Father, Son and Holy Spirit | Pastor Daniel Gouveia

[Music] oh [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] princeton [Music] to our online church service today we're so happy that you have chosen to spend some time with us to worship god i have one announcement this morning and this is an announcement that hopefully will enrich your spiritual journey we have an opportunity as a church family to if you would like to to purchase a couple of study books daniel revelation that really enhances the andrews study bible and if you'd like to purchase these two study books please can't contact pam madala and the purchase cost is 14.99 but we're trained to get as many people to purchase these books so we can get a better group price so if you're interested contact pam through her email we'd appreciate it now for uh some prayer requests we have a number of individuals that are asking for special prayer from our church family margie matheson is back in the heart hospital vanessa greer her mother rose has returned to the hospital we need to remember the esau family special uh especially sammy and christian for healing continue prayers for savan sylvia cervantes deborah holland has requested healing and a very special request that was asked this morning if we could remember desiree albertson's mother donna little torres she has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer we need to remember this precious person in our prayers and also remember al montez for healing pamidala and sulian govea during these unprecedented times isn't a blessing to come before the lord and be able to study god's holy word so i'd like to bring you some words of encouragement this morning and this is taken from first thessalonians chapter 5 verse 10 through 11. and this is where paul is writing to the early christian church and really giving them the message of hope and goodwill as they're starting their christian journey of worshiping and connecting with their holy father so it reads in verse 10 he died for us that whether we're awake or asleep we may live together with him and then in verse 11 therefore encourage one another and build each other up just in fact you are doing we as a church family have an opportunity now especially in today's times with covet 19 to make sure that we're grounded in the word of god make sure that we're on a spiritual journey of prayer but also reaching out to people within our circle of influence it gives them the hope and the encouragement that there is a holy father that loves them and wants to take care of them and has a plan of salvation for us and we're just waiting for their soon return so we can all be caught up in the clouds of heaven and go home with him so at this time i'd like to invite you to join with me in prayer as we seek our father and the holy spirit with us this morning our heavenly father thank you for being so good to us thank you for partnering with us and for blessing us and as we read in first thessalonians 5 10 and 11 you're there to encourage us and to build each other up and right now dear father we want to be that circle of influence with people around us that people have maybe have not heard your message be able to reach out to them and to give them that grand opportunity to accept you as their personal savior and as a church family this morning we have a number of individuals that have mentioned this morning that really need to have your guidance your hope and your healing hand so we just ask you in a very special way to build be with those individuals to bless them to give them the comfort that they need right now to draw closer to you and to heal them if it's according to your will father thank you so much for your love please be with pastor gabaya this morning as he brings to us a tremendous connection of what your plan of salvation is all about and who you are and how you want to minister to us and be able to draw us to you continue to bless the ministries of this church continue to be with our church leaders across the division and worldwide bless them in a very special way we also ask you to be with fresno athens academy right now one of our ministries of this church bless them as they go through the last couple weeks of this particular semester stay close to them keep them safe be with the teachers administration and students helping to draw closer to you and your father right now we know that individuals that are viewing this online broadcast at this time has special requests so we want to be able to lift up those requests we know that we can't meet in person right now but through the technology that we're able to meet through this medium bless us and stay close to us help us to have a week that will be a week that we can count the many blessings that you've given to us and be able to say at the end of the week thank you dear father for drawing close to us and being a partner to who we are and what we do and help us to have that encouragement to once again say thank you father we know that you are with us each and every day in jesus name i pray [Music] amen [Music] so [Music] well this is always a special time for our children but i would like to still consider myself as a child and we have once again a tremendous storyteller and we're so blessed to have pam adalah auntie pam would you please share with us this morning a special children's story for us thank you so much good morning and happy sabbath how many of you at home when you go to sabbath school pick up your our little friend i like these our little friends i know that they're supposed to be for the really little kids right but how many of us are real little kids at heart and so i like these little friends and in this little friend i don't know how did you get one and if you don't have one if you just let us know either call a church or you mom and dad you can email me i'm pam medala and we can get you one we'll send it to your house or maybe we'll take it to your house or just somehow we'll get it to you but these are really really good stories anyway in this in this little friend there's a little guy his name is alexander and alexander he has a best friend how many of you have best friends we yeah good we all have best friends our bestest friend should be jesus right but we also have bestest friends here on earth so alexander he had his best friend who lived a couple doors from his house and his name was johnny and he loved to go and play with johnny well one day he went to johnny's house and johnny had another friend in the front yard playing with him well