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This Sunday Podcast S1:E9
22 Plays1 month ago
Holy Trinity Sunday
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and the Holy Trinity
00:00:00
Speaker
Greetings and welcome to this Sunday podcast. I'm Pastor Matthew Hardaway, alongside me is Pastor Phil Brandt. We are continuing our look into the Book of Acts during this first part of the this Easter season and the beginning of our show here. We are going to be continuing there, only today we will be celebrating, well, we're using the readings for the festival of the Holy Trinity. I'm not celebrating that quite yet this actual day, but looking ahead to that.
Prayer and Trinity Sunday
00:00:34
Speaker
So as usual, let me pull up the collect of the day for that day, and we will then dig into our readings. We pray.
00:00:44
Speaker
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given us grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, by the confession of a true faith, and to worship the unity and the power of the divine majesty. Keep us steadfast in this faith, and defend us from all adversities.
00:01:01
Speaker
For you, o Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live and reign one God, now and forever. Amen. Amen.
00:01:13
Speaker
Trinity Sunday. it's It is a peculiar day. love it. I think it's super important, but yeah it it is the only festival dedicated to a doctrine, um you know, and and really to the mother of all voters meetings, you know, and what a time it was I mean, it's kind of a,
00:01:42
Speaker
and and what a time it was too i mean ah it's kind of a probably a lot of our our viewer or our listeners already know.
Historical Context: Council of Nicaea
00:01:52
Speaker
I mean, the the Council of Nicaea was at times a pretty ugly event.
00:02:00
Speaker
um Summoned by ah by an unbaptized emperor. Constantine didn't get baptized until his deathbed. theology was really,
00:02:12
Speaker
his theology was really I mean he was, I don't think many people today would have even recognized him as a Christian. um And, ah you know, it summoned these these bishops from all over the all over the realm, and and they were they they were they were struggling to figure out how to how to do this. And, yeah, I mean, fistfights broke out on the floors.
00:02:41
Speaker
Nicholas of um of Myra got his nose broken by by some accounts at the Council of Nicaea. And yet here comes this document. Here comes this this this confession, this creedal statement, you know which which we say, yeah, that's Christian.
00:03:00
Speaker
And in fact, if you can't say that with us, you're not really Christian. You know, that that you have to be able to say, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.
Trinity Confession and Christianity
00:03:18
Speaker
yeah you you you You need to be able to say that, ah to be able to confess that. You may not be able to understand it.
00:03:27
Speaker
i doubt you can. i don't know that I can. But you have to be able to confess it. And ah it's it's a really, really interesting interesting ah ah interesting day, um especially following right after Pentecost last week.
00:03:48
Speaker
you know Because you know last week we we we kind of really hammered down on the idea that that you know the The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh meant that all flesh, that we were forgivers of sins.
00:03:59
Speaker
that That's what marked the the ah the Christian movement. That's what made us Christian. And now we're turning around saying, we got but you've got to say all these things in order to be a Christian. um it sounds like we're talking out of both sides of our mouth there, but we're really not. you know Because ultimately, what's at stake...
00:04:18
Speaker
in in this can in this confession, in this creedal fight that took place around the ah the articulation of the doctrine of the Trinity is nothing less than the forgiveness of sins.
00:04:32
Speaker
Because if it isn't God on that cross, how can I say about the sin that you as committed you have committed against me or that I've committed against do you, how can I say that the blood of some guy who died on a cross 2000 years ago has anything to do with that.
00:04:52
Speaker
Unless that blood belongs not only to to a ah carpenter's son from Nazareth, but but in the mystery of incarnation is also God's blood.
00:05:07
Speaker
And so, you know, the getting this right had everything to do with that very nature of the Christian church.
Acts Chapter 2: Peter's Sermon on Resurrection
00:05:18
Speaker
um I think we, we you know by losing sight of forgiveness as the as the essential nature of Christianity, it sometimes means we lose sight of why Trinity is important.
00:05:33
Speaker
um
00:05:38
Speaker
Which brings us to our text.
00:05:42
Speaker
which is the continuation of the Acts chapter 2 passage we started last week with. um We pick it up really with Peter talking.
00:05:53
Speaker
It says Peter stood with the eleven and lifted his voice and addressed them. um Last week we looked at the Joel passage, which talked about the outpouring of the Spirit on all.
