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 Overview {5} We’re going to look at God, at various aspects of Him as they have been revealed to us, and at what these things mean for us on a practical level. 1. The Trinity—the amazing teaching that God is One God and yet composed of Three Persons.

6. Glimpses of Our God Overview {5} 2. Creator—the doctrine that forms the foundation of all that we believe. 3. Redemption. In a fallen world, being created isn’t enough. We need to be redeemed, as well. 4. Grace and Judgment, Holiness, Law, and the Sabbath, all of which stem from the essence of His character.

7. Glimpses of Our God Overview {5} 5. And aspects of God not commonly considered: God of Beauty, of History, and even of Romance. 6. Prayer and Ecology, the practical aspects of what it means to serve our Lord. 7. God’s great promise of the Second Coming, the climax of history and the end of humanity’s experience with sin.

8. 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.

9. Glimpses of Our God Lesson 1, January 7 Glimpses of Our God Lesson 1, January 7 The Triune God

10. Key Text Jude 20, 21 NKJV “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

11. The Triune God Initial Words {7} Although the word Trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible, the teaching definitely does. The doctrine of the Trinity, that God is One and composed of three “Persons,” is crucial because it is dealing with who God is, what He is like, how He works, and how He relates to the world.

12. The Triune God Quick Look 1. One God in Trinity (Deuteronomy 6:4) 2. The Holy Trinity (Philippians 2:5, 6; Genesis 1:2) 3. The Trinity and Salvation (John 14:16, 17)

13. The Triune God 1. One God in Trinity Deuteronomy 6:4 NKJV “ ‘Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!’ ”

14. 1. One God in Trinity The Oneness of God {8} This position is unwavering all through the Old Testament. There is but one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not many gods as believed by the nations and tribes around them. monotheistic The belief system of the ancient Hebrews was rigorously mono- theistic: meaning that there is only one true God.

15. 1. One God in Trinity In Unity and Equality {11} plurality of persons However clear it is in the Bible that God is one, the Bible also talks about the plurality of Persons. Scholars and Bible students throughout the millennia have seen in many Old Testament texts powerful evidence of the plural nature of God. This truth is more fully revealed in the New Testament.

16. 1. One God in Trinity In Unity and Equality {11} Genesis 1:26, 27. This pairing of the plural and the singular when referring to God. 1 Peter 1:1–3. Peter, a devout monotheistic Jew, and thus a believer in One God, communicates evidence of the triune nature of God.

17. The Triune God 2. The Holy Trinity Philippians 2:5, 6 NKJV “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” Genesis 1:2 NKJV “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

18. 2. The Holy Trinity The Deity of Christ {9} The deity of the Father is scarcely, if ever, in dispute. Those who question the Trinity often challenge the deity of Christ. Philippians 2:6. For a Pharisee grounded in the Old Testament teaching of the oneness of God, this is an astonishing statement.

19. 2. The Holy Trinity The Deity of Christ {9} Jesus repeatedly claimed to possess what properly belonged only to God: He spoke of the angels of God as His angels (Matt 13:41); He claimed to forgive sins (Mark 2:5–10); and Jesus claimed the power to judge the world (Matt 25:31–46). Who else but God could rightfully do that?

20. 2. The Holy Trinity The Holy Spirit {10} If God can be “one,” with the two Persons of the Father and the Son, adding a third Person to the Godhead should not particularly add more difficulty. We are talking here about the Holy Spirit.

21. 2. The Holy Trinity The Holy Spirit {10} In the baptismal “formula” a person is baptized into the “Name,” singular, not plural, in the Greek, although three Persons are included. Three Divine Beings are viewed as One. At the baptism of Jesus, all three Persons of the Trinity appear together.

22. The Triune God 3. The Trinity and Salvation John 14:16, 17 NKJV “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

23. 3. The Trinity and Salvation God-Savior {12} If Christ were not fully God, then all we have is the Lord shifting the punishment for our sins from one party to another, as opposed to taking them upon Himself. The whole point of the gospel is that it was God Himself on the cross bearing the sins of the world.

24. 3. The Trinity and Salvation God-Savior {12} How could He—as a creature—bear God’s full wrath against sin? God’s law would not be as sacred as God Himself, because the violation of it would be something for which a created being could atone. With the Creator sacrificing Himself for our sins, it’s blasphemous to believe that we could supplement that sacrifice.

25. The Triune God Final Words {13} In the doctrine of the Trinity, we do not find three different divine roles displayed by one Person (that is modalism). Nor are there three gods in a cluster (that is tritheism or polytheism). The one God (“He”) is also, and equally, “They,” and “They” are always together, always closely cooperating.