The God Who Lives With Us

Come on church, put your hands together one more time and give God what he what he deserves. Yes. Oh, praise God. Are you glad you're here this morning? Turn to the person next to you and say, "You just look great this morning." Now, if you said that to somebody you shouldn't have said it to, just point to me and say, "He told me to do it." We're in this series.

We're calling it I believe. as you and I as followers of Christ walk through our lives following Jesus, believing that he is who he says he is and just wrapping our lives around that. What we're doing through this series is we're stopping and taking a look clearly at the fundamentals of what we believe. Fully understanding what we believe and why we believe it and why we're willing to build our lives on it. And we started by the Apostles’ Creed and looked at that. And last week we just opened up our Bible and we looked at our Bible and how we got our Bible and why we should believe that the Bible is what God's word says it is and what God says it is and we and we now come through this process where this morning I want to look at the Trinity.

I want to look at the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And the reality is our discussion this morning is really just going to be scratching the surface. When you and I think about who God is and his infinite glory and his infinite wisdom and by speaking he placed the universe around us. He is God. He is our creator.

We can't even begin to comprehend what there is to God. And yet so as I talk about this and we and we look at this subject of the Trinity, it's it is so far beyond our comprehension. And yet the one thing that I notice so clearly is the Trinity just shows you and I the character of God. It shows us the amazing love of God. how he pursues his creation and the heart of God desires to bring back relationship between himself and his creation and God just reveal he chooses how he wants to reveal himself to us and he does that through this through the Trinity and it seems so complex and yet the heart of it is just revealing God's love of God the Father and his love and God the Son who takes you and I to the place of redemption and the Holy Spirit who just works inside of and these three just work together constantly affirming one another and constantly working together pursuing mankind. this whole subject, God the Father who loves and his love is so far beyond and the Son who redeems us, bringing us back to the Father and the Holy Spirit who empowers us. He empowers us to live this life that Jesus pointed to which he referred to as life to the full or life more abundantly.

And Karen and I spent our last two years, we spent about two years in Florida before we've been here about 26 years. And the two years before that, we were a part of Christ Fellowship, a church in Palm Beach Gardens. And Tom Mullins was our pastor. And on this subject, Tom has a quote that I just I just want I grabbed that I wanted us to use it. And it kind of touches on this whole thing.

You see, the doctrine of the Trinity is not merely a theological concept to explain God. It's the revelation of how God loves us, desires to restore us, and he lives with us. I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to explain the Trinity. I want to talk about the three persons in the Trinity. And I just want us to walk away today with a foundational understanding, but a recognition of who God is and what it is he's doing and why he chose to reveal himself in this way.

And I let's look first at God the Father. God the Father loves us with an unconditional love. God himself said, "Let's make man in our image." and he created man and he created woman. He created both of those and it's it's because of that we have we have so much sports here in America. I mean we have our we have our professional football teams and it's because of this that we actually have the NBA.

How many basketball fans are in? Yeah, we have a few a few and we have the WNBA. How many of you are following the WNBA? Not yeah few of you. I'm I'm following it more now than I ever have because of two ladies in particular and I'm I'm just watching this thing and we're we're looking ahead with that and just want to see what really happens with that.

He said, "Let us make mankind in our image, the Trinity." One place that we clearly see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit was when Jesus was walking along the shores. John the Baptist was baptizing people and Jesus walks up and just steps into the water and John backs off and says, "I'm I am not worthy to baptize you." And Jesus says, "No, you need to do this." And Jesus knew that Scripture foretold that would happen. And so John baptizes him. And it says it says here in Matthew chapter 3 verse 16, it says, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. And at that moment, the heavens were open and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting on him." In other words, the Holy Spirit came down and hovered over Jesus and there was such a glow that it was so clear to everyone a lighting on him.

It goes on to say, "And a voice from heaven said, "This is my son whom I love and with him I am well pleased." God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all in one place at one time. And it was just such an amazing situation. Jesus, while he's there with John the Baptist, he's actually affirming John the Baptist ministry. John talked about repentance and baptism. And Jesus is affirming that by having John baptize him.

The Holy Spirit shows up to anoint Jesus as he begins his ministry and the Father speaks out to affirm his son. All of this happening right there. Spiritual baptism. It's symbolic of a cleansing. We when we're baptized, we're we're saying to those around us that we're taking the old me and we're burying it down in the water and up comes the new me.

I'm following Christ. It's symbolic of that very process. God does it in your life and in my life. And coming up out of baptism just places us in the arms of the Father's love. And then Jesus as he's so often he did in Luke.