00:06:07
Speaker
Now we pick it up with kind of the Well, what does this mean? How does this apply to first century Jerusalem people gathered around to hear this, hear what Peter has to say, but how does it apply to us too?
00:06:25
Speaker
Men of Israel, hear these words.
00:06:31
Speaker
Jesus of Nazareth a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
00:06:55
Speaker
God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
00:07:06
Speaker
i love I love Peter's first sermons in Acts. He always proclaims the resurrection. And it's not good news.
00:07:16
Speaker
Especially for the people who immediately heard it.
00:07:20
Speaker
Because being the residents of Jerusalem, you know Peter is kind of saying, you guys did this. You delivered him up. You killed him. And God has undone what you did.
00:07:34
Speaker
God has raised him to new life. He has invalidated your judgment against him. In the resurrection of Jesus, you have been proved wrong.
00:07:47
Speaker
And ah i just think that's really interesting that, you know I stand up on Sunday morning on Easter and and really every Sunday, you stand up and say, and in some way, shape or form, he is risen.
00:08:01
Speaker
and, and And my congregation almost always responds with, he has risen indeed, hallelujah, right? well i mean, we all go, hey, that's good news. Jesus rose from the dead. And it is good news.
00:08:15
Speaker
But the first time somebody said it, it wasn't.
00:08:19
Speaker
It was actually a word of condemnation.
00:08:25
Speaker
Because it was it was really, know, you know God saying, you made a mistake.
00:08:35
Speaker
You crucified my son.
00:08:39
Speaker
um i just find that that really, really interesting about the initial proclamation of the of the of the resurrection. and And I think it's really helpful for me as a pastor, as a preacher today, to know that that the word that I say to this person intending it to be good news may be heard that's very bad news by somebody else.
00:09:01
Speaker
You know, I think of Jesus at ah in chapter 15 of Luke, you know, when he when he says, you know, those those little things he says that right after the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. He says, well, I tell you, in heaven, you know, there's there's more rejoicing over one sinner who repents than over the 99 who don't need to repent.
00:09:22
Speaker
You know, for the for the sinners that are sitting at Jesus' feet, that's super good news. For the grumpy Pharisees who are on the outside of that that circle who are complaining about what Jesus is doing, those very same words are condemnation or judgment. They're saying you're out of step with God. God loves it that these people are repenting and you don't. I wonder who's got a problem.
00:09:46
Speaker
I think you've got a problem. Well, this word, I love it that this word, that that that Peter's words here, you know, take what to me seems like absolute perfect gospel.
00:09:59
Speaker
Jesus has risen from the dead and turns it into, well, its effect on them really is judgment.
Role of the Trinity in Salvation
00:10:12
Speaker
But now he can't just leave it there. It can't just only be judgment. Because he raised him up and loosed thereby the pangs of death.
00:10:30
Speaker
that one of the things that that happened there was that because Jesus has risen from the dead,
00:10:44
Speaker
death itself is undone. And therein, it becomes good news for all.
00:10:54
Speaker
David says concerning him, and now he's going back, he's quoting more Old Testament here. I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad, my tongue rejoiced, my flesh also will dwell in hope.
00:11:09
Speaker
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see the corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.
00:11:22
Speaker
Peter's remembering these songs that he has sung for his whole life. And he's realizing, oh, they were always talking about Jesus.
00:11:37
Speaker
Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. fact, you can probably point to it It's like right over there. but if you never If you ever go to Jerusalem, um there's like five different places. They say, well, here's the tomb of David.
00:11:57
Speaker
but I don't know whether he's got... But yeah, they did the the identification of the exact tomb of David is somewhat um somewhat contested. Let me just say that.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah. but But it's there. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants in an on his throne. There he's talking about, of course, the the Samuel passage where, you know, the Samuel 7.
00:12:31
Speaker
David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
00:12:40
Speaker
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
00:12:58
Speaker
and And here's our Trinity point, isn't it? That, you you know, you think about it.
00:13:10
Speaker
How do you know about Trinity?
00:13:13
Speaker
yeah ah where how do you How do you discern Trinity? You know, I think about, you know, it's it's raining here at my house today just a little bit. You know, who sent the rain?
00:13:28
Speaker
Well, there's no way for me as a human being to discern is is that Father, Son or Spirit? don't know. have no idea.
00:13:40
Speaker
You know, who who who makes the flowers bloom? Who who who did all kinds of things? I just have to say God did that.
00:13:53
Speaker
um And yet there is one place where I can discern the threeness of God.