alexander was not very happy alexander just said he's my friend he can't be playing with somebody else have you done that have you said this is my friend i don't want you being friends with anybody else so his friend johnny said oh good alexander's here alexander come up i want you to meet john johnny said i want you to meet jimmy and jimmy was just really happy and he said hi i'm jimmy and alexander just hmm hi and so johnny said we're going to play ball do you want to play ball with us and jimmy said yeah yeah yeah and alexander said hmm i think i'll just sit on the porch so jimmy and johnny they played ball in the yard and johnny would throw the ball at jimmy and jimmy would throw it back and they'd go back and forth together and they were having a fine time they were laughing and playing and then all of a sudden jimmy threw the ball really hard and it went over johnny's head he couldn't even jump and catch it and and it actually fell right next to alexander at his feet and alexander was just sitting there like this the whole time because he was really really upset because johnny's my friend so alexander saw the ball right at his feet and he picked it up and he just threw it back to jimmy and jimmy said oh thank you don't you want to come and play with us we want you to come and play with us don't you want to come play with us and alexander just hmm no i'll just sit here and johnny said oh come on alexander we can have such fun together don't you want to come play with us and alexander hmm i'll just sit here so jimmy and johnny started playing ball again and they're laughing and having so much fun and alexander then said hmm jesus is this what you would want me to do i'm kind of being mean to these friends huh i probably should not be mean because that is not acting like how you would act and so alexander stood up and jimmy and johnny stopped and they looked and jimmy said alexander do you want to play ball with us and johnny said oh please come play ball with us and alexander said yes i think i'd like to play ball can i play ball and the three of them started throwing the ball to each other and kicking the ball and laughing and having such a good time and alexander said jesus please forgive me because i was not acting like you and we want to act like jesus right so they had a good time and alexander remembered jesus and he remembered i want to be like jesus can we want to be like jesus too i do let's have prayer our heavenly father we want to thank you for jesus we want to thank you for reminding alexander that we can have lots and lots of friends and we don't have to just have one friend and that we should be friends to everyone we thank you for all your blessings lord and please bless us today we thank you for the sabbath day jesus name amen and don't forget if you want a little friend you let us know and we'll get it to you okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] me [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i don't have my microphone on okay amen okay i can hear my voice now amen that was beautiful thank you very much for blessing our church with such musical talents thank you orchestra distinguished members of the orchestra hello happy sabbath thank you for just making my soul so happy every sabbath amen and thank you elders for your presence here see several elders here today so praise the lord for that and thank you jesus for allowing us to still stalemate we are still meeting outside all of those who are joining us at home this is why we have our live stream it's for you so welcome god bless you and we are still meeting outside for now so this past week i was in contact with several health professionals of our church and all those that i actually got in contact with they are not very comfortable with us meeting outside some are even strongly opposed because of the cold they say that it's not healthy people can get sick so this week coming tuesday we're going to have a board meeting and we are praying very strongly that the lord may show us if we should continue with the outdoor service or not the truth is those that come apparently enjoy the outdoor service we have the sun so far and i enjoy preaching outdoor i can't say i don't i really enjoy preaching outdoor but i'm also concerned with the health of our members so if the board decides to close that service we will we will let you know we will inform you in time but it is a blessing to see our members outdoors and it is a blessing to reach out to you they are sitting in your home and they are enjoying a live stream um hopefully with your families if you are alone remember that jesus is there his angels are there don't feel alone and you can hear our voices here and the music and i pray that you may hear the word of god today so today i want to speak about an important topic and i pray that the lord may help me and guide me the title of my sermon today is father son and holy spirit and i do need the help of god to bless me and to guide me in my words so i'm going to kneel down and i ask you to pray for me as i share our father and our god we praise you this morning for the privilege of opening your word we pray that in the name of jesus you may forgive my sins for i am a man of unclean lips and i dwell among the people amongst the people of unclean lips sometimes we say things that we should not say please let that not happen today may you touch my lips and my heart and my mind with a living cold from your altar and through the blood of jesus cleanse me and speak through me by the power and presence of the holy spirit i also pray for my brothers and sisters and everybody watching this sermon live or even afterwards when the recording is available i pray that you may be the one speaking through the bible and that we may have our hearts open to what comes from you we pray these things in the name of jesus amen amen all right so before we start i would like to tell you that it is possible today that i say something that you are not comfortable with okay i am praying that i don't but in case any expression comes out of me in case any word comes out of me that is not according to god's word disregard it but if god is talking to you through his word please keep an open mind and an open heart that's what i'm asking the bible says in job chapter 11 verse 7. can you search out the deep things of god can you find out the limits of the almighty the christian standard bible actually this was the new king james the christian standard bible actually translates this verse like this can you fathom