BELIE VEL I V I N G T H E S T O R Y O F T H E B I B L E

T O B E C O M E L I K E J E S U S

G E N E R A L E D I T O R

R A N D Y F R A Z E E

S E L E C T I O N S F R O M T H E N E w I N T E R N A T I O N A L V E R S I O N

BELIEVEL I V I N G T H E S T O R Y O F T H E B I B L E

T O B E C O M E L I K E J E S U S

ZONDERVAN Believe: Student Edition Copyright © 2014 by Zondervan

Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Drive, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49546

ISBN: 978-0-310-74561-7

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Table of Contents

Preface | 7

Think

What Do I Believe?

Chapter 1. God | 13 Chapter 2. Personal God | 26 Chapter 3. Salvation | 42 Chapter 4. The Bible | 58 Chapter 5. Identity in Christ | 72 Chapter 6. Church | 89 Chapter 7. Humanity | 108 Chapter 8. Compassion | 124 Chapter 9. Stewardship | 140 Chapter 10. Eternity | 156

Discussion Questions | 170Chart of References | 175

The final Believe: Student Edition will contain 30 chapters. For your review, the Table of Contents for the remaining chapters is on the next page.

Comi ng soon

AcT

What Should I Do?

Chapter 11. Worship | 173 Chapter 12. Prayer | 188 Chapter 13. Bible Study | 205 Chapter 14. Single-Mindedness | 220 Chapter 15. Total Surrender | 234 Chapter 16. Biblical Community | 250 Chapter 17. Spiritual Gifts | 268 Chapter 18. Offering My Time | 282 Chapter 19. Giving My Resources | 295 Chapter 20. Sharing My Faith | 310

Be

Who Am I Becoming?

Chapter 21. Love | 327 Chapter 22. Joy | 338 Chapter 23. Peace | 355 Chapter 24. Self-Control | 373 Chapter 25. Hope | 387 Chapter 26. Patience | 406 Chapter 27. Kindness/Goodness | 421 Chapter 28. Faithfulness | 436 Chapter 29. Gentleness | 452 Chapter 30. Humility | 465

Epilogue | 483Discussion Questions | 484Chart of References | 499

7

Preface

From 1933 to 1945, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, nazi germany engaged in a horrific act of genocide against the Jews of Europe. They sought to completely exterminate the Jewish people from the face of the earth. By 1945, when Hitler’s regime was finally defeated, 6 million of the estimated 9 million Jews had been killed. Historians suggest that only a small percentage of the population participated in this holocaust, another small percent-age tried to do something to stop it and the majority did nothing.

Among the few who tried to stop this catastrophe were a group of Christian students from the netherlands. They formed a “resis-tance army” and partnered with Corrie ten Boom (who later au-thored The Hiding Place) and others to hide Jews from the Third Reich. From 1940 to 1945 they were responsible for saving the lives of 800 Jews. many members of this student-led movement lost their lives in an effort to save others.

A rabbi who hid in the home of ms. ten Boom asked young Hans Poley, a member of the teenage army, what persuaded him to get involved even though he knew he could lose his life for do-ing so. He responded, “i want to follow my master who died for total strangers and even for those who hated him. He stood in the gap to take the violence upon himself.” The rabbi then said, “Your religion really does mean so much to you doesn’t it?” Hans spoke with conviction, “Actually, the Christian truth isn’t a religion but a revolution against the kingdom of darkness.”

What inspired and compelled these young men and women to engage in such an act of sacrifice?

in a nutshell — they BELiEVED.

They simply, by faith, believed the powerful truths taught in the scriptures with their whole hearts. it changed them from the inside out. Their loving and courageous actions toward the Jewish people were merely outpourings of what was flowing from the inside.

This is not the first time teenagers were used by god to up-hold justice, extend mercy and offer grace as willing participants.

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Throughout the pages of scriptures we are introduced to the lives of young men and women who simply said yes to god. They re-sisted evil, but they did not resist god.

