Knowing God: God With Us (Chris)

Our final lesson of 2022 is Knowing God: God With Us.

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."  [Isaiah 7:14]  The main reason we can know God is that God wants to be known.  God wants to be known so much that he sent his own beloved son into the world to preach and teach and heal and love and to show us what it is like to be in a full relationship with God.  Then, that perfect son died on a cross to redeem us and to restore us to communion with God.  This is the miracle which we celebrate at Christmas and at Easter and which we will reflect upon this week.  "Do not be afraid; for see -- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord."  [Luke 2:10-11] 

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Knowing God: A Living Hope (Randy)

The book of Hebrews tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  As humans, we all place our hopes—and therefore our faith—in something, whether we realize it or not. We don’t realize, however, that the object of our hope can define our lives in ways we don’t expect. Its only when we understand the “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3) that our hope can lead us to a life of joy.

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Knowing God: The Heart of the Gospel (Chris)

This fall, we have been exploring the theology of the Bible and how it applies to our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.  Chapter 18 of J.I. Packer's Knowing God builds a central understanding of Christianity around one complex but powerful word: propitiation.  This concept addresses the deep mysteries at the heart of our faith: justification of sin, the incarnation of God the Son, the heavenly ministry of God, and the love of God.  Put as a more simple question, "Why did Jesus have to die for us?"  There is no more important topic to consider in this season of Advent as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

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Knowing God: God's Love and God's Justice (Chris)

Last week's class focused on the uncomfortable topic of God's "judgement."  God's judgement is a reflection of God's justice, but it does not exist in isolation. God's perfect justice ("holiness") is paired with the other side of God's nature, perfect love ("grace").  "Knowing God" means understanding both of these essential parts of God.   This week, we further explore who God is by considering God's "goodness" (love) and God's "severity" (justice).  A key question to consider: how is it that aspects of God that sound scary like "wrath," "jealousy," and "judgement" actually are evidence of God's care and compassion for us?  This lesson draws on chapters 15-17 of J.I. Packer’s book, Knowing God.

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Handout

Knowing God: God the Judge (Randy)

As we continue our exploration of Knowing God, we shift from the easy topics related to God’s love to the harder ones related to his judgement.  What does it mean to say God is our Judge, and how do we feel about divine judgement?  Moderns often dismiss the idea of judgement day, but it is crucial to understand how God’s judgement is necessary for us to have meaningful and moral lives – both at an individual and societal level.  However, the idea of God’s judgement is equally repugnant to our modern sensibilities. How do we reconcile these ideas of needing God’s judgement but not being able to stand it? Fortunately, the gospel message is far more nuanced and powerful than anything we could ever imagine, and helps us make sense of God the Judge.

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Knowing God: Love, Grace, and Living Discipleship (Chris)

Last week, we explored the amazing statement from the Apostle John that "God is love."  (1 John 4:8)  This week, we will continue that discussion and add the element of God's grace.  Once we accept the full magnitude of God's love and grace expressed in Christ, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit to a new life reflecting that of Jesus.  This "Living Discipleship" enables us to reflect the same love and grace of God in our own lives.  The lesson is based loosely on chapters 12 and 13 of J.I. Packer’s book Knowing God.

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Handout

Knowing God: The Love of God (Randy)

In this lesson, we continue our exploration of the Love of God based on chapter 12 of J.I. Packer’s book Knowing God and the Scripture from 1 John 4:7-21.  The apostle John tells us that God is Love, and we know this because he sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:8-10). What is the nature of God’s love, and how does it affect how we live our lives? We discuss these questions and others in this lesson.

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Knowing God: God's Word is Truth (Chris)

In this lesson, we explore God's Word is Truth from Chapter 11 of J.I. Packer’s book Knowing God.  Our ability to know God is founded primarily on the revelation of God provided in the Bible.  Scripture provides us with Rules -- an understanding of the world God made and how to navigate it.  Scripture also provides us with the means for a Relationship with God through worship, service, prayer, and ultimately the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This session considers our Response as disciples to these Truths and how to base our lives on them.

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Handout

Knowing God: The Wisdom of God (Randy)

In this lesson, we will explore The Wisdom of God based on Chapter 10 off J.I. Packer’s book Knowing God for those who are reading along. God has perfect wisdom and knows all things, and through that wisdom, shapes our lives so we can become wiser. What does that mean and how does God do this? What can we learn from God about the our true purpose on earth and how we can make better choices? 

