The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity – 2023

Dear BLCF Friends,

Effective April 10, 2022, Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church will reopen by reservation only for Sunday worship under the limitations and guidelines set by Public Health and the Board of BLCF. In order to protect those who are vulnerable at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship from COVID-19 Virus infection, the BLCF Board mandates that the church will be open by reservation, with the following rules:

• attendees must wear a mask while on the premises
• attendees give their contact information upon arrival
• attendees observe two meters of social distance while seated
• attendees use hand sanitizer as needed
• attendees follow any additional directions given by members of the board, while inside the church

Please be advised that both the BLCF Café Community Dinner and the BLCF Wednesday Prayer Service will continue to remain closed effective March 16, 2020, and until further notice. We pray with the administration of sufficient COVID-19 vaccinations, and following the determination of Health Canada and other Health Authorities, that the danger of the Pandemic will have subsided sufficiently, to allow BLCF to reopen safely more of our worship and outreach activities without any concern of infection to the vulnerable within our community.

– Pastor Steve

 

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity

© January 22, 2023, by Steve Mickelson

Based on Messages Shared at BLCF on August 21, 2022, May 30, 2021, November 3, 2019, September 10, 2017, and September 15, 2013

BLCF Bulletin November 3, 2019

BLCF Bulletin September 10, 2017

BLCF Bulletin September 15, 2013 

Announcements and Call to Worship; Prayer                                                           

Prayer and Tithing Hymn #572: Praise God from Whom All Blessings 

Doxology (Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow) Instrumental – https://youtu.be/Mk4p3rihONU

Responsive Reading #641 “Christian Assurance” (-from Romans 8)

Music Specials: 

Be the Centre – Michael Frye – (lyrics) –  https://youtu.be/MERQ0P6O0CE

Exalt The Lord – Cindy Reithmeir – (lyrics) – Vineyard Worship – https://youtu.be/0O83JgzzoL4

I Lift My Eyes Up – Brian Doerksen – (lyrics) – https://youtu.be/dwdi3pnQ4aQ

Message by Steve Mickelson: ‘The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity’

Let us pray…

Welcome to our Sunday Morning Praise and Worship Service, here at BLCF. We are pleased to have Terry Sywanyk of Coldwater Roots here at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship here to lead us with Worship Music for today’s service. Terry was a stalwart musician, singing and playing for the dinner guests at our BLCF Cafe Community Dinner for over a decade, as well as performing two fundraiser concerts a year in support of the dinner.

Our lesson for today is entitled The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity, where we examine the Trinity of God, and a similar trinity of humanity. 

Several years ago, some of you may recall seeing the 2017 Stuart Hazeldine movie, The Shack, a Christian film, based on William P. Young’s 2007 novel of the same title. The Shack dealt primarily with the topics of how the Godhead or Trinity of God deals with pain and suffering among Christians, and the nature of the love that God has for us in times of darkness and tribulation.

For the lesson today, I would like to talk about similarities and differences between the Trinity of God, sometimes referred to as the Godhead, and another trinity, namely the trinity of the human race. Yes, there is a trinity aspect of people, though not quite the same as the trinity of God. While one trinity, (of humanity) is not widely known, or at the least spoken about, particularly in the context of the other. And the other Trinity, (of God), though spoken about frequently, is often misunderstood.

Hopefully, by the end of this lesson, we will have better knowledge and understanding of both trinities, particularly how the two relate to each other.

Let us begin with the one that is more frequently spoken about by Christians and frequently misunderstood, which is the Trinity of God. This Trinity is used to describe three Divine aspects or expressions of God: the Father/Creator, the Son/Word-made-flesh, and the Holy Spirit.  It is here that we often encounter some controversy amongst various denominations of the Christian Church, as well as criticism from those who challenge the Christian faith as monotheistic.

When we read the King James Version of 1 John 5:7-8, we see a direct reference to the Trinity being three aspects of one God.

⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.                    

Recently, some Biblical scholars have questioned whether the disciple John authored this version of the Scripture as found in the King Kames Version translation, since there may be some evidence to indicate verse from the original, which many authorities agree should be read as found in the English Standard Version of 1 John 5:7-8 (ESV):

⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

At first blush, it appears that the mention of the Trinity, which is clearly described in the King James translation, seems to be omitted by the English Standard translation. However, if we examine the English Standard translation more closely, we see that the ESV implies the same message as the KJV, though more by inference than by words in the ESV, which is a more subtle expression of the same thought.

If this verse were the only passage of Scripture that supports the Trinity of God, then we could say that the existence of the Holy Trinity is open to debate and possibly doubt. Fortunately, we have other verses that support the singularity of the Godhead.

At the beginning of the Bible, we read that God refers to Himself in the plural, using the personal pronouns: “us” and “our” rather than “me” and “my” as we read in Genesis 1:26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man^[a] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. – Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

But who is it comprised of the ”we” and ”us” mentioned in this passage, describing the beginning of the Bible:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.   – John 1:1 (ESV)

So we know that God was the Word, but who is the Word? Those of you familiar with the scripture likely already have an idea, as we read from John 1:14:

  

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.            –  John 1:14 (ESV)  

This passage refers to Jesus, also referred to in the Bible as the “Word made flesh”. But was Jesus there in the creation?  From John 1:1 and John 1:14, we may conclude that Jesus or the Word was with God and the Word was God. To help us understand this relationship better, Jesus put it simply in John 10:30:

  

³⁰ I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 (ESV)     

What about the Holy Spirit? Was the Spirit there at the beginning? The answer to this question is found in Genesis 1:2:

 

²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.         – Genesis 1:2 (ESV)   

Let us recap. We have at the beginning God referring to himself as a plural Entity, using the personal pronouns we and ours. We are told that Jesus, the Word made flesh, was there at the beginning of creation, as was the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but three distinct aspects of the same God: a Trinity.

I wonder how many of you know the children’s story of Peter Pan, a free-spirited eternal youth who became separated from his shadow, which both confused and complicated his life until his friend Wendy took and thread in hand and sewed the shadow back to Peter, making him happy and whole again. This somewhat silly child’s tale makes for a good analogy to the human condition.

Adam and Eve, created in the image of God had a good relationship with the Creator. That was until Satan took the form of a serpent and beguiled Eve and Adam to partake of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden We read in Genesis 3, verses 1-6:

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.   

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.                                           –  Genesis 3:1-6 (ESV)  

 

We see the consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God, in verses 22-23 of the same third chapter of Genesis:

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.      – Genesis 3:22-23 (ESV)  

  

Adam and Eve were told that they would surely die if they ate from the tree, commonly called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil or the Tree of Life. Having done so, Adam and Eve were not only expelled from the Garden of Eden, they had brought the judgment of death upon themselves and their descendants. Once Adam and Eve broke God’s rule, all members of the human race became like the Peter Pan character. But not severed from their shadow, but severed from the Holy Spirit. While the Scriptures have no Wendy to sew things up, we do have a way to repair what has been broken. Jesus Christ came to the world to repair the tear in our spiritual fabric, restore our souls, and bring that joy again to those who have inherited the judgment of sin.

