The Trinity and God the Father

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If you want to win a free book giveaway, is anybody interested in reading The Forgotten Trinity by James Wyatt?
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Please raise your hand if you're interested. You guys see three hands? Okay, four hands.
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Alright, so raise your hands where I can see them if you don't care. Who would be willing to read this within four weeks?
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Okay, I see some hands like that. So, who would be willing to read this in three weeks?
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Raise your hand where I can see them. I see one, two. Okay, put your hand down real quick.
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Would you be willing to read this in three weeks and then talk to me after you're done reading it? Alright, I'm going to give it to Tori Nichols.
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Can't wait to talk with you about this book. So, let's begin with a word of reference.
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Holy Mother of Jesus, thank you so much for your grace and your protection. Your son
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Jesus Lord, we live and move and have our means by your grace. You have us pray for 50 million years to hear and understand you.
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For at this point, I'd like to begin with a statement of faith. More importantly, what the statement of faith says,
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I pray for you to be in tune with the Spirit. So, we're going to cover a lot of ground this morning.
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We're going to be talking about the Trinity and we're going to be talking about God the Father. So, if you're like me,
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I grew up in a church home and I took a lot of things for granted. Like, I just was told that we believe the
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Trinity. And I was like, okay, I believe that. But I didn't really know where in the
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Bible it tells us that the Trinity is an actual doctrine. So, it wasn't until I got older and I started sharing my faith and sharing the gospel with people, and then
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I met a Jehovah's Witness. And that Jehovah's Witness, he said, where is the word
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Trinity even in the Bible? And I remember he was doing this right here. I don't know. And he started asking me a ton of questions.
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And I just found myself unequipped to be able to explain the doctrine of the Trinity. This is the doctrine for sure.
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So, I really want to better the group of us this morning with a better understanding of who
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God is and what God is. We're going to be talking about the differences between the what of God and the who of God.
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So, for all you note takers, I want to talk about three foundational truths. You're going to see that we're going to go through all of these as we go through our statement of faith.
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Number one is we believe that the Bible teaches that there is one true
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God. This is called monotheism. Second major foundation is we believe in three divine persons.
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And number three, we believe in the equality of those persons. So, if we deny one of these three categories, we actually commit a huge heresy.
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A heresy being a false teaching that really separates us from God in truth.
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Moralism teaches that many people, they believe in many gods, and you can become a god one day.
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So, they ultimately deny the fact that there is one true God. One is Pentecostalism.
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It teaches that God shifts between different modes, or he puts on different masks to be the Father, the
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Son, and the Holy Spirit when it's a convenient time. And so this view denies the three persons and sees no distinction between the members of the
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Trinity. And like I said, Jehovah's Witnesses, they teach that the Father Jehovah first created
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Jesus the Son. This is a major heresy that denies the deity of Jesus and totally messes up the equality of the persons of God.
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So, like Pastor Steven talked about, our sole authority must be divine.
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We must go to Scripture alone. Now, in order to formulate the doctrine of the
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Trinity, we must go to Scripture alone and all of Scripture. We must do the hard job of interpreting
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Scripture with Scripture. The totality of Scripture will yield that God is one in His being, and He is also the existence of three persons.
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I believe this is the command that Paul gives all Christians in 2 Timothy 2 .15.
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He says, do your best to present yourselves to God as one approved, a worker who needs not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of the truth.
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So with that being said, please look at your statement of faith. Where the first passage says, we believe and teach that there is one
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God, infinite and self -existent, who exists eternally as three distinct, yet inseparable persons, known as the
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Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one in their unchangeable nature, essence, and attributes.
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So back up and look at that first phrase of your statement of faith. We believe and teach that there is one
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God, infinite and self -existent. So this is where the Bible teaches us that there is one
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God. Monotheism, meaning one, and theism, meaning God. Look at your first Scripture reference,
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I believe it's Deuteronomy 6 .4 where it says, Hear O Israel, the
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Lord our God is one. This is known as the Shema. This is where the
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Jews would repeat this every morning. This was important to Jesus. If you look down in Mark chapter 12, under references there,
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Jesus repeats the Shema. Then Paul in the New Testament, 1
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Corinthians chapter 8, a little bit further down the page, he says, Therefore as to the eating of the foods offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no
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God but one. So this is the Bible telling us that there is only one
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God. Now what's really interesting about the time when Moses wrote the Bacchus Dictatorium, this, he's saying that there is one
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God, right? And all the surrounding pagan nations, they believe in many gods. This is a heresy called polytheism.