00:14:03
Speaker
And that's only in salvation. It's only in this this this this this action of redemptive salvation of the world. Because the only way to tell the father from the son is that the father sends the son.
00:14:19
Speaker
The son doesn't send the father. The father sends the son. The son obeys. Is born of the virgin. Is suffered under Pontius Pilate. Is crucified. Die. The father doesn't do those things. Only the son does those things
00:14:37
Speaker
things. And then who gets poured out? The son isn't poured out. The father isn't poured out. The spirit is poured out.
00:14:47
Speaker
He's the one who who comes to us and and and connects us to Son and Father through faith. The Son doesn't do that.
00:14:58
Speaker
That's the Holy Spirit. It's the only way you can, you you know, but when when you get out of that that that language, that talk of the the this the the technical theological term for it is this economy of salvation. It's not economy like a, like we think of the the monetary economy, but this is this great sort of action of salvation.
00:15:23
Speaker
Once you get outside of that, all you can do is say, God, therefore we have the unity. and And there is only one God. And yet, um when we start talking salvation language, when we start talking all of those wonderful words of Christianity, of redemption and forgiveness and ah ah rescue and adoption and incorporation and and know in and the indwelling of God, there's where we start to be able to distinguish between Father, Son, and Spirit.
00:15:59
Speaker
and And here are this is, see, it is that Jesus, having been raised up, crucified and raised up, right? That's the son. That's not the father. He didn't die.
00:16:12
Speaker
And the spirit didn't die.
00:16:16
Speaker
Exalted to the right hand of God, he was low and went high.
00:16:22
Speaker
Having received from the father the promise of the spirit. So now you've got, you've got i mean, so far, just to imagine this, you have a binary father and son.
00:16:34
Speaker
but now the father gives the spirit to the son now you've got the three father doesn't give himself the father doesn't give the son the father gives the spirit so now you've got a third that fits in there he has poured out that this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing They had all gathered because they heard the mighty wind and and saw the tongues of flame and heard the the disciples speaking in these tongues.
00:17:08
Speaker
And Peter says, the reason you are seeing this thing you are seeing is because this action of Trinity has taken place.
00:17:19
Speaker
The Father has sent the Son and received him back. The Son has obeyed, died, risen, returned.
Jesus as Lord and Christ
00:17:25
Speaker
Now the Spirit gets poured out.
00:17:31
Speaker
David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain
00:17:47
Speaker
that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.
00:17:55
Speaker
That word Lord, you know, has such weight for a Jewish community. that's the word of the That's the God who parted the Red Sea, who the God who created the world, the God who who called David, you who helped David defeat Goliath, the the Lord who sent them into exile, and the Lord who called them back from exile.
00:18:20
Speaker
God made him who this Jesus, right? He has named this Jesus whom you crucified and God raised, That one is God.
00:18:33
Speaker
And Christ, the anointed one.
00:18:40
Speaker
That's the end of our text. But it's not the end of this passage by any means. um ah
00:18:51
Speaker
I don't know if you want to reflect a little bit on on this idea of Trinity right here. But that that that I think this this idea that
00:19:01
Speaker
Let all Israel know this. This Jesus is both Lord and Christ. um yeah This is the first sermon that ever got preached.
00:19:17
Speaker
It's the very first time that somebody stood up in the Holy Spirit and proclaimed. and And I find it really interesting that this is the
00:19:32
Speaker
this is the conclusion of the sermon, that God made this Jesus, both Lord and Christ, that Jesus is God and he's the one, he's the answer.
Evolution of Christian Preaching
00:19:47
Speaker
I mean, that when you think about Christ um that That word in in in in Hebrew is Messiah. it It simply means anointed, the one set aside. um But if you think about what those people consistently do in the Old Testament,
00:20:03
Speaker
um I always think about when when when he they call him the Christ, they really are saying he is God's answer to the problem.
00:20:15
Speaker
Because the the the people who get anointed in the Old Testament are always anointed and solve, resolve, are the answer to the problem.
00:20:28
Speaker
That God has not only said that Jesus is God, but Jesus is the answer. He's the one who who solves the problem. What's the problem? Well,
00:20:44
Speaker
It varies from person to person, but ultimately it's death. It's, you know, it's, it's sickness. It's loneliness. It's, um, it it is the, uh, uh, the, the suffering of life.
