5/17/2026 (PREACHING) Who Is God: THE TRINITY

Devotional

Day 1: Three Persons, One Flame

Jesus stood among His disciples after rising from the dead, flesh and bone yet radiant with divine life. He showed them His scars, ate broiled fish, and opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. The Father sent Him, the Son obeyed, and the Spirit empowered – three distinct persons sharing one divine nature, like a single flame with three tongues of fire. [10:06]

The Trinity isn’t a puzzle to solve but a reality to worship. God revealed Himself as Father creating, Son redeeming, and Spirit sustaining – three persons united in purpose and essence. When Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on the disciples, He demonstrated the inseparable work of the Triune God.

Many reduce God to a force or a distant ruler. But the Triune God invites you into relationship – Father, Son, and Spirit actively involved in your daily life. When you pray today, which person of the Trinity do you struggle to trust most?

“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel whom I have called! I am he; I am the first, I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth... And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with his Spirit.”
(Isaiah 48:12-16, NIV)

Prayer: Ask the Father to reveal His triune nature afresh as you read Scripture today.
Challenge: Write down one verse from today’s passage that highlights each person of the Trinity.

Day 2: Greater in Role, Equal in Being

Jesus told His disciples, “The Father is greater than I” hours before His arrest. He knelt as a servant washing feet, yet commanded storms and forgave sins. The Son submitted to the Father’s will without ceasing to be God – like a general obeying a king while sharing the same royal blood. [46:37]

Hierarchy in the Trinity reflects order, not inequality. The Father sends, the Son obeys, and the Spirit follows – three persons equal in divinity yet distinct in role. Jesus’ submission proves His humanity while affirming His deity, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy of a pierced God.

You honor the Trinity most when you embrace both God’s majesty and His humility. Where do you resist submitting to God’s authority while still claiming to serve Him?

“You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”
(John 14:28, NIV)

Prayer: Confess areas where you’ve valued personal autonomy over Christlike surrender.
Challenge: Perform one act of intentional service today, mirroring Jesus’ submission to the Father.

Day 3: Emptying Without Diminishing

Christ Jesus, though equal with God, made Himself nothing. He traded heavenly glory for a stable, swapped angelic praise for mockery, and surrendered divine prerogatives to hunger, weep, and die. The fire of His divine being burned undimmed within His human limitations. [37:02]

The Son’s kenosis (emptying) wasn’t loss of deity but voluntary restraint. He relied on the Father’s power to heal and resurrect, modeling how humans access divine strength. His humanity proves God understands your struggles; His deity guarantees His victory over them.

You’re called to humble yourself without denying your God-given identity. What earthly “right” do you cling to that hinders your spiritual growth?

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.”
(Philippians 2:5-7, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for specific ways His humanity meets you in your current struggles.
Challenge: Fast from one legitimate privilege today to practice Christlike dependence.

Day 4: Breath, Not Battery

Peter confronted Ananias: “You lied to the Holy Spirit... you’ve lied to God.” The Spirit grieved over deceit, spoke through prophets, and directed missions – personal actions impossible for an impersonal force. Like breath giving life to a body, the Spirit animates believers without merging with them. [08:42]

The Holy Spirit isn’t God’s tool but God Himself – a divine person worthy of worship. He intercedes, teaches, and commissions, working inseparably from the Father and Son. To ignore the Spirit is to reject the Triune God’s active presence.

How often do you treat the Spirit as a resource rather than a person? When did you last address Him directly in prayer?

“Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit... You have not lied just to human beings but to God.’”
(Acts 5:3-4, NIV)

Prayer: Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you of any dishonesty in your spiritual life.
Challenge: Write a prayer today specifically addressing the Holy Spirit as “You.”

Day 5: Echoes of Threefold Light

Moses declared, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Yet the Hebrew word “echad” allows unity in plurality – like three wicks sharing one flame. Centuries before Nicaea, Isaiah described God sending God, Zechariah foresaw mourners piercing God, and David called a man “eternal God.” [25:51]

Scripture’s Trinitarian threads weave through every covenant. The Father’s voice at Jesus’ baptism and the Spirit’s descent weren’t new revelations but clarifications of God’s eternal nature. Heresies arise when we isolate verses rather than tracing the triune pattern.

Are you building your theology on proof texts or the full biblical narrative?

