[0:00] Let's turn together in God's Word, and if you have a Bible there, then we're reading from John 14. John 14, as many of you will know, is part of Jesus' final teaching to his disciples on the night before his death, and 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 of John are all devoted to that.
[0:26] We're going to break into part of what Jesus is saying to his disciples by way of comfort and help to them, and particularly from verses 15 through to the end of the chapter.
[0:40] So John chapter 14, beginning at verse 15, here's Jesus speaking. If you love me, you will obey what I command, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counsellor, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth.
[0:59] The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.
[1:13] Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
[1:27] Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. Then Judas, not Judas Iscariot, said, But Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?
[1:47] Jesus replied, If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
[1:59] These words you hear are not my own. They belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
[2:17] Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. You heard me say, I am going away, but I am coming back to you.
[2:32] If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe.
[2:44] I will not speak with you much longer, for the Prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father, and that I do exactly what the Father, or my Father, has commanded me.
[2:58] And come now, let us leave. Well, let's come to the Lord in prayer. Let us remember the needs of our world at this time, and remember the needs of our fellowship. I say many of our folk were away.
[3:09] Let's remember them in prayer. Let's pray for the Church of Jesus Christ around the world. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. We thank you, our God and Father, for the great comfort that you give to us, just as we've been singing and reading, that there is hope.
[3:32] Hope in this world. Hope in the most hopeless of situations, because you are the God who lives and works and is active.
[3:44] The God who created this world provides for this world. The God who rules over this world, and the God who is working in and through the events of this world, to that great climax and goal of all of history and time, when Jesus Christ will come again.
[4:05] Oh Lord, we thank you that, though you are so great and mighty and exalted, yet in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have proven the fact that you are the God who descends to walk amongst his people, that you are the God who condescends and humbles himself, who doesn't stand aloof, who doesn't stand afar off, but the God who willingly, gladly, walks and is involved in a broken, in a fallen world.
[4:37] And we do bring to you the needs of this fallen and broken world. We know that you know of them, and yet, Lord, you call us to pray, because you delight to hear your people pray, and you delight to answer your people when they pray.
[4:51] We thank you again for prayers that you have answered in our own lives, help that you've given to us. We do pray, Lord, for the world at large, and we think again of the very many areas of conflict, and sorrow, and grief, and sadness, and evil.
[5:08] We think of the situations in Syria and Iraq, of the circumstances in places like Sudan and Nigeria. We think, Lord, of those who are working so hard to do evil.
[5:23] We think of the conflicts and wars, Lord, even in Ukraine, and continuing tensions in Gaza. Oh, Lord, there seems to be, wherever we turn, Lord, men and women, acting in wickedness and evil towards one another.
[5:41] We know that only you can change the human heart. Only you can turn anger and hatred to forgiveness and love. Only you can heal wounds.
[5:52] Only you, Lord, can give peace. And so we do pray for your churches, and your people in those parts of the world. Lord, many of them are oppressed and persecuted because they love you.
[6:04] Many of them, Lord, are struggling and finding it very tough. But, Lord, we know that you will not forsake them or leave them, and we ask that you would give them great help in these days to be a witness for you, and through their suffering, through their difficulty even, that they may be those who you speak through to the changing and transforming of lives.
[6:25] We do pray for the governments of our world, and ask again that, Lord, you would help them. We believe that your word tells us that no government or power or authority is there except that you have placed it there.
[6:38] And we ask that they would use their power and God-given authority wisely and carefully, and that, Lord Jesus, even through them, you would exercise your rule and reign.
[6:50] We pray again, O Lord, for our own nation and our own country. We pray, Lord, for the many millions, tens of millions of people in our nation who are in darkness, who have lost, Lord, all sense of worth, have lost, O Lord, all sense of the reality of their souls and of God.
[7:12] And we pray that in mercy, you would visit our nation again, Lord, where it seems that we want to break apart, Lord, from one another. Lord, we ask that you would unite us in Christ and bring us, Lord, again to the knowledge of him who loved us and gave himself for us.
[7:31] We don't know why our country has, as it were, wholesale abandoned the God who has so blessed them in the past, but we ask that you would send your spirit again upon your churches and upon your people that we may be bold and brave to speak of Jesus, to show and to proclaim him to those around about us, and that you will, Lord, with open hearts and blind eyes.
[7:55] We thank you for our fellowship here, this little church, and again for those, Lord, that you have drawn together. Give us a greater love for one another. Give us a greater care for one another, and again for the community in which you've placed us.
