FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
God's Oneness and Threeness: For Those Who are Lonely | Deuteronomy 6 & Ephesians 4:6
Ready to taste the richness of faith as vividly as you savor your favorite meals? Discover how the wisdom from Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 34:8 can deepen your personal experience with God. We'll explore how the tangible pleasure of food, like Oreos or a hearty Texas Roadhouse meal, parallels the spiritual experience of tasting and seeing the goodness of the Lord. This episode is your invitation to build on our past discussions about the existence, knowability, transcendence, immanence, greatness, and goodness of God.
Ever wondered how different cultures and religions perceive God, and how this shapes our own understanding? Engage with us as we unravel the profound doctrine of the Trinity, emphasizing the Christian belief in one true God existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Using scriptures such as Deuteronomy 6:4 and Ephesians 4:6, we highlight the importance of embracing God's unity and the deep love and commitment it inspires. Recognizing the challenges faced by those of different or no faiths, we advocate for an approach rooted in love and patience, trusting in God’s universal reach.
Finally, we embark on an exploration of the Trinity’s mystery, from creation to Jesus' baptism, emphasizing its foundational role in scripture. We'll discuss common misconceptions and pitfalls in explaining the Trinity, reinforcing the distinct yet unified nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we conclude, we invite new members to take their next steps in faith, whether through baptism, joining a group, or engaging in ministry. Let’s lift our voices in worship, celebrating the triune God with renewed fervor and trust, deepening our connection to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
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Go ahead and open your Bibles right now, and we're going to start. We're going to get started here in let's see. You can go and turn to Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy 6. Thanks for coming this morning as we are continuing our series that is called Encountering God. Encountering God, the Bible says in Psalm 34, verse 8,.
Speaker 1:The Bible says Taste and see that the Lord is good. It's interesting how God uses food as a metaphor. As we taste, we have to literally put the food in our mouth in order to see how good the food is. It doesn't do us any good for someone to describe how good the food is as we get to experience it for ourself. In the same way, god's got to be in your life. He's got to be in your life in order for you to experience him, in order for you to encounter him.
Speaker 1:Just this past, I think yesterday Brooklyn Brooklyn just talks a mile a minute and she's talking all day long and I took her on a walk yesterday. She said dad, please don't talk during this walk. I've got to think about Paw Patrol the entire time, and so I said, okay, sounds great to me, let's be quiet. And she talked the entire time. And yesterday we were all in the living room and Brooklyn said hey, mom, and Michelle said yeah. And she said, mom, we gotta get some Oreos up in this house. Let's get some Oreos up in here. And we hadn't had Oreos in the house for months. But she wanted to taste and see that the Oreos are good. Amen.
Speaker 1:And you know, my favorite restaurant is Texas Roadhouse. You can't have a bad meal at Texas Roadhouse. My parents were in town. They gave Michelle and I an opportunity to go out on a little date night, a little date lunch, and Texas Roadhouse I mean, we had the peanuts, we had the bread, we had the rolls, we had the butter, we had some cheesy fries. Cheesy bacon fries is the appetizer. I had a loaded baked sweet potato, I had a ribeye and I had a sweet tea and I had a salad. Because I'm on a diet, can I get an amen? And I got to taste and see that the Lord is good.
Speaker 1:Well, that's what we are talking about here. As we are talking about encountering God together, encountering God. This may not be working. All right, that's right. It wasn't working earlier either. Encountering God together Now, as we talk about encountering God, just as a reminder, this series is not just to be a series to entertain you.