• Joseph—At theyoungageof14, Josephreceivedadreamfrom god on an important role he would play in the unfold-ing of god’s grand plan. Placing Joseph second in command in all of Egypt, god used him to save israel from a famine.

• David—Attheageof16,Davidwasanointedtobethenextking of israel. He ruled over israel as a man after god’s own heart until his death.

• Josiah—Attheageof8,JosiahwasinauguratedaskingofJudah during a very dark time in israel’s history. Under his 31-year reign he led the people through a godly reformation.

• Daniel—As teenagers,Daniel and three friendswere de-ported to Babylon to serve as leaders in the ever-expanding nation of Babylon. Against all odds Daniel and his friends stood for god in a pagan land without compromise.

•Mary—AsateenagerGodchoseMarytocarryJesusinherwomb and raise him for his mission ahead.

• Timothy—TheApostlePaullaidhishandsonandprayedover a gifted young man named Timothy to join him in pas-toring major church initiatives in the first century.

What are the core truths these followers believed that so radi-cally changed their lives for the good? This is the content of the book you now hold in your hand.

The first ten chapters of Believe explain the core beliefs of the Christian life. Together they answer the question, “What do i believe?”

The second ten chapters discuss the core practices of the Chris-tian life. Together they answer the question, “What should i do?”

The final ten chapters contain the core virtues of the Christian life. Together they answer the question, “Who am i becoming?”

Believe includes the actual, god-breathed words of the Bible. This is not one person or one denomination’s words on these im-

Preface | 9

portant, life-altering topics. Believe contains portions of scripture that were thoughtfully and carefully excerpted from the Bible because they spoke directly to the core belief, practice or virtue. As you read you will be “bathed” in what the scriptures say about each of these key ideas. Transitions between scripture text, which appear in italic, were written to give you an introduction and con-text to what you are about to read. The chart at the back of this book will let you know what portions of scripture were included.

The scripture text used in Believe is taken from the new inter-national Version (niV). other helpful material placed at the end of Believe include an epilogue that gives you an idea of the global impact this story has had on the world and a discussion guide with questions for you to reflect on personally or with a group. Believe is a full Bible-engagement campaign with resources for an entire church, school or group of any kind to experience together. Check out www.thestory/believe for more information.

As you turn the page to begin, remember that believe is an ac-tion word. god is personally watching over you as you embark on this journey. He doesn’t want you to just believe these truths in your head; he wants you to believe with your whole heart in his Word as the operating system for your life. He wants to transform your life for the good now and forever. He wants you to join his revolution to stand and promote what is good and right. He wants to put the “extra” in your “ordinary” so you can live an “extraor-dinary” life in Christ. What he did so radically in the lives of stu-dents in the past he wants to do again today through you if you too BELiEVE.

it is my prayer for you that you will recognize in your heart that god knows you by name and loves you deeply — he always has and always will. may he give you the faith to believe with your whole heart so that your entire life (words, thoughts, actions and relationships) is powerfully affected. As you finish reading the last page of this book, may you shout to the world — i believe!

— Randy Frazee General Editor

Think

What Do I Believe?For where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also. — Matthew 6:21

What we believe in our hearts defines who we become. God wants you to become like Jesus. This is who God created you

to be. It is the most truthful and powerful way to live. And the jour-ney to becoming like Jesus begins by thinking like Jesus.

The following ten chapters are about the key beliefs of the Chris-tian life. These beliefs were not only taught by Jesus but also mod-eled by him when he walked this earth. Because we live from the heart, embracing these core truths in both our minds and our hearts is the first step to truly becoming like Jesus.

Each of the following chapters contains Scripture passages which focus on a particular belief. You are about to discover what God wants you to know and believe about these important topics. Begin each chapter with a passion to learn and understand. Then prayerfully ask, “what do I believe?”

Fully adopting these biblical truths in your heart may not come at the end of reading each chapter. If you are honest, it may take a while, and that’s okay. The Christian life is a journey. There are no shortcuts. As each of the key concepts takes up residence in your heart, they will, with the amazing help of God’s presence in your life, change your life in a most positive way.

when you start thinking like Jesus, you are well on your way to becoming like Jesus.

