Holy Spirit, Part 1

Well, brethren, in a recent Sabbath visit to Jim Hamilton Correctional Facility, which is south of Poto, Oklahoma, in the southeastern part of Oklahoma, it's word Broken Bow, two of our prison volunteers, it happened to be Matt Lopez and Herman Dennis, they were down there for the Sabbath. They had an opportunity to conduct church services. I think most of you know we have a very active prison ministry, perhaps the most active in the United Church of God. I think it is. I don't know of any other area that has three correctional facilities where we have regular Sabbath services. Not every Sabbath, but twice a month or once a month in three different facilities. So I know that we have a very, very, very active prison ministry, you might say here, ministering to those in prison who ask. We don't just go in unless we get invited in, you know, that's when we respond. If we're invited and if there's people that want us to come in and talk to them or have a Sabbath service, if it makes sense and if we can do it, that's how this program has grown. Well, anyway, after services that particular Sabbath, they were questioned by the inmates regarding a number of the beliefs of the United Church of God. Now, one issue in particular was the question regarding the Holy Spirit as a person in what they would refer to as the Godhead, as a person. Now, we don't believe that the Holy Spirit is a person. We believe that the Holy Spirit is God's power. It's the Spirit of God. God is composed of Spirit and this is His power. This is His essence. So they had a question regarding, in essence, regarding the Trinity, although surprisingly, they say they don't believe in the Trinity. But anyway, that's, we'll talk more about that as we go along, but they definitely believe that the Holy Spirit is a person. Now, Bill Kegel, who's an elder in Tulsa, he coordinates the prison volunteer program for me. I asked him to do this because I knew I wouldn't be able to do justice to a prison program like this. So he's been coordinating it for me. He sets the speaking schedule for the various volunteers. We have people from Oklahoma City that are involved in it and also quite a few in Tulsa. We haven't been going to any prisons down here, but if any of you want to drive a long, long ways, and let me know. Or if a prison opens up where we have someone who's requesting these types of visits, you know, someday we may end up doing that down here. But regardless, Mr. Kegel got a letter shortly after this visit, this Sabbath visit, where Mr. Lopez and Herman Dennis had been involved. This particular inmate wrote a letter, and I'd like to read some of the letter to you.

I think you'll find it interesting. So let me read some of it to you. This is written by the person that basically is the leader of five or six men that attend down in the Jim Hamilton Correctional Facility near Poto, Oklahoma. He says, there are basically three issues that we here at this facility who support your ministry are concerned about. You know there are about five of us who attend your services. We are all concerned about these teachings, and if your church does teach as Mr. Armstrong did, we will not be able to continue to attend and support your services. So this was a, you know, it's a pretty big issue for them. Number one, the Holy Spirit and the nature of God. It is my understanding that you do not believe that the Holy Spirit is God in spite of many scriptures which prove He is.

John 4.24, Acts 5 verses 2 and 3. Those are the two examples that He gives. Now, there are other scriptures that people would use to support this, but He only mentions two here. He goes on to say, we believe this is a salvation-related issue. Also, the phrase God-family. I began to understand what you mean by that after reading what Mr. Armstrong says about it. Now, he's been reading the mystery of the ages. You mean that God is not a being per se? Now, of course, that's not what we mean. That's not what we believe. We believe that God is indeed a person, that God the Father is a being. I don't necessarily like the word person because it seems more like a human being. So, I prefer using the word being. God the Father is a being, and Jesus, the Son of God, is also a being in the God-family. So, there's always some misunderstanding when it comes to what we believe. In the many years that I've pastored and have been around the Church of God, we get misquoted oftentimes. People don't fully pay attention or understand what it is we really do believe. So, it seems like we're always having to correct certain things, certain misconceptions. So, this was one of them. He says, again, you mean that God is not a being per se, but is a family? Now, we would say God is certainly a being, but He also has a family, and that God is a family.

But is a family which is currently made up of the Father and the Son, but will later be made up of all true believers. Which brings us to question number two.