Speaker 1:This series is to be a series to encourage you. So a question I would ask is that, now that you've been going through this series, have you been encountering God more than ever before? Because that is the purpose of as to why this series has been written. Just as a reminder, the series started on August the 4th earlier this month and we talked about the existence of God and we talked about how God exists, but also that God is knowable. God exists and he's knowable, and so God exists and the whole purpose of him to exist is that we know him, but not just to know that he's there and not just to know about him. Do you just know about God or do you know God personally? Then, on August 11, we talked about God's transcendence, that God is over and he is above all things, but also his eminence, that he is near, he is close and he is with us through Jesus. We talked about last week God's greatness, his attributes of greatness, that God is. He's omnipresent, he's all powerful, he's all wise, he's omniscient, he has greatness. But at the same time, we talked about his goodness, that God is kind, he's loving, he's merciful, he is gracious. Are you encountering God all the more. If you missed any of these, you can go back. Go back to YouTube, go back to our website. You can check them all out.
Speaker 1:If you need a reminder, need a refresher, and this morning we're going to be talking about God's oneness and his threeness, that God is one and yet somehow God is three, that there is one God who somehow exists in three persons that we call the Trinity. You know, I think about people that I have in my life, my friends, my family that said that they don't believe in God or that they haven't given their life to God. One of my favorite questions for them is this If you don't believe in God and if you haven't given your life to God, then please describe for me the God that you don't believe in, the God that you won't give your life to, because chances are I wouldn't believe in or give my life to that God either. Because when we talk about the God of the Bible, the one, the true, the living God, and you learn about his greatness and yet his goodness, you learn about his power and you learn about his love, you learn about his power and you learn about his love, then how can you not help but want to give your life to him. Let's look at the threeness of God. If God is one and God is three, first of all, god is one. Everybody say one the Bible says. The Bible teaches that we believe in one God. Everybody say one the Bible says and there are different views, there are different views on the one God that God is one.
Speaker 1:Some people say that God is none, such as atheists or agnostics, and I've got friends and I've got family members that are in that stage, in that season of their life. And what do we do with atheists and agnostics? Obviously we love them. Why? Because God loves them and we want to minister to them and be gracious to them and help them and be patient with them. Do you know that there are about 1.5 billion people on the planet that would call themselves an atheist or agnostic?
Speaker 1:They would say that there is no God. And, by the way, the burden of proof is on them because everything comes down to the origin of all of things, right? So how did everything? If there is no God, then how did everything begin? They have to explain it, as there is some type of power, there is some type of energy, there is some type of source that everything came from. The problem is and here's what they can't explain is how does material come from? Immaterial is, and here's what they can't explain is how does material come from immaterial? How does everything come from nothing? And how does personal come from impersonal? Those things break their own scientific laws, their own scientific theories, their own scientific facts. God is none.
Speaker 1:The next, some others would say that God is many, that there are many different gods, maybe that these are our friends that are Hindu, our friends that are Buddhist, those that we get to talk to about their religion and their faith. And, by the way, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is convicting the entire world, which means you can talk to anybody about the one true living God, and God is already working in their life. No one is too far out of the reach of God, no matter what religion they're a part of. Can I get an amen? There are somewhere around 1.2 billion Hindus, somewhere around 500 million different Buddhists, and they all believe that there are many different gods. And then there are those that say no, that God is one. We have our Muslim friends that say that God is one, that Allah is God and that his prophet is Muhammad. There are somewhere around 1.52 billion Muslims in our world today. Also, jews there are somewhere around 15 million different Jews in our world today that they would say that God is one, but yet that Jesus is not the Messiah, jesus is not the Savior. They believe that the Messiah is still to come, and so we believe in the God of Christianity, the God of the Bible. Why? Because he is the one, the true, the living God. Why Because he is the one, the true, the living God. There are 2.5 billion people that call themselves Christians today make up about 30% of our world. So there's a lot of different views on God.
