A Trinity of Truths

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Cor. 13:14).

When Jeff received the call of God for Chronos Ministries, he was told to teach God's people about Christ's return, and to do so with a message of comfort, hope, and victory. We have comfort because we have communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, our Comforter. We have hope because we know the depth and width and height of Father God's love for us. We have victory through the finished work of Jesus, by grace alone, and not our works.

What a beautiful position we have in Christ. Yet our Father "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2;4). Think about that for a moment. What does the world need to hear? The love of the Father. The victory and authority available in Christ. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit. How do they experience this trinity of truths? By being "in Christ." Is this what they are hearing from the Church? Is this what they are seeing in believers?

This is not meant to send us on a guilt trip. I suspect that most of us, in our hearts, want to share our faith more. But we're unsure of how to do it. Or we feel inadequate when it comes to the questions people ask or the arguments they present. We may even feel intimidated by the cancel culture running rampant in these times.

Don't be discouraged. Peter and John, along with the rest of the disciples, probably had these same concerns. Acts 4:23-31 tells us how they reacted to the intense persecution of their day, when they were told to stop talking about Jesus as the resurrected Lord and Savior.

"Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge." [Acknowledging the authorities with respect in accordance with Romans 13.] "For we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard." [For we are not ashamed of the Gospel concerning Christ's finished work in accordance with Romans 1:16.]

Then Peter and John returned to their companions, and they all praised God in one accord. They recognized from Psalm 2 that this was the time when the nations would rage and the people would plot a vain thing. They knew the kings and rulers of the earth would set themselves against the Lord and His Anointed Christ to break God's bonds in pieces. In their rebellious pride the rulers would cast away the cords of the Creator. "God is dead," they would declare.

Understanding the times in this way, they had comfort, hope, and victory. Hear their declaration: "Look on their threats and to Your servants that with all boldness we may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."

See the result: "And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness."

We need to be so assured of our Father's love, so confident in the authority we have in Christ, and so filled and solely empowered by the Holy Spirit, that we can go forth in boldness. Not to condemn the world, but to speak the truth of God's grace through the blood of Jesus. When we do so, God will confirm the preaching of His Word with signs and wonders following.