The Undercover Adventist

  Sabbath School The Gift of Prophecy  The Creator Speaks  Lesson 1 - Monday When We Try to Hide From God After Adam and Eve sinned, something changed immediately. Genesis 3:8 says that when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden, “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.” Think about that for a moment. They had known God as their loving Creator. They had enjoyed His presence. But after disobeying Him, they hid. Why? Shame. Sin often makes us want to do the same thing. When we know we have done something wrong, our first instinct may be to pull away from God. We may feel guilty, embarrassed, unworthy, or afraid of what He might think of us. We may tell ourselves, “I need to get my life together before I come back to God.” But there is a problem with that thinking. We cannot hide from God. Jeremiah 23:24 says, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD.” Hebr...

  Paul ends 2 Corinthians with a beautiful picture of Christian fellowship: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” — 2 Corinthians 13:14, KJV This is one of the clearest passages in Scripture where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are mentioned together. Paul does not present the Godhead as three competing beings or three separate sources of power. Instead, he describes grace from Jesus, love from God the Father, and communion through the Holy Spirit. There is unity, love, and fellowship within the Godhead. That has tremendous meaning for the church. God did not create us to live isolated lives. From the beginning, He created humanity for relationship—with Himself and with one another. Jesus prayed that His followers would experience the kind of unity that reflects the unity He shares with the Father. In John 17:21, Jesus prayed, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” Chr...

  Sabbath School The Gift of Prophecy  The Creator Speaks  Lesson 1 - Sunday God Still Speaks Through His Creation “And God said…” Those words appear again and again in the opening chapters of Genesis. In Eden, communication between God and human beings was direct, personal, and unhindered by sin. Genesis 1:27–28 tells us that God created humanity in His own image and then blessed Adam and Eve, speaking to them about their purpose and their responsibility to care for the earth. In Genesis 2:15–17, God gave Adam clear instructions about the Garden and warned him not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then something tragic happened. Sin entered the world, and the relationship between God and humanity changed. Yet even after Adam and Eve sinned, God still came looking for them. Genesis 3:9 records the beautiful question, “Where are you?” God was not asking because He did not know where Adam was. He was calling His fallen children back into communicatio...

Sabbath School The Gift of Prophecy  Lesson 1: The Creator Speaks You may use this for presenting and studying the current Sabbath School Lesson. > Download the Notes for Lesson 1: Video The Creator Speaks   (Video is Below) Lesson 1 Daily Devotionals: Sunday: Communication in Eden    Monday: Hiding from God     Tuesday: God Seeks Humanity    Wednesday: Expelled from the Garden     Thursday: God's Spokespeople      Friday Further Thought: Ellen White - From Fear to Faith     More Lesson 1 Commentaries:   When Creation Still Whispers    Why are You Hiding? God is Still Looking for You  Sabbath School 4th Quarter Online: The Gift of Prophecy 

  When we talk about God’s love, we often think about the Father who sent His Son and Jesus who gave His life for us. But there is another beautiful truth we should never overlook: the Holy Spirit is divine, and He is personally involved in bringing God’s love into our lives. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” The Holy Spirit is not simply an impersonal force or power from God. He is the divine Spirit of God, working within us and drawing us into a deeper relationship with Him. This helps us understand just how personal God’s love really is. God did not simply demonstrate His love for us long ago and then leave us to figure things out on our own. Through the Holy Spirit, God continues to be present with His people. He comforts us, changes our hearts, gives us understanding, and points us toward Jesus. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that as we behold the glory of the Lord, we “are changed ...

  “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” — 2 Corinthians 13:11, KJV What does it mean to call God “the God of love and peace”? Paul’s words can be understood in two closely connected ways. God is the source of love and peace, but love and peace also describe who God is . Love and peace are not merely things God occasionally gives us. They are part of His character. That is why Paul could also speak of God as “the God of patience and consolation” (Romans 15:5), “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13), “the God of peace” (Romans 15:33), and “the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Everything good that we receive ultimately comes from Him. But there is something especially meaningful about Paul's expression, “the God of love.” In the New Testament, this exact phrase appears here in 2 Corinthians 13:11. And just a few verses later, Paul gives one of the cle...

  The gospel is built on something absolutely essential: Jesus Christ is not merely a great teacher, a prophet, or a created being. He is fully and eternally God. If Jesus were not truly God, we would lose something at the very heart of the gospel. Think about what the gospel tells us. God Himself came to us in Jesus Christ. God stepped into our world, took upon Himself humanity, lived among us, suffered for us, died for our sins, and rose again. Salvation is not simply a good man dying for other people. It is God Himself reaching down to save His fallen creation. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 8:6: “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” Jesus is included in the divine work of creation. Everything exists through Him, and we exist through Him. Paul is not presenting Jesus as a lesser spiritual being. He places the Father and the Son together within the divine ident...