(I believe I got this from one of our lectures in BSF! Just know that I wasn't the one smart enough to think of this! It has helped give more clarity to me though... in regards to the Trinity)

God the Father -

   Creator/Sustainer

God the Son -

   Reconciler/Redeemer

God the Holy Spirit - 

   Enabler/Empowerer

As per me... Have you ever noticed how the Triune God, the Three in One God - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - all work together so smoothly, so flawlessly, so succinctly, and with such deference, trust, and love to One Another...to enable the carrying out of God’s perfect plan of redemption?

The Father sends His Son...the Son gladly and willingly shows obeisance to whatever His Father's will for His life is...even including taking on flesh and being put to death on a cross by those He actually came to save - (the Son defers to His Father and the Holy Spirit).

The Father and Jesus Christ send the Holy Spirit to indwell those who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior...the Holy Spirit gladly and willingly shows obeisance to His Father and the Son who send Him...to indwell and transform the lives of scumbag sinners like us...in spite of ourselves - (the Holy Spirit defers to His Father and to Jesus Christ).

God the Father allows His Son and the Holy Spirit to participate in forming the cosmos, forming the world, forming man, and the carrying out of God's perfect plan of redemption of a broken, fallen, sinful mankind...showing total trust and love and confidence in His Son and His Holy Spirit to carry out and complete their roles in the reconciliation and redemption of sinful man to Himself...perfectly!

HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT...???

AMAZING...huh???

DO YOU REALIZE THAT GOD HIMSELF...CAME TO THIS EARTH AND DIED FOR YOU - ON THAT CROSS...!!!??? 

What about us? How are each of us doing at ridding ourselves of "SELF" and showing obeisance to the God Who saves us? Who and what are you and I deferring and being obedient to in this brief life we each have been given? You and I will be required to give an answer to that question, and we each won't be able to bluff the one true God of all...!!! He knows us better than we know ourselves...and He knows our “heart motives” in everything that we do!!!

Think about it...

From the book - "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" by Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

"Going a step further, we can put it like this. We are not meant to control our Christianity; our Christianity is rather meant to control us. From the standpoint of the Beatitudes, as indeed from the standpoint of the whole of the New Testament, it is an entire fallacy to think in any other way, and to say, for example, 'To be truly Christian I must take up and use Christian teaching and then apply it.' That is not the way our Lord puts it. The position rather is that my Christianity controls me; I am to be dominated by the truth because I have been made a Christian by the operation of the Holy Spirit within. Again I quote that striking statement of the apostle Paul which surely puts it so perfectly-'I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' He is in control, not I; so that I must not think of myself as a natural man who is controlling his attitude and trying to be Christian in various ways. No, His Spirit controls me at the very centre of my life, controls the very spring of my being, the source of my every activity. You cannot read these Beatitudes without coming to that conclusion. The Christian faith is not something on the surface of a man's life, it is not merely a kind of coating or veneer. No, it is something that has been happening in the very centre of his personality. That is why the New Testament talks about rebirth and being born again, about a new creation and about receiving a new nature. It is something that happens to a man in the very centre of his being; it controls all his thoughts, all his outlook, all his imagination, and, as a result, all his actions as well. All our activities, therefore, are the result of this new nature, this new disposition which we have received from God through the Holy Spirit. That is why these Beatitudes are so searching. They tell us, in effect, that as we live our ordinary lives we are declaring all the time exactly what we are. That is what makes this matter so serious. By the way we react we manifest our spirit; and it is the spirit that proclaims the man in terms of Christianity. There are people, of course, who as a result of a strong human will can control their actions very largely. Yet in these other respects they are always proclaiming what they are. All of us are proclaiming whether we are `poor in spirit', whether we `mourn', whether we are `meek', whether we `hunger and thirst', whether we are `merciful', or whether we are not. The whole of our life is an expression and a proclamation of what we really are. And as we confront a list like this, or as we look at this extraordinary portrait of the Christian drawn by our Lord, we are forced to look at ourselves and examine ourselves and ask ourselves these questions."

As per me again... Are you and I even asking ourselves these questions...? Jesus knows your answer before you even give it...!!! And by the way…DON’T LIE TO YOURSELF EITHER…!!!

Think about it...

Side note: Frank's surgery went well yesterday and he should be home today. Pray for great results, healing, and no infection. 

Thank you so much for your prayers for him!

In Christ,

Mark

Read utmost.org for Nov. 4th... “The Authority of Truth”… and for 

Jan. 14th... “Called By God”… and for Aug. 4th... “The Brave Friendship of God”…

“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.”

Titus 3:4-8 NASB

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-things into which angels long to look. Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."”

1 Peter 1:1-16 NASB

“My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you-”

Galatians 4:19 NASB

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:6 NASB1995

As per me again... Who or who or what - is formed in you???

Think about it...

Amen and Amen…!!!