Genesis 1:1-31 and 2 tell the Creation story. God created a beautiful world, and in it He put Adam and Eve, the crowning act of Creation. Humans differed from every other creature on earth because they were made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27, NKJV), something said only about them and not, for example, about the birds or about other animals. As such, they were to live wholistically abundant lives, experience love in all its forms, and walk in communion with God Himself.

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Also, we read in Genesis 2:18-23 that God created Eve for Adam because, God said, it was “ ‘not good that man should be alone’ ” (Genesis 2:18, NKJV). Right from the beginning, then, humans were created as social beings. Sociologists today teach that human interaction provides numerous benefits to our physical and mental well-being, while loneliness is a killer.

It is no wonder, then, that after the creation of Eve, Adam exclaimed, “ ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man’ ” (Genesis 2:23, NKJV). The familial structure established by one male and one female joined in matrimony is the first social institution God provided for humans, in order for them to experience wholistic relationship and communion. It is no wonder that one of Satan’s main goals always has been to destroy the fundamental dynamics of the original family.

Adam and Eve enjoyed face-to-face communion with God. As intelligent beings, they were able to meet with God and to listen to His instructions. As stewards of God’s wonderful garden, they grew in knowledge and skill as they cared for the living flora and fauna. Each day they also had special time with God “in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). The Sabbath day in particular, an essential part of God’s creative act, was to be a specially dedicated time of communion between God and His children (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11). On that day, our first parents experienced God’s love and care for them in a special way.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study

Genesis 1:27-28; Genesis 3:1-8; Luke 15:11-32; Genesis 3:14-24; Exodus 19:16-22; John 10:27-30.

Memory Text:

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2, NKJV).

Digital technology allows many of us to see friends and relatives in faraway places. This is fine. But, still, how much better to meet in person! There is something special that happens when we get together, exchange hugs, and talk face-to-face.

This week we will be reminded that human beings were created for a face-to-face relationship with their Creator. Sin, however, destroyed this intimate connection long ago. To restore that communication with His beloved creatures, God has provided ways to speak to us. His most recognized form of divine interaction with humankind is carefully chosen spokespersons, known as prophets, who reveal His messages to us. These prophets often have writings in the Bible, but not always.

God’s ultimate plan is to restore His image in us, the image that sin has shattered. This is what the plan of salvation is about: restoration, a restoration that will be complete when God creates “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13, NKJV).

Until then, God still talks to us, and He still uses His prophets to do just that.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 3.

Sunday–>

Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled,’ ” Pages 662–680, in The Desire of Ages.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“The grace of Jesus Christ alone can change the heart of stone to a heart of flesh, and make it alive unto God. . . . Men have no power to justify the soul, to sanctify the heart. Moral disease cannot be healed save through the power of the great Physician. The highest gift of heaven, even the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, is alone able to redeem the lost.”—Ellen G. White, in The Signs of the Times, May 2, 1892.

“ ‘God is love.’ 1 John 4:16. His nature, His law, is love. It ever has been; it ever will be. ‘The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,’ whose ‘ways are everlasting,’ changeth not. With Him ‘is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ Isaiah 57:15; Habakkuk 3:6; James 1:17. Every manifestation of creative power is an expression of infinite love. The sovereignty of God involves fullness of blessing to all created beings. . . . The history of the great conflict between good and evil, from the time it first began in heaven to the final overthrow of rebellion and the total eradication of sin, is also a demonstration of God’s unchanging love.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 33.

“We need to realize that the Holy Spirit . . . is as much a person as God is a person. . . . The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God.”—Ellen G. White, The Faith I Live By, p. 52.

“There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will cooperate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.”—Ellen G. White, Evangelism, p. 615.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

By Rick Kajiura

People in the village scoffed. “These Christians must be deluded to think we would worship God in a building with such a wicked past,” they declared.

Leenus, a Global Mission (GM) pioneer in Kenya, had an unlikely setting for growing a thriving congregation—a small room that used to be a bar. His ministry as a GM pioneer also had an unlikely start. He was a pastor of a different faith, but was raising a new group of Seventh-day Adventist believers.

Leenus became an Adventist after attending evangelistic meetings and studying the Voice of Prophecy (VOP) Bible lessons. “I found there was truth in them,” he said. He set out to share that truth with his former members as soon as he was baptized.

Leenus registered 360 people in the VOP Bible study course. He went from home to home, answering questions until every one of them had completed the course. To his delight, 15 of them requested baptism.

The conference leaders conducted the baptisms and told Leenus he would lead the new flock. But they changed their minds. They were so impressed by Leenus’s ability to reach others they made him a GM pioneer. “They told me to go into the interior and fetch more people,” Leenus said.

