Demystifying the Trinity (And Why It Matters), with Tara-Leigh Cobble

Have you ever wondered, “Does it really matter if I understand the Trinity?” In this episode of Grounded, you’ll hear why the answer to that question is “yes!” Tara-Leigh Cobble, creator of The Bible Recap podcast, joins the Grounded hosts to discuss how studying the Trinity can unlock the doorway to more joy. 

Connect with Tara-Leigh

Instagram: @taraleighcobble 
Website: https://www.taraleighcobble.com/

Episode Notes

• The Bible Recap website. 
• The Joy of the Trinity book by Tara-Leigh Cobble.
• Incomparable book by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.
   

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Erin Davis: Good morning. You are watching or listening to Grounded. I'm Erin Davis. I want to start this episode with a bit of a confession. Are you ready? There's a lot about God I don't understand. Even though I write Bible studies, even though churches often bring me in to be their Bible teacher, even though I've been a Christian for more than half my life well, even though I deeply desire to know and understand God, and I'm committed to being a lifelong student of His inspired Word, He's still mysterious to me in a lot of ways.

You want to know one area of understanding God that remains mysterious for me, and I bet for you, too? You ready? The Trinity. The Trinity, God is three persons one God—the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. 

I think our brains might be too finite to understand. You've probably heard some of the not-so-great analogies to describe the Trinity: an egg or as time. And we're starting Grounded a little bit unusually today, because we have a special guest with us. You're gonna see Portia soon. You're gonna see Dannah soon. But we want to tackle this kind of unusual topic, the Trinity, and see why it matters in our actual lives. 

So, I have good news. Tara-Leigh Cobble is with us. I bet you've heard that name before. You might know her as the voice behind TheBible Recap podcast. We've got some good news about that to share in a minute. Tara-Leigh says that every other Christian belief is built in our belief in the Triune God, so we can't just say, “I don't get it.” She also says that that's where we can find joy in understanding God, as three persons in one. 

So, it's going to be a fascinating conversation. It's going to stretch our brains a bit this morning. But what we know here on Grounded is, the more we know the Lord, the more we love Him, and so we are willing to wrestle. 

I hope every episode of Grounded is shareable. But this episode is going to be highly shareable. So, at a minimum, hit that share button. We would love you to tell your friends about it. And we have a big announcement also coming in this episode about our beloved Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. You're gonna want to hear it. It is our good news of the day. So good, we're gonna save it for last, and I'm gonna help us open our Bibles to the book of Genesis 18. I'm going to ask a question, “What do we do when the Godhead shows up for supper?” 

So, exciting episode. A lot to think about, a lot to ponder. But we want to get grounded with God's people as quickly as possible today. So, I'm going to hand things over to Dannah. Good morning, Dannah.

Dannah Gresh: Good morning my friend Erin Davis. Your hair is on point today. I feel sorry for the podcast listeners. They're missing. 

Erin: Come on. They don’t get to see it. 

Dannah: They don't get to see it. You got like a little bit of poof in the back. You got the wavy. 

Erin: Yeah, a little volume. 

Dannah: Good hair day, Erin Davis. 

Erin: I figured out how to use a wand, ladies. That's the secret. I figured out how to use a curling wand not a curling iron. Maybe someday we'll do an episode on it because, you know, it took a while, but I learned it, and look at the results. 

Dannah: We should learn the doxology. I think I felt like as heavy a topic as the Trinity is, we should definitely have a moment about our hair. So thanks for getting us started. 

Erin: That’s one of my favorite things about Chirstian women. We can go from one thing to the other really quickly. So, I love it.

Dannah: Speaking of great hair, our guest today has is a podcaster and author and a Bible teacher. Tara-Leigh Cobble is here to help us answer the question, “Why do we need to even understand the Trinity?” I think you're gonna really love this conversation hop on in here Tara-Leigh.

13:34 - Grounded with God's People (Tara-Leigh Cobble)

Tara-Leigh Cobble: Happy to be here. 

Dannah: We're so thrilled to have you, precious woman of God. Now, I know we said we were gonna save the good news for later. But I know some good news about you that maybe not all of our listeners know, and that is this that your Bible reading podcast, The Bible Recap, recently hit number one, number one on Apple podcasts!

