Core Text: Romans 12:1-2, 1 Peter 2:1-5
Main Thesis: A complete gospel requires understanding all three persons of the Trinity — not emphasizing one at the expense of the others.
One-Line Summary (Ray’s own): We are reconciled to God the Father, through God the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Key Sections:
- God the Father — He draws us to salvation. Our primary posture toward Him is praise and thanksgiving. Our identity: children of God.
- God the Son — Jesus is the central figure of salvation and sanctification. Our relationship with Him is intimate friendship / bride and bridegroom. Our identity: friend and bride of Christ.
- God the Holy Spirit — He convicts, empowers, guides decisions, and enables ministry. Without Him, spiritual truth is inaccessible. Our identity: witness and servant.
Critique of Imbalance: Some churches overemphasize the Father, others fixate on the Spirit while neglecting Jesus — both extremes distort the gospel.
Closes with guided corporate prayer addressed to each person of the Trinity individually.
Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Thank you, Ron, and thank you, Cambria, for sharing testimonies about the Father.
We are going to talk today about something that maybe you haven’t heard much in church. We’re going to talk about the Trinity. But this is not going to be a theology lecture. I’m going to break it down as simply as I can because the Lord, the instructions that he gave to me during this sabbatical is to preach the Gospel and make it very simple, but don’t be simplistic about it.
And today we’re going to cover the Trinity.
And let me read from Romans 12:1-2, and then I’ll pray.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray. Father, we need divine help.
So we ask for you to be amongst us and to send your spirit to reveal truth to us. We want to become living sacrifices who can discern your good, perfect, and pleasing will.
We want to follow Jesus. We want to serve one another. We want to go to the ends of this earth and make Jesus known to the outermost places in this world.
Father, we pray that you would equip us during times like this. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Today I want to talk about the full and balanced gospel.Full and balanced gospel. And let me just do a one line summary.
We are reconciled to God the Father through God the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are reconciled to God the Father through God the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so I think you already heard some trinitarian echoes in that one statement.
I’m going to try to do a full and balanced preaching of the gospel because there is a lot of imbalance. I’m going to try to address the imbalance because there’s a lot of places where you hear about Jesus in the very beginning or maybe on Easter Sunday. But once they meet Jesus, it is only about God. You only hear God, you only hear the name of God. You rarely ever, except in certain places, certain moments in the calendar.
You might hear about Jesus, but they only say God, Father, and almost no mention of the Holy Spirit. That’s one extreme. The other extreme is they pray only to the Holy Spirit. It’s all about the Holy Spirit. It’s almost like God is forgotten. Jesus is seldom mentioned.
And so you got the two extremes, but there’s a lot of imbalance. And I think as people of the word, people of the Spirit, we need to bring the full gospel, a balanced view of God. Because God, after all, he is one, but he is one in three persons.
And that’s a very difficult concept to understand. He is one. He is unified. He is. There is not multiplicity. This is not a polyistic religion. It is one God.
But this one God is expressed in three persons. And this three persons means they have different roles. So we need to know who God the Father is and how we, as children of God, approach our Father and who God the Son is.
And as followers of Jesus, what is this interaction? What is this dynamic between us followers and Jesus our Lord and our Shepherd?
And as people who are always in trouble, always lost, always calloused, and maybe not knowing what to do and kind of spiritually dull, we need divine help. That is the role of the Holy Spirit.
So we want to try to bring these three together, even when it comes to salvation. There’s a Trinitarian view of salvation. Each of the three persons of the Trinity are doing different things, but they are one and unified in their purpose to save you.
It says in John 6 that God the Father, Jesus is drawing people to His Son. And you never would have come to faith in Christ, you never would have met Jesus unless the Father had His eyes on you. And he and he and he and he handpicked you.
And throughout the course of your life, whether you knew it or not, he was drawing you to His Son. And there’s no way that as people of.
In this world, in a godless world where there is no hope, there is no way that you would ever know who your Father is or who Jesus the Son is, unless before you met Jesus, the Spirit was already at work.
the Spirit was already blowing. And Jesus has a conversation with Nicodemus, a scholarly man who knew nothing of God spiritually. Because a natural man cannot understand spiritual truth. That’s just how it works. You need the Holy Spirit to open eyes, open ears, soften hearts.
