Week One DVD – Behold Your God
This study is not about you and me getting more out of God, but it is about God. Ultimately this leads to our good since thinking correctly about God is very important. To quote AW Tozer –“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” The study guide is divided into Five days, and I will be attempting to summarize each day to you in these short lessons. I will make a copy of these notes available for you or you can purchase the guide for the series.
The Mediation verse for this first section is: Psalm 27:8 “When you said “Seek my face” My said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
Day One: The study guide begins with the verse from Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. Why would this verse have been added to our Bible? What is the purpose of the command? What is God communicating in this verse?
Are the things discussed above (wisdom, might, riches) important? How do we keep them in their proper place with what is actually important? Why do you think that these things listed above are not worth boasting about – most likely because you didn’t have everything to do with getting them. However the fact that you know God and understand God, that is also something given to a person. But one has more value than the other.
Some of the problems we get into with our Christianity are that we have come to expect:
- God should do the right things by us because we have chosen Him.
- We often prefer to search out God’s promises to us rather than God’s revelation about Himself.
- We think our eternal life is like a picture, not like a film. A single event for salvation not the continuing images of knowing and understanding God.
- When was the last time you prayed to God and asked for Him to reveal Himself to you more than He has?
Day Two: We know that complete knowledge of God is impossible but there are aspects of God’s character that are knowable. But what is an attribute of God? 1) It is something God has revealed to be true about Himself. 2) It is something that is essentially true about God. 3) It is something that is in perfect harmony with all God’s other attributes.
Recently, I was reading that we discover who we are when we are caught off-guard. If I am driving in my car – beep – beep, and then someone surprisingly cuts me off so that I have to play Mario Andretti to avoid getting in an accident, then I have been caught by surprise. I am more likely to behave poorly. However, if I have all the time I need to prepare for such a thing, or I notice this driver being a little odd prior to the event, well I have better control of my emotions and my reactions. First of all, we don’t catch God by surprise, but imagine you did God would respond according to what is true about Himself. He never changes, never gets tired. All these things tell us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God will act just as He is. People tell you that they have a new revelation about who God is; well I am sorry because God hasn’t changed.
And He doesn’t have two sides of His character. He deals with sin exactly the same if you are a believer or a non-believer. In the case of the non-believer, the punishment is death, or eternal separation from God. In the case of the believer, the punishment is death, but that death has been paid in full by Jesus Christ.
As we strive to know God, never forget that God is infinite. You won’t be able to measure Him or box Him in. Trust me when I tell you, He doesn’t have to try to understand you because He does. If nothing else, remembering that God is infinite should cause us to live humbly with our God. Joni Eareckson Tada said this: One of the most wonderful things about knowing God is that there is always so much more to know. Just when we least expect it, He intrudes into our neat and tidy notions about who He is and how He works.
Day Three: The question might have come up to you: Why is knowing God not simple? This is because knowing God is dependent on coming to God according to His rules, not our own. None of this are inclined to be a fallen heart’s natural bent.
- The Reverent – Psalm 25:4
- The Pure in Heart – Matt 5:8 (pure = undivided, unpolluted, unmixed)
- The Childlike – Matt 11:25-28
- The Obedient – John 14:21
The question that the guide encourages us to ask to ourselves is: Is God continuing to reveal more and more of Himself to you or have you grown comfortable with your level of maturity?
Day Four: Christianity is both remarkably simple and remarkably complex. Coming into the body of Christ is so simple that a child can welcome Christ into their hearts. That same child can spend his life in the pursuit of knowing God and will live decades and be the first to admit he does not fully understand His Creator.
Look at Colossians 1:3-23 –
- Identify Christ’s Character – (verses 15-18) – He is.
- Identify what Christ has (verses 12-14, 20-22) The work of the Father and Son. He has.
- Identify my response (verses 9-12, 23) What should be my response to Him. I must.
Day Five: What are the dangers of the counterfeits in our world? It shouldn’t surprise us people and the world attempt to counterfeit this pearl of great price. Things of value are often copied. Usually things that are copied are cheaper for a reason. It’s made cheaper, quality is not important, just the name of the product is important, not the maker. What would be the reason someone might suggest a quicker, easier path to God? Even though counterfeits might look like the same kind of thing, it is not. The three that were mentioned in the DVD are:
- Knowledge by Hearsay – We think we know God through hearsay and second hand knowledge. Counterfeit
- Textualism – we mistake an allegiance with a text as being equal to knowing God. We think if we can quote a certain author that will give the impression that we truly know God. Counterfeit.
- True Truths – truth no longer impacts our lives, it doesn’t make a difference. We are too familiar with the common truths and because of that, there is no impact. The truths have lost their impact and their power in our lives. Counterfeit.
Edward Payson – If there is one fact or doctrine or promise in the Bible which has produced no practical effect upon your temper or conduct, be assured that you do not truly believe it.
The good news is that you have access to something worth counterfeiting. Don’t know if anyone ever comes into my home and asked me: Is that an original? But I am sure plenty of people have asked me if my Christianity was the real thing. I wouldn’t suggest you go around singing the Coca-Cola song, but our lives should prompt questions in others and we should be like Peter instructed us to be: always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.