1. Adult Bible Study Guide Jul Aug Sep 2015 Adult Bible Study Guide Jul Aug Sep 2015 powerpoint presentation designed by claro ruiz vicente http://clarovicente.weebly.com

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4. Biblical Missionaries Our Goal We will look at mission first and foremost as God’s means for commu- nicating the gospel. Mission is a core part of God’s sovereign activity in the process of redeeming humanity. We will study how God’s eternal purpose has been accomplished in the lives of individuals in the Bible whom He has used to be missionaries to the lost.

5. Biblical Missionaries Contents 1 The Missionary Nature of God 2 Abraham: The First Missionary 3 The Unlikely Missionary 4 The Jonah Saga 5 Exiles as Missionaries 6 Esther and Mordecai 7 Jesus: The Master of Missions 8 Cross-Cultural Missions 9 Peter and the Gentiles 10 Philip as Missionary 11 Paul: Background and Call 12 Paul: Mission and Message 13 Must the Whole World Hear?

6. Biblical Missionaries Lesson 3, July 18 Biblical Missionaries Lesson 3, July 18 The Unlikely Missionary

7. Key Text Luke 4:27 NIV “ And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

8. The Unlikely Missionary Quick Look 1. A Captive Maid (2 Kings 5:2, 3) 2. An “Undiplomatic” Prophet (2 Kings 5:9, 10) 3. A New Believer (2 Kings 5:15-17)

9. The Unlikely Missionary Initial Words T HIS lesson deals with the healing of Naaman, a wealthy, powerful, and very proud idolater who, in his great need, came to experience the power of the living God and first did so through the witness of a very unlikely missionary. A model for cross-cultural witnessing in the midst of international tension.

10. The Unlikely Missionary 1. A Captive Maid 2 Kings 5: 2, 3 NKJV “And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then she said to her mistress, ‘If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.’ ”

11. 1. A Captive Maid He Had It All...But Naaman was in the top echelon of Syrian society. He exerted major influence on the king of Aram, was held in high esteem, and was the king’s right-hand man in religious, as well as military, matters (vs. 18). He was also extremely wealthy (vs. 5). But all these paled in light of the most feared disease in those days, leprosy.

12. 1. A Captive Maid He Had It All...But Personal life disruptions, tragedies, and transitions can make people more open to spiritual truth and set them on a search for God. The church has long been aware that increased soul-winning results tend to come in areas in which people are struck by personal or societal suffering.

13. 1. A Captive Maid An Unlikely Witness God’s agent to plant the knowledge of Him was an unnamed little Hebrew slave girl, cruelly snatched from her home by a Syrian raiding party. Instead of dwelling on the cruelty and meaninglessness of that act, and of her life of servitude, she shared her unshaken faith in the life-changing power of God,

14. 1. A Captive Maid An Unlikely Witness who was working through Elisha in Samaria (vs. 3). Thus, like Daniel and his companions in Babylon, she was able to turn her own adversity into a way to glorify God; and thus, God turned her captivity into an opportunity to share her faith.

15. The Unlikely Missionary 2. An “Undiplomatic” Prophet 2 Kings 5:9, 10 NKJV “Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.’ ”

16. 2. An “Undiplomatic” Prophet Elisha, the Prophet No question that Elisha was called of God; he had some incredible experiences that must have confirmed his calling in his own mind. More important, his request for a “double portion” of the Spirit showed his awareness that for him to do what he was called to do, he would need divine power.

17. 2. An “Undiplomatic” Prophet Elisha, the Prophet Elisha didn’t seem intimidated by Naaman and his troops. In fact, Elisha did not so much as step outside to meet his powerful caller; instead, he sent a messenger, who gave the military commander a command! The only reward for Naaman’s long trip was the blunt directive to go to the Jordan and bathe!

18. 2. An “Undiplomatic” Prophet The Healing of Naaman Not only did the prophet not personally come out of his house to meet Naaman, but he also directed him to the Jordan River as the place to get his leprosy cured. From the viewpoint of protocol, Elisha should have left his house to greet him. And the rivers in Damascus were undoubtedly better.

19. 2. An “Undiplomatic” Prophet The Healing of Naaman The process was designed to demons- trate, first, that there was a prophet of the true God in Israel and, second, that God rewarded believing compliance. It must have been hard for Naaman to swallow his pride at having to listen to a slave girl, a foreign prophet who showed him little deference, and, finally, to his own servants.

20. The Unlikely Missionary 3. A New Believer 2 Kings 5:15-17 NKJV “And he returned to the man of God...and he said, ‘Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.... Please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth: for your servant will no longer offer burnt offerings or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord.’ ”

21. 3. A New Believer The Experience of Salvation The confession that the God of Israel is sovereign in the world is the main theme of the Bible. These words coming from a pagan constitute one of the high points in Old Testament revelation. Naaman’s conversion made clear that his new experience had to be tied to the God of Israel.

22. 3. A New Believer The Experience of Salvation Naaman is an example of how true faith works: Naaman received something that he could never have earned on his own. The fact that Elisha refused the gifts was a way of showing how salvation cannot be earned or bought but is wholly of God’s grace.

23. 3. A New Believer The Experience of Salvation At the same time, however, Naaman’s willingness to give something to Elisha for what he had done for him shows the response of faith, a response out of gratefulness for what had been given him.

24. Final Words EGW Faith and Works 16 “If we accept Christ as a Redeemer, we must accept Him as a Ruler. We cannot have the assurance and perfect confiding trust in Christ as our Saviour until we acknowledge Him as our King and are obedient to His commandments. Thus we evidence our allegiance to God. We have then the genuine ring in our faith, for it is a working faith.”