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Think

CHAPTER

1

God

Key idea

I believe the God of the Bible is the only true God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Key verSe

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship

of the Holy Spirit be with you all. — 2 Corinthians 13:14

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The Bible doesn’t argue for the existence of God, it simply assumes it. Everything around us points to him — whether it is the complexity of the human eye or the beauty of an ocean sunset. All things, small and large, are meant to tell us something about our Creator.

God Reveals Himselfin the be gin ning god cre at ed the heav ens and the earth.

The heavens declare the glory of god;the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,their words to the ends of the world.

in the heavens god has pitched a tent for the sun.

For since the cre a tion of the world god’s in vis i ble qual i ties — his eter nal pow er and di vine na ture — have been clear ly seen, be ing un der stood from what has been made, so that peo ple are with out ex cuse.

The One True GodClearly, the Bible shows us that there is only one true God. But who is he? What is he like? Those are questions that were power-fully answered when Moses led God’s people (the Israelites) out of slavery in Egypt. Through a series of “supernatural” disasters (a.k.a. the Ten Plagues), God showed the Egyptians, the Israelites and the rest of the world that he is real and powerful. But before God’s people could enter the promised land, Moses gave them a farewell speech about how they should live there. He reminds them that they must always trust and obey the one true God and teach their children to do the same.

These are the com mands, de crees and laws the Lord your god di rect ed me to teach you to ob serve in the land that you are cross-

Chapter 1: God | 15

ing the Jor dan to pos sess, so that you, your chil dren and their chil-dren af ter them may fear the Lord your god as long as you live by keep ing all his de crees and com mands that i give you, and so that you may en joy long life. Hear, is ra el, and be care ful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may in crease great ly in a land flow ing with milk and hon ey, just as the Lord, the god of your an ces tors, prom ised you.

Hear, o is ra el: The Lord our god, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These com mand ments that i give you to day are to be on your hearts. im press them on your chil dren. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as sym bols on your hands and bind them on your fore heads. Write them on the door frames of your hous es and on your gates.

After Moses died, Joshua became the next great leader of the Israelites, the people of God. Joshua was charged with lead-ing the people into the promised land. God was with them and fought for them as they began conquering the land. Under Josh-ua’s leadership, the Israelites remained faithful and steady in their pursuit of God. Before Joshua died, he gathered the people together and gave them a challenge to once again choose for themselves to serve the Lord, the one true God.

Then Josh ua as sem bled all the tribes of is ra el at she chem. He sum moned the el ders, lead ers, judg es and of fi cials of is ra el, and they pre sent ed them selves be fore god.

Josh ua said to all the peo ple, “This is what the Lord, the god of is ra el, says: ‘Long ago your an ces tors, in clud ing Te rah the fa ther of Abra ham and na hor, lived be yond the Eu phra tes Riv er and wor-shiped oth er gods. But i took your fa ther Abra ham from the land be yond the Eu phra tes and led him through out Ca naan and gave him many de scen dants. i gave him isaac, and to isaac i gave Ja cob and Esau. i as signed the hill coun try of seir to Esau, but Ja cob and his fam i ly went down to Egypt.

“ ‘Then i sent mo ses and Aar on, and i af flict ed the Egyp tians by what i did there, and i brought you out. When i brought your peo-ple out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyp tians pur sued

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them with char i ots and horse men as far as the Red sea. But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put dark ness be tween you and the Egyp tians; he brought the sea over them and cov ered them. You saw with your own eyes what i did to the Egyp tians. Then you lived in the wil der ness for a long time.

“ ‘i brought you to the land of the Am o rites who lived east of the Jor dan. They fought against you, but i gave them into your hands. i de stroyed them from be fore you, and you took pos ses sion of their land. When Ba lak son of Zip por, the king of moab, pre pared to fight against is ra el, he sent for Ba laam son of Beor to put a curse on you. But i would not lis ten to Ba laam, so he blessed you again and again, and i de liv ered you out of his hand.

