Hannah Putnam – The Nature of God (Family Service)

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

There is so much we can say about God’s nature – it’s massive! We focussed in on 3 big parts, sharing a little of what our children in Rise have been looking at this year:

The Creator God – Everything we see around us was made by God, we only need to open the first page of the Bible to see this. Genesis 1 v 26 makes it clear that God made people in His image, which means we’re made to be like Him, we’re to reflect Him, and we see that he gave us a job to do in ruling over the rest of His creation. Let’s remember this creator God by giving him praise for what He’s made and living out His command to reflect Him as we work for Him.

The Powerful God – Deuteronomy 10 v 17 is all about God’s power. It shows us that our God is above all other gods, that our God is bigger than any earthly ruler, that there is nothing He can’t do and He doesn’t need help in showing His power. It’s harder to accept that God is powerful when we might think He doesn’t choose to show His power. We need to remember and lean on God’s strength in these times by seeing how He fulfils his promises.

The Loving God – Ultimately we see God’s love in Jesus, the one who came to this earth to break down the barrier of sin between God and His people. Romans 5 v 8 shows us that God’s love cost Him a lot and it’s unconditional, it doesn’t go down if we mess up or increase if we do more. God’s love has nothing to do with us but everything to do with Jesus, and if we are Christians then we have the joy of being in a personal relationship with the God of the universe.