SPEAKER_00: Man, church, you guys, you guys got some energy today.
SPEAKER_00: It is good to uh hear your worship.
SPEAKER_00: I want to welcome all of our campuses and everybody watching online.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're a guest, man, we're super glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, my name's Sean, I'm the lead pastor here at Central, and I would say it is a great time uh to be going to this church because God's doing so many incredible things.
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't come this last weekend, you should be here every weekend, but if you didn't come last weekend, I'm telling you, you missed out.
SPEAKER_00: We celebrated 116 baptisms across our campuses.
SPEAKER_00: So many change stories, so many just life uh things that were going on.
SPEAKER_00: It was fun to be in the back and then to hear and the stories at the other campuses and just see the tears and the joy and so many things happening with that.
SPEAKER_00: And another neat thing to celebrate is that means that since in this school year, that means that we've had 751 people go public with their faith through baptism in that time frame.
SPEAKER_00: And that is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And so I wanted to say to you summer's here, right?
SPEAKER_00: And here's what happens in Arizona summer gets here, and it's like this all across the nation, but it happens in Arizona because it's so stinking hot in this place that you guys want to get out of town, you know, and go hang out somewhere else and then come back, and our our rhythms get a little off.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to encourage you, there's so many good things going on.
SPEAKER_00: Let's keep the momentum going.
SPEAKER_00: And the way you can do that, just a couple ways you can do that is number one, when you're in town, I would encourage you to be here.
SPEAKER_00: Like just get up and be here because there's so many things.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about the series we're gonna be doing in a couple weeks in the month of June and just all the things we got a couple guest speakers coming this summer.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about teaching this summer.
SPEAKER_00: So when you're in town, be here.
SPEAKER_00: When you're out of town, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Watch online.
SPEAKER_00: Like stay up with us because there's God's doing some great things, and I think there's some things we're gonna be teaching through, they're gonna be very helpful for you.
SPEAKER_00: So when you're out of town, be with us in spirit online, check out those messages and do that.
SPEAKER_00: And then I would encourage you, just one other thing is uh while we have, we look at right now across Central, and you could just see attendance is up in the right, man, baptism is up in the right, kids going to camp up in the right.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many good momentum things that are happening.
SPEAKER_00: One thing that is just static right now, so just and maybe just a hair, just like a couple percent down, is the giving to our our impact fund, which is our general ministry fund.
SPEAKER_00: Like what makes ministry happen and leads to the 751 stories that were changed.
SPEAKER_00: Our giving is just a little bit down.
SPEAKER_00: Now you would say, now I'd also say this: our giving is actually for the year is up when you take in context of we had a Christmas offering, you guys are so generous with.
SPEAKER_00: Then we had an Easter offering and we blew the goal of 300,000 away and gave 440,000 or 74,000.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, our give, but those things are outside of the impact budget.
SPEAKER_00: The impact budget is what impacts and leads to ministry every single day.
SPEAKER_00: I I had a buddy in Colorado, his name was Earl, and and I'm I'm a tall guy, but Earl is like really tall.
SPEAKER_00: He's six, seven, or eight.
SPEAKER_00: I would I look up to him like this.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's just a big old guy.
SPEAKER_00: And Earl would come up to me, he's a great friend, we've been through a lot together, super generous guy.
SPEAKER_00: And he would come up and he would say, Hey, um, man, keep inspiring people about those Easter offerings and things like Mohi, Missions of Hope International, and the school that we just did the offering for, and three floors, 420 more kids.
SPEAKER_00: He's man, all that life changed is great.
SPEAKER_00: And we were doing the same things there in Colorado.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Because everybody wants to give to that, but not everybody realizes the importance of giving to the impact fund, which takes care of ministry, but also takes care of things like HVAC units.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Nobody cares about HVAC units.
SPEAKER_00: Well, well, in Arizona we do, like we really do, but it's not the exciting thing to give to.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing what Earl was saying is he said, Hey, I've got you on that.
SPEAKER_00: And what he was saying is the things that make everyday ministry happen are the things that don't sound as exciting, but what they do when we all band together and give toward those things, they're what leads to the 751 stories that are changed.
