Sunday
July 2
1. WHAT IS IT LIKE OUTSIDE?
a. As you go among the people of this world, what do you see? Psalm 119:126.
“The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.
“The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.”–Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 11.
b. What did Jesus feel as He saw the multitudes? Matthew 9:36.
c. What instruction did Jesus give them and us? Matthew 9:37, 38.
“The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who have had no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter.”–Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 97.
Monday
July 3
2. SEEKING, SEARCHING ONES
a. Jesus gave instructions how to find the honest ones. What did He explain we should do? Matthew 13:47, 48; John 21:6.
b. What should we remember when dealing with those who look most unlikely? Ecclesiastes 11:6.
“In the time of distress and perplexity of nations there will be many who have not given themselves wholly to the corrupting influences of the world and the service of Satan, who will humble themselves before God and turn to Him with their whole heart and find acceptance and pardon.”–Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 269.
“There are many who are reading the Scriptures who cannot understand their true import. All over the world men and women are looking wistfully to heaven. Prayers and tears and inquiries go up from souls longing for light, for grace, for the Holy Spirit. Many are on the verge of the kingdom, waiting only to be gathered in.”–The Acts of the Apostles, p. 109.
c. Is there anyone who is unimportant in the sight of God? Matthew 10:31.
“One soul is of infinite value; for Calvary speaks its worth. One soul, won to the truth, will be instrumental in winning others, and there will be an ever-increasing result of blessing and salvation. Your work may accomplish more real good than the more extensive meetings, if they lack in personal effort. When both are combined, with the blessing of God, a more perfect and thorough work may be wrought; but if we can have but one part done, let it be the individual labor of opening the Scriptures in households, making personal appeals, and talking familiarly with the members of the family, not about things of little importance, but of the great themes of redemption. Let them see that your heart is burdened for the salvation of souls.”–The Review and Herald, March 13, 1888.
Tuesday
July 4
3. ARE WE READY?
a. Knowing the needs all around us, what is needed for the church to fulfill her duty? Revelation 3:19, 20.
b. What is our greatest need? Ezekiel 37:1–14.
“This class [of truth professors] is well represented by the valley of dry bones Ezekiel saw in vision. Those who have had committed to them the treasures of truth, and yet who are dead in trespasses and sin, need to be created anew in Christ Jesus. There is so little real vitality in the church at the present time, that it takes constant labor to give men the appearance of life to the professed people of God. When the converting power of God comes upon the people, it will be made manifest by activity. They will become workers, and will esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world.”–The Review and Herald, January 17, 1893.
“Many who are without spiritual life have their names on the church records, but they are not written in the Lamb’s book of life. They may be joined to the church, but they are not united to the Lord. They may be diligent in the performance of a certain set of duties, and may be regarded as living men; but many are among those who have ‘a name that thou livest, and art dead.’ ”–The SDA Bible Commentary [E. G. White Comments], vol. 4, p. 1166.
c. In view of our great need, what should we do? Acts 3:19.
“Unless there is genuine conversion of the soul to God; unless the vital breath of God quickens the soul to spiritual life; unless the professors of truth are actuated by heaven-born principle, they are not born of the incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth forever. Unless they trust in the righteousness of Christ as their only security; unless they copy His character, labor in His spirit, they are naked, they have not on the robe of His righteousness. The dead are often made to pass for the living; for those who are working out what they term salvation after their own ideas, have not God working in them to will and to do of His good pleasure.”–The SDA Bible Commentary [E. G. White Comments], vol. 4, p. 1166.
Wednesday
July 5
4. THE WAKE UP CALL
a. Realizing the conditions that would characterize the last days, what did Jesus prophesy would happen just before His coming? Matthew 25:1–5.
b. In view of the urgency of the shortness of the time, what should we do? Romans 13:11, 12.
“I am bidden to call upon the churches to awake out of sleep. We must contend with invisible, supernatural foes. We are to put on the whole armor of God, that we may be prepared for the battles we have daily to fight.”–Reflecting Christ, p. 201.
