powerpoint presentation designed by claro ruiz vicente Adult Bible Study Guide Oct Nov Dec 2012 Adult Bible Study Guide Oct Nov Dec 2012

Kwabena Donkor Principal Contributor

Growing in Christ Contents 1. The Great Controversy: The Foundation 2. Revelation and the God Revealed in It 3. Man: God’s Handiwork 4. Salvation: The Only Solution 5. Growing in Christ 6. Victory Over Evil Forces 7. “Arming” for Victory 8. The Church: In Service to Humanity 9. The Church: Rites and Rituals 10. The Law and the Gospel 11. The Christian Life 12. Last Things: Jesus and the Saved 13. When All Things Become New

Growing in Christ Our Goal {169} THE goal of the quarter is to help us to not just believe the Truth (John 14:6), but to love Him even more and to grow in His grace.

Growing in Christ Lesson 3, October 20 Growing in Christ Lesson 3, October 20 Man: God’s Handiwork

Key Text Psalm 100:3 “KNOW ye that the Lord is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.”

Man: God’s Handiwork Initial Words {327} THERE is an inseparable link between the question of our identity and the doctrine of creation because creation focuses on our origin, not merely our beginning. “Beginning” simply may refer to the fact of coming to be; “origin” attaches the idea of purpose to that fact of coming to be.

Man: God’s Handiwork Quick Look 1. Created in God’s Image (Genesis 1:27) 2. Sin Defiled the Image (Romans 5:12) 3. Image is Restored (Ephesians 4:23, 24)

Man: God’s Handiwork 1. Created in God’s Image Genesis 1:27 NKJV “ SO God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

1. Created in God’s Image Human Origins {196} AS a conscious act of God, humanity’s creation had a purpose behind it. Scripture has no room for any idea of chance. We were made with a distinct purpose, and we were given a distinct nature and essence right from the start.

1. Created in God’s Image The Image of God {197} Being created in God’s image appears to be necessary for a certain function; in this case, to have “dominion” over the rest of what God had created. Therefore, “the image of God” points to physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual endowments needed in order for humanity to fulfill God’s purpose for it.

1. Created in God’s Image The Image of God {197} How is this translated into practical terms? Most likely, we also show that we bear God’s image in our love, commitment, and loyalty to Him, as well as in the ways in which we treat others. Being made in the image of God, whatever else it entails, is something manifested by our actions.

1. Created in God’s Image The Image of God {197} It also shows that we were made to be in relationships. Adam was to name the creatures that God had created. God didn’t do the naming Himself; He left that work to Adam. The text suggests that God was going to accept whatever names Adam gave to the creatures.

1. Created in God’s Image The Image of God {197} Adam was created out of the soil and Eve out of Adam (to distinguish her from every other created being). To be made in God’s image, then, certainly entails the capacity for close and loving relationships— something that surely reflects the relationship in the Godhead itself.

Man: God’s Handiwork 2. Sin Defiled the Image Romans 5:12 NKJV “THEREFORE, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

2. Sin Defiled the Image Satan Seeks to Destroy {199} IN the Bible, the world and humanity were perfect when created. Only through transgression did suffering and death enter the world, a concept that’s contrary to the evolutionary model, in which suffering and death are part of the very means of creation itself.

2. Sin Defiled the Image Satan Seeks to Destroy {199} Sin has touched all aspects of human life, and even the earth itself. Ellen G White talked about a “threefold” curse that has rested on the world, the first resulting from Adam’s fall, the second from Cain’s murder of Abel, and the third from the damage caused by the Flood.

Man: God’s Handiwork 3. The Image Restored Ephesians 4:23, 24 NKJV “AND be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on a new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.

3. The Image Restored Not By Man {200} THE Bible clearly holds up the hope for us to be remade in God’s image. The renewal of the image of God in humanity is accompanied by a reduction of the effects that sin has had on us and our relationships. None of this, however, is the result of man’s own achievement.

3. The Image Restored Not By Man {200} The Bible points to Christ as being the basis of hope for man’s renewal. Also, whatever changes are wrought in our lives, our hope of salvation must rest always on what Christ has accomplished for us and on the offer of salvation based on His righteousness, not our own.

3. The Image Restored Not By Man {200} Spiritual renewal comes at the cost of watchfulness in spiritual warfare between the flesh and the spirit. Those being renewed find this spiritual warfare to be the reality of the human experience, and thus they embrace the challenge in the strength of the Lord.

3. The Image Restored Not By Man {200} To choose to be remade in the image of God is to place oneself on the side of God in the great controversy. “Each day he must renew his consecration…. Old habits, hereditary tendencies to wrong, will strive for the mastery, and against these he is to be ever on guard, striving in Christ’s strength for victory.” The Acts of the Apostles 477.

Man: God’s Handiwork Final Words {201} “The true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul. …. Sin has marred and well-nigh obliterated the image of God in man. It was to restore this that the plan of salvation was devised, and a life of probation was granted to man.” Patriarchs and Prophets 595.

Man: God’s Handiwork Presentation Record 1. Mambog Binangonan Rizal SSL 20 Oct 12