SPEAKER_00: And so one thing that you could help us with this summer is just remember when schedules get a little crazy, let's stay consistent in our generosity.
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue to give.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not doing that with us, you can see the ways to give on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Jump in with us, because I'm telling you, there are a lot of stories being changed at this place.
SPEAKER_00: So thanks for your generosity.
SPEAKER_00: Let's keep it going.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to get to John 17.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in three different passages today.
SPEAKER_00: We've been in a series called What's the Deal With?
SPEAKER_00: And this morning, what I want to do is I want to start a little differently.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want to start in a little different way today.
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm gonna do is we're gonna play a little bit of a game.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a riddle.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna give you a riddle, and then what you're gonna do at each of your campuses, all right?
SPEAKER_00: What you're gonna do at each of your campuses, you're just when you know the riddle, like you're gonna throw it out there, okay?
SPEAKER_00: You just gotta yell it out and say, say what the answer is.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so here we go.
SPEAKER_00: First one is this.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, somebody's really excited.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, I got this.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_00: The more you take, the more you leave behind.
SPEAKER_00: What am I?
SPEAKER_00: The more you take, the more you leave behind.
SPEAKER_00: What am I?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there we go.
SPEAKER_00: All the other cameras are like, I'm hoping Gilbert's gonna get it because they already got it.
SPEAKER_00: So there we got it right here.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody right here got it.
SPEAKER_00: Footsteps.
SPEAKER_00: The more you take, the more you leave behind.
SPEAKER_00: Footsteps.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's another one.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: I never get the first word.
SPEAKER_00: Whoa, dude, I didn't even know what happened.
SPEAKER_00: They got it before I even said it.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just read it just for the sake of the other campus.
SPEAKER_00: I never get the first word.
SPEAKER_00: I always get the last word, but I've never had an original thought.
SPEAKER_00: What am I?
SPEAKER_00: Echo.
SPEAKER_00: Good job.
SPEAKER_00: What'd it go?
SPEAKER_00: Echo.
SPEAKER_00: I really actually don't know what just happened, but it sounded fun.
SPEAKER_00: So, okay, now here's one.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now we're gonna jump to the theological side.
SPEAKER_00: Here's one that's been stumping people for three for 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_00: Like people have been struggling to grasp this one for 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, three and one, one and three.
SPEAKER_00: Not three of the same thing, three distinct persons in one God, what is it?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you said that one fast, the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: You said that one really fast, but here's the reality throughout history.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you sit there today, first I'd say this.
SPEAKER_00: If you sit there today and you're like, the Trinity, what is the Trinity?
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're gonna talk about today.
SPEAKER_00: It is one of the most complex Christian ideas in all of Christian thought.
SPEAKER_00: It explains who God is and explains a little bit about who we are, how we treat people.
SPEAKER_00: It is, but it is a complex idea.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many of you, if you've grown up around church, you've heard the idea of three and one, one and three, and you immediately said the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: But if I invited you to walk up those steps and stand up on the stage and explain the Trinity to everybody else out here, they would say, you would say, good luck, Sean, with that.
SPEAKER_00: Like you go try that one.
SPEAKER_00: I literally, when we're going through this series and we were mapping it out, we were sitting in a room and we were saying, What are the theological ideas really critical to understanding God and understanding us?
SPEAKER_00: And what should we teach through?
SPEAKER_00: And so we just started throwing things on the board, and it was what's the deal with?
SPEAKER_00: And somebody said the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's great, man.
SPEAKER_00: That's a big question.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know it happened?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know it's true?
SPEAKER_00: What's the deal with the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know the Bible's reliable?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a big question.
SPEAKER_00: What's the deal with prayer?
SPEAKER_00: What's the deal with baptism?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it so important?
SPEAKER_00: And then somebody from the back of the room was like, we should do the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: What's the deal with the Trinity?
SPEAKER_00: I literally sat there and my eyes glazed over, and I just wanted to like quietly just move on.
SPEAKER_00: Be like, hey, yeah, great idea.
SPEAKER_00: What's for lunch?
