Do You Know God?

Donald Whitney, author of "How Can I Be Sure I'm a Christian?" gives some evidences from 1 John that help us discern if we know GOD. Here they are:

Do you share the intimacies of the Christian life with other believers? Do you love talking about the Bible and how to live as a Christian? Do you hunger to learn from other believers so you can grow in grace and get closer to Christ and live more in obeidence to Him? See 1 John 1:6-7

Do you have a deep awareness of your sin against the word and love of God? Are you aware of your sin daily? Does this grieve you, not because you will be disciplined but because you have disappointed your Father in heaven? See 1 John 1:8,10.

Do you live in conscious obedience to the word of God? Do you seek out the Word of God and find yourself compelled to obey it. Do you try to live out what you encounter in the Bible? See 1 John 2:3-5.

Do you despise the world and its ways (world meaning the world system not creation)? Do you immerse youself in the things of this world and love this world more than God? See 1 John 2:15.

Do you long for the return of Jesus Christ and long to be made like Him? Do you dream about a time when you will be with Christ? Do you ever longinly wonder what it will be like to never think another sinful thought or sinful act? See 1 John 2:2-3.

Do you habitually do what is right more and sin less? Are you growing and fighting sin in your life? See 1 John 3:7-8,10.

Do you love other Christians sacrifically and want to be with them? Do you sacrifice money, time, comfort because of the depth of your love for your Christian brothers and sisters and God? See 1 John 3:14.

Do you discern the presence of the Holy Spirit within you? Does the Holy Spirit make himself known in you through speaking assurace through your mind, cause you to love God and hate the world, look forward to Christ's return, sacrifice for other Christians, or become overjoyed in your thoughts of God? See 1 John 4:13.

Do you enjoy listening to the doctrines the apostles taught? Are you hungry to hear the bible taught in depth? Do you love to discuss the Bible with other Christians? See 1 John 4:6.

Do you believe what the Bible teaches about Jesus Christ? Resurrection, sinless, divinity, humanity, etc. Do you treasure Jesus Christ and love reading about Him in the Bible?

Do these evidences describe you? If not then no previous experience should hold any weight in determining whether you know God or not. If these evidences from 1 John do describe you (not perfectly of course but for the most part) then you can rest in God's promises of 1 John.

Thou, Our Guide.

Here are some excerpts from J.I. Packer's book Knowing God:

Thou, Our Guide.

Belief that divine guidance is real rests upon two foundation-facts: first, the reality of God's plan for us; second, the ability of God to communicate with us.

Has God a plan for individuals? Indeed he has. He has formed an "eternal purpose", "a plan for the fulness of time" in accordance with which he "accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph 3:11, 1:10-11). God has a plan for each of His children.

But can God communicate that plan to us? Indeed he can. As man is a communicative animal, so his Maker is a communicative God. He made known his will to and through the Old Testament prophets. He guided Jesus and Paul.

Scripture contains explicit promises of divine guidance, whereby we may know God's plan for our action. "I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you," says God to David (Ps. 32:8). In the New Testament...Paul counsels, "Let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

Christians have an indwelling instructor, the Holy Spirit. "You have been anointed by the Holy One . . . The anointing which you received from him abides in you, . . . his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie" (1 Jn. 2:20, 27). The giving of guidance is specifically ascribed to the Spirit.

It is impossible to doubt that guidance is a reality intended for, and promised to, every child of God. Christians who miss it thereby show only that they did not seek it as they should. It is right, therefore, to be concerned about one's own receptiveness to guidance, and to study how to seek it.

How We Receive Guidance

The basic mistake is to think of guidance as essentially inward prompting by the Holy Spirit, apart from the written word. The consequences of this mistake among earnest Christians have been both cosmic and tragic. The idea of a life in which the inward voice of the Spirit decides and directs everything sounds most attractive, for it seems to exalt the Spirit's ministry and to promise the closest intimacy with God; but in practice this quest for superspirituality leads only to frantic bewilderment or lunacy.

