2nd Quarter, 2026
Lesson 12 (June 13 - June 19, 2026)
Share Him
Memory Verse: "The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned" (Isaiah 50:4, NKJV).
Lesson 12, Share Him, brings us to the natural outflow of everything this quarter has been building. A genuine, growing relationship with God cannot be contained. It overflows -- into our words, our actions, our compassion, and our desire to see those we love find what we have found. This week explores what faithful, loving, unforced witness looks like in practice -- day by day.
Sunday opens with the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, where the word all appears three times -- all authority, all nations, all things. The lesson grounds witnessing not in personality type or program but in the simple fact of having been with Jesus. Peter and John were not rabbinical scholars, but those who heard them noticed that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). That was their credential. Monday addresses the spirit of witnessing -- it must flow from love, not obligation. Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw the crowds, and that compassion drove everything He did. The lesson is equally clear that this love never forces -- God has never coerced anyone into relationship with Him, and neither should we. EGW puts it plainly: there is no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not accept our witness. Tuesday turns to Peter's counsel in 1 Peter 3:8-15 -- preparing for witness begins not with argument but with character: unity, sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, humility. Wednesday addresses one of the most tender realities in any believing community -- those praying for a loved one who has walked away from God. Ephraim strayed; Rachel wept. But God's message was not despair but hope: your work shall be rewarded, they shall come back (Jer. 31:16, 17). Thursday closes with Zechariah 10's vision of God gathering His scattered people -- and our role in that process, which is simply to live in such a way that those who have rejected Christ see something in us they cannot explain except by God.
Out of the Overflow
Witnessing is not a strategy or a spiritual gift reserved for extroverts. It is what happens when the fire of God's love burns in a person who can no longer hold it back -- the way Jeremiah described a word in his heart like a burning fire shut up in his bones (Jer. 20:9). We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Unforced but With Power
God has never compelled anyone. He invites, He meets needs, He calls. Witnessing that mirrors Jesus always moves in the same direction -- toward the person, with love, without coercion. The strongest argument for the gospel, EGW writes, is a loving and lovable Christian.
Prepared to Give an Answer
Peter frames readiness to witness within five qualities of character: one mind, sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, humility. The most effective witness is the most Christlike life -- the soil of character must be prepared before the seed of words can take root.
The Wandering Child
God's heart yearns for the wandering child in a way that never diminishes with time or repeated failure. For those who carry that particular grief, the promise stands: your work shall be rewarded. God has never stopped pursuing His own.
Christ Connection
Jesus suffered for the unjust so that the unjust could be brought to God (1 Pet. 3:18). He now intercedes for us in the heavenly sanctuary. When we share Him, we do not go alone or in our own strength -- we go as people who have been with Jesus, carrying a fire we cannot hold back.
Applications
1. Identify one person in your life and begin praying for them by name daily this week.
2. Ask God for the tongue of the learned -- the right word at the right moment for the weary person He places in your path.
3. If you have a wandering loved one, surrender your frustration to God and replace it with intercession and hope.
4. Prepare a simple personal testimony -- what has God done in your life that you could share in two minutes?
5. Let your life speak before your words do -- the most powerful witness is a consistently Christlike character.
Discussion / Reflection Questions
- Peter and John had no formal training -- their authority in witnessing came entirely from having been with Jesus. What does that suggest about the relationship between our personal time with God and our effectiveness in sharing Him with others?
- The lesson says witnessing flows from love, not obligation -- and that coercion is incompatible with the character of God. Why do people sometimes experience Christian witnessing as pressure rather than invitation, and what does that reveal about the witness's inner motivation?
- Peter says readiness to witness begins with unity, sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, and humility within the church community. Why does how we treat one another inside the church affect how effectively we reach people outside of it?
- God told Rachel not to weep over Ephraim but to have hope -- your work shall be rewarded, they shall come back. What does it mean theologically that God promises to honour the prayers and faithful love of those interceding for a prodigal?
- The Great Commission ends with baptism as a sign pointing backward to Creation and forward to the new creation. What does that eschatological frame say about the urgency and the scope of the church's mission between now and Christ's return?