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Knowing God: Who is God? (Chris)

Last week, we explored how "knowing God" is the primary reason we exist.  God made us to be in a relationship with God.  This raises the question, "Who is God?"  We can't have a deep and intimate connection with someone we don't know.  In this lesson, we will explore the majesty and mystery of God in the Holy Trinity.  Understanding the Trinity is much more than obscure theology -- it is essential knowledge for our life of faith.  Knowing who God is enables us to get closer to God and to be blessed by God in all aspects of life. (Based on Chapters 4-6 of Knowing God).

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Knowing God: Known by Our Unchanging God (Randy)

In this lesson, Known by Our Unchanging God, we will explore what it means to know God and be known by God, and how we can draw comfort from the fact that the God who loves us the God of all time, the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow. The lesson draws from chapters 3 and 7 of J.I. Packer's book, Knowing God.

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Knowing God: Introduction (Chris)

We introduce a new series: Knowing God, based on a book of the same title by renowned theologian J.I. Packer.  Why is it important to study God, and what characterizes people who know God?  Most of all, how to we make our faith living and active?  Discipleship is not knowing about God, it is having a purposeful and personal relationship with God.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Living Theology -- Ripple Effects (Chris)

This Sunday, Chris will conclude our series based My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.  We will consider the way God works wonderfully in all of our lives.  Having been saved by Christ, the purpose of our time on earth is to grow closer to God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.  As we do so, God is able to use us for His purposes in ways that we never fully understand or appreciate.  The ripple effects of His Love then change the world.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Living Toward Sanctification (Chris)

This lesson is based on the October 20th passage from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers: What is the purpose of our lives?  Our Salvation has been won by Christ.  We are promised eternal life with Almighty God.  What about here and now?  Is life just a waiting room where we bide our time until paradise arrives?  Not according to Scripture and not based on the life of Jesus.  Sanctification is our purpose: growing closer to God and becoming more like Christ.  It is what we are asking for when we pray, "Thy will be done."  Sanctification is striving, active, living faith.  This lesson considers how to pursue it as true disciples.

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My Utmost for His Highest: What Do You Want? (Randy)

What do you want? We spend a lot of our time and mental energy trying to answer that question. Our wants and needs vary widely, but in the end, we typically want something for ourselves.  God offers a different answer to that question, and when we embrace his answer, he blesses us with far more than we ever thought we wanted. Join us as we wrestle with this timeless question and how our faith informs the answer.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Temptation and Deliverance (Chris)

Temptation is a constant in life.  We are lured in ways large and small away from the light and love of God and towards sin and darkness.  Even Jesus was tempted.  Oswald Chambers asks a provocative question: "Is there good in temptation?"  He also contrasts our typical, worldly temptation with the more advanced versions overcome by Christ.  This lesson explores how we should address temptation in our discipleship and how it can serve as a gauge of progress in our spiritual journeys.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Christ's Agony and Our Access (Randy)

The night before Jesus gave himself up for us, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed earnestly to God. A great spiritual battle took place as he agonized over what was to come the next day. What happened that evening, and why does his anguish give us such confidence in our access to God? In this lesson, we explore the decision Jesus made to go to the cross and why it makes all the difference in our lives.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Loving Christ (Chris)

"Jesus loves me."  This truth is the foundation of our faith from earliest childhood, but it is difficult for us to comprehend the magnitude of Christ's love.  Jesus loving us enables us to love him fully and to be connected to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in the process.  This week, we will use C.S. Lewis's "Four Loves" (affection, friendship, romance, sacrifice) to explore just how wonderful and miraculous Christ's love is, and how we can be spiritually transformed by it.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Friendship with God (Randy)

We continue our study of select passages from My Utmost for His Highest by early 20^th century Scottish evangelist Oswald Chambers. In his March 20^th entry, Chambers challenges us to recognize and delight in the true friendship we have with God through Jesus. Despite the call to invest deeply in this friendship, we often treat our relationship with God transactionally instead. What does a true friendship with God look like, and what does it mean for how we understand God’s will when we pray?

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My Utmost for His Highest: Who You Are, What to Do (Chris)

As we continue to study passages from My Utmost for His Highest, Chris will explore the passage from June 21^st, “The Ministry of the Inner Life.” Identity and activity are linked directly.  Who we believe we are drives what we do.  This program explores that connection in light of Christian Discipleship.  It further seeks to answer the question, how do we live the Abundant Life in Christ to which we are called in a world of scarcity, difficulty, and darkness?