Number two, that true believers will be ... will be born into the God family and will themselves become God. Now, this has been a very controversial subject, that we would actually become God. You know, there's been a lot of misunderstanding in that regard. So, he has a question about that. And then the third was the origin of Israel and the identity of God's chosen people. Mr. Armstrong specifically stated that God's chosen race and lineage are white people. Your booklet, United States and Great Britain and Prophecy, alludes to this, but doesn't say it quite as plainly as Mr. Armstrong. The New Testament teaches that those of us who are true believers in Christ are now the true Israel, not any specific race of people. Now, it was rather ironic that Herman Dennis, who is a black man, and Matt Lopez, who is Hispanic, they were the two that were there that particular day. So, even the inmates found that a bit ironic, that they were questioning that we were racist, you know. So, I think it was good that they happened to be there that particular day.

Now, if Mr. Cagle and I, the white supremacist, had been there, then...

No, we're not white supremacists. Actually, the truth of the matter I found out later was the man who wrote this letter used to be a part of the Aryan Brotherhood. He was a white supremacist. So, he had come out of that, and he was concerned that, you know, that we were into that to some degree. And quite frankly, British-Israelism, 150-200 years ago, there were racial overtones to that. You know, so some people lump us in with British-Israelism, which isn't... We do not believe exactly like those who espouse the British-Israelism doctrine. You know, we have differences in that. Anyway, he says, we are concerned about these issues as well as your Church's light regard and seeming acceptance of sin. We repeatedly hear from your ministers that they are still finding themselves defeated in sin. Now, I don't think that... First of all, it usually isn't our ministers, because we have several volunteers that go there. They're not ordained men, but they're volunteers. And I really seriously don't think any of them have ever said that they were defeated in sin. I know I don't believe I'm defeated in sin. I don't believe that you are defeated in sin. Certainly we struggle against sin. You know, sin is the transgression of God's law. And you've heard me say many times that every one of us is a sinner. You know, we've all sinned. We all fall short of God's glory. We all have to repent of our sins. We have to come under the blood of Christ. But if we take sin lightly, I would like to see those who take it seriously.

Because I think we take sin very seriously. We believe that the wages of sin is death. And we believe that all of our sins need to be repented of in order to be in God's Kingdom. So I would say that we take sin very seriously. So there's certainly some misconceptions, but get the link that he makes in the next sentence.

So again, he said, we repeatedly hear from your ministers that they are still finding themselves defeated in sin. Where is the victory that the Bible promises you? Could this lack of victory be from the lack of the Holy Spirit's presence due to your non-acceptance of his identity?

So he's saying that since we don't believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, a being, then maybe that's why we don't have the power against sin. So, you know, it's very important to realize that the Trinity doctrine is a litmus test for what many people would consider true Christians. If you don't believe in the Trinity, then they believe that you are not a Christian. In fact, my wife and I wanted to be a part of a homeschool group. I believe it was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the time, and so we let them know that we'd like to join in and be a part of their group. Then we found out we had to sign a thing that said we believed in the Trinity. And if we didn't sign it, then we couldn't be a part of their group. So, needless to say, we didn't sign it. We were not a part of that group. So it is a very important issue. It is something that we all need to understand. We need to understand what the Church does teach and what we do believe in regard to the Holy Spirit and in regard to the Trinity and in regard to the God family. To conclude the letter, he writes, please answer our concerns on these issues. If your Church does believe these teachings, then just send us a letter and we will no longer attend your services. And it will not be necessary for you to make the trip up here. If not, then please explain your Church's position better. Thank you and God bless. So this was an invitation, obviously, to go and talk to them. And Mr. Cagle and I did that this past Thursday. And I'm happy to say that we will continue meeting with them. We were able to resolve a lot of the issues, at least to their satisfaction, to the degree that they're still willing to fellowship with us. So we're going to continue going back there. I don't know if they necessarily believed everything or bought into everything that we said, but we certainly gave them a lot to think about. We spent about three and a half, four hours there with these men. So we spent a lot, quite a bit of time. We had about 45 minutes, then we had lunch, then we came back and spent another probably two and a half hours or so. So it was a lengthy visit, and we covered a lot of ground. We covered all the issues that I mentioned in the letter.

