5/31/26 | 10am | God in Three Persons

Devotional

Day 1: The "We God" Who Creates Community

The Trinity reveals God as inherently relational—a divine community of Father, Son, and Spirit. From creation’s first breath, God existed not as a solitary figure but as a collaborative force: “Let us make humankind in our image.” This “we God” models perfect fellowship, inviting humanity to reflect divine unity through interconnected lives. Just as the Trinity commingles in creative love, we are called to build communities where diversity flourishes within shared purpose. To bear God’s image is to reject isolation and embrace sacred collaboration. [29:21]

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you see the “we God” reflected in your relationships? How might you nurture community that mirrors this Trinitarian unity?

Day 2: Drenched in the Mystery of Three-in-One

The Trinity resists tidy explanations, inviting wonder over certainty. Like baptismal waters, this mystery drenches faith with paradox: one God in three persons, fully human and fully divine, beyond time yet intimately present. Attempts to dissect the Trinity risk reducing God to a formula, but embracing the mystery opens us to awe. Faith grows not by solving divine math but by swimming in the “crazy beautiful promise” of a God who cannot be contained. [30:40]

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV)

Reflection: What holy mysteries unsettle your need for control? How might releasing the demand for answers deepen your trust?

Day 3: Embodying the Swirling Dance of Love

The Trinity’s eternal dance of love—Creator, Christ, Spirit—invites us to move beyond theory into embodied witness. We mirror this divine rhythm not through perfect doctrine but through acts of justice, shared meals, and radical welcome. As the body of Christ, we become living parables of Triune love: feeding the hungry, comforting the broken, and crossing boundaries to include the excluded. Our calling is not to explain the dance but to join it. [27:50]

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7–8, ESV)

Reflection: Where is God inviting you to “step into the dance” through concrete acts of love? How does your community reflect—or resist—this Trinitarian love?

Day 4: The Spirit Who Hovers and Ignites

From creation’s chaotic waters to Pentecost’s fiery tongues, the Spirit moves as divine disruptor and sustainer. This third person of the Trinity hovers over our uncertainty, ignites courage in our complacency, and whispers truth across language barriers. Like wind and flame, the Spirit refuses domestication, compelling us toward justice and unity. To follow the Spirit is to embrace holy unsettledness—trusting the same breath that formed the cosmos now forms us. [35:15]

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26, ESV)

Reflection: When have you sensed the Spirit “hovering” over your chaos? How might you yield to this unsettling yet life-giving presence today?

Day 5: One Body, Many Parts—Like Our Triune God

The Trinity’s unity-in-diversity mirrors the body of Christ: many members, one mission. Just as Father, Son, and Spirit share authority yet distinct roles, we honor our unique gifts while working toward common purpose. Our differences—race, gender, calling—become sacraments of God’s boundless creativity. To exclude any part is to fracture the divine image. Together, we manifest the “great big” God who cannot be reduced to a single face, voice, or tribe. [37:57]

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:12–13, ESV)

Reflection: What part of the “body” feels hardest for you to embrace? How might celebrating others’ gifts reveal more of God’s triune nature?

Sermon Summary

The Great Commission announces that Jesus bears all authority in heaven and on earth, and the command to baptize locates disciples inside the name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The apostolic benediction then frames life inside that name as grace, love, and fellowship. Trinity is not a slogan on the page but the living room of Christian existence.

The triune God saturates worship language, yet habit can dull wonder. A simple confession from a teen, it does not really occur to me, exposes how rarely attention turns to holy mystery. The call here is for sacred interruptions, a practiced awareness that the oneness of God is the pattern for every relationship, from family and friends to stranger and creation.

Mystery matters because love is a mystery, and the one who is love is known in three persons. Trinity does not ask for perfect diagrams. Trinity trains a body to embody love. The commission to make disciples is not delivered through a magical metaphor that explains everything, but through lives that reflect social, relational, boundless love that creates, redeems, and sustains.

The early church’s ordinary rhythms describe how to carry this: devotion to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, shared meals, and prayer. Paul’s charge speaks the texture of it: be joyful, grow to maturity, encourage each other, live in harmony and peace. The assurance follows, the God of love and peace will be with you.

Nadia Bolz-Weber’s line lands: not a me God, but a we God. Let us make humankind in our image announces God as community from the beginning. Scripture, cross, gospel, font, and table reveal a triune God who meets a people in word and meal and welcomes them into the swirling dance of God’s love, drenching wet with promise.

Will Gaffney’s naming widens the canvas. Three names are not a fence. God is one and two, and three and seven, and many and ineffable. Warrior and mother, rock and fire, shepherd and light, abiding presence. Such speech refuses to shrink God and stretches imagination for worship and justice.

The Spirit carries this breadth into the church’s life, hovering over creation, descending at the Jordan, igniting Pentecost, inspiring prophets and apostles, feeding at the table, and calling all people to all ministries. Steve Eason’s reminder steadies courage. Disciples are immersed into the whole being of God and sent not as paupers of power but as participants in divine life. From first page to last breath, the triune God abides, and one body with many parts can rejoice in that truth.

