Lesson 2: We Believe in One God

Day One

There is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). He is perfect, eternal, and holy. He was alive before anything existed, and He will live forever. He created the world and everything in it. He created us, and we belong to him. God is endlessly good.

Throughout history God has been called by many different names. The God we worship and adore is the God who created heaven and earth. He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. The ancient Hebrew people worshipped God, and the Bible gives the record of their encounter with Him. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is beyond our description and our understanding. Therefore, many names have been given to God in the Hebrew Bible, each name suggesting something slightly different about God's personality. One such name is "God," given in Genesis 1:1. This name suggests that He is the one who is to be worshipped.

Another name given to Him is " Lord" in Genesis 2. The word "Lord" is an old English word that means "leader," "commander," or "boss." When we use the word "Lord" to refer to God, we suggest that He is to be obeyed.

There are other names given in the Hebrew Bible for God. Look up these verses and write down the name for God that you find there.

Genesis 17:1  Daniel 7:9  Job 19:25  Psalm 18:13  Deuteronomy 32:4  Matthew 5:16

Tell what each of these names suggests about God's nature.

Together these verses in the Bible tell us that God is the greatest and most powerful Person there could ever be. No one can be greater than God. All living things take their life from God. He made all the stars, planets, galaxies, and all of the universes there may be. He made all people and all nations, and continues to create and to guide history. Nothing is beyond God's control. Christian thinkers have given us some other words to describe God. They say that God is all-powerful (omnipotent) this means that God can do all things. They also say that God is all-knowing (omniscient), meaning that God knows all things. They say that God is all-present (omnipresent), which means that God is invisible, yet is everywhere at the same time. God has made human beings for Himself, and loves us very much. We human beings are incomplete unless we love and obey the God who created us.

A Russian Icon of the Trinity

Day Two: Trinity

God the Father

The Bible tells us in the Book of Genesis that God the Father created the heaven, the earth, and all things in them. God created all things that we can see and all things we cannot see. God also created human beings in His own image. This does not mean that God has a physical body, but that God has intelligence, will, purpose, personality, and the ability to know right from wrong. God is neither male nor female. (Traditionally masculine pronouns are used to refer to God, and your confirmation material will follow that convention to avoid awkwardness. However, you should know that God has no physical body and is of neither sex.) Humans are special to God, and he wants to be their friend. He wants what is best for each person, yet we humans have a tendency to want to go our own way and live our lives apart from God.

God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments to help them live as God's friends. Turn in your Bible to Exodus chapter 20 to see what they are. They are also very helpful to us today as we learn to be God's friends in confirmation class.

The first commandment tells us that we should worship God alone. He was reminding the Israelites that He is the only God. Perhaps we do not worship pagan statues the way some of them did, but this commandment is still very important for us.

This first commandment and also the second one remind us that mere things should never become as important to us as God is. Take a moment and see if you can remember a time in your own life when some other things may have become more important than God for you. Print out this page, write your answer here, and bring it to class with you on Sunday.

Can you think of some things that have become more important than God for our country as a whole? Write those things in your notebook and we will talk about them in class on Sunday.

The next commandment reminds us that God's name is to be regarded as extremely holy. This word means that God is very different from us, and that there is no evil or sin in Him. He is unbelievably special. God's name was so holy that our Hebrew ancestors would not even say it out loud, for fear they would misuse it. Today we will say God's name, but must remember to say it carefully and reverently. It should never be used as a simple interjection or a swear word, nor should it be spoken thoughtlessly.

In ancient times to "take the name"of a god meant to devote your life to him. This warning against "taking the name of God in vain" also means that if you go through confirmation and decide to become a Christian, you must be very serious about living as a Christian. In other words, don't claim to be a Christian if you're not going to live like one.

The commandment to honor the Sabbath Day (Saturday, the seventh day of the week) was taken very literally by our Hebrew ancestors. The Christian Church chose to honor Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week. In Romans 14 Paul says that some early Christians kept the Sabbath on Sunday, and others did not. Perhaps the point here is that we should all reserve some time for rest and reflection at some regular time during the week. Do you keep a Sabbath Day? Come prepared to talk to your classmates about this on Sunday.

