And to worship in that way, well, good morning that you're with us this morning. And if you're visiting with us, we're glad that you're here. And if you have any questions or have a need that you can feel free to make those aware, you can ask myself for Tim or the gentleman who are helping seat people out front. We'd love to serve you in any way we can this morning. I've got a few announcements to call your attention to. And I know that sometimes when the word announcement comes out, your brain goes into a fog. And it often the fog just kind of lifts over your heads and goes right out that door. So I should engage your mind just for a second as I go through these announcements. First of all, if you haven't been down to the fellowship hall, we ask that you go down there. At some point after the service, don't get up now. At some point after the service, get down there and check out all the ministry opportunities that there are through our church. Galatians 610 says so then we have opportunity. Let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. We have downstairs 25 ministries, some of those who are especially taking care of the household of faith. But often neglected in this verse is to do good to everyone. And so we also have ministries that are ministering to people in our city, the homeless and the poor, and tutoring in schools and lots of prison ministry, all kinds of stuff that's going on. And we want you to go check out those things, encourage the people that are there. And even if you say, I've got too much going on, I can't get involved in another thing. Maybe you could just ask questions about a certain ministry so that you can pray for them this year. So we encourage you to go down to the fellowship hall right after the service and check that out. This Monday, the men of the city will be starting back up. And Tim is doing a series on men of the Bible to learn how they have walked with God in our ever changing world. How do we walk with God in the great reality of the men of the Bible? Ready for this? They were all perfect and heroes. No, if you read the Bible, you know, that's not true. There, they have glaring weaknesses and failures. And all of those glaring weaknesses and failures should not only comfort men like myself who have glaring weaknesses and failures. But they also, everyone of those men are pointing to someone greater. They're pointing to the perfect man, Jesus Christ, who never failed. And so ultimately, all those men are pointing to Jesus. So it should be a great study as Tim works through that and invites you men to come to that. Starts at noon over in the student center, bring your coworkers. It's going to be, we're going to be digging into scripture. So look forward to that. Also, last announcement we have this morning. We have coming up February 7th and 8th. Paul Miller will be coming and speaking at our church. And we've invited churches from all over the city to come and be a part of that. And this morning, we have a personal testimony from Emily Davis, who's a college student at Covenant College, who was impacted by Paul Miller's book of praying life. So Emily, if you will come on up here and tell us a little bit about that, that would be great. Please give Amy your attention this morning. Hey, everyone. So I'm a senior this year at Covenant College. And so starting out freshman year when I came into Covenant, I had a lot of questions that I was asking about prayer. And like, why does God not give me what I want when I ask her? Why do I need to pray consistently for something? If you already know what I need, or especially how do I pray for other people? I was really struggling with praying for friends and knowing how to do that. I really admired the dedicated pearl eyes of a lot of my friends and then praying for me, but it just seems like a burden. It was really hard. And so every once in a while, a friend would say, oh, have you read a praying life by Paul Miller? And I would say no, but I'll get around to it. And finally, I read it my junior year. So this was a year ago, this past Christmas of junior year. And it just really was one of the most impactful books I've ever read. It really made a big difference in my life. When I started reading the book, Paul Miller says, he states the purpose of his book. He says, consequently, prayer is not the center of this book. Getting to know a person, God, is the center. And that really set the tone for the book. It really struck me realizing that I was talking to my father, a loving father, but also the king. And one thing that Paul Miller, he talked about Jesus' life a lot in his book. And he uses Jesus' prayer in Mark 1436, which says, Ava, father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. And so when Jesus was about to go up on the cross, he was telling God it's exactly what he wanted. Even though he knew that his request was outside of God's well, he was completely upfront with God as his father is telling him what he wanted. And then he also, in the end, submitted to God as well. And so that really changed how I viewed prayer. I realized, first of all, that I could bring my sin to God. I could bring my struggles, whatever I was feeling, without being afraid. And it was just so comforting to come to my father and tell him about sins I was struggling with, and things that were really hard for me. And knowing that he wasn't going to judge or condemn me. And then second, Paul Miller talks a lot about submitting in his book and just looking out for God's well, being watchful for how God's at work. And he talks about he and his wife praying for their family and for their kids for years and years. And as they were watchful, watching for God to work and seeking his well. And as they saw him working out his well in their kids' lives, they would adjust their prayers accordingly and keep praying. And so I learned how to do that. And I saw God working in really neat ways that if I hadn't been watchfully praying, I wouldn't have seen. Like I saw him providing for friends in my life, financially, that had financial needs or using covenant alumni in really neat ways and try to do that ahead and see before. And it just really caused me to worship him more. And I learned a lot more about praying scripture as well. Just how prayer is a conversation. So I learned how to listen to God through his word because he speaks to us through