Sermon Text: John 15: 26-27; 16: 4b-15
John 15: 26-27
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16: 4b-15
4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,
5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
9 about sin, because people do not believe in me;
10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Morning Message:
Today we celebrate Pentecost; this is generally known as the birthday of the church. Why does the church, the body of Christ, begin on Pentecost? I did not choose to read the account of Pentecost today because I believe that it is a story that we should all be familiar with. Jesus promised his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to them and that by the Spirit’s power they would become his witnesses to the whole world. Jesus kept that promise and on Pentecost the Holy Spirit arrived and filled the disciples with the power of God. They performed many miracles, and from that point on the church began to grow. The Holy Spirit was and is a uniting force in the church. As a matter of fact the church, the true church, the body of Christ, does not exist apart from the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the glue that holds brothers and sisters in Christ together. It is the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. Many times when there are problems in the church the reason is as simple as the Holy Spirit not being present in the lives of church members.
The Holy Spirit is also given to us. Ephesians 1: 13 says: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
From my devotional: At the moment you give your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters your life in a dramatic way. You may or may not feel the exhilaration, but it is a spiritual reality we receive by faith, not by feelings. From that point, the Spirit begins working in the deepest interiors of your life—producing love, joy, and peace. He begins giving you the ability to understand the Bible. He helps you learn to live by faith and obedience. And He conveys the eternal blessings of heaven into your life.
The Holy Spirit is God’s way of sealing every promise He has for you in the future. Paul tells us in Ephesians to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, to be filled with the Spirit, and to pray in the Spirit. This is truly what it means to be a spiritual Christian! If we belong to Jesus we not only can be spiritual Christians, we are called to be. People will say to me all of the time: I am a Christian, but I just am not the type of person who likes to go to church or read a bible. I believe in Jesus and I experience God in nature and don’t feel the need to be around other people or to share what I believe with others. There is a word for all of that kind of talk and thought process, but I won’t say it. Let’s just say that it’s completely non-Christian to think this way and there is no sign of the Holy Spirit being present in someone who thinks and acts like that.
The Holy Spirit is an Advocate for believers in Jesus. An Advocate speaks for you, defends you, and fights for you. As Christians we are sealed by the Holy Spirit; when God sees us, He sees the mark of the Spirit; He hears the Spirit’s testimony on our behalf. We are told that even when we do not know how or what to pray, the Holy Spirit prays for us to the Father. You know it’s a common thought that prayer is something that is between just you and God, and that’s true to a certain extent, but with the presence of the Holy Spirit you are never truly alone with God. We need to think about that for a moment. I find it comforting to know that when I am in prayer, I have an Advocate who can speak for me, correct some of my thinking, and keep me focused in the right places. God understands our shortcomings because Jesus walked this earth and lived as a human being. The Holy Spirit stands between us and God, a Holy presence to offset our humanness.
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth. He always conveys the truth to us. We do not always listen, but the Holy Spirit is the reason that we realize when we are wrong. As Christians we should always know when we are wrong and when we have fallen short of the glory of God. We can make excuses, but if you belong to Jesus and have the Holy Spirit in you, somewhere deep down you know the truth because the Spirit of truth is making you aware. I don’t know about you, but I know instantly when I am out of fellowship with God. I will be the first to admit that I don’t always react quickly to my shortcomings, but I know what I have done, and I am miserable until I confess it. God doesn’t have to reach down and slap me up alongside my head; thankfully, the Spirit of truth just keeps pointing the truth out to me until I get it through my thick skull. Jesus tells us in today’s scripture that it was for our good that He went to the Father and that the Spirit would be sent in His place. It was not yet time for Jesus to establish his kingdom; the Holy Spirit is our support, our advocate with the Father, the Spirit of truth to keep us righteous, until Jesus comes.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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