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My Utmost for His Highest: Becoming Closer to God Through Constant Stewardship (Chris)

Our recent classes in Open Door have addressed a general theme: "How do I transform spiritually by building a stronger and more personal relationship with Jesus Christ and by getting closer to God in the process?"  This entry from My Utmost for His Highest reflects on what it means to be a "vigorous saint" -- a faithful and effective Disciple.  The key is to recognize that our lives exist wholly in relationship to God.  There is no division or distinction between things that belong to God and things that do not.  Everything rightly is God's.  In the Wesleyan tradition, "stewardship" is the word used to explain this basic truth about our lives.  We will explore this concept and its potential to help us in our personal relationship with Christ.

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My Utmost for His Highest: My Brother and Sister's Keeper (Randy)

We have focused the past few weeks on our relationship with Jesus and what results from that.  In addition to the internal transformation, which I have covered in past weeks, and the supernatural peace "that surpasses all understanding" (Philippians 4:7), which Chris covered last week, it also generates the power to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We are all on this journey together, and Christ calls us to love one another, but we cannot do that (very well) if we don’t focus on our love for Jesus first.  Oswald Chambers asks, “Are we our brother and sister’s keeper?” and, if so, what does that look like?  Where do we find the power to serve in that way?

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My Utmost for His Highest: The Gift of Peace (Chris)

Last week, we explored the truth that Discipleship is dedication to a person (Jesus Christ) and not to a cause (religion, morality, or anything else).  The result of this relationship with Christ is a supernatural peace "that surpasses all understanding" (Philippians 4:7).  This week, we are going to consider this marvelous and miraculous peace.  What is it, and how can we find it in a broken world that fights so hard to promote anxiety, doubt, and selfishness?

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My Utmost for His Highest: A Person, Not a Cause (Randy)

This week's lesson is called, "A Person, Not a Cause.”  Inspired by Oswald Chamber’s January 24^th entry and building on last week’s lesson, we will explore how our faith differs from other common worldviews. Most people feel a need to pursue a cause – some goal, some outcome, some change they want to see in the world – but they end up frustrated by their inability to achieve it.  If they are fortunate enough to succeed, they end up dissatisfied and want more anyway.  Meanwhile, Christians pursue a relationship with Jesus, not a cause (not even the Christian cause), and that makes all the difference in how we live.  Join us as we explore the difference between a life devoted to a Person rather than one focused on a cause.

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My Utmost for His Highest: One Thing Only (Randy)

Continuing our series based on My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, this week's lesson is called, "One Thing Only: Reflecting Jesus in our Lives.”  We know beauty when we see it: a beautiful piece of art, a stunning sunset, time with friends.  Yet life distracts us from paying much attention to most beautiful things, and especially from the ultimate beauty, our Lord Jesus Christ.  How can we focus on God’s glory, and how does God transforms us into his likeness when we do?

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My Utmost For His Highest: Calling, Service, Joy (Chris)

Continuing our series based on My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, this week's lesson is "Calling, Service, and Joy."  According to Chambers, each of us is CALLED by God.  The essence of that calling is living in a way that draws us closer to God's nature.  As we get closer to God, love and devotion then lead us to SERVE God and others.  Moreover, the way in which we serve ideally should reflect our nature in the form of our unique God-given abilities and attributes.  When these two forces are aligned, being called to God and serving God bring great JOY to our lives.  Joy is elusive in this world.  How do we find the Joy in Christian Discipleship?

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My Utmost For His Highest: A Faith Received (Randy)

In this lesson, we delve deeper into our new series based on one of the best-selling devotional books of all time: "My Utmost for His Highest," by British teacher Oswald Chambers.  We explore his entry from January 10^th where Cambers challenges us to think about our faith in stark terms. Have we truly received the gift of the Holy Spirit from God, or are we just going through the motions of religion? It’s a serious question that merits personal reflection, but it’s also a liberating one once we recognize what we have in Christ.  Joins us as we explore “A Faith Received.” 

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My Utmost For His Highest: Following Jesus (Chris)

For the rest of the winter and spring, we will be exploring life as a Disciple of Christ using themes selected from one of the best-selling devotional books of all time: "My Utmost for His Highest" by British teacher Oswald Chambers.
 
The initial topic will be "Following Jesus."  Building on our last series about spiritual transformation, we will explore the difference between living a life of seeking God and living a life driven by God.
 
Fully engaging with God means abandoning our pretensions of self-assurance and self-reliance.  The reward is peace and power beyond our worldly imaginings.  Below are the two readings from Chambers on which the lesson is based. 

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