[8:08] We think of those who are not with us this Sunday, those mums and children that are away at centre parks enjoying fellowship. Encourage them and bless them in their time together, that they may be greatly built up and strengthened and helped as they share and as they speak of you, one with another.
[8:29] We pray for others who are travelling and visiting friends and family around the country. Watch over them and keep them safe too. We pray for the children you've entrusted us with, and we ask again as they learn of you this morning that you would open their hearts to your truth, that they may come to know the living God for themselves.
[8:49] We pray for ourselves now as we come to your word. Lord, you are the God who has revealed himself. Lord, reveal more of yourself to us. Show us, Lord, something more of your great splendor and glory, that our mouths may be filled with your praise and worship, that our lives may radiate, Lord, who you are and, Lord, what you are and what you've done for us.
[9:14] And again, O Lord, comfort, strengthen, convict, minister by your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, that, O Lord, we your people may know that we have been blessed of God.
[9:27] for we ask these things again because we know this is your will and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[9:58] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[10:28] Amen. Amen.
[10:58] Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, we read from John 14 and we'll be popping back there from time to time though we won't be just in that one passage this morning. I'm sure all of you have heard of Harry Houdini called the greatest magician, escapologist, that has ever lived and at the moment on the television there's a two-part documentary, a dramatization of his life and what I found most interesting as I've been watching it is that some of the secrets of his illusions have been revealed.
[11:31] So it's not just about his life. They've actually shown you the things that he did to get out of the locked trunk or the water tank and so on and so forth. Those illusions that mystified people around the world.
[11:43] And one of them, which they showed the other week, was when he went to visit the Tsar of Russia. And there was a bell tower on the other side of Moscow.
[11:56] Where the bells had never rung for 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 years. Can't remember how long it was. And Houdini said, I'm going to make the bells ring. And they were like mystified. And it was so simple.
[12:07] I'm not going to tell you how they did it. But it was so simple. But the Tsar and his family were in awe of Houdini. Because he'd been able to do this incredible thing. What appeared impossible was actually quite simple.
[12:20] Though very cleverly explained. Now, as Richard reminded you, on our Wednesday meetings, we've been, last week and this week, thinking about the Bible doctrine we call the Trinity.
[12:34] And so I felt it was appropriate, perhaps, for us to just take a little break and think about that ourselves more generally on a Sunday too. Wayne Grudem, who's the man who's been doing some of these Bible teaching DVDs, said of the Trinity that it is a mystery.
[12:48] And that's quite right. But Trinity is a mystery. But it's not like the mystery of Houdini that can be simply explained away. It's one of those marvellous wonders about God that we cannot fully get our heads around.
[13:02] That we cannot explain. But should cause us to stand in awe of him in wonder and worship. Now, the doctrine of the Trinity, he put down and can be explained in three simple truths.
[13:20] These aren't exactly the ones that he wrote down, but these are the same sort of thing. Three simple affirmations of truth. The first is this. There is one God. That's, we are monotheistic, okay, people.
[13:32] In other words, we believe there is one God. In Deuteronomy, God says this. Hear, Israel, the Lord your God is one. There's not a multitude of gods. The Father is God.
[13:45] The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Each is fully God. That's, again, something that we find once more, as we said with the children, that passage in Matthew 28, be baptised in the name, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
[14:02] Each one is fully God. And as we read there in John 14, we find that as well very clearly the case. Jesus speaking about himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit on equal terms.
[14:16] And then thirdly, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is each a distinct person. One of the false teachings that has grown up is a teaching called Unitarianism.
[14:31] There's a Unitarian chapel in town, which basically taught that there is one God, but in the Old Testament, he showed himself as God the Father. In the New Testament, he showed himself as God the Son.
[14:42] And in the, after the New Testament, showed himself as God the Spirit. So one God showing himself in three ways. That's not true. Okay? That is not the case. Each person of the Trinity is a distinct person.
[14:56] One God, three persons. It's impossible. Of course it is, because we're dealing with God, not with human reason. Now, when you're sitting there, you might think, well, what has this got to do with us?
[15:07] Are we just going to get a boring, well, possibly dry lecture about the Trinity? No. This must matter to us as Christians. It must matter to us because it's true, and truth does matter to us.
[15:22] That's what we're about. We're not about fantasy or fiction. We're about truth. There is such a thing as absolute truth. We live in a world which says, what is true for you isn't true for me.