The true way to honor the Holy Spirit as our guide is to honor the holy Scriptures through which he guides us. The fundamental guidance which God gives to shape our lives -- the instilling, that is, of the basic convictions, attitudes, ideals, and value judgments, in terms of which we are to live, -- is not a matter of inward promptings apart from the Word, but of the pressure on our consciences of the portrayal of God's character and will in the Word, which the Spirit enlightens us to understand and apply ourselves.

The Spirit leads within the limits which the Word sets, not beyond them. "He guides me in paths of righteousness" -- but not anywhere else.

Guidance, like all God's blessings is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he will also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God's promise; this is how good he is.

Idolatry, Part 2

Remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Book of Daniel? Let me sum it up real quick and make some quick observations.

King Nebuchadnezer decrees that at the sound of all kinds of music every man shall fall down and worship the golden image that he has set up or be cast into a fiery furnace. It is brought to his attention that there are some Jews (our three friends) that are not obeying the King and do not worship this golden image when the music plays. The king gets very angry. He summons our boys and gives them another chance to worship the golden image or die. They respond by saying,

O Nebuchadnzer, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Shad, Mesh, and Abednego were willing to die rather than worship anything other than the one, true, living God. They knew and strived to obey the commandment "You shall have no other gods before me."

King David says in Psalm 63, "Because your lovingkindness is better than life my lips will praise you." Is God's love better than life to you? Here are some helpful questions similar to this that help us evaluate what we value most in our lives:

Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than a nice car (or even a working car)?
Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than good health?
Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than an easy life?
Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than a godly husband/wife?
Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than obedient children?
Do I prize God more than everything else in my life? If everything around you was going wrong and nothing went your way would you be content and still be able to praise God?
What do I think I need besides God?
In your life right now what do you place the most value on? You can see this by asking yourself, "How would I respond if _______(spouse, children, health, job, money, house, etc) were taken away from me? Would you with Job be able to say "Blessed be the name of the Lord." or with his wife who encouraged Job to "curse God and die."

Think about it.

Updated "One God" Schedule

Here is the updated "One God" schedule.

March 16 - What is Idolatry?
March 23 - God is our Guide
March 30 - Do You Know God?
April 6 - One God Celebration

April 13 - Begin New Spiritual Disciplines Study

The new schedule for the spiritual disciplines study should be up some time today if you are interested.

Give me children, or else I'll die. - Idolatry

In the book Idols of the Heart, Elyse Fitzpatrick reminds us of the story of Rachel in Genesis 29-31. After seeing her sister Leah have six sons and longing for the favor of her husband Jacob, she demands of God, "Give me children, or else I'll die." That is a pretty strong statement. "God, give me this or else." We would all agree that a desire for children is not wrong but a desire for children that says, "I must have more children to be happy" is idol worship. Rachel believed that having children was something she had to have so it was her god.

So what is an idol? Fitzpatrick goes on to say that "idols are thoughts, desires, longings, and expectations that we worship in the place of the true God. Idols cause us to ignore the true God in search of what we think we need."

Idolatry is all about love. Read Matthew 22:37-38. We worship what we love the most. Rachel loved the idea of having children. So much so that she had to have children or else she felt like she would die (Fitzpatrick notes the irony that Rachel died giving birth to her second child). What we love and want most is our god.

In 1 John 5:21 when John says, "Little children, guard yourselve from idols" he is essentially saying what Solomon has already said in Proverbs 4:23, "Guard your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life."

What do you desire more than anything? What do you have to have in order to be happy? What do you want so badly that you say to God, "Give me this, or else I'll die"?

Your answer to these questions reveals what you worship. Your answer reveals who your god is. Idolatry is when your answer to the above questions is something other than our triune God of the Bible.