When Leenus arrived in the new town, there was no Adventist presence. He went door to door, sharing the Adventist faith. After much effort, one person accepted the message. “I told this man, ‘Hold my hand, and together we will reach others.’ ”

Leenus held a series of evangelistic meetings, and several community members attended. When they asked, “Where is your church” Leenus had to tell them that they were meeting in a shop.

“No, no!” they said, learning that the shop was once a bar. “We can’t worship God there. That’s impossible.”

Leenus was tempted to feel discouraged, but he soon realized God had a plan. “God wanted us to start in a bar so He could use His power and people to support us.”

Leenus prayed about having a church and, eventually, God helped him acquire land and people to help build the structure. Now, 10 members meet every week on Sabbath in the brand-new church. Some come from as far as 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) away. Leenus plans to hold evangelistic meetings in the community. He believes having a new church has helped people feel God is with the church plant. “They can see that God is doing something for us. He is expanding us and helping us grow.”

Please pray for Global Mission pioneers who, like Leenus, have accepted the challenge of planting churches among unreached people groups around the world. Learn more about Global Mission pioneers: bit.ly/GMPioneers.

When reading 2 Corinthians 13:14, one may think that Christ is the only source of grace, God is the only source of love, and the Holy Spirit is the only source of fellowship, but nothing could be further from the truth.

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The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit work together for our salvation. Grace, love, and fellowship come not from only one but the Three Members of the Godhead. Yet, each One has specific functions in the history of salvation. Paul is aware of that and emphasizes this teaching in his letters. For instance, the plan of salvation is told with an incredible economy of words in Galatians 4:4-6, with the respective participation of the Three Members of the Godhead. God the Father sent Jesus, which suggests that the Father is the Source of that plan (Galatians 4:4). The Son was born of a woman (Galatians 4:4), which is a reference to the Incarnation and points to the fulfillment of an ancient promise (Genesis 3:15). The Son redeemed us and brought us back to the correct relationship with the Father, whom Satan had lied about (Genesis 3:5). And the Holy Spirit legitimizes our identity as children of God (Galatians 4:6).

There are several other references to the Trinity in the Pauline letters. The three act together, enabling the church for mission (1 Corinthians 12:4-6), giving us spiritual strength (Ephesians 3:14-19), and promoting a profound unity among church members, one that replicates the unity that marks the very relationship of the members of the Godhead (Ephesians 4:4-6). In Paul’s understanding, not only is God triune, but also the three Persons of the Godhead work together for our salvation (Ephesians 1:3,13-14). In Ephesians, Paul goes so far as to mention that we must be filled with the fullness of the Father (Ephesians 3:19), the Son (Ephesians 4:13), and the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

In bringing the correspondence with the Corinthians to a close (2 Corinthians 13:14), Paul could not finish with a better ending—a promise that the three Dignitaries of the universe, the heavenly Trio, would be with us now and in the age to come.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

The grace of Jesus not only reveals the love of God for us but also brings the fellowship of the Spirit as a further effect of that love. At the same time, fellowship has its source in the love of God. And that is because without love, there is no fellowship. As Paul writes: “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:1-2, NKJV).

Image © Erik Stenbakken at Goodsalt.com

Some people say that the Holy Spirit is only a force or influence, but that cannot be true. After all, why would Paul mention two persons—the Father and the Son—along with a mere “force” in a trinitarian formula? That would make no sense. Just as the Father and the Son are presented in a personal relationship (2 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 11:31), the relationship of the Spirit with persons leads us to the conclusion that He is also a person (Romans 8:15-16; see also John 14:16-17,26; John 15:26).

The phrase “fellowship of the Spirit” (Philippians 2:1) can be understood in two ways. It can mean fellowship with one another granted by the Spirit, or fellowship with the Spirit Himself. Several Bible interpreters argue that these senses are not mutually exclusive. After all, fellowship with one another is the consequence of fellowship with the Spirit.

Paul has much to say about the work of the Spirit. In 1 and 2 Corinthians, there are more than forty references to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit promotes the edification of the church (1 Corinthians 14:12), enables people for mission (1 Corinthians 2:4-5), reveals the deep things of God to us (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), and teaches them to us (1 Corinthians 2:13), dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19), works with Christ for our justification (1 Corinthians 6:11), bestows spiritual gifts to the church (1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; 1 Corinthians 14:1-40), seals us for salvation (2 Corinthians 1:22), imprints the law in human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3), and gives new life in Christ (2 Corinthians 3:6), and freedom from sin (2 Corinthians 3:17). For sure, we cannot live without the Holy Spirit.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>