To better understand God’s solution to the problem of sin, let us now talk about the human trinity. Let us recall from Genesis 1, that we were made in God’s image, verse 26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness” – Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

Let me clarify some misconceptions some Christians have regarding the verse Genesis 1:26, which are gender specific. That is to say, some believers think that mankind refers only to men, and women are secondary because God created Eve from Adam’s rib. To help us clear any misconceptions, let us go back to the Bible and read this verse in its context, as God intended, which we find in, Genesis 1:26-28 (ESV):

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man[a]  in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man^[a] in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Footnotes: 1. Genesis 1:26 The Hebrew word for man (adam) is the generic term for mankind and be translated as the proper name Adam

 

Verse 26 of Genesis 1 indicates the word for man, (adam, spelled with a lower-case a) can be translated as either mankind or the proper name Adam. But which one?  In Genesis 1:26 God speaks using the personal plural pronouns, us make man in our image, after our likeness. Considering Adam is a single person, while mankind is plural, referring to Adam and Eve, as at this point they are the only members of mankind. The use of man to describe mankind is again supported in Genesis 1;27, where God created mankind collectively, male and female, he created them, again a plural personal pronoun. In Genesis 1:28, the passage concludes by saying God blessed them (plural personal pronoun), and continuing by saying “And God said to them…” (plural personal pronoun).

 

The passage in Genesis 1:26-28 reveals two important points of today’s lesson, God created both Adam and Eve, male and female members of mankind, in His own image. We know God consists of a Trinity, consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This begs the question if people are made in the image of God, and He exists as a Trinity, which we talked about earlier, And does this mean being made in His image we exist in a form that can be described as a Trinity? The answer to this question may be found in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

 

If we are made in God’s image, it is not hard to understand that God gave us three aspects of our character, a human trinity as described in  1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV):

 

 ²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We see that the Human trinity consists of the body, soul, and spirit. Spirit exists like Peter Pan’s shadow, severed from us by the sin of Eden once the human race having eaten of the tree of knowledge became aware of good and evil and the consequences of choice. God provided us with a way to reconnect with the Holy Spirit, by confessing our sins and receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus and eternal life through the Holy Spirit. The proof and the promise may be found in John 20:20-23 (ESV):

²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Dr. Clarence Larkin in his book, Rightly Dividing the Word expands on the Human trinity mentioned in 1 Thessalonians, by describing the three as follows:

The human body touches the material world through the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.

And the gates to the soul are imagination, conscience, memory, reason and the affections.

The spirit receives impressions of outward and material things through the soul. The spiritual faculties of the spirit are faith, hope, reverence, prayer and worship.

To understand God, we must receive the Holy Spirit by faith and trust in God, as we see in 1Corinthians 2:9-11 (ESV):

⁹But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

 ¹⁰these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Let us, therefore, pray that we find the faith to trust God’s Plan for Salvation, Reconciliation, and Sanctification, through confession of sin, trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, and acceptance of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray…

Closing Music Special: Who Is Like Our God  – (lyrics) – Official Lyric Video – Vineyard Worship – https://youtu.be/xu0QLD1MtdE 

Benediction (2 Corinthians 13:14): The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity – 2022

Dear BLCF Friends,

Effective April 10, 2022, Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church will reopen by reservation only for Sunday worship under the limitations and guidelines set by Public Health and the Board of BLCF. In order to protect those who are vulnerable at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship from COVID-19 Virus infection, the BLCF Board mandates that the church will be open by reservation, with the following rules:

• attendees must wear a mask while on the premises
• attendees give their contact information upon arrival
• attendees observe two meters of social distance while seated
• attendees use hand sanitizer as needed
• attendees follow any additional directions given by members of the board, while inside the church

Please be advised that both the BLCF Café Community Dinner and the BLCF Wednesday Prayer Service will continue to remain closed effective March 16, 2020, and until further notice. We pray with the administration of sufficient COVID-19 vaccinations, and following the determination of Health Canada and other Health Authorities, that the danger of the Pandemic will have subsided sufficiently, to allow BLCF to reopen safely more of our worship and outreach activities without any concern of infection to the vulnerable within our community.

– Pastor Steve

 

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity

© August 21, 2022, by Steve Mickelson

Based on Messages Shared at BLCF on May 30, 2021, November 3, 2019, September 10, 2017,  and September 15, 2013

BLCF Bulletin November 3, 2019

BLCF Bulletin September 10, 2017

BLCF Bulletin September 15, 2013 

Music Special – Lauren Daigle – You Say (Lyrics) – https://youtu.be/HqpNGYbcy3U 

Announcements and Call to Worship; Prayer                                                           

Opening Hymn #43: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty – (Nockels, Hymn with Lyrics, Contemporary) – http://www.celebratingholidays.com – https://youtu.be/BNq0WtMSmIY

Prayer and Tithing Hymn #572: Praise God from Whom All Blessings 

Doxology (Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow) Instrumental – https://youtu.be/Mk4p3rihONU

Responsive Reading #641 “Christian Assurance” (-from Romans 8)

This I Believe (The Creed) Lyric Video – Hillsong Kiev – https://youtu.be/uuDI-sk2nJU

Sandra McCracken – Trinity Song (feat. All Sons & Daughters) (Lyrics) – https://youtu.be/oaginDUwFO8

Message by Steve Mickelson: ‘The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity’

Let us pray…

Welcome to our Sunday Morning Praise and Worship Service, here at BLCF. Several years ago some of you may recall seeing the 2017 Stuart Hazeldine movie, The Shack, a Christian film, based on William P. Young’s 2007 novel of the same title. The Shack dealt primarily with the topics of how the Godhead or Trinity of God deals with pain and suffering among Christians, and the nature of the love that God has for us in times of darkness and tribulation.

For the lesson today, I would like to talk about similarities and differences between the Trinity of God, sometimes referred to as the Godhead, and another trinity, namely the trinity of the human race. Yes, there is a trinity aspect of people, though not quite the same as the trinity of God. While one trinity, (of humanity) is not widely known, or at the least spoken about, particularly in the context of the other. And the other Trinity, (of God), though spoken about frequently, is often misunderstood.

Hopefully, by the end of this lesson, we will have better knowledge and understanding of both trinities, particularly how the two relate to each other.

Let us begin with the one that is more frequently spoken about by Christians and frequently misunderstood, which is the Trinity of God. This Trinity is used to describe three Divine aspects or expressions of God: the Father/Creator, the Son/Word-made-flesh, and the Holy Spirit.  It is here that we often encounter some controversy amongst various denominations of the Christian Church, as well as criticism from those who challenge the Christian faith as monotheistic.

When we read the King James Version of 1 John 5:7-8, we see a direct reference to the Trinity being three aspects of one God.

⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.                    

Recently, some Biblical scholars have questioned whether the disciple John authored this version of the Scripture as found in the King Lames Version translation, since there may be some evidence to indicate verse from the original, which many authorities agree should be read as found in the English Standard Version of 1John 5:7-8 (ESV):

⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

At first blush, it appears that the mention of the Trinity, which is clearly described in the King James translation, seems to be omitted by the English Standard translation. However, if we examine the English Standard translation more closely, we see that the ESV implies the same message as the KJV, though more by inference than by words in the ESV, which is a more subtle expression of the same thought.