“ ‘Then you crossed the Jor dan and came to Jer i cho. The cit i zens of Jer i cho fought against you, as did also the Am o rites, Per iz zites, Ca naan ites, Hit tites, gir ga shites, Hi vites and Jeb u sites, but i gave them into your hands. i sent the hor net ahead of you, which drove them out be fore you — also the two Am o rite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. so i gave you a land on which you did not toil and cit ies you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vine yards and ol ive groves that you did not plant.’

“now fear the Lord and serve him with all faith ful ness. Throw away the gods your an ces tors wor shiped be yond the Eu phra tes Riv-er and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serv ing the Lord seems un de sir able to you, then choose for your selves this day whom you will serve, wheth er the gods your an ces tors served be yond the Eu-phra tes, or the gods of the Am o rites, in whose land you are liv ing. But as for me and my house hold, we will serve the Lord.”

Then the peo ple an swered, “Far be it from us to for sake the Lord to serve oth er gods! it was the Lord our god him self who brought us and our par ents up out of Egypt, from that land of slav-ery, and per formed those great signs be fore our eyes. He pro tect ed us on our en tire jour ney and among all the na tions through which we trav eled. And the Lord drove out be fore us all the na tions, in-clud ing the Am o rites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, be cause he is our god.”

Josh ua said to the peo ple, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy god; he is a jeal ous god. He will not for give your re bel lion and your sins. if you for sake the Lord and serve for eign

Chapter 1: God | 17

gods, he will turn and bring di sas ter on you and make an end of you, af ter he has been good to you.”

But the peo ple said to Josh ua, “no! We will serve the Lord.”Then Josh ua said, “You are wit ness es against your selves that

you have cho sen to serve the Lord.”“Yes, we are wit ness es,” they re plied.“now then,” said Josh ua, “throw away the for eign gods that are

among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the god of is ra el.”And the peo ple said to Josh ua, “We will serve the Lord our

god and obey him.”on that day Josh ua made a cov enant for the peo ple, and there

at she chem he re af firmed for them de crees and laws. And Josh ua re cord ed these things in the Book of the Law of god. Then he took a large stone and set it up there un der the oak near the holy place of the Lord.

“see!” he said to all the peo ple. “This stone will be a wit ness against us. it has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. it will be a wit ness against you if you are un true to your god.”

Then Josh ua dis missed the peo ple, each to their own in her i-tance.

Af ter these things, Josh ua son of nun, the ser vant of the Lord, died at the age of a hun dred and ten. And they bur ied him in the land of his in her i tance, at Tim nath se rah in the hill coun try of Ephra im, north of mount ga ash.

is ra el served the Lord through out the life time of Josh ua and of the el ders who out lived him and who had ex pe ri enced ev ery thing the Lord had done for is ra el.

The Israelites failed to keep their promise to follow the one true God only. Because of the people’s repeated disobedience, God weakened Israel’s power; 445 years after Joshua died, he divided them into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Israel did not have one good king during its 200+ years of existence. King Ahab of Israel was par-ticularly wicked, as he encouraged the worship of the false pagan god, Baal. But the Lord demonstrated through the prophet Elijah that he alone, not Baal or any other “god,” is the one true and powerful God.

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Ahab went to meet Eli jah. When he saw Eli jah, he said to him, “is that you, you trou bler of is ra el?”

“i have not made trou ble for is ra el,” Eli jah re plied. “But you and your fa ther’s fam i ly have. You have aban doned the Lord’s com-mands and have fol lowed the Ba als. now sum mon the peo ple from all over is ra el to meet me on mount Car mel. And bring the four hun dred and fif ty proph ets of Baal and the four hun dred proph ets of Ashe rah, who eat at Jez e bel’s ta ble.”

so Ahab sent word through out all is ra el and as sem bled the proph ets on mount Car mel. Eli jah went be fore the peo ple and said, “How long will you wa ver be tween two opin ions? if the Lord is god, fol low him; but if Baal is god, fol low him.”

