Mighty God Sermon Iii: God's Will Revealed By The Holy Spirit Series

WHAT A MIGHTY GOD! MAY GOD'S WILL BE DONE AS REVEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

Why call attention to a pretzel other than to get attention? the story of how and why this edible illustration was invented is intriguing as it pertains to praying for God’s Will to be done in us as revealed by the Holy Spirit.

Around 600 AD, a Monk decided to make a special treat for children who learned to recite their prayers. Christians in those days prayed by folding their arms across their chests with each hand touching the opposite shoulder. This clever priest formed dough to look like arms folded in prayer. He named his creation "petiole", which in Latin means "little reward”.

This novel reminder to pray (a pretzel shaped in the form of arms folded in prayer) caught on, and soon it was used also as an object lesson to teach children the concept of the Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - One God who exists equally and eternally in three persons, yet, who act in unity. In essence One, in effect Three.

When did this concept of more than one aspect of One God first appear in the Bible?

"In the beginning God". "God" in Hebrew is "Elohim" (plural - not three separate gods but one God in three beings). God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created man, male and female He created them." Notice " us11 and "our" then the shift to "his" and "he". So:

Moses, divinely inspired author of Genesis, interchangeably used the singular and the plural in reference to God as if everybody ought to know what he knew - that the LORD God is so great and mighty that He cannot be confined or defined by finite terminology.

If we could explain God only in words that we understand, God wouldn't be God. As a matter of fact, don1t be surprised when we all get to Heaven to learn that God is so much more than we thought! (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

Why worry about that which our minds cannot and were not intended to comprehend!

The greatest minds in history have gone to their graves still in amazement of God so great that He cannot be confined or defined by puny human terminology and explanations.

Daniel Webster, statesman and fervent Christian, was asked by an agnostic, "How can a man of your intellect believe in the Trinity?" His answer: "I do not pretend to fully understand the arithmetic of heaven - now." {Translation: I'll understand it fully when I get to Heaven!)

While finite minds try to grasp the wonder of it all - but fall short, the Word of God speaks clearly the message of salvation - that the sovereign yet loving LORD God acted in every aspect of His being to create then save lost humanity. So, how can we NOT bend knees and bow heads in worship before such a great and mighty God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit!

Now hear this:

All three persons of the Trinity are associated with our salvation experience {as stated by the Apostle Peter in I Peter 1:2):"To God's elect . . . who have been chosen according to the foreknow/edge of God the Father, thru the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ whose sacrifice of Himself cleansed you from sin and set you apart for the service of God." Furthermore: All three were involved at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17) ... were invoked at our own baptism (28:19) . . . are engaged in spiritual growth (2 Cor. 13:14).

Now, with this background ... to the message at hand:

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul spoke of: our Trinitarian concept of salvation in terms of "the wisdom of God in a mystery'' - 1Corinthians 2:6-8 ... the Spirit of God as He who reveals the wisdom of God to the people of God - I Corinthians 2:9-11...the stark contrast between earthly wisdom and spiritual wisdom, concluding that: we (mature believers) have learned to think like Christ" - 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 ...

Although none of us has arrived - in the sense that we have no further need to grow spiritually - we have reached a level of maturity wherein we are able to comprehend the meaning of the gospel message which we received from the Lord --- conveyed to us by divinely inspired persons of God and interpreted to us by the Holy Spirit. So:

By now, surely we have learned to make a distinction between the wisdom of this world and true wisdom that comes from God – wisdom revealed by the Holy Spirit.