The Trinity at Work

 

All of God’s word impresses me

But two realities to be more concise:

I speak of the coming of the Holy Spirit

And the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Let us not focus on their order

Or the relative importance of the two,

But let us see the Trinity at work

And how this should shape our view.

First the resurrection of Jesus Christ

And who raised him from the dead:

I know I mentioned the other one first

But I will start with this one instead.

Concerning the question at verse 3

Three answers are correct,

Let me show you in the Word of God

As I am sure you would expect.

 

In John chapter 10 verses 17 and 18

There you will see it plain

Jesus is saying he will lay down his life

But also he will take it up again.

He said no man could take it from him

But of himself he lay it down,

He also had the power to take it up

To this fact we should come around.

 

“Him God raised up the third day”

This is stated in the book of the Acts

In Acts chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and beyond

This is an undeniable fact.

To see the Holy Spirit’s operation

In the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Turn to Romans 8 and verse 11,

There it is very precise.

 

The Spirit of God raised up Jesus

This is a reference to the Holy Spirit,

All three featured in the resurrection

Hence they all must take that credit.

  

And so we come to the the next point:

The point of the coming of the Spirit,

Again we see the Trinity in action

For operating together is their habit.

The Gospel of John bears out this

Successive chapters in fact

Turn to chapters numbers 14 and 15

And verse 26 to be exact.

Let us start with chapter number 14

And see there what it states:

In sending the Holy Ghost

Note how the Father and Son relate.

 

The Father is sending the Comforter

But He is doing so in the Jesus’ name

Read it over a number of times

And you will find it is explicitly plain.

Now turn to chapter number 15

Let us see what we have there,

By the way there is no contradiction,

Before you read let me make that clear.

 

 

Here Jesus is sending the Comforter

From the Father he is doing this,

See how the Trinity again operates

This is a point you should never miss.

I know that I mentioned two points

But I feel pressed to state a third

Turn to the book of the Acts again

Where this third one there is inferred.

Acts 20:28 would be confusing

Were it not for the blessed Trinity

But an understanding of this passage

Is Trinity-based essentially.

It needs no special interpretation

So it must be read as a basic reader would

A literal rendering of this passage is

God bought the church with His own blood.

Is this a contradiction of sorts?

I am convinced it definitely is not,

It is the Trinity at work again

In Satan’s web let’s not be caught.

 

It is Jesus whose blood was shed

However, the Father and the Son are one,

The Father in Christ reconciled us to Himself

And by His Spirit the church was born.

Stewart Russell © March 2019

Creatures of Routine

Ever noticed that’s you?

O that’s me too,

We’re both creatures of routine

Both me and you.

And as we get older

It becomes more so

It’s routine that helps us

Both you and I know.

I’ll leave you for a while

And talk about myself,

It’ll delay Alzheimer’s

And improve my health.

A regular term today

I am sure you’d agree

Especially among those

Who are older than me.

But back to the routine issue

Before I forget

And you begin to talk,

I am not there yet.

 

 

 

Creature of habit is another term

It means the same as routine,

The order we apply every day

To maintain a familiar scene.

I get up on mornings

And open the windows,

I unlock the gates

That’s the general flow.

Then I go to a place

You go there too,

Don’t turn up your nose

You know I mean you.

I compose a poem

Usually related to the Word,

On very rare occasions

It’s one that’s absurd.

I may or may not

Take breakfast, I mean

Then I try to catch up

On what has been.

The Nation and Barbados Today

Followed by devotions online,

Then it’s to my e-mail

To see what I will find.

Most days of the week

I have to leave home

Yes, and you guess it

I am seldom alone.

My wife travels with me

And that helps a lot,

She comes in handy

Regarding the things I forgot.

More often than not

There are several stops to make

So there’s a particular sequence

That I try to take.

Who wants to go back home

Having forgotten something

Or to have to head back out

When the telephone rings?

That’s enough about me

Now let’s get to you,

I know you have it down packed

But that’s just your view.

The same cup and plate

And the same drinking glass,

Heat the water in the kettle

Then put in the flask.

A regular cup of tea

All through the day

And all three meals at a set time,

That’s some people’s way.

  

The same seat in church

Every time you attend

And the same routine on Sundays

Your church knows the trend.

Same parking spot

Once nobody parks there

And that is rather seldom

Since you take especial care.

You arrive there early

To get both park and seat

And during that time

You can both meet and greet.

Let us return again

To what happens at home,

Regarding the following routines

None of us is alone.

Spectacles in the same spot

When not on the face,

We need them to search for them

When they are not in that place.

The cellphone can be a problem

Though not for the young,

It’s always in their hands

There it can always be found.

With the older ones

It’s quite a different scene,

They want to know

Who moved it from where it’s been.

Routine and habit

 Custom and procedure,

Success when we stick to it

And when we don’t there’s failure.

It’s a stress reliever

We try to convince everyone

And we try to sustain it

From dawn till dawn.

  

Everyone has a bit

Though some more than others

And the older one gets

The more it becomes a bother.

The older we get

It is all that we remember,

And when people try to change us

We don’t easily surrender.

The ignorant among us

Begin to call us names

Like obstinate and presumptuous

And even sometimes insane.

But their time will come

If they get old enough

Though they may be so into Alzheimer’s

They won’t know how tough.

Only this afternoon

We could not find the phone,

It is kept on the stand

And it stands there alone.

It was so ridiculous

See us looking everywhere

Even the strangest of places

Such was our fear.

Perhaps I flushed it

The wife had suggested

But I didn’t pay her any mind

I just wasn’t interested.

We looked and we looked

But the phone could not be found,

I began to feel responsible

And next I felt like a clown.

With a hundred guesses

You still would not know

But would you believe

The phone was left on the patio?

I rested it out there

In order to shift some plants

Knowing I would never forget it

No not a chance.

But alas it happened

And I felt particularly silly

For even though a creature of routine

It still happened to me.

Stewart Russell © June 2018

One-Quarter Gone

One of the quarters gone

Leaves three out of four,

If one quarter is gone

Then there are three to go.

In considering this

I shall present this year

But first the quarter concept

I believe this would be fair.

When we think of a quarter

We may think of a group

Or we may think of a whole

Neither is in dispute.

Of twelve months in a year

Three makes your quarter

But you won’t represent this

As though dealing with water.

A rectangle may be used

To represent your water,

With four equal levels indicated

Any one is your quarter.

With a year on the other hand

Divide twelve into four groups

The groups must be equal

So that no one can refute.

January, February and March

Have quickly gone,

April 1^st is the signal

The second quarter has dawned.

If you have a plan

For any project this year

During the next three quarters

You must take especial care.

Any quarter taken for granted

Will just flit away

And your project will have failed

At the end of the day.

  

A quarter can be a circle

 And that would make it a whole,

As in the case of our money

This I’m sure you know.

Hence a whole quarter is gone

In this present year

And there’s not much to show

For many I fear.

We must redeem the time

That is given us this day

So this quarter won’t be wasted

And regret comes our way.

Spend your quarters wisely

And the dollars will be all right,

There’s not much going around

That’s most people’s plight.

Recall your resolutions

At the beginning of this year,

Keep them always before you

And treat to them with care.

For one quarter has gone

Soon this one will be too,

If you still think you have time

You’d better change that view.

 Today is called All Fools’ Day

But you don't have to be a fool,

Similarly we are in Lent

So don’t be the devil’s tool.

Stewart Russell © April 1, 2019