SPEAKER_00: You know, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: Or be like, sure, let's do that, and I'll make sure I'm out of town on vacation, and DJ can preach that one that weekend.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the idea of the Trinity is this complex idea.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: why is the Trinity important?
SPEAKER_00: It's important because it is one of the main ideas that differentiates Christianity from every other religion.
SPEAKER_00: Like it is one of the things that makes Christianity different, have more depth, more truth to it than any other religion.
SPEAKER_00: And when you understand it, when you grasp it, even just a small bit of it, it'll show you who God is.
SPEAKER_00: The depth of the God who loves us, and it'll show you who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And then it will actually teach you how you're supposed to treat other people.
SPEAKER_00: John 17, we'll get there in just a second.
SPEAKER_00: There's something I want us to understand before we go to scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Two things you need to understand.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the idea of the Trinity, and we'll explain what it is in just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: The idea of the Trinity, that word Trinity is never found in your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: So think about this for a second.
SPEAKER_00: You can read from Genesis to Revelation, and you will never find the word Trinity in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, when the early church fathers were studying and they were studying the Trinity, the idea that God is three and one, one and three, that He is one God in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there's all these questions that were going in their mind.
SPEAKER_00: Because you know we have God the Creator, we know we have the Son who came for us, we know we have the Spirit that's talked about, but there was a big conversation about God who is divine, but is the Son divine?
SPEAKER_00: Is the Spirit divine?
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
SPEAKER_00: Are they three separate things?
SPEAKER_00: And we're all kinds of doctrines that were going on, but what they came to and they begin to understand, they did not create the idea of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: What they did is they discovered it because its truth is written all over the pages of scripture that God is one.
SPEAKER_00: He is one God in three distinct persons.
SPEAKER_00: That word, the Trinity, actually is a Latin word.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from a Latin word trinitas.
SPEAKER_00: The Latin word trinitas means this idea, it's this idea of threeness or a group of three.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you can see the idea there.
SPEAKER_00: And what they needed is they needed language.
SPEAKER_00: What the early church fathers were doing is they were putting together language that did a couple things.
SPEAKER_00: It put together language that affirmed the idea of monotheism, that God is one.
SPEAKER_00: But it also, and maybe even just as important, it also accounted for the distinct identities of the Father, Son, and the Spirit still being one God.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what else it did.
SPEAKER_00: What else it did is it countered heresies like modalism.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, what in the word is modalism?
SPEAKER_00: Well, think mode.
SPEAKER_00: Because there were some people that began to teach that God was one God and he would just change from one mode to another, from Father to Son and to Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: There's even illustrations of the Trinity that people have used and said, Well, you could explain the Trinity in the idea of water, right?
SPEAKER_00: Liquid, solid, gas, but it's still water, and it changes from one to the other.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the idea.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the understanding, that's not who God is.
SPEAKER_00: He is one God still in three distinct persons at the same time Father, Son, and Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It also countered the idea of tritheism that he was just three different gods.
SPEAKER_00: And you step back and you're like, wow, Sean, we're we're we're in the deep end already.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know why this matters to my life.
SPEAKER_00: And I know God loves me and He sent His Son.
SPEAKER_00: Well, like I don't get this.
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, step back for just one moment.
SPEAKER_00: I understand it's deep.
SPEAKER_00: Like it was intimidating for me to jump in and to teach this.
SPEAKER_00: But I love what Timothy Keller says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if God were small enough to be fully understood, he wouldn't be big enough to be worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: If God were so small that our language, our human language, could capture everything about the Trinity and explain it, man, he wouldn't be big enough to actually be a God to be worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: John 17, we're gonna look at three different passages.
SPEAKER_00: We'll jump around the New Testament a little bit to be able to see each passage giving one idea about the Trinity, which also gives us an idea about us.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 17 is a prayer, captures the whole passage, John chapter 17.
SPEAKER_00: It's the longest prayer in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: It's usually referred to as Jesus' high priestly prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's referred to as his farewell prayer because it's actually a prayer he prays right after the upper room experience while they're walking through Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They believe that's kind of the time frame, getting ready to walk up the Mount of Olives to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he will be betrayed by Judas.