This week spend time thinking about what you love the most in your life. What do you desire? On what do your affections rest on? Do not be surprised if your joy and love do not rest on Christ alone. John Calvin once wrote that man's nature is a "factory of idols." But Christ came to change our hearts from being hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. We have been made into a new creation, because of the work of Jesus Christ. We have hearts that can love God more than the things of this world. At one time you were enslaved to these idols, but no longer. "For freedom Christ has set you free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" Galatians 5:1.

With arms wide open, Christ is calling us to repentance and faith. Run to Him today and allow the person of Jesus Christ to capture your heart. And be ready to challenge your students this week to do the same. They may not have a miniture Buddah at home that they worship, but their hearts do worship something. Challenge them to find out what that something is and lead them to love God above all things.

Adoption

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12

And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18

How great and wonderful it is that we are called sons and daughters of God. We who were once slaves of sin are now sons and daughters of the Creator. Adoption is an amazing thing.

“Adoption is the highest privilege available to fallen children of Adam, with all its privileges accruing to the one who enjoys the status of being an heir of all the promises of God and of everlasting salvation – access to the Father’s throne of grace, his pity, protection, provision, and chastening, and the seal of his Spirit unto the day of redemption.” (Robert Reymond)

In my reading on adoption I came across 6 wonders of adoption that I think will increase our awe of our God. (This is from the book “Body of Divinity” by Thomas Watson)

1. God adopted us when he already had a son of his own. Normally, people adopt because they want kids but don’t have any. In God’s great love he adopted us though he had a son.

2. We have been adopted from the worse situation possible. Slavery to sin. Watson says,
“Pharaoh’s daughter took Moses out of the ark of bulrushes in the water, and adopted him for her son; God did not take us out of the water, but out of our blood, and adopted us. He adopted us from slavery; it is mercy to redeem a slave, but it is more to adopt him.”

3. Our adoption was costly for God. “It was no easy thing to make heirs of wrath (into) heirs of promise”. He sealed the adoption papers by the blood of his own Son.

4. God adopted his enemies. “If a man adopts another for his heir, he will not adopt his mortal enemy; but that God should adopt us when were not only strangers, but enemies, is the wonder of his love.”

5. God is taking great numbers out of the Devil’s family and adopting them into the family of heaven. “God is resolved to increase his family, he brings many sons to glory.”

6. What an honor it is to be adopted by God. We are sons and daughters of the Most High. We are sons and daughters of the great “I AM”.

God is the Gospel

“Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news, lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘BEHOLD YOUR GOD!’”

J.I. Packer in his book “Knowing God” says,

“The gospel tells us that our Creator has become our Redeemer. It announces that the Son of God has become man and had died on the cross to save us from eternal judgment. The basic description of the saving death of Christ in the Bible is as a propitiation, that is, as that which quenched God’s wrath against us by obliterating our sins from his sight. God’s wrath is his righteousness reacting against unrighteousness; it shows itself in retributive justice. But Jesus Christ has shielded us from the nightmare prospect of retributive justice by becoming our representative substitute, in obedience to his Father’s will, and receiving the wages of our sin in our place. Justice has been done, for the sins of all that will ever be pardoned were judged and punished in the person of God the Son, and it is on the basis that pardon is now offered to us offenders. Redeeming love and retributive justice join hands, so to speak, at Calvary, for there God showed himself to be ‘just’ and the justifier of him that has faith in Jesus.”

Man’s greatest need is redemption. The greatest need for the students at your table, for you, for your family, for your co-workers, for your enemies is the “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Cor. 4:4)”

So what is the good news (and by news I do mean a message of joy and victory that is carried by a messenger for the purpose of proclaiming it.)? Let me say first what the good news is NOT. The good news is NOT that there is no pain, or death, or sin, or hell. These are still present with us. The good news is “that the King himself has come and these enemies have been defeated, and if we trust in what he has done and what he promises, we will escape the death sentence and see the glory of our Liberator and live with him forever” (John Piper).