[15:35] No. There is truth. And the truth about God is that he has revealed himself as Trinity. And that has a bearing, therefore, upon how we understand God, and therefore how we relate to God.
[15:47] Since God has chosen to reveal himself in the Bible as a God who is one and yet three, that must matter to how we interact with him, how we understand him, how we fellowship with him.
[16:00] Jesus made that very clear, that the quality of our relationship with God will depend on how we know him and understand him. In Jesus' prayer in John 17, he says this, and prays this, now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
[16:22] That's the wonderful thing about the Christian message. It's about knowing God. Not just knowing about him or knowing certain theories about him, but knowing him. And what we understand about God will affect how we know him and how we relate to him.
[16:38] Now we acknowledge, as I've said, that this is a mystery. We can't fully know everything about God. Because you see, if God was so small that we could understand him completely, he wouldn't be great enough to be worshipped, would he?
[16:51] If God was someone that we could bring down to our own level and we could explain, then he wouldn't be the God who deserves our adoration and awe and fear and worship. He has to be greater than our thinking.
[17:04] He has to be greater than our understanding to be God. And that indeed he is. And yet, God has chosen to show himself to us. He has chosen for us to be able to know him.
[17:17] He's revealed himself to us and that affects how we think of him. So in this matter of Trinity, take just that one wonderful characteristic of God that John tells us about in his letter.
[17:29] God is love. Now how we understand God as Trinity will affect how we understand God is love. If God is love, he must always have had someone to love.
[17:43] Love doesn't exist on its own, does it? Love can't exist on its own. By its very nature, love is an expression of affection, of care, or whatever from one to another. And so God, if he is love, must have, even before he created the world and the people in it, have loved.
[18:01] And so we find that from everlasting, the Father has loved the Son and the Son has loved the Father and the Son has loved the Spirit and the Father has loved the Spirit and the Spirit has loved the Son and the Father.
[18:16] Throughout eternity, from everlasting, again, that's another concept we can't get our heads around because if you try, it just makes your head hurt, it does mine anyway, thinking from everlasting, forever and ever and ever, there has always been one God, three persons who have been in the perfect relationship of love.
[18:34] And that affects, therefore, how we understand ourselves. God did not make the world because he needed an outlet for his affections. God did not, in one sense, on his own, say, it's very lonely here, I need to create people to love.
[18:48] No. He did not create us in that purpose or reason. He loved within the Trinity and he created us.
[18:59] Yes, that we might be objects of his love, that we might experience his love, but not because he had to, the love that God has for us is a love that reflects the love within the Trinity.
[19:17] Here's Jesus, as he, again, in this wonderful prayer, he speaks about this, he speaks about those who will come to trust in him, you and I who are Christians this morning, may they be brought to unity, to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
[19:36] Have you ever thought of that? That God loves you with the same love that he loves the Son. Now, I don't know about you, that is astonishing.
[19:48] I find that amazing because we often think that somehow the love of God for us is a second-rate love because we're so sinful and wicked and we get things wrong. The love of God for us is down here.
[20:00] The love for God, the Son, who is perfect and sinless, is up there, but know, says Jesus, that you might know that they might know that you love them as you love me. Therefore, this is all about the Trinity, isn't it?
[20:14] If we don't have a concept of the Trinity, how can we understand the love that God has for us being like the love for the Father for the Son? It heightens our appreciation how much we're loved. But it's not just in the nature of God and the characteristics of God that the Trinity has bearing, but everything that God does, he does because of who he is.
[20:36] Everything that God does, he does because of who he is. It's an expression of his very nature and character. And so, when God speaks to his people in the Old Testament, he says, I am the Lord, I do not change, therefore, O sons of Jacob, you are not destroyed.
[20:56] Because I don't change, you can trust me. Because I don't change, this is how I'm going to act. And so, with everything that God has done, he does as Trinity. So we think of some of those things.
[21:08] First of all, creation. Creation, the world in which we live. God created this world purely out of his grace. Purely out of his grace.
[21:19] He didn't need to create the world, as we said. It wasn't because there was some itch that needed to be scratched that he created the world. He purely, out of grace and love, created this world.
[21:32] And it was the Father and the Son and the Spirit who did the work of creation. Here's just one place. There's many places we could turn to which speak about God the Father and the Son in creation.
