Week Forty-Five, 2019
THREE IN ONE
By John Grant
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My [Jesus’] name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 14:26
We were visiting in a foreign home and I was offered a cup of coffee. It came in the form of an empty cup and a small “Three-in-One” packet. Our host explained that the packet contained coffee, creamer and sugar all in one. How unique.
With the 3-in-1 it’s amazingly easy to make the perfect white coffee with sugar. Each single-serve sachet combines coffee, whitener and sugar so you get a creamy and sweet tasting coffee every time, says the printing on the packet.
I thought of the spiritual parallel. As Christians, we believe in the Trinity, a difficult concept for many to understand. I remember one day when my wife was trying to explain our faith to a young girl of another faith in our neighborhood. The young girl said she worshiped one God while Christians worship three.
From the beginning of creation in Genesis to the end of times in Revelation, God refers to Himself as “us” or “our” and thus describes the doctrine of the Trinity. The word trinity comes from “tri” meaning three and “unity” meaning one. God is three distinct individuals – God the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit – in one true God.
Three in One
God created us. He sent Jesus to save us and Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide us until we go to glory. God may seem far away and we might think that He has abandoned us, but God in the form of the Holy Spirit is always with us.
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’” Matthew 3:11.
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
• Rick Warren is right: “Most people fail to realize that money is both a test and a trust from God.”
• An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.” —John Marshall (1819)
• Happiness is a state of mind. Specifically, it is a state of “well-being and contentment.”
• There are 29 percent fewer birds in the United States and Canada today than in 1970.
• There’s a reason why we only retain and adopt 5% of our parents and 1% of our grandparent’s values. We are selfish enough to think we know better and we can do things “our” way. Dwight Short
• Three-fourths of a billion of the world’s population live in a country other than where they were born.
• According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four Americans suffers from some kind of mental illness in any given year.
• Duke University’s student government has denied Young Life’s official status as a student group on campus because of the ministry’s commitment to biblical sexual morality for its staff and volunteers. Duke was begun by Methodist and Quaker families and was called Trinity College for many years; I wonder what its founders would think of this announcement.
• The World Health Organization estimates a global suicide rate of one death every forty seconds. By next year, they predict someone will take their life every twenty seconds.
• In these times, answering God’s call to be culture-changing Christians requires both urgency and courage. The higher the summit, the harder the climb.
• This statement from seventeenth-century theologian John Owen: “There is no duty we perform for God that sin does not oppose. And the more spirituality or holiness there is in what we do, the greater the enmity to it. Thus, those who seek the most for God experience the strongest opposition.”
• Pray for my wife, Beverley. She may need an attorney. Seems she ran my wallet through the washing machine and now may possibly be charged with money laundering.
“I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever!
Young and old will hear of your faithfulness.
Your unfailing love will last forever.
Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.”
Psalm 89:1-2 NLT
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. George Orwell
Let’s make democracy work and make Roe the rule of this land in every state. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren
Your Christian witness is Not the words you say, but about the life you live.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘Do not go where the path might lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Overcoming the pull of consumerism is a difficult challenge regardless of our stage in life. Simplicity requires encouragement.
The Service We Give Through Pain Will Be Louder Than the Sermon We Live in Pleasure
“Those who believe the Gospel and behold the Gospel become like the Gospel.” J.D. Greear
Today’s children need a tackle box more than they need an X-Box!!!
When Problems Come into Your Life, Don’t Look for a Place to Run
Find a Place to Stand!!! Ken Whitten