the depths of god or discover the limits of the almighty new english translation says can you discover the essence of god can you find out the perfection of the almighty and the common english version i actually love it in this verse can you understand the mysteries surrounding god all-powerful can we truly understand all the mysteries surrounding god i think not we are human beings our reasoning and our understanding is limited we cannot understand fully a god that is unlimited we need to be very humble and we need to be very careful when we approach the topic of the deity the topic of god in the bible we need to pay close attention to what the bible says and not really to what people say to what our ideas and preconceptions are amen because god does want us to know him the bible tells us in hosea 6 6 and this was one of the favorite hebrew scriptures that jesus would like to quote for i desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of god more than burnt offerings basically god was saying i want you to know me now what does it mean to know god you know in the bible to know someone may even mean to have an intimate relationship of love with that person and i believe that's what god wants to have with each and every one of us spiritually he wants to have a loving connection and relationship with each one of us the same book hosea tells us in chapter 11 verse 4 i drew them with gentle cords with bands of love god is drawing us to him in love through love with his love he has loved us with an everlasting love so with loving kindness he is trying to draw our hearts to him because he wants to have that relationship with us now for us to have a relationship of love with god we need to know something about him we can't know everything about god we will never be able to even when we are up in heaven i firmly believe that god the creator will always remain as a mystery somehow to the creature we would only fully understand god if we were god we cannot fully understand the creator being creatures and we are not god we are creatures we are created beings so god is always going to be surrounded by mystery but we can know what he has revealed to us of himself deuteronomy 29 29 says the secret things belong to the lord our god but our god but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law god has revealed himself through scripture i am a seventh-day adventist pastor and i firmly believe that the doctrines or the fundamental beliefs of the seventh-day adventist church are biblical biblical doctrines biblical doctrines we need to find them in the bible the first fundamental belief of the seventh-day adventist church there are 28 of those currently says this the title is holy scriptures and it says the holy scriptures old and new testaments are the written word of god given by divine inspiration the inspired authors spoke and wrote as they were moved by the holy spirit it's quoting the bible in ii peter chapter 1 verses 20 21 we believe that the men that wrote the bible were moved were inspired would were guided by the holy spirit in this word in the bible god has committed to humanity the knowledge necessary for salvation ii timothy chapter 3 verse 15 god paul told timothy you have known the holy scriptures from childhood that can make you wise unto salvation through faith in christ jesus you can only have everlasting life in jesus and through the bible you can come to know jesus and be wise for salvation so i believe the first doctrine the first fundamental belief of the seventh-day adventist church is right on the mark the holy scriptures are the supreme authoritative and infallible revelation of his will they are the standard of character the test of experience the definitive revealer of doctrines the defendant the definitive i don't know how you say this word in english the definitive revelator revealer of doctrines and the trustworthy record of god's acts in history so i do believe that if you want to know the truth you know you need to find the truth in god's word as seventh-day adventists we believe that ellen white was inspired by god we believe that the bible speaks about the gift of prophecy and we recognize recognizing ellen white the gift of prophecy however we are not basing our fundamental beliefs in the writings of allan white we are basing them in the bible actually alan white wrote and we fully agree as a church with her writings great controversy page 595 but god will have a people upon the earth to maintain the bible and the bible only has the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms what people say what people do what people decide that is against the word of god we really cannot accept it as truth so the second fundamental belief of the seventh-day adventist church named trinity that's a title of this belief says the following and i know let me do a little parenthesis i know that a lot of people a lot of christians actually even seventh-day adventist christians are not very comfortable with the word trinity because it is not found in the bible and because in the past maybe some denominations were using the word trinity with meanings that were not really biblical okay however i want to assure you that when i use the word trinity it may come up in the sermon although i'm going to quote much more the bible than anything else you will see okay i'm really going to be quoting the bible today there's maybe two or three quotes by other authors but i'm quoting the bible meaning mainly today however if i say the word trinity i want you to know where i stand on this word i see the word trinity to mean in the christian conversation and discussion and in bible theology i see trinity to mean a unity of three divine persons that's it now you may say well that's not what it really means i'm sorry words have meanings but those meanings change over time like in the old days in english you know what we would call a leech a leech was a doctor a healer in the old days but today if you call if see a man and call him elite you're a leech you're calling him a thing that is not really nice right or silly silly did not mean what we today ascribe as the meaning of that word if you call a person silly today that's a bad thing if you'd call a person silly in the old days that was completely different meaning so if somebody if some theologians if some denominations use the word trinity in a way that is not biblical that's not what i really mean when i use the word trinity okay however it is not a word found in the bible and i do prefer to use just the bible as it