Daily Bible Readings:
Monday, June 13. Read 2 Corinthians 13:11-13. 1) What did Paul want for the Christians in Corinth? 2) How did he talk about the Godhead in this text?
Tuesday, June 14. Read Titus 3:4-6. 1) What happened when the goodness of God appeared? 2) What do you think he was talking about here? 3) How did Paul describe the work of the Trinity in this text?
Wednesday, June 15. Read John 14:15-24. 1) What promise was Jesus making to his disciples in this text? 2) What is the Advocate, and what qualifies a person to know of this Advocate? 3) How does Jesus incorporate the Trinity in this text?
Thursday, June 16. Read John 1:1-5. 1) How did John describe God in the beginning? 2) How is the Christ described in this text?
Friday, June 17. Read Matthew 28:18-20. 1) What did Jesus say the disciples were to do? 2) In the case of baptism, how was it to be performed?
Saturday, June 18. Read Romans 5:1-5. This is Sunday’s sermon text.
Prayer for the Week:
Multifaceted God, beyond understanding, except when we experience you in the revelations you have given us over time. At a burning bush, across the wilderness in cloud and fire, with Elijah in a cave, and at Pentecost in demonstration and understanding. On this Trinity Sunday we are in awe of how great you are, how unknowable in many ways, and yet how loving and present in others. We give thanks and praise to you and ask that our journey to your presence will grow deeper and stronger. In Jesus’ name we pray this. Amen.
Hymn of the Week:
Know, My Soul, Thy Full Salvation
by Henry Francis Lyte, 1818
Soul, then know thy full salvation,
Rise o’er sin, and fear, and care;
Joy to find in every station
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee;
Think what Father’s smiles are thine;
Think that Jesus died to win thee!
Child of heaven, canst thou repine?
Haste thee on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer!
Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide thee there:
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
Devotional Article of the Week:
Keep in Step with the Spirit
Can you dance with the Holy Spirit
by Phil Ware
You may think I’m a clod of a man, but I have to confess something: “I don’t get it!” But I don’t get what all the fascination is over Dancing with the Stars.
Now before you DWTS fans stone me, you need to know that I do like high quality ballet. Misty Copeland’s Under Armour ad “I Will What I Want” shows that ballet is one of the most physically demanding sports as art. In addition, the music can be glorious!
I say all this to confess, “I don’t know much about Dancing with the Stars, but I do know this: in Dancing with the Stars, the professional dancer has to take the lead!” This realization opened up a whole new level of understanding when I noticed the language of dance as Paul talked about the Holy Spirit with these words:
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. … [T]he fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25).
Notice especially that last phrase, “keep in step with the Spirit.” If we are going to live the life of Jesus in our context and with our personality, we are going to have to let the Holy Spirit lead us in the dance of life! So as children of God seeking to learn the dance of life, how do we do we allow the Holy Spirit to be Lord of our dance?
We offer ourselves to God to be led by the Spirit.
We are to be God’s holy temple, the place where God himself lives and a person in whom the glory, honor, and praise of God are found (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1-2). We recognize that to experience the abundant life Jesus came to give us (John 10:10), we must let the Spirit lead. This means that we willingly must offer ourselves to God and follow the Spirit’s lead!
We do the things that allow the Spirit to fill us.
Like a good dancer, we enter the world of God’s “music.” That “music” fills us, envelopes us, and moves us to dance by the Spirit’s rhythms. We enter this world through spiritual songs shared with other believers, thanksgiving focused on Jesus, and submission to those closest to us. As we do these things, the Spirit fills us (Ephesians 5:15-20). Paul emphasizes two other ways for us to enter into the “music” of the Spirit. One is through the word of God and the other is praying in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17-18). In these ways, the Holy Spirit fills us and leads us in the dance of life.
We trust the Spirit to guide us and lead us through life’s different challenges.
Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit as our Comforter — also translated as the Counselor, the Advocate, the Helper (John 14:15-18). The Spirit guides us into all truth and reminds us of Jesus (John 16:13). The Spirit convicts the world of sin and judgment (John 15:8-11) while helping us know truth from error (1John 2:20;1 John 2:26-27). Most of all, until we can go home to be with the Son and the Father, they will come to us, show themselves to us, and make their home in us through the Spirit (John 14:1-4; John 14:15-23).
We check our lives to see if we are keeping in step with the Spirit.
We seek to have the character of Jesus shine through our lives and we yearn for the fruit of the Spirit to come alive in us (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). We begin to display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control — the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Our lives increasingly reflect the righteousness, peace, and joy of Jesus (Romans 14:17). Rather than being paralyzed by timidity and fear about our faith, we begin to see our lives filled with spiritual power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). As we see the qualities of the Spirt come alive in us, we realize that we are learning to dance through life letting the Spirit lead us! We are “keeping in step with the Spirit”!