INTRODUCTION
Have you ever had two men or two women come to your door, open a Bible and tell you that Jesus Christ is not God? Have their arguments convinced you, confused you--or driven you to the Scriptures to find out the truth?
In my case, after being raised a secular humanist for 20 years, I had a "peace, be still" encounter with the living God and spent the next three years learning about Him in a conservative Bible college. Years later, having "cultists" challenge what I was taught there drove me back to the Bible to see what it says about Jesus Christ.
Is Jesus God or isn't he? In this series of eight lessons we are going to examine Jesus from ten or eleven angles. We will start with Jesus the man. What is written about him in the Bible that indicates he was a human being? Was he born? Did he get hungry, tired, angry? Did he ever cry? Did he despair? Did he die?
On this foundation, we will launch out to see whether anything about him showed him to be more than a man. Did he work miracles? Did he fulfill prophecy? Did he meet the qualifications for the long-anticipated Messiah? We will look at his titles for himself, his actions, his character, the testimony of his contemporaries, both friendly and hostile.
At the pinnacle of this study we will explore whether Jesus claimed to be God. If so, is there any evidence to back such a claim?
Our salvation, our relationship and intimacy with God, our motives for sharing our faith with others, is all contingent on a confident understanding of who Jesus is. Once you are convinced of the deity of Jesus Christ, you will never have to fear the arguments of those who represent any other position.
May this study lead you not only to know who Jesus is but to fall at His feet in awe and joy, declaring with the apostle Thomas--whose doubt was dispelled forever by permission to test the evidence--"My Lord and my God!"
(To be continued January 9)
Today I am thankful for minds.
dear jessica...we have always been taught that god the father, god the son and god the holy spirit are ONE god but i never saw this so clearly one day when i was teaching my sunday school class of boys and girls aged 3 and 4 years.
ReplyDeletei was reading them the christmas story in matthew.
after i read this verse, Matthew 1:23
"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."...one little girl flew off her seat and exclaimed, "terry, that means that jesus is god and god is jesus!"
out of the mouth of a babe! there was that little lassie believing in the trinity without even knowing the word!..all that she knew is that the baby jesus was living with us and his name is god!.....never will i forget that day when the "head" knowledge i had became a HEART knowledge1..........love terry
WOW.
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