COMMUNITY GROUP/FAMILY AND DAILY STUDIES BASED UPON OUR PREACHING SERIES AT COMMUNITY CHURCH PUTNEY)
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COMMUNITY GROUP/FAMILY STUDY NOTES
It’s impossible for nothing to create
something! In order for you, me and the universe to have come into existence
there must have been something or someone to make it – something or someone
that is eternal; This idea, the Cosmological Argument, is an evidence
for the existence of God.
Like a line of dominoes stretching back to the
beginning of time, each domino needing a proceeding one to knock it over, so
with creation; there must have been the initial ‘push’ to get things going. A
child may ask “but who made God?” The God of creation is Self-Existent, sometimes
called the doctrine of Independence or Aseity.
WHAT IS ASEITY?
‘God's independence/Aseity is defined as follows: God does not need us or
the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify
him and bring him joy.’ (Wayne Grudem)
Ø What does Revelation 1:8 say about how long God has been around?
Ø In Exodus 3:14 what does God reveal His name to be and discuss what
this might mean.
God’s name reveals many things including that
‘He is’ – He is eternally self-existent. All of us must say “I came to be” only
God can say “I AM”.
Ø Everything you know of is dependent on other things. Discuss the kinds
of things that you need everyday to keep you alive.
God is independent and self-existent - He needs nothing outside of
Himself for His existence or happiness. Read Acts 17:23-28 and discuss,
Ø What did
God make? (17.24)
Ø What does
He need? (17.25)
Ø What does
He give to everyone? (17.25)
Ø What does
God want mankind to do? (17.27)
Ø How does
he describe our dependence upon God (17. 28)
LET’S RESPOND TO WHO GOD IS
Let God’s Aseity give us great depth of joy when we think of God’s grace
to us. God, who doesn’t need anything, chose to create us, chose to save us by
giving His only Son. He chose to suffer for us compelled by nothing except His unsearchable,
immeasurable love!
GOING DEEPER PERSONAL DAILY STUDIES
Monday: God is the first cause of everything
Begin
by meditating (reading slowly, repeatedly, with feeling) on this text:
Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth.
What does this assume
about God’s existence and how creation came into existence?
Everything has a
cause. Creation must have started with something or someone and that someone is
God Almighty.
Tuesday: God speaks of His existence through
creation
Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the
glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they
pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no
speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes
out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Romans 1:19-20 since what
may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
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.
God’s
existence is being clearly communicated through creation. In fact the text of
Romans tells us that we have ‘no excuse’
for not believing in God. Today, as you go about your day, take time to notice,
admire and praise God for His creation.
Wednesday: Why do so many reject God?
Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and
served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever
praised. Amen.
Ephesians 2:1-5 As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the
ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived
among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving
of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by
grace you have been saved.
If the existence of God is plain to everyone,
why do the majority of people not believe or define God in the same way that
Christians do? Our sinful Human condition means that mankind has a
sinfully inclined heart; by nature we turn away from God. Our hearts depose God
of His rightful place as king in our lives. Thankfully, God in His mercy and
power can change the heart of anyone. Take a moment to thank God for mercy on
you and pray for those God has put in your life.
Thursday: God was always happy and so our creation
is a joy-inspiring mystery
Psalm 139:13-17 You
created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I
praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was
made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of
the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me
were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are
your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
God has always existed
as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has always had perfect loving community
within Himself. For eternity God has been perfectly satisfied and joyful. This
means that your creation is by His utter grace. Let this truth fill you will the
worth that God puts onto you.
Friday: God did not need to but chose to save
you
Imagine the perfect
family. They are supremely content in their love for each other and yet they
decide to adopt an unlovely and difficult child. This act of grace shows how
much they love the adopted child. They are not doing it because the child is
loveable or because they are hoping to improve their life in some way. Rather,
they chose the child by grace completely for the benefit of the child.
This is similar to a
Christians’ salvation and adoption. The eternally joyful God who needs nothing
still chose to save and adopt you and me by His own grace alone.
Ephesians 1:5-7 He
predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus
Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his
glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
Saturday: Make a fresh commitment of devotion
GOD IS! God’s
self-existence (Aseity) means that He does not need anything outside of Himself
for existence or happiness.
He has
created a universe and mankind within it not because He was compelled to, but
because He wanted to. The great news is that He made us in order to enjoy Him
and enjoy life with Him at the centre. God reveals Himself in creation and His
word; but ultimately this eternal, incomparable, “I am who I am” God has come
to us in Christ so that we can know Him ever more deeply from now and through
eternity. Let’s make a fresh commitment to trust and worship our amazing God.
All of us
are growing in our character and life (sanctification). All of us still do, in
some measure, what Romans 1:25 says,
They
exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created
things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.
Use
this text, if you find that helpful, to make a fresh commitment of devotion to
‘the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.’
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