is so that's what i'm going to going to try to do today okay but look at the text of this second fundamental belief that we as seventh-day adventists uphold there is one god father son and holy spirit a unity of three co-eternal persons god is immortal all-powerful all-knowing above all and ever-present he is infinite and beyond human comprehension yet known through his self-revelation god who is love is forever worthy of worship adoration and service by the whole creation now i agree fully with this summary of the doctrine of the godhead in the bible now i know that people watching this sermon even maybe members of our church have had conversations with many different families with never many different people i'm not preaching this sermon because of the people that think differently i have contacted those people personally and i will continue to do so and i have to say that even in portugal as i shared with people who think differently that i think i've had the most amazing respectful conversations moments of love with these people that i could see the love of jesus drawing us closer to him to his word so please don't think that i'm pointing the finger to anyone i respect that people may read the bible and come to different conclusions however today i would like to tell you why i as a seventh-day adventist and as a seventh-day adventist pastor believe that our church is right to hold this doctrine of the godhead of the trinity or as i would like to say more biblically of the father son and holy spirit do we have evidence for a god who is three persons in the old testament i believe we do genesis chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 says in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the spirit of god was hovering over the face of the waters the first few verses of the bible the first passage of the bible the first few sentences of the bible speak about god and they speak about the spirit of god and then verse 3 says then god said let there be white and there was light this expression god said appears many times in genesis chapter 1. the bible actually says in john chapter 1 in the new testament john chapter 1 basically also corroborating and strengthening a concept that was already portrayed in the old testament that the word of god created this world the bible says that in the beginning was the word the word was god the word was with god and the word was god and this word logos in greek became flesh and dwelt among us we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the father we will talk more about this next week god willing but for now it's suffice to say that in genesis chapter 1 we have god we have the spirit of god and we have the word of god that created right because when god said it was done psalm 33 verses 6 and 9 and other many passages in the bible in the scriptures of the old testament we can see how the word of god was something connected to god but almost personified because you have the word of god came to elijah the word of god came to abraham you know the word of god would come to people and instruct them and speak to them interesting and we go on and we read in in the story of the creation of humanity chap is still in genesis 1 verses 26 and 27 then god said let us make man in our image according to our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over the cattle over all the earth and over all creeping thing that creeps on the earth as god rules over all universe he created humanity to rule over planet earth that he had created for us to enjoy verse 27 so god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them now god said let us make man in our image according to our likeness it's plural now some people say oh god was speaking to the angels now the angels in the bible are never depicted as the creator or as having a part in our creation god is our creator that is why he is worthy of worship the angel that brought the revelation to john told him do not worship me worship god right so we need to worship god he is our creator he didn't the angels were not the creators with god god was talking among the persons of the godhead and some people say well you see he created two that's because god in reality is only two persons but friends we need to read the bible as it is it says that we were made in the image and likeness of god does not mean that we are completely equal with god the bible does not say that the bible says god is love i believe that god never changes he was always loved he is and will ever be love so for him to be loved he had to be in a relationship of love throughout all ethernet eternity and so he created human beings in his image and likeness and of course they had to be more than one so he could love one another and reflect that image of god we continue this is how i read it and i respect those that read differently we continue and in genesis 3 22 after the fall of mankind when god had to remove adam and eve from the garden of eden then the lord god said genesis 3 22 behold the man has become become like one of us read these words the man has become like one of us it's very clear there's more than one the episode of the tower of babel genesis chapter 11 verses 1 through 7 you read the story and you will see that humanity was rebelling against god and they were wanting to build a tower to reach up to the heavens after the flood to make a name for themselves they thought that they could reach heaven without god and god says god saw what they were doing in verse 6 this is genesis 11 verse 6 and the lord said indeed the people are one and they have all have one language and this is what they begin to do now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them come let us go down and there confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech again we see god revealing himself as more than one person in deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 we read the words this is the new king james version here o israel the lord our god the lord is one and i believe these words i i worship only one god sometimes trinitarian christians are accused of being pagans because they worship many gods i'm sorry i believe in only one god but i believe that this god has revealed himself in more than one person even though he is one god i cannot fully understand it with my one brain i'm sorry it's just one brain and it's not very strong but i just read the bible as it is deuteronomy 6 4 the king james version says hear o israel the lord our god is one lord deuteronomy 6 4 in the lexum english