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Back To Square One
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Welcome to those who are here for the first time, and welcome home to those who call this place home. We are a community of real people with real problems who have encountered a real God, and we continue to pursue him faithfully. Church ought to be the most honest place on the planet.
As we step into this new year, many of you are carrying things from 2025—decisions, pressures, pain. Rather than viewing the new year as a fresh restart, I'd encourage you to set the precedent of laying all of that before the Lord and seeing what he can do in and through your life.
I believe 2026 will be a year full of miracles, joy, and amazing things God will do in our personal lives and collectively as a church family. It will be a year of breakthrough, of things coming to pass, and of God's favor being bestowed upon us.
However, I also believe it will be a year of pain. You don't have to go looking for trouble—it knows where to find you. Someone in our church family will go through pain this year. Someone will endure loss and grief. We must be a community that sits in the tension of joy and pain, recognizing that God gives us the capacity to be sad and happy at the same time.
The one thing we can anchor our confidence and resolve to is this: God is still good. He is still merciful. He is still on the throne.
I have a story we're celebrating in our house. On one of our Christmas services, our daughter had a pretty severe seizure that entered what we considered the danger zone. Prior to that, on April 1st, 2023, we got ourselves a puppy. Our kids had been begging for one, and my son had seen a therapy dog at the children's hospital. He asked, "Dad, shouldn't we get a dog and train her for Riley?" I tend to get committed to things by ignorance. We did an online assessment and discovered that a miniature Australian doodle would be the perfect fit—and I'm telling you, I have the cutest dog on the planet.
I didn't realize how expensive professional training was, so I decided to train her myself using YouTube resources. I spent hours researching certifications and logging hours to get her qualified as a service dog. I turned it into a game with my kids: this week she goes to three retail stores; this week she comes to the office with me.
Here's the remarkable part: our dog detected my daughter's seizure 30 seconds before it happened.
What was also remarkable was that it happened during our Christmas services when our wives, including Pastor Joe's wife who is a nurse, were unusually in the back offices together. Not only did our dog detect the seizure—there was a nurse within two feet of my daughter.
Life isn't perfect. There are still hard things. But you can sense the brush of heaven upon your life. He's still faithful. He's still good. He's still right there beside you, working it out in your life. And somehow, even when things aren't going how you'd want, he's still getting the job done.
I believe this will be your best year of your life if it is your best year with the Lord. The beauty of the hope we have in Christ is that you can step into every single year thinking, "This could be my best year ever, despite what comes my way." If this is your best year with the Lord, in a profound way, this year will carry the most weight and add the most value.
I'd encourage you to jump into this year with intentionality. Do not be lackadaisical. Do not be passive. Do not approach your faith in the same board fashion you may have been approaching it. What would it look like this year for you to ratchet up your faith?
When was the last time you had a fire in your belly for the Lord? When was the last time you said:
Sometimes the evidence you're looking for of God's work in your life is found on the other side of obedience. What's the next step you need to take in your faith this year?
For some of you, that next step is joining a life group. If not at Northview, go to a church where you like the people and join a life group. It is tremendously beneficial to be in community—not just to meet and gather here on Sunday, but to get in authentic community with people who aren't always like you, where different generations are represented. Mentorship and transformation begin to take place in these settings.
Some of you need to get baptized. You need to stand publicly in your faith and say, "I'm with Christ. He's so wonderful." If you've been a follower of Christ for a long time and have never been baptized, there's no judgment here. We don't exist to put shame on people; we exist to take shame off people. But you should stand publicly in your faith for the one who stood publicly on a cross for you.
Do this not to check some superstitious religious box, but because it's meaningful. If you're baptized, wave at me if baptism still carries weight in your life. It's a meaningful experience.
Starting tomorrow, we are beginning our annual 21 days of prayer and fasting. We do this every single January. Scripture calls the people of God to pray and fast—to set aside and disconnect from the world so that you can reinforce your connection with the Lord.
Our discipleship team has developed resources, content, and curriculum available on the app where you can engage throughout the 21 days. You can find resources to help determine what type of fast would be best for you. Do this with your kids. Give up video games for 21 days. Give up movies for 21 days. See what happens when you pay attention to the things taking up space in your life and how much space you don't create for the Lord.
Don't put excessive pressure on this. If you mess up, just get back on the wagon and start praying again. We're not here to police it—just find it beneficial for your faith.
I've written a book with 52 mini chapters on the central figures of the Bible, called A Cloud of Witnesses, based on Hebrews 12:1: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, let us run and throw off everything that entangles us."
The heroes of scripture—the patriarchs and matriarchs who laid the foundation for our faith—witness to us. Their stories inspire us and inform how we approach a life of faith. Simultaneously, they stand in the grandstand of heaven witnessing how we steward our own lives.
Most people are intimidated by the Bible, thinking it's a weird novel. It's not. It's a library of 66 ancient books by multiple authors from different regions and times. It's magnificent. If you don't understand the overarching narrative, it's hard to make sense of it. The best way to understand a story is to understand the individuals in it.