00:21:01
Speaker
Jesus is the answer. He is the Christ. Um, he is the one who, who is the, the solution to this issue. Um, I think it's actually really interesting that we have this text on ah on Trinity.
00:21:17
Speaker
um Because it really wraps into the into the into the Christian witness that from the very beginning, this Trinitarian language has been part of Christian preaching.
00:21:35
Speaker
you know They didn't use the word Trinity. That comes later.
00:21:40
Speaker
but from the very, very first sermon,
00:21:46
Speaker
Peter is talking about the Father and the Son and the Spirit. And that those three are integral to the that whole picture.
00:22:00
Speaker
If you pull one of those three out, it would happen to say one of those is not God, this whole thing falls apart.
00:22:11
Speaker
but it doesn't fall apart because all three of them are Trinity.
00:22:19
Speaker
But But how? That's that's always fascinated me with...
00:22:28
Speaker
that's one thing that's all fascinated to me with how God works through his work. So for us, one, as as pastors, so obviously, well, maybe not obviously, but we've had a little bit more time to study this and read those smarter than you and I on on this subject matter. And and here, especially with eternity, how confused they can get too.
00:22:55
Speaker
of of the tren of the the Holy Spirit in particular, but also just very much we are the created. So we're not going to be able to understand or fathom at the same level as the divine.
00:23:08
Speaker
Yet the
00:23:13
Speaker
the religious leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, some of the people in Jesus' time was and as his earthly ministry, could not fathom, understand, wrap their brains around their hearts to get that their monotheistic religion, that was one of the things that made them stick out compared to everybody else surrounding them, now had two.
00:23:45
Speaker
They had father your and son. and And so i I'm not God. I mean, for me, that this isn't, I don't lose a whole lot of sleep over this. And it's not that I'm a pastor. it's There's three persons. Okay, whatever. Call that a gift of the spirit. And I don't wrestle or doubt with that. it just I have that.
00:24:07
Speaker
But even to this day, we have worldviews that struggle with the idea of the spirit. And in pop culture, we we, you know, the spirit at best is your conscience.
00:24:22
Speaker
a and And I think all that goes back to it's amazing to me, the just what, three months ago in Peter's lifetime, maybe six months, within the last year, he has wrestled with who Jesus is.
00:24:43
Speaker
Mm-hmm. and gotten it wrong. yeah you know and and And now he's able to come out and clearly, distinctly articulate that there's also the Holy Spirit.
00:24:59
Speaker
I joked on last week's podcast that he had 10 days to get ready for the sermon. He hasn't had 10 days to get ready to figure out that the sound of the mighty rushing wind was the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised that it just, it's bam, it's right there. So I can't get it. I don't understand it.
00:25:21
Speaker
um I never will be able to, but I do see it right there. Yeah, and I mean, that's that, you i I really am am struck by how Peter, who you think about it, just 50 days before was cowering in fear outside the high priest, um the high priest palace, you know, while a slave girl was accusing him of just knowing who Jesus was.
00:25:54
Speaker
yeah And he's denying that. Um, has become this you know this person who stands up and and you know who points that accusatory finger at these guys he's talking to, these yeah know and and from a year ago, thousands of people, and is able to say, you killed the Holy One.
00:26:16
Speaker
You killed the Christ. you know Part of that is because he too has seen the resurrected one. You know, he has had christ Christ vindicated for him by the resurrection. that and and And I love that, you know, that that passage out of the end of John where Jesus forgives him three times, you knowre clearly undoing each of those denials. but um But even so, you know, that that the you know the the passage we got last week,
00:26:53
Speaker
or two weeks ago, excuse me, in which Peter was, um you know, they were choosing Matthias, right? that That Peter sounds really even different than this one, right? There you had Peter. They were going to do it with lots. And and the and peter Peter's quote, his use of the ah of the Old Testament, that he has those two little passages from the Psalms that he quotes, right?
00:27:19
Speaker
Boy, this Peter, it's just like the the the the Bible is just sort of coming out of him. you know And this is just, there's there's no there's no holding this guy back. and um and And the boldness.
00:27:34
Speaker
And that's going to come out again and again in the book of acts in the in the subsequent chapters. The boldness of this Peter who had been so afraid. Well, here's that Holy Spirit poured out.
00:27:46
Speaker
Here it is. Poured out of this. and ah And that had a profound effect on him. and And I think it has a profound effect on us too. And I think it's sometimes so subtle, we don't even perceive it. You know, we don't even see it.
