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 2, January 14 Glimpses of Our God Lesson 2, January 14 In the Beginning

7. Key Text Colossians 1:16 NKJV “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

8. In the Beginning Initial Words {19} literal six-day The doctrine of Creation, a literal six-day Creation is fundamental to all that we believe. If we get Creation wrong, we’re all but certain to get many other things wrong. That’s how crucial the teaching is to what we believe as Seventh-day Adventist Christians.

9. In the Beginning Quick Look 1. The Creator’s Week (Genesis 1:1) 2. The Heart of the Creator (Genesis 1:2) 3. The Cross and the Creator (John 1:10, 11)

10. In the Beginning 1. The Creator’s Week Genesis 1:1 NKJV “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

11. 1. The Creator’s Week Nothing Left to Chance {20} Scholars have noted an amazing artistry in creation. Genesis 1:2: “The earth was without form and void.” The first three days He “forms” what was “unformed.” The next three days He “fills” what had been “void” or empty.

12. 1. The Creator’s Week Nothing Left to Chance {20} Finally, all was pronounced “very good” and then regally celebrated on the seventh day by God Himself (Genesis 2:1–3). Nothing in these texts leaves any indication that anything was left to chance. Everything was meticulously worked out and planned.

13. In the Beginning 2. The Heart of the Creator Genesis 1:2 NKJV “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

14. 2. The Heart of the Creator Nothing Impersonal {21} A hint of the joy in the Creator’s heart that first week can also be found in the second verse of Genesis chapter one. Moses deliberately chooses a word [hovering] that he will only use one more time—in Deuteronomy 32. That chapter is part of his farewell sermon to Israel.

15. 2. The Heart of the Creator Nothing Impersonal {21} Mother birds lovingly prepare the nest for their babies. Picture them hovering over their babies, bringing them food, and then teaching them how to fly. He pictured the same emotions in the Holy Spirit’s heart as our human “nest” was being constructed.

16. 2. The Heart of the Creator Nothing Impersonal {21} Everything in the Creation account, reveals a God who loves His creation, who cares about it, and who purposely and carefully designed it. There’s nothing impersonal about the creation, nothing emotionless, nothing purposeless.

17. 2. The Heart of the Creator Nothing Impersonal {21} Love was there at the start of the Creation week. Love motivated the Creation, and love will be there when this damaged version of Creation is created anew.

18. In the Beginning 3. The Cross and the Creator John 1:10, 11 NLT “But although the world was made through him, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. Even in his own land and among his people, he was not accepted.”

19. 3. The Cross and the Creator Fallen Creation’s Need {23} The only way to make sense of the Cross, of the need for the Savior to redeem a fallen race, is for human beings to have “fallen” from something, and a “fall” implies a descent, a degeneration; it means that we went from that which was good to something that wasn’t as good.

20. 3. The Cross and the Creator Fallen Creation’s Need {24} new heaven and earth The whole Christian hope rests on the promises of a new heaven and a new earth, a heaven and earth without the devastation that sin has brought to the one we inhabit now. Without that hope, that promise, we have, literally, no hope at all.

21. 3. The Cross and the Creator Fallen Creation’s Need {24} Will the new heaven and the new earth be created by divine fiat? That is, God speaks and within an amazingly short time all life exists on the earth fully formed and developed, with nothing left to caprice, violence, or chance?

22. In the Beginning Final Words {24} Try to imagine what our world was like in its pristine beauty. Imagine, too, what it will be like when it is created over. Why is nothing in this world worth having if we lose out on what is promised us?