I've been thrown yet another curveball at work as I learned the other day that they are now asking me to come in at 7 a.m. Oddly enough, this came out of nowhere just after I wrote in blog entry last Sunday about my "cushy" 9-to-5 schedule that is unheard of in my area of retail.
So, on top of my cold, I am losing sleep as someone who already struggles with insomnia and can't just pivot on a dime.
Here are two short outtakes from material that came up on my YouTube feed, the first being a study from six years ago by Richard Jordan:
Romans 8: [5] For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
If you walk after the flesh that means you mind the flesh. You've all told your kids, "You better mind me." You pay attention to the desires, the dictates, the valuation system of the flesh, the world system, the old life, all of your resources, by minding those things--putting them into your mind and making your judgments based on the error they produce.
What do those who walk after the spirit do? They put in their mind the things that come out of God's Word. They take their identity in Christ and say, "That's the reality, not the circumstances."
So where do you get the source of your life from? Romans 8: [6] For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Carnal means to be under the influence of your flesh, and if your mind is influenced by that, meaning that's where you're getting your decision-making . . . when I get my decision-making out of God's Word, and the discernment capacity it gives me to look at life, then I walk in the Spirit.
I'm saving you a lot of money--$125 an hour in counseling that won't even get close to this. This is the key to the successful walk. It's the key to being a faithful man. It's the key to not "faking it til you make it," but being the genuine article.
You start out a believing Roman, a babe in Christ, then you become a carnal Christian (like the Corinthians) still fascinated by the flesh. Then you grow up a little bit and you become a Galatian. "O foolish Galatians." Now you're a teenager.
Then you become a faithful Ephesian. Now you're a mature Believer. Then you come up to Philippians 1:
[9] And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
[10] That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
[11] Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
You get that discernment that comes to choose the things of greater value. You've come to the place in your life where you've gotten out all that carnal, foolish stuff. Paul says in II Timothy 2: [22] Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
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Here's a taste of Joel Hayes' Monday podcast monologue on "The Trinity Controversy" (refuting the "Partialism" heresy) at Fellowship Bible Church Orlando:
The Scripture presents God as Father and Son and God knows good and well we view father and son as distinct beings. That's why He's using those terms, just as a father and son on earth would be viewed as distinct beings.
That's intentional on God's part. God knew what He was doing by calling Himself Father and calling Christ the Son because He knew you would view them as distinct beings.
For me that alone is enough to support the classical view of the Trinity. You remember how the Lord said in John 14: [16] And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
This verse is "I" the Son and "He" the Father gives another Comforter and that's the Holy Ghost. That's not one person describing three components of Himself. That is one divine person who is speaking to another divine person about sending another divine person.
The Father sends and the Spirit is sent in the Son's name. There's no parallel whatsoever to the "body, soul, spirit" analogy in all of that. Scripture doesn't simply distinguish these two as Father and Son; it shows a relationship between these two comparable to a father and son on earth.
The issue isn't, "Can one person have different components of His being?" Of course they can. The question is, "Does Scripture portray the Father and the Son and Holy Ghost as merely part of one person?" It does not!
The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, the Father sends the Son, the Son comes from the Father, the Son prays to the Father, the Father glorifies the Son, the Son glorifies the Father, the Spirit speaks concerning the Son and glorifies Him, the Son sends the Spirit from the Father . . .
These are actions out of relationships between the Father and Son, just as we would have a relationship between a father and son here on earth.