LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In 1 Samuel 8:1-10:27, Israel reaches a turning point. Samuel had faithfully served as judge and priest for many years, but he was growing old, and the sons he appointed to help him were dishonest men who twisted justice for money. The elders of Israel used this as their reason to come to Samuel with a
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In 1 Samuel 3, we read about a young boy named Samuel who was serving God in the tabernacle under the care of Eli, the high priest. One night while Samuel was sleeping, the Lord called his name out loud. Samuel did not yet know God’s voice, so he ran to Eli, thinking the old priest
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In 1 Samuel 1:21-2:26, we see a mother keeping a promise she made to God. Hannah had prayed for a son, and she promised that if God gave her a child, she would give him back to the Lord to serve Him. After little Samuel was old enough to be weaned, Hannah brought him to the
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In 1 Samuel 1:1-20, we meet a man named Elkanah who had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not, and this made Hannah sad. Peninnah would sometimes tease Hannah about not having a baby, which made Hannah feel even worse. Every year Elkanah took his family to Shiloh to worship God
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In Ruth 2:1, we meet Ruth, a widow from Moab who has moved to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi, also a widow. With no husband to provide for her, Ruth goes out to the barley fields to pick up the leftover grain the harvesters leave behind, a practice available to the poor under God’s law. She
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS The book of Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges, when God’s people often struggled to follow Him. A famine caused Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and their two sons to leave Bethlehem and move to the country of Moab in search of food. While living there, Naomi’s husband died. Later, both of her sons
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In Acts 4:32–5:11, we see the early church at both its best and one also at one of its lowest moments. The believers in Jerusalem were united in heart, sharing generously so that no one among them went without. Many sold land or houses and gave the proceeds to the apostles, including a man named Joseph
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In Acts 3:1-4:22, Peter and John are on their way into the temple to pray when a man who has never been able to walk calls out to them for money at the gate. Rather than giving him a coin, Peter tells the man to look at him, then heals him in the name of Jesus
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In Acts 2:42-47, we see what happened right after the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost. Thousands of people had traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks, and after Peter preached about Jesus, about 3,000 of them believed and were baptized. These new believers didn’t scatter and go their own way. Instead, they
LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS In Judges 16:21-31, we find Samson at the lowest point of his life. After breaking his vow to God and losing his strength when Delilah cut his hair, the Philistines captured him, gouged out his eyes, and forced him into slave labor grinding grain in Gaza, a job usually reserved for women, meant to humiliate a