[21:44] In 1 Corinthians and chapter 8 and verse 6, Paul speaks and writes this. There is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
[22:05] We find, if we go back to Genesis and chapter 1, how there we're told at the very start of the Bible that there the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters. The Father, the Son and the Spirit were acting together in creation and not more so than the creation of humanity.
[22:23] The very first hint perhaps we get at the reality of the Trinity is found in Genesis and chapter 1. Verse 26, Then God said, listen to the words, Then God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness.
[22:44] Now how can that be? Because God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit together purposed and chose to create.
[22:56] Now that reality affects our relationships with all people. If God the Trinity created us in the image of the Trinity because that's what we see for the next verse says, so God created man, that means humanity, in his own image.
[23:17] In the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. So God's creation of us has somehow impressed upon us something of the image of God.
[23:31] One of those things is that God is Trinity. How does that affect us in our human relationships? Well it means this, there is equality. You see in the Trinity there is equality.
[23:42] The Father is God, the Son is God and the Spirit is God. I know that sometimes in our minds we can't comprehend that and we put God the Father at the top and the Spirit at the bottom and Jesus in the middle but there is no sense of that.
[23:57] There is equality. There is no inequality. Each is God. Each is God. And so dear friends, when we deal with people, humanity is one race.
[24:08] One of the great errors and false teachings is of one race and another race. There is a human race. We are one. We are all equal.
[24:18] Every single person is of equal worth. No matter what their age, no matter what their ability, no matter what their color of skin, no matter what their background, no matter what their intellect.
[24:31] Every single person is of the equal worth because we have been created in the image of God. Do away with that. We find ourselves in a place where we treat other people as less than ourselves and unworthy of life or whatever it may be.
[24:51] By nature, we are all the same. So we find in Acts in chapter 17, Paul is teaching in Athens. He says, from one man, God made every nation of men.
[25:03] We're all related in that sense. There's equality in the human race but also because we are made in Trinity, there is a sense of diversity within the human race. We're not all the same. Each person of the Trinity is a distinct person.
[25:16] Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Though they are completely united and of one mind and heart, yet they are distinct persons. And as we see through scriptures, have distinct ministries.
[25:27] So there is diversity in that sense in the Trinity. And so there is in humanity. None of us are the same as one another. Thank God. Aren't you glad there's nobody just like you?
[25:39] I am. But we're all different. Even identical twins are different, have different DNA. How come we're so different? Because we are created in the image of God.
[25:50] There are differences but they're differences to be rejoiced in as the French say. Vive la différence. How's that accent? Quite good. Vive la différence. We're all different.
[26:02] And one of the things that often we find happens and one of the sins I think of humanity is we try to make people fit our mould all the time. One of the great evils in one sense that motivates IS and Islamic State is they are forcing and trying to force upon people that they might be in the same mould as them.
[26:22] One of the great errors and falsehoods and sins of the church in the past has been doing just the same through things like the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition and other things like that.
[26:34] We cannot force people. There's a diversity which we're to respect and rejoice in. There's to be respectful and then thirdly of course as well because we are created in the image of God then we are created for community.
[26:50] Within the fellowship of the Father and the Son and the Spirit there's that perfect community of fellowship together. There is that getting on with one another if I can put it that way. And so too we have been made for community.
[27:03] We've not been made to be on our own. No man is an island. We are made to be in fellowship with one another. The expression of that in the church of course is so very important but we're made that way to relate to one another to get on with one another.
[27:17] When God created Adam he noticed this he saw this he knew this. He said it's not good for man to be alone. He's not just talking about marriage the wonderful gift that that is but about everything about us.
[27:30] We're made to be together. We're made to have relationship with one another. We're made to friendship. So that's just creation. But then when we leap forward and we think about the coming of the Lord Jesus into the world what we call the incarnation the incarnation God coming into the world then again we see that it is the Trinity together at work.
[27:52] Christmas is coming. You notice that? You've been in the shops and there's the Christmas decorations starting to go up and the Christmas go to Sainsbury's and there's Christmas puddings and mince pies already on sale but of course when we come to Christmas we're thinking about the incarnation.
[28:09] Here's what the angel Gabriel says to Mary when she asks how it's possible that she could have this child though she was a virgin. The angel answered her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you so the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
[28:28] You see the Trinity the Spirit come upon you the power of the Most High that's God the Father the one who is born is the Son of God. There we have it in the incarnation.
[28:39] The three persons of the Trinity engaging and interacting with Mary in three distinct ways yet in harmony to bring the Saviour of the world into life. Now that understanding of the Trinity of the sending of the Lord Jesus Christ in the world must influence our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.
