The document discusses the nature and characteristics of God. It states that God is eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, and the creator of the universe. The document also explores how people can experience God through feelings of awe, love, and a sense of the divine. It emphasizes that the most important thing is to know God directly rather than just know about God.

1. Some thoughts that were introduced last week: We have two natures: spirit and matter, soul and body Body- mortal; soul – eternal We are made in the image and likeness of God We need to find our true selves. God made us and God made us for a purpose and God has revealed that purpose. The journey has begun.

2. God Do you need proof of God? Does one light a torch to see the sun? Lao Tze 6 th Century BCE Chinese Philosopher

4. GOD – A DEFINITION The supreme being who is to be worshipped and served and who, in the monotheistic tradition, is acknowledged as unique: the personal, eternal, immutable, all-knowing and all-powerful creator. A Concise Dictionary of Theology

5. What are some of God's characteristics? God is a personal being (not an impersonal force). God is immaterial, omnipresent (everywhere), omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), omnibenevolent (all good), immutable (unchanging), sovereign (supreme in authority), free, perfect, and eternal (without beginning or end). As the creator and sustainer of the universe it is understandable that there are some characteristics of God that are beyond our ability to comprehend. For instance God is one divine being in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each are equally and eternally the one true God.

6. “I AM WHO I AM” The name is mysterious and tells us that God is a mystery. It is at once a name yet not a name hence it better expresses God as what God is – infinitely beyond everything that we can understand or say.

7. “I AM WHO I AM” God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from him: but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is.

8. The best way to know God Is through numinous experiences: a sense of the presence of God. These are moments when we are sure in our innermost being that there is something beyond ourselves which fills us with awe and wonder, something which might makes our tears flow, an overwhelming sense of mystery, something which humbles us with an incomparable, totally unexpected feeling of being unconditionally loved and accepted.

9. Describing the experience The poet James Russell Lowell wrote of such a moment: “I remember the night, and almost the very spot on the hilltop, where my soul opened out, as it were, into the Infinite, and there was a rushing together of the two worlds, the inner and the outer. I could not any more have doubted that He was there than that I was. I felt myself to be, if possible, the less real of the two.”

10. Have we experienced God in our lives? Written reflection.

11. The Implications of Faith in One God It means coming to know God’s greatness and majesty It means living in thanksgiving It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all human beings It means making good use of created things.

12. GOD IS TRUTH God is TRUTH itself, whose words cannot deceive. This is why one can abandon oneself in full trust to the truth and faithfulness of God’s word in all things. God is truthful when God reveals himself.

13. GOD IS LOVE God is love. God’s very being is love. God created us out of love. God’s single motive is love. We are called to be like God in loving God and our fellow human beings.

14. God’s perfect plan… To fulfil God’s perfect plan God made man. To restore God’s perfect plan God became man.

15. In order to restore what we had lost … “ For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 “ I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” John 14:6

16. The “danger”…. We are in danger of telling you a whole lot of what we think you need to know about God when in actuality all you need is to know God .

17. “ Because I believe in God, I believe in prayer. It is the surest means of becoming conscious of His presence; that is the real meaning of prayer, its strength and its reward.” Mahatma Ghandi.

18. Our prayer… My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, May my mind know you, My will serve you, And my heart love you. Amen