If this verse were the only passage of Scripture that supports the Trinity of God, then we could say that the existence of the Holy Trinity is open to debate and possibly doubt. Fortunately, we have other verses that support the singularity of the Godhead.

At the beginning of the Bible, we read that God refers to Himself in the plural, using the personal pronouns: “us” and “our” rather than “me” and “my” as we read in Genesis 1:26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man^[a] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. – Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

But who is it comprised the ”we” and ”us” mentioned in this passage, describing the beginning of the Bible:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.   – John 1:1 (ESV)

So we know that with God was the Word, but who is the Word? Those of you familiar with the scripture likely already have an idea, as we read from John 1:14:

  

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.            –  John 1:14 (ESV)  

This passage refers to Jesus, also referred to in the Bible as the “Word made flesh”. But was Jesus there in the creation?  From John 1:1 and John 1:14, we may conclude that Jesus or the Word was with God and the Word was God. To help us understand this relationship better, Jesus put it simply in John 10:30:

  

³⁰ I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 (ESV)     

What about the Holy Spirit? Was the Spirit there at the beginning? The answer to this question is found in Genesis 1:2:

 

²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.         – Genesis 1:2 (ESV)   

Let us recap. We have at the beginning God referring to himself as a plural Entity, using the personal pronouns we and ours. We are told that Jesus, the Word made flesh, was there at the beginning of creation, as was the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but three distinct aspects of the same God: a Trinity.

I wonder how many of you know the children’s story of Peter Pan, a free-spirited eternal youth who became separated from his shadow, which both confused and complicated his life until his friend Wendy took and thread in hand and sewed the shadow back to Peter, making him happy and whole again. This somewhat silly child’s tale makes for a good analogy to the human condition.

Adam and Eve, created in the image of God had a good relationship with the Creator. That was until Satan took the form of a serpent and beguiled Eve and Adam to partake of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden We read in Genesis 3, verses 1-6:

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.   

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.                                           –  Genesis 3:1-6 (ESV)  

 

We see the consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God, in verses 22-23 of the same third chapter of Genesis:

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.      – Genesis 3:22-23 (ESV)  

  

Adam and Eve were told that they would surely die if they ate from the tree, commonly called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil or Tree of Life. Having done so, Adam and Eve were not only expelled from the Garden of Eden, they had brought the judgment of death upon themselves and their descendants. Once Adam and Eve broke God’s rule, all members of the human race became like the Peter Pan character. But not severed from their shadow, but severed from the Holy Spirit. While the Scriptures have no Wendy to sew things up, we do have a way to repair what has been broken. Jesus Christ came to the world to repair the tear in our spiritual fabric, to restore our souls, to bring that joy again to those who have inherited the judgment of sin.

To better understand God’s solution to the problem of sin, let us now talk about a human trinity. Let us recall from Genesis 1, that we were made in God’s image, verse 26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man^[a] in our image, after our likeness” – Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

If we are made in God’s image, it is not hard to understand that God gave us three aspects of our character, a Human trinity as described in  1Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV):

 

 ²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

We see that the Human trinity consists of the body, soul, and spirit. Spirit exists like Peter Pan’s shadow, severed from us by the sin of Eden once the human race having eaten of the tree of knowledge became aware of good and evil and the consequences of choice. God provided us with a way to reconnect with the Holy Spirit, by confessing our sins and receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus and eternal life through the Holy Spirit. The proof and the promise may be found in John 20:20-23 (ESV):

²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Dr. Clarence Larkin in his book, Rightly Dividing the Word expands on the Human trinity mentioned in 1Thessalonians, by describing the three as follows:

The human body touches the material world through the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.

And the gates to the soul are imagination, conscience, memory, reason and the affections.

The spirit receives impressions of outward and material things through the soul. The spiritual faculties of the spirit are faith, hope, reverence, prayer and worship.

To understand God, we must receive the Holy Spirit by faith and trust in God, as we see in 1Corinthians 2:9-11 (ESV):

⁹But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

 ¹⁰these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Let us, therefore, pray that we find the faith to trust God’s Plan for Salvation, Reconciliation, and Sanctification, through confession of sin, trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, and acceptance of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray…

Music Special – Holy, Holy, Holy – Lyrics Mystery Island VBS – https://youtu.be/jYEiY9JfUR8

Benediction (2Corinthians 13:14): The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Keeping Jesus as Lord in Our Words and Heart

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

‘Keeping Jesus as Lord in Our Words and Heart’

© September 16, 2018, by Steve Mickelson

BLCF Bulletin September 16 2018

Based on a Message Shared with BLCF on Sunday, May 26, 2013

BLCF Bulletin May 26, 2013

Let us pray…

In past lessons shared at BLCF on previous Sundays, we have examined how those who view religion with a purely legalistic outlook without faith carry an attitude which can act like excess baggage and impede their faith walk. A specific example would be the Pharisee, Nicodemus, who had difficulty with Jesus’ teachings about being born again in the Spirit. Though Nicodemus had what can be described as having head knowledge of God’s laws and the Scriptures, he had little or no faith understanding of God’s spiritual intent behind those commandments. Without faith or belief that Jesus came to end our judgment under the law, we face the impossible task of being perfect within the law to prevent our own condemnation.  We should conclude that all the other things of this world are of little importance to God, except our faith in Him, which God desires most from us. To grow our faith, we need to discard the excess baggage of the world, focus on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus.

So you may ask yourself: “What are the risks of taking a purely legalistic approach to our faith?” Before we discuss the penalty or remedy, let us first look at the laws which govern us in our faith walk.

We have two sets of laws that were given to the people of Israel. First, we have God’s 10 Commandments, written on stone tablets by God, and were carried beside the Ark of the Covenant. Next, we have the Ceremonial Law or Mosaic Law, written by Moses, which was carried as a book on the side of the Arc of the Covenant. There is a chart inside today’s bulletin which helps us to distinguish one from another.

God expects us to abide by His 10 Commandments.  Now the legalist might question the name of these God-given laws.

According to Wikipedia, the Ten Commandments are called, in biblical Hebrew, עשרת הדברים (transliterated Asereth ha-D’bharîm) and in Rabbinical Hebrew עשרת הדברות (transliterated Asereth ha-Dibroth), both translatable as “the ten words”, “the ten sayings” or “the ten matters”. The Tyndale and Coverdale English translations used “ten verses”. The Geneva Bible appears to be the first to use “tenne commandements”, which was followed by the Bishops’ Bible and the Authorized Version (the “King James” version) as “ten commandments”. Most major English versions follow the Authorized Version.

The English name “Decalogue” is derived from Greek δεκάλογος, dekalogos, the latter meaning and referring to the Greek translation (in accusative) δέκα λόγους, deka logous, “ten words”, found in the Septuagint (or LXX) at Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 10:4.