So is the Holy Spirit really a third person in a Trinity? What is the true identity of the Holy Spirit? What is the true nature of God's Spirit? How is the Holy Spirit depicted and described in the pages of your Bible? This is an important issue, and we do need to understand it correctly. Today I'll start probably a two or three-part sermon on this doctrine regarding the Holy Spirit and regarding certain aspects of the Trinity. I don't plan to go into every aspect. We have an excellent booklet that does this. If you haven't read the booklet on Is God a Trinity? This would be nice homework for the next couple of sermons that I'll be giving.

Is God a Trinity? If you don't have a copy, then you can download it on the internet or you can write for a copy. We might have some copies here. We do have some copies here. So if you haven't read it, and you have it sitting at home, then blow the dust off of it and start reading it. Because it is an excellent book that covers more than I can cover in a couple of sermons. So it's really an outstanding booklet. All right.

Now, as it is with many doctrinal questions, it's generally a good idea to start at the beginning to get a grasp of what the scriptures do say on a particular topic. So I would like to go to the very beginning, at least one of the beginnings. Let's go to Genesis chapter 1 and consider what's happening here. Who's involved? What is involved? What's going on? Now, in chapter 1 of the book of Genesis, in the beginning, or in a beginning, some would translate it in a beginning, or the beginning.

I don't have a problem either way. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But notice in verse 2, the earth was without form and void. It was bohu and tohu, as it says in the Hebrew. Darkness was on the face of the deep.

So it was a confused state. It was without form, without void. It was chaotic. It was confused. And we know God is not the author of confusion. Also, in Scripture, it talks about how God created things out of nothing, and it was good.

God just doesn't create in a state of confusion. So without going into any depth at this point, we believe this to be a recreation. It's talking about the recreation. The earth became, would be a better way to translate verse 2, the earth became without form and void. And it's most likely because there was a rebellion by Lucifer, who had been given charge over the earth.

And Lucifer was the first sinner, the one who committed sin first. And so there was rebellion. There was a putting down of that rebellion. And it's certainly very likely that this is how the earth became confused and void and without form. There were problems. Then in verse 3, well, notice the last part of verse 2, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Now in verse 1, where it says God created, that's the word Elohim. It is a plural noun, speaking of more than one being, a plural noun.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void. The Spirit of God was hovering or moving over the face of the waters. And God said, again, Elohim said, let there be light. And there was light. And I'm not going to read all of this, but we can read the various days of recreation and what God was doing.

And again, the Holy Spirit was there. The Holy Spirit was present. The Holy Spirit was hovering or moving. We'll see that it was actually the creative power and force that God was using to create. If we go down to verse 26, we find something very interesting. And by the way, it does say that God made the beast of the earth according to its kind. The cattle were made after the cattle kind and so forth.

Each beast was made after its own kind. Everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. God saw that it was good. You know, He created it in a good state. And then in verse 26, God said, let us... Now, remember, God is Elohim, which is a plural noun. And let us make man in our image certainly adds credence to the fact that there was more than one being being involved here.

One being more than one being in the God family. God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and so on. Verse 27, so God created man in His image, in the image of God. So God was actually creating man after the God kind, you might say.

It doesn't say anywhere that the plants and the fish and other beings or other creations were made after the God kind or that they were made in God's image. And God's likeness, only man. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God, He created him male and female, He created them. And of course, it goes on to talk about how God rested on the seventh day and made the Sabbath and created the Sabbath by resting.

Now, this obviously is pretty significant, this creative process. We see that God indeed created the heavens and the earth. We also see the Holy Spirit was present at this time. Now, if we go to the New Testament, we find something also quite interesting about the Creator.

Ephesians chapter 3, let's go to Ephesians and let's see who the New Testament says is the Creator. Ephesians chapter 3. And a lot of people really don't grasp who Jesus Christ is. They really don't grasp it. They read over some of these scriptures without putting them all together.