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So the Bible is very unique, standing against these other false religions. So since God is infinite and self -existent, he has certain attributes that belong to him and him alone.
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We're people, right? We have knowledge, right? So God has infinite knowledge. We have a degree of power, but God is all -powerful, right?
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So he's infinite and self -existent. So God is all -powerful. He is omnipotent.
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We learn this from the beginning of the Bible, right? In Genesis 1, remember, God is speaking the world into existence, right?
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That's only possible from an almighty, all -powerful being. Now think about the story of Job.
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A lot of you will know that, right? I've covered a lot of that. It's just an awesome book with so many applications. But Job lost everything, right?
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A lot of us really empathize with Job and think, man, that would be so tough. But over the course of time,
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Job begins to start questioning the purposes of God, right? In Job chapter 38,
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God says to Job, he gets tired of it because Job almost starts getting nasty with God. And so God says to Job, Where were you when
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I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements?
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Surely you know. For who has stretched the line upon me? So God is asking
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Job, okay, if you're all -powerful, if you're perfect, you tell me what's going on.
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Job figured it out pretty quick. He's speaking to the creator, the almighty, the powerful creator, right?
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And so Job finally responded later in chapter 42. He says, I know that you are God and can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be avoided.
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So God is all -powerful. He's omnipotent. God is also all -knowing.
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He's omniscient. And this is really the foundation of prophecy. When you look into the
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Old Testament, we read about a lot of prophets or foretelling things that are going to happen with the Messiah, right?
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And the only way that that's possible is for God to know everything and choose to reveal some things to the prophets.
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Right? So I want you in your mind to think about we serve one God. The Bible teaches that. He has certain attributes that belong to him alone.
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He's all -powerful. He's all -knowing. And his presence is everywhere. He's omnipresent.
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But I don't want you to think that God is in everything. Right? For a lot of people, a spell is called pantheism.
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God is a rock. God is a tree. We're all gods. The Bible teaches a clear distinction between the creator and the creation.
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When we say that God is omnipresent, we're simply saying he sees everything. Right? Nothing escapes his sight.
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Hebrews chapter 4 says, No creature is hidden from God's sight, for all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him whom we must give account.
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So these are attributes that belong to the one true self -existing God. So let's look at the next phrase in our statement of faith.
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We're talking about God who exists eternally as three distinct yet inseparable persons, known as the
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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are one in their unchangeable nature, essence, and attributes.
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So again, I'd like for you to maybe underline two key words that we're going to spend some time just kind of unpacking here, because it can get confusing real fast.
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So we're talking about inseparable persons. On my sheet, I had that underlined. That is key.
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And then, if you look down at the next line, these three are one in their unchangeable nature.
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So we're going to talk about the difference between persons and nature. Earlier I was saying,
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God is one what? In the three of them. Okay? I want to create two different categories so we don't get confused and say, well, we believe in one
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God, but it kind of seems like we believe in the three of them. That's not actually what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that there is one
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God who exists in three persons. So when we say the nature of something, we're talking about its essence or its being.
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Okay? I like the word being, but it's interchangeable with nature or essence, but I like the word being.
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But we've got to keep in mind that being and person are different. Anything that exists has being.
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Okay? But not everything that exists has personality or has personhood.
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Right? So I was trying to think of an example to maybe illustrate this. If I were to have a rock. Right? This rock has a rock being.
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If I were to throw this rock at Craig Nichols and he didn't duck, he'd figure out very fast that that rock exists because it would clash with his being.
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Right? This rock has a being.
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I'm a human being. I'm personal. But I am limited and finite. I cannot transcend out of this space and time that I exist right here.
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Right? There are only human beings that have one person. But now, when we talk about God, God is eternal.
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He is limitless. Right? He's almighty, all -powerful. So his being is shared with three persons.
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Now, that doesn't fully explain everything. I think that helps us have a better understanding that being and person are not the same thing.
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We can even understand that in our everyday experience. Not all being is one person. But God is not bound by space and time.
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Therefore, his being is shared by all. That's another thing to say.
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So it might be helpful to kind of define the word Trinity. We're talking about tribe, which is three, and unity.
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But those aren't the same thing. God is three in persons, one in being. So on your verses, look at Matthew 28 and 19.
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This is a very familiar verse. But what's hidden in there is a clear teaching of the
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Trinity. Where we read, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name.
