[0:00] Amen. Good to be together. Welcome each one. It's just been amazing to be in your midst again and just see the spiritual growth of the church here.
[0:17] That just excites me. I want to bless you all for just the way that God uses you to minister light and deliverance and love to people that need him.
[0:37] And we heard a lot about that on Friday. Just the testimony there of Laverne and Rosa and all of you too. But again, I just bless you for your heart to minister the love and the life of Jesus to those that God brings in your path.
[1:02] Just to the burden you're carrying for the Amish people there in Michigan. It just stirs something in me to hear you talk about it.
[1:16] I just realize it is the heart of Jesus. It's the heart of the Father for these people. It's not just our idea or something we're pursuing.
[1:27] So God bless you in that. Bring greetings from the church there in Trinidad. I think it was Jeff and maybe Alvin that said they agreed to church too.
[1:43] Jeff, they would have loved to come. But yeah, it's been pretty busy there. So they weren't able to come. So we look forward to having you there.
[1:59] And so we're going to leave right pretty quick after the service. So don't be offended by that. We need to get home so you guys can follow us and come there too.
[2:12] So we're looking forward to next weekend, our weekend together. I appreciated so much the songs Enos that you selected.
[2:25] And also the thoughts by Brother Raymond. It's just such a foundation. It just leads right into what's on my heart this morning.
[2:36] I want to preach this morning on the Holy Spirit. An aspect of the Holy Spirit or maybe just the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we, but who the Holy Spirit is and an aspect of who he is and what he brings to our lives.
[2:58] And it was just, Ray, your thoughts there were just such a lead into this. So one thing I think at times in our journey, spiritual journey, that we tend to lose sight of maybe is the reality of the person, first of all, of Jesus Christ.
[3:25] And how real Jesus is. And I think sometimes we get caught up in trying to have the right theology and the right interpretation of all of scripture.
[3:40] And all of that has its place and it's important. But Christianity and having the gospel of Jesus real in us is first and foremost having the person of Jesus to be real in us.
[3:56] If you can know very little about accurate interpretation of scripture. And if you have Jesus living in you. I love that.
[4:08] I love. I can't remember that thought that that Laverne that was there from Michigan at the wedding. He was saying afterwards that his mother-in-law as a, as a Amish woman in tremendous darkness.
[4:28] And the, and she got, somehow she encountered Jesus. She just met Jesus. I don't, I don't think she knew anything else hardly. In fact, the preachers came to her, which was her uncles, right?
[4:42] Her brothers that were Amish preachers. They came to her and said, how do you know anything about the Bible? However, all he said that it was so beautiful.
[4:54] And she was just crying and stuff because she was, I think, somewhat intimidated by these big preachers coming and challenging her. But she, all she knew is that Jesus was real.
[5:05] And that saved her. I mean, that delivered her. She had, she had life because the person, not that she understood the scripture, but she, but the, the person of Jesus was in her life.
[5:20] And that gave her life. And I would say that was such a beautiful, I love that testimony that the way he shared that. So, I want to, I want to, I want to preach about the Holy Spirit.
[5:40] The Holy Spirit is real. The Holy Spirit is also a person. He's not just an influence in our life that somehow, you know, he, he, he is to be as real to us as Jesus Christ is real to us.
[5:59] And I believe that Jesus Christ is no more real to us than the Holy Spirit is real to us. And I just want to really challenge us this morning with that thought.
[6:10] I was amazed that way back in the day there, Spurgeon said, We do well to treat the Holy Spirit as we would have treated Christ were he yet among us.
[6:32] I want us to, that, and Spurgeon wasn't some kind of radical Pentecostal or charismatic or whatever. I mean, Spurgeon was, his theology was Calvinism, which I don't understand, I don't understand that.
[6:50] But that's who he was. But Jesus was real, I believe, to men like Spurgeon in spite of their theology.
[7:00] And the Holy Spirit was real to them as a person. And I want to challenge us as we get into the message here.
[7:12] If Jesus was here in person, and we know he is, but if he was here in a person that we could see and touch and converse with or whatever, how would we, what would be our response?
[7:31] How would we interact with him? How would, if he showed up here, just somehow, again, incarnate in the flesh, he would just come in our midst.
[7:45] What, how would we interact with him? What would we, how would we treat him? How would we, what would our thoughts speak?
[7:55] And that is how we would, our met, we should treat the Holy Spirit in the same way that we would treat Jesus if he was here.
[8:09] Because he is the spirit of Christ, he's the spirit of God. So I want to, I want to read in John chapter 14. I was wondering, could that fan be maybe turned on medium or something?
[8:23] I don't think we're going to get overly. I, I, I noticed sitting over there, and I, I want us to hear, not because I'm preaching, but I, I, I believe that, I believe God wants to speak.
[8:40] And so, you don't have to turn it off, but if it, if there's a lower setting that, you keep a little air, that's fine. I just thought it was a little bit loud. I want to start in John 13.