Every single week, we will do a case study on the central figures of the Bible. I want you to prioritize this. Understanding Ruth's story, Jacob's story, Rahab's story, and David's story—as well as Lucifer's and Judas's stories—brings the narrative to life.
Today we start with the most important figure in the entire Bible: God himself. You cannot call him a character because it doesn't do justice to who he is. Yes, he's in the story, but he's also the author of the story. He's not just the author; he's the paper the story is being written on.
This is my number one theological doctrine—the belief I would die for. I believe in the Holy Trinity: one God existing in three distinct persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
I believe that without the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, all of Christianity and the goodness of the gospel completely unravels. To dismiss this doctrine is significant. Sure, you may end up with something that feels spiritual, but it won't be Christian.
This is the doctrine that creates the brilliant, comprehensible framework that facilitates and accomplishes the gospel.
Here's the statement: Without the Holy Trinity, the cross doesn't make sense. God the Father sends the Son. The Son submits and sacrifices his life. The Holy Spirit—the same spirit that placed life in a virgin's womb—is the same spirit that raises that life back from the grave, leaving the tomb empty forever. Sent, sacrificed, and sealed. Three in one. It is magnificent. It is mysterious. It is fascinating.
For those who are skeptical: this doctrine is not frustrating. Yes, you'll have questions. But if you walk into any space—any church or life group—and someone says, "Let me tell you, I've got the Holy Trinity fully figured out," you better run. You're talking to a cult leader. This doctrine is our pillar, but we hold it with open hands. We grow into it.
How many of you have kids who are growing really fast? My son grew seven inches in 10 months. When you have a child in that season, what do you do? You buy things too big. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is like hooping in some big shoes. This is a theology we grow into.
I would rather have a theology that stretches my heart, stretches my mind, and fills me with a sense of awe and wonder than a stifling, claustrophobic theology that restricts an awe-inspiring God whom I can't fully wrap my mind around. The person who wants God to fully make sense is the person who is wanting God to be lesser than themselves.
Scripture is full of the framework of the Holy Trinity. Let me share my favorite moment in the entire Bible: Matthew chapter 3.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" And Jesus replied, "Let it be so. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." So John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my son whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
In that moment, you have the Holy Trinity on full display, center stage. God the Son comes up out of the water. God the Father speaks down in a triumphant, proud voice. God the Holy Spirit descends like a dove upon the Son. The Godhead—three in one—existing collectively and harmoniously, represented in the same moment. It's a beautiful portrait of the Holy Trinity.
I would bet my life on this: To know God truly is to know him as triune.
If you really want to know God and experience him, you need to know him as a holy, righteous, mighty, all-powerful, all-knowing Father. But if you want to experience God, you also must know him as the humble, merciful, meek, sacrificial, compassionate, and forbearing Christ. And if you want to experience God, you must know him as the Spirit—the same spirit that raised Christ from the grave, seals eternity within our hearts, and empowers us.
Christ said to his disciples, "I'm going to go, and this is good news." The disciples were surely thinking, "How is this good news? You leaving doesn't seem like a good idea." But he said, "No, this is good news because I am sending you a helper, an advocate, a comforter."
The good news of the Holy Spirit is this: I'm now going to go from walking beside you to indwelling within you. When you give your life to Christ, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. You now have the indwelling presence of God in your life. This brings about what is known theologically as regeneration and maturation—you take on the maturity of Christ. It comes with conviction and awareness of God's presence in your life, and it empowers you. God himself, from the inside out, empowers you to live beyond yourself as a reflection of Christ in the world.
Do you see how critically necessary each member of the Trinity is?
Here's the thing: It's not only our biggest doctrine; it's our biggest target. We believe in one God—you must hold that tightly. Other groups also believe in one God. The Jews and Muslims believe in one God. The Muslim critic would say, "Well, we believe in one God. Clearly, you believe in three gods. That doesn't make sense."
The Jehovah's Witness makes the same argument. When someone comes to your door and challenges the Trinity, presenting an equation like "1 + 1 + 1 = 3"—that's where they're debating our faith on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. But this is the very doctrine that holds everything together.
Sinclair Ferguson said, "The Trinity is the grammar of the gospel." Just as you learn grammar after you've begun using language—you speak nouns and verbs before anyone teaches you sentence structure—we gain the doctrine of the Trinity through the biblical narrative, not as a philosophical explanation but as a story of a relational God who reveals himself in this way.
Why do you need grammar? Because if you lose grammar, language loses its meaning. The meaning collapses. Similarly, we stand back at the story of redemption, the promise fulfilled, the defeated cross, and the empty grave, and ask "How?" The answer is: the Father sent the Son, and the Spirit raised him back to life. The three of them worked in tandem.
