A Return to Wonder
More from We Believe
Teaching Notes
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth…
I BELIEVE IN:
GOD
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
“I AM WHO I AM.” “I AM has sent me to you."
“The LORD, the God of your fathers.”
Exodus 3:14-15
YAHWEH – Ever Existing One, Uncreated Creator, Sovereign One
What does “I AM” tell us about God?
“This name is not a description of God, but simply a declaration of his self-existence and his eternal changelessness; a reminder to mankind that he has life in himself, and that what he is now, he is eternally.”
- J.I. Packer
- God is ETERNAL.
“The God we worship is the God who has always been. He alone can create beings, because He alone has the power of being. He is not nothing. He is not chance. He is pure Being, the One who has the power to be all by Himself.”
- R.C. Sproul
- God is IMMUTABLE.
“He cannot change for the better for he is already perfect; and being perfect, he cannot change for the worse.”
- A. W. Pink
- God is ACTIVE.
“To the Hebrew ‘to be’ does not just mean to exist as all other beings and things do as well— but to be active, to express oneself in active being, ‘The God who acts.’ …or ‘I am (the God) that really acts.’“
- Sigmund Mowinckel
THE FATHER ALMIGHTY
Jesus’ Primary Picture of God: Heavenly FATHER
This, then, is how you should pray:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” Matthew 6:9
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-11
What kind of Heavenly Father do you have?
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- He is NOT an ABSENT Father.
- He is NOT a RELUCTANT Father.
- He is NOT a BOTHERED Father.
- He is NOT a MOOD SWING Father.
- He is a GOOD & PERFECT Father.
CREATOR OF HEAVEN & EARTH
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27
Do you know God as your Heavenly Father?
How do you join the family of God?
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…
John 1:12