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
(Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV)

Prayer: Worship each person of the Trinity aloud using attributes from Deuteronomy 6:4.
Challenge: Share one Old Testament “Trinity hint” with a friend or family member today.

Sermon Summary

The doctrine of the Trinity defines God as one in being and three in person. The difference between being and person sits at the heart of the claim. Being answers what something is, person answers who someone is. A simple visual lands it. Human existence shows one human being with one personal subject, while the divine life is one undivided being of fire with three distinct personal subjects, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A tri personal God is not three gods. He is one God in three persons.

Church history does not invent this. Nicaea answers Arian disruption, it does not create Christian confession. Theophilus reaches for trias, Tertullian gives trinitas and a careful definition long before Constantine. The word Trinity functions like omniscience or original sin, a faithful shorthand for a thick biblical reality.

False alternatives compete for worship. Modalism collapses the three into one actor taking turns, but the baptism of Jesus shows all three at once. Gnosticism hollows out the incarnation and resurrection. Marcionism splits the one Lord into two characters. Arianism makes the Son a creature, and modern Unitarians deny Son and Spirit altogether. Discernment begins by asking, who is your God, because the church worships the triune Yahweh, Father, Son, and Spirit.

Scripture grounds the triune life in the one God of the Shema. Isaiah 48 speaks with the voice of the First and the Last who founded the heavens, then says, now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit. Psalm 45 speaks to the most excellent of men, then names him God whose throne endures, yet speaks of God anointing him. Paul reads the same line. God sends the Son, born of a woman, and God pours out the Spirit of the Son. God our Savior and Jesus our Savior collapse into the one Savior named by Isaiah.

The Son’s divinity is not coy. Jesus takes the divine name I AM, claims the right hand of Power from Psalm 110, and the Son of Man with the clouds from Daniel 7. The council calls it blasphemy because it understands his claim. Colossians says all the fullness of deity dwells bodily in him. Philippians says he emptied himself, not of deity, but of the exercise of divine glory, so his miracles flow by perfect dependence. Only the Son takes flesh, yet the three remain equally God.

The Spirit is not bare power. He speaks, wills, can be lied to, and is God. The Son’s submission never denies equality of being. The Father sends, the Son obeys and sends the Spirit, and the Spirit proceeds and acts. Order of persons, not inferiority of Godhead.

Key Takeaways

1. God is one being, three persons [10:37] The claim does not multiply gods, it clarifies how the one God lives. Being names what, person names who, so the Father, Son, and Spirit are three whos sharing the one divine what. The biblical God is tri personal, not a lonely monad and not a committee of deities. Worship rests on this definition, not on household analogies that collapse under pressure. [10:37]
2. Scripture says God sends God [25:51] Isaiah 48 lets the First and the Last say, the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit, which means the Sender, the Sent One, and the Spirit stand together as the one Lord. Paul echoes it when God sends the Son and pours out the Spirit of the Son into hearts. The unity of being and the distinction of persons show up in the verbs of sending and anointing. Triune action unveils triune life. [25:51]
3. Jesus owns Yahweh’s name and throne [34:36] Before the council, Jesus says I am, promises the right hand of Power, and claims the Son of Man who comes with the clouds. He takes the divine name, the divine seat, and the universal worship Daniel reserves for God. The charge of blasphemy proves his audience heard him clearly. The crucified and risen Son is truly God and truly man. [34:36]
4. The Son submits without inferiority [46:37] Philippians shows voluntary self emptying, not a drop in deity. The Father is greater than the Son in role, not in being, since the Father sends and the Son obeys, while remaining one God. Only as truly God and truly man can he obey unto death and make a sacrifice of infinite worth. Order in the Trinity safeguards both salvation and worship. [46:37]
5. The Holy Spirit is fully personal [42:22] Acts 5 equates lying to the Spirit with lying to God, which is impossible if the Spirit is merely force. Scripture attributes will, speech, grief, teaching, and guidance to the Spirit, hallmarks of personhood. The church knows his presence not as electricity but as fellowship with God. To honor the Spirit is to honor God. [42:22]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:42] - A young soldier’s questions
[05:27] - God is three in one
[06:13] - Being vs person explained
[09:12] - One divine fire, three persons
[11:00] - Nicaea did not invent the Trinity
[14:39] - Tertullian and trinitas
[16:02] - Why “Trinity” as shorthand
[18:24] - Spotting six common heresies
[24:42] - One God, then triune hints
[25:51] - Isaiah 48:16 in full
[34:36] - Jesus says I AM before the council
[36:32] - Fully God, fully man
[39:55] - The Spirit is personal God
[42:56] - Why the Son submits

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Isaiah 48:12-16 (ESV)
“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens... And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.”

Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV)
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant...”

Acts 5:3-4 (ESV)
“But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit...? You have not lied to man but to God.’”

Observation Questions

In Isaiah 48:16, the speaker says, “The Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.” Who is the “me” being sent, and how does this reveal three distinct persons acting as one God?
How does Jesus’ claim to be the “I AM” in Mark 14:62-64 provoke the charge of blasphemy, and what does this reveal about His identity? [35:14]
What specific actions or attributes of the Holy Spirit in Acts 5:3-4 demonstrate His personhood rather than being an impersonal force?

Interpretation Questions

Why is the distinction between being (what God is) and person (who God is) critical for understanding the Trinity? How does confusing these terms lead to heresies like modalism or Arianism?
Jesus says the Father is “greater” than Him (John 14:28) yet remains fully God. How does His voluntary submission in Philippians 2:5-8 clarify the relationship between equality of being and distinction of roles? [46:37]
If lying to the Holy Spirit is equivalent to lying to God (Acts 5:3-4), what does this imply about the Spirit’s divine nature and His relationship to the Father and Son?

Application Questions

How might an incomplete view of God’s triune nature (e.g., treating the Spirit as a “force” or downplaying Jesus’ divinity) affect daily prayer, worship, or reliance on God? What practical steps could deepen your understanding?
The sermon warns against false teachings that deny the Trinity. How can you lovingly yet clearly respond if someone claims, “Jesus isn’t God” or “The Spirit isn’t a person”? [23:05]
Jesus’ submission to the Father was an act of love, not inferiority. In your relationships, work, or church life, where can you model this kind of humble, purposeful obedience?
The Holy Spirit is described as having a will, teaching, and grieving. How might you grow in sensitivity to His personal presence this week—not as a vague power but as God Himself? [42:22]
The Trinity shows God is relational by nature. How could this truth reshape the way you pursue community, forgiveness, or unity in your small group or family?

Sermon Clips

``Instead of telling people what God is like giving examples, we need to say who God is. We need to give them a definition for the Trinity. So that's the first thing. We're gonna provide a definition, and then we're gonna use scripture and examples to solidify that definition. So what is the definition that Christians have been using for about the better part of eighteen hundred years now? It is this. When we say God is three in one, we mean God is three persons in one being. [00:05:00] (37 seconds)

There are three reasons that the son submits to the father. The first, like we saw in second or in Philippians two five through eight, Jesus is truly man and truly God. And while he was here on earth, he was a perfect human. He didn't rely on divine ability. So what this means is that we can look to Jesus as our perfect example of how to be children and citizens of God's kingdom. When Jesus loves, when Jesus forgives, when Jesus suffers, when he sets healthy boundaries and stands firmly before heretical claims. He does it perfectly, and we can look to him as our example. [00:43:36] (40 seconds)

Peter says, you have lied to Holy Spirit and in doing so, you have not lied to man. You have lied to God. Lying to Holy Spirit is lying to God because Holy Spirit is God. Now we have answered all of the claims except for one. And my hope and my prayer for what I am presenting before you today, like I said earlier, is that you receive this information. You go out and you begin to spread the gospel of Jesus to everybody, who God is, the triune being, and you do so knowing that we have an abundance. This is just the tip of the iceberg. [00:42:22] (35 seconds)

That naturally invites the question, what is the difference between person and being? Because for the longest time, I thought those were the same thing. Being is what something is, and person is who someone is. And to help us understand this a little bit better, I am a pretty visual learner and we're gonna look at a couple of visuals and we're gonna do a comparison. I find that when I'm trying to learn something that I'm not familiar with, it helps if I have something that I am familiar with to kind of compare so this new thing makes more sense. [00:05:37] (36 seconds)

Ask a question about this sermon

Chatbot

What distinguishes person from being in God?

What early church writings support Trinitarian doctrine?

How is Jesus simultaneously fully God and man?

5/17/2026 (PREACHING) Who Is God: THE TRINITY | With Quentin Herrera