his word. And then responding in prayer as I read his word and just learning to start with scripture. And finally, I just learned some really good tips for praying for friends. Paul Miller has a really good section on prayer cards that helped me a lot just in practical ways because prayer is a daily discipline. And we need to do it daily. But ultimately, it did draw me closer to God. So I'm really excited about this conference and I'm really excited that Paul Miller is coming and just hope that the prayer that this conference would really draw us closer to God and show us more of his glory. Also, I'm supposed to put in a little plug for college students with $8. It's like half-price for college students. So you all should come. It's going to be really good. So thanks for letting me speak to you on a day. That's because I called her Amy twice. I'm not Emily. Sorry about that. Emily, thanks for sharing with us. And we do ask you to go online. And you can get information about that conference. It's coming up February 7th and 8th so I encourage you to be there and be a part of that. Let's take a few moments now as we've had rushed perhaps time coming in the church this morning. Maybe you are reaching in the back seat to calm children as you are coming or there was tension. Or maybe you're driving in this morning and you saw the beautiful sunrise. And you saw that God is faithful once again to cause the sunrise and set and his mercies are new this morning. Whatever's into that spectrum you're on this morning, a God promises to meet you where you are in this place. So take a few moments and prepare your heart to worship him. I didn't make a rough heaven, make a reverse. And in Jesus Christ is only begotten. Son, you wasn't seen by the Holy Spirit. Born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified and dead and buried. I believe what I believe. Here's what makes me what I am. I did not make it. No it is making me. It is a very truth of God and not the invention of any man, even he who suffered. Was crucified buried and dead. He descended into heaven on the third day he rose again. He ascended heaven where he sits and God's mighty right hand. I believe that he's returning to judge the quick and the dead and the sons of men. I believe what I believe. Here's what makes me what I am. I did not make it. No it is making me. It is a very truth of God and not the invention of any man. I believe in God the Father. O mighty maker of heaven, make a reverse. And in Jesus Christ is only begotten. Son, our Lord, I believe in the Holy Spirit. One Holy Church, the communion of saints. The forgiveness of sins. I believe in the resurrection. I believe in life and never ends. I believe what I believe. It is what makes me what I am. And I did not make it. No it is making me. I said I did not make it. No it is making me. I did not make it. No it is making me. It is a very truth of God and not the invention of any man. And for God's call for our worship. Found in Psalm 135, says, Praise the Lord for the Lord is good, sing to his name for it is pleasant. For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession. For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deems. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses. Is your name humbled that you, a holy God, in the fullness of time, put on flesh and dwelt among men to take on their sin. Upon the cross and die a cruel death that you did not deserve. Thank you for the hope of the eternal life that comes from your resurrection. And thank you Jesus Christ that we can say with great confidence that you are holy, that you are also merciful and you are also loving to your people through your son Jesus Christ. We magnify and praise you today Jesus. May you hear our praises, may they fill the throne rooms of heaven just like the chair of them are singing right now. May we sing them for all eternity and may you hear our voices even now as we lift up our praise to you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen. The Father should give His only Son to make a righteous statue. How great the day of Spirit was. The Father turns His face away. The Father should give His only Son to make a righteous statue. It was right in that Him with us His power was spread. It trembled at His voice. It trembled at His voice. It trembled at His voice. This morning we have sung about the holiness of God. We have sung about the love of the Father and we have sung about the greatness of our God. There is one way that the Lord has shown Himself to us through His Son and His greatness is expressed in His Holy Trinity. I remember as a college student I heard two terms that really helped me begin to grasp and understand as finite beings. A triune God that He is one, but He is three persons. Those two terms were ontological and economic and you are thinking, oh great, here we go with these deep theological terms. But they made a framework for me that helped me understand the Trinity and I wanted to share them with you. And ontologically the being of God is one. He is the one true in living God, but economically His economy is in three persons. The Father, setting His love, choosing and electing His people, Jesus Christ the Son coming and rescuing doing the work of redemption for His people and the Holy Spirit the one who applies the work of Christ to His people. I hope as we read this morning as we recite what it is what we believe about the Trinity that will be helpful for you. So I ask you this morning, Christian, are there more gods than one? How many persons are there in the Godhead? There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and He is free of our Holy God. Does anyone substance equal in power and in glory? Hey man, you may be seated. Would you please join me in this confession of sin saying, Lord, we come to you this morning aware of our need for your grace. We have fallen short of your glory and not lived as kings and queens under your Lordship. We have sought to build our own kingdoms rather than yours to run after pleasures apart from your presence to desire fame from others rather than honor from you. We call out for your mercy, forgive us of our sins. Please take these few moments and silently confess your sin to the Lord. Father, the Holy Spirit leads us to places of assurance in your word. There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so Father, we come in the name of Jesus Christ. And we thank you that you've removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. You've blotted them out. And so we come humbly and gratefully to you, our great King Jesus, our Redeemer. And Jesus, we pray the prayer that you taught your disciples to pray saying, our Father, who are in heaven, how would be thy name? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For a dime is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Although your children are always welcome to attend the worship service, we do have some other options for them. The children may be dismissed. Now, if they go through these doors, their Sunday school teachers and leaders will be waiting to lead them to their classes. And for those of us who remain, let's encourage each other with a welcome. Let's pray together. Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus Christ. He is our hope. Jesus, you are everything to us. For many of us, Lord, we've been taken to the place where we've had absolutely nothing. And maybe some of us are at that place right now. But with you, we have everything. Actually, we have more than enough. So we celebrate you as we come together as your people to pray. Father, I'm mindful of the Mason family, the Souter family, and their losses and yet heaven's gain, so to speak. We praise you, Lord God. Father, we pray for Curtis Smith. We pray for his healing, your touch on him, your tenderness and his family. Father, we pray for Mr. Klein, as he's being treated right now, diagnosed. We pray for him and his family that you would give the doctors wisdom and pray for his strength. So we have not only physical needs, we have spiritual needs. Father, many of us are broken, not only in body, but in spirit. So we come before you and we ask not only for your healing touch, we know, Lord, each and every one of us will be healed. We'll either be healed before your return or at your return. So we're confident of this healing that will take place. Father, it's your timing that sometimes causes us to wonder and struggle and wrestle. Come and comfort us, Holy Spirit. Give us our hope in you alone. Father, we thank you for our church. We thank you for our city. We prayed for our city. We prayed for our local leadership that there would be a magnificent movement of your spirit throughout our city. That the Christians around our city who are worshiping you right now would be filled with your spirit and have a hunger for you. Thank you, Father, for blessing Chattanooga and surrounding area with your word. Come, Holy Spirit, cause your word to mean something to us. Mean something to our community in a way that we would we would live differently in the power of your spirit. Lord, we pray for those in our city who are in great need, but they have no greater need than to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. They know His love for them. Holy Spirit, we pray you would be released throughout the city that every boy and girl, men and woman will come to faith. We pray for the single mother, the single father, for the children. Oh, God, we pray that every child would grow up in Chattanooga learning to read and learning to follow after you with great joy. We pray for our nation, Lord. We pray for our national leaders that you would give them wisdom from above. And that Father, they would seek to be faithful to you, you appointed government. Help us as citizens to follow Godly leadership. Help us not to compromise our biblical standards as a nation, Father. Forgive us for the murders we commit each and every day in our nation. Thank you for your patience upon us, Lord. Please bring your healing touch in our neighborhoods, bring your healing touch in our inner cities, bring your healing touch in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls. Father, we're here for your glory. We delight in you. You've convinced us, Holy Spirit, that God the Father, God the Son and you yourself are our greatest delight and joy. So may we find our great satisfaction in you. Father, pray as we give these tides and offerings that we will continue to give generously for those who've given much. Lord, may you bless them greatly for those who don't give or who give very little. May you enlarge their heart and their priorities in a sense that they would invest wisely in your kingdom. Thank you for your patience with us. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Stand for the reading of God's word. Our scripture lesson today is found in the book of Ephesians chapter one. I'll be reading from verse one through verse 14. We're continuing our series in the Apostles Creed. And each week we take a phrase and then unpack, unpack the biblical mandates and truths that undergird the Apostles Creed. And so today, we're thinking about I believe in God, the Father Almighty. Here God's word from Ephesians chapter one. Paul and Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us and Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood or forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Well there is a married couple they were having a problem they were going out of the little bit and they weren't seeing everything eye to eye the husband was wrestling there verbally with his wife and slowly you could see the situation was escalating and the wife and of course this is completely anonymous. Yes I would and I have no personal experience with this whatsoever but the wife calmly looked at her husband and said Eric this is not very trinitarian of you the Trinity has existed together one God in three persons since eternity past and they were a completely joyful society. Just the three enjoy each other so much enjoy spending time together they never grew tired of one another they were never jealous they loved one another had a great affection and appreciation for one another and we are created in the image of God and so we are a social people. That's why we have birthday parties and that's why we have roommates and we have marriages and families and that's why about every forty five seconds we check our cell phone to see did someone text me have anyone called maybe an email because we have this hunger for community we have this hunger for union for togetherness because we are made in God's image the triumphant God is a social God the triumphant God is completely satisfied in and of himself he did