Tara-Leigh: Ah, isn't that so encouraging that so many people around the world want to read the Bible?

Dannah: Yes. I love it. People are reading the Bible. Millions of listeners reading their Bible listening to The Bible Recap. And we just think that a Bible reading app on the top of the charts, well, that's some good news, don't you think? Love it. 

Let's dig it. Tara-Leigh, let's dig in. You know, they call me Dannah Kay in my family, but nobody in the real world does. But I will not mess your Tara-Leigh up, because I understand how precious it is. 

What do you say Tara-Leigh to someone who thinks that understanding the Trinity is above her pay grade. She maybe just wants to love Jesus without thinking about something as complex as the Trinity. What would you say to that?

Tara-Leigh: I have two thoughts for this woman. First of all, that's a very relatable thought. But second of all, what if, assuming you're married or dating, what if the person that you are in a relationship with said to somebody else, “I don't really want to get to know who she is. I just want to love her for the things that make me feel good?” You know, that is how we treat God when we say, “I don't really want to get to know You better.” I just want to sing my worship songs and read my devotional and feel good about that. 

That's a disservice not only to who God is, but it's a disservice to us, because we are missing out on some of the great joy. I mean, Erin said it at the top. The more we know who He is, the more we love Him. And how great does it feel to fall in love with someone more?

Dannah: Yeah, well, and isn't it a very selfish kind of love if I just want to interact with my husband in the ways that he can make me feel great about me, instead of understanding him, right? So, we're gonna grow up a little bit, ladies, in the way that we love Jesus today. 

Okay, one of the things that I think is motivating to help us roll up our sleeves is that you say that the Trinity helps us unlock the doorway to joy. Why do you tie joy so closely to the Trinity.

Tara-Leigh: Falling in love with a person is joy inducing. It just delights your heart. You find yourself smiling throughout the day. And that's the way I have come to feel in my relationship with God, the more I get to know Him. 

And so, this digging into this complex thing . . . Now, the reality is, Dannah, we're never going to understand all of the Trinity on this side of eternity at least. And so, we use that as an excuse to not lean in, because it feels complex. It is complex. We may not ever understand it all, but we can understand it more. 

And so, if we get no more than those incremental bits of joy, I promise you when you learn something new about God, or if you've been in the Word forever, and you find something new that you learn, doesn't it delight? Don't you get excited about it and want to share with other people? That's the way it is to get to know God. In Psalm 16:11, David says, “In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” I want in on that.

Dannah: Yeah, me too. All right, let's go to the foundations of understanding the Trinity. What's one of them? And why is it a core principle when we study this concept?

Tara-Leigh: The first foundation of the Trinity is that there's only one true God. So that's going to be fundamental for us. A lot of the religions around the world are polytheistic religions. And so, getting to the fact that there is only one true God and that that is the God we serve. That's vital.

Dannah: Yeah, so true. There's also a lot of heresies. I mean, that's a foundational truth. There's a lot of lies out there about the Trinity. What's one that's really dangerous for Christians today?

Tara-Leigh: Oh, man. Okay, so the other two foundations of the Trinity point to the one I want to talk about with you my favorite heresy, if there is a favorite heresy, favorite one to discuss. The other two foundations are: there are three Divine Persons of the one true God. And the third foundation of the Trinity is that all three persons are co-eternal, co-relational and co-equal. 

So, they all stand separate. They all relate to each other equally. And so, the heresy that I see common in a lot of is sort of an accidental heresy we fall into is called “Modalism.” It's this belief that God kind of transforms from one person to another, that He's just one being instead of three persons, that He's one person that transforms into different ones. And so, this is where if you've heard the H2O analogy, ladies, that God can be water and steam and ice. That's how we view it, but water is all three of those things at the same time. And God is Father, Son, and Spirit all at the same time. 

And so, the way we do this is we kind of throw the persons of God into a blender, and like we're praying, “Father, thank You for dying on the cross for me.” Well, the Father isn't the one who died on a cross. And Jesus says, “The Spirit is our guide.” And so, we ask the Spirit to guide us. Those are those are things that are important in the way they frame the way that we pray, and the way that we relate to God, by knowing the roles that He plays, the roles that He has chosen to play. Yeah. So that is, I think, one of the things that I see that's common in the Church today, the heresy of Modalism.

