The man who walks with
God, always gets to his
destination
 **“We guard the habitation of God’s
glory in our lives by making the right
choices. We choose what
conversations we listen to, what
words we speak, what attitudes we
have toward others, what thoughts we
meditate on, what people we hang
around, what we look at, and what we
tolerate in our hearts of the spirit of
the world.
 We make the choice to have an
attitude of worship, to resist
temptation and to pray in the Spirit at
all times. And most of all, we choose
what boundaries we establish in our
lives.”
 **From Emerging Voices by Matt Sorger**
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic
Faith
 Getting to know God:
 “There are some subjects that are
inexhaustible. Man in a lifetime cannot
exhaust the subject of God. Students
of theological schools spend years in
studying the subject, yet they do not
come away with a fully comprehensive
knowledge of God. The best we can do
is learn as much as we can from what
has already been learned and continue
to add as much as we can during our
lifetime.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic
Faith
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Four avenues of learning about God:
The Avenue of FAITH:
Genesis 1 / verse 1:
“In the beginning GOD created the heaven and
the earth.”
“Faith is spoken of as the mental assent to a
concept. It does not wait on proof, but rejoices
when proof comes. But without faith no matter
how many proofs are presented, they will
never convince. This faith will under gird
every other experience with God.”
Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 6:
“But without faith it is impossible to please
Him: for he that cometh to God must first
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him.”
“Faith paves the way for all of the other
avenues of knowing God. Without faith that
there is a God to know, man is prone to
discount any evidence that may come from
any source to prove the existence of God.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 The Four Avenues of learning about God:
 The Avenue of Observation:
 “If the earliest avenue to the knowledge of God was
man’s simple belief, surely the second avenue was
his OBSERVATION.”
 Psalms 19, verse 1:
 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament showeth His handiwork.”
 “The psalmist was knowing God by his
observation. By observing our surroundings in all
of their intricacies and marvels, we are led to know
God. The marvels of growing things, the ingenious
plans of reproduction, the development of
interlocking systems in natural things, all are
observed and interpreted as pointing to a Supreme
Being of incomprehensible intelligence. It is not
just a matter of things we cannot explain. The more
we can explain about nature, science, and the
phenomena of the universe, the more the believing
child of God is convinced there is a God. We also
observe the changes wrought when God enters the
life of an individual and transforms them. This
observation is most satisfying and convincing.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic
Faith
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The Four Avenues of Knowing God”
The Avenue of Revelation:
Amos 3, verse 7:
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He
revealeth his secret unto his servants the
prophets.”
John 15, verse 15:, Romans 1, verses 15 to 20:
1 Corinthians 2, verses 9 and 10:
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love Him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God.”
Romans 1, verse 20 tells us that He used
“Things that are made..”, material things to
reveal the invisible things. Paul tells us in 1
Corinthians chapter 2, verses 9 and 10”, that
things which are hidden from others are
revealed by God through the Spirit to the
church.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 The Four Avenues of Knowing God:
 The Avenue of EXPERIENCE:
 “When we believe in Him, we are admitted into a
field of experiences which come directly from the
hand of God, things which no man could possibly
do. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is only one
thing, but it will suffice to illustrate. When it enters
the human life, there is no experience on earth like
it. It stamps an indelible proof of God on the mind
of man. Many have reported experiencing new
spiritual strength, understanding, and insight into
the Bible as a result of this experience of God.”
 Psalms 116:
 “Throughout the 116th Psalm the psalmist speaks of
the experiences of knowing God. It should be read
carefully.
 Notice such phrases as “He helped me, thou hast
delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears
and my feet from falling.”
 The answers to prayers are also part of
experiencing God. Whether the answers are YES or
NO, the fact that we experience a communication
with an invisible force satisfies our faith that He
exists.”
Getting to Know God
*The Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 *“The Bible shows us our condition of
ignorance concerning God. The serpent
suggested to Eve that God was unfair in
denying that which looked so pleasant and
good. He said that man would not die if he ate
the forbidden fruit, but would become as one
of us, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:22).
 As a result of believing this lie, Adam and Eve
realized their nakedness and hid from God,
covering their bodies with fig leaves and
hiding their disobedience with excuses. But
God sought for man with a call and a promise.
The call is still going forth, asking man where
he is and why he is not walking with his God
(Genesis 3:9). The promise was for salvation
and deliverance from his fallen state (Genesis
3:15).
 Even though the initial fall happened
thousands of years ago, it reoccurs every day
as the old man in us repeats Adam’s error.
Men believe the lie, try to hide from God, and
make excuses to cover their shame.”
Getting to Know God
*The Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 Continued:
 Many people attempt to live and die without
God. They view God only as a restrictor and
punisher, one who gets pleasure out of
sending masses of people to hell. The
serpent’s lie has hidden God from us. What is
the solution? The solution is in KNOWING
OUR GOD and understanding who He is and
what His relationship is to His creation. It is
God’s revealing or unveiling of Himself to us.
God showing Himself to us is the way He
changes us into His own image.
 We become like Him in proportion to the
degree that we see Him as He is and remain in
His presence.”
 To really know God is to love Him, and to love
Him is to worship Him.
 Our journey in developing our worship
lifestyle begins with obtaining knowledge of
who God is.
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 The Nature of God:
 John 4, verse 24:
 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
 “The spiritual world transcends the material
world and is by no means to be considered
inferior to the material. A spirit can be defined
as a motivating force, God is such a
motivating force, but more than this, He is the
source of all other forces in the experience of
the world. God is the Spirit by which all other
things exist.
 Although God cannot be said to be material in
the usual sense of material things, yet God is
capable of inhabiting bodies of human flesh.”