SPEAKER_00: So it's the night before Jesus is crucified.
SPEAKER_00: Last moments with his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: They're walking through Jerusalem and they get this bird's eye view, being able to just listen to Jesus as he prays.
SPEAKER_00: And he prays for three things.
SPEAKER_00: He starts off in the beginning of the passage, he's getting ready to go into the cross, the crucifixion, getting ready to be beaten, to be tried, to be convicted, all of that.
SPEAKER_00: And he prays for himself that God would give him the strength to make it through this, to accomplish the mission.
SPEAKER_00: Then he transitions and he begins to pray for the guys walking with him.
SPEAKER_00: Prays for the disciples, and he's like praying for them because the persecution will happen, but he also prays for them because they will continue the mission.
SPEAKER_00: He prays that God will use them, that people would believe in the message that they will continue.
SPEAKER_00: And then what he does at the end is he prays for us.
SPEAKER_00: He prays for all those who will come after his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And that would be including the people that live in, but that includes people that weren't even born yet, like you and me, all those that would believe in that message.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse 24, we won't read the whole chapter.
SPEAKER_00: All we're gonna read is verse 24, because verse 24 gives us this one deep idea about who God is and how we connect with Him.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 24 says this He says, Father, I want those you have given me, meaning all of us.
SPEAKER_00: I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory.
SPEAKER_00: The glory you have given me because you loved me before what?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I think we're awake.
SPEAKER_00: Before what?
SPEAKER_00: So important.
SPEAKER_00: You loved me before the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now to help us grasp this idea, okay.
SPEAKER_00: He loved him before the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Here's here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to get a character in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a biblical character.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's actually we're gonna go really deep here, it's a Marvel character.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So and you're obviously in the last couple messages, you're picking up this idea that I'm definitely a Marvel fan, not a DC fan, because there are not many of those.
SPEAKER_00: So the the Marvel character I want you to get in your mind is Iron Man, but not Iron Man.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to get the guy underneath the suit in your mind, Tony Stark.
SPEAKER_00: Think about what Tony Stark represents.
SPEAKER_00: If you've seen the movies, just think.
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't seen the movies, think CEO type.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: A CEO, he's he's this entrepreneurial guy, he's it leads Stark Industries, he's got anything and everything you could ever want.
SPEAKER_00: Guy doesn't need anybody, right?
SPEAKER_00: He on paper, this guy is like he's got all the money, he's got all the wealth, he's got influence, he's got power, he's got fame.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he has it all.
SPEAKER_00: But as you watch the movies and you just kind of pull back the curtain, what you realize is this guy's alone.
SPEAKER_00: Like you got pepper pots, you know, like the who's the character who is his assistant, and there's a relationship later that happens there, but really, he didn't even know how to treat her.
SPEAKER_00: Like this dude is alone.
SPEAKER_00: He's solo, he doesn't need anybody.
SPEAKER_00: And most people have that picture of God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, what most of us have is we have this picture of this all-powerful, all-knowing being that existed before us, that is solo, that's just this impersonal force that's out there in the universe.
SPEAKER_00: That yes, he created us, yes, he sent Jesus to die for us, but for us, we look at God and even associate some of the Old Testament difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll just say there's some difficulty in the Old Testament where God does seem sometimes impersonal.
SPEAKER_00: And we view him as this impersonal God that's leading the universe all by himself and needs nothing and needs no one.
SPEAKER_00: John 17, 24, Jesus blows up that idea in one line.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You loved me before the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Before God said, Let there be light, love existed.
SPEAKER_00: A relationship existed between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Not a solo, solitary God where God created us and then all of a sudden he created love later, like something to practice on us once he had created us, but no, love, relationship existed before the creation of time.
SPEAKER_00: The Father, the Son, the Spirit, all three already there, already loving each other, already in this perfect, connected relationship before a single thing was created.
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting, scripture documents that they're all there.
SPEAKER_00: Like you realize in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, it says, it says, in the beginning, God, like God the Father, created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And what does it say?
SPEAKER_00: It says in the very next line, verse 2, it says that the earth was formless and void, and the Spirit of God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God hovered over the deep.