Speaker 1:God is one. Everybody say one. Here are some scriptures, just so you can see where the Bible says that God is one. Deuteronomy 6.4 says hear, o Israel, the Lord, our God. The Lord is one, the Lord is one. It's interesting the very next verse says so love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength. And so when you are thinking about the doctrine of God and the oneness of God in comparison with the threeness of God, it is something that we have to remember. It's not just a theological truth to know, but it's a theological truth that drives us to love God. All the more Can I get an amen, the Lord, our God, is one. Also, ephesians, chapter 4, verse 6. Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 6, says that there is one. Everybody say one there is one God and Father of all. So we see here, even in the New Testament says that, that there is one God. We see the verse even just before that. We see that there is one Lord, the Lord here, speaking of Jesus. There's one Lord, and because there's one Lord hear me, because there's one God who's God and Father, there's one Lord who is Jesus Christ. The Bible then says that there is one faith. The Bible says that there is no such thing that it's impossible in order for all faiths to be true, there can only be one truth, only one way to God, especially when all of these world religions disagree with one another. The Bible says because there's one God, because there's one Father who's over all and through all and in all, because there's one Lord Jesus, then there is one faith. Everybody say faith. Because there's one faith, there's only one baptism, the baptism that Jesus underwent, the baptism that Brandon underwent this morning. Baptism is when we go under the water and when we come out of the water, there's literally no other baptism. You can look it up for yourself. There's no other baptism in the Bible than the baptism of immersion.
Speaker 1:Ephesians, chapter four, verse four, says there's one body he's talking about the church and there's one spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. So here's what I want you to see. We're talking about one God. There is one God who is one God who is the Father. There is one God who is one God who is the Father. There is one God who is the Lord, he is the Son. There is one God who is the Spirit. And there is one faith, one way of salvation in our life. What does God do? God calls us right. He calls us to salvation. He has called you to believe in Jesus. He has called you to have faith in Jesus Christ, and because of that faith, then you have hope in Christ, because you know that then Jesus is your Savior. And so what do you do with that? The Bible says then, because of that, then there is one baptism. We believe in Jesus through faith and then we are baptized. I just want to encourage you. We love to baptize people here. We love it because it is that symbol of life change. It is a public profession proclamation of faith. If you have not yet been saved, I want to encourage you to get saved, to give your life to Jesus and then to go forward in believer's baptism. I want to encourage you, if you have been saved but you've not been biblically baptized, on this side of your salvation, in the here and now, then I want to encourage you, if you've not yet been baptized since your salvation, to get baptized, because the Bible says that, because that there is one God, there is one call, there's one faith, there's one hope. Therefore, there's one baptism and there is one body that is the church. We do not believe that we are the only church by any means. We believe that we are a part of the one church. And what is a one true church? That all churches should be a part of the one church. And what is a one true church? That all churches should be a part of? The church should be the body of Jesus Christ Churches that preach Jesus, churches that worship Jesus, churches that believe in the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and that Jesus alone is our salvation. Jesus alone is our hope. Jesus alone is our faith. Can I get an amen? So that's what we believe? He is one, god and Father, the Lord and the Spirit. One salvation. Call the faith and the hope in one way to the baptism, through baptism and into the body of Jesus. God is one, everybody say one. What am I trying to do this morning? We're about to go into now. God is one. Everybody say one. What am I trying to do this morning? We're about to go into now. God is three, everybody say three. I have the honor of preaching on God as Trinity that it has taken people thousands of years to write and to seek to explain and we're going to do it in about 15 minutes. What could possibly go wrong. Can I get an amen? Here we go. God is three, god is three.
Speaker 1:Augustine, one of the church fathers, back in 400 AD. Augustine said if you deny the Trinity, that God is three, if you deny the Trinity, you lose your soul, he said. But if you try to explain the Trinity, you lose your mind. There's a lot of truth to that. He actually took 15 years out of his life. In all he studied, all he researched, all he talked about and all he contemplated was the Trinity. And 15 years later, in about 416 AD, he wrote a book called On the Trinity. And 15 years later, in about 416 AD, he wrote a book called On the Trinity. And it is a book, now that here we are, 15, 1600 years later, that we still read and learn from today, because it is so vital to our faith.