But the peo ple said noth ing.Then Eli jah said to them, “i am the only one of the Lord’s

proph ets left, but Baal has four hun dred and fif ty proph ets. get two bulls for us. Let Ba al’s proph ets choose one for them selves, and let them cut it into piec es and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. i will pre pare the oth er bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and i will call on the name of the Lord. The god who an swers by fire — he is god.”

Then all the peo ple said, “What you say is good.”Eli jah said to the proph ets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and

pre pare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” so they took the bull giv en them and pre pared it.

Then they called on the name of Baal from morn ing till noon. “Baal, an swer us!” they shout ed. But there was no re sponse; no one an swered. And they danced around the al tar they had made.

At noon Eli jah be gan to taunt them. “shout loud er!” he said. “sure ly he is a god! Per haps he is deep in thought, or busy, or trav-el ing. may be he is sleep ing and must be awak ened.” so they shout-ed loud er and slashed them selves with swords and spears, as was their cus tom, un til their blood flowed. mid day passed, and they con tin ued their fran tic proph e sy ing un til the time for the eve ning sac ri fice. But there was no re sponse, no one an swered, no one paid at ten tion.

Then Eli jah said to all the peo ple, “Come here to me.” They

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came to him, and he re paired the al tar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Eli jah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes de scend ed from Ja cob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, say ing, “Your name shall be is ra el.” With the stones he built an al tar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two se ahs of seed. He ar ranged the wood, cut the bull into piec es and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with wa ter and pour it on the of fer ing and on the wood.”

“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.“Do it a third time,” he or dered, and they did it the third time.

The wa ter ran down around the al tar and even filled the trench.At the time of sac ri fice, the proph et Eli jah stepped for ward

and prayed: “Lord, the god of Abra ham, isaac and is ra el, let it be known to day that you are god in is ra el and that i am your ser-vant and have done all these things at your com mand. An swer me, Lord, an swer me, so these peo ple will know that you, Lord, are god, and that you are turn ing their hearts back again.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sac ri fice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the wa ter in the trench.

When all the peo ple saw this, they fell pros trate and cried, “The Lord — he is god! The Lord — he is god!”

Then Eli jah com mand ed them, “seize the proph ets of Baal. Don’t let any one get away!” They seized them, and Eli jah had them brought down to the Ki shon Val ley and slaugh tered there.

God in Three Persons: The Father, Son and Holy SpiritEven though there is one true God, the Bible presents him as a relational being consisting of three persons (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). The word commonly used to describe this mystery is “Trinity.” Although this word cannot be found in the Bible, the concept is there from beginning to end. God has three natures but one essence; God is three persons but one being. That’s the Trinity. In other words, God is himself a mini community. When he made the first human (Adam), God quickly wanted him to experience the community and relationship that has eternally existed within the Trinity. That’s why he made Eve.

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This is the ac count of the heav ens and the earth when they were cre at ed, when the Lord god made the earth and the heav ens.

now no shrub had yet ap peared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord god had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and wa tered the whole sur face of the ground. Then the Lord god formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nos trils the breath of life, and the man be came a liv ing be ing.

now the Lord god had plant ed a gar den in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord god made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleas ing to the eye and good for food. in the mid dle of the gar den were the tree of life and the tree of the knowl edge of good and evil.

The Lord god took the man and put him in the gar den of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord god com mand-ed the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the gar den; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowl edge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will cer tain ly die.”

The Lord god said, “it is not good for the man to be alone. i will make a help er suit able for him.”

now the Lord god had formed out of the ground all the wild an i mals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and what ev er the man called each liv ing crea ture, that was its name. so the man gave names to all the live stock, the birds in the sky and all the wild an i mals.

But for Adam no suit able help er was found. so the Lord god caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleep ing, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord god made a wom an from the rib he had tak en out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’for she was taken out of man.”

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That is why a man leaves his fa ther and moth er and is unit ed to his wife, and they be come one flesh.

