The Mysterious Person of God

January 9, 2017 Joel Berry

"And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." - Genesis 1:2

When you think of God, what comes to your mind? I tend to think of God as Father most of the time. Whether in my prayer time or in worship, I am drawn to the thought of my heavenly Father who loves me and provides for me. He is my source of strength to face the challenges of the day. For many, Jesus is foremost in their thoughts, and rightly so. It is Jesus who came to earth, lived as a man, exemplified a life without sin, and delivers us from our own sin. He is the embodiment of God's love and grace. In the words of the Apostle Paul, "He is the image of the invisible God, and the head of the body, the church" (Colossians 1:15a, 18a).

But when you think of God, do you also think of the Holy Spirit? If you are new to Christianity, you may have never heard of the Holy Spirit. It is easier to explain God in terms of Father and Son because we can tangibly associate them with mental images of our earthly fathers and sons. But you can't see or touch a spirit. A spirit is mysterious, an essence without form. God infinitely transcends anything we can envision in our minds, and the Spirit of God seems to hold the greatest mystery. Perhaps this is why many churches tend to avoid the subject of the Holy Spirit. We prefer what seems to be tangible to something that is difficult to explain. But the one true God is the Triune God, who eternally exists as one God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If we avoid knowing the Spirit, we cannot truly know God, nor can we experience the fullness of our relationship with him.

Can You Worship a Jealous God?

January 5, 2017 Joel Berry

During a conversation with an acquaintance, we were discussing his reluctance to believe in the God of the Bible. When I asked him what was his primary reason for not believing, he told me that he just could not believe in a God who was selfish. He had been taught all of his life that selfishness is wrong, and he was not selfish. How could he worship a God that did not even measure up to the standard that he, himself practiced?

His accusation of God was based on first of the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). He reasoned that if someone wanted to worship a different god, it was selfish of God not to allow that. After all, God even admitted that he was a jealous God, and isn't jealousy a sin?

Immanuel - God With Us

December 19, 2016 Joel Berry

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means God with us). - Matthew 1:23

God's Promise of a Savior

In the first gospel of the New Testament, Matthew provides a long genealogy of Jesus Christ, from Abraham through Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus. This genealogy covered a period of about 2,160 years. That was how many years had passed since God made a promise to Abraham that through him all the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). The time had finally come for the promise to be fulfilled.