Speaker 1:Augustine said you will never fully understand the Trinity. He said he had studied it for 15 years and that's all that he did. And he said he was still having this problem, this issue that he was trying to understand how to explain it, but also how to comprehend it for himself. He said he was walking around one day and he was thinking to himself how do I understand this? There is one God to himself. How do I understand this? There is one God who exists in three persons and they're all equally God, but yet there's only one God. How do I understand this?
Speaker 1:He said he was walking down the beach as he was thinking about it and there was a little boy who was digging a hole. The little boy dug his hole and he noticed the little boy ran down to the ocean, he put his bucket in the water. And he came and he poured the water into the hole and he kept doing it back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth. And Augustine said he walked up to the little boy and he asked the little boy what are you doing, son? And the little boy said I am trying to pour the ocean into this hole. And Augustine said it hit him, just as that hole could never hold the entire ocean, how could a finite human mind ever think that we could hold, we could fully comprehend or understand the infinity of God's trinity? In other words, let me encourage you, you'll never fully understand it, you'll never fully comprehend it, you'll never fully get it, but that doesn't mean you can't fully believe it, it doesn't mean you can't fully accept it and that doesn't mean you can't fully trust God and believe God and fully love God. Can I get an amen?
Speaker 1:Here are some things that we are just kind of hanging on when it comes to the Trinity, god is three. The definition of the Trinity, trinity literally means tri-unity or three-in-oneness. God is three in one. So here are the main things that we hold our theological hats on. Number one there is one God. Everybody say one. We believe in one God, that God. Number two is three distinct persons. Everybody say three. He is one God. He is three persons. Number the third truth those three persons are Father, son and Holy Spirit. And then number four each member of the Trinity are fully and equally God. The Son is God, the Father is God, the Spirit is God. But yet as all three are fully and equally God, the Bible teaches that there is only one God. So let's just look at the scripture right now and look at how each person of the Trinity is fully God. We see this through the Bible.
Speaker 1:Anybody feel like they're in school, yet you feel like you're back in high school Bible class. Maybe you're in college, maybe you feel like you're in seminary. Here we go. You're welcome, here we go. The Father is God Says it all throughout the Bible. I'd love to give you every verse. I don't mind preaching that long. You just don't wanna listen that long. Psalm 89, verse 26. Says he shall cry to me you are my Father, my God, the rock of my salvation. So there we go. The Father is God.
Speaker 1:Next, john 1.1,. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word is speaking of Jesus, the Logos. So he says that Jesus even from the beginning, that Jesus was God. He is God. 2 Corinthians 3.18,. I love this verse. And we all, with unveiled face, we, you behold the glory of the Lord and we, you are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. That's your spiritual growth. For this comes from the Lord, this comes from God, who is the Spirit. We see that the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus the Son is God, god the Father is God. So you have God the Father. You have not just Jesus as the Son of God, but Jesus as God the Son, and then you also have the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God.
Speaker 1:Remember, augustine said if you deny the Trinity, you lose your soul. If you try to explain it, you lose your mind. Just this week I was talking to Buddy Reeves about all this and Buddy said he said it's funny now that you mention it. He said we were at a I think they're at a camp, maybe it was a First Baptist camp and he had a friend who were with some teenagers or some little kids and the friend called Buddy over. Buddy, can you come over here just for a minute. Buddy, just for a minute, come over here just for a minute. And Buddy came over and his friend said hey, buddy, they're all listening. Could you just go ahead and explain the Trinity to them real quick? Go ahead, go ahead and explain the Trinity real fast. And Buddy's like what are you talking about? This takes thousands of years for us. You can't just do it quickly.
Speaker 1:Well, sometimes we use different illustrations to try to explain the Trinity, such as just some different Trinity heresies. We try to use the egg sometimes. You ever heard of the egg illustration? Well, what is God like? If you really want to understand the Trinity, think about an egg. There's a shell and there's a yolk and there's the egg whites.
