Deut 6:4 (the Shema….Israel’s one sentence belief statement) says….’the Lord your God is one’.

The word ‘one’ in Hebrew is either

                                       Yachid….one as in only one (like one banana) or

                                       Echod….one as in a unity (like one bunch of bananas)                 

In Deut 6:4, the Hebrew word ‘one’ is Echod, not Yachid.  

The Bible says that there is 1 God….Isa 44:4-8….45:5,6,18,21….46:9

The Bible says that the Father is God….Titus 1:4….Philippians 1:2…Ephesians 1:2…Galatians 1:3

The Bible says that Jesus is God….we’ll see this in meeting #3&4.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is God….Acts 5:3,4

     The Holy Spirit is a person, not an impersonal force like electricity or the Force in Star Wars.

The Holy Spirit:

1. Gives us joy…. Luke 10:21
2. Helps us….John 14:15-21
3. Convicts us of our sin….John 16:5-11
4. Acquits us of our sin….1Cor6:11
5. Reveals truth to us….John 16:12-15
6. Helps us testify to who Jesus is….John 15:25 – 16:4
7. Can be resisted….Acts 7:51
8. Can be lied to….Acts 5:3,4
9. Gives us power to overcome evil….Ephesians 6:17
10. Raised Jesus from the dead….1Tim3:16
11. Brings blessings to believers….1Peter4:14
12. Empowers Christ & us….Hebrews 9:14
13. The fruits of the Spirit are personal….Galatians 5:22,23
14. He is a person….Romans 8:16

     In the early 300’s A.D., an elder in the Egyptian church (Arius) started teaching that the Father was God but the Son was a created being and not God.  Arius also taught that the Holy Spirit was not God but was an impersonal force.  In 325 A.D. at the city of Nicea (across the straits from modern Istanbul), the council of bishops of the Christian churches declared Arius was wrong.  They produced a statement that we call the Nicene Creed, which states that the Bible unequivocally teaches the trinity.  This is a fundamental of the faith.  If our definition of God is wrong, then we are believing in another God, not the God of the Bible.

     The Arian belief has been resurrected in our day by the Jehovah’s Witnesses (the Watchtower Society).

Did you know that God has a name?  Exodux 3:14….in the original Hebrew, “I am that I am” is really YHWH. Since we can’t pronounce this, we stick 2 a’s in it and pronounce it Yahwah.  This is God’s personal name.