God
Notes
Transcript
The Importance of the Knowledge of God
The Importance of the Knowledge of God
The knowledge of God is foundational to everything in the Kingdom of God.
The scripture reveals to us that knowledge of God is key to salvation
6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,
7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
One can see that those who will be punished with everlasting destruction at the coming of the Lord is those who do not know God
The scripture reveal that worshiping God ignorantly is sin
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;
23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
The Awakening from Sin to rigtheousness begins with the knoweldge of God
This is the reason why God spoke in the Old Testament the following:
6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
To God the knowledge of who he is, is more important and takes pre-eminence to sacrifices
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
God does not want us to worship him ignorantly, he wants us to first know him and worship him in light of that knowledge.
He does not want us to be like the samaritans or the people of Athens.
The Apostle Paul said he knows whom he has believed
2 Timothy 1:12 (NKJV)
12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
We have to know whom we believe and we have to know whom we worship
God is One
God is One
The first knowledge that we must have about God, is that he is One. He is a single God.
28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.
33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Before you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and stregth and love your neighbour as yourself , you must know that the lord your God is One.
All of the other commandment fall under this great commandment.
From the Old Testament to the New Testament the scripture reveal that there is only one God
One God in the Old Testament
One God in the Old Testament
God’s testimony about Himslef
God’s testimony about Himslef
39 ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other;
21 Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.
22 “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
God testifies of himself as being one by using words such as “There is none else, none else beside me, there is no God beside me” to make it very clear to the reader that he is the only true God and outside of him there is none else
God’s people, Israel, understood and knew God as only one indivisible God.
God’s people, Israel, understood and knew God as only one indivisible God.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
22 Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
6 You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
One God in the New Testament
One God in the New Testament
The Apostles believed, worshiped and preached the same singular God who revealed Himself in Mount Sinai to Israel
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
There is only one Throne in Heaven
There is only one Throne in Heaven
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
Revelation 4:10–11 (NKJV)
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
There is only one God coming to reign on the Earth
There is only one God coming to reign on the Earth
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Nature of God
The Nature of God
Summary of The one God
The Holy Bible is very clear that there is an indivisible one God who does all things by himself and for himself. Then the question should be who is this One God that revealed himself to us through His Words (Holy Bible) is? And what is his nature?
The one God is God the Father, who in the Old Testament is known as Yahweh or Jehovah.
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
1 Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
According to the Holy Scriptures, God’s nature is composed of two things, and that’s is Spirit and Word.
God is Spirit
God is Spirit
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;
We see that God is Spirit and therefore he is not constrained in one specific place such us heaven but in contrary, the scripture tells us in Isaiah 66;1, & Psalms 139:7-11 that his Spirit is everywhere and fills all things.
Therefore, there is not a place where his spirit is constrained, and there is no place where we can be hidden from his presence.
4 The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
The Spirit of God and the breadth of God are the same; the word ‘breadth” is used to describe where the Spirit of God is coming from, which is from within himself in the same way the breadth of person comes from within that person.
God is the Word
God is the Word