Bible study n.3

Who is God???

Introduction:


Many people believe that God is a superior being that sits up there on His throne looking at us, and judging all our actions, and always sending punishments for us, humans, who can never do anything right. Other people believe in a superior force that rules the universe. We sometimes believe that God does not have time for us, that he is very busy looking after the universe and its problems, and consequently doesn’t care about our daily issues, doesn’t listen to us. I also know people who do not believe in God, atheists, who believe that everything that happens around us has a scientific explanation which is not related to God.

But as we saw in the other two studies, we need to know that the Bible speaks about who God really is, so we can believe in what the Word of God says about him. That is the reason why he left us the Bible, so we can get to know Him better, so we be closer to Him, so we can be sure of what pleases God.

Once I heard a very interesting explanation about the Person of God: God is similar to a stereo system that we have at home which allows us to listen to music from a radio station, a CD, or even a cassette tape (remember the cassette tape? hahaha). Well, God presents himself to us in the form of three persons, totally Divines, totally Saints, totally Eternal, totally God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.


GOD THE FATHER


-THE CREATOR, who made heaven and earth, and everything within it, who made each one of us, in al His power and majesty!
Psalm 95:6 – “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our maker.”
Psalm 121:2 – “ My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.”
Proverbs 22:2 – “Rich and poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.”
Isaiah 42:5 – “This is God the LORD says – he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it.”

- THE FATHER, loving, caring, who looks after each one of us, who knows us (for he was the one who made us), who delivers us from evil, who teaches us, educates us, who cares about us, who sets purposes in our lives. We can call Him Father because He adopted us as His beloved children.
1John 3:1 – “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
1John 4:16 – “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”
Mathew 6:13 – “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Proverbs 4:1-2 – “Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pain attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.”
Joshua 1:9 – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Psalm 139:1-3 – “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”


- THE JUDGE, who rules the earth with perfect justice. He will judge everybody equally for we are all the same to his eyes.
Psalm 98:9 – “Let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.”
Psalm 98:2 – “The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.”

- THE REDEEMER, who gives us a second chance in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 44:6 – “This is what the LORD says, Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.”
Isaiah 44:24 – “This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched ou the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.”


GOD THE SON

- HE IS WITH THE FATHER, Jesus is God, and He is in God. The Bible calls Jesus a verb, an action, and shows that He was present in the creation of the world.
John 10:30 – “I and the Father are one.”
John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

- SON OF GOD, Jesus is the beloved son of God, the Father’s only begotten, who God loves abundantly.
Mathew 3:17 – “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

- GOD INCARNATE, Jesus came to the world as a man, grew up and lived among us. He was tempted by Satan, but won His victory on the cross and is alive today!!!
John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Mathew 1:23 – “’The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’, which means, ‘God with us’.”
Luke 2:40 – “And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.”
Luke 4:2 – “where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil”


- THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, Jesus carried our sins on the cross, therefore saving us from the death which would separate us from God, the one that takes all those who do not accept Jesus as their Only Savior to hell. Yes, hell is real, and according to the Bible it is like a river of burning flame, a place where nobody should desire to go. Jesus is our savior who takes us closer to God the Father so we can live eternal life in Heaven. Many people say that all ways take us to God, the bible says ‘no’, the only way to God is Jesus, our savior.
John 3:16 – “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.”
John 14:2 – “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.”
John 14:6 – “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”


GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT

- THE COUNSELOR, Jesus promised to send a comforter, who would always be with us, cheering us, comforting us. We are not alone, for the Holy Spirit is always with us.
John 14:16-17 – “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever, the spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be with you.”


- OUR INTERPRETER, the Holy Spirit translates our prayers, the things we ask for, to God, for in reality we don’t know how to ask.
Romans 8:26 – “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit itself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

- LIVES IN US, our body is the house, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that is why we should look after our body, watch what we eat, drink, wear and where we go, for He lives in us.
1 Corinthians 6:19 – “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
2 Timothy 1:14 – “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”


- TEACHES US EVERY DAY, because it is in us, the Holy Spirit guides us, teaches us, admonishes us, exhorts us, shows us where we should and should not go. It is up to us to obey.
Luke 12:12 – “For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should do.”


- SENDS US TO EVANGELIZE, the Holy Spirit helps us to talk about Jesus, sending us to places where we need to show Jesus as our Savior.
Acts 13:4 – “The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.”


- CONVINCES US OF OUR SINS, He shows us where we have sinned, and He alone is the one who convinces our heart of the need to accept Jesus and to have Jesus as the Lord of our lives. We can talk about Jesus to our friends, for years, but only on the right time of God the Holy Spirit convinces our friends. This is not our job, but the Holy Spirit’s, so let’s not be sad in case we can’t seem to convince our friends of Jesus Christ. Everything is under God’s control.
Hebrew 3:7 – “So, as the Holy Spirit says, ‘today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert.”

God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are 3 persons in 1. They act in different ways in our lives, but they are all Divine, Saints, Omnipotent (they can do all things), Omniscient ( they know all things), Omnipresent (they are everywhere). They love us, teach us, exhort us, comfort us, and they never leave us alone. We should know them better, so we can learn how to please them, and therefore live a life that is worthy of God’s love for us.