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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">When I was a student, we had an assignment: "Prove or disprove the existence of God" in ten pages. One clever answer used less than a page, and got top marks for the effort. The student wrote to the effect that the assignment was not possible using the rules of logical proof. For in using the available conventional starting point, we would only be able to use the things that can be observed and verified by human senses within the known created world. All one could do, the argument supposed, in that instance is prove that something in the created world was God. In other words, you could prove that something was God that could not possibly be God. The second part of the argument suggested that in order for such a "proof" to be valid, a student would have to be objective, from the start, about that answer. A student would need not to care if there was or was not a "God". ; Since everyone has a stake in the answer, one way or another, it was reasoned that such a proof was impossible to attempt.<br>
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The point of the exercise was to get the students to think about who or what God is. The reality of the exercise, at least for the student in question, is that we cannot approach the answer through logical thought, through reason alone. Now this is not to say that reason and logic do not have their place in the realm of faith. It is just to say that they alone cannot do the job. The IS ness of God is just too different from our experience to be able to fathom. So the language of the Trinity in the Christian witness may serve mostly to humble us. It serves to remind us that God is indeed beyond our complete comprehension. All the language that we have about God must be metaphor. Most of the language in the bible is just that, with one notable exception: "God is love."<br>
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Luke Bouman, Difficult Things<br>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Oh, Now I Understand</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">C. S. Lewis once said that the most frequently spoken word in heaven would be, "OH." As in, "Oh, now I understand." Or, "Oh, now I see what God's plan was." Or, "Oh, now I see the reason for the trial I went through." <br>
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We do not have that luxury in this world. We walk by faith, not by knowledge. But one day it will be revealed to us. We will be in the presence of the Father and the Son and the Spirit. How can we be in the presence of all three at the same time? It beats me, but as St. Paul says in another place, "I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." (II Timothy 1: 12) <br>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">King Duncan, Collected Sermons, <A target=_blank __removedLink__1889469293__href="http://www.sermons.com/"><FONT color=#800080>www.Sermons.com</FONT></A></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Kierkegaard's Story of the Prince</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">We affirm a belief in the Son, Jesus Christ. We say that God took on human form, came and lived among us, suffered the same trials that we suffered, experienced the same Feelings that we experienced. Jesus was purely human and purely divine. Jesus was not God. Jesus was God incarnate. There is a difference. Jesus never drew attention to himself but always pointed to God.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Soren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian of another century tells a story of a prince who wanted to find a maiden suitable to be his queen. One day while running an errand in the local village for his father he passed through a poor section. As he glanced out the windows of the carriage his eyes fell upon a beautiful peasant maiden. During the ensuing days he often passed by the young lady and soon fell in love. But he had a problem. How would he seek her hand?</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six horses. But if he did this he would never be certain that the maiden loved him or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor. As you might have guessed, the prince came up with another solution. He would give up his kingly robe. He moved, into the village, entering not with a crown but in the garb of a peasant. He lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and talked their language. In time the maiden grew to love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">This very simple, almost child like story, written by one of the most brilliant minds of our time explains what we Christians mean by the incarnation. God came and lived among us. I am glad that this happened for two reasons. One, it shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is with us, that he is on our side, and that he loves us. Secondly, it gives us a first hand view of what the mind of God is really all about. When people ask what God is like, we as Christians point to the person of Jesus Christ. God himself is incomprehensible. But in Jesus Christ we get a glimpse of his glory. In the person of Jesus we are told that God, that mysterious other that created the stars and the universe, is willing to go all of the way, to be one of us, talk our language, eat our food, share our suffering die on a cross. Why? So that a single person, you, me, might be redeemed. And, grow to love Him.