The stone tablets, as opposed to the commandments inscribed on them, are called לוחות הברית: Luchot HaBrit, meaning “the tablets of the covenant”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments

It is not surprising that some scholars will even confuse Ceremonial Laws of Moses with God’s Commandments. It is only the Ordinances and Decrees that Jesus removed by His crucifixion, not God’s 10 Commandments.

Just as important as keeping God’s Laws, both to God and ourselves, is the need to keeping faith with the Lord. While a legalist may say that they abide by both the law and the spirit of the law. But that is not the same as abiding by the law of the spirit, which is, in essence, keeping the faith with the Lord.

In today’s first Scripture verse, Luke 11:37-52, we have Jesus invited by a Pharisee to dine with him. Remember from our earlier lesson of Nicodemus that the definition of a Pharisee is as follows:

(noun):

1. a member of an ancient Jewish sect that differed from the Sadducees chiefly in its strict observance of religious practices, liberal interpretation of the Bible, and adherence to oral laws and traditions.
2. a self-righteous person; a hypocrite.

The Pharisee was astonished that Jesus did not wash before dinner, which was a Jewish Ceremonial observance, not for reasons of hygiene. The washing supposedly made one clean before God, something mandated by man, not by God. The reaction of the Pharisee gave Jesus an opportunity to criticize the Pharisee for being focused on the relative superficiality of being focused on outward appearances and what is on the inside, where greed and wickedness contradict an outward demeanor of righteous. Jesus gave the desire to have the best seats in the synagogues and the desire to be acknowledged in the public marketplaces as examples of the Pharisee’s greed. As for wickedness, Jesus pointed to Pharisee injustice to others and avoidance of love to God.

When a lawyer objected to what Jesus said, by characterizing these truthful observations as an insult not just to the Pharisees, but as an insult to lawyers as well. By defending the criticisms that Jesus made of the Pharisees and siding with them, the lawyer attempted to try to make such behaviour as righteous and justified. This opened the door for Jesus to observe how lawyers do behave fit the definition of a Pharisee, being self-righteous hypocrites. Jesus commented on how the lawyers saw fit to burden people, rather than to help them. Jesus spoke of the hypocrisy shown by building tombs and monuments to the prophets who were killed by the fathers of the lawyers. And being educated and learned, the lawyers have had an opportunity to a  faith practice, which they not only avoided but acted as a stumbling block to others finding faith. This is a perfect example of one reading the scriptures with the mind, but not the heart. By obsessing on the words and not the intent of God’s word, they miss the true meaning of the scriptures for both themselves as well as for those to whom they read the verses.

But is missing the mark of comprehending and sharing the scriptures limited to just Pharisees and Lawyers? Do some Christians recite verses from the Holy Word by rote, as if the words alone have some magical power? Let’s have look at how Jesus taught us to pray.

If you look on the back page of today’s bulletin, you will see two examples of what we commonly refer to as the Lord’s Prayer. The first recorded in the gospel of Luke, Chapter 11, verses 1-4, was a response to one of the disciples request to be taught how to pray, as John the Baptist had taught to his disciples. Thus we have:

² And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
³ Give us each day our daily bread,
⁴ and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”                                                                           

The other version of the Lord’s Prayer comes from Matthew, Chapter 6, verses 5 to 14, which is also found on the back of the bulletin, which Jesus spoke as part of His Sermon on the Mount. Before he began to pray, Jesus admonished those present not to behave like the hypocrites, who we now know to be the Pharisees:

⁵ “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  ⁷ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹ Pray then like this:                                                             

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,
¹² and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you

But we see a variance between the two versions of the prayer, not only between those recorded in Luke and Matthew. We find differences in the same verse, from one Bible translation to another! How can this be? The best explanation may be found in the history of these translations:

The Lord’s Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity also commonly known as Our Father and in the Latin tongue as the Pater Noster. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew  as part of the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke,which records Jesus being approached by “one of his disciples” with a request to teach them “to pray as John taught his disciples.” The prayer concludes with “deliver us from evil” in Matthew, and with “lead us not into temptation” in Luke. The first three of the seven petitions address God; the second four are prayers related to our needs and concerns. The liturgical form is Matthean. Some Christians, particularly Protestants, conclude the prayer with a doxology, an addendum appearing in some manuscripts of Matthew, but originating in an ancient Christian writing known as the Didache.

Though Matthew 6:12 uses the term debts, the older English versions of the Lord’s Prayer uses the term trespasses, while ecumenical versions often use the term sins. The latter choice may be due to Luke 11:4, which uses the word sins, while the former may be due to Matthew 6:14 (immediately after the text of the prayer), where Jesus speaks of trespasses. As early as the third century, Origen of Alexandria used the word trespasses (παραπτώματα) in the prayer. Though the Latin form that was traditionally used in Western Europe has debita (debts), most English-speaking Christians (except Scottish Presbyterians and some others of the Reformed tradition), use trespasses. The Established Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Church of Christ, Scientist, as well as the Congregational denomination follow the version found in Matthew 6 in the Authorized Version (known also as the King James Version), which in the prayer uses the words “debts” and “debtors”.

The Latin version of this prayer has had cultural and historical importance for most regions where English is spoken. The text used in the liturgy (Mass, Liturgy of the Hours, etc.) differs slightly from that found in the Vulgate Jerome is considered to be responsible for changes such as the use of “supersubstantialem” instead of “cotidianum” as a translation of “ἐπιούσιον” (epiousios) in the Gospel of Matthew, though not in the Gospel of Luke.

The doxology associated with the Lord’s Prayer is found in four Vetus Latina manuscripts, only two of which give it in its entirety. The other surviving manuscripts of the Vetus Latina Gospels do not have the doxology. The Vulgate translation also does not include it, thus agreeing with critical editions of the Greek text.

In the Latin Rite liturgies, this doxology is never attached to the Lord’s Prayer. Its only use in the Roman Rite liturgy today is in the Mass as revised after the Second Vatican Council. It is there placed not immediately after the Lord’s Prayer, but instead after the priest’s prayer, Libera nos, quaesumus…, elaborating on the final petition, Libera nos a malo (Deliver us from evil).

There are several different English translations of the Lord’s Prayer from Greek or Latin, beginning around AD 650 with the Northumbrian translation. Of those in current liturgical use, the three best-known are:

The translation in the 1662 Anglican Book of Common Prayer (BCP) of the        Church of England The slightly modernized form used in the        Catholic mass and (along with the doxology)        in the 1928 version of the Prayer Book of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America The 1988 translation of the ecumenical        English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC)

Other English translations are also used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s_prayer

It is a common fallacy among some Christians and even certain Biblical scholars, that the Bible is based on one single set of manuscripts housed in some library, monastery or museum. All they have to do is go to this place and reference these ancient scrolls to obtain a definitive translation of the scriptures. This misconception likely comes from present law-givers being able to see and reference the original historical documents such as the Canadian Charter of Rights, the US Constitution or the British Magna Charta.

Well, it is not quite that simple. Let us briefly look at where scholars obtained the source for the modern Bibles we use today:

Holy Bible

 The Hebrew Bible or The Tanakh was mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra) in Biblical Aramaic. From the 9th century to the 15th century, Jewish scholars, today known as Masoretes, compared the text of all known biblical manuscripts in an effort to create a unified, standardized text.

