York Seventh-day Adventist Church

09/05/2026

Turn away from it and look to Jesus

09/05/2026

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 03
Comfort and Joy

Read 2 Corinthians 7. What are Paul’s feelings upon hearing that the Corinthians had repented?

How much love flows from the words “You are in our hearts” (2 Cor. 7:3, NKJV; see also 2 Cor. 6:11). In his deep desire to have his love reciprocated, Paul also says, “Make room in your hearts for us” (2 Cor. 7:2, ESV). While the phrase “in your hearts” is not in the Greek text, most English versions supply it, which is correct because the context supports it.

Indeed, the Corinthians opened their hearts to Paul and his fellow workers. This is why verse 4 is a burst of joy. Paul’s words express how positive his feelings are at this moment: “Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 7:4, NKJV). Paul is filled with comfort and joy. How much comfort and joy our churches can bring to the hearts of their ministers by faithfully committing themselves to Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 7:5–16, Paul further explains the reason for his comfort and joy. These two concepts dominate the passage. The verb parakaleō (“to comfort”) or the noun paraklēsis (“comfort”) occurs together a total of seven times in 2 Corinthians 7. This section of the letter ends the same way it began, namely, with much comfort in God (2 Cor. 1:3–7). Paul’s comfort in 2 Corinthians 7 comes from the relief he experienced because the severe letter produced the effect he intended for it.

Although this relief is the result of Titus’s positive report, ultimately, God is the agent of the comfort Paul experienced (2 Cor. 7:6). God is indeed the “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 1:3, 4, NKJV).

Interestingly, while Paul is “filled with comfort,” he is “exceedingly joyful” (2 Cor. 7:4, 7, 13). Although his painful letter had caused much sadness, that was a sadness according to God’s will with repentance intended (2 Cor. 7:9–11, NASB). The Corinthians “sorrowed in a godly manner” (2 Cor. 7:11, NKJV), a sorrow producing “repentance leading to salvation” (2 Cor. 7:10, NKJV). What else could bring more joy to the heart of an authentic minister of God?

Have you ever experienced godly sorrow in your life? How did you know that it was sorrow according to God’s will to lead you to repentance?

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09/03/2026

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 02
Call to Holiness

In 2 Corinthians 6:3–10, Paul keeps encouraging the Corinthians to be reconciled to God. He presents a long list of hardships and triumphs to show what it means to be a follower of Christ and a minister of God. In short, he lists difficult situations (2 Cor. 6:4, 5), virtues of character (2 Cor. 6:6), equipment for ministry (2 Cor. 6:7), and vicissitudes of ministry (2 Cor. 6:8–10). After instructing the members in Corinth to be reconciled to God, Paul appeals for them to live a holy life, and to do so by separating themselves from the harmful influence of unbelievers and from unclean things (2 Cor. 6:14–17).

Read 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1. According to this passage, what does a holy life look like?

Paul emphasizes in this passage the importance of affection and love within the church (1 Cor. 6:11–13). The evidence that people have been reconciled to God is that they seek reconciliation with one another. Indeed, they become, as it were, agents of horizontal reconciliation.

Next, the call to holiness is given by means of six appeals, namely, (1) “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14, NKJV); (2) “ ‘Come out from among them’ ” (2 Cor. 6:17, NKJV); (3) “ ‘Be separate’ ” (2 Cor. 6:17, NKJV); (4) “ ‘Do not touch what is unclean’ ” (2 Cor. 6:17, NKJV); (5) “Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit” (2 Cor. 7:1, ESV); (6) “Make holiness perfect in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1, RSV; emphasis supplied). These exhortations show that a holy God requires a holy life and separation from idolatry.

On the other hand, the passage also brings seven promises that highlight the role of the Christian church as a holy temple: (1) “ ‘I will dwell in them’ ”; (2) “ ‘[I will] walk among them’ ”; (3) “ ‘I will be their God’ ”; (4) “ ‘They shall be My people’ ”; (5) “ ‘I will receive you’ ”; (6) “ ‘I will be a Father to you’ ”; (7) “ ‘You shall be My sons and daughters’ ” (2 Cor. 6:16, 17, 18, NKJV).

Notice that the four promises in 2 Corinthians 6:16 are the basis for the three imperatives in 2 Corinthians 6:17 (see the word “therefore” at the beginning of 2 Corinthians 6:17). This demonstrates that holiness is not the result of one’s efforts but the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Although holiness results from God, believers must do their part and reject idolatry and every impure practice.

What do God’s promises in 2 Corinthians 6:16–18 tell us about what holiness is?

To read today’s full lesson see link in bio or download the free Sabbath School App.
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09/03/2026

Be in awe of His sovereignty, of His justice, and of His grace.