Dannah: Yeah, so true. Now, when we start talking about that, you start talking about the different persons of the Trinity, different roles. I want to go out on a limb here and say that probably a lot of Christian women listening, the one they're most uncomfortable with, is God the Spirit. And so, why is it so important that you said they're equal? Say how you said that, again, they're . . .

Tara-Leigh: Co-equal, co-eternal, and co-relational.

Dannah: Co-equal, co-eternal, and co-relational. So, how do we get to be more understanding of the Spirit? In what ways does the Bible underscore His value in those three ways, His personhood, if you will? 

Tara-Leigh: I think most of us, myself included, are tempted to think of the Holy Spirit as the weird one, or the mysterious one. He is the one responsible for some of the things in the New Testament that are baffling to us. But one of the things that we see is Jesus refers to Him by a couple of ways. He refers to Him as the Comforter, the Guide. He says that the Spirit will remind us of the things that Jesus says. And one of the things that we see as we dig into studying the Trinity is that members of the Trinity, they never point to themselves, they point to the other persons of the Trinity. 

So, the Son is glorifying the Father, the Spirit is glorifying the Son and the Father, the Father is glorifying the Son. There is this beautiful, outgoing love that they have within their relationship with each other. And so, when I tell people, if people were like, “I want to find a Spirit-filled church, well, what does the Spirit do? The Spirit doesn't rev His engine at a stoplight? The Spirit is not trying to draw attention to Himself. The Spirit is pointing people to the Word and person of Christ. And so, where the gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached, the Holy Spirit is at work.

Dannah: That's right, Amen. You know, at least when we understand it, and they're not just words, the Holy Spirit is at work, right? Because sometimes we can hear the words and not understand them. I would like to point people that feel a little uncomfortable to Spirit to the fact that Jesus said, “It's better that I go away. It's been better because I'm sending the Comforter. And like, if you're uncomfortable with the Holy Spirit, you're gonna have to take that up with Jesus who said that this is a better thing. Right? 

Tara-Leigh: Yeah. 

Dannah: So, I think we need to engage with the Spirit and understand it. God is communal. He's a social being. I can't really wrap my head around that three and one, as you said, this side of eternity. We may not get it. But I do feel like it teaches us something about relationships. In what ways does the Trinity remind us that Christianity is not a solo sport, that we do our work of knowing God best in community.

Tara-Leigh: If God Himself is communal in nature, and we are created in His image, then we see that He has created us to be relational. 

I love when we talk about the body of Christ in the New Testament. It talks about some are an eye, and some are a hand. It's clear that we need each other. He's built us to need each other. The way that we are formed into holistic, healthy believers is in community.m We can't see all our blind spots. We can't see all our giftings and our giftings can't come to fruition if we are just on a solo endeavor. 

So, it's such a gift that we get to live out this relationship with God in community with other people who are in relationship with God. 

I love that you guys are doing this here on this show. And with these listeners here, you're encouraging them to do that. It's beautiful. 

Dannah: Yeah, well, we love you Tara-Leigh. We are so grateful that you stopped in to Grounded today to spend a little time with us. You have a book on the Trinity coming out soon The Joy of the Trinity: One God, Three Persons, releasing in April. Any quick words you want to say about that? 

Tara-Leigh: I’d for you guys to check it out. My favorite thing to do is to take big topics and make them palatable and understandable for lay persons like me. I'm a self-taught theologian. I didn't go to seminary, so I'm not going to use big words. And if I do, I'm going to probably mispronounce them. I'm going to describe them in the glossary in the back. So, if you feel like your brain isn’t big enough to comprehend it, welcome. 

Dannah: Love that. Well, this might be why you hit that number one spot on Apple because you're making it so accessible for so many of us. Love you. Bless you. Thanks for stopping by Tara-Leigh Cobble.

Tara-Leigh: Thanks.

Dannah: You can get that book, The Joy of the Trinity: One God, Three Persons doesn't release till April. But you can pre-order now anywhere books are sold. You're gonna want that one in your library. Erin Davis, get us grounded in God's Word. As we continue to study the Trinity.

24:39 - Grounded in God's Word (with Erin)

Erin: I was geeking out Dannah, co-equal . . .