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I'm trying to emphasize the name there. The name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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So you notice, it's named singular. It's not named plural. Right? This is because it's referring to the singular, triune name of God.
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The only God that is revealed in a person. Let's look at the next passage of our sacred faith.
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We believe and teach that each member of the Godhead has a distinct function and the eternal purpose of the
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Godhead, while at the same time possessing the Holy of Holies. So this is, once again, where when we try to articulate what we believe about God, we have to have authority.
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The Bible has already told us that there is one true God. Monotheism. Right? But then, what if we're faced with a passage that says the
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Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. We believe that. Right? And so I was thinking, most people do not dispute that the
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Father is God. Most people of all religions, they all agree that the Father out there is definitely
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God. Usually the point of dispute is saying, well, we don't think Jesus is actually God. Or the Holy Spirit is impersonal.
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He's not actually God. So most people don't dispute that the Father is God. But I believe the first time where Jesus speaks of the
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Father as being God is in John 6, where Jesus says, Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the
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Son of Man did give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.
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So this is the scripture telling us the Father is God. And also, there are so many scriptures today that tell us about the immunity of Christ.
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And I believe Tad Strong will really take time to unpack that next week. But the
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Apostle Paul says this about Jesus Christ in Romans chapter 9. He says, Christ came, who is over all and eternally blessed
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God forever. Amen. And if you look at our sheet, you can see John 1, 1. This might be one of the most clearest passages that tells us that Jesus is
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God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
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Word was God. Now, a lot of us are familiar with that last phrase, the Word was God.
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We understand the Word became flesh, had to go among us, and then John chapter 1 continues to tell us that this is
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Jesus Christ. So we go to John 1, 1 to prove the deity of Christ pretty easily. But it's that middle phrase that I want you to look at.
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It says the Word was with God. Only a transparent understanding can make sense of what that's being talked about.
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Because this is talking about the Word, Jesus being in eternal relationship with God. That being said, the
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Father is God, Jesus is God, and probably the best passage to show that the
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Holy Spirit is God is in Acts chapter 5. And this is where Peter relieves two people named
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Ananias and Sapphira. Peter says, why has Satan filled your heart to lie against the
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Holy Spirit? Because you can't lie to a rock, right? It's impersonal.
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It's kind of foolish to say I lied to that rock, right? You lied to the person. So Peter says, why have you filled your heart to lie to the
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Holy Spirit? Why is it that you conscribe this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God.
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So this is testimony to God's Word that is affirming one God, yet the
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Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And they all operate within having a personality, right?
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They all have a relationship with one another and with God. And so their roles are distinct from one another.
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They're not all doing the same thing. And so for the Trinity, we're not saying the
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Father is the Son. We're not saying the Son is the Holy Spirit. We're not saying the Holy Spirit is everybody.
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And I think one of the best places in the Bible to illustrate how they're all distinct in their roles and functions is in the baptism of Jesus.
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So who is baptized in Jesus? John the Baptist, right? So Jesus is there.
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And then who descended on Jesus like a dove? The Holy Spirit. And then a booming voice from heaven said, this is my
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Son, whom I have built for you. So you have God's Father, Son, and the
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Holy Spirit all being present, yet being distinct from one another. And so this is where people get into trouble oftentimes.
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Because then they say, well, the Trinity is life, and then they give an analogy.
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Now, I understand that all analogies break down at some point, right? Usually an analogy is supposed to just illustrate one truth.
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But the problem is, if the Trinity is a transcendent, eternal reality, the Trinity existed before creation.
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So when we reach into the creation and we try to think that something man -made to illustrate something that is eternally true, it breaks down in a major way and actually illustrates some type of experience.
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That kind of makes sense as well. All analogies really don't come close to that. Have you ever heard that the
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Trinity is like water? I've heard that before. I've heard that water can change into a liquid or a gas or a solid.
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That's usually how I've heard that analogy. And the problem is that God does not change into three different modes, right?
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This is called modality. And so God is one, and yet he exists in three persons.
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Remember the baptism of Jesus kind of illustrates that. So there's another analogy that I was taught growing up.
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But the Trinity is like a man who is a father, a son, and a mother to somebody else.
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But the problem is it's using a man who is one with a man and one with a person.
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So this is empirically called unitarianism. This is what this analogy teaches. And this is what Orthodox Jews today teach.
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You're changing along the path that God exists. We don't have to find our own path all the time.
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We're going along God. And each of those persons will be shared in the nature of God.
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So I have a list of bad analogies. But have you ever heard of...
