Genesis 1:1-In the beginning God…
-Angie Jarratt
The Bible has sixty six books, it is written by 40 authors and was written over a span of 1500 years.
The Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Bible is God’s speech, the Spirit of God speaking through human authors. 2 Timothy 3:16 says “All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (beliefs), for reproof (showing one faults), for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man (in our case women) of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The Bible has authority. Scripture carries the right to tell us what to do and how to live.
Scripture is Infallible. The Word of God does not lie, it cannot lie. The Word of God is truth and never misleads. (That doesn’t mean that it can’t be misinterpreted.)
The Bible is inerrant it is free of error, falsehood, or deceit.
The Scriptures give us clarity. The Bible IS understandable, but not always immediately. It does require time and effort.
The Word of God is Sufficient. The message of the Bible provides all we need to live life and for godliness. THE BIBLE IS COMPLETE there are no new revelations.
The Bible is necessary. It is necessary to understand our need for Salvation and to live out our lives as God intends us too.
Through the next 13 weeks we will look at the Bible as a whole, not story to story or book by book but the entire story! Today we will focus on God’s identity, His character and His promises. God is the only true God and He alone is worthy of worship. To worship God we must truly know Him.
In 1 Samuel 4 & 5 we see an example of God’s people and their false idea of who God is, playing out. The Ark of the Covenant was a sacred chest representing the presence of God in the midst of His people. It was kept in the most holy place of the tabernacle. In the text we see the Israelites bring the Ark into battle in hopes of using the presence of God to win a battle with the Philistine’s. Their abuse of the Ark clearly showed their lack of understanding of who God was. Now, In their defense the Ark had been taken into battle before. But that’s the problem, they were lacking true relationship with God. They didn’t know Him so therefore they didn’t understand Him. They only knew bits and pieces about God’s identity. That battle ended in defeat for Israel and God allowed the Ark to be taken by the Philistine army. The Philistine’s, also unaware of Who was in their presence, take the sacred Ark into the house of the Philistine god Dagon. God takes care of Dagon, by breaking his hands and head right off! Demonstrating that He is the only God worthy of worship and leaving no place for the readers of the story to question His true identity. What I want us to see in this text is that neither side of the battle understood God’s true identity. But the real kicker here is that God’s people, the one’s in relationship with God, misrepresented God and caused the Philistines to misunderstand too. The Philistine’s had their own god’s and they thought they had just snagged another new one for their collection. The lack of knowledge created major problems for both groups of people.
When God’s people can’t testify about the God who saved them from sin and death, when we can’t share His true identity, characteristics and promises we leave an opening for the world (SATAN) to tell lies about our God. The enemy can mislead God’s people and nonbelievers as well. We have to better equip ourselves so that we can boldly go out and tell the truth about God.
If someone were to ask you now who God is could you answer them?
Google defines the word God in Christianity as creator and ruler of the universe and the source of all moral authority.
Though that definition isn’t untrue, I think we can do WAY better. If creating and ruling is the only purpose of God, there would be nothing separating Him from other man made god’s.
To properly tell the Story of Scripture, we must KNOW and be able to accurately explain who God is and what He has done, which is communicated to us in His Word.
So what sets our God apart?
Christianity is the only religion that believes in the Trinity. Our God is three separate persons in One: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is a God that IS LOVE
The first person we will cover is the Father. Everything He does is done out of the Love for the Son and the love for His children. Maybe your earthly father wasn’t a good dad. And even if your earthly father was great, nothing can compare to the love our heavenly Father has because He doesn’t just love, He is love. He is the eternal Father of the eternal Son.
The enemy has been attacking the family, specifically fathers in an effort to breakdown trust and vulnerability with God. I know my past issues have made it harder to accept certain paternal qualities and I think this especially applies to authority. It makes it harder to surrender, to submit. If the enemy can paint a false picture of Fatherly authority, it distorts our understanding of the Trinity. Without loving submission to the Father, Jesus cannot be in fellowship with the Father or with us.
Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity we will cover. The beloved, begotten son. The word begotten in greek is monogenes meaning “single of its kind, unique, only”. Jesus wasn’t merely created to be the son of God. He was always Son as God the Father was always Father. (John 1:1-3) “In the beginning was the Word (JESUS) and the Word(JESUS) was with God, and the Word(JESUS) was God. He(JESUS) was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him(JESUS), and without Him(JESUS) was not any thing made that was made.”
Last, but certainly not least, we will cover The Holy Spirit. The Spirit stirs up the delight of the Father in the Son and the delight of the Son in the Father. It is through the giving of the Spirit that the Father declares His love to the Son. The Spirit is the One through whom the Father, LOVES, blesses and empowers His Son. BUT that does not mean that the Spirit is just some magical vapor. The Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Let’s go to scripture to get an understanding of what I mean. He speaks and sends (Acts 13:2-4) He chooses (Acts 20:28) Teaches(John 14:26) Gives (Isaiah 63:13) He can be lied to and tested (Acts 5:3,9) He can be resisted (Acts 7:51) Grieved (Ephesians 4:30) can be blasphemed (Matthew 12:31)
(This information on the Trinity was taken from Michael Reeves book, Delighting in the Trinity. This is a fantastic resource to help in your understanding of God. We will be reading this book together over the course of the Summer and discussing it. We would love for you to join us. For more info, contact us here from the website or email us at bedevotedwomen@gmail.com)
I remember hearing a sermon on the Holy Spirit and how He is the most ignored and misunderstood of the Trinity. I just sat and bawled, because it was true in my life. I had never prayed to the Spirit. The Spirit of God is living inside of me and until that point I had never even said a word to Him. I think the word “spirit” throws us off sometimes, I think we can even be afraid. We have to know the Spirit intimately. It is through the giving of the Spirit that the Father declares His love to the Son. The Spirit is the One through whom the Father, LOVES, blesses and empowers His Son. Ladies that applies to us too. Read that again.
Understanding the Trinity helps us understand God’s true identity. We see that God is a triune God who IS love, a God that has made a way for His people. God does not ask us to earn or work for our salvation. Our God is the ONLY God that requires nothing of His people. He isn’t asking what we can do for Him. He simply invites us into a relationship and gives us His love. God so loved the World that He gave Himself. (John 3:16) He is the King who left His throne. The Ruler who didn’t come to rule but to serve.
I heard recently someone compare studying God’s Word to a treasure hunt, AND knowing God more intimately IS the prize y’all! The Bible will make it easier to live out life, but if that’s our sole purpose for going to God’s Word then we are selling ourselves WAY SHORT. When we take the focus off ourselves and place it on God, (where it is rightly deserved), we gain much more understanding of the Word.
Knowing the attributes of God helps us to recognize Him. We can’t love and trust what we don’t know. It also helps breakdown the lies the enemy can throw our way.
God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. God is holy. God is faithful. God is Incomprehensible.
These are just a few examples of God’s characteristics. For a FREE PRINTABLE with the Attributes of God to use during your personal Bible study, CLICK HERE.
God is called several different names in the Bible. Each of those names are a promise to His people. For example Yahweh Shalom means The Lord IS peace. It is who He IS.
I’m Angie and I’m a hairstylist, but I can quit being a hairstylist. With God it’s different, He can’t not be peace, He IS peace. For a FREE printable some of the names of God, CLICK HERE.
God is the foundation, the Beginning. Genesis 1:1 “In the Beginning God.” When we approach the story of Scripture with some tools to help us clearly see the True and Only God the Word becomes much less about who we can be or who we think we should be. It becomes more about knowing who He is deeper and fuller. It causes us to fall in love with the God who loved us first and give Him all the honor, praise and glory He deserves.