1. powerpoint presentation designed by claro ruiz vicente http://clarovicente.weebly.com Adult Bible Study Guide Jan Feb Mar 2009 Adult Bible Study Guide Jan Feb Mar 2009

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3. Contributor Gerhard Pfandl Principal Contributor

4. The Prophetic Gift Contents 1. Heaven’s Means of COMMUNICATION 2. The Prophetic GIFT 3. SPIRITUAL Gifts and Prophecy 4. The Gift of Prophecy and God’s REMNANT Church 5. The INSPIRATION of the Prophets 6. TESTING the Prophets 7. The WORK of the Prophets 8. The AUTHORITY of the Prophets 9. The INTEGRITY of the Prophets 10. The MESSAGE of the Prophets 11. INTERPRETING the Prophetic Writings 12. The BLESSINGS of the Prophetic Gift 13. CONFIDENCE in the Prophetic Gift

5. The Prophetic Gift Our Goal {5} The real focus is on the Gift-Giver. We’ll learn about the Lord who loves this world so much He gave Himself, in the person of Jesus, as the sacrifice for our sins. That’s the God we serve, and that’s the God we seek to reveal in this quarter’s lessons.

6. The Prophetic Gift Lesson 7, February 14 The Prophetic Gift Lesson 7, February 14

7. The Work of the Prophet Key Text Hosea 12:13 NKJV “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.”

8. The Work of the Prophet Initial Words {85} As the Bible simply shows, the life of a prophet was never easy. Ellen White was no exception. In the early years, besides struggling with illness and various assaults of Satan, she and James were very poor. For the last 34 years Ellen White continued to labor in an environment that was at times hardly friendly.

9. The Work of the Prophet Quick Look 1. The Prophet and Gospel Preaching (John 1:29) 2. The Prophet and the Church (Acts 6:1-7) 3. The Prophet and Future Predictions (Isaiah 44:28)

10. The Work of the Prophet 1. The Prophet and Gospel Preaching John 1:29 NKJV “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ ”

11. 1.The Prophets and Gospel Preaching Focusing on Jesus {86} While the Old Testament people looked forward by faith to the Messiah, the New Testament looks back to the accomplished salvation through Jesus Christ. In both testaments the focus is on what God has done to remedy humanity’s fall into sin.

12. 1.The Prophets and Gospel Preaching Focusing on Jesus {86} In the writings of Ellen White, we find more than eight thousand references to the gospel and about six thousand references specifically to Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross.

13. 1.The Prophets and Gospel Preaching Focusing on Jesus {86} “Of all professing Christians, Seventh-day Adventists should be foremost in uplifting Christ before the world.” Gospel Workers 156 “The sacrifice of Christ as an atonement for sin is the great truth around which all other truths cluster…. This is to be the foundation of every discourse given by our ministers.” Ibid 315

14. The Work of the Prophet 2. The Prophet and the Church Acts 6:1-7 NKJV “There arouse a murmuring … because their widows were neglected…. Then the twelve summoned the multitude … and said, ‘… seek out … seven men … whom we may appoint over this business….’ And they chose … [and] the apostles … laid their hands on them.”

15. 2. The Prophet and the Church Guiding God’s People {88} The leaders of the early church faced many problems. Immorality, apostasy, church organization, and a host of other matters occupied the time and attention of the early church. Prophets and apostles guided and directed the people of God in accordance with the Lord’s revealed will.

16. 2. The Prophet and the Church Guiding God’s People {88} During the first 20 years of our church, there was no church organization. Then in 1854, Mrs white published an article concerning church order. It took another six years until a church name was adopted. In 1861 the Michigan Conference was established, and in 1863 the General Conference was established.

17. 2. The Prophet and the Church Reproving Sin {90} Prophets were commissioned by God to resist social injustices, root out idolatry, protest against immorality, and condemn formalistic worship and hypocrisy. “It has been the disagreeable work assigned me to reprove private sins. … I have to keep private reproofs of private wrongs to myself, locked in my own breast.” Testimonies 1:585

18. 2. The Prophet and the Church Communicating God’s Will {92} Prophets were charged by God to deliver to the people the message they received from Him. At times they proclaimed God’s words in a discourse before a company of people. At other times they deliver their testimonies in private interviews. Frequently, prophets were told to write out the messages for future generations.

19. 2. The Prophet and the Church Communicating God’s Will {92} When Ellen Harmon received the second vision in December 1844, she was told that she must go and relate to others what had been reveled to her. She was also told to write out things revealed to her. When she died, she left behind about one hundred thousand pages of published and unpublished material.

20. Isaiah 44:28 NKJV “Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” and to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” ’ ” The Work of the Prophet 3. The Prophet and Future Predictions

21. Communicating God’s Plans {94} About one hundred fifty years prior to the time of Cyrus, Isaiah prophesied about him. Jeremiah predicted the length of the Babylonian captivity. Daniel predicted the time of the appearance of the Messiah almost six hundred years before Jesus was born.

22. 3. The Prophet and Future Predictions End Time Events {94} “When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism … then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.” Testimonies 5:451

23. 3. The Prophet and Future Predictions End Time Events {94} At the time she wrote these words [1885], Protestants and Catholics were all but at war with each other. On March 29, 1994, 39 leading evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics signed a document entitled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium”.

24. The Work of the Prophet Final Words {87} Prophets carried out various functions, including proclaiming the gospel, giving divine guidance, correcting sin, and predicting the future, so that God’s people might understand and accept His plan of redemption for the human race.