This is lesson twelve in a 12 lesson discipleship training for new Christians. This material goes over the essentials of the Christian faith including Jesus, the Bible, God’s Word, God, assurances, and what God expects of believers after they come to Christ. This study can be used to teach new believers, to brush up on your Bible basics, or to study on your own. The end of each lesson contains a list of questions and Bible references for further study on the topic of that lesson as well as a suggested memory verse. For more lessons in the series, see the links at the bottom of this page. All lessons can be printed, shared, copied, or distributed.
Christian Course for Beginners – Lesson Six- God’s Character and Attributes
Lesson 6: God
(1) Review Jesus Christ
(2) Check John 14:6
(3) Read “God”
(4) Assign self-study questions
Introduction
In the world today there are many so-called gods and there are many opinions of what God is like. Many of these “gods” are very much like the people that came up with them. Many are simply statues or idols made by human hands (Isaiah 44:9-20). Other people ignore the clear signs of God in this world, denying His existence and turning their own way into futile speculations (Romans 1:18-32, Psalms 14:1, Psalms 19:1-6).
But the Bible claims to be the revelation of the one true God (Isaiah 43:10-11). Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God.” He is the cause of everything else. There was never a time when God did not exist. He is the designer of everything (Colossians 1:16). The world clearly shows God’s perfect design, not random chance. God designed the world and He continues to be involved with His creation bringing His plan to completion.
Discussing God is a very big topic. He is infinite and we can never understand everything about Him. However, we will look at some of the names God used for Himself in order to better understand His character and also what kind of a response we should have to Him. Psalms 9:10 says, “And those who know your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.” God is knowable and He wants us to know Him and put our trust in Him.
I AM WHO I AM
“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM’ has sent me to you.” Exodus 3:14
This tells us most importantly that God exists. He is self-existent. Many people acknowledge God exists, but many of those same people live as if He doesn’t. Since God does exist that means we are responsible to Him for the things that we do and must live our life knowing that He is watching us.
This also tells us that God’s personality and power are not dependant on anything outside of Himself. We are shaped by our culture, family, environment, etc, but nothing shapes God. Neither does God change. He is already perfect and can’t improve. God is the solid foundation for believer’s lives because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
God is who He is who is. He is not bound to our standards. He does not have to defend Himself to us. We should not try to make God do what we want or be like what we want, but must accept who He is, His plans, and His
standards. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways’, declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’
Finally, we can rejoice because the great, infinite God has drawn near to us sinful humans in Jesus Christ (John 8:58-59). We can be friends with Him and approach Him freely through Christ. What a privilege!
God Almighty
“God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.” Exodus 6:2-3
God is Almighty. Nobody can stop God’s will (Job 42:2, Proverbs 19:21). Daniel 4:35 says, “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘what have You done?’” God is so powerful that He even uses Satan and sinners to accomplish His plans. Jesus’ death is a great example. His enemies were rejoicing that they killed Him, but this was part of God’s plan for saving us! God’s power is superior to all others.
Because He is Almighty He also does what He pleases. Isaiah 46:10, 11b says, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.” This is good for us because God has good plans and is a loving God (Jeremiah 29:11).
How should we respond to God’s sovereign might? We should have a healthy respect for Him (Deuteronomy 10:20-21). We should not try to bring Him down to our level. We must obey Him. He is the Master of the universe. We can either submit to Him now in our life or be forced to bow the knee after we die (Philippians 2:10-11). Finally we should trust in Him (Psalms 56:4, 91:2). Everyone trusts in something, perhaps money, friends, or even themselves. But there is only One who is worthy of our trust. We should place our faith in God Almighty, who never changes and will always do what is best for us.
The Alpha and Omega
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:13
“Alpha” and “Omega” are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. It is like saying the “A” and the “Z”. It means that He is the beginning of everything and the source of all life. Every breath we breathe is a gift from God and provided by Him. We owe our very existence to Him.
For those who have been saved through Christ, He is also the source of our spiritual life. We were depraved and dead in our sins, but He reached out and brought us to Himself (Ephesians 2:1).
God is also the end. He created the world, but after that He didn’t just leave it to itself. He is still involved in the world and leading it towards a definite conclusion. Also, He is the judge and will have the last say in our lives. We are responsible to Him for what we do and will face His judgment (Hebrews 9:27, 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Since we owe our lives, both physical and spiritual to God, we must always be thankful to Him and also serve Him. Since He is the end we must trust Him with our future and live for Him with the time that we have now.
Questions for Self Study
1. How should God’s holiness motivate us? 1 Peter 1:16
2. What does it mean to you that God is the “first and the last”? Isaiah 44:6
3. What does Psalms 139:1-6 tell us about the extent of God’s knowledge?
4. What does Psalms 139:7-12 tell us about where God is?
5. Does God ever change? In your opinion why not? Malachi 3:6
6. How great is God’s power? Jeremiah 32:17
7. How can you know that God loves you? John 3:16, Romans 5:8
8. What should our response be to God’s truth? Psalms 31:5, Titus 1:2
9. How does Ephesians 2:4-5 describe God’s mercy? How does He show His mercy to us?
10. How does Psalms 119:137 describe God?
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