This week's study is on the parables in Mark 4, how to interpret what they mean, why Jesus used them, what kind of lessons they were intended to reveal, and how literally they were to be taken.

In Mark 2 and 3, the author highlights the fact that some religious teachers misapprehended and distrusted Jesus’ message.

The emphasis in the beginning of the Gospel of Mark is on action, particularly of Jesus’ healing of people. Mark often uses the word immediately to illustrate the fast-action movement of Jesus’ ministry.

This week’s lesson will focus on the identity of Mark as recorded in Scripture, from his early failure to becoming a restored missionary.

This week’s lesson wraps up our study, highlighting the final developments in the cosmic war between God and Satan.

This week, we focus on several key elements of the end-time preparation of God’s people.

Biblical prophecy forewarns that the long cosmic conflict between the two opposite, irreconcilable forces, God and the devil, is drawing to a close and will culminate in a final battle. This last battle will be over issues of authority and worship.

Spiritualism is part of the devil’s scheme to promote the diabolical theory that we are gods and can live without God. Thus, spiritualism is the devil’s device to keep humanity on his side of the great controversy.

The law of God, which includes the Sabbath, is eternal and immutable because it represents God’s being, character, status as Creator and King of the universe, and His principles for life and relationships. The heavenly sanctuary is the seat of God’s government and of His salvation.

Seventh-day Adventists realized that the doctrine of the heavenly sanctuary was not only an important biblical teaching but was the central tenet of a biblical theology that connected other doctrines.

The “present truth” message as discovered by William Miller through a literal reading of Scripture focused on the hope in the soon appearing of the Messiah.

This study centers on the foundational role, authority, and power of the Word of God in the great controversy. Specifically, we will focus our attention on the Word of God as represented by the two witnesses who preached in sackcloth for the prophetic period of 1,260 years.

The study this week highlights three central principles that characterize the great controversy.

This week, we continue to witness the church’s stand on the side of God in the great controversy, throughout the periods of the Middle Ages and during the Reformation.

This week we watch as the apostolic, and the post-apostolic, church enters the great controversy between God and Satan.

Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 24 clearly outlines last-day events in the context of Jerusalem’s fall.

Looking at the world through the lens of God’s love, in light of the great controversy between good and evil, reassures each of us that right will triumph over wrong, and will do so forever.

Waiting on the Lord is an act full of trust and faith, a trust and faith revealed in action. Waiting on the Lord transforms our gloomy evenings with the expectancy of the bright morning.

The Lord wants all the world to join His people in worship. The Lord’s people are identified with the righteous, who worship the Lord and whose hope is in Him and His love.

Zion is represented as God’s living presence among His people. God reigns from Zion and founded His temple in Zion. Thus, Zion is a place of divine blessings and refuge which is interchangeably referred to with Jerusalem and the sanctuary.

The goal of this week’s lesson is to realize that each generation of God’s people plays a small but significant part in the grand historical unfolding of God’s sovereign purposes in the great controversy.

The Psalms testify about Christ’s person and ministry. Almost all aspects of His work in the plan of salvation are seen in the Psalms. In various ways, Christ’s life and work are prefigured and predicted in them, often with remarkable accuracy.

God allows times of testing to let His children’s faithfulness (or unfaithfulness) be clearly revealed. Wisdom for righteous living is gained through the dynamics of life with God amid temptations and challenges.

God’s mercy is everlasting. Before the everlasting God, human life is as transient as grass, but God pities humans and renews their strength, and in Him they have the promise of eternity.

The Lord is long-suffering and holds His wrath in His great forbearance, not wanting anyone to perish. Though God’s proper time for His intervention does not always coincide with human expectations, the day of God’s judgment is coming.

As sin corrupts the world more and more, the earth has increasingly become “a strange land” to God’s people. This reality creates a problem to the psalmist: How does one live a life of faith in a strange land?

God is close to His people and to His creation, both in heaven and on earth. Though He has established His throne in heaven and rides on the clouds, He also is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.

He is the Sovereign King over the whole world, and He rules the world with justice and righteousness. His laws and statutes are good and bring life to those who keep them.

The Psalms are prayers and, as such, are invaluable, not only for their theological insight but also for the ways they can enrich and transform our individual and communal prayers.

Accepting the Psalms as God’s Word and paying close attention to their poetic features, as well as their historical, theological, and liturgical contexts, is fundamental for understanding their messages.

Our calling to proclaim “present truth” to the world will exist right up until everyone has made the choice for or against God.

Through a series of providences, Esther became the queen. She showed how God’s people, even in foreign environments, can witness for truth.

This week we will study the Bible story of Christ’s mission to Tyre and Sidon and draw lessons to apply to our lives today.

This week we will see how Paul went about seeking to reach the unreached, and what can we learn from his attempts.

This week we will explore God’s mission to the rich and powerful. Journey with us as we see how God reached some of these people.

God has a plan to reach those who might be needy in any number of ways. We must be ready to do what we can to help.

If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar. This is the key to this week’s study.

This week we will look at some events in the early church that can give us guidance on these crucial parts of the mission.

What can we learn from Jonah’s attitude about the excuses that we can make in order not to do the mission? Let’s find out in this week’s program.

We will see three great spiritual qualities of Abraham, hospitality, love, and prayer. These qualities can greatly aid in the mission.

God wants us to reach out to the people around us. Though persecution came and people suffered, these unfortunate events became a means of spreading the good news all over the world.

In spite of separation caused by sin (Isa. 59:2), through His mission, God continues to restore the broken rela- tionship with humanity. Because of this relationship, we not only come to know God but also share with others our experience with Him and His saving love.

Before we understand the mission of God, it is essential to better understand the God of mission.

We, the church, are the peace-waging army of God. With God going before us and our being equipped from head to toe in the armor He has supplied, we cannot fail. Victory is assured.

Paul prays for an enhanced vision for believers so that they will be able to see the full reality of the great controversy and to draw hope from what it reveals to them.

What can we learn as we watch Paul apply the values of the gospel to the flawed social structures of his day? Join us as we find this answer today.

While Paul offers a strong critique of the flawed social structures of the old humanity, he also celebrates the creation of a new humanity embedded within the wider humanity with its flawed social structures.

Paul urges the believers to snap up the bargains found in Christ as they live (as we all do) on the threshold of eternity.

Believers have taken off their old selves and have embraced their new identity. It includes being renewed in the spirit of your mind, and bringing into life true righteousness and holiness.

Paul’s picture of a healthy, unified body helps us understand God’s goal for us: to be parts of a fruitful church united in Christ.