09/02/2026

Pray without ceasing. With the armor of Christ, we endure. We win the race.

09/01/2026

Weekly Sabbath gathering in the sanctuary for church and for fellowship and for worship is important to the Christian life and the relationship with our Father.

09/01/2026

MONDAY, AUGUST 31
Suffering and Glory

Read 2 Corinthians 4:7–18. Make a list of Paul’s sufferings. How did he endure his sufferings?

John Huss, the great reformer of the old Bohemia, once said about Jesus, “He is Master of the world, and we are contemptible mortals—yet He suffered! Why, then, should we not suffer also, particularly when suffering is for us a purification?”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 105.

The apostle Paul manifested centuries earlier the same willingness to suffer for Christ. He knew that he was nothing more than a fragile pot made of clay (2 Cor. 4:7). He constantly felt hard-pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, and yet he was not crushed, in despair, forsaken, or destroyed (2 Cor. 4:8, 9). He was willing to carry “in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus” would be manifested in him (2 Cor. 4:10, 11, ESV).

By “death of Jesus,” Paul probably meant the sufferings that he mentioned in the previous verses. In turn, in an immediate sense, the phrase “life of Jesus” likely refers to the deliverances from death or the spiritual power for the present life. But, ultimately, this is a reference to the resurrection (2 Cor. 4:12).

Interestingly, the phrase “death and life” occurs three times in 2 Corinthians 4:10–12. This is a reminder that, in the present age, life is mingled with death. However, in the future glory, we will experience life in the absence of death (Rev. 20:14, Rev. 21:4).

Most important, 2 Corinthians 4:7–18 shows that the gospel is preached through fragile human beings so that the glory goes to God alone (2 Cor. 4:15). Not infrequently, missionaries suffer in the course of their missionary work. However, our affliction here is light and momentary when compared to that eternal weight of glory waiting for us (2 Cor. 4:17). The believer lives by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 4:18, 2 Cor. 5:7).

This hope in the future life captured the mind of Paul so much that he keeps talking about it in the flow of the passage (2 Cor. 5:1–10). He refers to his mortal body by the metaphor of an earthly house. Conversely, the “building from God” is a metaphor for the resurrected body (2 Cor. 5:1), the great hope for believers of all ages.

Why is it so important that, amid whatever we are going through now, we always keep the hope of the resurrection, our resurrection (1 Cor. 15:52), before us?

To read today’s full lesson see link in bio or download the free Sabbath School App.
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08/31/2026

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
Fruits of an Authentic Ministry

Read 2 Corinthians 3:1–9. In what sense can we be an epistle of Christ?

Letters of recommendation were common in the Greco-Roman world. However, Paul did not bear such letters. The Spirit’s transformative power in the lives of the Corinthians was proof of his authentic ministry. Yet, Paul was sure that it was not through his intelligence or efforts that the church in Corinth came into being (2 Cor. 3:4–6). He was not involved in self-promotion (2 Cor. 3:5, 1 Cor. 2:2).

Paul speaks about his ministry by briefly discussing the two cove­nants: the old one represented by Moses and the new one represented by Paul and his colleagues. A hasty reader may think that the old cove­nant gave no hope of salvation, but this is untrue. Salvation was available in the old as in the new covenant. The old covenant was the gospel in advance. “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed’ ” (Gal. 3:8, NKJV).

In 2 Corinthians 3:1–4:6, we can see that the old covenant is used to symbolize the legalistic experience of those who depended upon their own works of obedience as the means of pleasing God. The new cove­nant, however, represents the experience of those who rely completely on God’s grace to do all that God has promised to do for them and in them.

Paul is talking about two different responses, by believers and unbelievers, to the gospel. He is not talking about different gospels, one in the Old Testament and a different one in the New—for there is only one gospel, offered by God, “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Tim. 1:9, NKJV).

“This is not to deny that 2 Corinthians 2:14–4:6 contains some historical elements.”—Skip MacCarty, In Granite or Ingrained?: What the Old and New Covenants Reveal about the Gospel, the Law, and the Sabbath (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2007), p. 120. But Paul is using that history to make the point that some among them “are being saved” and some “are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:15, NKJV). Because of the reaction, that of unbelief and lack of faith toward Moses’ ministry, his ministry can be viewed as a ministry of condemnation and death. Because the church at Corinth believed, Paul’s ministry among them proved to be a ministry of righteousness, a ministry of the Spirit who gives life.

This experience of salvation of the church in Corinth is the evidence of Paul’s authentic ministry.

To read today’s full lesson see link in bio or download the free Sabbath School App.
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08/31/2026