He begins to tell a story that you and I are so familiar with it many of us. It's it's the story of the prodigal son. And it's it's the story of this son who says to his daughter, to his to his father, these two sons, one's younger, one's older, the younger one says to his dad, "Can you I just want you to give me my inheritance now. I don't want to do this life. I don't want I don't I don't want to be I don't want to be here in this family.

I just want to go do what I want to do." And Jesus is telling this whole story. And the Father gives him his inheritance. And you know the story, he gives him the inheritance and he takes all this money and he goes out and he is spending it like a rock star and he's sp he's doing he's doing all the stuff that you and I could imagine. And I mean he's just he is out there, man. He is spending this money on everything.

And then the money runs out. And when the money runs out, then the friends run out and the place to stay runs out and the restaurants are you can't go there anymore. And he has absolutely nothing. And he ends up in a pig pen. And in this pig pen, he's actually eating.

He's so desperate. He's eating the same food the pigs are eating. And the Bible says that it says when he comes to his senses, it's amazing how far sometimes we have to we have to go before we come to our senses. It took a pig pen to get him to come to his senses. And then he recognizes that even at home my dad's servants are live a better life than this.

And so he picks up and he heads towards his home. And he's thinking, you know, my dad maybe he'll just allow me to work as a servant. He knows he's blown it. He knows it's all he's destroyed everything. And the story goes on.

And as Jesus tells this story, he says the Father, as he saw the Son coming, it says from a far off, the Father begins to run towards his son. In that culture, men did not run. Men did not run. He picked up his clothes and he actually ran towards the sun. And Jesus is painting such a clear picture here. and when and he meets with his son, he actually takes his robe and he puts his robe around this mess that this guy is right now.

He puts his robe around him. It's it's to cover his shame and what he does is he takes the ring off of his finger and he places it on his son's finger so that his son understands who his identity is again. And then when he brings him back, he says, "Let's celebrate." and they kill the fatted calf and they have a huge celebration. And this isn't just the story of one son because frankly this is my story. This is our story because every one of us have wandered off from God.

And yet here the Father is all in on restoring this son. The arms of God always remain open. This is the heavenly father. This is God our father that we sang about this morning. The father has always had a plan in to restore us.

God has always had a plan to restore us in relationship to him. I don't think it's until we begin to understand how much God the Father loves us. I don't think it until we can understand that we really begin to get a picture of who God the Father is. He loves his children. We are his children.

He loves us with a love so far beyond what I think we can understand. church. I here's what we have to remember. We have that heavenly father, the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, you and I, you that may be a struggle if your if your earthly father just wasn't all that great. But even if your earthly father wasn't all that great, we have a heavenly father who loves us with a love that just never ends. And it's it's what the world is looking for.

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life. God the Father, God the Son, and the Son redeems us." The heavenly father's love is so clear, yet the Son redeems us. The love for the Father so much that he sent the Son. The love for the Son so much for us that he willingly came and willingly laid his life down. He took on human form so that we could see what God was like.

Jesus came to humanity so that we could finally see what God was like. And Jesus in John 10:10 said, "I and the Father are one." the two of us are one. After Jesus ascended into heaven, a after he left this earth physically about five years after that, the disciples were starting churches. The church was moving on. The book of Acts was rolling through a and the body of Christ was growing in huge ways.

But there was one guy in particular who was Jewish. He was all in on the Jewish faith. He was a Jewish leader. His name was Saul. And he was pursuing Christians and putting them in jail and killing them.

He poured his entire life into this. And about five years after Jesus was gone, Saul with letters from the from the Jewish leaders is on his way to Damascus. and he's on his way to Damascus to grab this group of Christians and get them to thrown in jail and get them to head towards execution. And while he's on the road heading toward Damascus, God himself blinds him with light and his entourage is with him and he's he's on the ground and he is blinded. And Jesus, the voice of Jesus says to him, "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" God himself steps into Saul's life, hits him head-on with the truth of who Jesus is. And Paul's life gets transformed, turned around, and through a window of time there, a short period of time, he goes through this process where he's being taught and he's learning and he gets totally changed in such a short period of time where he now begins to preach this same gospel that he was putting people in prison and putting them put ending their lives because of persecution.

The Apostle Paul is now preaching all through the church. He's starting churches all around that region. And about 25 years a after Jesus is gone, Paul writes this letter and he writes this letter to the to the Colossians church in Colossae. And this is what he said. This is this is what this is so precious because you got to remember where he was and what he was doing.