[28:59] for Christ taking our humanity and entering into our humanity was for that one purpose to reconcile men and women to a Trinitarian God to bring us back into relationship with him a relationship that had been broken.
[29:15] His Paul as he writes to the Christians in Galatians in chapter 4 explaining to them about Jesus' birth and coming into the world. He says this when the time had fully come God sent his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons.
[29:39] Because you are sons God sent the spirit of his son into your hearts the spirit who calls out Abba Father. So when we become a Christian something has happened.
[29:51] We've been adopted into the family of God. We've become children yes even sons of God. We've been brought into the fold of the Trinity. Though we have a different relationship to God the Father than the Son did yet we share in the joys and the blessings of fellowship within the triune God.
[30:15] And so because this is the case that God was at work Father, Son and Spirit in bringing the Saviour into the world so the salvation that we enjoy in becoming a Christian is again a work of the Trinity Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
[30:31] Again we can look in many places. Here's just one of them in 1 Peter his letter he says this speaking to the Christians who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.
[30:51] I'm going to go into all those words and what they mean but he has it very clearly the Father, the Spirit and the Son together are working and bringing those people into the family of God into the church of Jesus Christ.
[31:03] See the church is the very pinnacle of all the works of the Trinity. Do you realise that? The church is not just some club. The church is not just some gathering of people who happen to like the same songs.
[31:18] The church of Jesus Christ is the pinnacle of God's creative power in the world. It's the greatest demonstration of who he is to the world around about.
[31:29] You and I as Christians within the church of Jesus Christ have been laid upon us this immense privilege that the world looks to us and will only see in us the reality that God is.
[31:42] the reality of who God what God has done in sending his Son. That's what Jesus said in that prayer remember in John 17 may they be brought together in complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you've loved me.
[32:02] That's an amazing thing. Whatever you think of yourself whatever you think of the goals of your life or the purpose of your life dear friends if you're a Christian this morning the purpose and goal of your life is this that you might have been brought into the church that the world might see the reality of Jesus Christ.
[32:21] There is nothing worthless and meaningless in that but the greatest honour and privilege but our salvation you see so when we are brought into the church the sign of belonging to the church is the sign of baptism which we read about didn't we Matthew 28 in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit by being brought into the church the sign of that baptism is done in the name of the triune God and our experience of salvation what it means to be a Christian is much more than just simply bearing the name of the triune God but actually experiencing the infilling and indwelling of the triune God that's what Jesus said didn't he back there in John 14 which we read that incredible mystery the world cannot accept him that's the Holy Spirit because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he lives with you and will be in you I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you so there's the Holy Spirit who lives within us then he goes on and says this he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I too will love him and show myself to him and then he says my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him so we have the Father the Spirit and the Son dwelling within us isn't that amazing that's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians you are a temple that's why there is no temple anymore that's why we don't have a special building anymore this is just an old shed just imagine this doesn't matter but this all falls down there's still a church and the church is the indwelling place of God we have the life of God in our souls you can't be a Christian apart from having the indwelling life of God in your soul that's what makes a difference that's what changes us that's what transforms us that's what makes a difference to us not that we suddenly go from being a rather nasty person to a nice person or an unreligious person to a religious person but it's a transformation in us is this that the Spirit of the living God
[34:29] Father, Son and Spirit comes and takes residence in our lives and makes us a new creation and we're changed how can you be any how can you stay the same if God's living in you you can't can you it's impossible the implications for that in our lives today are so wonderful too you see if God lives within you dear friends if bringing you to himself means that he has imparted his very life into you then there's nothing that can take you away from him and take him away from you there is our salvation is protected and kept Jesus as he speaks to the disciples there and encourages them this is what he says about us as well my sheep listen to my voice I know them and they follow me I give them eternal life and they shall never perish no one can snatch them out of my hand my Father who has given them to me is greater than all no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand here we are we're in the very safe keeping of the Father and the Son and ultimately the Spirit as well what can the devil do to you dear Christian that the triune God cannot protect you from what is his power compared to the mighty power of God
[35:49] Father Son and Spirit we are secure when you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ when God by his Spirit dwells within you then you are as safe as houses safer than the Bank of England nothing can remove you from God and God from you and so the wonderful truth as well is because we have the triune God who dwells in us he dwells with us remember Jesus said he will be with you and in you we have the very presence of God wherever you go and I don't just mean wherever you go physically because we do go into some difficult situations physically but wherever you go spiritually emotionally Christ is with you God is with you it may be the deepest darkest place of depression of oppression of sadness of grief of sorrow of trial let me assure you God has said never will I leave you never will I forsake you it's more than just the physical presence of God but it is the real experience of the nearness of God but it also means as well this that even in the deepest recesses of our hearts when there is that sin that bitterness that resentment that unforgiveness that anger whatever it is