A series of highly similar texts eventually emerged, and any of these texts are known as Masoretic Texts (MT). The Masoretes also added vowel points (called niqqud) to the text, since the original text only contained consonant letters. This sometimes required the selection of an interpretation, since some words differ only in their vowels—their meaning can vary in accordance with the vowels chosen. In antiquity, variant Hebrew readings existed, some of which have survived in the Samaritan Pentateuch and other ancient fragments, as well as being attested in ancient versions in other languages.

The New Testament was written in Koine Greek.

The discovery of older manuscripts, which belong to the Alexandrian text-type, including the 4th century Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, led scholars to revise their view about the original Greek text. Attempts to reconstruct the original text are called critical editions. Karl Lachmann based his critical edition of 1831 on manuscripts dating from the 4th century and earlier, to demonstrate that the Textus Receptus must be corrected according to these earlier texts.

The autographs, the Greek manuscripts written by the original authors, have not survived. Scholars surmise the original Greek text from the versions that do survive. The three main textual traditions of the Greek New Testament are sometimes called the Alexandrian text-type (generally minimalist), the Byzantine text-type (generally maximalist), and the Western text-type (occasionally wild). Together they comprise most of the ancient manuscripts.

Alternative word order, the presence or absence of an optional definite article (“the”), and so on. Occasionally, a major variant happens when a portion of a text was accidentally omitted (or perhaps even censored), or was added from a marginal gloss. Fortunately, major variants tend to be easier to correct. Examples of major variants are the endings of Mark, the Pericope Adulteræ, the Comma Johanneum, and the Western version of Acts.

Early manuscripts of the letters of Paul and other New Testament writings show no punctuation whatsoever. The punctuation was added later by other editors, according to their own understanding of the text.

We see that our current Bible comes from a variety of sources. Translators were supposed to use as many as 600 Greek manuscripts in order to avoid a skewed or misleading translation. Unfortunately, some of the early translators relied on as few as 40 Greek manuscripts in their translations, because geography and politics made universal access impractical. Over time the availability to more sources enabled corrections to the translations. A couple of years ago, while researching a message on the Holy Trinity, I came upon a good example of such a change. On the bottom of the second page of your bulletin, you will see two translations of 1 John 5:7-8:

The King James states:

⁷ For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

And the English Standard states:

⁷ For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

Changes to a verse’s translation by the removal, addition or change of the wording has led to some Christians claiming a demonic conspiracy in effect to alter the Word of God, particularly the King James Version when compared to the newer translations. This would be the kind of reaction one would expect from the Pharisees and scribes. Such disagreements are not the work of the Holy Spirit amongst the Christian body of believers and acts to hinder others from hearing the Gospel. Our commission is not to spend our time on petty arguments amongst ourselves over the merits of one translation over another, for the Spirit is absent from such debates. We are commissioned to share God’s Word and promote an appreciation and love for God, in order to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit. As the Apostle Paul said   in his epistle, Romans 10:5-13 (ESV), entitled:

‘The Message of Salvation to All’

   

⁵ For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. ⁶ But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);    ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.     ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Again, we see that the key to salvation and forgiveness from God lies in our heart, as an expression of our faith in the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, and our testimony to the truth of God’s love.

Let us pray…

Hymn #3: God, Our Father, We Adore Thee

Benediction (2 Corinthians 13:14): The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity

© September 10, 2017, by Steve Mickelson

BLCF Bulletin September 10, 2017

Based on a Message Shared at BLCF on August 28, 2011

BLCF July-August-2011 Bulletin

Announcements and Call to Worship; Prayer                                                           

Next Sunday at 10:30AM The Shack, 1:00PM Pot Luck Lunch at BLCF         

Opening Hymn #43: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty; Choruses                         

Prayer and Tithing Hymn #572: Praise God from Whom All Blessings   

Responsive Reading #641 “Christian Assurance” (-from Romans 8)               

Message by Steve Mickelson: ‘The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity’

Let us pray…

Welcome to our Sunday Morning Praise and Worship Service, here at BLCF. Several weeks ago, some of the congregation saw the movie The Shack, Christian film, based on the book of the same title, which dealt with the topics of Godhead or Trinity of God, pain and suffering among people, and the nature of the love that God has for us in times of darkness and tribulation.

For the lesson today, I would like to talk about similarities and differences between the Trinity of God, sometimes referred to as the Godhead and the trinity of the human race. Yes, there is a trinity aspect of people, though not quite the same as the trinity of God. While one trinity is not widely known, or at the least spoken about, particularly in the context of the other. And the other Trinity, (of God), though spoken about frequently, is often misunderstood.

Hopefully, by the end of this lesson, we will have better knowledge and understanding of both trinities, particularly how the two relate to each other.

Let us begin with the one that is more frequently spoken about by Christians and frequently misunderstood, which is the Trinity of God. This Trinity is used to describe three Divine aspects or expressions of God: the Father/Creator, the Son/Word-made-flesh and the Holy Spirit.  It is here that we often encounter some controversy amongst various denominations of the Christian Church, as well as criticism from those who challenge the Christian faith as monotheistic.

When we read the King James Version of 1 John 5:7-8, we see a direct reference to the Trinity being three aspects of one God:

⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.                    

Recently, some Biblical scholars have questioned whether the disciple John authored this version of the Scripture as found in the King Lames Version translation, since there may be some evidence to indicate verse from the original, which many authorities agree should read as found in the English Standard Version of 1 John 5:7-8 (ESV):

Holy Trinity

⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

At first blush, it appears that mention of the Trinity, which is clearly described in the King James translation, seems to be omitted by the English Standard translation. However, if we examine the English Standard translation more closely, we see that the ESV implies the same message as the KJV, though more by inference than by words in the ESV, which is a more subtle expression of the same thought.

If this verse were the only passage of Scripture which supports the Trinity of God, then we could say that the existence of the Holy Trinity is open to debate and possibly doubt. Fortunately, we have other verses that support the singularity of the Godhead.

At the beginning of the Bible, we read that God refers to Himself in the plural, using the personal pronouns: “us” and “our” rather than “me” and “my” as we read in Genesis 1:26:

 ²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man^[a] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. – Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

But who is it comprised the ”we” and ”us” mentioned this passage, describing the beginning of the Bible:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.   – John 1:1 (ESV)

So we know that with God was the Word, but who is the Word? Those of you familiar with the scripture likely already have an idea, as we read from John 1:14:   

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.            –  John 1:14 (ESV)  

This passage refers to Jesus, also referred to in the Bible as the “Word made flesh”. But was Jesus there in the creation?  From John 1:1 and John 1:14, we may conclude that Jesus or the Word was with God and the Word was God. To help us understand this relationship better, Jesus put it simply in John 10:30:   

³⁰ I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 (ESV)     

What about the Holy Spirit? Was the Spirit there at the beginning? The answer to this question is found in Genesis 1:2:   

²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.         – Genesis 1:2 (ESV)   

Let us recap. We have at the beginning God referring to himself as a plural Entity, using the personal pronouns we and ours. We are told that Jesus, the Word made flesh, was there at the beginning of creation, as was the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but three distinct aspects of the same God: a Trinity.