This leads us finally to the purpose of this good news. Why did Jesus come? Why is this news good? John Piper again helps us understand the aim of the gospel:

“What makes all the events of Good Friday and Easter and all the promises they secure good news is that they lead us to God. –Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18—And when we get there, it is God himself who will satisfy our souls forever. Everything else in the gospel is meant to display God’s glory and remove every obstacle in him (such as wrath) and in us (such as our rebellion) so that we can enjoy him forever. God is the gospel. That is, he is what makes the good news good. Nothing less can make the gospel good news. God is the final and highest gift that makes the good news good. Until people use the gospel to get to God, they use it wrongly.”

The Good news of Jesus Christ is not about God seeing us as supremely valuable, but about God seeing himself as supremely valuable and loving us enough to make a way for us in Jesus Christ for the purpose of us enjoying his greatness forever. The good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ is that those who put their faith in Christ gain God. He is what makes the gospel good.

“Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news, lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘BEHOLD YOUR GOD!’”

Clarifying Our Vision - Contribute

Teaching this week is Brian Manns. This week Brian is teaching on the third step in our process of making disciples: Contribute.

Focus
Contribute is the third step in the disciple making process at First Baptist Church. Contribute involves discerning your spiritual gifts and finding a place of service. Your spiritual gifts play a huge role in this step because if you’re in a place of service that doesn’t match your gifts or personality you won’t feel comfortable doing it. We serve the Lord because we have some very explicit commands in scripture to do so. Serving comes from an outflow of your heart. When you realize how the Lord has done for you, you realize how much we can do for Him.

Quote
Jesus is the perfect example of a servant. Though he is God he didn’t cling to his rights as God but took the place of a servant. If we have been born again our attitude should be that of Jesus. We shouldn’t try to always get and never give. Rather we should ask ourselves, am I doing the will of my Father in Heaven? The best way to bring glory to God is to use the gifts that He has given you to serve Him with a loving and thankful heart.

Key Scripture
Matthew 20:26-28, Matthew 23:11-12, John 12:26, Ephesians 4:11-12, James 2:14-26

Respond
1.What purpose does it serve to serve Christ?
2.What should be the attitude of our heart that would prompt us to serve?
3.What does Jesus mean in Matthew 20:26 where he says “it should not be this way among you”?
4.Why do we have to follow Jesus in all areas of life to serve him?
John 12:26
5.Why does it matter what our spiritual gifts are if we are serving the Lord? Ephesians 4:11-12
6.What does faith without works have to do with serving God?
James 2:26

One another

The Bible commands us at least 32 times concerning our relationships with one another:

Accept one another - Rom. 15:7
Admonish one another - Rom. 15:14
Bear with one another - Col. 3:13
Build-up one another - Rom. 14:19, 1 Thess. 5:11
Care for one another - 1 Cor. 12:25
Comfort one another - 1 Thess 4:18, 2 Cor. 1:3-4
Confess your sins to one another - James 5:16
Do not complain against one another - James 5:9
Be devoted to one another - Romans 12:10
Encourage one another - 1 Thess 5:11
Do not envy one another - Gal. 5:26
Fellowship with one another - 1 John 1:6-7
Forgive one another - Col 3:13, Eph 4:32
Greet one another - 1 Peter 5:14
Be hospitable to one another - 1 Peter 4:9
Be humble toward one another - 1 Peter 5:5
Be kind to one another - Eph. 4:32
Do not lie to one another - Col. 3:9
Love one another - John 13:34-35, 1 Thess. 3:12
Live in peace with one another - 1 Thess 5:13
Pray for one another - James 5:16
Prefer one another - Romans 12:10
Regard one another as more important than self - Phil. 2:3
Be of the same mind toward one another - Romans 12:16
Seek after that which is good for one another - 1 Thess. 5:15
Serve one another - 1 Peter 4:10, Gal. 5:13
Do not speak against one another - James 4:11
Stir up one another - Hebrews 10:24
Be subject to one another - Eph. 5:21
Do not sue one another - 1 Cor. 6:7
Teach one another - Col. 3:16
Be truthful to one another - Eph. 4:25

Clarifying Our Vision - Connect

This Sunday we will be looking at our second step in our church's process of making disciples.