bible says hear israel yahweh our god yahweh is unique deuteronomy 6 4 same verse in the geneva bible excellent translation maybe not very easy to read for us today but excellent translation geneva bible of 1599 israel remember this the lord and the lord alone is our god now israel had recently came out of bondage they traversed they were in the desert for 40 years even throughout these 40 years they were tempted by idolatry they saw the egyptians worshiping many gods they were in in the midst of people that were pagans and god was calling them through moses to worship only him now the interesting fact of this verse is that moses uses the word echad in hebrew that is also used in genesis 2 24 where we read therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh one flesh echad flesh the same word my wife and i we are married according to the bible we are one flesh we have an intimate relationship of love does that mean that my my wife ceased to have her individuality and that i don't have my individuality does that does that mean that we are one and there's no two persons in our home actually there's three persons in our home now there's dad mom there's lucas right and my wife has a mind of her own the fact that we are husband and wife the fact that we are united does not mean that we see everything exactly the same and that we are only one person okay also i believe that the text that we read in deuteronomy 6 4 means that we are worshiping one god and we should worship one god one god only and that is why when i think about god revealing himself as father son and holy spirit i have to assume and i'm sorry this is me okay you may disagree i have to assume that father son and holy spirit are so united that one cannot be inferior to another or else we would be worshipping more than one god but that's me i may be wrong isaiah chapter 6 verse 3 and the new king james says and one cried to another and said this is isaiah seeing a vision of the throne of god when he was called for to his prophetic ministry or at the beginning of his prophetic ministry you saw the throne of god he saw the glory of god he saw the seraphim around the throne of god with amazing depictions of these beings that actually tell us that we don't know much about heaven and this is what he hears that these beings were crying out one cried to another and said holy holy holy is the lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory holy holy holy now i know that a lot of theologians have written a lot of things that would probably not agree with me okay that's fine i'm not a big theologian i'm just a man reading the word of god and my brain and my understanding are really simple and it and if i see in the bible god the father son and holy spirit and then i hear that the angels worshiping god in heaven are saying holy holy holy i can only assume that the father is holy the son is holy and the holy spirit is holy now you may say oh but they are always repeating that okay the biblical authors in isaiah and in revelation john they could have just said they keep repeating holy all day long all night long they never stop repeating holy but they say they keep repeating holy holy holy that's what the bible says and actually verse 8 says that after isaiah humbled himself with the vision of god and he was touched by a living coal from the altar which i believe to be a symbol of the merits of christ the blood of christ right that altar and the sacrifices that were made in the altar in the hebrew sanctuary were a symbol of christ even the heavenly sanctuary we see jesus and everything that we study about the heavenly sanctuary in the bible so to me it means that he was covered by the blood of christ even before christ came to earth and after he was purified of his iniquity he hears god speaking verse 8 says i heard the voice of the lord saying whom shall i send there's one god he has a singler here whom shall i sin but then the same god that his only one says and who will go for us plural isaiah 42 1 behold my servant whom i uphold my elect one in whom my soul delights i have put my spirit upon him he will bring forth justice to the gentile three persons behold my servant god is speaking about his servant suffering servant isaiah 53 that suffered for our sins my elect in whom my soul delights you remember what the father said when jesus was baptized right stop the father is talking about the son the elect the messiah the anointed i have put my spirit upon him isaiah 48 16 come near to me hear this i have not spoken in secret from the beginning from the time that it was i was there and now the lord god and his spirit have sent me i see three persons revealed here three divine persons and here i stand i can do no other isaiah 61 verse 1 and the new king james says and jesus apply these words to himself in luke chapter 4 the spirit of the lord god is upon me the spirit of the lord god is upon me three persons isaiah 63 verses 7-10 i will mention the lovingkindness of the lord and the praises of the lord according to all that the lord has bestowed on us and the great goodness toward the house of israel which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies according to the multitude of his lovingkindness for he said surely they are my people children who will not lie so he became their savior and all their affliction he was afflicted and the angel of his presence literally in hebrew the angel of his face we are told in hebrews chapter 1 that jesus is the express image of god more to that next week god really but we are told also in the bible like in exodus chapter 3 when god appears to moses god is called also the angel of the lord so we do believe that the angel of the lord in the old testament many times was a reference to god the son the angel of his presence saved them and in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bore them and carry them all the days of old but they rebelled and grieved his holy spirit i see three persons of the godhead revealed here i also believe that although the old testament kind kind of gives us many evidences of the father the son and the holy spirit i do believe that in the new testament we have a more clear revelation of who god is in three persons even though one god luke chapter 1 verse 35 says and the angel answered and said to her the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you therefore also the holy one who is to be born will be called the son of god holy spirit son of god highest the three are here now especially when we think about incarnation the