Dannah: Yeah, she's great.

Erin: . . . co-eternal. And another co word that I may have to go back and listen to but that was really brain stretching and good. Let's open our Bibles together. 

Dannah: Co-relational.

Erin: Co-relational. Two brains are better than one.

Open your Bible to Genesis 18, we're going to look at a large swath of verses there in Genesis 18, verses 1–20. And sisters, because we're sisters, I just want to tell you that I've crossed a threshold. I could no longer read my Bible without my readers. So, we're going to put the readers on, because I want to read the actual text to you. 

When I was thinking about this episode, and where could we go in Scripture, there's a lot of places we could go. The Trinity does not show up on the scene in the New Testament, of course, because He's eternal. And when you start to look for evidence of the Trinity in your whole Bible, that becomes a really interesting treasure hunt. But this passage came to mind Genesis 18:1–20, I'm going to start with just those first eight verses. “And the LORD appeared to him,” and you should know that the him there is Abraham.

And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 

You picturing it? Abraham's just in the middle of the day in the desert, sitting at the door of the tent, and who shows up? The Lord Himself. 

He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “Oh, LORD, if I have felt in favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little bit of water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant. 

I think there's a little bit of evidence that Abraham didn't fully understand the Trinity either since he thought, What God really needs is some bread and water.

So since you have come to your servant, they said, “Do as you have said,” and Abraham went quickly to the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick, three seahs of fine flour! Knead it and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and said it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. 

Mysterious, isn't it? 

This is what theologians call a theophany. That's when God who is Spirit appears to man and, in this case, they appeared to Abraham. It says it right there in verse one, and the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre.

So, we're not just guessing; this is a theophany. We're not just saying maybe these men represent God. The text, the Holy Spirit inspired Word tells us who it is and how exactly did God appear? 

Listen to verse one again. “He lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth.”

Here's a question for your day. What would you do if God suddenly showed up at your house for dinner? Though there is one God when He showed Himself to Abraham, He did it as He is. One God, three persons. How did Abraham respond? Well, just practically, he gave God his best. He went and got cool water from the well he told Sarah bake up some fresh bread. He killed the fatted calf. He got the curds from the animals he'd milked that day. That's the good stuff. And he brought that and set it before the Lord. 

And the Lord didn't just come to eat Abraham's food. He had a message to deliver. Let's pick it up when read verses 9–15. That word in Scripture is amazing God. 

They said to him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” And he said, “She's in the tent.” The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year. And Sarah, your wife, shall have a son.” 

Now, I hope you know your Bible well enough to know that that was miraculous, because as Scripture tells us often Sarah was advanced in years. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind them. Now Abraham and Sarah were advanced in years. The way of a woman had ceased to be with Sarah. Y'all know what that means. 

And so Sarah laughed herself saying, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child now that I'm old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time, I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it saying, “I did not laugh” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” 

The Trinity wanted to talk about one of the most intimate parts of Sarah's life, her cycle, her infertility. But beyond that, her deepest longing. The Trinity appeared to Abraham and wanted to talk about Sarah's womb. Of course, we know that Sarah didn't believe God when He spoke, but dig a little deeper. 

Is it possible she'd stopped talking to God about it at all? About her desire for children? Decades had gone by no baby. Had she convinced herself that God didn't care. But He did. He came to earth just to bring her the good news that a baby boy would change everything. 

That's should point us to the New Testament. 

All right, I'm gonna keep reading just a little bit longer. I'm gonna get us through verse 20, verses 16–20. 

Then men set out from there, and they look down towards Sodom. And Abraham with them to set them on their way. The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the world shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children, and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD, by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him." Then the LORD said, "Because of the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see what they have done all together, according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” 

Verse 17, is fascinating to me, in light of what Tara-Leigh just shared. The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham, what I'm about to do?” It wasn't talking to Abraham. He was talking about Abraham. So, who was He talking to? He was talking to Himself. 

Oh, to be Abraham, right in front of his eyes, God. He saw the Godhead, communicating with each other in perfect unity. I've got a zillion questions, don't you? And in that way, this passage is a good metaphor for how we view the Trinity. It is mysterious. Anyone who claims to have the Trinity all figured out, I'm afraid is not reading their Bible, because just this interaction alone leaves me with more questions than answers. 

