• Which photo was the most difficult to get?
• How did people respond to your group while you were getting these photos?
• What was the most interesting item on the New Year’s resolution list?
• What was the age of the oldest and youngest persons on the church property?
• Were there disgusting items in the fridge? What were they?
• Explain what ingathering is.
• What makes for a great hug?

 

TRANSITION

There was a time before sin and there will be a time after sin. Sin has impacted the entire universe—there is no place that hasn’t felt its effects. Where did sin come from and how has/is/will God deal with it is the question.

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE

 

 

Read Isaiah 14:12-15

12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

 

QUESTIONS

• Where did sin begin?
• Who was Lucifer?
• What position did Lucifer hold in heaven?

 

Satan was once an honored angel in heaven, next to Christ. . . .  But when God said to His Son, "Let us make man in our image," Satan was jealous of Jesus. He wished to be consulted concerning the formation of man, and because he was not, he was filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred. He desired to receive the highest honors in heaven next to God. Until this time all heaven had been in order, har­mony, and perfect subjection to the government of God.”—Early Writings, p. 145.

 

QUESTIONS

• Describe what it must have been like for the angels to realize that sin had entered heaven.
• How do you think the Trinity felt when evicting Satan from Heaven?

 

Read Revelation 12:7-9.

7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

 

QUESTIONS

• Describe what war in heaven might have been like.
• Where did Satan go after he was cast out from heaven?
• What was the atmosphere of heaven like after the war ended? 

 

Read John 8:44.

44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

 

Read John 3:16-17.

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

 

DISCUSSION

• Compare and contrast God’s character and Satan’s.

Read Genesis 2:4-7, 15-17.

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

 

QUESTIONS

• What kind of environment did the Garden of Eden provide?
• How were Adam’s and Eve’s creation different from the rest of creation?
• Did Satan have access to Adam and Eve?  Should he have had access?
• In what ways might the Great Controversy have been different if Adam and Eve had stayed away from the forbidden tree?

 

 

APPLICATION

 

• How are our interactions with sin different from those of Adam and Eve?
• What picture of God does the story of the Great Controversy present?

 

The story of the geese still rings true. The geese change position to help other geese. Christians should pay attention to fellow followers of Jesus and be a support to them. Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin and provide an escape. The story of sin is a tragic one, but the story of salvation is a story that brings hope to the universe. Share the story and help someone else understand the amazing love and grace of Jesus.

 

FOLLOW UP

Listen to one of the following songs, or pick one of your own favorites and contemplate the message it shares about how much God cares for you!

 

SCRIPTURE PASSAGE

Genesis 1:1-31
Genesis 2:1-25

 

LEADER’S NOTE

For a Relational Bible Study (RBS) you’ll want to get into the Scripture passage and encourage the youth to imagine participating in the story while it’s happening. Then you will be able to better apply it to your own situation today.

 

You will need to ask God for the Holy Spirit to be present as your small group discusses the questions (no more than 3-6 people in a group is recommended). Start with the opening question. It is a personal question and the answer is unique for each individual. There is no right answer and nobody is an expert here, so don’t be surprised when you hear different responses. You are depending on the Holy Spirit to be present and to speak through your group. Say what God prompts you to say, and listen to what others share.

 

Take turns reading the chapter out loud. Follow that with giving the students some time to individually mark their responses to the questions (a PDF version of the handout is available as a download). This gives each person a starting point for responding when you start to share as a group. Next, begin the discussion by asking the students to share what they marked and why on each question as you work your way through. Feel free to take more time on some questions than others as discussion warrants.

 

Encourage each person in the group to apply what is discussed to their personal lives and to share with the group what they believe God wants them to do. Then ask them to pray that God will help each of them to follow through in doing so. Remind them to expect that God will show them ways to live out the message of this passage in the coming week, and that they are free to ask others in the group to help hold them accountable.

DOWNLOAD THE HANDOUT

 

OVERVIEW

Happy New Year! By Sabbath School time on the first Sabbath of 2023, it might not seem much like a new year any longer. Most teens will be back in school, and it’s the middle of the school year, not the beginning.

 

As we start the first quarter of 2023, we begin our studies with the beginning of the Bible. So our RBS (Relational Bible Study) this week focuses on the creation story found in the first two chapters of Genesis.

Those who attend Christian schools learn the creation story for “the very beginning” of this earth. Those who attend public schools learn the scientific theory of evolution for “the very beginning” of this earth. Darwinism has given way to Neo-Darwinism since further scientific studies have disproved the original theory.

 

Which story of earth’s beginnings do you expect your teens to lean toward—Creation? Evolution/natural selection? Something else? Uncommitted? Don’t expect it to be unanimous.

 

Because our RBS is based on the Bible rather than scientific testing in a lab, these different starting points will yield different results. You don’t have to pit these two perspectives against each other. Science continues to change as better data causes some ideas to change. Our understanding of God also changes as we come to know Him better.

 

As humans, we experience life in which everything has a starting point and an ending point. Our lives illustrate this with birth and death. The eternal God—with no beginning and no end—goes well beyond our comprehension. The best we can do is repeat the first four words of the Bible: “In the beginning God.” When we add the fifth word we get one of the characteristics of God—God creates. And because He made us in His image, we create as well.

 

Be sure to invite God to fill your place with His presence as you look at the Bible story of beginnings with the influence of the same Holy Spirit in your Youth Sabbath School as was present when God’s Spirit moved upon the waters at the creation of this world.