Here are the main Scripture passages that we will be looking at and some response questions to get the conversation going.

Scripture:
Ephesians 4:4-6, Ephesians 2:14-22, Ephesians 3:14-21, 1 Corinthians 12.

Central Points of the Study:
1. A Christian is not only a child of God, but a member of the family of God.
2. Christians cannot grow to the fulness of God by living independently of others.
3. Personal transformation takes place in the context of redemptive community.

Personal Applications from these points:
1. I continually need to learn more about God's love for me in Christ, and I cannot do this alone.
2. I need to understand my gifts and my role in the larger body of Christ.
3. God calls me to be committed to a lifestyle of mtually edifying relationships.

Relational Application:
4. I want to pray for others to gain a greater understanding of God's love for them in Christ.
5. I want to help others understand and own their vital place in the body of Christ.
6. I want to help others grasp the privilege and responsibility of participating in intimate Christian relatioships that promote biblical growth and change.

Main question:
1. How does your life reflect your commitment to meaningful relationships that help you grow and change? What things get in the way or serve as replacements for you? Some possibilities might include:
-- The busyness of life (keeping relationships distant and casual)
-- Being totally immersed in frindships that are activity-and happiness-based.
-- Consciuous avoidance of close relationships.
-- Formal commitment to church meetings and activities but no real connectins with people.
-- One-way ministry driven relationships (always ministering to others but never allowing yourself to be ministered to).
-- Self-centered relationships that only look to receive and not give.
-- A private "just me and God" approach to the Christian life.

More questions...
---What opportunities for redemptive relationships are already in your life? (friendships, parents, small groups)? Are you committed to and experiencing the personal transformation that God has planned for these relationships? If not, what things are in the way?
---IF you do not have this kind of relationship in your life, what is God calling you to do so that you can participate in a redemptive community?

Reminder

We will be having an important meeting on March 30 at 4:00. Please do your very best to be there. There will be door prizes and snacks.

Topics of discussion will include disciplinary issues, future bible studies, and anything else you want to talk about. I will send out a reminder to everyone a couple of weeks before that day, but mark your calendars now!

Clarifying Our Vision - Celebrate

For the next three weeks along with the whole church we will be "clarifying our vision" by studying the process that our church follows in making disciples. This process can be described using three words: Celebrate, Connect, and Contribute.

This Sunday, Josh will be leading our time together. Here are some things Josh has given me to be studying and preparing for:

Ice-Breakers (Introduction Q’s to get em’ talking)
- What has been a time in your life when you felt God’s presence in a particularly strong way?
- What is the goal of missions? (This is a good one to get them thinking, but that will need some direction from you as a group leader. The ultimate goal of missions is to see worshippers created out of the lost. Missions exists where worship doesn’t and for the purpose of inspiring worship in new hearts.)
- What picture do you get in your head when you think of “worship”?


Lesson-Builders

Worship/Celebration in the church is primarily a “corporate” act; something we think of doing as a group instead of thinking about it as if we were individuals worshipping in the same room.
o Read: Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 10:24-25, Exodus 7:16 (God’s purpose in freeing Israelites from Egypt was so that they could worship Him, Hebrews 12:18-29
o Possible Discussion Questions: based on those passages, what should be different about our corporate worship gatherings? What should be some of your goals when you go to WOW or come on Sunday morning? Based on these passages, what could you do to enhance our Student Ministry’s worship gatherings?