not create us out of need it wasn't like a threesome heading to the tea stand we need a fourth they had complete joy and satisfaction in each other they created us out of the overflow of their magnificent being now we'll talk about creation next week but this week I want to talk about the Trinity and I want to realize there are tremendous practical applications to the Trinity their relationship should be manifest in our relationships if you're married the reality of the Trinity should be manifest in your marriage if you are here with your family today moms and dads sons and daughters the reality of the Trinity should be manifest in our lives we enjoy each other we mutually submit to one another we find great satisfaction in our relationship to one another. and so the passage we're going to look at this morning is found in Ephesians chapter one and the triumphant God has revealed quite clearly if you look at verses three to six we see the work of God the Father and verses seven through twelve we see the work of God the Son and in verses thirteen and fourteen the work of God the Holy Spirit our triumphant God at work for the redemption of his people. so let's let's work our way through the text together as we we think about the work of God the Father verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ so here we have God the Father and we also have God the Son Jesus Christ. what is the work of God the Father and redemption he has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places you know at the at the Christmas concert I mentioned that many Christians live like the Beverly hillbillies. remember the Beverly hillbillies they they struck it rich and they had all this money and yet they continue to live their lives like poor people I mean they drove that old truck with granny in the back and Jeff throw would go out to the cement pond once in a while right he didn't quite understand they as a family didn't quite understand the fullness of the blessing of their wealth they were wealthy but they lived like poor people and we are so blessed in Christ we have every spiritual blessing and him and so one of the works that God does in the life of the believer is to convince us over and over and over that we have all the fullness of the spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ and we eventually at some point begin to live that way. we begin to live a life of a person who has a spiritual blank check in their hand he goes on in verse 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world so before the father sent a spirit ever created the world he chose us he chose his people and so it's not that we choose God God has already chosen us before he made us. So how do we possibly think that our salvation originates with us it originates with God it says that God chose us you'll notice throughout this text the word predestined is used a couple times I have some time I have encountered people occasionally who say I just can't believe you Presbyterians you believe in predestination don't you I said sure do you believe that God chose it I say I sure do they say why don't believe that and I'm sorry well it has nothing to do. Presbyterianism it has to do with the Bible I mean whether you believe the way I believe that you'll stand before God for that but when you look that when you look at a text and it says even as he chose us in him then go down to verse 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ this is the work of God the father on his people through Jesus Christ chosen predestined go down to verse 11 in him we have obtained inheritance having been predestined now whether you believe like a Presbyterian or not that does between you and God but you must honestly interact with God's word. So if you can explain those away I'd be interested in hearing your argument but there's some clarity here that God the father has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world look at verse 5 in love God the father predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ predestined he predetermined destiny was preset for his people. That we'd be adopted in Jesus Christ praise God that he's adopted us according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glory with which he has blessed us in the beloved now look at the second section beginning in verse 7 the work of Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity in man's redemption in him we have been we have redemption through his blood the word redemption mean to be bought back something was lost and then it was found it was redeemed it was returned to the place where it originally belonged in him but we have redemption how through his blood what does that mean well I believe that this next little phrase is a it's kind of a clarifying phrase a qualifying phrase a parenthetical comment we have redemption through his blood comma what's that mean the forgiveness of our trespasses the work of the Lord Jesus Christ was to take the trespasses of his people upon himself he died on the cross we have redemption through his blood through his death we gain forgiveness of our trespasses this is the work of God the son in the redemption of his people according to the riches of his grace not according to our efforts not according to our works but according to the riches of God's grace so is a big sense in this text of the fullness of God's grace which if you look at verse 8 which he lavish upon us when you lavish something on someone you over do it you just over do it oh you didn't have to do that for my birthday but you did and I loved it thank you you went too far you did too much you're over the top on that one that's what this little Greek word means God went over the top he did what must be done and more he is poured out this grace on us and all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will a mystery of something which can only be known through God's revelation and so the idea of mystery doesn't mean it's unknowable it's knowable but it must be revealed so God has revealed his will through Christ his son according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him so the fullness of God's plan is to bring everything back together like the Trinity is always together so is together God the father loves God the son and God the spirit God the spirit is crazy about God the son and God the father they're united they're together