Is There a God?

God is Foundational

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1–11:26 (1) In the Beginning (1:1)

“In the beginning” (bĕrēʾšît) marks inauguration (see the excursus “Translating 1:1–2,” page. 137), but it also anticipates the “end” of the universe and human history

There is a plan, a goal, a purpose.

God creates, out of nothing , all that exists.

Genesis 1:3 ESV

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Psalm 33:6 ESV

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

Romans 4:17 (ESV)

as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

God is, so to speak, the Speaker who creates; nevertheless, He does not make use of matter, but He makes heaven and earth out of nothing solely by the Word which He utters.

Martin Luther

Conclusion to first point: You cannot have a house without a foundation. If you do not have a foundation, you have nothing else.

Implication

There is absolute truth—to everything.

Recall knowledge diagram

There is a God of majesty, and we do not have to fear.

If Jehovah created the heavens and the earth, then He is a God of power, wisdom, and glory, and we have nothing to fear.

Warren W. Wiersbe

God is Eternal, Yet Personal

Eternal = Infinite

Psalm 41:13 ESV

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.

Psalm 90:2 ESV

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

“To infinity and beyond!” Buzz Lightyear

God is an infinite circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.

Augustine of Hippo

Infinite in existence, space, time, knowledge, and power

Implications of Eternal

Isaiah 40:28 ESV

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

Personal = Trinitarian

God thinks, acts, and interacts. God is active; He has not created the world and left it to its own demise.

Christian Smith illustration

To say that God is personal also means that He is triune. God is one God in three persons.

Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV)

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

Matthew 28:19 (ESV)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

We should notice that the word name is singular; Jesus does not say that his followers should baptize in the “names” of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in the “name” of these three. It points to the fact that they are in some sense one.

Leon Morris

John 1:1 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Hank Hannegraf has explained this as “one what, three whos.”

We define that there are two, the Father and the Son, and three with the Holy Spirit, and this number is made by the pattern of salvation … [which] brings about unity in trinity, interrelating the three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Tertullian

Triangle illustration

Implications of Personal

God is not a mere force, energy, or “substance.”

Star Wars illustration

There is no mysterious force penetrating all of life: karma, superstition

Student: “I feel like I am very connected with the universe and I can feel when an energy is off. . . . God and the Universe talk to me through my car. Any time I am making the wrong choices in my life, something happens to my car. I have been on a healing journey for a little over a year now and this is the first time since I have started driving that I have not had any issues with my car.”

God is relational: he is good and loving

God is relational within the Trinity

John 3:35 ESV

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

John 5:20 ESV

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

God is relational with us

1 John 4:19 ESV

We love because he first loved us.

1 John 3:1 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

“Heart of the Father” ~Ryan Ellis

I've never known a love like Yours So intimate, so powerful And I've tasted, I've seen, and nothing comes close I've never known a love like Yours

I've never felt at home like this Just like a child, so innocent And I'm safe inside Your arms 'Cause You won't let go I've never known a love like Yours

God is Different from Us

God is Creator

1 Timothy 6:15–16 (ESV)

. . . He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

God is Sovereign

Psalm 103:19 (ESV)

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all.

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.

Implication

God is in control

God is the loving Creator, not despotic Dictator