We should Celebrate/Worship in “Spirit and Truth” (John 4:26)
o This means worshiping God inwardly (in spirit) is more important to God than exterior things such as raising our hands or closing our eyes and that worshiping God for who He has revealed himself to be in the Bible (in Truth) as opposed to who we’ve made him out to be or wish that He was is of the utmost importance.
o Read and Discuss: John 4:23
o Possible Discussion Questions: What does it mean to worship God “in Spirit”? How could someone fail to worship God “in truth”?

Worship is an action and not a feeling
o Possible intro question to this point: Is worship something that we do or something that we feel?
o Scripture: point out to them that in every passage concerning worship in the Bible worship is a verb that is often described as being accompanied by feelings, but not as a feeling – ever.
o Possible Discussion Questions: What does it mean if your worship isn’t accompanied by emotion? What emotions are most prominent during your worship? Are these feelings unique to times of woship?

The Love of God

(The Love of God study for this Sunday has been posted under this post.)

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10.

The love of God is uniquely expressed through Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins in dieing on the cross.

When we speak of the love of God we are not talking about the love of God expressed only in him providing clothes, shelter, food and friends and family. These provisions are wonderful provisions and we should praise God for them. But when we speak of the love of God what we are talking about is different from how any other religion on earth talks about the love of God. As Christians when we talk about the love of God we talk about it as being expressed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

God's love for me, you and the many students you will be teaching Sunday is expressed in the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. God's love is very unique and his expression of his love is one of a kind. It is like no other love. And a rejection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is a rejection of God's love; a rejection of God.

This Sunday help the students to see the Big Picture. God has created us for himself; for His glory. Because of sin we are separated from Him and cannot please or glorify Him. Sin has made us enemies of God; children of wrath. But God has demonstrated his love for us in sending His son to die for our sins that we may have peace with God and be in the family of God if we would only repent of our sin and put our faith in Jesus Christ.

Help the students to see God's love as not giving them what they want on earth and making their lives easy but to see God's love as giving them what they most desperately need now and for eternity for their good and God's glory; His Son Jesus Christ.

The Love of God Study

Attribute Focus
God is love. Love is an essential attribute of God. When we look at the other attributes of God we recognize things about His love. “We see that because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning; because He is eternal, His love can have no end; because He is infinite, it has no limit; because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity; because He is immense, His love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea before which we kneel in joyful silence and from which the loftiest eloquence retreats confused and abashed.” (Tozer) Because God is holy and righteous we might stand in fear and think it unthinkable to enter into his presence. But God’s holiness and justice are counterbalanced by the fact that He is a God of love. The death of Christ is the greatest expression of God’s love toward us. In His life and death for us we see clearly that God loves us.

Quote
One of the words used in the Old Testament is “the verb habab, it is translated ‘to love,’ but it also has the connotation of ‘having in the bosom’. Thus it speaks of a tenderness and closeness of feeling toward the object of love. The verb hasaq appears more frequently in relation to divine love than does habab. This word emphasizes that which attaches to something or someone. When used in regard to emotions it speaks of a love which is already bound to its object. Such inward attachment is true of God’s love for Israel (Deut 10:15), and yet that happened because of his own free will, not because Israel did anything to deserve it (Deut 7:7). This is the love that won’t let go of the object of love.” John Feiberg.

Another Quote
“No tongue can fully express the infinitude of God’s love, or any mind comprehend it: it ‘passeth knowledge’ (Eph. 3:19). The most extensive ideas that a finite mind can frame about Divine love, are infinitely below its true nature. The heaven is not so far above the Earth as the goodness of God is beyond the most raised conceptions which we are able to form of it. It is an ocean which swells higher than all the mountains of opposition in such as are the objects of it. It is a fountain from which flows all necessary good to all those who are interested in it.” John Brine, 1743.