they'll never be torn asunder the words that Jesus uses as he speaks of marriage marriage is to manifest the reality of the Trinity in a home in every home unity joy peace our marriages are trinitarian in that sense that we manifest the love of God within our marriages verse 11 in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will so we were predestined according to God's will not our will verse 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be the praise of his glory of course he's speaking of himself as well as the Ephesians in him you also have heard the word of truth this begins the section on the Holy Spirit verses 13 and 14 in him you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit you know that word sealed is referring to some melted wax that goes around like a document that has been rolled up and it's sealed and it's going to be sent as a letter and they'll melt some wax and seal it and with a signatory ring they'll make the seal of the king or of the ruler or the author and and that signifies the authority and that's what the apostles referring to here in him when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit that seal cannot be broken verse 14 who's the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it you know some people say hey do you own a home and you say well actually the bank owns a home I'm just paying on it right and this idea of the Holy Spirit being this down payment this deposit is the idea that he not only makes the deposit he's going to pay off the mortgage of our salvation through the work of Jesus Christ he'll continually apply the work of Christ to us so that's the work of the Trinity within the redemption of man we've got the work that God the Father does the work that God the Son does the work that God the Spirit does let me just summarize a four truths about the Trinity number one there's one and only one true and living God there's only one God only one true and living God there are not multiple gods in fact that is an illogical things to think for the polytheists or the pluralist of today it's illogical it's irrational the Trinity there's one and only one true and living God Deuteronomy 6 secondly this one God eternally exists in three persons God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit Ephesians 1 is a wonderful proof text number three these three persons are completely equal in attributes each with the same divine nature think of Matthew 28 the baptismal formula we baptized you in the name of the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and then lastly while each person is fully and completely God the persons are not identical what do we mean by that Robert Roe referred to this earlier as he was leading us through the service this idea of the economy of the Trinity in a marriage a husband and wife are are completely equal they both are equal image bears of God we bear God's image and so a husband and a wife are completely equal in their marriage but God has given the husband the responsibility of taking leadership in that marriage the economy of the marriage is that you have equals and the husband has the role the responsibility of being the leader that does not mean that the husband is always right we've seen many times that some poor godly woman is married to some than else right and it's it's hard how do you submit to that man pastor what am I supposed to do I'm unequally yoked but then there's also godly men who do their best to lead but their wife is a rebellious woman she won't follow his leadership she always knows a better way to do it she's not able to submit not willing to submit this is not a Trinitarian marriage the economy of a marriage is similar to the economy of the Trinity equals different roles mutual submission great joy in one another making joy that your husband is a spiritual man who is seeking to lead you in a godly path follow him wives praying for that man single women in this congregation at that at this very moment saying where is he I give find I've been looking for that guy God the father God the son God the spirit in beautiful unity that's what that's what our marriages our families our lives as individuals are to reflect this peace and love of God a couple mistakes have been made through the ages in understanding the Trinity one is something called modalism this is a view that there's one God but he manifests himself differently at different times so there's one God but when he was doing creation he was God the creator of the father and when he was dying on the cross it was it was it was Jesus God became Jesus and then the Holy Spirit he's here with us he's comforting us now it's called modalism it's quite actually quite popular within some denominations there's a huge church in Dallas where the pastors are modalist he doesn't really believe in the triumphant God another mistake that people made was called Aryanism it was a third century areas believed that there was a time when Jesus did not exist he didn't believe that Jesus nor the Holy Spirit were eternal he believed that they were generated from the father and so Aryanism was quite popular in that century as a result the Apostles Creed was written in a Trinitarian formula right the Apostles Creed is a summary of the Apostles teaching dealing with the reality of the false teaching of the age so of course the Apostles Creed is going to have a Trinitarian formula because they want the people to know our God is one God God the father God the son God the Holy Spirit expressed in three persons now what are some of the practical implications of this and Allah begin to land the plane with this as we see the runway what are some of the practical implications of the doctrine of the Trinity first of all the doctrine of the Trinity makes definitive revelation of God as he's known in Christ God is manifest among people in the incarnation of Jesus Christ his son the eternal God God the father God the son and God the Holy Spirit is manifest in the reality of the God man Jesus Christ and so we have this definitive revelation of God made possible because God is a triumphant God secondly the Trinity makes the Atonement possible redemption of sinful man is accomplished through the distinct and unified activity of each person of the Godhead listen to this summary in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14 