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So I've heard this. And the big problem is when you use anything in the creative world, like a fruit, a clover, or an apple, or an egg, you start dividing up God into persons, right?
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And this is a very small part of it. So you see the problem with trying to use an analogy to describe the
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Trinity. And I think a good way to understand the Trinity is to understand the distinction between being and being a person.
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And we've got to stop somewhere around there because we're not going to fully understand it.
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But we're going to have to engage in a logical contradiction. So with that being said, there's only one concept that can describe
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God. And it's God himself. And it reminded me of the time where God was talking to Moses when he learned to push.
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What did he say? He said, I am who I am. This means that the Lord is not defined or determined by any other than himself.
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God is eternal. So are we tracking? Tracking?
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Let's move on to the next statement in our statement today. We've got to kind of speed through this because I would like to have
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Q &A at the end. So hopefully you're making those maybe along the way. Make some questions.
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I'd like to maybe leave 10 minutes at the end to hear some questions from y 'all. So then the next phrase says, each is equally worthy of worship and obedience and each is glorified by the work of redemption.
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And if I've lost you at some point this morning, it's okay. We're talking about the Trinity, right?
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This is, I mean, this has been handled at the student, debated, and all I want you to know is go to your Bible, study the
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Bible. If you've not heard anything, I want you to know this one crucial truth that the gospel and salvation is a trans -periodic worship.
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Okay? I want to show you that. Look at that passage on page two.
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Look at Ephesians 1 -3 -14. We're going to kind of just skim through this. I want to highlight a few things along the way.
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The beginning of verse three says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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We're talking about God the Father. And then verse four says, Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
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Let me pause. This is the gospel finding origin with God the Father before creation in every existence.
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Okay? So the gospel salvation has its starting point with God the
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Father. God the Father decreed and chose before the world began a people for salvation.
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Another way of looking at that is he chose a bride for the Son. So if you look down a little bit there in the passage of Scripture, look where it says,
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In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins and our trespasses.
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We have forgiveness. So we have the gospel, you know, having its origin with God the
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Father. The gospel is accomplished by Jesus Christ by dying on the cross, paying the full punishment of sin for all those that would repent and believe on him.
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So this means what the will of the Father before eternity began. This means that Jesus is the perfect Savior.
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He saves to the uttermost. Right? So I want you to see a locking step of unity within the
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Trinity for accomplishing salvation and establishing the gospel. In fact, John chapter six,
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Jesus teaches us that all the Father gives to me will come to me. Then he says that I should lose nothing that the
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Father has given me, but raise it up on the last day. The gospel has its origin in the
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Father. It's accomplished by the Son. Now look down around verse 13.
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I know you don't have it referenced, but we read, In him you also, when you have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believe in him, were sealed with the spirit of the promised
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Holy Spirit, which was the guarantee of our inheritance until we were to acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
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So the gospel is applied by the Holy Spirit. Right? The Holy Spirit regenerates hearts, right?
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He indwells believers, and he secures believers into the day of redemption.
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If you get nothing else, the gospel is a Trinitarian order. So with only a few more minutes,
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I want us to briefly look at God the Father in section 3. Where we read,
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We believe and teach that God the Father is the first person in the Trinity. He is infinite self -existent spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love.
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He is creator of all things, and the only absolute, omnipotent ruler in the universe.
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He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption. So hopefully a few of those words sound familiar because these are attributes that belong to God alone, and are also fully shared with the other two members of the
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Trinity. But I want to emphasize one word here, and it's the word sovereign in that last line.
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He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption. So what does sovereign mean?
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Simply that God is in control of all things. That means he has a purpose in all things.
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And that means in all things he gives glory ultimately. So on your paper, look at Romans 11 .36
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on page 3. Which says, So when you think of sovereignty, just think that God gives glory to everything.
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He has a purpose. There's nothing meaningless happening in his world. The way that he sees the world,
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I often think that I have a history book, I can just flip through the pages of this history book, and I can see the beginning,
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I can see the end. That's how God sees it all the time. In the very beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, right?
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So he sees it all the time right there in front of him. He's spoken all over Jesus. He's sovereign.
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He has a purpose for everything. The next passage says, He is the creator of all people, but he is the spiritual father only to those who believe in the son of Jesus Christ.
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So I don't know if you're familiar with this cliche saying that I hear all the time around the world, but I've heard people say, aren't we just all
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God's children? And they're just kind of saying that just generically. There's no distinction between believers and unbelievers, but we're just all
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God's children. And it kind of breaks my heart because the Bible is so precise that it's only the children of God and those who are in Christ Jesus, they're believers.