Key Scripture
1 John 4:8, 1 Corinthians 13, Hosea 11:1-4, Jeremiah 31:3, Zeph. 3:17, Hosea 3, John 15:13, 1 John 3:16, 1 John 3:1, Romans 8:35-39, 2 Corinthians 13:11

Respond
1. Read through some of the passages and get a sense of what is being said. After each one talk about how it relates to God being a God of love.
2. What is unconditional love? Does this kind of love mean loving someone for who they are with no desire for them to change?
3. Is God’s love unconditional? Why or why not?
4. How did God show his love for us?
5. How can we show our love for others?
6. How can one know if they really love God?

God the Holy Spirit

We often neglect the person and work of the Holy Spirit. We think God the Father was present during the Old Testament. Jesus, God the Son began his ministry in the New Testament. And the Holy Spirit gets left out.

Actually the Holy Spirit is just as much God as Jesus and the Father. I believe the best way to explain the trinity is God is three persons, each person is fully God, there is one God.

In general the work of the Holy Spirit is to manifest the presence of God in the world. We learn from scripture that the Holy Spirit was present during creation, Genesis 1:2 and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

God the Holy Spirit didn’t just show up after Jesus ascended into heaven, He is eternal and He has always been. The work of the Holy Spirit is different now than in the Old Testament, not in action but in numbers of people.

In Old Testament times the Holy Spirit worked in different individuals lives such as Moses, David, the Kings, and the prophets. It wasn’t until the New Testament work of Christ that the Holy Spirit would become available to all believers.

In fact Joel predicted this Joel 2:28-29 It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

We see this come about on the day of Pentecost. Now the Spirit is for all believers. He is our Advocate before the Father. He is our helper in time of need. He intercedes for us when we don’t know what to pray. He lives in us and gives us power for service. He equips us with spiritual gifts for ministry. He convicts us of sin and helps us to repent. He gives us assurance of salvation. He teaches us new things. But most importantly He guides us in life and helps us to worship Him.

(written by Brian Manns)

God is Son

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

There is one and only one God, eternally existing and fully expressed in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of the Godhead is equally God, each is eternally God, and each is fully God –not three gods but three Persons of fully the identically same, eternal divine nature, yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of the one undivided divine nature.

Rejoice that the Son is fully God. Many have tried to say that he was only man, but have failed. Jesus was fully man and fully God.

In this time in history the role of the Son is the role of building the church. He is in the process of bringing everything into subjection under his feet. Ephesians 1:20-23.

Nothing is outside of the control of the Son. He rules and reigns the world at the right hand of the Father. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

No matter what you read or hear the world is under the control of one ruler and that is Christ. He is the one who puts presidents, kings, prime ministers and dictators in their thrones of power.

Jesus, the eternal Son, begotten from the eternal Father, made known by the eternal Spirit is to be worshiped and rejoiced in and adored by us. This is our purpose in life. To love and prize the Son of God in whom we have salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

God is Father

But God when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:4-7

What awesome news! Those who put their faith in Christ become the adopted sons of God and heirs of God. We, by God's grace, can cry out to God, "Daddy!" and he will hear us and come running.

We are all sons of God (even the ladies). In the Old and New Testament the Fathers gave a majority of their inheritance to the firstborn son. The firstborn son was honored above all the other children. In Christ we are all firstborn sons of God. We are heirs. We receive all that the firstborn son receives. Do not get tripped up by the language.

The greatest example of how we should relate to God as our Father is Jesus Christ. Jesus' identity was founded on him being God's one and only son. When Jesus spoke to God he always called him "Father".

This Sunday I am going to teach on four areas in which Jesus related to God as Father and how we should see these as examples for us to relate to God as father. The four areas are:
1. authority
2. affection
3. fellowship
4. honor

All of the ways that Jesus related to God extends to the adopted children of God. We should relate to God as Jesus related to Him. Read the verses this weekend and immerse yourself in thinking of how we are children of God through Christ.

God is Omnisapient (all-wise)

Another good definition of wisdom is "that perfection of God whereby he applies His knowledge to the attainment of His ends in a way which glorifies Him most." (Louis Berkhof).

