So far we’ve looked at various aspects of the Lord: the Trinity, God’s holiness, and God as Redeemer. There is one picture of God in Scripture, however, that is rarely given attention-God as artist. Many people claim they have no interest in art Many Christians know little about it They may know what they like, but that is nothing more than knowledge about themselves. Others acknowledge that art exists, but they never consider its value or relevance. Christianity has...
Ellen White gave us these words on the issue of prayer: “Our heavenly Father waits to bestow upon us the fullness of His blessing. It is our privilege to drink largely at the fountain of boundless love. What a wonder it is that we pray so little! God is ready and willing to hear the sincere prayer of the humblest of His children, and yet there is much manifest reluctance on our part to make known our wants to God....
Is human history a meaningless series of events, or is there a central direction toward a specified goal, all according to a plan? The Bible makes it clear that the latter is true. Bible writers in both testaments insist that God directs history and reveals Himself in it. Yet, not all history reveals God’s will: humans are free to make bad choices, choice that influence history. The point is that just because of God works through history doesn’t mean He...
What should we, as Seventh-day Adventists, think about the environment, especially because we know that this earth is corrupted, will continue to be corrupted, and will one day be destroyed, burned up in a great lake of fire: “and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2Pet. 3:10)? Add to this the biblical injunction about humans having ‘dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the...
Key Thought: The seventh-day Sabbath, in every way, points us to Jesus, our Creator and our Redeemer. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness...
As Seventh-day Adventists, we often hear the idea that the law is a transcript of God’s character. (If so, then because God doesn’t change, the law-which reveals His character shouldn’t change either.) What, though, does that mean? Suppose you lived in a land with a king whose word was law. (“The state, that’s me” one French king famously said.) Now, suppose the king issued laws that were repressive, nasty, hateful, unfair, discriminatory, and so forth. Would not those laws...
One of the foundational assumptions of all biblical writers is that the God of heaven exists. God’s existence is just a given, like an axiom in geometry. Instead, we find within 66 biblical books an extensive recounting of what God is like and how He relates to us as fallen beings whom He longs to redeem. This week’s lesson focuses on one aspect of God’s nature that’s foundational in Scripture: God’s holiness. God is love, Yes. And, Yes, God...
If you are a parent, what examples from your child-rearing experiences illustrate the importance of consequences and just judgment, tempered by grace? Or perhaps you are in a position of authority in your field of employment, responsible for supervising your co-workers? In any of these situations in which judgment or discipline was required, have you had to take upon yourself for the consequences earned by the child or coworker? How does this experience correlate with, and deepen your appreciation for,...
Closely related to God as Creator is His role as our Redeemer. Sin is so bad, so hostile to the created world, that only the Creator Himself could solve the Problem. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13, NKJV). It is not through works, nor through anything we could ever do, but it is through His grace, manifest at the Cross that we as sinners can...
It’s hard to imagine two more diverse views of our origins than the biblical model of Creation and atheistic evolution. The first presents a creation that was planned, calculated, with nothing left to chance. In contrast, the evolutionary models is all chance. Second , in biblical account, everything was created for a purpose; God had an end goal, a purpose for what He created. In contrast evolution works on the premise that there is no final goal, no purpose-driven force...
God as Artist
The Promise of Prayer
The Bible and History
Creation Care
Lord of the Sabbath
Fresh Tweets
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