| Question
1. Who are you?
I am a child of God.
Gal. 4:6-7 "And because you
are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave
but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God."
1 John 3:1 "See what love the Father
has given us, that we should be called children of God"
John 1:12 "But to all who received
him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children
of God."
Rom. 8:15-17 "When we cry, 'Abba!
Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our
spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then
heirs."
Gal. 3:25-27 "But now that faith
has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,
for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through
faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have
clothed yourselves with Christ."
Question 2. What does it mean to be a child
of God?
That I belong to God, who loves me.
Matt. 18:14 "So it is not the
will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones
should be lost."
Matt. 19:14 "Let the little children
come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these
that the kingdom of heaven belongs."
1 Cor. 3:23 "You belong to Christ,
and Christ belongs to God."
2 Cor. 10:7 "If you are confident that
you belong to Christ, remind yourself of this, that just as
you belong to Christ, so also do we."
Gal. 3:28-29 "There is no longer Jew
or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer
male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And
if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring,
heirs according to the promise."
Question 3. What makes you a child of God?
Grace — God's free gift of love that I do not deserve
and cannot earn.
Eph. 2:8-10 "For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no
one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in
Christ Jesus for good works."
Gal. 4:4-5 "But when the fullness of
time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under
the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as children."
Heb. 4:16 "Let us therefore approach
the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Eph. 1:7-9 "In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all
wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of
his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth
in Christ."
1 Cor. 4:7 "What do you have that you
did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast
as if it were not a gift?"
Question 4. Don't you have to be good for
God to love you?
No. God loves me in spite of all I do wrong.
John 8:10-11 "Jesus straightened up
and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned
you?' She said, 'No one, sir.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do
I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.'"
Luke 15:21-24 "Then the son said to
him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father
said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and
put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his
feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat
and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive
again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate."
Rom. 5:8 "But God proves his love for
us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us."
1 John 4:10 "In this is love, not that
we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the
atoning sacrifice for our sins."
Question 5. How do you thank God for this
gift of love?
I promise to love and trust God with all my heart.
Matt. 22:37 "He said to him,
'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your mind.'"
Deut. 6:4-6 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord
is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today
in your heart."
Ps. 9:1 "I will give thanks to the
Lord with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful
deeds."
Jer. 24:7 "I will give them a heart
to know that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and
I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their
whole heart."
Question 6. How do you love God?
By worshipping God, by loving others, and by respecting what
God has created.
John 4:24 "God is spirit, and
those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
Deut. 10:20 "You shall fear the Lord
your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold
fast, and by his name you shall swear."
Ps. 95:6 "O come, let us worship and
bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!"
Luke 10:36-37 "'Which of these three,
do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the
hands of the robbers?' He said, 'The one who showed him mercy.'
Jesus said to him, 'Go and do likewise.'"
Matt. 25:40 "Truly I tell you, just
as you did it to one of the least of these who are members
of my family, you did it to me."
1 John 4:19-21 "We love because he
first loved us. Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their
brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love
a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom
they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this:
those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."
Gen. 1:28 "God blessed them, and God
said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth
and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the air and over every living thing
that moves upon the earth.'"
Gen. 2:15 "The Lord God took the man
and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it."
Prov. 14:31 "Those who oppress the
poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy
honor him."
Question 7. What did God create?
God created all that is, seen and unseen.
Gen. 1:1, 31 "In the beginning
when God created the heavens and the earthGod saw everything
that he had made, and indeed, it was very good."
Acts 4:24 "When they heard it, they
raised their voices together to God and said, 'Sovereign Lord,
who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything
in them.'"
Ps. 8:3-4 "When I look at your heavens,
the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you
have established; what are human beings that you are mindful
of them, mortals that you care for them?"
Ps. 19:1 "The heavens are telling the
glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork."
Question 8. What is special about human beings?
God made us, male and female, in the image of God.
Gen. 1:26-27 "Then God said,
'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creeps upon the earth.' So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them; male and female he created
them."
Col. 1:15 "He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation."
2 Cor. 4:4 "In their case the god of
this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep
them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God."
Question 9. What does it mean that we are
made in God's image?
It means we are made to reflect God's goodness, wisdom and
love.
Matt. 5:14-16 "You are the light
of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one
after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but
on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that
they may see your good works and give glory to your Father
in heaven."
2 Cor. 4:5-6 "For we do not proclaim
ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves
as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said,
'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ."
Question 10. Why, then, do we human beings
often act in destructive and hateful ways?
Because we have turned away from God and fallen into sin.
Gen. 3:8 "They heard the sound
of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening
breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord God among the trees of the garden."
Gen. 4:8 "Cain rose up against his
brother Abel, and killed him."
Rom. 1:18 "For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness
of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth."
Rom. 7:19-20 "For I do not do the good
I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I
do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin
that dwells within me."
Is. 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have all turned to our own way."
Question 11. What is sin?
Sin is closing our hearts to God and disobeying God's law.
Gen. 3:23-24 "Therefore the Lord
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground
from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the
east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword
flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life."
Matt. 15:19 "For out of the heart come
evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false
witness, slander."
1 John 3:4 "Everyone who commits sin
is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness."
Gal. 3:10 "For all who rely on the
works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed
is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written
in the book of the law.'"
Rom. 1:22-25 "Claiming to be wise,
they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or
four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up
in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading
of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!"
Is. 59:1-2 "See, the Lord's hand is
not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. Rather,
your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does
not hear."
Question 12. What are the results of sin?
Our relationship with God is broken. All our relations with
others are confused.
Rom. 6:23 "For the wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord."
