God the Father

3. God the Father

4. It Matters What You Believe

5. How do we see God? • Resident Policeman • Grand Old Man • Meek and Mild • God in a Box • Managing Director • God without Godhead

6. God is on our side.

7. 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ 15But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then he consented.

8. 16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ - Matthew 3:13-17

9. Explanations of the Nature of God • Tritheism • Arianism • Modalism • Trinity

10. Trinity • God is one God • The Son is fully God and distinct from the Father • The Spirit is fully God and distinct from the Father

11. Nature of God • Transcendent

12. 10The Lord said to Moses: ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11and prepare for the third day, because on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.’

13. 12 ‘You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, “Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death. 13No hand shall touch them, but they shall be stoned or shot with arrows; whether animal or human being, they shall not live.” When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain.’

14. 14So Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. 15And he said to the people, ‘Prepare for the third day; do not go near a woman.’

15. 16On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

16. 18Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. 19As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder.- Exodus 19:10-19

17. 18When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, 19and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.’ - Exodus 20:18-19

18. Nature of God • Transcendent (Awesome) • Immanent

19. 34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey;

20. 37but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey. - Exodus 40:34-38

21. 23After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. 24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them. - Exodus 2:23-25

22. God is on our side.