[37:07] God's there too we can't hide from him it has a good and it has a negative but then also we see here and wonderfully we have power to live the Christian life again this is Peter writing to the Christians his that's God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness his divine power dear friends as Christians we can often feel weak and we are weak in and of ourselves but we can say with Paul in Christ I can do all things through him who strengthens me a little story about William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army had all of his sort of family followed him into the Salvation Army and into Christian evangelism and so on one day his granddaughter came home and she said and he says to how did you get on
[38:09] Catherine she took part in the service an open air service she said I did my best grandpa the general's response was rather devastating he said Catherine your best is not good enough but he added in Christ we can do better than our best that's great isn't it we can do better than our best we feel limited and we are limited in ourselves but in Christ we have all the power because the triune God does with us and just here as well prayer prayer is the living experience of God the Holy Trinity at work in us the Spirit breathing into our hearts the Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus Christ interceding for us the Father being spoken to Romans chapter 8 in verse 15 we are told again that this is the work of the triune God you have received the Spirit of Sonship by Him we cry Abba Father Spirit of the Son by whom we cry Abba Father we have seen prayer finally just as we close and I am sure there is so much more and I am sure you are aware so much more we could be thinking about the Trinity see it impacts every part of our Christian experience and life it is not just a cold doctrine it affects finally and ultimately our view of the church brought back again to that how we understand the triune God the Trinity affects our understanding of the church the church is closely related to the Trinity we have already touched on this prayer of Jesus here it is again listen to what he says he is talking about us
[39:48] Christians who will come to faith in Him through the preaching of the disciples John 17 my prayer is not for them alone that's the disciples then but also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one Father just as you are in me and I am in you may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me is that amazing again they may be one you in me I in you they also in us so the church is an expression of the Trinity so just as we talked about human relationships equality and diversity and community so we see that in the church dear friends we have been brought into this family of God it doesn't just mean that we all agree with one another about certain doctrinal truths that isn't part of the church and that isn't church unity just always agreeing with each other it's diversity it reminds us that we all have the same relationship with God we all are on an equal standing before God the pastor and the elders and the deacons and everybody else are not on some tier system okay we are all on that same relationship with God we are all on that same plane and so we are all God's children therefore we are all brothers and sisters they say about your family that you can't choose your family but only your friends it's the same in the church you can't choose your church friends or members of the church the Lord places you with them because he knows that they need you and you need them and you probably get what you deserve anyway
[41:33] God doesn't command us to be one rather he actually makes us one by dwelling in us and drawing us to himself and therefore to each other and so because the church reflects the trinity we serve one another remember that wonderful occasion when the Lord Jesus was baptised and we have the three persons of the trinity at work there is Jesus going to be baptised a sign of his serving the father and obeying his commands to fulfil the mission we have the holy spirit coming in the form of a dove upon the Lord Jesus to equip him and enable him and we have the father speaking his blessing and affirmation so we too dear friends are to serve one another within the local church we are to share with one another as the persons of the trinity do as well here's Jesus again in his prayer all I have is yours he says to the father and all you have is mine and so we find that in the church we are to share with one another we are to give to one another we are to distribute one another we are to support one another again as the trinity do this is love isn't it it's the out working of the triune love and so there's so much we don't understand there's so much we don't understand concerning the trinity but if we are willing to receive what God has told us and shown us about himself that he is one and three then that will affect our world view it will affect our worship it will affect our Christian living it will affect our church may the Lord help us to know him better and in knowing him better to make him known well let's sing together our final hymn it's number 55 in our hymn books 55 we give immortal praise and again it reflects the truth that we believe concerning the
[43:41] Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit we don't understand all these things but as we've seen in God's word we know that they are there and that they have great impact upon us we give him awesome praise to God and Father's love for all our comforts here and better hopes above he sent his own eternal son to die for sins that man had done Almighty God to thee the endless all has done the undivided free and the mysterious one where reason fails with all the past their faith prevails and love and hope may the grace of the Lord
[45:15] Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all Amen Amen