February 15, 2012

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer:

That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

~ Heidelberg Catechism, Question 1

February 1, 2012

Proclaiming the Triune God

The following is a little tract I'm working on as part of a series of very brief evangelistic messages that I've been producing. During the long period of time I have spent not blogging, I have not stopped writing. Much of my writing has been in the form of making little tracts or doing personal Bible study. Here is one of my newest tracts titled:

WHAT IS THE TRINITY?

GOD has not hidden Himself from people so that they cannot know Him, but has revealed Himself in history and in the Holy Scriptures. In the Bible, God speaks of Himself as three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We read God saying, “Let us make man in our image,” in Genesis chapter one. We also read the Shema, a Hebrew confession of faith, which says, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This confession tells us that God is one. Yet God speaks of Himself as “us,” and also reveals Himself as Father, Word, and Spirit. In John 1:1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word refers to Jesus, the Son. In verse 14 it says, “And the Word became flesh.” That is, the Word, who is called God, became a real, physical man. Jesus is both fully God and fully human. Jesus also spoke of another Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit. At His baptism, the Father spoke of His beloved Son and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. Jesus also sent His disciples into the world to teach and baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). God is three, yet one, which is why we use the term Trinity. While we may not understand everything about God, we can and must understand what He has clearly revealed about Himself. God has told us what He is like in the Bible, and the Bible shows that He is three distinct Persons in unity and harmony as one God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. See the New Testament for more.