Triunity of God Conference * Berean Baptist Church * March 14-16, 2014

Trusting and Treasuring our God

Session #2 Handout – God in community in the O.T.

Some say that the God of the Old Testament can be approached any way under any name.  This is called _________________________.    And then there are others who state that the God of the O.T. is exclusive and absolute ___________________________________.

Here is the beautiful fact!  The Jewish leaders, kings, and prophets wrote about the one God in communion.  We read about three divine centers of consciousness/active persons of God.  For instance, consider five O.T. angles that point to this theme of God in community.

1. 1.       Elohim (a Hebrew name for God and first mentioned in Genesis 1:1) usually takes a singular verb but in some contexts, the name takes plural verbs.  For example, here are four references where this is the case:  (1) Gen. 20:13, (2) Gen. 35:7, (3) Ex. 32:4, (4) Neh. 9:18.  Also, here are two references where plural adjectives are connected with Elohim:  Deut. 4:7 and Josh. 24:19.

1. 2.      God speaks in the plural.  Write down this triad of references:

1. 3.      God’s Spirit – Gen. 1:2, Job 26:13, Ps. 33:6, Ps. 104:30.  The Spirit enters the prophets – 2 Sam. 23:2, Ezek. 2:2, Zech. 7:12

1. 4.      Angel of the LORD – Gen. 31:11-13, 32:30, distinguished from God – Ex. 23:20, 32:34.  Servant of the LORD – Isa. 52:13-53.  The Son – Prov. 30:4, Ps. 2.  The Messiah – Ps. 45:6, Ps. 110:1

1. 5.      Triads of God, His holiness, His Spirit, and His Messiah – Num. 6:24-26, Is. 6:3, 33:22, Ps. 33:6, Is. 48:16, ch. 61, 63:9-10, Haggai 2:5-7

It is no surprise.  It is no shock when the New Testament authors begin to write 400 years later in full blown Trinitarian terms after being eye witnesses to the ministry of Jesus, the anointed Messiah.  They all believe in One God and that this One God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This is assumed.  There is no controversy among these Jewish believers who give worship to Jesus as fully God.

Notable quote from God: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likness;” (Gen. 1:26)

Tri-unity of God Conference * Berean Baptist Church * March 14-16, 2014

Trusting and Treasuring our God

Session #1 Handout – The one, true, living God

Introduction

Why host a conference on this topic?

What is the plan for these five sessions that we have together?

Forms of worship in the world

1. Some believe in  ______________________­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________ .
2. Some believe in ______________________________________ .
3. Some believe in ______________________________________ .

There is only one, true, living God revealed.  Check out these references for yourself, over 30x in the Old Testament:  Gen. 14:19, Gen. 14:22, Deut. 4:32-35, Deut. 4:39, Deut. 6:4, Deut. 32:39, I Sam. 7:3, 2 Sam. 7:22, I Kings 8:60, 2 Kings 19:15, 2 Kings 19:19, I Chron. 17:20, Neh. 9:6, Is. 37:16, Is. 42:8, Is. 44:6, Is. 44:8, Is. 44:24, Is. 45:5-8, Is. 45:18, Is. 45:21, Is. 45:22, Is. 46:9-11, Jer. 10:10, Ps. 24:1, Ex. 22:20, Ps. 71:16, Ps. 72:18, Ps. 73:25, Ps. 83:18, Ps. 86:8, Micah 7:18

Application:  Revealed by your actions, thoughts, and emotions, who do you worship today?

• FYI – Here’s some contemporary theological terminology about polytheists
• Monolatrist – a guy who believes in many existing gods but thinks only one is worthy of worship
• Henotheist – a guy who chooses to worship one god among a pantheon of worthy gods
• Kathenotheist – a guy who worships only one god after another in succession.

Notable Quote from God – “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Is. 57:15)

Berean Baptist Church is hosting the “Tri-unity of God” Conference, beginning tomorrow night.

Address is 2975 E. 1st Street.  There is no cost.

Here is the schedule:

Friday night: 1st Session, 7pm, Q&A and snacks to follow

Saturday morning:  2nd Session, 9 am, Q&A and snacks, 3rd Session, 11 am

Sunday morning:  4th Session, 9:30 am, snacks, 5th Session, 10:45 am

We invite you all to join us.

Read Mark 7:14-10:52.

. . . with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Read Matthew 25:1-27:54

This week, we spent time in the book of Matthew reading about the passion of Christ.  And the work of the suffering Servant came to a climax in Matthew 27:50-54,

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom: and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.  So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Jesus is the propitiation of the wrath of God.  Jesus is the bridge between sinful man and holy God.  Jesus is the temple.  Jesus is the shaker of the earth.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  Jesus is truly the Son of God.  Your relationship to Jesus is the key to everything for your life in Idaho Falls.

Read Matthew 21:23-24:51.

Consider the words of our King in Matthew 24: 

“For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of man be.”

