Who is God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

We had some audio issues this past Sunday evening so the lesson was not recorded. I thought instead of me going to the auditorium and re-recording the lesson to an audience on nobody, I would video part of the lesson and expand in this blog post on other parts. Who knows, you may prefer my preaching this way from now on.

Our deepest convictions affect every decision we make. Write that down because it is true. We as individuals and as churches make our decisions based on our convictions. However, our convictions are often clouded by our preferences. David C. Gibbs Jr. of the Christian Law Association puts it this way, "A preference is a strong belief, but a belief that you will change under the right circumstances." He goes on to say, "A conviction is not something that you discover, it is something that you purpose in your heart (cf. Daniel 1,2-3). Convictions on the inside will always show up on the outside, in a person's lifestyle. To violate a conviction would be a sin."

When we look at this Frequently Asked Questions of our beliefs and faith, we are looking at the questions that reveal our deepest convictions. These FAQ's ask what we most fundamentally understand and believe, not what our preferences are. My challenge Sunday night and in this post is to be people who look at these questions to study what your deepest convictions are and to sort them out from your preferences. Preferences change. If you don't believe so, ask your 'past' self at the age of 16 what they want to do on a Friday night versus what you want to do today. We look at these questions to study the basic, fundamental convictions of our faith.

So we begin with who is God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit?







God the Creator
God is the creator and sovereign ruler of the universe and all that is in it. 


Genesis 1:1- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:26-27- Then God said, "Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish and of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them."

First of all, notice "our" in verse 26. The trinity is present in the beginning as well. All forms of God, the complete, whole God is our creator. We are people made, created, knitted in the very image of this complete God. Now, we could spend many more pages talking about our creation in God's image which is outright remarkable. You and me reflect God inside and out. But what I want us to focus on here is God is our creator. He is the one responsible for us being here and even more than that we are people created with a purpose. A purpose to rule over God's creation here on earth. But more than that we are people created to glorify and reflect the beauty of God!


Jesus the Savior
Jesus Christ is the son of God who came to earth to save us from our sins. He lived a sinless life, even though he was tempted in every way and willingly offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men and women by dying on the cross. He demonstrated his power over sin and death by rising from the dead after three days. Shortly after his resurrection, Jesus ascended to Heaven and promised to return. Salvation can only come through Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:22-23- All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" -which means, God with us.

Let's start here. All throughout scripture we see a prophesy of God's plan. Everything that took place took place for God's son to come. Everything God had said was true and it came through a virgin birth. Jesus came to us, not as a last resort but as God's divine will and plan for our salvation. And on top of that it wasn't a plan that involved tablets or another prophet speaking on behalf of God, it was a plan that involved God in human form! Jesus is physically God in human form. Jesus is God living like us, among us. Feelings, thoughts they are all a part of Jesus. God in human form.

John 3:16- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is God in human form sent with a purpose. The complete, whole God who created us loved us so much that he wanted to be in relationship with us. He wanted us to be with him. So, God the father sent his Son to be with us. Jesus is the "way, truth and life (John 14:6)." Our savior is this form of God. The human God.

Philippians 2:6-7- Who, (Jesus) being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.


Hebrews 4:16- For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin.

Jesus the Savior is the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He is God with us and one who was tempted and lived just like us yet was without blemish. God only accepted perfect sacrifices so that his people could be in a personal relationship with him. Jesus is that for us. Our savior came to save us, rescue us and take away our sin when we accept Jesus the Savior.

Holy Spirit the Guide
The Holy Spirit lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. In conjunction with the Bible which He inspired, the Holy Spirit provides the Christian with understanding of spiritual faith and guidance in doing what is right.


Acts 2:38- Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.


1 Corinthians 3:16- Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you?

The Holy Spirit is a gift. It is God's spirit living among us and in us. We are called God's temple because of God's spirit living in us. Much like God's people built a temple, God's spirit would dwell there. He now dwells in us. A man told a boy that he would give him a dollar if he could tell him where God was. The boy replied, "I'll give you $100 if you can tell me where God is NOT." When we take God in baptism we are, again, taking on God in all forms, completely and wholly. The spirit of God is in us and with us.

Galatians 5:22-26- But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

When we live with the Holy Spirit it can be seen. Our life actions reflect the Holy Spirit with us therefore our life actions reflect God. It doesn't mean we are never tempted and never sin, but we have God's spirit with us and among us so we must strive to be in step with Him. God is still among us!

The Impact
You can think of people who have had an impact in your life. Positive and negative influences. The people in our lives will always have some kind of influence and impact in our lives. The same can be said for the relationship we share with God. His relationship will have some kind of impact in our lives. So, knowing who he is; knowing He is a complete God who influences all areas of our life, creation, salvation and guidance is important. Knowing our creator influences how we view ourselves. Knowing our Savior influences how we live with others. Knowing our Guide influences how we conduct each day.

I pray you will keep looking to know deeper and deeper our God. Please feel free to comment or email me if you want to have further discussion. I know a blog post or one sermon could never cover this huge and important question.