This document discusses how people learn about God from different sources. In three sentences: Creation reveals that God is kind, powerful, eternal and wise. Our consciences tell us we do wrong and deserve punishment. However, only the Bible can reveal how to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, so the revealed knowledge of God in Scripture is most important for Christians.

1. HOW DO WE LEARN ABOUT
GOD?
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012

2. Have you ever…
How do you know about the South
Pole/Abraham Lincoln/Rattle

3. How about God?
If we’ve never seen or met God, how
do we learn about him? (Think of

4. Back to Creation!

In three groups, take a look at:
 Acts
14:17
 Romans 1:20
 Psalm 104:24

5. What does Acts14:17 say about
God?
“Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has
shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and
crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of
food and fills your hearts with joy.”

6. “He has shown kindness by
giving…”
What do gifts tell you about a
person?

7. What Does Creation Say About
God?
WORKSHEET:
 Acts 14:17 –
Creation says God is kind.

8. What does Ro.1:20 say about
God?
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—
have been clearly seen, being understood from what
has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

9. “His eternal power… has been clearly
seen”
Think of the power of a dam…
Think of the endlessness of a

10. What Does Creation Say About
God?
WORKSHEET:
 Acts 14:17 –
Creation says God is kind.

Romans 1:20 –
Creation says God is powerful and eternal.

11. What does Ps.104:24 say about
God?
How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

12. “In Wisdom you made them all…”
What does an engine it tell you about its
inventor?
What does creation tell us about God?

13. What Does Creation Say About
God?
WORKSHEET:
 Acts 14:17 –
Creation says God is kind.


Romans 1:20 –
Creation says God is powerful and eternal.
Psalm 104:24 –
Creation says God is wise.

14. WORKSHEET:
How do we learn about God?
creatio
n
kind,eternal
,
powerful,wi
se

15. But Creation Isn’t the Only Way…
How else do we learn about God?
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by
nature things required by the law, they are a law for
themselves, even though they do not have the
law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the
law are written on their hearts, their consciences also
bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing,
now even defending them.
Romans 2:14-15

16. “Their Consciences also bearing
witness…”
What do the screens in a cockpit tell the
pilot?
What does our conscience tell us?

17. How else do we learn about
God?
WORKSHEET:
 Romans 2:14-15 –
Our consciences tell us we do wrong.

18. But Creation Isn’t the Only Way…
How else do we learn about God?
Although (Gentiles) know God’s righteous decree that
those who do such things deserve death, they not only
continue to do these very things but also approve of
those who practice them.
Romans 1:32

19. “Those who do (bad) things deserve
death…”
Say you get caught slugging a friend…

20. How else do we learn about
God?
WORKSHEET:
 Romans 2:14-15 –
Our consciences tell us we do wrong

Romans 1:32 –
Our consciences tell us we deserve
punishment from someone for this wrong.

21. WORKSHEET:
How do we learn about God?
creatio
n
kind,eternal,
powerful,wis
e
conscien
we do wrong,
ce
we’re
punished

22. There’s a problem,
though…
Creation & Conscience don’t tell
the whole story…
Even though we know about God
from Creation and Conscience,
many others do to, but they believe
in a completely different God than
we do…

23. Everyone has a natural
knowledge of God.
WORKSHEET:
Natural knowledge =
What everyone can learn about God from
Creation and from Conscience.

24. Everyone who has natural knowledge of
God thinks differently than us.
How do we Christians learn about the true
God?

25. How do we learn about the true
God?
Acts 16:25-30
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing
hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to
them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the
foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison
doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The
jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he
drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he
thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t
harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights,
rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then
brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be


26. “What must I do to be saved?”
A car light tells you there’s a problem, but nothing
more…

27. How do we learn about the true
God?
WORKSHEET:
 Acts 16:25-30 –
Natural knowledge of God doesn’t tell us how
we can be saved.

28. How do we learn about the true
God?

2 Timothy 3:15 (an important verse!)
“And how from infancy you have known the holy
Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.”

29. “The Holy Scriptures, which are able to
make you wise for salvation…”
Think back to those car lights…
…Only the Bible can tell how to fix the
problem

30. How do we learn about the true
God?
WORKSHEET:
 Acts 16:25-30 –
Natural knowledge of God doesn’t tell us how
we can be saved.

1 Timothy 3:15 –
Only the Bible can tell us how to be saved.

31. WORKSHEET:
How do we learn about God?
creatio
n
kind,eternal,
powerful,wis
e
Bible
conscien
we do wrong,
ce
we’re
punished
how to be
saved

32. Only Christians have a
revealed knowledge of God.
WORKSHEET:
Revealed Knowledge =
What Christians learn about God from the
Bible.

33. Agree/Disagree?
“Listening to the Bible (revealed knowledge)
is more important than listening to our
conscience (natural knowledge).”

34. Agree/Disagree?
If we want to share God with someone who doesn’t
know anything about the Bible, we should only use
the natural knowledge of God.