"Honor your father and mother"� of course means that you should obey your parents. They love you and will never knowingly hurt you. This commandment, since it was given to adults, is also a reminder that we are to provide for our aged parents after we become adults. When they are old and infirm we children should provide the best care possible for them.

The next commandment prohibits us from ever committing murder. It is never right for any of us to commit murder against any other human being.

The commandment against adultery means that God wants us to be faithful to Him, and faithful in our human relationships too. Jesus expands on this commandment to teach us that we must never have sexual relationships with anyone to whom we are not married. Sexual relations before marriage and outside of marriage are both prohibited for the Christian.

The Bible tells us next that we are never to steal. We must never take what is not ours and claim it as our own. The passage continues by telling us that we must never give false testimony in court against anyone. It is easy to see that there are many other situations in which persons may be harmed when we do not tell the truth. Finally the commandments tell us that we are not to covet. When we want something else that belongs to someone else so badly that we obsess about it, then we inflict misery upon ourselves. It's better simply to go get another one like the neighbor's.

These are the Ten Commandments given to us by God the Father. He did not give them so that we would be miserable, but so that we would be happy. They help us to live a life that is balanced - loving God and neighbor. Indeed, Jesus taught that all of the commandments can be combined into two simple ones. You should love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and you should love your neighbor as yourself.

It is easy to see why the ancient Hebrews called God "Father." In many ways God is very much like a loving Father. In fact, one word used in Romans 8 is the word "Abba." This Aramaic word for "father" is actually their word for "daddy,"� or "papa."  Think for a moment: Is there any difference between the word "father" and the word "daddy?"Jot down what you think and share it with the class on Sunday.

Day Three: God the Son

God the Son is the second person of the Holy Trinity. The Son has always been God, but he became a human being in the man Jesus of Nazareth. The Son is different from the Father, but is every bit as much God as is the Father. In the Apostles' Creed we say that Jesus Christ is God the Fathers "only son." This does not mean that other people like you and me cannot become sons and daughters of God too. The Gospel of John tells us in chapter one that we can. It does mean that Jesus is the Father's unique Son. He is not created like us, but has always lived with God the Father. He is God's eternal Son.

We learn about the earthly life of Jesus Christ, God's Son, in the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  We read there that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and became a human being. You remember the events surrounding Jesus'birth in the Christmas story in Luke 2. Go get your Bible and re-read the Christmas story now.

Luke chapter 3 tells us that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist then began his ministry of teaching and healing. Many people became convinced that he was God's Messiah. However, Jesus was not the sort of Messiah that many people expected. The climax of Jesus' earthly ministry occurred when he died on the cross to save the world from sin, and rose from the dead on the first Easter morning. He commanded his disciples to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every nation and ethnic group. Christ formed the Church, the new people of God, to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into brothers and sisters - all children of God, regardless of gender, class, race, or nationality.

The Church is God's new humanity, and all believers are one in Christ. Christians believers are citizens of the Kingdom of God living here on earth. As such, they are closely related with their brother and sister Christians who have already died and gone to live with God in heaven. After his crucifixion Jesus' disciples saw him alive again. God raised him from the dead. Read Luke's account of the resurrection in chapter 24:1-49.

Acts chapter one tells us that Jesus ascended to the God the Father, and was seated at God's right hand. In a real sense, then, Jesus Christ is God the Father's "right hand man." From this exalted place Jesus will return one day to judge the world and to reward his people. One way to think about Christ now is shown in the way Paul refers to the church as "the body of Christ." It is as though Jesus Christ, the head of the church, is in heaven, but the church is the body of Christ on earth. Now you know why the name of this whole confirmation study material is called "My Confirmation into the Body of Christ." Just as a human body has many different parts with many different functions, so Christian believers, as members of the Body of Christ, also have many different functions. Take time to find your Bible and read 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

The Christian's exalted position as part of the Body of Christ also carries with it a responsibility. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 6 that there is a strange and mystical joining that takes place whenever sexual union occurs, "as it is written, two shall become one flesh." As Christians we must be careful to keep ourselves sexually pure, or otherwise we defile (to soil, or to make dirty) the Body of Christ. We must also be careful to avoid taking any drug or other corrupting substance into our body, or we take it into Christ's body as well. Paul summarizes in 1 Corinthians 6:19: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have from God? You are not your own; you have been bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

Some thought questions:

1.    What do you think the angels meant when they said that Jesus will come back just as the disciples saw him rise into heaven?