He was finding Christians and putting them in jail and putting them to death. And now here he is later preaching all around that region, starting churches all around that region, going on missionary journeys farther than anybody, trans taking this message all around that entire region. And Paul says in verse 13, for he, meaning the heavenly father, for he has rescued us from the domination of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. The son who spoke to him on the road to Damascus audibly and challenged him and his life was transformed. You have no idea who God will you can think of the worst person in your life and that would be Paul.

You and you have no idea what God who God will use. He says he brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins. The son this is Paul. The son is the image of the invisible God. the firstborn over all creation. For him for in him all things were created, things in heaven and things on earth, things that are visible and things that are invisible.

Whether you're talking about thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. Paul's saying, "Wait a minute. I want to make sure you understand you that this God the Father has given his son who laid his life down for your sins and for my sins. And Paul goes on to say and he says he says look let me make it even more clear. He says, "For God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile himself all things, whether things on earth, things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross." We have Christianity because Jesus was nailed to a cross. put in a tomb and rose from the grave.

We have a savior because the Son was willing to do that. He didn't simply just teach about salvation. He became salvation. Jesus said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life. I am the way.

I am the Son of God. I No man comes unto the Father, he said, but me. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. A and no one comes to the Father. Why?

Because he says the Father and I are one. This is God himself unrolling his plan. You say, "Well, James, isn't that kind of an exclusion?" I said, "No, it's not. It's not an exclusion. It's actually an absolute invitation to everyone.

Everyone. God is not, the Scripture says, God is not willing that anyone should perish. I'm the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. You see, only Jesus could restore what sin had broken in the garden of Gethsemane.

This is right before Jesus. He knows that he's going to go through unbelievable torture. He's going to be 39 times whipped at least three times. He's going to have this crown of thorns pressed on his head and the thorns go deep into his skull. He's he's going to be beaten and he's he's going to go through all of this.

And while he's in the garden praying, knowing this is coming and this is the day and this is the night. And while he's while he's praying, he prays to his father. He says, "If there's any way, let this cup pass from me." If there's any other way. And before he even takes a second breath, he goes on to say, "Yet it not my will, but yours be done." And his obedience, church, becomes our redemption. We have a savior because he was willing to obey God's plan.

And see, the cross wasn't an accident. It wasn't something that happened in history. The cross was love in action. Jesus laid his life down to redeem us to the Father. Salvation is not something we earn.

It's it's a gift that we receive because Jesus paid a price that you and I could never pay. And in John 10:10, Jesus says this. He says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." The enemy of your soul, the enemy of my soul, Satan himself, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But I, on the other hand, have come that you may have life and that you may have it to the full. God himself reveals himself in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

In John chapter 16, Jesus is talking to the disciples. And this is after he's risen from the dead and he's been seen all over the region. He's been seen actually with one group of over 500 people. And now he's at the place where he's getting ready to leave and they don't want him to leave. and Jesus said, "But very truly I tell you, it is good. It is for your good that I'm going.

Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." Him to you. Not it to you. I will send him to you. The third person in the Trinity, God has chosen to reveal himself to you and to me in three different manifestations that are always affirming each other.

Always working. Only God could do this. All always working together for your best and for my best. The Holy Spirit didn't really come to visit believers.

He came to indwell believers. When we accept Christ as our savior, the Holy Spirit just moves into our body and our lives. And he begins this process. The more we allow him, the more he works on us, the more he changes us. And here's what I know about some of us Christians.

We're we're we're okay with God the Father and the love of God the Father and we're okay with Jesus born of a virgin and he rose up and he began his ministry and then three years later they nailed him to a cross and put him in a grave and he and he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and we're okay with all that. But when we begin to talk about the Holy Spirit, it's we many of us just kind of get a little bit distant. Now, now you're talking about something else. I'm okay with God the Father and God the Son and we kind of and many of us ignore the Holy Spirit. It's kind of in a different place, especially when they call it the Holy Ghost, you know, then it's a whole it goes even further down. 1 hour, 11 minutes Uh, I just this morning want to touch on this for a little bit because and I've said this before, the Holy Spirit is not weird.

People do weird things, but the Holy Spirit is not weird. Jesus didn't lay his life down, die on a cross, and then say to you and say to me, I want you to I want you to allow my Holy Spirit to work in your life. I want to do things through your life with my Holy Spirit. You see, when you think in terms of the Holy Spirit, you have to also think in terms of Jesus. Yeah, Jesus is our example.