I wonder how many of you know the children’s story of Peter Pan, a free-spirited eternal youth who became separated from his shadow, which both confused and complicated his life until his friend Wendy took and thread in hand and sewed the shadow back to Peter, making him happy and whole again. This somewhat silly child’s tale makes for a good analogy to the human condition.

Adam and Eve, created in the image of God had a good relationship with the Creator. That was until Satan took the form of a serpent and beguiled Eve and Adam to partake of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden We read in Genesis 3, verses 1-6:

 

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.   

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.                                           –  Genesis 3:1-6 (ESV)   

We see the consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God, in verses 22-23 of the same third chapter of Genesis:

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.      – Genesis 3:22-23 (ESV)     

Adam and Eve were told that they would surely die if they ate from the tree, commonly called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil or Tree of Life? Having done so, Adam and Eve were not only expelled from the Garden of Eden, they had brought the judgment of death upon themselves and their descendants. Once Adam and Eve broke God’s rule, all members of the human race became like the Peter Pan character. But not severed from their shadow, but severed from the Holy Spirit. While the scriptures have no Wendy to sew things up, we do have a way to repair what has been broken. Jesus Christ came to the world to repair the tear in our spiritual fabric, to restore our souls, to bring that joy again to those who have inherited the judgment of sin.

To better understand God’s solution to the problem of sin, let us now talk about a Human trinity. Let us recall from Genesis 1, that we were made in God’s image, verse 26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man^[a] in our image, after our likeness               – Genesis 1:26 (ESV)  

If we are made in God’s image, it is not hard to understand that God gave us three aspects of our character, a Human trinity as described in  1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV):  

 ²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

We see that the Human trinity consists of the body, soul, and spirit. Spirit exists like Peter Pan’s shadow, severed from us by the sin of Eden once the human race having eaten of the tree of knowledge became aware of good and evil and the consequences of choice. God provided us with a way to reconnect with the Holy Spirit, by confessing our sins and receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus and eternal life through the Holy Spirit. The proof and the promise may be found in John 20:20-23 (ESV):

 

²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

 

Dr. Clarence Larkin in his book, Rightly Dividing the Word expands on the Human trinity mentioned in 1 Thessalonians, by describing the three as follows:

The human body touches the material world through the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.

And the gates to the soul are imagination, conscience, memory, reason and the affections.

The spirit receives impressions of outward and material things through the soul. The spiritual faculties of the spirit are faith, hope, reverence, prayer and worship.

To understand God, we must receive the Holy Spirit by faith and trust in God, as we see in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (ESV):

 

⁹But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

 ¹⁰these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Let us, therefore, pray that we find the faith to trust God’s Plan for Salvation, Reconciliation, and Sanctification, through confession of sin, trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and acceptance of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray…

Closing Hymn: # 1 Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty

Benediction (2 Corinthians 13:14): The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

‘The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity’

© July 12, 2015 by Steve Mickelson

Based on a Message Originally Shared on September 15, 2013

BLCF Bulletin July 12, 2015

 

BLCF Call to Worship: Responsive Reading #592:                                                            

“God, The Creator” (Genesis 1 & 2; Psalm 33); Prayer

Opening Hymn #204: There’s a Quiet Understanding; Choruses

Prayer and Tithing: Hymn #572: Praise God from Whom All Blessings; Prayer Requests

Today’s Scriptures: 1 John 5:7-8 (ESV); Genesis 1:26; John 20:20–23; 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 (Benediction)

 

Let us pray…

For the lesson today, I would like talk about similarities and differences between the trinity of God, sometimes referred to as the Godhead and the trinity of the human race.

Yes, there is a trinity aspect of people, though not quite the same as the trinity of God. While one trinity is not widely known, or at the least spoken about, particularly in context of the other. And the other trinity, though spoken about frequently, is often misunderstood. Hopefully, by the end of the lesson we will have a better knowledge and understanding of both trinities, particularly how the two relate to one another.

Let us begin with the trinity that is more frequently spoken about by Christians and frequently misunderstood, the Trinity of God. This trinity is used to describe three Devine aspects or expressions of God: the Father/Creator, the Son/Word-made-flesh and the Holy Spirit. With the Trinity of God, we encounter some controversy amongst various denominations of the Christian Church, as well as criticism from those who challenge the Christian faith as monotheistic.

When we read the King James Version (KJV) of 1 John 5:7-8, we see a direct reference to the trinity, called: “three in one”, as being three aspects of one God:

⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.   

   – 1 John 5:7 (KJV)

 

Recently, some Biblical scholars have questioned whether the disciple John authored this verse of scripture as found in the KJV, as there may be some indication to believe that this verse was altered in a later translation and that the translation from the original scripture may be found in the English Standard Version (ESV) as follows:

⁷For there are three that testify:                                                                                      

⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.      

   – 1 John 5:7-8 (ESV)

At first blush, it appears that mention of the trinity which is clearly described in the King James Version, seems to be omitted by the English Standard Version. However, if we examine the ESV more closely, we see that it  implies the same message as the KJV, however more by inference than by words, as a more subtle expression of the same thought. If this verse were the only passage of the Scriptures which supports the Trinity of God, then we could say that existence of the Holy Trinity is open to debate. And only Satan and the Pharisees desire believers to waste their time by  debating Theology instead of performing the Lord’s Great Commission.

 

Fortunately, we have many other verses in the Scriptures that support the singularity of God. In the beginning of the Bible, we read that God refers to Himself in the plural, using the personal pronouns: “us” and “our” rather than “me” and “my” as we read in Genesis 1:26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.                                                                                                          

    –  Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

But who comprised the ”we” and ”us” mentioned this passage, describing the beginning of the Bible? We find the answer in John 1:1.

 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.                                                                                                                               

    – John 1:1 (ESV)

So we know that with God was the Word, but who is the Word? Those of you familiar with the Scriptures are likely to already have an idea, as we read from John 1:14:

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.                       

         – John 1:14 (ESV)

This passage refers to Jesus, also referred to in the Bible as the “Word made flesh”. But was Jesus there  at the time the world was created? From John 1:1 and John 1:14, we may conclude that Jesus or the Word was with God and the Word was God. To help us understand this relationship better, Jesus put it simply in John 10:30:

³⁰ I and the Father are one.”                   

– John 10:30 (ESV)

What about the Holy Spirit? Was the Spirit there at the beginning? The answer to this question is found in Genesis 1:2:

²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.                   

 – Genesis 1:2 (ESV)

 

Let us recapitulate: we have at the beginning God referring to himself as a plural entity, using the personal pronouns we and ours. We are told that Jesus, the Word made flesh was there in the beginning of creation, as was the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but three distinct aspects of the same God.

It would be presumptuous of us to expect that we fully understand all the aspects of the Holy Trinity, or of God, our Creator. But by faith and grace of the Spirit we may accept the Holy Trinity or Godhead.