A website called “Rational Responders” puts Noah’s ark at the top of the ten stupidest religious beliefs in America.  In books and youtube videos, Richard Dawkins mocks the 40% of Americans who believe in the literal story.  And just recently in a debate with Ken Ham at the Creation Museum in Kentucky, “The Science Guy”, Bill Nye skeptically probes the Genesis account before a huge online audience.

But for disciples of Jesus, we easily believe in Noah’s ark because of what it points to – Christ is our ark who saves us from the wrath to come.  This is our experience.  This is our joyous hope.

Scientific theories are constantly in flux.  But this is not true of the Bible.  Jesus states in Matthew 24:  “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”  Idaho Falls must not interpret us as arrogant.  We make it clear that authority does not rest upon our own opinions.  But we have total confidence in the words of our King.  Hear Him.  Believe what He says to you.

Read Matthew 17:1-21:22.

Is leadership all about being on top?  Does it amount to being a ruler?  Are the greatest people in Idaho Falls those who exercise authority?  Typically, that is the natural, logical thinking.  We have an inborn desire to elevate ourselves and/or others.

But our New Testament reading this past week really puts things in perspective – there is only One who is in the category of topping all the human charts.  Long ago, a voice from heaven thundered from a cloud high above a mountain top: “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.  HEAR HIM!”  Upon hearing that, disciples around Jesus fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.  They never forgot that experience for the rest of their lives. 

And the lessons by the Son of God to my own heart have been quite powerful this week.  The King teaches, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matt. 19:30).  He reiterates it again in Matthew 20:16 and then drives it home with this, “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28).  Being a slave doesn’t sound like the American way.  But it’s God way in Christian discipleship.

It all reminds me of what I recently read in The Trailman’s Handbook (2013) under the new scouting organization, Trail Life USA.  To all ready trailmen, “As the Bible teaches, those who would be great must be servants of others.”

• Pray for God in His grace and power to give us understanding as we seek to know Him more.  I read this morning in Proverbs, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  Pray that His Holy Spirit will control all the details related to this conference.
• Email me back if you are attending.  Share with me the number of people who might be coming with you.  This gives us an idea of the number of handouts that will need to be printed.  By the way, the conference is free admission.  We desire everyone to come and enjoy the time of study and worship. 
• If you are excited about this extended time of focusing on God, spread the news to others in Idaho Falls and the surrounding area.

Read Matthew 13-16

Two thousand years ago, Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi with his disciples, and He asked them a fundamental question:  “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

Who is Jesus? 

• A great, moral teacher?
• A radical revolutionary?
• A world visionary martyred for his beliefs?
• A servant to the poor?
• A human god among a pantheon of gods?’
• An imaginary friend of religious people?

I do know this.  Only God can reveal the real answer to the hearts of the young and old in Idaho Falls.  Thank God right now if He has opened your eyes and given understanding to your mind.  And let it be known that all the powers of hell could not stop what was started in Caesarea Philippi long ago.  And neither can the gates of hell stop the work of Jesus Christ today in Idaho Falls.

Read Matthew 9:1-12:50

Some come to Jesus and say, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”  In response, the master Rabbi teaches the Jews how He, “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

I like what Michael Williams recently wrote in 2012, “Like Moses, Jesus came to deliver his people from their bondage to the law into a place of rich life.  That place is found in relationship with him.  And when the law is correctly understood, it points to the same thing.  Some Jews, at least, had missed the point.  They had focused so narrowly on the law that they hadn’t seen the expansive life to which it pointed.  They were like someone who stands too close to an impressionistic painting.  Near the painting all the dabs and strokes of paint seem to be a random jumble of unrelated color.  But as you back away, the larger coherence and purpose of all those details come into focus. . . . By quoting the Old Testament more than any other New Testament author, by repeatedly indicating that what was written in the Old Testament finds its realization in the life and ministry of Jesus, and by structuring his gospel around five key discourses (to parallel the five books of the Old Testament), Matthew makes his unique perspective clear:  Jesus fulfills the Old Testament.  He fulfills its demands, and he fulfills its intention.  He has not come to replace the Old Testament revelation with something different, but to cause the intent and purpose of the Old Testament to finally be realized.  ‘Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.’  Jesus fulfills the Torah, or law, of Moses.  But he fulfills its original intent, which was far different from what the teachers of the law understood it to be.  The Torah, as Jesus describes it, was not intended to be a fence to keep out life, but rather a fence to keep out death.  It was not intended to be an enemy of life, but rather a description of life.  Jesus reinterprets the law of Moses by stripping off the layers of paint that had been applied to it by the religious leaders and revealing its original beauty and character underneath.  When restored to its luster, the law emerges as a description of the deepest possible human experience of life with our Creator and with those who bear his image.  Because Jesus reveals that kind of life perfectly, and because He is the one who makes that kind of life possible for us, he is the fulfillment and focus of the entire Old Testament.  This is the good news worth exploring and experiencing!”