Because without the Holy Spirit’s work to soften, to blow in your life, Jesus could be standing right there and you would miss Him. So the Father draws. The Holy Spirit is blowing, and there’s some signs. And then one day, for each of us, you saw Jesus. For me, it was when I was a college student. I knew about God, but I didn’t know God. I grew up in church, but I really didn’t understand a thing. Everything I heard, just very intellectual, very conceptual, very doctrinal. But I didn’t know Jesus.
But the Father, he was drawing me. He drew all the way. He drew me all the way from the East Coast. He plopped me at a Baptist church in Berkeley.
And the Spirit began to blow, and I started to soften in my understanding of God because before I knew I was a sinner, but there was starting this conviction. How come this pastor, he is dissecting me through the Word of God?
How come he knows, like the secret thoughts of my heart, the pride and the lust and the secret selfish ambition and the envy and the jealousy? Because college students, you’re always like, everybody is a competitor. And somehow the Spirit was starting to convict me of my sin and my need for a Savior. It was a spirit that was at work.
And then one day, November 1993, it’s as if Jesus was standing in the front.
It wasn’t the pastor. I heard the shepherd call me by name and there was an altar call.I came forward.
I gave my life to Jesus. The Father was drawing me all these years, for 19 years. And then toward my 18th, 19th year, in those last few months,the Spirit was starting to work. I didn’t know it’s like what Jesus says. I don’t know where it came from, where it’s going,but it was starting to soften me to Jesus.
And then on that one day, Jesus met me and I got saved. So trinitarian understanding of salvation, sanctification, you can also understand it in this trinitarian way, because God is holy.
But we say, well, how can I become like God? It’s like the standard is so high. The Lord’s Prayer says, hallowed be your name. He lives in an unapproachable light. How can the sinner like me as a 19-year-old ever?
Is it possible that I can become holy as he is holy? And the Father, just by who he is, doesn’t just leave me like that. That’s why the Spirit is there. the Spirit convicts us of sin. That’s his role. But God shows the standard. the Spirit convicts you step by step.
Because if you, if God told you the fullness of your sin at the moment of conversion, all 1,000 of them, we would all be undone. We’d be all depressed. There’s just no motivation to even try.
But the Holy Spirit, in his perfect, gentle way, he convicts you one sin at a time, one sin at a time, and you overcome that sin. Then you’re encouraged that I grew in holiness here. And then he convicts you of a second sin. It’s not all at once. It is just conviction by the Holy Spirit, little by little.
And of course, without Jesus, son, there is no sanctification. We plead the blood of Jesus, we look upon Jesus’ sacrifice. He suffered on a cross. He became sick for me, so that I have hope. I can be cleansed through and through.
First, just in my actions and then even in the deeper places, division of soul and spirit, even in my motives and the motivations of my heart, even the intentions. All of that, one by one, he can cleanse and restore.
There’s even a Trinitarian understanding of decision making because there is the will of God.
And as I read in Romans 12, there is a good, perfect, and pleasing will, and it is tailor-made for you. Even before the foundation of the world, God prepared in advance the good works that you would walk out over the course of your lifetime.
And it’s your path, it’s not mine. I have my cross to bear, my path to walk out. And you have to find it. And decision making, there’s God’s will for your life. And then Jesus says, follow me. But where is Jesus? Where is he going in my life?
Where is he taking me? I’m trying to follow him. Because the way that in the Gospels Jesus was physically present. So in some sense you could say it was easier because Jesus went to this town, all the disciples followed.
But now Jesus is not here and he wants you to follow him. How can we do that? He doesn’t leave you as an orphan, he sends the helper. And if you read the book of Acts, how the early church made decisions is they thought they were going to go this way.
And Holy Spirit says, no, don’t go that way, go this way. It’s important that we discern this will. Because if you are in the wrong place, you could be a great person, but nothing is going to happen.
If you’re stuck in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, it doesn’t matter how godly you are, how prayerful you are. If the Spirit did not lead you there and Jesus is not there with you in that situation, nothing happens.
I’ve been there. I was faithful. I did my thing.
But it didn’t happen because it was not the time, or it’s not the right place, or I’m not the right person. Something is off.