Key Takeaways

1. The Trinity invites practiced attention. Holy mystery does not often occur on its own, so a disciple cultivates occasions for God to interrupt ordinary rhythms. Attention becomes a habit when prayer, scripture, and neighbor-love set the calendar. Mystery then stops being foggy abstraction and starts becoming a place to stand and see. [23:25]
2. Triune love makes a people. God is not a me God but a we God, which means communion is not a strategy but the shape of divine life. When the church shares word and meal, it does more than remember; it participates in God’s own fellowship. Community becomes the doctrine’s proof, not its footnote. [29:21]
3. Baptized belonging fuels global mission. Baptism into the Creator, Christ, and Spirit plants identity before activity. Mission then flows as witness to relational love, not as conquest or cleverness. Authority is received from Christ and expressed as presence, teaching, and patient formation. [19:49]
4. Mystery drenches ordinary means of grace. God meets the church not by making doctrine easy but by making grace tangible, in water, bread, and wine. The dance of Father, Son, and Spirit turns sacraments into open doors and turns unknowing into trust. Permission not to know becomes permission to be held. [30:40]
5. The Spirit equips courageous witness. The Spirit gathers all people into all ministries and trains the church to unmask idols, hear silenced voices, and labor for justice and peace. Courage rises when presence is nearer than breath and wider than fear. Witness then sounds like truth spoken in love and languages others can actually hear. [35:48]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[19:23] - Trinity Sunday and readings
[19:49] - Great Commission and Trinitarian Name
[20:23] - Benediction of grace, love, fellowship
[21:06] - Everyday Trinitarian habits
[23:25] - It does not occur to me
[24:34] - Why mystery matters
[25:31] - Oneness of God and relationships
[27:05] - Loved three ways from Sunday
[27:50] - Mission as embodied triune love
[28:22] - Devoted practices for presence
[29:21] - Not a me God, a we God
[30:40] - Drenched promise and the dance
[34:33] - Spirit creating and sending
[37:15] - One body under the triune God

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

2 Corinthians 13:11-13 (ESV)
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Observation Questions

In Matthew 28:19, baptism is linked to the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How does this connect to the idea of being "planted in identity before activity" mentioned in the sermon? [19:49]
The sermon describes the Trinity as a "we God" rather than a "me God." What examples from Genesis 1:26-27 support this idea of God as community?
According to 2 Corinthians 13:11, what four actions does Paul emphasize for the church? How do these mirror the "ordinary rhythms" of devotion described in the sermon? [28:22]

Interpretation Questions

Why might the Trinity be described as the "living room of Christian existence" rather than a doctrinal puzzle? How does this shape our understanding of worship and relationships?
The sermon states, "Mission flows as witness to relational love, not conquest." How does Jesus’ authority in Matthew 28:18 redefine power in the context of discipleship? [19:49]
Paul’s benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:13 ties grace, love, and fellowship to the Trinity. How might these three gifts reflect the distinct roles of Father, Son, and Spirit in daily life?

Application Questions

The sermon suggests cultivating "sacred interruptions" to notice God’s presence. What is one daily habit (e.g., prayer, scripture, pausing to reflect) you could practice to create space for holy mystery this week? [23:25]
If God’s triune nature means community is "the shape of divine life," how could your small group better reflect this in the way you listen, share, or serve together?
Baptism is described as being "drenched with promise." How might remembering your baptism (or commitment to Christ) reshape how you approach challenges or conflicts? [30:40]
The Spirit is said to "equip courageous witness" by unmasking idols and amplifying silenced voices. Where do you sense the Spirit calling you to speak or act for justice in your relationships or community? [35:48]
The sermon asks, "How does the oneness of God affect how you encounter others?" What practical step could you take to see a difficult relationship or a stranger through the lens of God’s unifying love? [25:31]

Sermon Clips

And just how are we supposed to accomplish that when there are still so many questions and there's still so much cause for confusion? Well, maybe we stop trying to make sense and just devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship and to the sharing of meals and to prayer and be available to God revealing God's self in all ways, always. And in our pursuit, remember to be joyful and to grow to maturity and to encourage each other and to live in harmony and peace. Resting in the assurance that the God of love and peace will be with you. [00:28:06] (67 seconds)

How does it inform the way we love? How does it inform the way we understand love? I mean love itself is a pretty grand mystery. I wonder how much more we would understand it or have the capacity to love well, how much better we'd be able to love ourselves, and how much more we'd understand ourselves if we took time to meditate on the one who is love, who is love in three persons. I want to know that more. I want us to know that more. Shoot. I want everyone to know it more. I want us to experience it more, to think about it and to live with it and to live into it more. [00:26:05] (60 seconds)

When questions like that arise I think back to a cornerstone moment in my ministry, and I may have shared this with you. Don't stop me if you've heard it. Just let me tell it again. We were having a conversation in youth group about prayer and how often we pay attention to God in the regular rhythms of our lives, our days. And one of the brave teens slowly raised his hand and sheepishly said, not really at all. And I asked him what kept him from this practice, and his response was, it doesn't really occur to me. And that stuck with me. It doesn't really occur to me. [00:22:55] (46 seconds)

How often does the oneness of God occur to you within the structure of your divine relationship or or any relationship for that matter. Your relationship with your loved ones, with your friends, with the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the sick, the imprisoned. With nature, with the things that influence you or over which you have influence? And how does the oneness of God affect how you live, the sense of how you encounter life in this world, how you interact with God in the world individually and maybe more importantly in community? [00:25:17] (48 seconds)

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5/31/26 | 10am | God in Three Persons | Pastor Sam Perkins