Author: Nelson Hawkins, Jr.

Hey everybody! Welcome to 2020!

Having finished that identity unit, I felt it was best to understand where our identity goes. And actually, that would be with God. But before we get into that, I want to go into the story that led me to make this entry.

Have you noticed in the culture that when people refer to big spiritual breakthroughs, they often give credit to the universe?   Yep, that universe. The balls of gas, celestial collisions, dark matter, supermassive black holes, and cold reaches of nothingness.  When did this become sentient? Why did this become the new standard over the God of the Bible? Why do others reach to ancestral worship? Why do others reach to making parallels between God and other faiths, saying “white people” stole and plagiarized the “Judeo-Christian” God from Kemetan lore? The racist spin on Christianity as a result of Chattle enslavement, for instance.

As a result, this puzzled me, because it seems very simple to me, but then I decided to go a little bit deeper. And I’m going to bring you along on the summary of this journey.  Let’s take a look, shall we? But first, I want to bring an understanding on why we need the right God, and it’s deeper than “making sure that you get your prayers answered”. Well, we must have faith in the right God otherwise we will die in our sins.

Turning ourselves over and loving the true God with all that we are will empower us to obey Him. Without definition, there are no boundaries. Without boundaries there is no order. And without order, comes chaos. So let’s start with that definition.

Definition: Within the nature of one God, there is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Nature makes them one. They are co-equal, and co-eternal, and thus these three are the one God. Don’t get me wrong, the Bible ONLY discusses ONE God (and no, not modalities). His divine nature has always been the same, and His personhood has always been the same. His Membership, while always having been the same, the Members themselves have played different roles and have been introduced at different times.  One God, (mentioned in the first-person plural in Genesis 1 at first), and then the oneness of God was focused on in Old Testament in Exodus with Moses, approach of God moving into time, typological theology that all led to Jesus coming back in the New Testament.  Once we get to the new covenant, New Testament, Jesus carves it out further. The three Persons within the Triune God are introduced in Matthew 3 (introducing the Father and the Spirit coming down as a dove, and the Holy Spirit leading Jesus Christ into the wilderness in Matthew 4:1)…two other personalities with different roles and 4 introducing. There are more displays of the personality of God in the New Testament, which makes more sense as there is more of an emphasis on direct relationship, as Jesus introduced Himself as Way, Truth, and Light.

But what say ye for the definition? Tough to digest, isn’t it?

Let’s introduce this proposition real quick: Proposition: The Bible invariably teaches there is One God. And it refers to three beings, three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As the Bible does not contradict itself, these three persons must make up the one God. Logic would state that these three make up the one God. But that confounds the nature of the oneness of God and His personhood a bit, doesn’t it?   But…how? Here’s how.  Persons are normally defined as humans, homo sapiens, you and me. Right? Well, yeah, I don’t know about all that. I mean that’s true…but that’s not really personhood. For the sake of this study, personhood is defined as one’s ability to think, to choose, and to feel. And we have Scriptures that show the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit not only doing all three of these, but doing all three of these in the same way.  Remember, one God, three persons. But God’s personhood needs to be broken down a little bit more. I want to save that for next time, where we break down God’s personhood in regard to both His oneness and his relationship to us.   

Hey everyone!

We have been going on and on about identity all autumn long, haven’t we? Hope you’re enjoying so far. This entry here is actually going to be the key to it all. Why? Because up until now we have primarily talked about the problems. Well, this week, I want to talk about the solution.

And the solution is, Jesus Christ.

Alright, post over. Everybody have a great holiday season.

I’m kidding. Everybody who has ever seen one of my posts knows that:

Now that the funnies are out of the way, let’s get down to business.

Mending Broken Seeds

We have talked about how many folks, including believers, are normally as adults navigating foundational hindsight damage they received as kids (again, not burying most parents…most parents just did what they could). But most folks simply don’t understand the principles of discipleship, or much less, how to overcome their pain and invest in someone else. We largely reproduce without knowing principles of reproduction, or principles of wholeness. So, as I said before, Jesus Christ is the solution, but how?

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the light, sure right? Right. But how does that work for us, who are largely broken seeds? Well, Jesus has so many other names and monikers that are associated with growth, empowerment, and redemption, the least of which not being the Vine. And we know that we are his branches, and we can only be nourished if we are connected to the Vine. It is through this connection that we are restored, grown, and brought into the fullness of our calling. After all, nothing empowered by Jesus Christ can burn out. But let’s take a look at what this looks like.

Growing Your Seed, Finding the Vine

So we have established finding the Vine, right? But we all need the appropriate foundation. And that is largely missing in our growth. But early in our growth, the Babe Phase, way we get to know God. And we have been coming to this for a while, but I want to talk about the Parable of the Sower. The Parable of the Sower is really interesting because the sower sows the seeds, but aren’t we the seeds? Aren’t we the ones that have various environments, only some of which produce real spiritual growth? Everybody loves a good Word; it’s uplifting and it makes us feel good. But what do we do with it? How well are we equipped to do with it?

The reality is, we probably aren’t. Because history and overcoming our pain. But we all get a little momentum with change, but without the foundation, no lasting change will take place. But in order to produce the fruit that will produce true change, we have to take dominion over our issues by entrusting them to Jesus Christ (and by extension, the Holy Spirit), who truly heals and redeems all the things. That is the mark we have to press toward, that is who we have to seek, our prayers, our minds, our thought processes. This is how we produce the fruit from our spiritual growth that shows we are living our best lives.  It’s not an easy formula, but nothing ever worth having is easy, right? But just remember, it can be had.

And that’s spiritual growth! Our next unit is going to talk about God. Because how can I tell you to connect to God if I don’t tell you who He is. Stay tuned!