Ephesians chapter 3 verse 9. Let's be sure we allow the Bible to speak for itself. Here a little there a little, you know, we have to look throughout the Bible to find the truth on issues like this. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 9. Let's read verse 8 along with it since it is part of the sentence here and we'll get more of the context. Verse 8, Paul says, to me, who am less than the least of all the saints. And of course, he's saying that because he was one who persecuted the church of God. So he considered him less from that degree. He was certainly humbled by the fact that he had even taken some of God's people out of their homes and had them killed. In fact, he was there when Stephen was martyred and consenting to the death of Stephen. So he considered him less, but God considered him a chosen vessel. And God did work in mighty ways through the Apostle Paul. This grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Once he persecuted those who believed in Christ, now he was speaking boldly about who Christ truly is. Verse 9, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery. The mystery is speaking of a hidden truth. That's why Mr. Armstrong wrote a book entitled Mystery of the Ages, because God was revealing truth about this mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. You see, this is part of the mystery that most people don't understand, that in actuality, the one who became Jesus Christ was the Creator. Now God the Father was creating through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was present, the one who became Christ was present, God the Father was present. They were all present when everything was created. So it says that God, speaking of the Father, created all things through Jesus Christ to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the Church. And again, this is part of the mystery as well, the truth about God's Church. What is the truth about the Church of God? To the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. It was the Father's purpose to create through the one who is to become known as Jesus the Christ, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. You know, we're all going to go through tribulations. And when we handle our tribulations in a godly manner, it is to the glory of God. When we don't blame God, remember Job's wife said, curse God and die because of all these tribulations and trials that God was allowing. But of course, Job didn't believe in doing that. In fact, he praised God. And we need to be careful that we also praise God through our trials. And a lot of us have some severe trials. You know, we go through lots of trials, but we should never blame God for our trials. In fact, I recently gave a sermon about all things work together for good. And talked a lot about trials in that particular sermon. And all things will work together for good if we trust God and if we look to Him for deliverance through our trials and for His mind.

We might read just a little bit further in verse 14 here. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we're talking about two beings here. We're talking about the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're also talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, in this we just read that Jesus Christ was the Creator.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Jesus Christ is certainly a member of the God family.

Jesus is God. And there are many scriptures that support this.

So again, we see two beings. We see the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we also see the Lord Jesus Christ.

That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. Now, here He's talking about a Spirit that dwells in a person, in a human being, through His Spirit. This is God's Spirit. It's His Spirit. That Christ may dwell in your hearts. So Christ dwells in our hearts. Spirit of God dwells in us. That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height.

To know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. So Christ is God. God the Father is God. The Holy Spirit. Is the divine power of God. The Holy Spirit dwells in us.

And, you know, we'll go to other scriptures, but the Bible is really quite clear if God's opening your mind to understand. If He isn't, then you've got problems. Verse 20, Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask of or think according to the power that works in us. Okay, what is that power that works in us?

It's the power of the Spirit of God. It's God's Holy Spirit that works in us. That's where the power comes from. To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. So a lot is understood when we read scriptures like Ephesians chapter 3. Colossians 1 is another one we can go to. Now, of course, Paul is the writer of both Colossians and Ephesians. We would expect some similarities here. Let's go to Colossians chapter 1 and see if Paul is consistent. Colossians chapter 1...

By the way, I might as well just point this out while we're here. Notice the beginning of this, the greeting that Paul gives. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, who are in Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, we've established that God the Father is a part of the God family. That Jesus Christ is another being in the God family. There's no mention here of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit were indeed a third person in a Trinity, would it not be likely that Paul would mention him here? I think it's... I mean, this is an argument by silence, you might say, but this is a very powerful argument by silence. And Paul does this repeatedly. I think it's 12 or 13 times in his epistles he mentions grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He never includes the Holy Spirit in that way. Now, he does talk of the Holy Spirit, but not in this way. He never greets the brethren from the... he does from the Father and Son, but not from the Holy Spirit. So that's important to realize. And he goes on, he says in verse 3, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. So he's speaking about God the Father and Jesus Christ. In verse 8 he says, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

Okay, God is love, isn't he? That's what the Bible tells us. I think it's 1st John 4.8. God is love.

