Welcome to week 1 of our Continuing with Jesus series.

Hopefully you have completed the Launch with Jesus series that will have provided some understanding for you around your decision to believe and follow Jesus. This next series we pray will give you some foundational understanding around what it means to be a Christian and take some next steps in your Continuing relationship with Jesus. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us at all with any questions so we can assist you in your walk with Jesus!

Our first lesson, is based around answering the question – Who is God?

The very first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1 starts by saying, “In the Beginning God...”

God, the creator of Heaven & earth  – always has been, always will be – He is known as the Eternal One. He is not confined by space, time or matter – He is Omnipresent, which means He is everywhere; He is Omniscient, which means He is all knowing and He is Omnipotent, which means He is all powerful. In Exodus 3:14, God reveals Himself to a man named Moses as ‘I am’ – this can be explored a lot further, but in essence God is self-sufficient, He doesn’t require anything outside of Himself to exist. He just Is.

The way in which God has revealed Himself throughout history is the God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The One God revealed in three Persons. We call this truth the Trinity – though that word is not in the Bible, it is used to express the truth seen in the Bible. There is no truly perfect or adequate way to explain the Trinity, such is the mystery and incomprehensible nature of God – if we couldn’t fully understand Him and everything He does He wouldn’t be God.

Some of the analogies that are used to try to explain the Trinity are that God is like water, but the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the different states you can discover water in, gas, liquid or solid.

Or just like when a man and woman become married the Bible says they become one flesh – they are one, though they still remain as two very distinct persons within the marriage.

These are clumsy attempts to provide some insight into the nature of the Trinity; but to a large degree fail to show the true Oneness of God. 1+1+1=1 and while that is wrong in the mathematical world it is true in regard to the Trinity.

The nature and wonder of Who God is, is something we get to marvel at, worship and explore for all of eternity. If we could work God out completely on this side of eternity – what would be the point? But the nature of God is that He reaches out toward us and invites us into the perfect union and community that He is and as we journey with Him we can continually be amazed as Who He is gets revealed to us more and more.

Some of the attributes the Bible reveals about God the Father are that He is patient and kind, slow to anger but quick in giving mercy. He desires intimacy with His children and His plans and purposes are to do His people good. Through His great love and desire for relationship with us, He sent His Son, Jesus to atone and make a way in which we can have access to God. The Bible declares He is the Father to the orphan and the protector of the widow – He is Holy and righteous and all His decisions are Just. He is for you.

What about Jesus – the Son of God. He came to earth in humility, the Gospel of John says, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is God in flesh, fully human but also fully divine. He however set aside His divinity to show us what completely intimacy and trust with the Father through the Holy Spirit looks like. Jesus told us that if we have seen Him, we then have seen the Father – again pointing to the unity and oneness that the Godhead shared. Jesus lived in complete obedience in doing the will of the Father, and through the power of the Holy Spirit did miracles and sign and wonders. Ultimately, laying His life down and being crucified on a cross, carrying the sin of the world, He died. God died. For three days, it looked like the devil was victorious in using death to defeat Jesus. But sin could have no permanent hold on a sinless man – death’s victory was fleeting. Jesus rose from the dead – defeating the power of sin and death and giving us access to relationship and life that is only found in God.

Finally, Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. He is the Lord and Giver of Life, and He brings glory to Jesus. He is known as the Comforter, the Helper, our Counsellor and the one Who leads us into all truth.  In a later lesson we will look more deeply at the Holy Spirit’s involvement in the conception of the Church and what it means to be Baptised in the Holy Spirit, but it is important to know and recognise that the Holy Spirit is not ‘a impersonal force’ but an equal and divine member of the Trinity who possess a mind, emotions and a will. The Holy Spirit convicts people of their sin and then leads them to the One Who can save – Jesus.

This is the briefest summary and snap shot of Who God is and it is our hope and encouragement that you would continue to come closer to Him and find out more about Him for yourself. Knowing about God is good – but actually knowing Him personally is better. That is the invitation He has given to us which we have access to through Jesus.

What do the following Scriptures tell us about God?

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” – John 4:24

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” – John 14:6

“God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoke, and will He not fulfill it?” - Numbers 23:19

“The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” - Exodus 34:6-7

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” - Psalm 27:1

In your own words – how would you have described God before becoming a Christian?

How would you describe God now as a Christian?

What is one characteristic of God that has stood out to you in your journey with Jesus so far? 

Bible Project – Who is God? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAvYmE2YYIU