The Godhead or Triune of God is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as follows:

 

trin·i·ty (tr  -t ) n. pl.trin·i·ties1. A group consisting of three closely related members. Also called triunity.2. Trinity Theology In most Christian faiths, the union of three divine   persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one God. Also called Trine.3. Trinity Trinity Sunday.[Middle English trinite, from Old French, from Latin tr nit s, from tr  nus, trine; see   trine.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Triune+God

This is where  today’s bulletin has some illustrations that may help us. On the first inside page of today’s bulletin are two triangles representing two trinities. On the left, we have the Trinity of the Godhead, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit pointing upwards towards heaven above a triangle pointing downwards illustrating the Human Trinity, consisting of body, mind and Spirit. Next, the illustrator through a bit of insightful genius combines the two triangles combine to form a Star of David, illustrating a union of mankind and God, by way of the Holy Spirit. And then beside this symbol, is an illustration indicating God is the Father; is the Son and is the Holy Spirit, but also indicating that the Father is not the Son; the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. By Faith and way of the Holy Spirit we may accept this description of God, even though the limitations our humanity prevents us from fully understand Him. Fortunately, God’s salvation is based upon our faith and not our understanding of God.

 

On the next page, we see a graphic that illustrates how God interacts with us: John 1:14 shows that God became flesh through Jesus: John 1:14:

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.                              

  – John 1:14 (ESV)

And we know Jesus became Christ, the Messiah, by dying on the cross for our sins. The Jesus was resurrected from the grave and ascended to heaven. On the day of Pentecost, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to all believers, 1 Corinthians 15:45:

⁴⁵ Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.                                                                                                 

  – 1 Corinthians 15:45 (ESV)

God, in the form of the Holy Spirit enters into all who believe.

 

Our third illustration on the back page of the bulletin indicates that our Lord, Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, translated from Greek to English as the First and Last or the Beginning and End.

Another verse to help us understand specific characteristics of the members of the Godhead or Trinity may be found in 2 Corinthians 13:14:  

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

    – 2 Corinthians 13:14 (ESV)

 

Those expressions of God, Paul indicates that we receive grace from Jesus, the son; love from God the Father and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. These three gifts are distinct and inseparable aspects of God’s presence in the life of the Christian believer, in the same way that the elements of the Trinity are distinct but inseparable.

 

I wonder how many of you know the children’s story of Peter Pan, a free spirited eternal youth who became separated from his shadow, which both confused and complicated his life until his friend Wendy took and thread in hand and sewed the shadow back to Peter, making him happy and whole again. This somewhat silly child’s tale makes for a good analogy to the human condition.

 

 

Adam and Eve, created in the image of God had a good relationship with the Creator.

That was until Satan took the form of a serpent and beguiled Eve and Adam to partake of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden We read in Genesis 3, verses 1-6:

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.                                                           

  – Genesis 3:1-6 (ESV)

We read the consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God described in verses 22-23 of the same third chapter of Genesis:

 ²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.                          

  – Genesis 3:22-23 (ESV)

Adam and Eve were told that they would surely die if they ate from the tree, commonly called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil or Tree of Life? Having done so, Adam and Eve were not only expelled from the Garden of Eden, they had brought the judgement of death upon themselves and their descendants. Once Adam and Eve broke God’s rule, all members of the human race became like the Peter Pan character.

 

But not severed from their shadow, but severed from the Holy Spirit. While the scriptures have no Wendy to sew things up, we do have a way to repair what has been broken. Jesus Christ came to the world to repair the tear in our spiritual fabric, to restore our souls, to bring that joy again to those who have inherited the judgment of sin.

 

 

To better understand God’s solution for the problem of sin, let us now talk about the Human trinity. Let us recall from Genesis 1, that we were made in God’s image, verse 26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.                       

   –  Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

If we are made in God’s image, it is not hard to understand that God gave us three aspects of our character, a Human trinity as described in 1 Thessalonians 5:23:

²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.                                                                                                                                  

    – 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV)

We see that the Human trinity consists of the body, soul and spirit. Spirit exists like Peter Pan’s shadow, severed from us by the sin of Eden once the human race having eaten of the tree of knowledge became aware of good and evil and the consequences of choice. God provided us with a way to reconnect with the Holy Spirit, by confessing our sins and receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus and eternal life through the Holy Spirit. The proof and the promise may be found in John 20:20-23:

²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, .Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, .Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.                                                                                         

   – John 20:20–23 (ESV)

Dr. Clarence Larkin in his book, Rightly Dividing the Word expands on the Human trinity mentioned in 1 Thessalonians, by describing the three as follows:

“The human body touches the material world through the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.  And the gates to the soul are imagination, conscience, memory, reason and the affections.

The spirit receives impressions of outward and material things through the soul. The spiritual faculties of the spirit are faith, hope, reverence, prayer and worship.  To understand God, we must receive the Holy Spirit by faith and trusting God.”

And we see the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit in revealing God’s purpose and presence explained in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11:

⁹But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

– ¹⁰these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.                                                            

     – 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (ESV)

Let us therefore pray that we find the faith to trust God’s Plan for Salvation, Reconciliation and Sanctification, through confession of sin, trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and acceptance of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray…

 

Closing Hymn: #1 Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty

Benediction (2 Corinthians 13:14):  

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit

be with you.

 

 

The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity

Trinity of God

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

‘The Holy Trinity and the Human Trinity’

©September 15, 2013 by Steve Mickelson

BLCF Bulletin September 15, 2013 

BLCF Call to Worship: Responsive Reading 641: “Christian Assurance”

Prayer                                                                         

Opening Hymn: #204 There’s a Quiet Understanding

Let us pray…

For the lesson today, I would like talk about similarities and differences between the trinity of God, sometimes referred to as the Godhead and the trinity of the human race.

Yes, there is a trinity aspect of people, though not quite the same as the trinity of God. While one trinity is not widely known, or at the least spoken about, particularly in context of the other. And the other trinity, though spoken about frequently, is often misunderstood. Hopefully, by the end of this message we will have a better knowledge and understanding of both trinities, particularly how the two relate to each other.

Let us begin with the one that is more frequently spoken about by Christians and frequently misunderstood, the trinity of God. This trinity is used to describe three Devine aspects or expressions of God: the Father/Creator, the Son/Word-made-flesh and the Holy Spirit. Here are we encounter some controversy amongst various denominations of the Christian Church, as well as criticism from those who challenge the Christian faith as monotheistic.

When we read the King James Version of 1 John 5:7-8, we see a direct reference to the trinity being three aspects of one God:

⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.   

   – 1 John 5:7 (KJV)

Recently, some Biblical scholars have questioned whether the disciple John authored this verse of scripture as there may be some indication to believe that this verse was altered in a later translation and that the translation from the original scripture may be found in the English Standard Version as follows:

⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.                                                                                                              

   – 1 John 5:7-8 (ESV)

At first blush, it appears that mention of the trinity which is clearly described in the King  James translation, seems to be omitted by the English Standard translation. However, if we examine the English Standard translation more closely, we see implies the same message as the King James more by inference than by words, and as a more subtle expression of the same thought. If this verse were the only passage of scripture which supports the trinity of God, then we could say that existence of the trinity is open to debate. And only Satan and the Pharisees desire believers to waste the Lord’s time and mission debating theology.