And our attempts to explain the Trinity fall so short of who God really is. And here's the danger of that. The mystery of God is part of the awesomeness of God. If I can figure Him all out, is He really worthy of my whole life? If I can figure Him all out, is He really worth pursuing day after day after day after day? If God is a God that I can figure out, He is too small. 

But what can we know about the Trinity from this passage? One, He wants a relationship with you. God had existing in perfect relationship doesn't need a relationship with you, but He wants a relationship with you. God condescended to go to Abraham's tent to eat his food. Whose cows were those really? They weren't Abraham's. He condescended to talk with Abraham and Sarah about their lives, why? To be in a relationship with Him. 

One thing this passage teaches us is that God is not a detached deity. He is involved. I've needed a reminder of that lately, frankly, because my circumstances have made it seem like He was detached. 

But here I see God appearing to Abraham and Sarah to talk to them about their own lives. He has plans for your life, the same God, who cares about Sarah's fertility, cares about your family, and your finances, and your future. We can learn that He exists in perfect relationship. They’re talking with each other about what they're going to do.

And the fourth thing you can learn is that you don't have to understand everything about Him to worship Him. 

Abraham didn't ask questions, not the questions are bad. But he got busy orienting his life toward God on a day where he was just going to sit at the door of the tent and wait for the heat to pass. God shows up. And Abraham very quickly gets busy reorienting his day towards God. He gave God what he could, he listened to God's speak, he learned what he could even though it was mysterious. The Lord didn't reveal how Sarah was gonna get pregnant after the way of womanhood had ceased. He learned what he could from God. 

And if we finish the chapter, we find a little gold nugget. It's right here in verse 23. “Then Abraham drew near.” God wants to be known. He wants to be understood. That's why He has revealed Himself in His Word. And when we come to something we don't understand, instead of turning away from God, or saying, God can't be real, because I don't understand this, we have another option. We can draw near. 

I was thinking about this this morning. I was saying about this episode in this teaching, and what I really wanted to say. I was thinking that in this so-called age of enlightenment, the so-called Age of Reason, certainly this age of technology. What's in the air that we breathe is that we can't give our lives to something that we don't understand. We need to fully understand things in order to be mature and enlightened, and know the world that we live in. And it's just blatantly not true. 

The Lord hasn't chosen to reveal all the mysteries of the Godhead of the Trinity, and I don't have to figure Him out to worship Him. That doesn't mean it's not true. Verse 27, says, 

Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the LORD, I who am but dust and ashes.” 

Here's why, in part, understanding the Trinity matters. Because when we see God as He is, or at least as much as He's chosen to reveal to us, we rightfully see ourselves as we are. 

How can one God be three persons? How can He exist in perfect unity? We know nothing about perfect unity. We don't know. We're just dust and ashes. But we can know that He's worthy of our worship. 

One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible comes from the book of Job. It says these are but the outskirts of His ways, just the fringes of Him. We only know a little bit about Him. There is eternally more to discover. That should not stunt our growth. It should not make us walk away from our faith. It should not make us throw our Bible across the room in frustration. It should make us worship because He is bigger and more majestic and more astounding, and yeah, more mysterious than we can imagine. He's capable to plan your future. He's more than you could ever be. How do you respond if He shows up to the tent of your life today? And I think He has. Give Him your best. 

And so, my fellow dust and ashes, sisters, here's a question for you: “Are you so busy trying to figure God out that you've lost the wonder that comes with acknowledging He's more than your finite mind will ever comprehend?” 

Do you want a small God who fits in a box of your making? Or can you live in the tension of knowing He is infinitely more than you can know or see this side of glory. Sign yourself up for the adventure of discovering Him.

Are you only willing to follow Him when you understand His plans for your life? That actually made my chest tighten a little bit? Because He's doing a lot in my life I don't understand right now. I cannot see the purpose of it. And there's a part of me that is tempted to say, “Okay, You can't be good. You can't be sovereign, because all of these things are happening, and they all have no purpose.” So, are you only willing? Am I only willing to follow God when we understand Him? 

Or can we step into the place of surrender, where we say, “God, Your ways are not my ways. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. And I submit my will to Yours anyway.” Whatever you think you know about God, He is more. He is infinitely more and that is why He's worthy of your worship. 