But when the Spirit says go here, like the apostles, wherever they went, things happened. Is it because they’re so great? No, it’s because the Spirit led them there and Jesus was there.
And so, if you study carefully the book of Acts and the signs and the wonders and the miracles, it’s like when Peter is doing something or Paul is doing something, like the crippled man whose legs are strengthened and he gets up from the beautiful gate, and they want to bow down to Peter and make him this godlike leader with this incredible supernatural power.
Peter says, get up. I had nothing to do with it. I’m just faithful to be where I need to be, being led by the Spirit.
And when I laid hands on you, it was as if Jesus laid hands on you, and He did it.
So anybody who’s supernaturally gifted and who starts to think they’re a hotshot and donate money to my ministry because I have this gift, they missed it. They really missed it. Because that gift is just a sensitivity by the Spirit that Jesus is at work in that city, in that situation, to that person.
And I just went there. I had an encounter with Jesus, and through my hands, something happened. A sign, a wonder, a miracle.
Jesus did the same thing. Like, you think it’s random that he went to the wilderness and he got tempted? No, the Spirit led him there.
You think it’s random that he fed the 5,000 men and then probably 15,000, but the Spirit, at the very next moment, he could perceive the hearts of the people. And so he didn’t just put a flag in the ground and say, I’m going to start a church, a megachurch, right in this spot. But the very next day, he is by himself or he’s ministering to one person.
And then you get to see, how did Jesus do life? And then he says, shockingly, I just see what the Father is doing, and I’m just doing what the Father does.
So he’s being led. So it’s the will of God. Jesus sees it, he goes there, and things happen. As believers, as followers of Jesus, the Holy Spirit says, go there. Jesus is there, there. He’s waiting for you. There’s some divine encounter, some ministry that I have for you. That’s a trinitarian understanding of decision making.
Another one is ministry.
Even if you have perfect theology, even if you believe in Jesus and he’s the love of your life, without spiritual power, you can’t do anything. It is a divine thing that even these eyewitnesses, these apostles, after witnessing what Jesus coming to life and fellowshipping with them for 40 days in small groups and in larger crowds, still they were afraid.
And they waited 10 more days. And on Pentecost, power came from on high. See, we can’t do ministry without knowing who the Father is, who the Son is, and who the Spirit is.
I want to talk about God the Father. 1 Peter 2. We’re not going to read too many texts. This is the only other text I want to actually read together. I’m going to reference some as the Spirit reminds me. But 1 Peter 2:1-5.
1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:1-5, ESV)
So Romans 12:1,
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1, ESV)
And so, if I were to just summarize my relationship with God the Father, it is praise and thanksgiving.
That’s really what drives my interaction with God the Father as a child of God. And my identity is formed in this relationship with God the Father.
And Ron shared. I have a similar story.
Not as you know, nothing to that level, but if you have an earthly father who made your life difficult, who wasn’t a believer and had their issues, or maybe you stepped into a church and things in leadership were just not—the leadership did not represent the heart of God the Father. It is really difficult to know who the Father is.
I lost in the beginning. I, through Jesus, saw the Father for the first time in my life. When I got saved, I experienced the unconditional love of a father.
And I only knew conditional love like you do. Well, good job. And that wasn’t that often. And so for the most of my life, feeling like I’m just not quite making it. My father’s not quite pleased. I don’t have his approval. He’s not that proud of me. I just have to keep on working.
And I that mindset I bring into Christian life when I interact with God the Father. And as a minister of the Gospel, I think, okay, God, he doesn’t like me that much. I need to work really hard to merit salvation.
He has a stick in his back pocket. Anytime I’m out of line, he’s going to smack me. And it’s colored by earthly fathers, by human. Human leaders who are, who badly represented God the Father. And we just have to be like, washed that out. Like Luke 15. That is God the Father, the Son, who just made a prodigal son, just made a mess of his life. And there’s no lecturing, there’s no disapproval. He sees him from a distance, runs and embraces him.
That is who God the Father is and how secure we feel as children of God. Even the Spirit comes alongside and gives. There’s no fear of rejection, but there’s this embrace of the Father through the Spirit, by the power of the Spirit, that we’re adopted into God’s family. And there’s a great, great security.
