Knowing God: Experience & Love Him

Teachers: Paul Bucknell & Ridge Orr

Overview

Series Introduction| Knowing God | The Revelatory God | Goodness of God | Holiness of God | Power of God | Omnipresent God | Exalted God | Faithfuness of God | Wisdom of God | Mercy of God | Wrath of God | Love of God | Sovereignty of God | Providence of God

Purpose: We are embarked on a spiritual journey, perhaps best described by the development of our relationship with God our Creator.

This class carefully studies the scriptures to find out who God the Father is and how this shapes His purposes and involvement in our lives. Come and get to know God more as we study God's attributes and characteristics!

It is the fullness of God: all His wondrous love, power and wisdom that continually fills me with awe and delight.

Sessions

• Knowing God

  • Gain and develop a personal relationship with God (1 John 1:3-4)

I have trouble enough getting to know people. How can I get to know God? I can’t see Him. I can’t even hear Him. And even if I could meet Him, how would I know I would want to meet up with Him?

Class materials

• The Revelatory God

• Examine how God’s mercy and truth blend together (Exodus 34:6-7)

Are all the religions the same? Do they all lead to the same goal? God interrupts this line of thinking by giving us a clear picture of who He is and His special unique character. We better all be glad He is who He says he is.

Class materials

• The Goodness of God

  • Assured that all His requests and plans are good (Ps 31:19; Jer 31:14; Ne 9:6,8,25,26)

A lot of people have a problem with evil as if it all came from God. We need to work out things a bit clearer here. Instead we find that God is always good even through the difficult times in life.

Class materials

• The Holiness of God

  • Grasping God’s untouchable way (His righteousness) (Ps 68:17; 1 John 1:5)

Did you ever stare into the bright sun? We just can’t do that. God’s holiness is like that. God is light and with our impurity, we just can’t approach Him. Fortunately, God came up with a terrific plan to bridge this otherwise impossible gap.

Class materials

• The Power of God (Omnipotent)

  • Personally knowing a mighty God makes a great difference! (1 Chr 29:11; Rev 4:11, Neh 9:6)

Did you ever feel powerless? Join the club! Actually, we were never meant to be able to solve all our problems. As God’s children, it is wonderful to know someone who really cares for us and is fully in charge.

Class materials

• The Ever-Present God (Omnipresent)

  • God’s constant presence makes a great difference (Psalm 139:1-6; Mat 28:20)

Did you ever feel all alone? Maybe in danger or in a dark place? Actually, you were not alone, were you? God is everywhere all the time. Learn more what this practically means to our lives.

Class materials

• The Exalted God

  • Humbly carrying out my life to bring Him glory (1 Chr 16:28; Hab 2:14)

We are not very good at giving God the glory. Why? Because we cannot grasp how great God is. We think far too much of our own accomplishments without understanding His part in our lives. Life gets awesome when we begin to understand and respond to His glorious person.

Class materials

• The Faithfulness of God

  • Confident He will help me where and when I need (Lam 3:22-23; Nu 23:19; Hab 1:12-13)

Most of us have a problem with consistency. Part of the problem is our inability to control life’s details. Another part is our problem with our uncertainty, ignorance and wavering on personal issues. It is a good thing God is not like that less we would perish.

Class materials

• The Wisdom of God

  • Willing to comply to His plans because they are best (Psalm 104:24)

Our biggest problem is not knowing how to make the best decisions but to know and understand Him who perfectly understands things! We need to master hearing from God if we are going to successfully live out our lives.

Class materials

• The Mercy of God

  • God tenderly and effectively cares for us (Hab 3:2; Neh 9:6, 8, 31, Jon 4:2,11)

Why is it so hard to forgive others? It would seem that we never made a mistake! But God is perfect. Why is he so kind and forgiving? We seem to be missing something big here.

Class materials

• The Wrath of God

  • Confident God will exact complete justice (2 Chr 34:21; Neh 9:33; 2 Ki 8:19)

Did you ever wonder why God hasn’t judged the wicked earlier on? If you happened to meet up with some unjust situation, you might wonder whether God is in the driver’s seat. He is, but we just do not quite understand how He carries out justice and how true justice requires severe judgment.

Class materials

• The Love of God

  • God’s special affection for His people (1 John 4:7-14; Jer 31:3; Ro 8:36-39)

God is love. We all love to say it, but how many of us are really convinced of our Lord’s deep, constant and rich love? Probably not too many of us. We seem to doubt His love more than be strengthened by it. Let’s take a look at God’s transforming love.

Class materials

• The Sovereignty of God (Will & Purpose)

  • Trusting God’s will to be supremely completed (Ez 1:1; 1 Ti 6:15-16; Hab 3:17-19)

Is it so bad that God is in control? People, including many believers, have such a hard time accepting God’s sovereignty. Perhaps, we just like to think we control our lives and decisions. We want our rights, freedom, choices. This doesn’t make God any less in charge though. We better learn how Jesus mastered trusting God’s sovereign will even when things got tough.

Class materials

• The Providence of God

  • Waiting upon God with complete trust for our lives (Isaiah 64:4, 40:30-31; Ps 37:7-9)

  Knowing and carrying out God’s will can be rather confusing! How do we really know what God wants? Even more basic, is God really in control of all the things, big and small, that I meet up with in life?

  Links to this topic

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  Future=> Your Journey

  Seeking to develop your relationship with the Almighty God while still on earth!

• Is there any problem with putting a lot more effort into seeking to know Him more?

• What steps can you take to assure persistent growth with so many distractions around?

Other articles on knowing God

=> Knowing God Deuteronomy 5

Biblical Foundations for Freedom ( BFF )

Rev. Paul J. Bucknell