SPEAKER_00: If you go to Colossians chapter 1, you don't have to go there.
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you what it says.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians chapter 1, it says that all things were created by him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: You know the context it's talking about there?
SPEAKER_00: It's not God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians chapter 1 is talking about the supremacy of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is talking about how God gave all his fullness to the Son.
SPEAKER_00: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, three distinct persons.
SPEAKER_00: And Colossians chapter 1 says that the power that created the universe, God the Father said, Let there be light, but the power went through the Son, that all things were created by Him.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, when it came to us, what does it say?
SPEAKER_00: Let us create man in our own image.
SPEAKER_00: What did it say?
SPEAKER_00: Let us.
SPEAKER_00: You see, you see, there's if you just think a little deeper on the implications of this, this is huge.
SPEAKER_00: When it comes to the Trinity, don't get lost in trying to diagram like, you know, three and one, one and three, it sounds like a theological math problem that just doesn't work out.
SPEAKER_00: What we do is we don't try to dissect it as much as we try to understand what it means to us.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what it means if God is Father, Son, and Spirit eternally loving each other, then love isn't something just that God does.
SPEAKER_00: It's not something he created after the fact.
SPEAKER_00: Love is who he is, which means he didn't create you because he was lonely.
SPEAKER_00: He created you because he was so full of love.
SPEAKER_00: Catch this.
SPEAKER_00: He created you because he was so full of love that he wanted to share it with you.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted you to have a seat at the table.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted you to be a part of the relationship.
SPEAKER_00: You see, you were not created to fill some gap in God.
SPEAKER_00: You were created simply because God wanted to love you.
SPEAKER_00: And do you understand?
SPEAKER_00: If you go to any other monotheistic religion, take even Islam, what you have is you have a God, Allah, who existed in one, just one.
SPEAKER_00: They're very, they look at the Christian idea of the Trinity and they're like, that's polytheism.
SPEAKER_00: That's multiple gods.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What they say is just Allah, and if you look at that religion, what does Islam say?
SPEAKER_00: You just better please Allah.
SPEAKER_00: You better follow the, you better please Allah because this is not just this is not about love, this is about obedience.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian picture of the Trinity blows that up and says, No, God is Father, Son, and Spirit all together existing before creation, love already existing, relationship already existing.
SPEAKER_00: And God sat there and said, I want to share this with them, so I am creating this for them.
SPEAKER_00: I'm creating them not to perform for me, but to be loved by me.
SPEAKER_00: And that should drastically change for some of you the picture of what you see in God.
SPEAKER_00: Go to our next passage, Matthew chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: Flip back to Matthew chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.
SPEAKER_00: We were there last week.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we talked about Jesus' baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Read the passage again, and here's what it says.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: It says, As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water, and at that moment heaven was open, and saw, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him, meaning landing on him.
SPEAKER_00: And a voice from heaven said, This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: If you look throughout scripture, this is one of the clearest moments, clearest Trinitarian moments we could say, where the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are referred to at the same time in one moment, all participating.
SPEAKER_00: You got the Son who goes down in the water.
SPEAKER_00: You understand that this is Jesus' first day of his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He's not done anything yet.
SPEAKER_00: This is day one.
SPEAKER_00: He's gone from being carpenter to right now, this is the transition of him being leader, messiah, pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor, teacher, all of that.
SPEAKER_00: You've got the Father who affirms the Son, who says, This is my Son, whom I love, with him I'm well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Spirit who descends on him and lands on him.
SPEAKER_00: And then just like he inhabits us and leads us and guides us, the Spirit guided Jesus, empowered Jesus, worked with Jesus throughout his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: We see this picture.
SPEAKER_00: We see this picture of the Trinity in action and what it does in God's verbal affirmation of Jesus, it tells us something about the Trinity and about ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Go with me on this for a second.
SPEAKER_00: For most of us, we've grown up with this idea that love is earned.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just our society.
SPEAKER_00: Like you get this, whether it was your family or not, man, you get to the end of a season, you win, you get a trophy, right?
SPEAKER_00: You win, you get a trophy.