So, what else do we know about these three persons of the one true God? How can God be three and yet one? How do they interact? One of the disciples, the apostle John, explains it this way:

in the be gin ning was the Word, and the Word was with god, and the Word was god. He was with god in the be gin ning. Through him all things were made; with out him noth ing was made that has been made. in him was life, and that life was the light of all man kind. The light shines in the dark ness, and the dark ness has not over come it.

“The Word” is just another name for Jesus, because he is God’s way of communicating with us. Not only are we told that Jesus, the Word, was “with God” in the beginning, but in fact he is him-self God. In other words, God the Son and God the Father part-nered together to create the world.

Who then is the third person of the Trinity? In Genesis, we learn that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen-esis 1:2). The Holy Spirit, who is also God, was there from the beginning and actively participating in the creation of the world. So we can see that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were all working together from the start. We can see this three-in-one God at work again when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist.

in the fif teenth year of the reign of Ti be ri us Cae sar — when Pon tius Pi late was gov er nor of Ju dea, Her od te trarch of gal i lee, his broth er Phil ip te trarch of it u rea and Trac o ni tis, and Ly sa ni-as te trarch of Ab i le ne — dur ing the high-priest hood of An nas and Caia phas, the word of god came to John son of Zech a ri-ah in the wil der ness. He went into all the coun try around the Jor dan, preach ing a bap tism of re pen tance for the for give ness of sins. As it is writ ten in the book of the words of isa iah the proph et:

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“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.Every valley shall be filled in,

every mountain and hill made low.The crooked roads shall become straight,

the rough ways smooth.And all people will see god’s salvation.’ ”

The peo ple were wait ing ex pec tant ly and were all won der ing in their hearts if John might pos si bly be the mes si ah. John an swered them all, “i bap tize you with wa ter. But one who is more pow er ful than i will come, the straps of whose san dals i am not wor thy to un tie. He will bap tize you with the Holy spir it and fire. His win-now ing fork is in his hand to clear his thresh ing floor and to gath-er the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with un-quench able fire.” And with many oth er words John ex hort ed the peo ple and pro claimed the good news to them.

When all the peo ple were be ing bap tized, Jesus was bap tized too. And as he was pray ing, heav en was opened and the Holy spir it de-scend ed on him in bodi ly form like a dove. And a voice came from heav en: “You are my son, whom i love; with you i am well pleased.”

now Jesus him self was about thir ty years old when he be gan his min is try. He was the son, so it was thought, of Jo seph.

Just as all three persons of the Trinity were involved in the creation of the world, all three persons were also involved in the baptism of Jesus. The Father spoke about the Son, the Spirit descended on the Son and the Son was baptized. The Trinity is a diverse but unified team. As “finite” humans with “finite” minds, we cannot fully understand our “infinite” God. However, the more we can understand him, the better we can know him, love him and serve him in our daily lives.

The Trinity in Our LivesIn short, here’s how the triune God works: Because God the Father loves us so much, he sent God the Son to live and die

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for our sins. Now God the Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of all who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. That’s good news!

There are many people in the Bible who devoted their lives to telling others about the good news of Jesus (a.k.a. the gos-pel). The apostle Paul was one of those people. He traveled the ancient world telling all kinds of people about God. He once went to a place in Greece called Mars Hill to share this message of hope and grace.

While Paul was wait ing for [silas and Timothy] in Ath ens, he was great ly dis tressed to see that the city was full of idols. so he rea soned in the syn a gogue with both Jews and god-fear ing greeks, as well as in the mar ket place day by day with those who hap pened to be there. A group of Ep i cu re an and sto ic phi los-o phers be gan to de bate with him. some of them asked, “What is this bab bler try ing to say?” oth ers re marked, “He seems to be ad vo cat ing for eign gods.” They said this be cause Paul was preach ing the good news about Jesus and the res ur rec tion. Then they took him and brought him to a meet ing of the Ar e op a gus, where they said to him, “may we know what this new teach ing is that you are pre sent ing? You are bring ing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athe ni ans and the for eign ers who lived there spent their time do ing noth ing but talk ing about and lis ten ing to the lat est ideas.)

