LIFE Lesson 4 for April 25, 2009

HOW DID LIFE BEGIN? “Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: …I have made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.” Isaiah 45:11-12

God keeps creating and sustaining life on this planet For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. Psalm 139:13, 16

God cares about every life form He has created “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-31, NIV

How has God cared for our physical well-being? He gave us laws abbout rest (Sabbath) and recreation. He gave us laws on hygiene. He gave us laws on food. Jesus healed people. Jesus ensured His disciples could rest. Jesus fed the crowds. He gave us a health message for the End Time through Ellen White.

Do you take care for your body like God does? “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

If we want to live more than this short life, we must be born again as sons and daughters of God. We are born again when we accept the eternal life Christ offers for free. SPIRITUAL LIFE

“The power of Christ alone can work the transformation in heart and mind that all must experience who would partake with Him of the new life in the kingdom of God... In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify the heart and renew the mind and give us a new capacity for knowing and loving God. It will give us willing obedience to all His requirements. This is true worship.” Ellen G. White, In Heavenly Places, December 31)

God created us as social beings INDIVIDUAL SPOUSE FAMILY FRIENDS CHURCH COMMUNITY NATION HUMANITY

“As a people, we lose much by lack of sympathy and sociability with one another. He who talks of independence and shuts himself up to himself is not filling the position that God designed he should. We are children of God, mutually dependent upon one another for happiness. The claims of God and of humanity are upon us. We must all act our part in this life. It is the proper cultivation of the social elements of our nature that brings us into sympathy with our brethren and affords us happiness in our efforts to bless others. The happiness of heaven will consist in the pure communion of holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the redeemed who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Ellen G. White, Testimony Treasures, vol. 1, p. 458

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 We can have abundant life in Christ alone. That abundant life does not depend on external or material circumstances. We live abundantly when Christ lives in us and gives us inner peace.