 

The Very Beginning
 

What is your earliest memory?

 

Read Genesis 1:1-31.

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.”

And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. 

 

Read Genesis 2:1-25.

1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Adam and Eve

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

 

 

1.  What does “in the beginning” tell you?

1. It all started with God.
2. It all started with a big bang.
3. The scientific theory of evolution claims a different beginning.
4. This will take faith, since nobody but God was present (Hebrews 11:3).
5. Every cultural group has to have a beginning story; this is for Jews.
6. The Trinity was present (God, spoke/the Word, spirit of God).
7. The Bible supports baseball: “In the big inning.”
8. The very beginning begins with God.
9. Other.

 

2.  God pronounced His creation “good,” which means:

1. Good.
2. It’s all good.
3. God don’t make no junk.
4. Nobody else was around to say otherwise.
5. It culminates in “very good” found in Genesis 1:31.
6. This stands in contrast to Genesis 2:18.
7. God created the earth sin-free/unbroken.
8. Everything good comes from God.
9. Other.

 

3.  What does it mean for humans to be made in the “image of God”?

1. Humans are just like God.
2. Humans are gods.
3. God gave humans dominion over the earth.
4. Humans have abilities no other part of creation has.
5. God created humans for divine companionship and intimacy.
6. Imago Dei—the Latin term for humans made in the image of God.
7. The image of God requires both genders; not just one.
8. Humans are similar, but not identical to God.
9. Other.

 

4.  Why did God rest on the seventh day of creation?

1. He was tired.
2. He had accomplished enough to finally enjoy it.
3. So we could keep the Sabbath for the rest of history.
4. To create a sanctuary in time.
5. To start humans on their first full day to have a special relationship with Him.
6. This started the rhythm of work and relaxation.
7. So when sin entered, people could recalibrate each week.
8. Creation made the entire world a sanctuary; it was time to worship.
9. Other.

 

5.  What stands out in your mind about God’s creation of humans?

1. God personally formed humans rather than speaking them into being.
2. We are made of dust, and we will return to dust.
3. God breathes life into dirt.
4. The order/sequencing of creation.
5. God’s choice to make only man first, and then woman.
6. God’s plan for humans to be fruitful and multiply.
7. Why did He do this when He knew in advance what would happen?
8. God made humans in His own image—like Him.
9. Other.

 

6.  Why did God create woman?

1. To complete the image of God.
2. He didn’t mean to do so.
3. It’s not good for a man to be alone (Genesis 2:18).
4. Companionship and intimacy.
5. This replicates the Trinity with the 3-part God, male, female union.
6. All the other animals had a partner suitable to them; why not man?
7. After making man, God improved things; He made woman.
8. So humans could be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28).
9. Other.

 

7.  How do you reconcile the Biblical account of creation with current scientific statements about origins?

 

8.  Do you create Sabbath experiences or do you just let them evolve?

 

 

SUMMARY

The creation story found in Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, seems outlandishly fantastic! You might be immune to such a reaction if you just take the story for granted because you’ve heard it for so many years. Who would come up with something like this? And what does it tell you about our Creator God? Since none of us were present at the beginning of creation (of this world or of the entire universe), it requires a certain amount of faith to believe whatever you do believe about the very beginning. A belief in God as the Creator impacts how you relate to God, to others, to yourself, and to the rest of the entire world.

 

 

APPLICATION

The fact that you are alive on this planet is an application of the reality that God created this world. What difference does that make? Based on the first two chapters of Genesis, here are a few ideas to spark your actions as you live out Scripture in the coming week.

 

1. NO STOPPING NOW

God is the original creator. He continues to create. And because God made us in His image (imago dei in Latin), He made us to be creative as well. Go into the coming week from that background.

• Download the “No Stopping Now” worksheet and use this to identify and record things God creates this coming week in the top half, and things you create this coming week in the bottom half.
• They could be major things or minor things, but God’s creating, so, there’s no stopping now!
• DOWNLOAD NO STOPPING NOW PDF

 

2. IF—THEN

Conditional statements are If _____, then _____ statements. For example, if you’re alive, then you can think/love/eat. Or, if you’re not alive, then you can’t think/love/eat.

• Download the “If-Then” sheet and spend some time brainstorming the various “If-then statements,” filling in the blanks.
• Once you’ve done that, compare your responses with another person who is also part of your Youth Sabbath School.
• DOWNLOAD IF/THEN PDF

 

3. FILLING SABBATH FULL

The seven days of the creation story can be divided into two sets of three, followed by the seventh day. The first set of three is the first three days of light, water and air, and land. The second set of three matches the first set and fills them. The light of day one gets filled with the sun, moon, and stars in day four. The water and air in day two gets filled with the fish and birds in day five. The land in day three gets filled will all animals plus Adam and Eve in day six. God created, and then filled His creation. When all that was complete, God created the Sabbath—a full earth ready for celebratory worship. While it was day seven, it was the first full day for Adam and Eve, and they spent it celebrating God and the earth he had filled full.

• You try it this coming week. Use the first three days for the teens to start creating the Youth Sabbath School for next week—January 14.
• Give them the link to YouthSabbathSchoolIdeas.org and show them how to access the ideas there to get them going.
• Have them work on their own for the first three days of the week—Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
• Then have them share their ideas with each other the next three days of the week—Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
• Have them prioritize their ideas for what they will do to lead in the Sabbath School next Sabbath.
• If they aren’t ready for this, coach them along so your Youth Sabbath School becomes led more and more by the youth.