Scripture does not define the Trinity; it demands it. God is a better Father than to explain himself like a recipe. Think about your conversations with your children—you don't sit down and explain your blood type or the condition of your liver. Instead, you play ball, ask them to help pick weeds, let them see how you react when you stub your toe, and how you respond to their mother when she asks for help. You learn character on the fly in relationship with your father. Some of you want God to be more boring than he is. You want him to come to you in a recipe, but he comes to you in a relationship—a brilliant, harmonious, eternal, self-giving relationship.
The triangle is the strongest shape because it is mutually supportive. This God stands head and shoulders above anything else, and he is the strongest God who is mutually supportive. He did not create you and me because he needed relationship and was alone. No, he was fully content for all of eternity with himself. You and I are the byproduct and the overflow of eternal love.
Kevin DeYoung said, "The Trinity is not an optional doctrine for advanced Christians. It is Christianity." You don't graduate into the Trinity—you're baptized into it. When you give your life to Christ and step into the waters of baptism, you are immersed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit right away. You are integrated into this brilliant framework that facilitates our faith and relationship with God.
The Trinity protects us from a shallow view of God. When you reduce him, you lose so much of what makes him distinct and unique in our life.
Martin Luther said, "God does not reveal himself in order to satisfy reason but to awaken faith." God makes himself known in the garden and throughout all of history. He wants us to know who he is. But he doesn't reveal himself with the target to satisfy our reasoning. He reveals himself with the target to awaken faith.
When we encounter God's revelation, we should arrive at: Amazing. Unbelievable. Breathtaking. Mesmerizing. Magnificent. Incomprehensible. Not "I've got him figured out." Not "Listen to this YouTube video that explains the whole thing."
At some point, get out of the kiddie pool and dive deep into the greatness and the wonder and the pleasure of this almighty triune God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in brilliance.
God's revelation is relational. It's not informational. You get to know your father by hanging out with him, not by attending a seminar where someone teaches you about him. He reveals himself so we can know him, not just know about him. You're not an orphan. You do not have to live wondering who your father is. You can have a personal relationship.
Faith is the goal. Reasoning is the servant.
To those who struggle with this intellectually: I get it. There are many things philosophically and scientifically you want to pick at and be critical about. But you are settling, restricting, and holding back because you can't get past the fact that this God might be quite a bit bigger and more brilliant than you could ever be. It's hard to accept for prideful people.
We often look for analogies to explain the Trinity. Some have been taught the Neapolitan ice cream analogy—vanilla, chocolate, strawberry. Others learned about the egg: the shell, the yolk, and the egg whites. Some use water: it can be liquid, solid (ice), or vapor (gas). Another is the sun: we derive light, heat, and energy from it.
No illustration is perfect. Hold this stuff with open hands. Sometimes we can get so married to our way of explaining things that we become dogmatic about the wrong things.
Here's an analogy related to music: A chord is made up of three notes. When you play the notes individually, they're quite boring compared to when they are pressed together. When three distinct notes are in sync and pressed together, it's different. It's completely different.
I pray that this year you encounter God. Some of you hang around Christian spaces long enough that you can start to fall into the motions. We talk a lot about Christians being born again. We don't talk enough about the ones who look bored again. Some of you look absolutely bored in your faith.
What would it look like this year to stop viewing this as an educational experience and start viewing it more like an adventure that you're in community? You're growing in your relationship with God. As you open your life to Christ in this season, I pray that you feel the press of this triune God that we're in relationship with.
When it comes to the Holy Trinity, most people don't struggle with the idea of God the Father—people love that idea. Most people love, embrace, and understand God the Son. But it's God the Holy Spirit that gets neglected. It's the one that's harder to explain, the one that gets a little more mysterious.
Here's my question: Which was more catalytic in the life of the disciples—was it the resurrection when Jesus came back to life, or was it Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit?
In Acts 2, after Jesus comes back to life, what condition do we find the disciples in? Hiding, afraid, timid, and ashamed. Jesus says, "I'm going to the Father. I'm sending a helper and an advocate. I'm sending the Holy Spirit."
Peter, just days before, was asked by a teenage girl, "Were you with Jesus?" He didn't have the courage to say yes in her presence. Days later, after receiving the Holy Spirit, he walks out into the city and boldly professes and declares the gospel. Thousands of people that day give their life to Christ and are baptized.
You have to ask: What happened in Peter's life? He went from coward to Rambo in days. It wasn't the resurrection—he was still cowardly after seeing Jesus in the flesh, even after seeing him buried days before. But when the Holy Spirit showed up, all bets were off.
I know for some of you, the idea of the Holy Spirit may be foreign territory. But I am convinced that if you open your life fully to God himself—Father, Son, and Spirit, not neglecting this third person of the Holy Trinity—you would truly experience the indwelling, regenerating, empowering work of God in and through your life.
You will get to know him even when you can't always explain him.
To know God truly is to know him as triune.
I want you to sincerely receive the Holy Spirit this year to the same measure that you receive the Father and the Son. They are equally God. The Holy Spirit is a game changer.