And so when I interact with God the Father, it is praise and thanksgiving. And these are spiritual sacrifices, as it says in 1 Peter 2, spiritual sacrifices.
We don’t go to God the Father disrespectfully and say, like, with an ungrateful heart and complain. And that’s what you primarily relate to God or just being afraid of. That’s not who God is.
And so once you know he is, you just want to be just in his embrace. You just want to be with him and just. We’re not asking for things, although we have many requests. We just want to. That embrace.
And being in his presence as a child means I just want to praise him. I just want to thank Him.
That’s what colors my relationship with God the Father, God the Son. If you have a good marriage, this is easy. If you have not a good marriage, it’s a little bit harder. So I pray all of you have good marriages.
Because the relationship with Jesus is best described as a bridegroom to his bride, as friendship, deep friendship. Jesus says in John 15, I don’t call you servants. We are servants. We’re here to serve the Lord. Live for the Lord. But he says, you’re my friends. I trust you. I’m going to give you my.
I’m going to share my secrets with you. I’m safe. I’m humble and lowly of heart. Even though you messed up, you can come right back. I’m your friend. Share with me.
You do that with your spouse. Like, if you’re. If you have a strong marriage, you’re close. There’s no secrets between me and Jackie. We share everything. Everywhere we go, we’re together almost every day. We’re together because we homeschooled and we were church planters. And she helps me with my company. And so we’re always together. And she even wants to share my meals.
And So I sacrifice 50% of my plate. If I order something she doesn’t like or she orders something she doesn’t like and she likes my plate,
I will exchange with her. We’re always together. I will give her the better portion. I will share half of my plate. Jesus wants that best friend, best friend status in your life. He wants you to be close. And that’s why we love Jesus. So my interaction with Jesus is I love him. He’s my best friend. I want to remain close to Him. I want to remain in Him.
I want to abide with Him. I want to hold on to Him. I never want to let go. And so as a follower of Christ, I want to stay close. My relationship with him is different than God the Father. I’m more respectful of God the Father. I praise and I thank him for who he is, for what he’s done in my life. Of course there’s that closeness at times. I can call him Abba Father. But who I feel really close to and bonded with in the in the Trinity is the central figure of Jesus Christ.
God the Son and God the Spirit. This one, I just ask for help all the time. As I said, you can’t understand a thing in Scripture without the Holy Spirit. A natural brain, a natural man, a natural mind. Studying Scripture and even getting a PhD in biblical theology doesn’t mean I understand a lick of the things of the kingdom. You need a Holy Spirit to reveal it to you.
And I ask for his presence in order to make decisions like, where is Jesus taking me? I want to be close. I want to follow Jesus.
Where is he taking me? Holy Spirit, please help me. Please reveal where Jesus is headed. Please guide me. Please help me in this decision making.
If there’s. Before I go up to preach, I ask for power. I ask for power because if I just speak and it’s just me, I’m the shyest person you would have ever known. As a child, all the way through high school, until I met Jesus in college, you probably would not even remember me. I was that quiet all throughout my years.
The fact that I can preach is purely the empowering of the Holy Spirit because I have nothing in me that can suggest that I could even try to do this. It is a power of the Holy Spirit.
So the identity under God the Father, I am his child before I am a father, before I am a spouse, before I am a pastor, minister, whatever. All of those titles fall way under the supreme title of Child of God. That is where everything starts. If I don’t get that right, then I’m going to be insecure.
I’m going to lose my way if there’s another title or identity that takes a higher place than Child of God under Jesus, God the Son. My identity is he’s my friend.
We’re best friends. I’m the bride of Christ under God the Spirit. I think the identity is I am Jesus’s witness. I am his minister.I am a servant of the Lord. I am a missionary.I will go wherever he goes.
But I cannot do it without the Spirit’s enabling power. So that is the work of the Holy Spirit. And again, the one line summary.
A full and balanced gospel. We are reconciled to God through Jesus the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I pray that as you speak, study Scripture. It would not be so one-sided or one-dimensional, but the fullness of the Gospel and of the Godhead. You get to know all three.
There’s such unity in the Godhead, in this triune God whom we are trying to love. Okay, let’s pray.