Once again we see that God is not like humans. Humans can be knowledgeable but not very wise and they can be wise but not very knowledgeable. God is both, fully and completely. All knowing and all wise.

The awesome news for us is that the goals of God for his glory also includes our good. (Rom. 8:28). We can be sure that God's decisions which will accomplish ends that bring him most glory are also decisions that are in his creatures best interests.

There are no passages that say, "God is all-wise", but there are plenty that talk about the wisdom of God (e.g. Jude 25, Rom. 16:27, 1 Tim. 1:17, Job 9:4).

The wisdom of God when looked at with his omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence is wonderful news that shows a great BIG God who knows all things, is everywhere at once, has the power do all that he pleases, and has the wisdom to bring about his perfect goals in the perfect ways.

Lastly, it is encouraging that not only is God all wise, but he also is willing to to share his wisdom with us that we may be wise (Proverbs 2:6-7, James 1:5). For all matters pertaining to life and godliness (which is everything) through his divine power and the knowledge of him through His word we can handle any situation and problem (2 Peter 1:3).

God is Faithful

Isaiah 28:16 says, "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed."

"The point here is that if you trust Christ, God's corner stone, you will not be disappointed. This stone will not prove faulty. If you build your life on this stone, your life will not crumble in the storm. If you hide behind this stone, you will be safe. If you stand on the truth of this stone, you will not be ashamed. If you join with others in the spiritual house built on this stone, you will be proud of your foundation and your fellowship will stand. 'Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed.'" (John Piper)

God is faithful. He can be trusted without hesitation. When he says "Follow me" we can leave our lives and follow him without restraint.

Isaiah 26:3, "You (God) will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you."

Keep in mind, when thinking about God's faithfulness, His immutability. Like all of God's attributes together these are related. If God is unchanging then it follows that he could not be unfaithful because that would require him to change. God is always worthy of our trust. He never lies. His promises always come to fruition.

Once again remember that God is not like us. He is not human.

"Men become unfaithful out of desire, fear, weakness, loss of interest, or because of some strong influence from without. Obviously none of these forces can affect God in any way. He is His own reason for all He is and does. He cannot be compelled from without, but ever speaks and acts from within Himself by His own sovereign will as it pleases Him." Tozer

Our hope rests solely on God's being faithful. Peace and rest come from trusting God and believing that what he says about himself and about our world is true. If we stop and questions God's faithfulness we open up ourselves to the opportunity of being led away from God and His word down a path of believing lies about who God is and who we are.

Trust that God is faithful. Spend some time this week looking at all the ways God was faithful to His people in the Old and New Testament. And this is easy because anytime God acts he is acting in faithfulness. Why? Because contrary to humans "faithful" does not describe his actions alone, but describes his nature.

Rejoice and take heart, God is faithful.

Grace

In Him we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1:7.

Any personal righteousness that we have is like "filthy rags" to God. If we try to bank on our own righteousness or good works all we will earn is hell. We cannot earn God's mercy or eternal salvation through our own works or righteousness and if we try then all we do is deny and devalue the way of forgiveness in the cross of Christ. All we have is God's grace.

Jerry Bridges in his book "The Great Exchange" says this,

"There is only one condition to warrant our salvation and it is designated by the two little words "in him." These words have great weight and consequence because they assign us to a new representative, one that perfectly redeems sinners through his own...blood.

All of this - our redemption, our forgivenss, and the blood of Christ through which it is provided - is bestowed on us 'according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us with all wisdom and insight.'

From the beginning to end, it is grace -God's blessings in Christ to those who deserve his curse- by which we are saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). This grace is copious, bountiful, and abundant. It is never lacking. It never wanes. It is freely provided in the new covenant, sealed forever in blood by the God who cannot lie."

What amazing grace. God's glory is displayed in his grace. Our response to this indescribable grace should always be praise and worship to the almighty God.