incarnation of christ we have to open our minds to the fact that to save us there is a change that happened in god and of course to convey that change this the biblical authors wrote with human language things that are hard to grasp with a human mind but three persons of the divinity are clearly revealed in the bible matthew chapter 3 verse 16 and 17. and this is the ep the the episode when jesus was baptized when he had been baptized jesus came up immediately from the water jesus came up immediately from the water and behold the heavens were opened to him and he saw the spirit of god descending like a dove and a lightning upon him and suddenly a voice came from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased remember isaiah father son holy spirit are present there i would like to quote the the words of an author that i really highly regard and respect i've known him personally gerhard fondle he wrote a book called daniel the seer of babylon on the book of daniel beautiful small but beautiful book and he actually gave me that book with an autograph i translated for him when he came to portugal many many years ago and he was such a sweet kind loving and simple man you would not think that he was one of the greatest theologians in the seventh-day adventist church he would not portray himself or present himself like that but he was acutely aware of many wrong doctrines that are trying to creep in in the seventh-day adventist church and he actually said something in one of his speeches not about what we are studying today he was talking about something else also dangerous but he was he was he said and i never forgot about this he said satan is trying to destroy the seventh the aventis church from the inside and actually ellen white said that we have much more to fear from the inside than from the outside and i really challenge people especially people who are critics of the seventh-day adventist church that say that our doctrines are not biblical i i see a lot of bashing of the seventh-day adventist beliefs and denomination and of seventh-day adventists online is terrible and sometimes i even am tempted to respond but i know that arguing will probably not do much but i challenge people just read the theological articles published by the biblical research institute of the seventh-day adventist church this is one of them entitled the trinity in scripture in the journal of adventist theological society in the fall of 2003. commenting on the baptism of christ and what we find in matthew 3 16 and 17 he wrote the account of jesus's baptism is a striking manifestation of the doctrine of the trinity there stood christ in human form visible to all the holy spirit descended upon christ in bodily form as a dove and the voice of the father spoke from heaven this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased in john 10 30 christ claims equality with the father and in acts 5 3 and 4 the holy spirit is identified as god it is difficult if not impossible therefore to explain the scene at christ's baptism in any other way than by assuming that there are three persons in the divine nature or essence i have to say i agree with these words now some people in our church are saying that actually the seventh-day adventist church change its doctrine so that we can be more acceptable to other christian denominations you know if i do not have another book by that author i could be tempted to think that that is true but i have that book just read that book daniel the seer of babylon no other denomination currently agrees with our views or no major denomination currently agrees with our views on daniel in revelation and that book is very clear on what we believe to be true from the prophecies of daniel if we were trying to be more acceptable to others and not trying to be faithful to scripture we would have to change a lot of things friends i am not preaching what i'm preaching today to make me more acceptable i know that i'll probably have some enemies i hope not i hope that we can respect one another even when we disagree but i am preaching what i am preaching today because i believe it to be truth the truth that i find in the word of god just reading it simply as i read it in the gospel of john you read in chapter 14 verse 15 and 16 if you love me jesus was saying keep my commandments and he was drawing this from commandment number two of the ten commandments just read it is there and i will pray the father i jesus will pray the father and he will give you another helper comforter advocate somebody called to be alongside of another person and protect defend that person i will ask the father i will pray the father and he will give you another paracletos another helper that he may abide with you forever i see three persons here john 14 25-26 these things i have spoken to you was jesus was speaking while being present with you but a helper the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that i said to you i see jesus speaking speaking about the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name three persons john chapter 15 verse 26 but when the helper comes whom i shall send you from the father jesus father helper the spirit of truth that who proceeds from the father he will testify of me are some people saying that the holy spirit is just the power or force or manifestation of the father and the son but it's not really another person well i think to testify of someone you need to be someone and it's very clear here that jesus says he will testify of me and you read the same in john 16 12-15 i still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now however when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority or in his own authority is actually not there but you can put it there if you want he will not speak on his own but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you all things that the father has are mine therefore i said that he will take of mine and declare it to you so friends i see three persons here even though i believe in one god i believe that these three persons are so united that they are not in conflict with one another and it's not conflicting to me to believe in a god that was manifested or that manifested himself in three different persons and one of the clear passages matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20 and jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name now this is beautiful in the name only one name in the name singular in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all things that i