Ablaze Church Sermon Podcast (Audio‪)‬ Ablaze Church

Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. We confess and believe in our God who is three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. On this Sunday, as on all Sundays, we confess the great mystery of the Holy Trinity. We will also take a close look at Paul’s instructions for the Church of Ephesus.

God daily and richly provides us with all that we need. Paul teaches to reject God’s good gifts or to receive them without thanksgiving is a sin against God’s graciousness. Paul prepares his listeners to contend against false teachers and silly myths. Paul shares that the reading of Scripture is the key to combat falsehoods and disinformation.

Paul offers a summary of prayer in the life of the worshipping community. Prayer is strongly encouraged for all people, emphasizing especially prayer for those who exercise authority over us. Along with emphasis on prayer, Paul gives proper qualifications for service within the Christian church and spiritual leadership.

We begin a new series this weekend called, “Paul’s Word to Timothy.” Timothy was, in every way, Paul’s spiritual son. Young but gifted, Timothy had been assigned to lead the church at Ephesus. The congregation that gathered in Ephesus needed order in worship as well as doctrinal correction. It was also plagued with false teachers. This letter from Paul guided and counseled young Timothy in his duties.

In Chapter Four, Jonah came to realize that God was going to spare Nineveh from destruction. Several days had elapsed since Jonah had begun preaching that Nineveh would be overturned if they did not repent. When Nineveh repented, Jonah became very angry. His anger is mentioned several times by God. In contrast, God is “slow to anger and abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression of sin” (Ex. 34:6-7).

The people of Nineveh hardly seem like prospects for responding to God’s Word because they were not Jewish, yet they did turn from their sin, fasted, and put on sackcloth. Upon seeing their turn from evil, God relented from sending disaster. We thank God that His Word bore the fruit of repentance in Nineveh and in our lives.