Speaker 1:But the problem is that illustration falls short. It actually falls into a heresy called partialism, meaning that there are three parts to every egg and there are three parts to God. God doesn't have three parts, he has three persons. It's actually very different. They all three don't make up God. They all three are God, but yet there's one God. Good luck. All right, here we go.
Speaker 1:The second one is the clover. The clover, so many people have said well, how about the clover? There are three leaves in a three-leaf clover, and so all three of them are a part of this clover. They make up God because they are. Nope, sorry, that's a heresy too. That doesn't work right, because it's partialism, it falls into different heresies and whatnot. Why? Because each of these leaves are not of themselves a clover. Or some people have said well, what about ice, water and vapor? Isn't that God? Because all three of them are H2O. These are different parts of H2O, and so you have ice and you have water and you have vapor. Well, it's cute, but no, sorry, that's a heresy too. It doesn't work. Why? Because ice, water and vapor don't all exist at the same time. And there's a heresy. It's called modalism, and modalism says God existed as Father in the Old Testament, god existed as Son in the New Testament and God exists as spirit now. In other words, there's one God, but only one person at a time. That's not what the Bible teaches.
Speaker 1:I was once explaining this to teenagers and I had a teenager raise his hand. His name was Logan. Logan said I got it, pastor Chip, I got it. I was trying to tell him. There's no such thing as a perfect illustration or analogy. He said I got it. I got it, pastor Chip, I got one. I said, all right, logan, what do you got, man? He said I got it A three-headed dog.
Speaker 1:A three-headed dog. And I said, really, explain it. He said, well, they're all a part of the dog. The dog has three heads. If you cut off the other two heads, you still got one head. I was like that's sick man. And he said, no, go with me.
Speaker 1:And dog spelled backwards is God, it's perfect. I got it. It's the three-headed dog. I said no, that doesn't work either. To be honest, there's no perfect illustration. There's no perfect analogy. This might be as close to a diagram as we can get to understand the Trinity. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, but yet there are three distinct persons. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not the Father, but yet all of them are of themselves, are God, but yet we only serve one God. There's no perfect way to understand it, there's no great way to understand it, but here's what we do know is that we can, even though we don't understand it fully or comprehend it infinitely, that we can still trust God, we can still know God, we can still believe in God and we can still love God.
Speaker 1:I'd like to take the next couple of minutes and just nerd out with you for a minute and I just wanna show you and then we'll be done the Trinity throughout the entire scriptures, in each major of the five major events of scripture. First of all, I wanna show you the Trinity in creation. Everybody say creation, the Trinity in creation. Here we go. Here's what it says In the beginning God, we've got the Father, created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the Spirit here's, the Holy Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters and God said let there be light. And there was light. Where is Jesus, the Son? Well, we know that Jesus is, he called himself the light of the world. But also it says that God said remember we read earlier that Jesus is the Word. John 1 says that God created everything through his Word, which is meaning through Jesus. Here We've got the Father, we've got the Son and we've got the Holy Spirit. If you're following me, say yeah. Look at the next one, genesis 3.22. We're looking here at the fall.
Speaker 1:It says the Lord. God said behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. In other words, god uses plural language for himself. He did the same thing when he created humanity. He said let us make man in our image. God refers to himself in the plural. And also in the Tower of Babel, god said let us go down and see speaking of himself. God refers to himself in plural because God is Trinity Luke 1.35,.
Speaker 1:And the angel answered her this is the birth of Jesus. The angel answered her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High, that is, god, the Father, will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God At the birth of Jesus. There you have the Trinity Also, not just the birth of Jesus, but also we see here that in the baptism of Jesus, in the baptism of Jesus, we see the Trinity Matthew 3, 16. And there he was. Jesus was being baptized. Immediately he went up from the water and, behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit of God. We see the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, coming to rest on him and behold, a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Who is that voice? That voice obviously is God, the Father.