SPEAKER_00: You get to the end of a semester and you get great grades, what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Man, you get a high five, you get a hug.
SPEAKER_00: When you perform in this life, what happens?
SPEAKER_00: You get praise.
SPEAKER_00: And it's naturally just created this idea in us that performance equals praise.
SPEAKER_00: And if we don't perform, we don't get the acceptance, we don't get the love, we don't get the praise.
SPEAKER_00: We get a different conversation.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what we've done.
SPEAKER_00: So many of us, spiritually speaking, we have taken that idea and we have flipped it and we've attached it to God.
SPEAKER_00: And we just have this belief that if I perform, if I'm good, if I'm, if I, if I do enough good things, if my good things outnumber my bad things, if I read my Bible enough, and if I pray enough, and if I and we just keep going on and on, and we just, if we perform for God, we will get the praise or we will get the blessing, or maybe he will accept us and love us.
SPEAKER_00: And this is also why we feel so guilty when we mess up.
SPEAKER_00: Because we just see our sin, and sin does separate us from God, but that is not God's intention.
SPEAKER_00: What God wants is for us to be with him.
SPEAKER_00: And what you have in this moment is you have this beautiful picture of Jesus going down into the water.
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden you hear this voice that is said loud in front of everyone for everybody to hear.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, God the Father to God the Son.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, a relationship that existed in love before time.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus standing there, he hasn't done anything yet.
SPEAKER_00: He's not fed the 5,000, he's not walked on water, there's no resurrections, no teaching, no feed the 5,000.
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't done a thing.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, That's my son.
SPEAKER_00: Like all of you need to just hear this.
SPEAKER_00: That's my boy, whom I love.
SPEAKER_00: I love this guy, and I am already pleased, and he hadn't done a thing yet.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, there is something in that that we need to understand that that's the trinity, and that's a trinity at work in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: But also for us, it's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: When I was a kid, when I was a kid, I did have a good relationship with my dad.
SPEAKER_00: My dad was a big old guy.
SPEAKER_00: We played a lot of basketball together.
SPEAKER_00: That was part of how we connected in our relationship and always out in the driveway, you know, playing one-on-one when I was in middle school and high school and college, and even as a young adult, and just a lot of life done together.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember one line that my dad would say to me.
SPEAKER_00: Like it happened from the time I was a little kid all the way to, I remember him saying this when I was an adult, like an adult, grown man, married, and whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember my dad would come in and he would sit down.
SPEAKER_00: When I was a kid, like elementary school, you know, your problems in elementary school are like it could be somebody stole your candy, right?
SPEAKER_00: And it's like the world just, you know, the sky's falling, and tears and whatever else.
SPEAKER_00: And my dad would come in and sit on the end of my bed, and it happened the same way with bigger problems.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in middle school with bigger problems, when I was high school, bigger problems in college, and as a young adult and a young married man, my dad would sit down wherever it was with me and he would listen, and maybe it's through tears, and I finish, and he would look at me and he'd say, Son, I that's hard.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing you never have to wonder whether or not you're loved because I love you, and I always will.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, in that moment, that's what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God does for Jesus in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: He looks at him and he says, This is my son.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one I love.
SPEAKER_00: Man, this is one I'm proud of before he's done anything.
SPEAKER_00: And my father would sit there on the end of that bad bed and he would say, Son, you need to know I love you, not because of what you do, but because of who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You're my son.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not going to be changed by anything.
SPEAKER_00: And you never have to wonder whether or not you are loved.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the deal: some of you sit here today and you're like, Sean, great for you.
SPEAKER_00: Great for you.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have that relationship with my dad.
SPEAKER_00: My dad, he ruined that word father for me.
SPEAKER_00: And when I look at God being my father, I can't even connect with that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you had a good relationship with your dad, but I can't even connect with that because here's what my dad, and you can go down the list of what they said or what they did or the abuse or whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_00: Man, can we just breathe for a second?
SPEAKER_00: Can we just say to you, man, I am sorry for that, because there's so many of you that have experienced that.
SPEAKER_00: But the key to remember in this moment, as you look at the Trinity, man, God the Father, God your heavenly father, is not the one who ruined the word Father.