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And so if you will, that's kind of where the Bible is on page 3. Look at John chapter 1 verse 2 there, where we read,
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But to all who did receive him, even Jesus, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
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So we're faced with the reality that not everyone is God's children. Only those who have turned to Christ and put their faith solely in him.
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And that means we are adopted. Right? We are adopted as children. So if we're adopted, that means we were previously part of a different family.
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Right? Y 'all see where I'm going with this? The Bible actually teaches us that if we're not in Christ, then we're actually children of the devil.
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1 John chapter 3 says, This is evident to who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil.
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Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love him.
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So let's finally look at the last passage here in section 3, where we read,
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We believe and teach that God has decreed for his own glory all things that come to pass, knowing intimately all things from beginning to end.
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He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events, and in his sovereignty he is neither the author nor approver of sin, but perfectly judges each person according to his or her own work, thus making people responsible for their own sins.
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I'm personally waiting to the end to not totally explain all this, because I'm a simple man.
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I'm not wearing Mario's office up here, right? It's easy to ask me really tough questions, and you know what?
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It's okay. We can search these things out together. I love y 'all. I love fellowshipping with the saints, and I love
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God's word. I'm convinced this is how we have relationships with God. We pray to God.
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That's how we speak to God, and he speaks back to us through his living and breathing word. So this final passage of the
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Statement of Faith, I simply want to emphasize that all things work to the glory of God, and I don't understand exactly how all that works.
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I love reading Christian history. I love reading theologians that spend time in God's word and trying to better understand.
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Guys, that's going to be a life -long process. But don't think, well,
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I can't understand it, and I shouldn't be pursuing it. Study it. That's a hard question. I'll be the first to say, I don't know.
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But let's go look. Let's see if we can study and search within God's word together. I just want to emphasize maybe two more verses in the
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Statement of Faith. I think it's on the last page. So look at Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11.
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Did y 'all see that? Alright. On page 11. So this verse,
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I didn't know this verse was in the Bible until I really studied it carefully and slowly and was like, whoa.
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God is sovereign. God is so much mightier than people. We read, In Him we have obtained inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him on the cross.
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A lot of people get out of shape of predestination. I'm like, no, look at the rest of this verse, and this really should surprise you.
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The purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
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I don't know how God does that. But God works all things at the counsel of His will.
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I just, I'm totally amazed at that truth. Right? I don't question it because it's in the
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Bible. People want to just study each other. We find hard verses like that. I believe it.
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I just may not understand it. Right? So lastly, let's look at Isaiah 46.
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This should be the last passage of all those scriptures. This one is just to me like Ephesians 1 verse 11.
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It says, Remember the four things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am
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God, and there is none like me. So I'll pause right there. It's one. There's only one
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God, and there is no other like Him. But then, verse 10 says,
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Declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times things not yet done, saying,
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My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purposes. Guys, the best way I can think to understand this is
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I look at history books. I can go back and forth through it. That's how God deals with time.
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He spoke it all into existence and creation at the very beginning. So how God relates to time is different than how we relate to it.
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He knows everything. Let's not get mad at God for knowing everything and having a purpose in everything.
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I prefer to let God be God. Since He is Sovereign, I can truly rest in the promise of Romans 8.
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Many of us are familiar with this verse that says that for those who love God, those who are
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Christians, those who experience forgiveness for their sins, for those who love
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God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.
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God's purpose in everything. If we are saved, we've experienced the mercy and grace of God.
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So then we can say, okay, everything that's happening in my life is for my sanctification. It has a purpose.
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It's making me more and more like Jesus Christ. Everything is working in my life for my sanctification.
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I'm in Christ and then everything is ultimately working for His glory. So that's all
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I have. I feel like I may have sped really fast through that, but I wanted to leave maybe about 10 minutes or so for questions.
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I'll probably tell you I don't know the answer, but we'll give it a shot anyway. So if you would, raise your hand if you have any questions about the
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Trinity or if you have any questions about God the Father and His Sovereignty. I know this can be kind of weird for so many people, but I'm over here standing on stage talking.
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It's kind of weird for me. Does anybody have any questions? And if not, guess what?
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I have pre -scripted questions that I can ask and we can go through. We got it. We got it done.
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We're all good? We all fully understand the Trinity and the Sovereignty of God? Alright, Nathan?