And it says in verse 8 here that he also declared to us your love in the Spirit. Now again, is the Spirit a third being? No, it's not a third being. Think of it this way. What are the fruits of God's Holy Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience. Those are the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. God's Spirit dwelling in us and working in us helps us to generate love, to generate peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. These are the divine attributes of God. This is God's nature. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us allows us to become like God. So it is important that we realize how the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit. It says here that he also declared to us your love in the Spirit. That's how we show our love, by the manifestation of God's Spirit in us, the true Agape love. Okay, now I want to actually start in verse 9. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. Again, what is the power of God? For all patience and long suffering with joy. Now, right there are three more of God's attributes and the fruit of God's Spirit. Patience, long suffering, joy. Well, actually it's two because patience and long suffering are the same thing. But love and joy. Verse 12, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. So, again, Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Jesus Christ is the one who laid his life down for us. Verse 15, he is the image of the invisible God. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Christ is the firstborn among many brethren. So, how the Scripture speaks of Christ. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth. All things were created by Jesus the Christ, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and also for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. Again, the one who became Christ was there in the very beginning with God. We'll see that in a moment in John chapter 1. Verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church. Jesus Christ is the head of his church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. Now, Christ has the preeminence in all things except when we consider the Father, of course. The Father has always been preeminent in that sense. From the very beginning, the one who became known as the Father was preeminent, although they were totally in unity, the Father and the Word, the spokesman of the Logos. So, before we go to John 1, let's go to one more place in Hebrews. Perhaps Paul is the writer of Hebrews. We can't say for sure. It's likely that he was the writer, but again, I don't know that we can say that categorically without some caveats. It's possible that it doesn't identify him specifically as the author of the book of Hebrews. Many people believe he was, but there are quite a few that cast some doubt upon that. Regardless, let's see what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 1. I tend to think it most likely was Paul, but again, we can't say for sure. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. Again, it confirms that it was the one who became known as the Christ or the Son of God who created all things. Now, the Father directed him in doing so.

In the book of Revelation, it says that Christ was slain from the foundations of the world. From the very beginning, a plan was devised. God the Father, the spokesman of the Logos, the Word of God, they came up with a plan. And the Word of the Logos would be the one who would become known as the Son. And he would divest himself of his divine nature and be born of a woman. We'll see that again in a moment. Verse 3, Again, what is the power of God? Is it not God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit? When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. We know that Christ is at the right hand of the Father in the third heaven, having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my Son, today I have begotten you? We know that the angels were created actually to minister to mankind. We won't take the time to go through that now, but notice verse 14. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

God's plan of salvation. What is your role in God's plan of salvation? The angels were actually created to minister to mankind.

And God has an unbelievable destiny for mankind. We were made in the image of God, where we were created in His likeness.

We will become like God. We will be born into His family. And like I told them at the prison this week, I want my son to be every bit of what I am.

In some ways, you want him to be more. You certainly don't want him to be less.

God loves His creation. He loves His family. He loves His children.

Frankly, He wants us to become just like Him. And Christ is the firstborn among many brethren. We are to become like Christ. We'll go to a scripture that says that sometime during the course of this sermon or the next, or the third sermon in case we end up having three. I'm not sure exactly how many it's going to take. But this is a large topic. It is a topic that we really do need to understand it, because so much hinges on a proper understanding of the God family. So, we see that the Holy Spirit is not the Creator. The One who became Christ is revealed as the Creator. The Creator is indeed a divine being. It is correct to say that the Father is the Creator, but it is also correct to say that the One who became Jesus Christ is the Creator. The Father created all things through Jesus Christ. So, sometimes the scriptures may refer to the Father as the Creator. That's true. Or it'll refer to Jesus Christ as the Creator, which is also true. So, these things are not contradictory. They actually complement one another when we understand what actually happened. So, God is a divine being, certainly not a human being, but clearly the Holy Spirit of God was present at the creation as the divine power of God through which all things were created by the One who became known as Jesus Christ. Now, let's go to John 1-1, which is a very, very important segment of Scripture here in this regard. If you want to understand the nature of God and the family of God, you have to see how John 1 ties in.

Okay, in John 1, verse 1, in the beginning was the Word. It's capitalized because it's speaking of a member of the God family. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So, here we have the Word, and we have Him with God. Now, if I had my son up here, there would be two of us, right? If he was with me, there would be two of us, not one. We are two individuals, but we're all part of the Welch family, you might say, or my daughter, however, you know, it doesn't have to be a male, but we are part of the same family.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him, nothing was made that was made. Now, that's very consistent with what we read in Paul's writings, in Colossians, and Ephesians, and in Hebrews. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Now, that's still true today, isn't it? That the darkness still doesn't comprehend the light. Satan has deceived the whole world. Satan is the God of this world. He continues to deceive the whole world. So, it's no wonder that there would be a lot of confusion on this particular topic. You know, Satan wants the whole world to be confused about God's family and about the nature of God.