Paul then stood up in the meet ing of the Ar e op a gus and said: “Peo ple of Ath ens! i see that in ev ery way you are very re li gious. For as i walked around and looked care ful ly at your ob jects of wor ship, i even found an al tar with this in scrip tion: to an un-known god. so you are ig no rant of the very thing you wor ship — and this is what i am go ing to pro claim to you.

“The god who made the world and ev ery thing in it is the Lord of heav en and earth and does not live in tem ples built by hu man hands. And he is not served by hu man hands, as if he need ed any-thing. Rath er, he him self gives ev ery one life and breath and ev ery-thing else. From one man he made all the na tions, that they should in hab it the whole earth; and he marked out their ap point ed times

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in his to ry and the bound aries of their lands. god did this so that they would seek him and per haps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our be ing.’ As some of your own po ets have said, ‘We are his off spring.’

“There fore since we are god’s off spring, we should not think that the di vine be ing is like gold or sil ver or stone — an im age made by hu man de sign and skill. in the past god over looked such ig no rance, but now he com mands all peo ple ev ery where to re pent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with jus tice by the man he has ap point ed. He has giv en proof of this to ev ery one by rais ing him from the dead.”

When they heard about the res ur rec tion of the dead, some of them sneered, but oth ers said, “We want to hear you again on this sub ject.” At that, Paul left the Coun cil. some of the peo ple be-came fol low ers of Paul and be lieved. Among them was Di o ny si us, a mem ber of the Ar e op a gus, also a wom an named Dam a ris, and a num ber of oth ers.

The journey of faith begins with our belief in God. Like the early Christians, we too are called to make a decision about God . . . Do we believe in the one true God? Do we accept the Bible’s teach-ing that God exists in three persons?

Even though we are weak and not fully able to understand the mysteries of God, he can do great things through those who believe in him. When we trust God with our whole heart and wor-ship him with our whole life, God the Spirit begins to change us from the inside out. As we walk with God in our daily lives, he will teach us how to do the right thing, fix broken relationships and grow in wisdom.

This was likely true for many of the new Christians in the churches Paul helped to establish and strengthen around the ancient Mediterranean world. For example, the church at Corinth had its ups and downs. In the words below, Paul delivers his final challenge and encouragement to them in the letter we know as Second Corinthians. Pay special attention to the last sentence where all three members of the Godhead are at work to produce positive change in our lives.

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This will be my third vis it to you. “Ev ery mat ter must be es tab-lished by the tes ti mo ny of two or three wit ness es.” i al ready gave you a warn ing when i was with you the sec ond time. i now re peat it while ab sent: on my re turn i will not spare those who sinned ear li-er or any of the oth ers, since you are de mand ing proof that Christ is speak ing through me. He is not weak in deal ing with you, but is pow er ful among you. For to be sure, he was cru ci fied in weak ness, yet he lives by god’s pow er. Like wise, we are weak in him, yet by god’s pow er we will live with him in our deal ing with you.

Ex am ine your selves to see wheth er you are in the faith; test your selves. Do you not re al ize that Christ Jesus is in you — un less, of course, you fail the test? And i trust that you will dis cov er that we have not failed the test. now we pray to god that you will not do any thing wrong — not so that peo ple will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. For we can not do any thing against the truth, but only for the truth. We are glad when ev er we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be ful ly re stored. This is why i write these things when i am ab sent, that when i come i may not have to be harsh in my use of au thor i ty — the au thor i ty the Lord gave me for build ing you up, not for tear ing you down.

Fi nal ly, broth ers and sis ters, re joice! strive for full res to ra tion, en cour age one an oth er, be of one mind, live in peace. And the god of love and peace will be with you.

greet one an oth er with a holy kiss. All god’s peo ple here send their greet ings.

may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of god, and the fel low ship of the Holy spir it be with you all.