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How do we communicate with someone to provide for them?
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What I would try really hard is to say we are not saying we believe in one
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God, but then we kind of believe in three gods. I think if we present the
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Trinity like that, then these false religions and cults, they have a basis to say that doesn't make any sense.
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Rather, when you refer to what the Bible says, that there is one God and yet He exists in three persons.
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Remember when we talked about the rock not being personal? I think we can demonstrate how there are things that exist that do not have personality.
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I would say we can show how things that exist are personal, but then people, human beings are personal but there is a huge difference between us and God.
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That helps me get a step closer to understanding how God can be revealed in three persons because He is limitless.
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We are limited by space and time, therefore our person can only be shared by one person.
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I just want to demonstrate that and they still say, I think it's just the Philippines or whatever I say,
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I'm down to the core of God. We can all have good ideas and opinions about stuff, but we need an objective standard to tell us what is actually true.
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To me, if you listen to me and Nathan, we could probably come up with just crazy ideas. Which one is actually true?
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We need to be able to test it against an objective standard to be like, well, Nathan was right and Jeremiah got it way wrong.
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That's how we get outside of our own beliefs. Did I answer that?
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Or did I do like the politicians do? Anybody else have any questions?
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I'm actually kind of glad that no one has any theological filibusters.
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Here's where I'm at. So we have a few more minutes. So I kind of alluded to this earlier.
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What do we do when someone says, well, where's the Trinity in the Bible? Does anybody want to take a stab at how they would answer that question?
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The word Trinity is not in the Bible. What does that mean? That is an interesting concept.
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What I want to kind of say is, just because a word is not in the Bible does not mean the Bible teaches that.
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We believe in the Bible, right? Yet the word Bible is not in the Bible. Right?
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I think on that perspective. What does the Trinity teach? It teaches that there is one God, and that he exists as the first person.
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The Bible teaches that. So when the holy witness says, well, tell me where the Trinity is. Great, I can't wait to show you all these scriptures that show that there is one
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God. And that the who of God is the Trinity. So I have another question.
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I have actually seven. So how can
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Jesus be God if he's praying to God? Now, Travis is going to talk about how more of the beauty of Christ.
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The way to understand is that John once says the word was God and he turned it back.
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So Jesus was in glory with the Father. But what did Jesus do?
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He took on flesh and became a man. He humbled himself. So as he was living in earthly ministry, he prayed in relationship to the
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Father. The Trinity is the only thing that can understand what's going on in a relationship. But the
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Father was greater than Jesus in terms of God being in glory. And Jesus added on flesh.
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He took on a man. So in that relationship Jesus prayed to the Father and said the
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Father is greater than I. Does it mean that Jesus is not God? It just shows the unique role that Jesus took on in becoming a servant.
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I love it because God is just not so far and distant away from us that we can't know him.
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He actually became a man and dwelt among us. So God came to us and he is relational and cares for us and loves us.
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So I think that's the beauty of the Trinity. You see a working relationship with God. We get glimpses of the
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Trinity even in the Old Testament. I don't think the Trinity was explicitly taught in the
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Old Testament like it is in the New Testament. But you see clues of the Trinity in the Old Testament. I think it's in Genesis 1 where God created man.
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He said let us make man in our image. So even from the beginning there was a plurality of God.
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He's one in his being but he had relationships within himself. So I think we get clues in the
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Old Testament and then we read in the New Testament. We see the deity of the Father and the Son. I think of the apostles being experientially
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Trinitarians. Peter, very familiar with the Old Testament scriptures, believed in God and the
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Father of course. But then he met Christ and he understood that he was God. And then,
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I think of Pentecost, he got the Holy Spirit. So he was experiencing the
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Trinity like all of us do who are in Christ. So, we got maybe one more minute or two.
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Does anybody have any questions? Did it make sense a little bit?
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I hope to have equipped you all a little bit with I think the best way to approach the Trinity is understanding the distinction between being and person.
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And then like I said, one of the takeaways is that the gospel of salvation is a Trinitarian word. Alright, going once, going twice.
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Alright, let's pray. Holy Father, thank you so much for your word.
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God, thank you for challenging us, God. We are religious people. God, we have the affinity and trust that your thoughts are higher than our thoughts, your ways are higher than our ways.
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So God, pray that we would not lean on our own understanding when we approach the
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Lord, but we would have any tradition or precepts that we have got as we approach your
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Holy Spirit. And we would allow you to speak truth into us. Glory to God.