leave their villages to study in the universities of the capital city. But living accommodations are expensive and difficult to find. Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help provide a dormitory for some of the 250 Adventist college-age students seeking an education in Ulaanbaatar.

The dormitory will provide leadership training as well as living accommodations for the next generation of leaders in the still-young church in Mongolia. Please give a generous offering this Thirteenth Sabbath.

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 Taiwan

Where is Taiwan

Taiwan’s Flag

Time for the Mission Story We are taking the good news to the entire world. Read the Mission Story on pages 24 and 25 of the Fourth Quarter Adventist Mission Youth and Adult Magazine while slowly progressing through the next 3 slides.

The name of the person in the story is “Hyun Jung.”

This story is from Korea.

The title of the story is “Stepping Into the Sea.”

Lesson Study Time

Magi and a Messiah Today we will read about: Photo by Neva MacPhee

Have you ever gone somewhere that you had only a few clues about?

The Magi were in that kind of situation while searching for Jesus. Photo by Neva MacPhee

About the only thing they knew was that He was a king. Photo by Neva MacPhee

Even though their journey was going to be long, their ultimate goal was to find and worship Him. Photo by Neva MacPhee

Power Text 1 Chronicles 16:8, 9, NIV

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.” Photo by Neva MacPhee

We worship by giving gifts to Jesus. Power Point

“That must be it!” said the chief philosopher. “I’m sure it is,” replied one of his traveling companions.

“Finally,” sighed the other one. “I thought we’d never get here!”

The Magi from the East had left their homes several months ago in search of the new King.

Their study had told them He should be almost a year old. They had traveled hundreds of miles to get to this strange country.

Now Jerusalem lay before them. Would they find the King here? The prophecies they had studied and the signs they had seen in the skies for months seemed to say so.

“I think we should go directly to the Temple,” one said to the others. “Surely the priests will be able to tell us where to find the King.”

Everything pointed to the birth of a King. And they intended to worship Him.

They emerged a short time later, disappointed. “What a waste of time,” said one. “How could they not know about their own King?” Life seemed to be carrying on just as usual in this town.

The philosophers mounted their camels and ambled through the streets asking everyone about the baby King. Everyone either shook their heads or hunched their shoulders.

Toward dusk a Roman soldier on horseback galloped toward them. “King Herod wants to see you,” he commanded.

Herod had heard about their search. He had secretly called together the chief priests and teachers and asked where the Christ was to be born.

They had informed him that Bethlehem was the place.

When the Magi arrived, Herod seemed to ask them a hundred questions. Finally he said, “Go to Bethlehem and look for the Child. When you find Him, tell me so I can go worship Him too.”

They agreed and left that night for Bethlehem. “It’s just five miles from here,” said the leader. “If we hurry, we can make it there before dark.”

“According to the priests no one is talking about the birth of the King,” commented a companion. “I don’t understand these Jews. It’s odd that no one knows that their Deliverer has been born.”

“Could we have made a mistake?” “No!” the leader replied. “We’ve studied the prophecies thoroughly. We know that this Child has been born. And when we find Him, we will worship Him.”

“Look.” All heads turned to the sky. “There’s the star again!” The group quickened the camels’ pace. “There’s the house!” “I can’t believe there are no crowds!”

A man stood at the door preparing to close it. Once the door was closed, the group would have to wait until morning to find the object of their search.

“Excuse me,” the leader said, dismounting from his camel. “We’ve come a very long way looking for the new King. Is He here? If so, may we please come in and worship Him?”

The man looked back into the house, then turned to face them. “Please come in,” he said. “My name is Joseph.”

“We are philosophers from the East,” the spokesman announced, as each one bowed. “Bring the gifts,” they directed their servants.

Entering the house, the Magi could tell that Joseph and Mary were poor. How can a King live here? they thought to themselves.

“This is my wife, Mary,” Joseph said, laying his hand on the shoulder of the young woman seated on a chair with a young child beside her pulling up on her knee.

“And this is our son, Jesus,” said Mary. The Child looked at them with wide eyes. The Magi gasped and fell to their knees in worship. This was the King!

When the Wise Men set off to find Jesus, it was like going on a treasure hunt. They had some clues but didn’t know where they would lead.

As Christians we are in a treasure hunt, but we know where our clues lead. Our clues are found in the Bible. By following them we will find the treasure—eternity with Jesus.

Let’s look at some texts to see the two unusual gifts (most of us know about gold) that the Magi brought for their worship and how these were generally used in biblical times.

Exodus 30:1, 6-8 Psalm 141:2 Luke 1:9, 10 Revelation 5:8

Genesis 37:25 Exodus 30:23-26 Esther 2:12 Mark 15:23 John 19:39, 40

From your reading, why do you think the Magi chose the gifts that they did to worship Christ? What could we use, give, or do today to worship Him that would be similar?

Ben and Serena have just finished reading about the journey of the Wise Men and the gifts they brought Jesus. They really want to make this Christmas different and spend more time and attention on gifts for God than for each other and their friends. They aren’t sure what to do, though. It isn’t as if they can take presents to a real baby Jesus. What would you suggest they do?

We worship by giving gifts to Jesus. Power Point

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.

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 24 and 25 of the Fourth Quarter Adventist Mission Youth and Adult Magazine. The title of the story is “Stepping Into the Sea.” You can go to the website and find the link titled “Publications” to download the Adventist Mission Youth and Adult Magazine. 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 24 and 25 of the Fourth Quarter Adventist Mission Youth and Adult Magazine. The title of the story is “Stepping Into the Sea.” You can go to the website and find the link titled “Publications” to download the Adventist Mission Youth and Adult Magazine. Notes to Teachers

We’d love to hear from you! If you’d like to send us comments about how the Junior/Earliteen Sabbath School program slide shows are working for you, or if you have suggestions for improvements, please send us an at Your PowerPoint Team

Copyright Grants Pass Seventh-day Adventist School Art and graphics copyrighted by the General Conference and the Review and Herald® are included on slides 49-51, 53, , 59, 60 and 62. 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 Notices