There are three foundational truths that Bible describes to us about the Trinity.  I can grasp those, but ultimately my mind and my ability to explain the Trinity is very limited.  The important thing to remember is God describes Himself as One and yet Three not to confuse us, or give us a reason to debate, but because He wants us to know Him more and relate to Him fully.  Some notes from my message Sunday are below.

There are three foundational truths about the Trinity:
1. The trinity consists of three persons:

• The father is not the son. –John 3:16-17: 16″For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
• The Son is not the Spirit  and The Spirit is not the Father. –John 14:26 : 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

2.  Each Person is fully God:

• The Father is fully God.
• The Son is fully God…He claimed it “If you ‘ve seen me, you’ve seen the father.”  When Jesus was tried in Luke 22 they asked him point blank,  “Are you the Christ, are you the Son of God?”  He said, “Yes.”
• Thus, since Jesus claimed to be God, He must be one of the following:

–1. Lunatic: Jesus was not God, but believed that he was.
–2. Liar: Jesus did not believe he was God, but spoke as if he did.
–3. Lord: Jesus is God.

• The Holy Spirit is fully God.  …Act 5 “You have lied to the Hs, not to men, But God”
  And Jesus himself speaks of the three on equal terms in the Great commission

3.  There is only one God.

• Deut 6:4: Jesus himself would pray this a number of times a day…”Hear o Israel, the Lord our god, the Lord is One.”   when asked about the most important command, Jesus said this was it.
• The First commandment of the Ten Commandments says, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
• Isaiah records these two statements from God:  “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no god” and “I am the lord, and there is no other.”
• In the New Testament:  “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

Poll of the week… Which practice of personal devotion is your least consistent?

I like to watch infomercials.  I love the way they persuade me to cut aluminum cans with my kitchen knives, cook whole frozen turkeys in just thirty minutes, and watch my waist slim down just by pressing the “on” switch to some new contraption.  I was thinking of infomercials when I started preparing this week’s message on personal devotion.

Asking people to engage in acts of personal devotion to God is sort of like what I see taking place in the infomercial.  The salesman didn’t put on his little bow tie just to explain that sharp knives cut better than dull ones; we already believe that.  I mean, who doesn’t value a good meal in a short amount of time?  And needless to say, they don’t have to convince us that exercising is better than not exercising.  My point is that I don’t have to sell others on the value of personal devotion.  We already believe that praying and Bible and worship are important.  What seems to be needed is the motivation to act on what we already value.

Now, I don’t mean to devalue Godly devotion by comparing it to sales and manipulation.  But I think there is a lesson to be found in the infomercial illustration–albeit maybe just a small one.  Here is what I get from this comparison…We sometimes need a boost of motivation to begin doing what we already value.  In other words, I’m not interested in giving the audience a lecture to explain why prayer, the Bible, and worship are good for us–that will be assumed.  What I am looking for is a holy inspired motivation where we “get off the couch” and begin to do it.

Let’s get past the salesman’s deal…after all he only had to get you to call up and order the exercise equipment.  Once he delivers the goods, it’s up to you whether it gets you buff or collects dust.  Now think about a hiring a personal trainer.  A personal trainers job would be to continually motivate you to do what you value.

So how much motivation do you need to act on your personal devotion throughout the week?  Do you need more consistency, do you need a schedule, do you need someone to personally train you?  My hope is that Sunday will be a motivation to our devotion, and perhaps–as they say in the infomercials…”you’re guaranteed results in ten days or less!”

If you haven’t chimed in on the personal devotion poll, please do so, and I’ll see you Sunday!