Now, it goes on to speak of... we might as well read a little bit more here. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now, this is talking about John the Baptist here. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. Okay, what did they do to Christ? They crucified him, right? They crucified the word.

So, we're talking about the light. We're talking about a people that did not know him. Speaking about the word and speaking about that light, verse 11, he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. Now, children of God is a good way to put this, because again, we're all a part of God's family. We are the children of God. To those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Or, actually, begotten would be a better translation in this case. Verse 14, and the word, hearkening back to verse 1 now, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So, the word was there in the very beginning. The word was with God. The word was God. And the word became flesh. I mean, that just nails it down without any question. Nells it down without any question. The word became flesh. The word is Jesus the Christ. The word, the Logos, the spokesman, is the one who became Christ.

The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. Now, John the Baptist was actually born, I think, around six months before Christ. He was six months older. He was Christ's cousin. So, John the Baptist was born before Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, but he was long before him. That's what he's saying here, that John the Baptist understood the origins of the one that he knew as Jesus, his cousin.

And of his fullness we have all received and grace for grace, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. Now, he's speaking about God the Father here, because God the Son obviously had been seen, and the manifestations of God in the Old Testament where God was seen, that's speaking about the Word or the Logos, the One who became Christ, the God of the Old Testament primarily, although there are a few instances where it does talk about the Father in the Old Testament, but primarily it is speaking about the One who became Christ. So, no one has seen God the Father at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. He has declared him. So Christ came to declare the Father to make the Father known. Now, when we tie Psalm 33 together with what we just read, we see a unity in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation throughout the entire Bible. These things are borne out. Let's go to Psalm 33 and let's consider what is said here in light of what we've already covered. Psalm 33 beginning in verse 6. Psalm 33 beginning in verse 6.

Verse 6, By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord, the Eternal. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in all of him. For he spoke, and it was done.

The logos spoke. That's what it means. It means the spokesman, the logos, the word. He spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. So when the word spoke, the earth existed. Matter, time, space. It all came into existence. Now, undoubtedly, God the Father and the one who became known as Christ, they did some planning before they spoke.

You know, I don't know how long it took. With God, they've been around for eternity. So, you know, there are certain things that we will not comprehend in this life. You know, we're finite human beings. We can't grasp all the things of God. You know, God helps us understand some things by what he's written in the Word and by the power of his Spirit.

We understand certain things. But we certainly fall far short of God's glory. We just can't grasp everything. But we know here that when Christ commanded, the earth stood fast. Now, the earth continues to stay fast today. You know, I find it amazing that we are now hurdling through space on an orb called earth. How am I able to stand here speaking to all of you while we're hurdling through space?

You know, I don't get it. I don't understand how all that works. I mean, I hear about the law of gravity and the law of thermodynamics and various laws of physics and how this can happen. But I know that it takes a Creator who understands all of this stuff. So, when Christ spoke, the one who became Christ spoke, the earth existed and it stood fast. So, when you go out tonight, look up into the sky, look at the billions of stars out there, light years away, the planets that are out there, and this is just one galaxy out of how many?

We don't know. Some say there are other universes. Now, I don't grasp that. I think, to me, it seems like there's just one universe because when I think of universe, I think of everything. But I don't know.

It's just we're learning more and more and it's really very hard for us to comprehend the vastness of the universe. And when you go the other way and you look the other direction, the microscopic direction, then you find, you know, eventually you find it's just space. You know, I don't you know, I don't comprehend how that is.

You know, you keep going. You see God's creation and how it works on a very miniscule level and everything has a job to do and does it because God spoke and it stood fast. And that's why we take life for granted. We believe the sun's going to come up in the morning. You know, we believe it's going to set at night. And because God spoke and it existed and it continues to work and we breathe air and we stay alive.

God sustains us by His power and by His awesome creative abilities. So to me, this is very inspiring to speak about the nature of God, what God is doing, what God has done, what He's continuing to do, and how He's developing a family. And we have a wonderful privilege of being a part of that family, a part of the firstfruits of God.

