1st Quarter Adult Lesson 2026

Think of the hardest job you’ve ever done. What made it hard? Was it the expectations or the time allotted for the work or both? Was it your attitude toward the task? Or perhaps it was the people you worked with? Or maybe it just seemed like an impossibility to ever succeed? Consider the purpose of the plan of salvation: uniting heaven and earth. Sound impossible? Humanly speaking, it certainly is. Nevertheless, just before ascending to heaven, Jesus gave the apostles a seemingly impossible assignment: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19, 20, NKJV). Jesus sent Paul to the Gentiles to accomplish this seemingly impossible task: “ ‘To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me’ ” (Acts 26:18, NKJV). Some might throw up their hands when given jobs like that. However, we should not overlook the promises Jesus gave on both these occasions. To the apostles, He added, “And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). And to Paul, Jesus said, “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you” (Acts 26:16, NKJV). In short, Jesus gives humanly impossible tasks so we will rely on Him, rather than on ourselves, to accomplish them. He never gives us a job without supplying the power to do it. “As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 333.