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Pastor Christopher Brock

December 16, 2023

Genesis 1:26, New International Version

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”


From the very beginning of the Bible, God began to show us who He is. Only 26 verses into Genesis, God gave us a very distinct comment about Himself. This comment clearly made the distinction that God reveals Himself to us in more than just one way. When referring to Himself God uses words that indicate more than one person. If God were a single person then the phrase would have used the words “me” in place of “us” and “my” in place of “our”. One thing that we must keep in mind and that we will discuss further along however is that this does not mean that there is more than one God.

 

God is composed of three different individuals who, while each being entirely God and possessing all of the attributes of God, have their own distinct role. They are separate, yet at the same time, they are the same one true God. These three individuals are referred to as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

The first person of the trinity is the Father. The Father created all things and sustains all things. He has no beginning and He will have no end. It is through and by the Father that we have life and all things happen according to His will and plan. He gives and He takes away according to His riches and glory. All things belong to Him and He has authority over all things in creation.

 

The second person of the trinity is the Son. The name of the Son is Jesus and Jesus is also the Word of God. God sent His Word, Jesus, to us to live and be in community with us. Just as the Father had no beginning and will have no end, so Jesus also has no beginning and no end. Jesus has all of the same attributes and power as the Father, yet He functions in a different role within the trinity. 

 

The Father sent His Son Jesus to save us. In this way Jesus served as a sacrifice which atoned for our sins and when we accept this sacrifice, the weight of our sins and the eternal consequences of those sins are forgiven. Jesus serves as our mediator with the Father and through this relationship we are restored to a relationship with the Father, just as Adam and Eve had a relationship with the Father in the Garden of Eden before the first sin was committed.

 

The third person of the trinity is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the very Spirit of God and is alive inside of those who have accepted Jesus. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and are restored to a relationship with the Father, the Holy Spirit then comes to us and acts as our teacher and guide. He will help us as we go through our lives to learn and apply the teachings contained in God’s word. The Holy Spirit also imparts gifts to us that allow us to perform the work that God calls us to. These gifts include the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of healing, and the gift of discernment, among many others as well. In addition, when we have the Holy Spirit within us and we follow as the Holy Spirit leads us, we will experience the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. These fruits include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

 

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which make up God work completely in unison as God and provide us with all that we need.  It is through God that we have been given life. It is through the Father that we have been given purpose. It is through the Son that we have been forgiven and provided with salvation from the consequences of our sins, and it is through the Holy Spirit that we have been given fellowship, love, guidance, and companionship. Through this relationship with God that we are transformed so that we can bear fruit for the glory of God.

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