And God has opened our minds by the power of His Holy Spirit that He's given to us. Those of us who are converted members of the Church of God have God's Spirit dwelling in us. So we understand and comprehend because of a miracle that's taken place in our minds. So again, we tie this together and we see that it's amazing. You know, God spoke and it existed. The Word, the Logos, spoke.

It's amazing. If we read it a little bit further, it says, The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. The nations out there, they go about doing their own thing, devising their own plans.

It says God makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. You know, they can do all the planning they want. That doesn't mean, Lord, about Hitler, He made a lot of plans, didn't He?

Hitler was known to be a planner. You know, he made a lot of plans, but they came of no effect. Because it was not within God's will that Hitler would rule the world. God allowed Hitler to do a lot, but He didn't allow him to rule the world. So He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. Now, it is clear that God did choose Israel as a special nation, a special people. There's no denying that. The Scripture is very clear on that issue. In fact, Jerusalem will be the headquarters in the future. But frankly, the nation of Israel and Judah, they blew the commission God gave them. They were supposed to be a model nation, a light. Instead, they've become very confusing on the earth. It's because they broke God's laws. Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, it said what was going to happen. If you sin against Me, then these curses will come upon you. And curses came upon them. Eventually, they went into captivity. And eventually, most of them became lost. The tribes of Israel became lost. Only those who continued to keep the same Sabbath, at least to a degree, all the rest, their identity was lost.

Now, that's another topic, another subject. But it's all very fascinating how it all works together and how it all comes in together. Now, let's go to John 4. This was one of the verses that the writer of the letter from the prison gave in support of the Holy Spirit being a person, an individual, a being. John 4. John 4, verse 23.

But the hour... If you look at verse 22, it says that salvation is of the Jews. That was where God primarily began to work with the Jews, that Jesus Christ was a Jew, was he not? He was of the line of Judah. Verse 23. But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. Now, God is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. So, let's all be very grateful that God has chosen us and has opened our minds and hearts to His truth and that we are seeking to worship Him. That's why you're here, isn't it? Is it not? I mean, the reason we should come to church every Sabbath and congregate and fellowship is because we should do it to worship God. It is a commanded assembly. It is a time to come together, to worship God together, and to seek Him in spirit and in truth, and to strive to worship Him in a way that is pleasing to Him. Verse 24. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

God's spirit opens our minds so that we understand who God is, so that we can worship Him. We shouldn't come here because of any other persons. We should come here because we truly want to worship God. And if someone here is offensive, we shouldn't stop coming to church just because someone's offensive. You know, that's not a valid reason. You know, the reason we come is to worship God. We do it to worship Him in spirit and in truth. The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. I AM is what it's basically saying there.

I AM who I AM. You know, that's how Christ revealed Himself. He was there in the very beginning before the world began. So, all of this ties in together in a very fascinating way. We should worship God in spirit and in truth. Nowhere does it state that the Holy Spirit is a divine being. It says God is spirit. It says that God is composed of spirit. That's His nature. That's His divine essence or His power. God is spirit. And we should worship Him in spirit and in truth. And the actual truth is God grants us His spirit, a down payment and earnest, so that we can do that. That's the only way we could worship Him in spirit and in truth, is if we have the spirit of God working in us, dwelling in us, and guiding us.

Now, the Apostle Paul understood the true God. We'll just go to maybe one more verse here. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6.

1 Corinthians 8, verse 6. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6.

Let's read verse 5 with it. That's all part of the same sentence. For even if there are so-called gods... Now, Paul was addressing the issue of idols, meats offered to idols, that sort of thing here. He says, For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords... Now, the truth of the matter is there have been many pagan idols or gods with the little gee that the nations have bowed down and served for millennia. Since the world began, they started worshiping falsely. It didn't take long. Cain sinned, and it all started going downhill. Adam and Eve sinned first, of course. Then Cain followed along. So anyway, it speaks of these other little gods. Yet for us, there is one god. The truth is there's only one god. Of course, it's speaking of a family because we've already established that there are two beings. God the Son, God the Father. Two distinct beings. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. So there were two beings in the God family. One god. Yet for us, there is one god, the father, of whom are all things, and we for him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, who is also God.