have commanded you and lo i am with you always even to the end of the age i'd like to quote a passage from ellen white again we base our bible doctrines in the bible but we do believe that the bible speaks about the gift of prophecy and seventh-day adventists believe that the gift of prophecy was manifested in ellen white so i do believe that we should pay close attention to what she wrote she wrote this and you can find this quote in evangelism page 614 615 read all of it please and even find the article that that was drawn from and read that article please do and read it with prayer but she wrote this there are three living persons of the heavenly trio heavenly trio in the name of these three great powers the father the son and the holy spirit those who receive christ by living faith are baptized and these powers will cooperate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in christ if you believe in god you believe in the word of god you believe that jesus is your savior died for your sins you gave your heart to him you believe the bible to be true and you want to live a christian life you committed yourself to follow jesus you accept that god accepts you not with your righteousness but with the righteousness of christ you gave yourself to him the father the son and the holy spirit in the name of whom you were baptized and i was baptized they will cooperate with us they will strengthen us to live a christian life that's what ellen white wrote and i fully agree and subscribe to now some people say oh but she really didn't write persons she wrote personalities and the people editing her writings change it to persons that's true but she corrected what the editors corrected and she gave her approval and actually if you read the writings of ellen white she would use the word personalities and persons interchangeably in the year 1900 she wrote the the manuscript 57 you can find this online l and y type ellen white manuscript 57 1900 okay the three great powers in heaven are witnesses when a person is baptized in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit they are invisible but present the three great powers in heaven are present invisible but present at your baptism the work is laid out before every soul that has acknowledged his faith in jesus christ by baptism and has become a receiver of the pledged the pledge from the three persons the father the son and the holy spirit i believe in one god and i believe that this one god is composed of three persons father son and holy spirit and those three persons love you no matter what you believe about them no matter what you believe about god the father the son and the holy spirit love you acts chapter 1 verse 4 and 5 and being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father which he said you have heard from me for john truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now three persons first corinthians 12 4-6 there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit spirit there are differences of ministries but the same lord for many for the new testament writers when they would say lord they were referring to jesus christ and there are diversities of activities but there is the same god who works all in all spirit lord god second corinthians 13 14 the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the communion of the holy spirit be with you all amen i could say amen here i've been speaking for 47 minutes so i need to end soon but i still have two other sermons i don't know how i'm going to fit everything i want to say in the next two sermons so allow me to finish today ephesians 2 17 18 and he came and preached peace to you talking about jesus who were far off and to those who were near for through him through jesus we both to two people gentiles and jews have access by one spirit to the father jesus spirit father ephesians 4 verses 4 through 6 there is one body and one spirit the body being the church of course just as you were called in one hope of your calling one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all now i see the spirit mentioned here i see the lord which is referred as jesus in the new testament many times jesus says lord and i see god the father now you may see me may say but it says one god and father meaning that only the father is god well you would have to erase other passages by the same author like romans 9 5 christ came who is over all the eternally blessed god amen so please don't try to put meanings in the word of god that the word of god is not sanctioning right peter wrote first peter chapter one verses one and two peter an apostle of jesus christ to the pilgrims of the the dispersion of pontus galatia cappadocia asia and bethennia elect according to the foreknowledge of god the father in sanctification of the spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of jesus christ grace to you and peace be multiplied god the father spirit jesus christ jude dude 20 and 21 there's only one chapter in jude verses 20 21 but you beloved building yourselves up on your most holy faith praying in the holy spirit keep yourselves in the love of god looking for the mercy of our lord jesus christ holy spirit god the father the lord jesus christ and we come to the book of revelation in revelation i believe we find clear evidence for a triune god revelation 1 verses 4 and 5 john to the seven churches which are in asia grace to you in peace from him who is and who was and who is to come this is the one sitted on the throne in revelation 4 and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from jesus christ the faithful witness the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth why seven spirits well we'll talk about that you have to listen to the two following sermons okay but i believe i see here clear evidence for what the other parts of the bible say about god the angels the caribbean now revelation 4 verse 8 worshiping god saying holy holy holy revelation 4 verse 8 lord god almighty who was and is and is to come a lot of people say this is clearly a reference to the father because in the text you continue reading it says you create all things and by your will they exist and we're created you mean that jesus is not the creator with the father and that jesus really didn't want also to create us that he did not have the will to create us that he it was just the will of the father and not of the son i don't i don't claim infallibility okay please remember i may be wrong about my interpretation of scripture however scripture applies these words not only