It’s time for me to bring on the face of a girl that loves the Lord and loves the mystery of Him. We've waited this whole episode to see her. Portia, where you been, Girl?

39:11 - Good News (with Portia, Erin, and Dannah)

Portia Collins: Listen, first of all, I've been over here, just like preach it! I have been really encouraged by everything. From the start of this episode to now, like, what a way to start on Monday morning” It's the best way to start our Monday morning.

Erin: I know! Let’s just throw ourselves into the deep end of the pool of who God is and enjoy Him. 

Portia: Yes, yes. And I've got better news. Are you ready? Better be ready. I've been in Emmy’s craft box, making me a nice little party hat. 

Erin: That’s nice! You’ve got some origami skills. You know what, P? I’ve got my own. 

It’s unicorn style. 

Portia: I love it. That is fancy. 

Dannah: I’m in. 

Erin: Oh, Dannah’s got a crown. 

Portia: I love it. Okay, it is time for this absolutely wonderful, big announcement and our official good news of the day. You know, we could study the Trinity all day, each member of the Trinity for a lifetime. It would still be very complicated for us, we will probably still struggle to comprehend everything about the nature of God. As Tara-Leigh noted earlier with the h2o example. The analogies and the object list. 

Erin: I think I’ve used that example before.

Portia: Me too. I've used the egg, and I have been like nope, nope, nope. I mean, they fall short. And that's because God is well, incomparable. Alright. 

(party horns)

Erin: I was waiting blow my horn until you said that word. 

Dannah: I see what you did there.

Portia: Yes. Yes. That is the name of the new book being released by our very own Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. This is my copy. It focuses on one member of the Trinity, Jesus, and we want you to check out this video so watch it really quickly.

41:59 - “Incomparable” Video

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Christ is incomparable.

We all have imperfections and aren't we painfully aware of this. Christ you will never see anything that needs to be different. There's nothing that could make Him any more excellent than He is. Because He drank that cup. And He took the eternal suffering that we deserve for our sin. We have the assurance that one day all our earthly suffering will be ended—physical, emotional, relational, all that suffering. One day we will be able to say, “It's finished.”

The resurrection means there is hope in the most desperate circumstances. And it's the resurrection that encourages us to remember that Christ has defeated death by walking through it and out through it on to the other side. To see Christ, to behold Him, to fix our gaze upon Him is to be transformed into His likeness.

Portia: I love that. 

Dannah: So excited. 

Portia: Listen, this celebration is multi-faceted because we are not just celebrating that the book was released. But also, we are celebrating that it hit the number one spot in Christology in the Christology category. 

Erin: It did? 

Dannah: Yes. 

Erin: I hadn’t heard the news!

Portia: Yeah, on Amazon.

Erin: Okay, pause right there for a minute P, we got the one of the number one podcast in the world. Right now it is Tara-Leigh Cobbles podcast The Bible Recap and one of the number one books in the world right now, is Incomparable by Nancy on Jesus. What? That's good news.

Dannah: Well, the number one in the Christology category. 

Erin: I know, but . . . 

Portia: But that's still great. That's still great.

Dannah: It's uncommon for a book to hit any number one on Amazon ever. 

Erin: So yeah.

Dannah: That's the best good news. People are hungry to understand God. 

Erin: (blows party horn) I’m going to give that another party horn, because that’s exciting.

Dannah: I'm gonna give another plug for that. That's exciting. 

This has been such a rich read. I decided to get started on my Advent reading early. And I have been reading it for about a week now. 

Erin: Not Advent, Lenten.

Dannah: Lenten. Yeah, well, I'm really, really early with the Advent. 

Portia: We knew what you meant, Girl, we didn't even think twice about it. 

Dannah: Well, my point is, friends, I've been reading this book every day for a week. You know books are good when I have my markers out. I'm circling things, and I'm connecting dots. And the other thing is, it's inviting me into the Scripture, because I'll find a verse that she just mentions or references. It's such a powerful sentence in which she references it that then I'm jumping over to my Bible and studying the whole chapter. This is what I call an appetizer for the Word of God. It is just so so good.

Erin: We mean it, we want you to get it.