00:28:02
Speaker
We don't think of it as as a ah is a miracle. But it is that that ah ah that that people around the world today continue to say, yeah, I trust in Jesus.
Christian Life of Forgiveness
00:28:18
Speaker
um ah I'm not worried. You know, even even the people who who in in places of persecution today are saying, I would rather die than deny Jesus.
00:28:29
Speaker
And there's people saying that today in the world. And that that's the choice they're having to make. You know, that and I would rather die than than lose this Jesus. There's the Holy Spirit at work.
00:28:43
Speaker
know?
00:28:45
Speaker
I just think about, you know, a lot of times we look at we look at Jesus' miracle of feeding the 5,000 as some amazing thing. um And it was.
00:28:56
Speaker
It really was. It was an amazing day. um But, you know, i mean, today, know, but Jesus goes on to say, you know, you're going to do more than I do. You know, today, how many people don't the disciples of Jesus feed?
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah. Quite a bit. Yeah, thousands and millions of people. yeah um i I used to teach at Concordia here in Portland, and when they had a high school, all right, many years ago, um one of the graduates of that high school was a fellow by the name of Art Simon.
00:29:32
Speaker
um His older brother, or his brother went on to become, his brother Paul went on to become a senator from Illinois. Okay, that he ran for president a number of years ago. But Art Simon, the brother of Paul, um would go on to ah ah found an organization called Bread for the World.
00:29:58
Speaker
and And I wonder how many thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, you know, art, and and through that organization which he founded and which has got, how many people have have have have on on one day put their hand out and somebody's put a,
00:30:14
Speaker
a piece of bread and a broken piece of fish into it for them in in in that sense. And, yeah know, that's the Holy Spirit. I mean, you know, yeah we we think it a miracle that Jesus, you know broke five loaves and two fish and fed the multitudes. I think it's just as much a miracle that he opened all those wallets and people gave and Art Simon fed people with that.
00:30:35
Speaker
you know ah that that That too is is the Holy Spirit at work. and ah and they're And they're doing it because they trust in this Jesus. And they trust that this Father has sent this Jesus.
00:30:47
Speaker
And that Jesus has died for their sins and risen from the dead. um that that That that economy of Trinity is is critically important.
00:31:02
Speaker
for everything that that the church does, everything of who we are. And ultimately, it's it's it's important because it resides in that in that very thing that sits at the center of Christianity, and that's its forgiveness, that we have another answer to the brokenness of you as a human being and the brokenness of this world in which we live.
00:31:31
Speaker
And that is, that's got legs on it to run. when you When you compare that, take that, o we as Christians, pulling in again from last week's podcast,
00:31:47
Speaker
are
00:31:51
Speaker
we have the task to prophesy, to to to forgive and to live in that life of, wow, I am forgiven. And not going to keep sinning so I get this euphoric high or that because God's given me permission Just, no, that's the the the worldview, the dynamic, the the the actual life that I live.
00:32:15
Speaker
And in reaction to that or because of that, I go out and forgive others. And as I'm going out and forgiving others, I also see where I can serve them.
00:32:28
Speaker
o Because I'm out with others. I'm not just going to church on Sunday morning. and you know i'm ki Yeah, and and forgiveness means I look at them now and say, oh, that's somebody for whom Jesus died. They're hungry. I should feed them.
00:32:41
Speaker
you Or they're they're they're they're lonely, or they're afraid, or they're there's something. you know And I see them through that lens of the sin which they've committed. I see them now through the lens of the love which Christ has given us.
00:32:53
Speaker
Right. to And the hope that we have. That sure and certain hope that we know what's coming is better.
Christian vs. Secular Perspectives on Salvation
00:33:00
Speaker
Compare that to um the shift over the course of time. I'm not saying that God's not still working miracles through our medical system.
00:33:08
Speaker
and But whereas historically, it was largely the church that would start healthcare care of this sense. And now it's there's a lot more business involved with it. right how How many times are we trying to find cures and and and solve medical problems only to make this life better? Mm-hmm.
00:33:35
Speaker
And I'm not saying that doing that this isn't a Christian scientist podcast. I'm not saying that at all. I get to go see the eye doctor next week. And, you know I'm very thankful for for health care. But when when a Christian does it, it's pointing towards the hope of the resurrection.
00:33:53
Speaker
When the rest of the world does it, it's only just trying to make the this miserable part of thing called life feel at least feel maybe a little bit better before it just is over.