Speaker 1:We see God who is present at the baptism of Jesus. God loves baptism. We see the great commission. When Jesus dies, he rises from the dead. In his last words to his disciples, before he ascended to heaven, in the great commission, he said therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, all ethnicities, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, all three members of the Trinity, teaching them to observe everything that I've commanded. You Behold, I am with you, even to the end of the age. Also, this is the last one eternity.
Speaker 1:It's amazing how, even in the beginning, in creation, we see all of the Trinity. Why? Because God has never had a beginning. God has always existed. Eternity passed. God as Trinity will always exist into eternity. Future Come and I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb, who is Jesus. And he carried me away in the spirit, who is the Holy Spirit, to a great high mountain and showed me a holy city, jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God. We see the Father, we see the Son and we see the Holy Spirit here in the Trinity. But here's where I wanna end. I wanna end with how your life and my life, how our life, has changed because of the Trinity. I wanna show you how this applies to your life. This applies to your life first and foremost because we have the opportunity to encounter God. You know your salvation was architected by God. He wanted to save you because he loves you, because he created you hear me so he sent his son Jesus to die for you to rise from the dead, for you, so that you could trust in Jesus, so then God could send his spirit into you, into your life.
Speaker 1:The Bible is written by God the Father. It says the Bible is all about God, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is the one who teaches you the Word of God, who enlightens you to understand the Scriptures. When you pray, the Bible says that you are praying to the Father, you're praying through the name of the Son and you are praying by the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, you're not just encountering a God, you are encountering the one true, living triune God. Can I get an amen? You're encountering the triune God.
Speaker 1:Secondly, the Trinity changes the way in which that we do community with one another. See, the Bible says that God himself is a community. He's father, he's son and he's spirit and he creates you in his image and that's why you desire community, because that's who he is and he created you to be like him. God does something miraculous when you get into community, when you get into group and you start studying the word with other believers and you start being vulnerable and you start being transparent and God does something about your transformation that you are. He's making you more like Jesus in the context of community. Why? Because God loves it when his children love each other and talk about him.
Speaker 1:Just this past Wednesday night. As we have groups all over this building on Sunday mornings, wednesday nights, throughout the week, I want you to be a part of a group because God wants to do something special in your life that will only be unlocked by community. This past Wednesday night in my group in the fellowship hall, we had a group around the table that were just kind of talking about struggles and suffering and hardships in their life and a lady around the table said I never knew that Christians struggled like I struggle. She said I thought it was just me. She would have never known if it wasn't for community. Same night, different group, this past Wednesday, in a group the question was what has been your greatest joy and what has been your greatest grief in your life? And a lady shared to her group and she said my greatest joy is when my son was born. And she said my greatest grief is when I buried him two years later. Another young lady was in the room, young mom was in the room. Young mom was in the room and she said this I have never met someone else in my life that has gone through what I've gone through until now, because she had to bury her little boy too.
Speaker 1:It's the beauty of community. We get to learn that we're not alone. We get to learn that we're not crazy. We get to learn that we're not crazy. We get to learn that we are all going through this journey of life together. The importance of community, because the Trinity is a community.
Speaker 1:Diversity and I'm almost done diversity. There is a diversity within the Trinity. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father. There is a unity in diversity. They're all three, fully God. There's only one God. Three persons, and so listen. So God creates us in diversity. He creates in diversity of gender, male and female. He creates us in diversity of ethnicity. He creates us in diversity of nationality. And do you know what God loves? He creates us in diversity of nationality, and do you know what God loves? God loves it when diversity comes together in unity, that our greatest similarity is not our skin tone, is not our background, is not our national heritage, but our greatest unity is the gospel of Jesus Christ himself. Can I get an amen? God is glorified in churches where there is unity in diversity. He loves it when different people get together and we all just agree on Jesus. We all agree and we worship Jesus together.
