God
God Is in Control, But Our Actions Play an Important Role
Section 1: God Week 4: God Is Sovereign Over and Active in the World Day 5: God Is in Control, But Our Actions Play an Important Role Josh. 24:1-15 If everything is determined by God’s plan, it sounds like we have no choice but to do what we do. That concerns many because it seems to reduce us to nothing more than slaves to God’s will. So the question we need to consider is: how do we reconcile our freedom…
God’s Control Extends Even to Evil
Section 1: God Week 4: God Is Sovereign Over and Active in the World Day 4: God’s Control Extends Even to Evil Gen. 50:15-21 The original creation may have been perfectly good, but there’s no denying the world today is full of evil. That fact troubles many. Can the existence of evil be squared with the existence of a loving God? On the surface, the two appear to be inconsistent. Appearances, however, can be deceiving. Most of us would assume…
Providence, Prayer, and the Problem of Evil
Section 1: God Digging Deeper Topic 2: Providence, Prayer, and the Problem of Evil Three Models of Providence For the most part, Christians don’t argue over whether God is sovereign. We do, however, argue over the extent to which God uses his sovereignty to control what happens in the world. Theologians typically refer to God’s control over everyday events as divine providence. Over the years, various models have been proposed. In general, the models run along a spectrum. On one…
God Is Still in Control
Section 1: God Week 4: God Is Sovereign Over and Active in the World Day 3: God Is Still in Control Eph. 1:1-14 The biblical picture of God’s control over his creation is pretty expansive. We, for example, often think of events in nature as resulting from purely natural causes. But a number of passages suggest these events are ultimately caused by God. For example, Ps. 135:7 says “He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends…
The Universe God Created Was Good
Section 1: God Week 4: God Is Sovereign Over and Active in the World Day 2: The Universe God Created Was Good Gen. 1:1-2:3 When we look at our world, we see evil all around us. We’ll look at the problem of evil more closely in the Digging Deeper section. But for now, it’s important to understand that the universe God created was originally good. According to Genesis, at the end of each day of creation, God looked at what…
God Created the Universe
Section 1: God Week 4: God Is Sovereign Over and Active in the World Day 1: God Created the Universe Gen. 1:1, John 1:1, Col. 1:15-16 God created the universe. It’s a basic assumption for all Christians, a fact we take for granted. For the most part, that’s a good thing. As with anything we take for granted, though, there’s a danger. It’s tempting to say, “Of course God created the universe” and move on to something else. This basic…
The Trinity Is Central to Our Faith
Section 1: God Week 3: God Exists As Trinity Day 5: The Trinity Is Central to Our Faith Rev. 20-22 We sometimes treat the Trinity as a throwaway doctrine. We believe it to be true, but we don’t think about it very often. That’s a shame, because when we understand the doctrine of the Trinity, we realize it explains a lot about our faith. We believe, for example, God became man to die as a sacrifice for our sin in…
The Trinity Transcends All Comparisons
Section 1: God Week 3: God Exists As Trinity Day 4: The Trinity Transcends All Comparisons Matt. 28:16-20, 2 Cor. 13:14, Eph. 3:14-19 It’s hard for us to fully get our minds around the doctrine of the Trinity. That’s why we sometimes resort to analogies. We hope they will give us a clearer picture of what it means to say God is three in one. Popular analogies include the three-leaf clover; a tree, which is made up of three parts…
There Is Only One God
Section 1: God Week 3: God Exists As Trinity Day 3: There Is Only One God Deut. 6:4-9 When we say there are three persons in the Trinity and each person is God, it sounds a lot like we’re saying there are three Gods. But the Bible is clear that there is only one God. Deut. 6:4-5, for example, declares: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Each member of the Trinity is fully God, yet…
Each Person in the Trinity Is God
Section 1: God Week 3: God Exists As Trinity Day 2: Each Person in the Trinity Is God John 1:1-5, Acts 5:1-15 The Father, Son, & Holy Spirit Are Each God The early Church faced a number of challenges over the issue of whether each member of the Trinity was fully God. There was never really any debate about whether the Father was God. However, that was not the case with the Son. Arianism, for example, claimed the Son was…
God Exists as Three Persons
Section 1: God Week 3: God Exists As Trinity Day 1: God Exists As Three Persons Matt. 3:13-17 The Father, Son, & Holy Spirit Are Distinct from One Another At first this might seem like an unnecessary point to make because the Bible clearly refers to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So we obviously have three persons…right? There are those, however, who say the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit aren’t distinct from one another. The Father, Son, and Holy…
God Is Unchanging
Section 1: God Week 2: God Is Good Day 5: God Is Unchanging James 1:16-18 Our lives are constantly changing. One day you love your house. The next day… not so much. One day you can’t wait to get to work. The next… you’re thinking about changing careers. You’re born with thick, luxurious hair. Now… you’re trying to figure out how to get the last three strands to cover your otherwise bald head. Change is a fact of life. Change…
- 1
- 2