Fortunately, we have many other verses which support the singularity of God. In the beginning of the Bible, we read that God refers to Himself in the plural, using the personal pronouns: “us” and “our” rather than “me” and “my” as we read in Genesis 1:26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.                                                                                                          

    –  Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

But who comprised the ”we” and ”us” mentioned this passage, describing the beginning of the Bible? We find the answer in John 1:1.

 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.                                                                                                                               

    – John 1:1 (ESV)

So we know that with God was the Word, but who is the Word? Those of you familiar with the Scriptures are likely already have an idea, as we read from John 1:14:

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.                       

         – John 1:14 (ESV)

This passage refers to Jesus, also referred to in the Bible as the “Word made flesh”. But was Jesus there in the creation? From John 1:1 and John 1:14, we may conclude that Jesus or the Word was with God and the Word was God. To help us understand this relationship better, Jesus put it simply in John 10:30:

³⁰ I and the Father are one.”                                                                                                –

– John 10:30 (ESV)

What about the Holy Spirit? Was the Spirit there at the beginning? The answer to this question is found in Genesis 1:2:

²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.                   

 – Genesis 1:2 (ESV)

Let us recap. We have at the beginning God referring to himself as a plural entity, using the personal pronouns we and our. We are told that Jesus, the Word made flesh was there in the beginning of creation, as was the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but three distinct aspects of the same God.

It would be presumptuous of us to expect that we fully understand all the aspects of the the Holy Trinity, or of God, our Creator. But by faith and grace of the Spirit we may accept the Holy Trinity or Godhead.

The Godhead or Triune of God is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as follows:

trin·i·ty (tr                                                                       n           -t      )n. pl.trin·i·ties1. A group consisting of three closely related members. Also called triunity.2. Trinity Theology In most Christian faiths, the union of three divine   persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one God. Also called Trine. 3. Trinity Trinity Sunday. [Middle English trinite, from Old French, from Latin tr      nit      s, from tr      nus, trine; see   trine.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Triune+God

This is where  our bulletin has some illustrations that may help us. On the first inside page of today’s bulletin are two triangles. On the left, we have the triangle of the Godhead, Go the Father, Son and Holy Spirit pointing upwards towards heaven above a triangle pointing downwards illustrating the human triangle, consisting of body, mind and Spirit. Next, the illustrator through a bit of insightful genius  combines the two triangles combine to form a Star of David, illustrating a union of mankind and God, by way of the Holy Spirit. And then beside this symbol, is an illustration indicating God is the Father; is the Son and is the Holy Spirit, but also indicating that the Father is not the Son;  the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. By Faith and way of the Holy Spirit we may accept this description of God, even though the limitations our humanity prevent us from fully understand Him. Fortunately, God’s salvation is based upon our faith and not our understanding of God.

Trinities of God and Humanity

On the next page, we see a graphic that illustrates how God interacts with us: John 1:14 shows that God became flesh through Jesus: John 1:14:

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.                              

  – John 1:14 (ESV)

And we know Jesus became Christ, the Messiah, by dying on the cross for our sins. The Jesus was resurrected from the grave and ascended to heaven. On the day of Pentecost, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to all believers, 1 Corinthians 15:45:

⁴⁵ Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.                                                                                                 

  – 1 Corinthians 15:45 (ESV)

And God, in the form of the Holy Spirit enters into all who believe.

How the Godhead influences humanity

Our third illustration on the back page of the bulletin indicates that our Lord, Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, translated from Greek to English as the First and Last or the Beginning and End.

Another verse to help us understand specific characteristics of the members of the Godhead or Trinity may be found in 2 Corinthians 13:14:  

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

    – 2 Corinthians 13:14 (ESV)

Those expressions of God, Paul indicates that we receive grace from Jesus, the son; love from God the Father and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. These three gifts are distinct and inseparable aspects of God’s presence in the life of the Christian believer, in the same way that the elements of the Trinity are distinct but inseparable.

Trinity Diagram

I wonder how many of you know the children’s story of Peter Pan, a free spirited eternal youth who became separated from his shadow, which both confused and complicated his life until his friend Wendy took and thread in hand and sewed the shadow back to Peter, making him happy and whole again. This somewhat silly child’s tale makes for a good analogy to the human condition.

Adam and Eve, created in the image of God had a good relationship with the Creator.

That was until Satan took the form of a serpent and beguiled Eve and Adam to partake of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden We read in Genesis 3, verses 1-6:

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.                                                           

  – Genesis 3:1-6 (ESV)

We read the consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God described in verses 22-23 of the same third chapter of Genesis:

 ²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.                          

  – Genesis 3:22-23 (ESV)

Adam and Eve were told that they would surely die if they ate from the tree, commonly called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil or Tree of Life? Having done so, Adam and Eve were not only expelled from the Garden of Eden, they had brought the judgement of death upon themselves and their descendents. Once Adam and Eve broke God’s rule, all members of the human race became like the Peter Pan character.

But not severed from their shadow, but severed from the Holy Spirit. While the scriptures have no Wendy to sew things up, we do have a way to repair what has been broken. Jesus Christ came to the world to repair the tear in our spiritual fabric, to restore our souls, to bring that joy again to those who have inherited the judgment of sin.

To better understand God’s solution for the problem of sin, let us now talk about the Human trinity. Let us recall from Genesis 1, that we were made in God’s image, verse 26:

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.                       

   –  Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

If we are made in God’s image, it is not hard to understand that God gave us three aspects of our character, a Human trinity as described in 1 Thessalonians 5:23:

²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.                                                                                                                                  

   

 – 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV)

We see that the Human trinity consists of the body, soul and spirit. Spirit exists like Peter Pan’s shadow, severed from us by the sin of Eden once the human race having eaten of the tree of knowledge became aware of good and evil and the consequences of choice. God provided us with a way to reconnect with the Holy Spirit, by confessing our sins and receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus and eternal life through the Holy Spirit. The proof and the promise may be found in John 20:20-23:

²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, .Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, .Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.                                                                                         

   – John 20:20–23 (ESV)

Dr. Clarence Larkin in his book, Rightly Dividing the Word expands on the Human trinity mentioned in 1 Thessalonians, by describing the three as follows:

“The human body touches the material world through the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.  And the gates to the soul are imagination, conscience, memory, reason and the affections.

The spirit receives impressions of outward and material things through the soul. The spiritual faculties of the spirit are faith, hope, reverence, prayer and worship.  To understand God, we must receive the Holy Spirit by faith and trusting God.”

And we see the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit in revealing God’s purpose and presence explained in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11:

⁹But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

– ¹⁰these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.                                                            

     – 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (ESV)

Let us therefore pray that we find the faith to trust God’s Plan for Salvation, Reconciliation and Sanctification, through confession of sin, trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and acceptance of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray…

Closing Hymn: #1 Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty

Benediction (2 Corinthians 13:14):  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.