how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish the God purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God there we have this work of the Godhead the blood of Jesus Christ apply to us through the work of the Holy Spirit all to the honor of our living God God the father thirdly because God is triune he has eternally been personal and relational in his own being he's fully independent of his creation and he's completely satisfied in himself between the persons of the Trinity there has always existed total relational harmony and expression God is from this standpoint a perfect society in himself lastly the Trinity provides the ultimate model for relationships within the body of Christ and within marriage the doctrine of the Trinity is well beyond human ability to ever fully comprehend however it is central to understanding the nature of God biblical Christianity stands or falls on the doctrine of the Trinity it's not just a formula it's God in God we place our faith this intimacy between God the father God the son and God the spirit is illustrated in one of Paul Miller's books Emily talked about the prayer conference coming up on the seventh and the eighth I'm looking forward to that in another one of Paul's books he wrote the book is titled Love Walked Among Us he talked about this love as being a journey this journey toward intimacy he says Jesus like most of us had circles of friendship with ever increasing intimacy he had an outer circle of disciples but he spent most of his time with his twelve he was especially close to Peter James and John particularly John but his relationship with his father expresses his deepest intimacy and so when we think about the relationship that Jesus had with his friends his disciples and you see these concentric circles slowly narrowing down from maybe the crowds and then the 70 and then the 12 and then the 3 and then particularly John but then most of all his relationship with God the father you know to know something in the English language means to understand it to know something in Hebrew means knowing and being known intimacy is knowing and being known when Adam and Eve had sexual relations he knew his wife you can't learn that in a book this intimacy of which Jesus speaks he says things like all I have as yours and all you have is mine you are in me and I am in you his father says you are my son in whom I am well pleased and I love you he says Abba father Jesus is description with his father suggest a oneness and intimacy and then when Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit he speaks of the Holy Spirit as one who is going to be like him who will come another counselor is the term he uses in John in other words he's saying another one just like me the third person of the Godhead and so we come brothers and sisters as his people in the process of experiencing this unity we found in Christ of experiencing the love of the Trinity manifesting the love of the Trinity in our own lives as individuals in our lives as members of a family in our lives as a married person in our lives of someone you live with a roommate or within a community in our lives as a church and in our lives as people who dwell in the city of Chattanooga and so when we manifest this oneness this love of God we have a confidence in the love and the power of God and the love of God is so big that it overflows out of us into our city that's one of the reasons we're having our ministry fair. You've got to I think about 25 tables I went down there in between services by the way some serve food but you go down there and you find a way to be involved why well because that's what Christians do or I'm trying to earn my way to heaven no because the love of God is well up in you in such a way that it flows out to places like Walker State it flows out to places like our children's ministry our youth ministry singing in the choir rearranging these flowers so that they're delivered to people all throughout our city who have need of a little encouragement or who are celebrating a special day. You see it's God like to be a giver for God so love the world he gave you ever think about it just just that just think about that for God so love the world he loved the world in such a way what do you do he gave he gave of himself he gave his son Jesus Christ that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. What does he mean eternal life he means intimate union with God the father God the son and God the spirit forever that's what Paul spoke of in Ephesians one he's going to unify all things through the work of Christ the Holy Spirit continuing to convince us of this and as he does one of the rational logical normal manifestations of a Christian who is in the world. His union with Christ and led by the spirit is that they give to give their lives joyfully graciously with no sense of obligation lavish the love of God wherever they happen to be now that's trinitarian Christianity let's pray together. We come to you in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit and so try and God we come before you as your people we thank you for the gracious way with which you deal with us. We thank you for the hope we have of heaven one day when we will have this magnificent unity that you have had for eternity past and will have for eternity future oh God fill us up to overflowing with the power and presence. Of God the spirit we pray in Jesus name and all God's people said together I'm in would you please stand for the benediction now I want you to know some of your hosting tables and right now you're thinking I need to get going and you probably do. As soon as I pronounce the benediction when we start singing the closing him I'm going to head out the door and head downstairs kind of like a pied piper where are you Cassie there you are kind of like a pied piper and I would love for you to come down see the different ministry opportunities if you're coming to this church and you just can't find a way to fit in. Here you go here's an on ramp put on your blinker hit the accelerator we are ready for you to get on the road with us in worshiping the Lord in serving our city so here this benediction from the Lord may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord causes space to shine upon you be gracious to you may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace both now and in the life everlasting amen. Amen.