SPEAKER_00: Your earthly dad may have, but your heavenly father, what he's trying to do is he's trying to redeem and reclaim that picture in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to say to you that I'm the one you've always been looking for.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the one that you never have to wonder because this thing is not about performance.
SPEAKER_00: You have my affirmation before you've done a thing.
SPEAKER_00: And all you have to do, all you have to do in scripture is very clear.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to perform for God, we don't have to be good enough for God.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 2 says, it says that we're not saved by our works, we're saved by what?
SPEAKER_00: Grace through faith alone.
SPEAKER_00: All God's saying is if you would acknowledge my son, that he's your savior, that he paid for your sins on the cross with his blood, if you would acknowledge me as your father, place your faith in us and join the relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you have my forgiveness, you have my for affirmation before you've done any praying, before you've done any reading your Bible, before you've done any sharing your faith.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not about that.
SPEAKER_00: Because I created you because I love you, and all I wanted to do was to give you my love.
SPEAKER_00: You go on to the second passage or the third passage.
SPEAKER_00: The third passage is it back to John chapter 17.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 17, we'll go back.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a few verses earlier.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same portion.
SPEAKER_00: Same portion of the prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is walking through Jerusalem, he's praying, he's just finished praying for his disciples, and now he's praying again for you and me.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, it says, My prayer is not for them alone.
SPEAKER_00: I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them, that's you and me, all of them, that's the church, all of them may be one.
SPEAKER_00: Catch this idea that we may be one.
SPEAKER_00: It's talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit being one, the same unity, the same love, the same relationship.
SPEAKER_00: He says that we 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.
SPEAKER_00: Hold on to that one.
SPEAKER_00: That's important, that the world may believe that you have sent me.
SPEAKER_00: I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity.
SPEAKER_00: Then the world will know that you have sent me and that you have loved me.
SPEAKER_00: Love them even as you have loved me.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Jesus walking through Jerusalem, he's praying this prayer, he's praying this prayer for us, and what does he ask for?
SPEAKER_00: That we, that we might be one, that we might be one like the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about his church.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about, and you need to understand, that is why when we talk about a relationship with God, it is not a solitary individual relationship.
SPEAKER_00: God didn't just create us for just a relationship for him, it's almost a picture of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He also created us with this horizontal connection with people that we might be one in love and complete unity and in connection.
SPEAKER_00: Do you catch that?
SPEAKER_00: You see, what the Trinity is, is the Trinity is not just this doctrine that describes God.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just this description of God, it is a portrait, it is a picture.
SPEAKER_00: Understand, it is the blueprint for human relationships.
SPEAKER_00: It is the blueprint for what God says is what you see in this, that God is the most other focused, like the most other focused being in the universe, where you see God the Father affirming Jesus the Son, Jesus the Son saying, God, you love me before the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit, you taking Jesus the Son and God the Father, and then wrapping them in this picture and bringing it to the world.
SPEAKER_00: What we've got here is this picture, this portrait of God saying, Hey, not only does this help you, this idea help you understand who I am, this is helps you understand who you are and how you are to actually love each other.
SPEAKER_00: See, what's interesting is when you finally see that God is the most other focused being in the universe, and we are called to follow him and to replicate that kind of love in our relationships, and you begin to do that, when you begin to see that in a marriage, when you begin to see that in friendships, when you begin to see that kind of other focused love in a church, what you do is you just kind of pull back and you're like, that's what it's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's what it looks like, and that's where Jesus says, when we begin to do that as a church, or you begin to do that, guys, for your lady, you begin to become other focused and begin to put her wins and her dreams before you and serve her and in that way.
SPEAKER_00: And when you do that for her, you know what happens?
SPEAKER_00: She does that for you.
SPEAKER_00: And when you begin to do that in your marriage, when you begin to do that in your parenting, when you begin to do that in your friendships, in your workplace, and the church, Jesus says, that's how the world will know.
SPEAKER_00: That's how the world will know because this is something so different than anything else out there that they will know it will give credit to who God is.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus goes on in verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I have made you, meaning the Father, known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus didn't just say he wants us to have unity together and love for each other.
