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Basic Discipleship
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

This material is copyrighted c2002 and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of the Berean Baptist Church.

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PHASE 3      CHURCH ORIENTATION AND EDIFICATION

SESSION 9

 

GOD

 

The doctrine of God is core, foundational to our faith, yet it is impossible to present it with much efficiency.  Even so, it must be presented because a person's thinking about God will affect every other area of his thinking.  Misconceptions about God invariably corrupt other areas of one's thinking.

Discipleship Minister, do not think that you (or this lesson) can teach your disciple all there is to know about God or even all he should know.  You are not capable, nor am I, or anyone else.  We're all learning, especially as we apply ourselves seriously to the Word of God.  There is where we learn of Him and gain the ability to apply His teachings to everyday life.  Don't let pride sneak into you.  It could.  Because you are a Discipleship Minister your disciple may tend to look at you as someone who knows everything about the Bible. You can feel pretty flattered by such admiration and begin to give answers you don't have.  Don't let keeping up your image make a liar and a Pharisee out of you.  Stay humble before the Lord.  Let your disciple know that you don't know everything; that you, too, are a disciple.  Nowhere will that be more obvious than when you begin to seriously consider who God is.

You are just about half way through this discipleship process.  Evaluate your disciple.  Is he growing?  Do you think that in six more months he will be able to fly with his own wings and do for another what you are doing with him? That's your goal.  Do your best to promote real growth in your disciple.  Doing so is real fruit to the glory of God.

This is the second session on doctrine.  We will have eight more before entering the fourth and final phase of this discipleship training.  These doctrinal positions will constitute the core of your disciple's faith.  Without it, he really has no foundation and as Psalm 11:4 asks, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?  The answer is quite obvious.

These discipleship studies have turned considerably heavier.  It would be easy for your disciple to fall by the wayside.  Your love and encouragement, coupled with his accountability to you, can go a long way toward preventing his dropout.  You may well be his lifeline between spiritual success and shipwreck.

Again tonight, as I prepare this exercise, I am praying for you, dear brother/sister.  I am committing this material to God and praying in advance for all who will use it.  May it strengthen many brethren and contribute much stability to the great work of God!


God!  Even the idea is overwhelming! Read Isaiah 40:10-31.  He's awesome!  One of the great doctrinal positions of the Bible is about God, who He is and how He functions.  With this session you will take a stroll through the scripture for a better look at the God of the Bible.  He says that He is the only real God there is yet in the heads of many people is a god very different than the one described in the Bible.  The most important thing about any person is his thoughts about God. What he thinks about God provides insight into his soul.

As Isaiah said so well, God is not exactly like anything or any person, yet in some ways He is like people.  Though human words and qualities can never adequately describe God they are the best tools we have in our efforts to understand Him.  He is a spirit and has no body with feet, hands and other parts, even so the feet, the hands, the fingers other body parts are used to give us insight to God.

 

SEVEN ASPECTS OF THE NATURE OF GOD 

The following scriptures will give you a general look at the nature of God. From these passages, major aspects of God's nature will emerge as you fill in the blanks and answer the questions.

 

1.   Deuteronomy 4:15-16. John 4:24.     "God is a Spirit."

      When used in description of God spirit means He is immaterial, incorporeal and invisible.  He is not limited to a physical body.

 

2.   God is a person

      Exodus 3:13-14.    A person is self-aware.  The fact that God said, "I AM THAT I AM" proves that God is self aware.

      Genesis 18:19.  A person has intellect. God said "I know."

      Psalm 103:8-13.    A person has emotions. "The LORD pitieth   them  that fear him."

      Psalm 115:3.    A person has the power of volition. "He hath  done whatsoever he hath pleased." 

3.   1 Samuel 17:26. Hebrews 10:31.    God is a "living" being.

4.   Exodus 3:13-15.    God is self-existent.

      His name, Jehovah, comes from the root of the verb to be. Jehovah literally means the self-existent one.  Which verb tense is "I AM?"   Present

 

5.     God is immutable, which means changeless.

Hebrews 1:10-12.   In duration and life. "Thy years shall not fail."

James 1:17.            In nature.  In God is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

Psalm 33:11.           In will. "The counsel of the LORD standeth  forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations."

Job 8:3                    In character. "Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?" 

6.     1 Kings 8:27.        God is unlimited in time and space.

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee." 

7.     Deuteronomy 6:4.     God is one.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD."

 

One God in Three Persons?

Yes and that's a concept that is very difficult to grasp.  Match these scriptures with the correct ideas.  Notice that each of them expresses the unity of God. 