00:34:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah it's so much of it is just coping with with me with the problem rather than solving the problem. And you're right that you know that that ultimately um ah the Christian love for that person in their need is yes, feeding the hungry is is good. They're gonna get hungry again tomorrow. But ultimately it always points to where that story gets embedded in John is that Jesus is the bread of life.
00:34:37
Speaker
And he's the one who not only has life, but he is life. you know I am the way, the truth and the life he says. And and that therefore to know him is to be alive.
00:34:52
Speaker
You know, that, that, that, that as it says at the end of John 20, you know, these things are written that you may believe. And if I believing you may have life in his name, that, um, and that, that, that, that transcends, you know, you've materialism has reduced it down to this, this little brokenness of life that we have here.
00:35:15
Speaker
And that's all we get.
00:35:18
Speaker
But, um, but that But that when you you look at this from the perspective of God and from the perspective of this text and what it is that God has done by sending his son and what Jesus has done by obeying and what he's done by pouring out this Holy Spirit on us, it is so much more than than than what the coping answers that the world has for us. God gives us so much more.
00:35:47
Speaker
One of my favorite hymns. I'm trying make sure I get the number right. Because if I don't, I know for a fact, one of my daughters will point that out to me when she's listening to this. Dad, you're the pastor. You're supposed to have them all. um the The text written by taylor and the Thomas Taylor in the eighteen hundreds i'm but a stranger here.
00:36:14
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I'm but a stranger here. Heaven is my home. Earth is a desert drear. Heaven is my home. Danger and sorrow stand round me on every hand. Heaven is my fatherland. Heaven is my home.
00:36:29
Speaker
Mm-hmm. a And just that, that yes. So we we are waiting with all the angels and archangels for Christ to come back and and make all things new, new heavens, new earth. But Jesus and and our the faith that we get from the Holy Spirit, thank you for that economy, your your third your part your your personhood of that, that we we look forward to it also.
00:37:00
Speaker
But I think sometimes we can miss out. like We are living, in some ways, we are living it now. I was baptized into the kingdom of God.
00:37:11
Speaker
and while right now it looks like i'm I'm in Connecticut in my office, which I am like eternally identity speaking. um I'm i'm like hanging off like a one foot on each side of the line. In some ways, that's a bad analogy. But the the side of the foot that's here right now that's that's talking with you um is also very much connected to Christ.
00:37:39
Speaker
I think we i think we we do well to think about this calling as an adventurer. this calling me as as an adventure
00:37:50
Speaker
and ah and And I think too often we've allowed the world to define Christianity as boring or as as a restriction, as something that is small versus you know the expansiveness of freedom and choice and all of those things. And ah and and that, no, this is the adventure that we get to participate in this cosmic story in which in which in which you know The world fell into sin, and God wasn't allowing wasn't going to stand by and just let that happen. God was going to take action. He would send his Son, and he would pour out his Spirit. And and this Trinity, this Sunday, is just so cool because what it does is it it it kind of gives the meta-narrative, that big picture of what that of what that that that adventure,
00:38:46
Speaker
where that plugs in that we're part of this huge, huge thing that God is doing. God hasn't just said, okay, you're saved, go step off in the corner somewhere. God has poured out his Holy Spirit on his people and said, you are now in the very middle of this redemptive work. I give you my word, go proclaim. And, and, and, and that Trinity is, is is is for me in a sense is taking this thing we do as Christians, this love, this forgiveness, this this proclamation of the resurrection and all of these things, and it plugs it into, you know, the the the the the cosmic nuclear reactor that is God, you know, that says, oh yeah, you're doing all of these things in that Trinity.
Preaching the Trinity: Challenges and Importance
00:39:38
Speaker
Mm.
00:39:43
Speaker
another Another podcast with chills. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's really cool. um Wow. Have a blessed Trinity Sunday this Sunday, Matthew. ah Preach him a good one. um trinity za Trinity can be a challenge to preach.
00:39:58
Speaker
oh yes Because it's how do you preach about something you can't really understand? Well, confess it, right? Absolutely. And rejoice in it and say, you know I don't understand how this all works, but I'm sure glad God did it.
00:40:14
Speaker
and Amen. ah Right. i like You have a blessed Trinity Sunday as well. And until next week, I can't wait to see you again. All righty.
00:40:28
Speaker
God bless you. Bye-bye.