Portia: Yes. I love that analogy, an appetizer for the Word of God. Love it. Now listen, Grounded sisters, we’ve got a job to do, and that is to get the word out. Not about this book. Okay, it's not about just the book. It is about Jesus. This book is a tool to help us know Him better, to understand Him, even though He is incomparable. 

And so, we want to challenge you to do two things. First, get the book in your hands. If you don't have the book, get it, it is available for a donation of any amount at Revive Our Hearts. You can go to ReviveOurHearts.com to donate, or you can call us at 1-800-569-5959 Let me say it again, like the commercials, 1-800-569-5959

Erin: You did that well, P. Good job. 

Portia: Thank you. We're gonna drop a link for those of you listening. We'll drop a link in the Episode Notes. Get the book. 

All right. And here's the second thing really quickly that we want you to do. We want you to go and review the book on Amazon. It's already number one in the Christology category. Those reviews go a long way. It's a simple way to really help get the word out ultimately about Jesus. 

And then it also helps to show up in more people's searches when you do those Amazon reviews. So go on over to Amazon, do your review. Get a copy of the book if you don't have it from ReviveOurHearts.com This week, we want to blow up the ratings.

Erin: Do it with integrity. Actually read the book. You're going to enjoy it. And then leave your heartfelt review where you're confident. Yes, you're gonna have good things to say because it's all about Jesus. 

Hey, girls, I want to read just a couple of comments. I mean, we've got a lot of really good feedback coming in. But this one from Rebecca, that I think reaches to the heart of why we want to do this episode. 

Dannah: That’s the one. 

Erin: She said she's very interested—exclamation point, exclamation point. But this hurts my heart. She said about her husband, “My husband denying the Trinity seems to be the door to doubting the deity of the Messiah.” So first of all, Rebecca, I cannot imagine the heartache of your husband walking away from the Lord. And so, we're going to send this to our Grounded prayer team, and they're going to be praying that his heart would turn. 

But I think you're onto something there. When we deny one part of who God reveals Himself to be, or throw out something that Scripture makes clear, it does open the floodgates of our hearts and minds to deny so much more. That's why we did this episode. That's why it matters.

Margarita, who we love, said that this sheds light on some things that her family members have been believing, related to the Trinity and to God. And so yeah, this stuff matters. We take God as He is, as he reveals Himself. And we trust that this is true, and it's inspired. It's giving us the picture of God that He wants to give to us. Any thoughts on that Dannah or Portia?

Dannah: Well, my desire for this episode today is that it would be an appetizer for God's Word, and that you would want to understand the Trinity more. If the Holy Spirit is the forgotten member of the Trinity in your life, that you would want to understand Him more, that you would want to understand Jesus more and dive into His incomparable character, and that this would just be a springboard for you. 

If you don't understand that, you're like, “Wow, that was really interesting, and that was phenomenal, but I still don't get it.” Yeah, neither do we. And we're just gonna go to God's Word after this episode, and we're gonna build on what we heard from Tara-Leigh, from Erin, such rich stuff this morning.

Erin: Yeah, resist that message that you have to fully understand something to believe it or to align your life to it. That is just not true. I don't understand algebra either. I can't understand everything. But I can follow Jesus. I can follow the Lord without understanding everything about Him because He's incomparable,

Portia: Here’s the thing: one day we when we meet the Lord and glory. Everything that we wondered and have struggled to comprehend we will. There's a hope that we have in our studying and in our seeking, there is a hope that we look forward to that one day. We get to sit with the Lord, and it'll all be sweeter in that great by and by.

Erin: That’s like the fourth good news of the day. I'm gonna silently blow my horn. Because that is amazing news that someday our faith will be sight, and we will know Him fully even as we've been fully known. That's a great place. 

Portia: Amen. I just don't have the words. So that means I just need to tell y'all about next week. My girl Hunter Beless will be here with us next week. She's gonna give us wisdom for how we use our social media this year. If it's strong when I said that, just know, you need to be here. If you are wondering, Am I on my screens too much? Or why can't I stop being on my screen so much? This episode is for you. Come back with us. 

Erin: I’ll be there. 

Portia: Yeah, absolutely. Let's wake up with hope together next week on Grounded.

Erin: Grounded audio is powered by Skype Grounded is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ

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