Talking Points:

• God never asks us to go against our reason to understand him. In fact, a God who is not greater than our finite minds can grasp is not worthy of being identified or worshipped as God.
• Humans are prone to create gods in our own image. Instead of projecting our own perceptions, we know who God is because he has communicated his nature to us in clear, written form in the Bible. Romans 1:20
• It is worth studying the attributes of God not only to gain more knowledge about him, but to worship him more fittingly and to know him more deeply. John 4:24

Talking Points:

• God is the only uncreated being in the universe. He is not dependent on anything or anyone else for his existence. That is what makes him God. Genesis 1:1
• God’s name is “I am who I am.” The shorter version is simply “I am.” This points to the fact that God always was and always will be. God continually lives in the present tense. He is not limited by time. He never began and he will never end. Exodus 3:13-14
• Nothing can contain God because he is infinite. God’s only “limitation” is the perfection of his own nature, so God cannot ever be evil.
• God is infinite with respect to knowledge. His knowledge, wisdom, and perception have no limits. He knows everything factually and abstractly, but he also knows by his own experience of his creation. Psalm 147:4-5
• Because he is all-powerful, God is in charge. God is powerful enough to rule the universe.

Talking Points:

• Love is the sacrificial and self-giving expression that seeks the highest good for another. God’s love is perfect, as demonstrated in many ways, but ultimately by the cross. 1 John 4:10
• God’s grace is his unlimited favor toward us even though we do not deserve his care or blessing. God never ceases to be a God of grace. 1 Peter 5:10
• While God’s grace gives us what we do not deserve, God’s mercy withholds from us what we rightly deserve. In his mercy for our need, God is slow to exercise his righteous anger against us. Psalm 103:8
• All of God’s attributes are in perfect harmony with one another. There is no contradiction or conflict within his nature. Revelation 4:8
• God’s justice simply means fairness. God is perfectly fair. He will always do the right thing with respect to us. Romans 3:26
• When people persist in sin and refuse to repent, God eventually reveals his wrath against that sin and rebellion. God’s wrath is perfectly consistent with his love because true love always moves to protect against evil. John 3:16
• We can understand more about these attributes of God by looking at their human counterparts – keeping in mind that while human love, justice, mercy, and wrath are imperfect and incomplete, these qualities, when found in God, are perfect in every way.

Talking Points:

• From scripture we learn that humanity has a unique and special status in God’s creation because we were made in the image of God. Psalm 8:3-5
• Human beings mirror certain aspects of God. Like God, we have the capacity for love and compassion. We have a moral nature and can become more holy. We have a spiritual nature and can have a relationship with God. Genesis 1:26
• If every human being is created in God’s image, then it follows that every man, woman and child has inherent dignity and is worthy of respect and care. Every human life is sacred because it bears the stamp of God’s image. Genesis 9:5-6

Talking Points:

• God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of a particular tree and warned them that their disobedience in this matter would lead to death. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s word. Genesis 2:16-17
• We are born sinners, so it is inevitable that we will sin. Because of our sinful nature, our natural inclination is to move away from God. Ephesians 2:1, Isaiah 53:6
• We do not have the capacity to save ourselves. No one can be saved without God taking the initiative toward us. Ephesians 2:8-9

Talking Points:

• At the heart of Christianity is the identity of Jesus. The Christian faith ultimate revolves around him and the claims he made. Jesus is alive today. As both fully human and fully divine, he can be everything we need for our salvation. Hebrews 2:17
• Jesus is not only fully human but also fully God. He was more than a great moral teacher or paragon of virtue. He is God in human flesh. John 1:1-2, John 8:58-59
• The fact that Jesus is God matters for our salvation. The Savior had to be divine in order to make a sacrifice perfect enough and infinite enough to pay for the sins of the world. Jesus had no sin of his own to pay for, so he could pay for ours. 2 Corinthians 5:21
• The greatest sign of Jesus’ divine lordship is that he rose from the dead. This separates him from every other religious leader in history. Jesus did not stay dead. God raised him to life and he lives today. Romans 8:10-11

Talking Points:

• Christianity is uniquely a religion of redemption, rooted in idea that people need to be saved, and only God can do that for us. 1 Peter 2:24
• Much of the Old Testament is devoted to the sacrificial system – with its temple, priests, and offerings – instituted through the Jewish law. The gruesome animal sacrifices required to cover sin taught how serious sin really is. 
• Jesus was the one to whom the Passover and the whole sacrificial system had been anticipating. Jesus took on the wrath of God for us – as our substitute – on the cross. Isaiah 53:6

Talking Points:

• Jesus took on the sins of the world. He absorbed the righteous wrath of God. God punished Jesus for those sins, as a substitute for those who will come to him. Galatians 6:14
• Despite the gravity of what happened on the cross, we celebrate what Jesus did there because that’s where our sin was dealt with once and for all. Psalm 103:12
• What Jesus accomplished there is the greatest transaction that has ever occurred. The value of the cross bestows incredible value and worth upon us. 1 Peter 1:18-19

Talking Points:

• All three person of the Trinity are important and are always working in unison with one another. But in the Old Testament, God the Father is mainly manifested, although the Son and the Spirit are not absent. In the Gospels, God the Son is central. Then, when Jesus ascended to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit. John 16:7
• The Holy Spirit is not an “it”. He is not an impersonal force. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Bible portrays the Holy Spirit with qualities of personhood like emotions, intellect, and will. Romans 8:26, 1 Corinthians 2:10-14, 1 Corinthians 12:11
• The Bible talks about the Holy Spirit in terms of the attributes of deity: he is all-powerful, omnipresent, and all-knowing. Hebrews 9:14, Psalm 139:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10-11

Talking Points:

• In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon certain people occasionally with power and ability to accomplish God’s work. This was temporary and external. But prophets foretold that one day the Holy Spirit would be inside all of God’s people, working in them from within. 1 Samuel 10:10, Joel 2:28-29, Ezekiel 36:26-27.
• After Jesus left, the Holy Spirit was poured out in a powerful way. This was the beginning of the Holy Spirit’s new work to empower his people. The Holy Spirit now mediates the personal presence and power of Jesus in our lives. Acts 2:1-6
• Regeneration means to be born again into life new life. The Holy Spirit brings us out of our natural condition of being spiritually dead. He turns us into new creatures. Without the Holy Spirit, no one could ever be saved. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Talking Points:

• It’s important to consider what happens when this life is over because this life only lasts an instant compared to eternity. The Bible confirms what experience suggests: that human beings continue to exist after death. Hebrews 9:27
• One day he is coming back to this world. Part of his purpose is to judge humanity. He will gather everyone around him and evaluate our lives. Matthew 25:46
• Heaven is as indescribable as hell. But one way to envision it is to remember that the original creation God made, which has become fallen, will be restored to its perfection. Everything God meant for the world and for humanity will be fulfilled. Revelation 21:1-5