READY, SET, GROW: Who Is the God I’m Following?

Understanding the Trinity and Why It Changes Your Walk With God

Big Question: If God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, why does understanding each Person matter for the way I relate to God?

READY: Know the God You Follow

Many Christians can say, “God is three in one,” but struggle to explain what that actually means.

The biblical teaching of the Trinity is that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods—there is one God.

That can stretch our minds. And that's okay.

The goal isn't to reduce God to something small enough for us to completely comprehend. The goal is to know Him as He has revealed Himself.

Jesus said:

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”— Matthew 28:19

Notice Jesus says “name,” singular, while naming Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Understanding the Trinity matters because Christianity isn't merely about knowing things about God.

We have been invited into relationship with Him.

And the more we understand who He is, the more deeply we can understand what He is doing in us.

SET : Watch the Trinity at Work

One of the clearest places to see Father, Son and Holy Spirit together is at Jesus' baptism.

Read Matthew 3:13–17 slowly.

Jesus, the Son, is standing in the Jordan.

The Spirit of God descends like a dove.

The Father's voice comes from heaven:

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Don't rush past this scene.

The Son is in the water. The Spirit descends. The Father speaks.

Three distinct Persons. One God.

Now start looking for this throughout Scripture.

Once you begin noticing it, you'll find Father, Son and Spirit appearing throughout the story of redemption.

GROW: How Does This Change My Relationship With God?

This is where the Trinity moves from theology into everyday discipleship.

The Father — The One I Approach

Jesus taught His disciples to pray:

“Our Father in heaven...”— Matthew 6:9

Through Christ, believers are adopted into God's family.

God isn't merely a distant ruler we cautiously approach.

He is Father.

Romans 8 tells us that we have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”

When you pray, remember who you're approaching.

Your Father knows what you need.

Your Father disciplines you because He loves you.

Your Father provides.

Your Father welcomes you.

Your Father hears you.

Explore: Matthew 6:6–13; Romans 8:14–17; Galatians 4:4–7.

Jesus the Son — My Savior, Mediator and Advocate

Jesus doesn't simply belong to the beginning of your Christian story.

We sometimes think:

Jesus died for me, I got saved, and now I try to live for God.

But Jesus' ministry toward His people continues.

John writes:

“We have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”— 1 John 2:1

Hebrews tells us Jesus is our great High Priest and “always lives to intercede” for those who come to God through Him.

Think about that.

Jesus is presently advocating and interceding for His people.

When you fail, your hope isn't your ability to make yourself worthy again.

Your hope is Christ.

When you approach God, you don't approach based upon your righteousness.

You come through His.

Explore: Hebrews 4:14–16; Hebrews 7:23–28; Romans 8:31–34; 1 John 2:1–2.

The Holy Spirit — God's Presence Within Me

The Holy Spirit isn't an impersonal spiritual force.

He is God dwelling within the believer.

Jesus promised His disciples another Advocate who would be with them forever.

The Spirit teaches.

He guides.

He convicts.

He empowers.

He produces spiritual fruit.

He helps us understand God's truth.

And there are moments when our pain is so deep that we don't even know what to pray.

Paul writes:

“The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”— Romans 8:26

Think about the tenderness of that.

When you don't know what to say to God, the Spirit isn't absent from your weakness. He helps you in it.

Explore: John 14:15–27; John 16:7–15; Romans 8:26–27; Galatians 5:16–25; 1 Corinthians 2:10–16.

Put It Together

Now look at what happens when you pray.

You aren't throwing words toward heaven hoping somebody hears.

You approach the Father.

You come through the Son.

You are helped by the Spirit.

Paul captures this beautifully:

“For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”— Ephesians 2:18

Through the Son. By the Spirit. To the Father.

And all three are the one God who loves you and has acted for your salvation.

That changes prayer.

That changes worship.

That changes how we understand God's presence.

And it should change how we follow Him.

GO: Walk It Out

This week, begin paying attention to Father, Son and Holy Spirit when you read Scripture.

Don't simply underline the word God and move on.

Ask:

• Who is acting here?

• What does this passage reveal about the Father?

• What does it reveal about Jesus?

• What does it reveal about the Holy Spirit?

• How are they working together?

Then bring that understanding into prayer.

Thank the Father for adopting and loving you.

Thank Jesus for saving you and interceding for you.

Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, teach you and produce Christlike character within you.

Not because you are praying to three gods.

You are learning to relate more deeply to the one God who has revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

PASS IT ON: Disciple Someone

Ask another believer:

“When you think about God, do you naturally think most about the Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?”

Then ask:

“Is there one Person of the Trinity you understand less than the others?”

Read John 14:15–27 together.

Don't immediately teach each other what it means.

Investigate it.

Circle every reference to the Father, Son and Spirit.

Ask what Jesus teaches about each.

Then share what surprised you.

That's discipleship: opening God's Word together and learning to see what is actually there.

DEEP ROOTS: A Big Idea to Explore

Here is something worth thinking about all week:

The Christian life is Trinitarian from beginning to end.

Consider salvation.

Who planned redemption?

Who came into the world, died and rose again?

Who gives spiritual life and dwells within believers?

Then consider prayer.

Why do Christians pray to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit?

Consider sanctification.

What role does each Person have in making us more like Christ?

And consider something even bigger:

In Genesis 1, God creates.

In John 1, we discover that all things were made through the Word—the Son.

And in Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God is present over the waters.

Now jump all the way to Revelation 21–22 and look for Father, Son and Spirit again.

Then ask:

If Father, Son and Holy Spirit are present throughout the biblical story, what might I have been reading past without noticing?

Where It Gets Personal: Your Deep Dive

Don't Google the answers first.

Open your Bible.

Read:

Genesis 1:1–3Matthew 3:13–17Matthew 28:18–20John 1:1–18John 14–16Romans 8Ephesians 1:3–14Ephesians 2:182 Corinthians 13:14

Take a notebook and make three columns:

FATHER | SON | HOLY SPIRIT

Write down everything each passage teaches you.

Then add a fourth:

WHAT DOES THIS TEACH ME ABOUT THE ONE GOD?

Don't rush.

Don't worry if studying raises more questions.

Curiosity isn't the enemy of faith. It can be an invitation to go deeper.

The Thought to Carry With You

You aren't studying the Trinity simply to understand a doctrine better. You're learning about the God you worship.

The Father who welcomes you.

The Son who saves and advocates for you.

The Spirit who lives within and helps you.

One God.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And the more you discover about who He is, the more reasons you'll find to keep opening His Word.

READY, SET, GROW

Get in the Word. Get curious. Live it out. Pass it on.