And through whom we live. However, there is not in everyone that knowledge. For some, with consciousness of the idol, until now, eat it as a thing offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food does not commend us to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. But beware, lest somehow this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak. So, you know, we need to be careful not to offend our brother, is what it's talking about. But Paul understood who God is. Paul understood that Jesus Christ, the one that he had first persecuted, was actually the creator of all things. God revealed that truth to him. He struck him down on the road to Damascus. He opened his mind. You know, he blinded him physically, but he opened his heart and his mind spiritually. And so, Paul came to know the true God. So, Jesus is God. He's God's son. He existed before he was born of the Virgin Mary. Actually, he was conceived of the Holy Spirit, was he not? Isn't that what the Scripture says? If the Holy Spirit was a person or a being, then the Holy Spirit would be the Father. But the Scripture shows that he's not the Father. The Father is the Father, but he's conceived by the power of the Spirit. You know, again, it's not real easy for us to comprehend how the Holy Spirit would have conceived in Mary. You know, that's only happened one time.

With a woman. You know, there's only one time when a woman was conceived of the Holy Spirit. It was when Jesus was conceived and then born. So, these are all interesting issues, concepts.

Hopefully, you could follow what was said today. If you had some trouble, pick up the booklet, Is God a Trinity?, where it will go into greater depth, and it will be helpful for you when we have the second installment of this sermon about God's nature, about the true identity of the Holy Spirit. And, in essence, also how it all works into God's plan. And the fact that we are all called to be a part of God's family. That is an awesome truth. And, you know, for a lot of people, they have a hard time grasping that God would want us to become like Him.

They feel it's blasphemy to think that way. Of course, we'll never be God in the sense of how God has always existed. I mean, we're all created beings. So, you know, we're never going to be on the same level, you might say, as God the Father and the Word, because they were not created beings. Jesus was not a created being. Jesus existed before He was born in the flesh, and He's been around for all eternity. So, even though we do believe we will be born into the God family, and we will become like Christ, and we'll have the power of God. Now, one thing I mentioned to them is, we will be like God. We're not going to be sinners any longer. We're no longer going to be tied down to this flesh, and we'll become spirit born into the family of God. So, it was a very interesting meeting with these men from the prison. And again, I think iron was sharpening iron. The guy that wrote the letter actually is quite knowledgeable. In fact, he studied Hebrew and Greek. In fact, he went into... right there, he wrote this on the back of my...

This was Hebrew. I mean, I don't know Hebrew, and I don't know Greek. And I said, well, you know, I can't really speak a whole lot to what you just said, because I don't know Hebrew, and I don't know Greek. But I do know a lot about what the Bible says.

He is a well-read person, and he obviously has quite a bit of time to study.

He's got... he doesn't have to work all that much, and he can focus on studying a lot. And he is a smart... he is a very smart guy. You know, I think he does have a lot of intelligence, and he has accepted much of God's truth. So I wasn't sure how this meeting would end up. I wasn't sure if they'd all storm out, walk out, and never want us to come back. And actually, we covered some very interesting things. He had actually been very contentious a time or two with other meetings. Now, I was never present. In fact, Mr. Cagle, I don't think, was ever present when he got contentious. But we heard about some of the things that he said and did, and frankly, he humbled himself and basically admitted that he had been contentious. And I could tell he was really trying to contain himself when we were talking. So again, I don't know how much God is... I believe God is certainly working with him. Now, he believes he has God's Spirit dwelling in him. In fact, he's baptized people. He baptized most of the guys that were there. I mean, you know, we run into situations like this that are really quite interesting. But you know, you just have to see where God's going to go in all this. You know, I didn't know this man. I'd never met him before. It's the first time I had met him. I'd met one of the other men who had been there at a previous visit. But since I pastor four churches, I don't get down there on the Sabbath. You guys don't see me enough, right? So if I also went to these prisons, you'd see me even less. I go to the prison during the week and not that often because I've got lots of other responsibilities. But if they request a visit from a minister, then I go down and I visit with these men. It's always interesting. So anyway, I would appreciate your prayers that God would work in the hearts and minds of these men. And if He's indeed calling them now, that we can work together and God's will will be done. You know, that's all I'm interested in having God's will be done.