Go to the source! Discover what the Bible says about …
These pages are designed to aid study or investigation for Christian discipleship through individual Bible study, Cell groups, Home groups, or meeting one to one. The questions could be used alone allowing each person to use their own Bible.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Cor 5:17
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Know God - Ephesians 1
Introduction
Our lives are tied up with God. His people are His inheritance! We are born with this in our hearts such that - He is the intended end to all we seek; He is the fulfilment of all our hearts’ desires. We are so used to supplanting Him with substitutes here on earth that we struggle to comprehend this. We need spiritual wisdom, understanding and insight in order to gain the perspective on life that will encourage us towards the life goal intended for us - Knowing God.
Bible Zone
- Understand who God is - God is the beginning and end of all our existence.
- God - source of all - Understanding God is a great challenge for our time.
- God develops - God does not leave us to it, but intervenes to show Himself to us.
- Knowledge of God - As we get to know God, we see His heart and become like Him.
- God’s inheritance - The fulfilment of life is in heaven.
Jesus appeals to people to enter into life with Him and receive all that which will enable us to know the Father. Jesus calls these people His holy people, those set apart for Him, those who are His inheritance.
- What is prayed for in order that Knowledge of God can be gained?
- How do you go about getting to know a friend or colleague?
- What kind of wisdom and insight do you need to know God?
- What do people you know commonly hope for?
- What does it mean that the fulfilment of our being God’s inheritance is hope?
- Why do our hearts need to be flooded with light to understand this?
Ephesians 1:17-18 I pray for you constantly,17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
God himself is a great paradox. He wants us to know Him, and yet this process will take to eternity with Him. And yet, this is the great adventure of life, to live with Him exploring who He is.
- How is God’s relationship with His creation described?
- What is our place before God?
- What implications are there for life in this passage?
Romans 11v33-36 33 Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
34 For who can know the LORD's thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?*
35 And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?
36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen
Explore God - source of all (God of mystery - opens in separate tab)
The Lord does not leave us in ignorance about Himself, He reveals Himself in diverse ways. Sometimes in bold ways, like in the passage below, but more often in subtle ways that we need to discern and understand.
- What happened in this account of Jesus’ intervention of Saul’s life?
- What change in life came about as a result of Jesus’ intervention?
- What was it that Jesus revealed about Himself?
- How has Jesus revealed Himself to you?
Acts 26v9-18 "I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.*10 Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers* there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.11 Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus.* I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.
12 "One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests.13 About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.14 We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,* 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will.*'
15 "'Who are you, lord?' I asked.
"And the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.16 Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future.17 And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles18 to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people, who are set apart by faith in me.'
Explore God develops (God develops - opens in separate tab)
Those who learn to appreciate God for who he is, tend to become like Him. Those who love Him desire to be more like Him. As we get to know Him through seeing the way He treats both us and those around us, we begin to see His rich heart and generosity towards all.
- How does God treat His children?
- How does He want us to treat them?
- How does getting to know God for who He is help in this process?
Matthew 5:43-48 43 "You have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor'* and hate your enemy.44 But I say, love your enemies!* Pray for those who persecute you!45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.47 If you are kind only to your friends,* how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Explore Knowledge of God (Father’s heart - opens in separate tab)
One day our place as God’s inheritance will be fulfilled. At that time the way we live will reach its fulfilment, for then there will be no distractions from the Father as there are now.
- How is the meeting of God and His people in heaven described?
- How will God treat His people?
- What will it be like to be God’s inheritance?
Revelation 21:1-5 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.*4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever."
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making everything new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true."
Explore God’s Inheritance (Heaven - opens in separate tab)