1. powerpoint presentation designed by claro ruiz vicente http://clarovicente.weebly.com Adult Bible Study Guide Jan Feb Mar 2012 Adult Bible Study Guide Jan Feb Mar 2012

2. Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide An Appeal Dear User…. This PowerPoint Show is freely shared to all who may find it beneficial. While intended primarily for personal use, some find it useful for teaching the lesson in church. There are those, however, who add illustrations, change background, adjust font size, etc. While their intention may be good, this is not right. Slide #1 says “designed by claro ruiz vicente.” For honest Christians, it is not necessary for another’s creation to be copyrighted in order to be respected. P LEASE U SE A S I S.

3. Contributor Jo Ann Davidson Principal Contributor

4. Glimpses of Our God Contents 1 The Triune God 2 In the Beginning 3 God as Redeemer 4 The God of Grace and Judgment 5 The Holiness of God 6 God the Lawgiver 7 Lord of the Sabbath 8 Creation Care 9 The Bible and History 10 The Promise of Prayer 11 God as Artist 12 Love Stories 13 The Promise of His Return

5. Glimpses of Our God Our Goal {5} How grateful we should be for every bit of light He casts our way. We’ll look at some of that light. How faithfully we walk in it, is up to each of us individually.

6. Glimpses of Our God Lesson 8, February 25 Glimpses of Our God Lesson 8, February 25 Creation Care

7. Key Text Genesis 2:15 NKJV “And the L ORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

8. Creation Care Initial Words {91} God’s stewards As stewards of all God’s gifts, don’t we have an obligation to take care of the earth? After all, didn’t God create it and pronounce it “very good”? As a people with a distinct message about God as Creator (Rev. 14:6, 7), shouldn’t we have something to say about the question of how we treat God’s creation?

9. Creation Care Quick Look 1. Adventists and Creation Care (Isaiah 65:17) 2. Sabbath and Creation Care (Proverbs 27:20) 3. Dominion and Creation Care (Genesis 1:26-28)

10. Creation Care 1. Adventists and Creation Care Isaiah 65:17 NKJV “ ‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.’ ”

11. 1. Adventists and Creation Care A Statement on Creation Care {92} The Bible is more than unequivocal: this earth will not last. It is destined to be destroyed by God, who promises to re-create it. That’s hardly an excuse to abuse or exploit the environment, it should at the same time help to protect us from making a god out of the earth and of the environment.

12. 1. Adventists and Creation Care A Statement on Creation Care {93} “Seventh-day Adventists believe that humankind was created in the image of God, thus representing God as His stewards, to rule the natural environment in a faithful and fruitful way. Unfortunately, corruption and exploitation have been brought into the management of the human domain of responsibility. ….

13. 1. Adventists and Creation Care A Statement on Creation Care {93} “These problems are largely due to human selfishness and the egocentric pursuit of getting more and more through ever-increasing production, unlimited consumption and depletion of nonrenewable resources.

14. 1. Adventists and Creation Care A Statement on Creation Care {93} “Seventh-day Adventists advocate a simple, wholesome lifestyle, where people do not step on the treadmill of unbridled consumerism, goods-getting, and production of waste.

15. 1. Adventists and Creation Care A Statement on Creation Care {93} “We call for respect of creation, restraint in the use of the world’s resources, reevaluation of one’s needs, and reaffirmation of the dignity of created life.” —Adventist Administrative Committee (ADCOM), released at General Conference Session in Utrecht, the Netherlands, June 29–July 8, 1995.

16. 1. Adventists and Creation Care A Statement on Creation Care {93} take care: work it keep it. As Christians, we should be at the forefront of seeking to take care of it. God created this beautiful environment for the man; it was given to him as a gift. And yet, he was to work it and to keep it. Thus, right from the start, even in the pre-Fall world, Adam was called to be a steward of the environment.

17. Creation Care 2. Sabbath and Creation Care Proverbs 27:20 NKJV “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.”

18. 2. Sabbath and Creation Care Restraining Human Greed {95} People just want more and more, and the only place they can get it is, ultimately, from the earth. Using natural resources, though, isn’t the problem; instead, the problem is that no matter how much a person gets, it’s never enough. In the midst of all this, God has given humanity the gift of the Sabbath.

19. 2. Sabbath and Creation Care Restraining Human Greed {95} The Sabbath is also about resting from the pursuit of making money. By purposely taking one seventh of our lives every week and not pursuing money and goods, we not only have a powerful weekly reminder that life isn’t all about making money, but to refrain from pursuits that damage the earth.

20. Creation Care 3. Dominion and Creation Care Genesis 1:26-28 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over…all the earth…. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion….”

21. 3. Dominion and Creation Care Complete Control {96} That these verses were given in the pre-Fall world, a world without sin and death and suffering, should teach us that dominion doesn’t mean a violent exploitation and plundering of the world, for those things certainly would not have happened in a world before sin.

22. 3. Dominion and Creation Care Complete Control {96} A lot has changed: the Fall and the general degeneration caused by sin as a whole. Yet, one would be hard pressed to see in these texts anything that justifies the plunder and ruin of the planet itself. We can see humankind’s responsibility to take care of it, because God created it, and it was “very good.”

23. Creation Care Final Words {97} No question, this world is coming to an end; it will not last forever. And yes, Jesus is coming soon. All that’s true, but nothing in these truths gives us the right, or the mandate, to defile the earth. If anything, as Christians, we should seek to take care of the world that our God has created for us.