2.    How can we be ready for Christ's return?

3.    Do you think Christ's return will be soon, or thousands of years from now? Why?

Day Four: God the Holy Spirit

Even after Jesus ascended into heaven, the early Christians still felt the presence of Christ. How could Jesus be with them if he had ascended into heaven? - They still felt God's presence and power with them. How could God be present if He were in heaven? They reasoned that it must be possible for God to be invisibly present with us all the time. The Hebrew Bible had spoken of God's Holy Spirit empowering the prophets and judges of the Old Testament. Christians found that shortly after Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples could work miracles similar to those Jesus had performed. When the disciples were all gathered together on the Day of Pentecost, fire came down from heaven and gave them power to communicate the gospel to people whose languages they did not know.

Stop here and read Acts chapter 2, Luke's account of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The word "pentecost" means "fifty," for it was fifty days after Jesus' resurrection that the Holy Spirit came to the disciples in this special way.

The Holy Spirit is God with us. He is not the Father, nor is He the Son, but He is just as much God as they are. The Holy Spirit has always lived with the Father and the Son, and is eternal.

God's Holy Spirit was sent into the world to carry on the mission of Jesus Christ and to remind us of all that Jesus taught his disciples.

When we feel especially close to God, it is God's Holy Spirit that makes us aware of God's presence. John 14 tells us that if we are Christians, then the Holy Spirit actually comes to live in us. The Holy Spirit changes us and helps us to become more loving. Simon Peter was a rough fisherman, but God's Holy Spirit changed him so that he could be the leader of the new Church. We have already seen how Paul was changed from a persecutor of the church to a worshipper of God through Jesus Christ.

It used to be common to refer to the Third Person of the Trinity as "The Holy Ghost." For some people the word "ghost" brings to mind the idea of dead people coming to earth again. To avoid this misunderstanding most writers now refer to the "Holy Spirit," but you now know that the "Holy Ghost" and the "Holy Spirit" are the same person.

A thought question: How is God's Holy Spirit changing you?

Read John 14:26, Romans 5:5, and 1 Corinthians 2:6-14 then write in your notebook some ways to describe the Holy Spirit.

Day Five

God loves you very much. You can never do anything to turn off His love. Sometimes if we do wrong we make the Holy Spirit very sad, but still he loves us and wants us to return to Him.  We call this love and forgiveness grace. John Wesley the, founder of Methodism, often talked about prevenient grace. This means that God comes to us before we ever decide to come to Him. At the end of your confirmation classes, you will be given the chance to say "yes" to God and to live for Him. The Holy Spirit is already preparing you to make this decision.

The Holy Spirit helps us to avoid sin in our lives. He enables us to overcome temptations. Take a moment and think of some of the things you are tempted to do. Can you recall times when it seemed as though God was helping you to do good and not to do wrong? This was the Holy Spirit at work. The Holy Spirit is God's presence with you helping you to be the best you can be.

The Bible calls the Holy Spirit The Comforter in John 14. When we are very sad, God comes to us and helps us to be happy again. No matter how sad we may become, we can always know that the sadness will pass. Christians do not need drugs or alcohol to deaden the pain of life. God's Holy Spirit empowers us and supports us even in the worst situations.

In I Corinthians 12 the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit provides us with spiritual gifts. When one becomes a Christian he or she receives a special ability to be used to help other people and the church. Some believers are especially good teachers or preachers. Others can make music. Some have been gifted with the ability to provide financial support for the church. There are many different kinds of gifts for the building up of Christ's people. Have you ever thought about what special ability you might have to be used in God's service?

Something To Do:

Look over the material you have studied this week and write down in your notebook five questions to which you know the answers. Call the other members of the class and see what questions they wrote down. You will have the chance to ask your five questions of one of your classmates this Sunday.

Now go tell your parents what you learned about the One God who shows up as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.