Family of God

God is our Father, creator, redeemer, saviour, shepherd, teacher, comforter, refuge, deliverer, provider, match-maker, and more!  We can totally trust Him to provide for all of our needs.  We know the one and only God as a tri-unity: God, Word of God, Spirit of God.  When the Word of God became flesh (as Jesus Christ of Nazareth), God became known as the "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", with Jesus therefore being known as "the Son of God".

We who have the Holy Spirit are part of God's 'family'; this means all others filled with the Holy Spirit are our 'brothers, sisters'.  We are all intimately connected.  We are also co-heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord & master, who is not ashamed to call us brothers, & who is always with us!

As a Family, God wants us to spend time together with Him & each other, praying, fasting, listening, talking, contributing, celebrating, relaxing, playing, being creative, sharing our resources, reading & studying the Bible.  Let us thus privately & corporately truly praise, worship, adore, & give God thanks from the depths of our being, remember & proclaim Christ's sacrifice in the Lord's Supper, & meet together regularly to encourage each other.

Let us grow in understanding God's values, purpose, & mission:
- God is holy, & He wants us to be holy, faithful & pure.  But He is also merciful, and we may approach His throne of grace at any time to receive mercy & find grace to help us in our time of need!
- God wants all people to be saved as well.  Let us follow God's promptings in helping others to become part of His Family, too!

This diagram helps us to understand God as a Trinity. What it shows is that God is one.  But God is greater than His Word; the Word is a subset of all that God is.  But His Word represents Him totally.  And the Spirit of God cannot be separated from all that God and His Word are.

Another way of looking at it is like this.  Consider us as human beings.  Each one of us is greater, or bigger, than the words that we speak.  But our words represent us totally.  If you write down the words I say, or record them on CD, and then listen to them later, you are listening to me, even though I in my totality am not there.  My words and I are one.  But there is also more to me than just my body and my words.  There is something deeper that permeates every one of us.  And that is our spirit or will.

The Bible says that Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us.  That is logically acceptable.  Whilst we , for example, are only able to record our words onto CD or write them in a book, God is able to turn His Word into a person.  That was who Jesus claimed to be.

For more information, please read the Gospel of John in the Bible.