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Brett Blair, <A target=_blank __removedLink__1889469293__href="http://www.esermons.com/"><FONT color=#800080>www.eSermons.com</FONT></A></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Christian Life's Three Concentric Circles</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">As I see it, the Christian life must three concentric circles, each of which must be kept in its proper place. In the outer circle must be the correct theological position, true biblical orthodoxy and the purity of the visible church. This is first, but if that is all there is, it is just one more seedbed for spiritual pride.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In the second circle must be good intellectual training and comprehension of our own generation. But having only this leads to intellectualism and again provides a seedbed for pride.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In the inner circle must be a humble heart--the love of God, the devotional attitude toward God. There must be the daily practice of the reality of the God whom we know is there. These three circles must be properly established, emphasized and related to each other.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Francis A. Schaeffer, No Little People; Sixteen Sermons for the Twentieth Century, InterVarsity Press, 1974. Out of Print.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">It's A Mystery, And Always Will Be</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Garrison Keillor, modern American prophet from the radio show “A Prairie Home Companion,” said of love, “We should not think that we have figured this out, because it is not a problem, it’s a mystery and always will be.”</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">“It is not a problem, it’s a mystery, and always will be.” Doesn’t that offend you just a little — the suggestion that there are those things in life we have not, and furthermore, will not ever, figure out? Now that we’ve become so advanced that we can put fax machines in cars and can send ourselves messages back from Venus, we are not really open to the suggestion that there are those things that always have been and always will be mysteries to us. We assume that our only limitations are time and energy, and, given enough of the two, there is really nothing we can’t ultimately know.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">So when we come to a doctrinal matter like the Trinity, the temptation is to want one neat analogy that will make it all clear, one concise statement on the Trinity that will settle it for us and allow us to move on to the next problem. Well, I hate to disappoint you so early in my sermon today, but if that is what you are expecting I suggest that you join those of your friends who are already daydreaming this time away. You see, it’s just not all that easy. It’s not so simple to describe the Trinity in any meaningful way. The Trinity just isn’t one of things we can settle in short order.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Maybe if we can’t figure out the Trinity in these few brief minutes (and, given that the church in two thousand years hasn’t been able to get it straight, it’s a fairly safe bet we won’t have the last word on it today,) if we can’t settle the issue today, maybe we can at least try to point to what the doctrine of the trinity is attempting to say about God and how we experience God.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">James C. Leach, “Naming God,” Pulpit Digest, January / February 1991, p. 55.<br>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Observable Love</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in the days of Mussolini, Christian believers suffered considerable persecution. In his book, Fire on the Mountains, Raymond Davis tells of the love demonstrated by believers for each other during this period of affliction, which in turn made a major impression on unbelievers. For example, no provision was made to feed the prisoners in jail by the invading army. This was the responsibility of relatives and friends. Christians in the prisons had no problem, though. They were well cared for by friends and family. In fact, so much food was brought them by fellow believers and church groups that enough remained to feed the unbelieving prisoners also. This observable love, vibrant though nonverbal, brought many to seek the Lord. Such love was previously unheard of. As a result, the word spread far and wide. Non-believers sought out believers to learn more about the Christian faith. When prisoners who had co me to know Christ while in jail were released, they went back home and attended the nearest church.</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Leslie B. Flynn, You Don’t Have to Go It Alone, Denver, Colorado: Accent Books.<br>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">A Dependable Guide</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Pastor Michael Walther tells of listening to a radio program (Focus on the Family) about a famous test pilot. This pilot was flying a fighter jet in bad weather and about to make his instrument approach to an airport. The air traffic controller called and asked how much fuel he had. "Plenty," he said. "Well," the controller said, "we've got a little problem. There's a young pilot who is not instrument rated. He's lost in the clouds, and we were wondering if you could intercept him and lead him back to the airport." "Sure," the pilot responded. He found the lost plane and pulled up beside it. He called on the radio and told the pilot to look out to his left. There the pilot of this small plane saw the powerful fighter jet, and the man burst into tears…</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The conclusion to this illustration and for many additional illustrations and sermons for the Trinity Sunday can be accessed at <A title=http://www.sermons.com/ target=_blank __removedLink__1889469293__href="http://www.sermons.com/"><FONT color=#800080>www.Sermons.com</FONT></A>.</div>
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