“You who claim to believe the truth, to be waiting for the appearing of our Lord in the clouds of heaven, waiting to be translated to the mansions Christ has given His life to purchase, how much, I ask, do you love His appearing? How much do you value eternal above temporal things?–Just as much as your works show, and no more. Brethren and sisters, ‘the night is far spent, the day is at hand.’ I call upon you to awake out of sleep. Let every church arouse and put away their pride and vanity and worldliness. Let them humble their hearts before God by repentance that they have lifted so few burdens for Christ.”–The Review and Herald, December 7, 1886.
“The Master calls you to meet the stern realities of the time in which we live. Christ says, ‘Without me, ye can do nothing.’ Begin in your own neighborhood, and strive judiciously to inculcate ideas of the truth, so that the contrast between truth and error may be seen. Sow gospel truth all around you, for each truth practiced and taught is a power which will live and accomplish a work as far-reaching as eternity. Be yourself a thorough Bible Christian. The great need of the time is an intelligent acquaintance with the Bible.
“Will my brethren now arouse to do their work? The signs reveal to us that ‘the night cometh, in which no man can work.’ ”–Ibid., December 18, 1888.
Thursday
July 6
5. AM I PREPARED?
a. We are not saved in groups. What must we do individually? Psalms 51:10; 139:23, 24.
“It is our iniquities that separate us from God. What we individually need is the living testimony in our souls that we are seeking God with the whole heart, that we are putting from our lives those things which God declares should not be found there. God desires that we shall stand before the world a holy people. Why? Because there is a world to be saved by the light of present truth. As we give to the people the truth that is to call them out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, our lives, sanctified by the Spirit of truth, are to bear witness to the verity of the message we proclaim.”–Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, p. 34.
b. To do God’s will, how should I respond to the call to awake to serve? Psalm 40:8.
“If you are willing to learn meekness and lowliness of heart in Christ’s school, He will surely give you rest and peace. It is a terribly hard struggle to give up your own will and your own way. But this lesson learned, you will find rest and peace. Pride, selfishness, and ambition must be overcome; your will must be swallowed up in the will of Christ. The whole life may become one constant love sacrifice, every action a manifestation, and every word an utterance of love. As the life of the vine circulates through stem and cluster, descends into the lower fibers, and reaches to the topmost leaf, so will the grace and love of Christ burn and abound in the soul, sending its virtues to every part of the being, and pervading every exercise of body and mind.”–The SDA Bible Commentary [E.G. White Comments], vol. 5, pp. 1091, 1092.
c. What promise is given to us at this time? Matthew 28:20.
“Those who work for God will meet with discouragement, but the promise is always theirs: ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world’ (Matthew 28:20). God will give a most wonderful experience to those who will say: ‘I believe Thy promise; I will not fail nor become discouraged.’”–Testimonies, vol. 6, pp. 335, 336.
Friday
July 7
PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What should our attitude be as we see the conditions in the world around us?
2. Do I view each person that I meet as valuable in the sight of God?
3. What must I do individually in order to help the spiritual condition of the church?
4. Do I understand by my own experience what it means to be dead to self and totally submitted to Christ in everything?
5. What promise of hope did I find in the prophecies covered in this lesson?
God Will Reveal Himself. “Never did this message apply with greater force than it applies today. More and more the world is setting at naught the claims of God. Men have become bold in transgression. The wickedness of the inhabitants of the world has almost filled up the measure of their iniquity. This earth has almost reached the place where God will permit the destroyer to work his will upon it. The substitution of the laws of men for the law of God, the exaltation, by merely human authority, of Sunday in place of the Bible Sabbath, is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal, God will reveal Himself. He will arise in His majesty to shake terribly the earth. He will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity, and the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain.”–Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 141.
Revival. “A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work.”–The Review and Herald, March 22, 1887.
The Divine Pattern. “The greatest conquest for every one of us will be to overcome self, to bring self into obedience to the law of God. This is our work; are we doing it? Are we working to save others by our influence? Do we hold ourselves as God’s servants to labor for others? Do we entreat them to flee from the wrath to come? Do we convince them by our course of action, by our every word, that we have been made partakers of the divine nature, and that we are copying after the divine Pattern? If so, we shall surely win souls to Christ, we shall be living epistles known and read of all men.”–Ibid., August 18, 1885.