SPEAKER_00: He says the same love that the Father has for the Son and the Son has for the Father, He wants that love to be in us.
SPEAKER_00: God's love for us to experience His love and His connection and His approval and His affirmation.
SPEAKER_00: You see, what God did not create you for was a religious experience where you come individually on a weekend and sit down and you get this religious experience by yourself.
SPEAKER_00: No, He created you to be a part of the family.
SPEAKER_00: He created you to be a part of a relationship, to be part of a love story, to be a part of an adventure that drastically changes your life, that can drastically change your family's life, that can drastically change if the power of this God that we can't even grasp what we're talking about here wants you to invite you into a relationship with Him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you not think that God could radically change your marriage?
SPEAKER_00: God could radically change your relationships with whoever.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you sit there and say it's a broken relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Man, it is, but that's why God came.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what He's inviting you into.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if that relationship will ever change, but I'm telling you, the one that will is your relationship with God, which is the only relationship that you actually need to give you purpose and peace and joy and understanding in this life.
SPEAKER_00: And hopefully a miracle in the other relationships in your life.
SPEAKER_00: You see, once you're in the family and you begin to see the other focused nature of the father, realize that he's the most other focused, loving being in the universe that's invited you in, what you begin to understand is the best thing that you could do to follow him is to be the most other focused, loving, caring human being in every room that you go into.
SPEAKER_00: That's how your family's gonna know.
SPEAKER_00: That's how your friends are gonna know, that's how you're gonna know, and seeing what God does through those moments.
SPEAKER_00: So what's the deal with the Trinity?
SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal with the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the bottom line.
SPEAKER_00: Other religions will give you a God of power that demands obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Some might give you a God of law that demands compliance.
SPEAKER_00: Other religions will give you this impersonal force that you're supposed to somehow like merge with someday.
SPEAKER_00: Christianity, the idea of the Trinity gives you something totally different.
SPEAKER_00: It gives you a God of love whose act of creation, whose single act of creation was an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: It was an invitation to you.
SPEAKER_00: Not for God to exist in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, some imported personal force out there.
SPEAKER_00: No, this was an invitation for you to sit at the table.
SPEAKER_00: About 600 years ago, there was a Russian monk who painted a painting, a portrait that was called the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: It's Andrei Rublev.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, man.
SPEAKER_00: You look at that thing, and that's definitely an old passion, old fashioned, like iconic kind of icon type painting.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like I would hang that in my living room.
SPEAKER_00: But you catch the picture of that painting.
SPEAKER_00: And what you see is you see the description of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit sitting around this circular table.
SPEAKER_00: And do you notice that there is a spot open at the front of that table?
SPEAKER_00: And Rublev defined, he he he painted this this way on purpose.
SPEAKER_00: This was not an accident.
SPEAKER_00: He was communicating something to us, and what he was communicating was what God created you for, for you to have a loving relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not, it's not the question.
SPEAKER_00: Like the whole question of the Trinity is not whether or not God wants you at the table.
SPEAKER_00: He created the table for you.
SPEAKER_00: The question is whether or not you're gonna take your seat at the table.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, Son, Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for giving us just this picture.
SPEAKER_00: And I think in our finite minds, when we just we have so much trouble understanding just how great and awesome and big you are.
SPEAKER_00: Again, if you were that small, we could understand you wouldn't be big enough to be worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: And today, Father, we just catch a picture that you are not like other gods of other religions that we have to perform for.
SPEAKER_00: God, you loved us before you even created us and you invited us in.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray for the person who's feeling the guilt and looking at you as this judge that's judging.
SPEAKER_00: Father, just help them put that aside and see themselves as a son or a daughter of you that's invited to sit at the table and to experience love like they've never experienced before.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray that that this church might be a church that shares that message with people.
SPEAKER_00: That we might be a place where people can come, people who have different ideas and different thoughts could come and still sit next to each other, love each other, worship together, raise our hands to you because we are about something bigger than ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Father, help us to be able to embrace these truths and what they mean about us and what they mean through us.
SPEAKER_00: God, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's in his name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.