Speaker 1:And then, lastly, mission. You ever thought about this? The Father sent Jesus, the Son, to the earth. Jesus comes to the earth, he lives for 30 years, he dies, he rises from the dead, he ascends to heaven and Acts 2.33 says the Son then sends the Spirit, and the Spirit comes to the earth and the Spirit lives within the believers. And you know what the Spirit does. The Spirit sends you, the Father sends the Son, the Son sends you, the Father sends the Son, the Son sends the Spirit and the Spirit sends you on mission.
Speaker 1:What is your mission? It's your ministry. It's this week. It's all those different people that you're gonna talk to out in the community. Your mission is all those different conversations you're gonna have. Your mission is all those different people that you're going to come across. Your mission is all those different people that you're going to come across. Your mission is all of the different opportunities that you're going to have to just love on people and encourage people and be generous to people and to name drop Jesus and just to speak man. Man, I'm doing great, not because I'm good, but because God is good, because of how much he's blessed me, and you just get to spread the name of Jesus because the Holy Spirit is sending you as the Son sent him and as the Father sent the Son. That's how we encounter God.
Speaker 1:Next week will be our last message on encountering God and I want to teach on how to encounter God in your devotional life. But let's all bow our heads and close our eyes. With every head bowed and every eye closed. I just wanna encourage you this morning that maybe you just need to talk to the Lord right now. You need to talk to the triune God and you just need to tell him and just say God, I love you, father, I love you, holy Spirit, I love you Father, I love you, holy Spirit, I love you, jesus, I love you. And you may just need to encounter him, even just in this moment. Reach out to him in this moment, speak to him in this moment, experience him in this moment and maybe this morning, god has just done something special in you that he's never done before. It's what God loves to do through his word, and maybe this morning he is calling you to give your life to him. You ever thought about this? Jesus fully gave all of his life to you so that you could fully give all of your life to him.
Speaker 1:And right here, right now, you can say a prayer like this I can't pray this for you and I can't save you, but you can say a prayer like this from your own heart and your own words, and you can give your life to Jesus as the Lord of your life. You can say something like this dear Jesus, I believe in you and I need you. And Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for all of my sin and I pray this morning that you would forgive me of all my sin and you can say, dear Jesus, and I believe that you rose from the dead, you're alive. And you can say, dear Jesus, and I believe that you rose from the dead, you're alive. So I want to turn away from my sin and I want to turn and I want to give my life to you. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved and from the dead you will be saved. So right here, right now, you can call on Jesus. Jesus, be the Lord of my life, be my God, be my Savior, be my leader, be my Lord, be my everything. I give you all of me. Thank you for giving me all of you, jesus. We believe that. We thank you for that truth. We pray that all in your name, in Jesus' name, you know, guys, people said would you put your hands together right now for anybody that gave their life to Jesus?
Speaker 1:This morning, we just want to say welcome to the family. If that's you this morning, I want to encourage you to grab one of our next step cards. You can just fill it out. You can take it to our next step station. You can just say on there, man, I got saved. You can put on there if you need to get baptized, if you want to join a group, if you want to join one of our ministries, if you're a teacher, you'll get to go and get your gift card this morning. Make sure and take that next step card with you, fill out your information and write your school at the top. Please Write your school at the top and that's how you get your gift card this morning.
Speaker 1:After this song, let's all stand together, let's sing this last song of worship to our triune God. I pray that this will be the time in your life where you encounter God the most, in this moment that you will sing to him like you've never sung to him before. You'll give him all the honor and the glory from your life like you never have before. Heavenly Father, we love you and God. We pray in Jesus' name, lord, that you would continue to move, that your spirit would move, your spirit would move in us, move us closer to Jesus, your son. God, all for your glory. We pray, god, we will never fully understand you, but, god, we can fully trust you, love you, believe in you, god. That's what we'll do. We fully worship you in this moment. We pray these things in Jesus' name Amen. Let's worship Jesus together.