to the father okay there's a lot of references if you study revelation and you see all the expressions that are used for the father and for the son you will see that sometimes the same expression is used for the father and the son so more to that when we come next week god willing revelation 22 1 says and he showed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of god and of the lamb a lot of people say well you see we're going to go to heaven and we are all we are only going to see the father and the son i respect your opinion please respect mine i respect your reading please respect mine and understand why i read what i read the way i read it jesus said in john chapter 7 verse 37-39 on the last day that great day of the feast jesus stood and cried out saying if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink he who believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water now i'm not saying that what comes out of you is exactly the river of the living water that we'll see up in heaven okay but still these are symbols scripture is talking about symbols the lamb is a symbol of christ right look at what it says verse 39 but this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive for the holy spirit was not yet given because jesus was not yet glorified so i can see in the river of the water of life also a depiction of the holy spirit if i allow scripture to interpret scripture more to that in the coming sermons alan white wrote the following manuscript 139 1906 paragraph 32 and you can find these words online now a little point said ellen white wrote in white as the saints in the kingdom of god are accepted in the beloved they hear come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world and then the golden harps are touched and the music flows all through the heavenly host and they fall down and worship the father and the son and the holy spirit dear friends i would like to tell you that i want to be there one day i want to worship the father the son and the holy spirit i don't know everything about god but i cannot avoid to read scripture and i cannot be at ignorance of what the bible says clearly and the bible says that there is only one name even though we find many different renderings of the name of god in scripture we find many expressions of that name in scripture but when it talks about father son and holy spirit talks about one name moses one day asked god please show me your glory and god told him i will show you all my goodness and i will proclaim the name of the lord in your presence now you cannot see my face because no man can see my face and live we cannot see god face to face we are human beings we are sinful human beings we would die but god showed moses everything that moses could see and live and yes he saw the back of god passing but something else that he got that day that was even more powerful that got to us today the proclamation that god made of his name now the lord descended exodus 34 5-7 the lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the lord and the lord passed before him and proclaimed the lord the lord god merciful and gracious long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin by no means clearing the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation this is the name of god this is his character he is merciful he is long-suffering he is holy and just this means there is hope for you and i we are just human beings trying to understand an infinite and all-powerful god and we fall short i fall short my sermon was not perfect i am sure but the bible the word of god that's where you have to put your faith my friend it says that god is love father the father loved you so much that he gave his only begotten son that's so that if you believe in him you may have eternal life jesus loved you so much that he gave himself to die for you on a cross paying for all of your sins so that if you put your faith in him you can have everlasting life the holy spirit the bible speaks about the love of the spirit you know that right romans the book of romans let's go there those will be our last passages for today actually in galatians chapter 5 says that the fruit of the spirit is love when the holy spirit comes upon you you start loving right but romans chapter 5 verse 5 says this romans chapter 5 verse 5 says now hope does not disappoint because the love of god has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who has given to us the father loved you and he gave his son for you jesus loved you and he gave himself for you the holy spirit loves you and he is putting the love of god inside of you that's your only hope of eternal life that your character may be renewed so you may see god face to face you may become love like god is love romans chapter 15 verse 30. we read the following the apostle paul writing to the believers in rome he said now i beg you and i i beg you exactly like the apostle paul was begging you okay i make my own the words of paul i beg you verse 30 romans 15 30. i beg you brethren through the lord jesus christ and through the love of the spirit the love of the spirit i beg you through the lord jesus christ and through the love of the spirit that you strive together with me in prayers to god for me brothers and sisters please pray for me i want to preach the word of god faithfully and please pray for yourselves i am praying for the fresno central seventh-day adventist church members family members friends co-workers the colleagues at school of our students i'm praying that god may give us not me the church belongs to him i'm praying that god may give us a church that is faithful to the word of god amen let us pray father in heaven i praise you for your love i praise you that you have given us your son and through him your spirit i pray in the name of jesus that the holy spirit may guide us into all truth if i have said anything that is not according to your will to your word and to the truth as it is in jesus please erase it from from the minds and hearts of those who are hearing this sermon but father everything that is of you everything that is of your word please please lord may your children those who belong to you may they open their hearts to the revelation of your love in the bible may they know that you are drawing them to you and he who is of god hears god's words amen [Music] so [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Fresno Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 97min 38sec (5858 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 06 2020