Gen. 3:16,17-19 "I will greatly increase
your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth
children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he
shall rule over youcursed is the ground because of you; in
toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns
and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat
the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall
eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you
were taken."
Eph. 2:1-3 "You were dead through the
trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the
course of this world, following the ruler of the power of
the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are
disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions
of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and
we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else."
1 Kings 18:18 "I have not troubled
Israel; but you have, and your father's house, because you
have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the
Baals."
Question 13. How does God deal with us as
sinners?
God hates our sin, but never stops loving us.
Luke 19:5-7 "When Jesus came
to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry
and come down; for I must stay at your house today.' So he
hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it
began to grumble and said, 'He has gone to be the guest of
one who is a sinner.'"
2 Cor. 5:17-21 "So if anyone is in
Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed
away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God,
who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given
us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God
was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation
to us. . . . For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no
sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Ps. 103:2-5 "Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits--ho forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the
Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies
you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed
like the eagle's."
Ps. 107:10-16 "Some sat in darkness
and in gloom, prisoners in misery and in irons, for they had
rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel
of the Most High. Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor;
they fell down, with no one to help. Then they cried to the
Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;
he brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their
bonds asunder. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind. For he shatters the
doors of bronze, and cuts in two the bars of iron."
Question 14. What did God do to help us?
God chose the people of Israel to make a new beginning. They
received God's covenant, and prepared the way for Jesus to come
as our Savior.
Gen. 12:1-3 "Now the Lord said
to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your
father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make
of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your
name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and
in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'"
Ex. 15:13 "In your steadfast love you
led the people whom you redeemed; you guided them by your
strength to your holy abode."
Is. 11:1-2, 3 "A shoot shall come out
from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his
roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on himHis delight
shall be in the fear of the Lord."
Jer. 31:31 "The days are surely coming,
says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and the house of Judah."
Rom. 9:4-5 "They are Israelites, and
to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the
giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them
belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh,
comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."
Question 15. What is the covenant?
The covenant is an everlasting agreement between God and Israel.
Gen. 9:12-13 "This is the sign
of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living
creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have
set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant
between me and the earth."
Rom. 11:29 "For the gifts and the calling
of God are irrevocable."
Gen. 15:18 "On that day the Lord made
a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants I give
this land.'"
Gen. 17:4 "As for me, this is my covenant
with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations."
Ps. 89:3-4 "You said, 'I have made
a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant
David: I will establish your descendants forever, and build
your throne for all generations.'"
Heb. 8:10 "This is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says
the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them
on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be
my people."
Question 16. What is in this agreement?
When God called Abraham and Sarah, God promised to bless their
family, which was later called Israel. Through the people of
Israel, God vowed to bless all the peoples of the earth. God
promised to be Israel's God, and they promised to be God's people.
God vowed to love Israel and to be their hope forever, and Israel
vowed to worship and serve only God.
Gen. 12:1-3 "Now the Lord said
to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your
father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make
of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your
name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and
in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'"
Gen. 17:1-7 "When Abram was ninety-nine
years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, 'I
am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will
make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly
numerous.' Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,
'As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the
ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name
be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made
you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you
exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and
kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between
me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their
generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you
and to your offspring after you."
Ex. 6:6-7 "I am the Lord, and I will
free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you
from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched
arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my
people, and I will be your God."
Ex. 24:3 "Moses came and told the people
all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all
the people answered with one voice, and said, 'All the words
that the Lord has spoken we will do.'"
Jer. 7:23 "But this command I gave
them, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall
be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you,
so that it may be well with you.'"
Gal. 3:14 "In Christ Jesus the blessing
of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith."
1 Pet. 2:9-10 "But you are a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people,
in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once
you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
Question 17. How did God keep this covenant?
God led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, gave them the Ten
Commandments through Moses, and brought them into the land that
God had promised.
Ex. 15:13 "In your steadfast
love you led the people whom you redeemed; you guided them
by your strength to your holy abode."
Josh. 1:1-3 "After the death of Moses
the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun,
Moses' assistant, saying, 'My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed
to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land
that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that
the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you,
as I promised to Moses."
Heb. 11:29-31 "By faith the people
passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when
the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith
the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for
seven days."
Question 18. What are the Ten Commandments?
The Ten Commandments are the law of God. When God gave them
to Moses, God said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery:
- You shall have no other gods before me.
- You shall not make for yourself an idol.
- You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord
your God.
- Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet what is your neighbor's.
Ex. 20:1-17 "Then God spoke all these
words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have
no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself
an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the
water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or
worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,
punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third
and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing
steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who
love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful
use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will
not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath
day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all
your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord
your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your
daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or
the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the
sabbath day and consecrated it. Honor your father and your
mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the
Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall
not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not
bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not
covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's
wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything
that belongs to your neighbor."
Question 19. What is the main point of these
commandments?
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind
and strength; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Mark 12:29-31 "Jesus answered,
'The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord
is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all
your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.'"
Deut. 6:4-5 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord
is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your might."
John 15:12 "This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you."
Question 20. Did the people keep their covenant
with God?
Though some remained faithful, the people too often to worshiped
other gods and did not love each other as God commanded. They
showed us how much we all disobey God's law.
Ex. 32:1 "When the people saw
that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people
gathered around Aaron, and said to him, 'Come, make gods for
us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who
brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what
has become of him.'"
1 John 5:21 "Little children, keep
yourselves from idols."
Deut. 29:25-27 "They will conclude,
'It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the
God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought
them out of the land of Egypt. They turned and served other
gods, worshipping them, gods whom they had not known and whom
he had not allotted to them; so the anger of the Lord was
kindled against that land, bringing on it every curse written
in this book.'"
Questions 21-40
Questions 41-60 |
