Sabbath School

Adult Sabbath School Bible study guide.

Read for This Week’s Study

Joel 2:28–32, Acts 2:1–21, Eph. 4:11–14, Rev. 12:17, Rev. 19:10, Acts 2:36–42.

Memory Text:

“ ‘And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days’ ” (Joel 2:28, 29, NKJV).

In some government legislation, there is a “sunset provision.” This legal term has nothing to do with the setting of the sun. Rather, it is a clause that provides for the automatic expiration of a statute on a specific date. Governments place such clauses in legislation for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may enact certain laws abridging the rights of citizens during times of national peril. Governments will sometimes include sunset provisions to void these laws on a certain date in order to restore to their citizens the rights that were temporarily taken away.

Did God include a sunset provision when the Holy Spirit gave the gift of prophecy in ancient times? Is there a time before the return of Jesus when this gift will cease to be operational? Last week we learned that God spoke through prophets to His people at crucial moments. This week we will examine the prophetic gift at the end of time—its special function and perpetuity—as well as the role of Ellen G. White’s prophetic ministry as the second coming of Jesus draws closer.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 19.

Supplemental EGW Notes

The talents that Christ entrusts to His church represent especially the gifts and blessings imparted by the Holy Spirit. “To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will” (1 Corinthians 12:8–11). . . . In all the Lord’s arrangements, there is nothing more beautiful than His plan of giving to men and women a diversity of gifts. The church is His garden, adorned with a variety of trees, plants, and flowers. He does not expect the hyssop to assume the proportions of the cedar, nor the olive to reach the height of the stately palm. Many have received but a limited religious and intellectual training, but God has a work for this class to do, if they will labor in humility, trusting in Him. . . . Different gifts are imparted to different ones, that the workers may feel their need of one another. God bestows these gifts, and they are employed in His service, not to glorify the possessor, not to uplift man, but to uplift the world’s Redeemer. They are to be used for the good of all mankind, by representing the truth, not testifying to a falsehood. . . . In every word and act, kindness and love will be revealed; and as each worker fills his appointed place faithfully, the prayer of Christ for the unity of His followers will be answered, and the world will know that these are His disciples.—Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 191.

We are to be guided and controlled by the same Spirit, but in order for this to be, it is not necessary that we all have the same gifts. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all” (1 Corinthians 12:4–6), to bring these different operations into perfect harmony. God hath “set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him” (verse 18). He has placed every man at his post of duty, assigning to him a given work. If you have any question as to your post of duty, pray to God for guidance, and your work will be assigned. God has told us expressly that He has placed every man at his post.—Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 220.

The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.