 2 Corinthians 5, verse 19:
 “To wit , that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
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The Nature of God:
God is a Living Being!
Exodus 3, verse 14:
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM:
and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto
you.”
 “God is a LIVING BEING with consciousness,
personality, will, and all other characteristics
we attribute to living beings of the human
species, only they are perfected beyond the
comprehension of the human mind. When
Moses met God in the burning bush in Exodus
3, verse 14, He introduced Himself as the “I
AM”, the self-existing one.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
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The Nature of God:
God is Eternal:
Deuteronomy 33, verse 27:
“The eternal God is thy refuge, and
underneath are the everlasting arms: and He
shall thrust out the enemy from before thee;
and say Destroy them.”
 Psalms 90, verse 2:
 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or
ever thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God.”
 It is incompatible with any concept of God as
the source of all things to think of Him as less
than eternal. His existence is not tied to time
nor space. It is limitless, infinite.
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 The Nature of God:
 God is a Person:
 Throughout the scriptures personal pronouns are
used in speaking of God. Man’s earliest ideas of a
divine being involved the concept of
PERSONALITY.
 Personality indicates the possession of
characteristics. Outstanding among God’s other
characteristics are OMNISCIENCE, OMNIPOTENCE,
and OMNIPRESENCE.
 OMNISCIENCE; Means that it is characteristic of
God to know all things. There is no knowledge that
is not accessible to Him. There are no thoughts
conceived that He is not aware of. There are thing
He knows that no one else knows.”
 Psalms 139, verses 1 to 4:
 “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou
compassest my path and my lying down, and art
acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a
word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord thou knowest it
altogether.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 The Nature of God:
 OMNIPRESENCE; Means that God is not limited by
space or time.
 Psalms 139, verses 7 to 12:
 “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall
I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven,
thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou
art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there
shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall
hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover
me; even the night shall be light about me, Yea, the
darkness hideth not from thee; but the night
shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are
both alike to thee.”
 God should not be thought of as occupying space,
yet there is no space we occupy where He cannot
be found by the usual means of finding and
experiencing Him.
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 The Nature of God:
 OMNIPOTENCE; Means that God is all
powerful. With God all things are
possible
 Matthew 19, verse 26:
 “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto
them, With men this is impossible; but
with God all things are possible.”
 Far beyond the comprehension of man
is the power of God. It is characteristic
of Him.
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 The Nature of God:
 God is a Person:
 UNCHANGABLE; Means that God cannot change or
be changed.
 Malachi 3, verse 6:
 “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed.”
 There are no forces outside Him that can change
Him. It is incompatible with His nature to change
Himself.
 There are scriptures that speak of Him repenting
(Deuteronomy 32, verse36:, Jeremiah 18, verse :
10:);
 However, in none of the cases where the scriptures
so speak does it indicate any change in the nature,
will, or personality of God. First, we must remember
that in the Old Testament the revelation of God was
not nearly so complete as in the New Testament.
 If man does good, he shall receive blessings, but if
he does evil after doing good, He will change the
blessings to curses.
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
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The Nature of God:
God is a Person:
GOD IS HOLY:
(Leviticus 19, verse 2:, Joshua 24, verse 19:)
HOLINESS is a quality of spirit. GOD IS THE HOLY
SPIRIT. He is separate, sacred, and peculiar. He is
not holy by comparison with something else. He is
th e author of holiness. Nothing can be holy except
by comparison with Him.
 Righteousness is the outward expression of the
holiness of His personality. Any outward
expression of holiness is righteousness. Therefore
since He is a HOLY GOD, HE is also a RIGHTEOUS
GOD.
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
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The Nature of God:
God is a Person:
GOD IS LOVING:
In keeping with His personality, He is loving.
1 John 4, verse 16:
“Beloved let us love one another, foe love is of
God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God. And we have known and believed the
love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
GOD IS JUST:
Zephaniah 3, verse 5:
“The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do
iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment
to light, he falleth not; but the unjust knoweth no
shame.”
GOD IS MERCIFUL:
Psalms 103, verse 17:
“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting upon them that fear him, and his
righteousness unto children’s children.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
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The Nature of God:
God is a Person:
GOD IS PATIENT:
2 Peter 3, verse 9:
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as
some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to
us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance.”
GOD IS TRUTHFUL:
Deuteronomy 32, verse 4:
“He is the Rock; his work is perfect: for all his ways
are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is he.”
John 14, verse 6:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and
the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
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The Nature of God:
God is a Person:
GOD IS FAITHFUL:
Deuteronomy 7, verse 9:
“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God,
the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and
mercy with them that love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations;”
 1 Corinthians 1, verse 9:
 “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the
fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”
*Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith
 The Nature of God:
 God is a Person:
 GOD IS A UNIT: In keeping with the other
characteristics of God we must recognize that GOD
is a UNIT.
 In the days of heathendom men thought of a world
of supreme beings, each with a particular function
in the affairs of men. As time moved on, they began
to realize that there must be some head or authority
over these other gods to direct them. From this
point in the experiences of Abraham, God revealed
Himself to Israel as One. He is all and in all.
 Isaiah 43, verses 3 and 14:, Isaiah 44, verses 6 and
8:, Isaiah 45, verses 5 and 6:, Isaiah 48, verse 17:
 It would be unreasonable to think of God as more
than one and at the same time think of Him as
having all knowledge, power, and presence. There
is no difficulty in understanding His unity when we
remember that He is a Spirit. He need not be
divided to satisfy the needs of time and space.
 However, though God is a unit, He can and does
manifest Himself in a number of ways. This in no
way limits Him nor divides Him.
Getting to Know God
*The Fundamentals of the Apostolic Faith