1. Exodus 20:4-5.   (7)  He is supreme over all so-called gods

2. Nehemiah 9:6      (4)  There is none else beside Him

3. Deuteronomy 6:4    (2)  God alone is God

4. Isaiah 44:6           (6)  Recognition of any other god forbid-  den

5. Jeremiah 10:10    (8)  He is incomparable

6. Hosea 13:4           (5)  God is the only true God

7. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6    (3)  Explicit statement that God is one

8. Isaiah 46:5           (1)  God alone is to be worshipped

        There can be no Bible-based argument with the fact that He is one God, but the same Bible says God is plural. Because He is so often seen in  a threefold way  He is often called the triune God.  The word trinity, though not used in the Bible, is used by men in a feeble attempt to explain this threefold aspect which is clearly seen in the scriptures. Look at some of those scriptures.

 

1.     Matthew 3:16-17.        At Jesus' baptism, God the Son was baptized in water, God the Father spoke from heaven and God the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove.

2.     John 14:16-17.  Jesus the Son spoke of the Father and of the Spirit.

3.     John 15:26.        Jesus the Son again mentioned the Father and the Spirit.

4.     2 Corinthians 13:14.                Believers in the earliest churches believed in "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion o f the Holy Ghost....”

5.     Matthew 28:19.        Baptisms are to be done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

6.     Hebrews 9:14.      “How much more shall the blood of Christ , who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

                Every attribute of one member of the Godhead is common to every other. Complete this chart to see that reality from scripture.  Above each column of scripture write the name of the person of the Godhead to whom the list of verses applies.

 

ATTRIBUTES Father  Son  Holy Spirit
Omnipotence   Romans 1:16 Matthew 28:18 Romans 15:19
Omniscience  Romans 11:33 John 21:17 John 14:26
Omnipresence John 15:26 Matthew 28:20 Psalm 139:7-12
Eternalness Psalm 90:2 John 1:1   Hebrews 9:14
Holiness Leviticus 19:2  Hebrews 4:15 Ephesians 4:30
Immutability Malachi 3:6 Hebrews 13:8   Haggai 2:5

                                                                                                  

                The trinity is not three Gods nor is it three manifestations of God.  God is one in three persons.  Each person is distinct in person and equal in nature. Neither can be separated from the other in nature or person.  The Son is eternally begotten of the Father and the Spirit eternally proceeds from the Son.  The Father, the Son and the Spirit is one God in three persons.

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

                God has many attributes.  Three of them are sometimes referred to as His comparative attributes.  They have to do mainly with His limitless power and greatness. These attributes are His (1) omnipotence, His (2) omniscience and His (3) omnipresence.  In the chart above you have already seen scriptures that attribute each of these attributes to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.  Look up each of these words in a dictionary.

                Read Psalm 139:1-16.  All three of these attributes of God are discussed in this one passage.  After reading these verses, write the verses discussing each attribute in the space provided.

 

                Attribute                     Corresponding verses in Psalm 139

                Omniscience                Psalm 139, verses 1-6

                Omnipresence              Psalm 139, verses 7-11

                Omnipotence                Psalm 139, verses 12-16

 

                In view of the three comparative attributes of God, consider the following questions.

1.             Is there anything you could possibly ever think or do that God would not know?

2.             Is there any way you could resist anything God might chose to do to you?

3.             Is God sovereign?

4.             Do you realize that you have the power of choice only because God gives it to you within the limits of His full control?

5.             Should God see fit to end your life, who could stop Him?

6.             How do you visualize the power and greatness of God within your thoughts?

 

The very essence of God

                There are three other attributes of God that are sometimes called His absolute or essential attributes.  They do not have so much to do with His limitless power as with how He is.  These three attributes are (1) holiness, (2) love and (3) goodness.

                Each is intrinsic to God's being. He is holy, He is love and He is good. See these attributes for yourself by matching the following scriptures with the correct attribute.

 

1. Isaiah 57:15. Isaiah 6:3. Revelation 4:8      (2) God is love

 

2. 1 John 4:8,16. John 3:16. 1 John 3:16          (1) God is holy

 

3. Psalm 100:5. Exodus 34:6-7                           (3) God is good 


                In view of the unchanging essence of God, meditate on these considerations. 

1.             Aren't you glad God is good and not mean?

2.             What is the greatest single expression of the love of God?

3.             How are you showing gratitude for the love and goodness of God to you?

 

                For your sheer delight read slowly and aloud Romans 11:33-36!  " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

 

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"