See, the Holy Spirit is not going to make you or anyone else do something that doesn't align itself with who Jesus was and the way he lived and the way he acted. And he said, "It's good for you that I'm going because I'm going to send the comforter who's going to work in you, who's going to transform, he's going to do everything you need him to do. And I and I know I know you can get on the internet and you can see all kinds of stuff that people point to the holy and they say that's what could I encourage you to trust your God, trust your father, trust your savior Jesus and trust him to allow his holy spirit to work in you. because it's what he wants to do and he is not weird. Push out misconceptions of what the Holy Spirit is and what he will do. One of 1 hour, 13 minutes the things the Holy Spirit does do is he gives us his he gives us gifts.

It's what he does. He gives us gifts that he will use. He gives us wisdom. He gives us truth. He gives us comfort, peace.

He gives us joy. He gives us hope. He gives us guidance. All of this is what God does through the Holy Spirit in your life and in my life. And God has always been about personal relationships.

And he wants you and I to have a personal relationship with him through the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. and we kind of get weird and freaky about it. You just need to lighten up, Francis, and let God do what he's going to do and move forward in your life and the way he wants to. God sent his son who willingly laid down his life for your sins and for my sins so that we could have life to the full through the Holy Spirit. A Barna survey recently 58% of self-identified Christians view the Holy Spirit as a symbol of God's power or presence rather than a living personal being. And yet Paul says be filled with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5:18.

Look on the screen with me. Being filled with the Holy Spirit does not make you better than anyone else. It makes you better than you. Because the work of God in your life and in my life is what we need. It's what he wanted for us.

We shouldn't be afraid of it. We shouldn't let misconceptions put a wall up that doesn't let him in. Let's let him in. The father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. It can seem so complex and yet what it really does is it reveals God's love.

The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit always working together for the redemption of mankind. You and me. Each one affirming the other always. The Father affirming the Son, the Son affirming the Father, the Holy Spirit affirming both of them.

How does this work in my life and in your life? You see, God has all it's always been personal to him. And God the Father, he planned redemption from the very beginning. And the Son accomplished redemption. And the Holy Spirit works out redemption in your life and in my life.

And the Trinity becomes the gospel. It becomes the good news. And Paul writes something that it's actually Paul's prayer for the church. And as I close, let's stand together because this is actually what I really what I what I prayed for me and what I pray for you. And Paul just wrote this wonderfully.

He says this in second Corinthians. He says the amazing grace of the master, the grace of God, the goodness of God, the more than we deserve grace of God. He says, "May the amazing grace of the master Jesus Christ and the extravagant love of God and the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Church, as we leave here this morning, looking at what we believe, such an important part of what we believe is how God the Father chose to reveal himself to mankind, specifically to you. I'm not talking about the person next to you. I'm talking about you.

God chose to reveal himself to you and to me through three different persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And is doing everything that he wants to do. And we'll continue to do that through these three persons together. And what he's actually doing is he's giving us what Jesus referred to as life more abundantly in the King James version in the NIV, life to the full. In other words, his goal is so that we live more of the life that he originally intended for us in relationship with him and transforming us to be more like him.

Let me just pray with you this morning, church. Let's let that let's let that find its place in our hearts. Let's let that become a part of who we recognize. The God that we recognize. You can look at the religions of the world.

Sorry, this is mine. This is where I'm living. This is the one I'm embracing. This is the one that said to me, "I am God. I am the way, the truth, the life.

And no one comes to the Father except by me." You don't make that statement unless you're a nut or you're God himself. Father, we come to you this morning just with grateful hearts, being able to recognize who you are. Your grace at work in our lives. Even the very fact that we recognize who you are and accept you as our savior is a work of your grace in our life and the work of your holy spirit in our life. Let me just take a second here with every head bowed, every eye closed.

If you're here this morning and you've never accepted Jesus as your savior or maybe you've walked with Christ in the past and you've just kind of walked away and you and you're distant, but you'd like to do that this morning. You'd say, "James, I believe that Jesus is who he says he is, the Son of God, and that he laid his life down for my sins, and I accept him as my savior." If you if you do that, that takes you from being from being lost to being found. That takes you that takes you from being God's creation to now being adopted into his family. And you become his child. with every head bowed this morning, every eye closed just for me as I close and pray for you this morning. Would you just if that's you, would you just simply put your hand right back right up and then and then put it down so I could recognize you.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Oh father Lord this morning we are so grateful for the work of your holy spirit in our lives. Even here this morning six hands that just went up. All of heaven rejoicing your family larger hell smaller. Father, we thank you this morning.

And for those of you who raised your hands, Lord, I pray I pray you just continue to touch their lives. I pray that you continue to draw them closer to you. We rejoice in the fact that they're part of your family, that heaven is their home, and that this life they will walk through with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. working on their behalf. Continue to do that in our lives. We pray Lord Jesus in your name we pray.

Amen. And amen and amen.