Uncategorized Murray McLellan on 15 Feb 2008 03:31 pm
Our Doctrinal Emphasis: Point 1
Beginning with this post, I want to go through some of what we worked through in our recent Bible seminar. I will post the main point as given in our doctrinal emphasis statement, and follow that with some additional comments that hopefully will provide a bit of a review for those who attended the sessions and be informative for those who were not able to join with us.
Here is the first point:
The Nature of God
God is glorious (Exodus 15:11; Psalm 145:5). His glory consists in the overwhelming and overflowing beauty which stems from the sum total of all His attributes working together in perfect harmony. God is perfect in His holiness (Exodus 15:11; Isaiah 6:3; I Peter 1:16), justice (Psalm 99:4; Luke 19:7-8; Hebrews 6:10), wisdom (Romans 11:33; I Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 3:10), power (Isaiah 44:24; Job 9:12; Jeremiah 32:17), grace and mercy (Ephesians 1:6-7; 2:4, 7-9; Romans 3:24), and love (I John 4:7-8, 16; Romans 5:18; John 3:16).
Notes:
We desire to be God-centered in all that we do.
Many people claim to believe in god but have no time for him. That’s because their god is remote and uninvolved. The true triune God sent His Son into human history so we could know Him as Father and He sends His Spirit so we can know Him in and through Jesus. To find out more about this God is a wonderful adventure.
We are in awe as we gaze upon this glorious God – and such worship leads to godly living. The root of sin is idolatry – where we turn from the true God to other things and other ways of living. … Read Isa. 55:2-3a … and what is more abundant than the triune God?
Though we cannot know God fully; we can know Him truly!
Many of the people who claim to believe in god, do not believe in God – the true God who has revealed Himself in and through Jesus Christ. Many believe in the “diest god” who is distant and remote and uncaring. It is not surprising that most of the people who believe in that god do not go to church. It is not worth getting up out of bed for a god like that. They are not involved with god because their god is not involved with them. But the Christian message is that the real God is involved. The Father sent His Son into the pain and confusion of human history to reconcile us to Himself and now He gives us His Spirit to accompany us in the struggles of life. We want people to know the God who rules the world and has come near to us and that He is a God worth getting out of bed for!
(Some say they do not believe in god … what god do they not believe in? Often their answer is a god that I do not believe in either – and this provides opportunity to preach to them Jesus!)
The Bible is not a book where you look under “G” to find out about God. It is a story – a glorious story of a saving God. – revealed in the cross! The cross was not only an act of redemption, but an act of revelation. (and our darkened minds and hearts cannot know God unless we are redeemed from our darkness).
More to follow in upcoming posts…
