What do we know about God?
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Discussion
Discussion
What was your biggest take away from the Pre-Work this week?
How do we know what we know?
If someone asked you, “Why do you believe what you believe about God?” how would you answer?
Brief Definition: God can be truly known. He graciously makes Himself known to us through Scripture. The Bible is inspired, authoritative, inerrant, infallible, necessary, sufficient, and clear.
All knowledge of God is a gift (Kyle Worley)
Is God knowable? How can I know Him? How can I be confident that I actually know Him?
Do we need the Bible to know God?
Do we need the Bible to know God?
No—We can know God generally
Psalm 19:1
BUT we can’t know Him fully or specifically.
The creation will not tell us that God is redeemer.
Do people give attention to thinking about how you know what you know?
General revelation—God makes Himself known in what He makes
General revelation—God makes Himself known in what He makes
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
When we marvel at creation, we aren’t merely enjoying God’s creation—We are witnessing a testimony to God’s existence and goodness.
Creation glorifies as its Creator.
Describe a personal experience you’ve had with general revelation. Tell a worshipful moment you had in nature or a non-manmade place.
Describe a personal experience you’ve had with general revelation. Tell a worshipful moment you had in nature or a non-manmade place.
Creation also reveals our natural response is to suppress the truth about God in creation.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
God’s revelation through creation is general because it declares that He exists, but it does not show us the way of salvation.
It’s a partial telling of who God is.
Enough to establish our guilt when we don’t offer God worship but not enough to save.
All humans get to witness creation through sight, sounds, colors etc.
But we can’t fully know God by creation.
Specific revelation—God makes Himself known through Christ and in the Scriptures.
Specific revelation—God makes Himself known through Christ and in the Scriptures.
Breathed out by Picture.
Inspired - “Breathed out by God”
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Close relationship between God and His Word.
All parts of Scripture are equally inspired.
Every biblical text has two authors: God/man.
2 Peter 1:19-21
Authoritative - “Our Governor”
The Bible is authoritative because God is authoritative.
When God speaks, He speaks with His authority.
When God’s Word speaks, it speaks with the authority of the Trinity.
The basis of sin begins with the question: “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3).
When we begin to question what the Bible *actually* means, this is the whisper of the devil.
Inerrant - The Bible is free from error.
God is perfect, so the Bible is perfect.
The doctrine of inerrancy says that the Bible contains no errors in all that it teaches and affirms.
Jesus prayed in John 17:17 “17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
God cannot lie, and therefore, His word cannot lie.
The issue we find is that our interpretations of the Bible may not be inerrant.
We may not understand it clearly.
Infallible - The Bible doesn’t fail and we can trust it.
Psalm 33:4 “4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.”
Necessary - For salvation
The Bible shows us the story of redemption.
Without the Bible we’d never know Jesus, who saves us.
The Bible tells us how we are to live in order to be sanctified.
The Bible tells us the promises of God in the last things.
Sufficient - No other sources needed.
The Bible gives us everything we need to be equipped for life and godliness.
2 Timothy 3:17 “17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
If we want to follow God, know Him, and love Him it begins with an intimacy with the Bible where the Spirit leads us in all truth.
Clear - The Bible is clear
We’ll come back to this one in depth.
Which of the seven attributes of Scripture are the easiest for you to understand?…Which is the hardest?
Which of the seven attributes of Scripture are the easiest for you to understand?…Which is the hardest?
The Bible is a clear revelation about God.
The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture relates to the work the Holy Spirit does in our lives to illuminate our hearts and minds to rightly read the Bible.
The Bible is not dark in need of light/it’s not lacking clarity.
The effects of sin and brokenness in our lives mean that we can’t see properly.
It’s not about how good your reading comprehension is—It’s a dependence on the Lord to help us understand the Word.
This is where we ask the Holy Spirit to do it!
God the Holy Spirit helps us become better readers of the Bible.
Reading the Scriptures with the right tools is a way for what is clear to become more clear to us.
As we move through the course, you’ll see that you’ll have better lenses for seeing what is clear in the Scriptures.
When people hear the Word of God is clear, how do we help make sense of that?
When people hear the Word of God is clear, how do we help make sense of that?
In the movie The Sixth Sense, we find a plot twist that reveals the living are actually dead. In the Bible we find a plot twist that restores the dead to life. The living and active Word shouts what the creation whispers: there is a God, and you are made to commune with Him. These precious words are, for all who believe, a source of daily bread and a means of daily delight.
We can only know God because He makes Himself known. All knowledge of God is revealed knowledge.
We can’t know God exhaustively (fully) but we can know Him accurately.
How has your relationship with the Bible drawn you into deeper relationship with God?
How has your relationship with the Bible drawn you into deeper relationship with God?
What is your favorite passage of the Bible?
Discussion
Discussion
If you surveyed the people in your community, what would be their “highest authority”?
Why do we need more than the created world around us to come to a true understanding of who God is and what He has done?
How do the doctrines of inspiration and illumination change the way you read and study the Bible?
How do these doctrines change the way you practice spiritual disciplines that the Bible prescribes?
Pre-Work 9.24.25
Pre-Work 9.24.25
Turn and Tell: Who can you share something you learned in this session with? What do you plan on sharing with them?
Complete “My Life’s Story”
What was my life like before I became a Christian?
How did you hear the gospel and become a Christian?
What is the gospel?
What has life been like since becoming a Christian?
Read Revelation 21-22.
Read “The True Story of the World” from Remember and Rehearse.
Take 5 minutes to pray through Psalm 1. Read it once out loud and then use it to shape your prayer.