[8:57] And I, I just want to go, I'll try to go through this quick. There's so much, some of you know that about a month ago I was in Iowa, I was asked to preach prayer.
[9:10] In Iowa on the Holy Spirit, I preached six messages, and I, I was like, I went going there, I was like, I don't know if I've ever preached six messages on one subject, although that the Holy Spirit is not a subject, it's a person.
[9:27] I want us to get this. You know, I, the, when I started preaching there, I started declaring the personhood and the reality of the Holy Spirit being a person.
[9:39] And after church, a brother come up and he wasn't, he didn't, he, he just challenged that thought because it was such, I was, I couldn't hardly believe it, but to him, it was such a new thought.
[9:51] That how real the Holy Spirit is meant to be in our life. And I, you know, I think in some, we go along in life and we do life and we, we know these things in our head and it becomes a, it's almost like an abstract truth or an abstract reality or something.
[10:13] That we don't realize how much God wants to, I really appreciated where Ray, I just thought it was such a bouncing off place.
[10:25] God wants us to walk with him. And as we pursue walking with him, the reality of the Holy Spirit, this just came to me when you were sharing, Ray, the reality of the Holy Spirit is he comes and walks with us.
[10:44] He, he, he, he be, he comes in our life. John, as the very person of God in Jesus Christ and he walks with us through life.
[10:56] And how, how awesome is that? That we don't just have an abstract thought or influence in our life.
[11:06] He, he brings influence, but we actually have a person. John, you talked about having each other. We have each other.
[11:17] We have the Holy Spirit as a person. And then we come together and we have each other. As people that the Holy Spirit indwells and infills to walk together in life.
[11:30] And how beautiful, how awesome that is. So, um, anyhow, when I came home, I had preached. I thought, how do you preach six messages?
[11:43] But when I was done, I realized that I, I didn't even scratch the surface on the Holy Spirit. And when I came home, I was reading John 14, 15, 16, 17 in my personal reading.
[11:59] And I was just like, here's an aspect that I never even touched about on the Holy Spirit. After I preached six messages. And it just, God just ministered to me through his word in this.
[12:12] And, and I, I, I want to share that. But I'll start here in chapter 13. And, and again, I'll try to get through this quickly. Little children. I think I'll start in verse 33.
[12:23] Yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me. And as I said unto the Jews, whether I go, you cannot come.
[12:34] So now I say to you. So Jesus is saying, I said this to the Jews, but I'm saying it to you, disciples. Where I'm going, you cannot come. And then verse 34, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another.
[12:51] As I have loved you, that ye also love one another. And this is just a side note, but it's in the scripture here. Jesus said, the new commandment is God had already give the command that we love the Lord, our God and our neighbor as ourself.
[13:08] That's the old commandment. The new commandment is not only do we love our neighbor, but we also love each other as he has loved us. With the capacity, with the same intenseness, with the same love that Jesus loved us.
[13:25] That is the essence of the new commandment of love. That we love the way he loved us. That is now how we are to love one another.
[13:35] What a beautiful thing when that's functioning in the church. By this you all may know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou?
[13:48] So Simon's mind is still back here to what Jesus said. I'm going away, you cannot come. And Simon says, Lord, whither goest thou?
[14:03] Where are you going? Jesus answered, he said, whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why can I not follow thee now?
[14:14] I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, will thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily I say unto you, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice.
[14:27] Let not your heart be troubled. You know, this is, and rightfully so, this is used a lot in a, maybe in a funeral or time of loss and so on.
[14:42] But notice the context that Jesus says here. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. And again, the whole aspect of letting not our heart be troubled means that we don't have to.
[15:02] Our heart doesn't have to be troubled. There's a way that we can live that our heart is not troubled regardless of what we go through and what we face.
[15:15] It's a decision we make. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also.
[15:34] And again, we could, I won't break this all down here, but, but just again, the heart of Jesus, the heart of the father, the heart of Jesus for, for humanity, for us, that he wants us to be where he is.
[15:53] And he wants to be, he wants to be where we are. And that's why he came to us. And he's preparing a place for us. I was, I was, I was blessed too with Aaron's thought, thoughts there at the, the wedding that when the bridegroom comes.
[16:13] He, he, Aaron was spoke something about, he comes with great excitement, anticipation with great joy. And then, and why is that?
[16:24] Because he longs to be with us. He longs to have us to be with him ultimately when this is all over and when we, when we leave and go to heaven.
[16:37] But the, the, the whole purpose of that, the whole purpose of heaven is that we're together forever. We're with each other.
[16:47] That's the heart of God for us. And I guess as I began this, that doesn't start when we get to heaven. It starts here.
[16:59] And that's what just, that's what blesses me about, about the awesomeness of our God and the heart of our father. And everything he's provided for us here as we live life here on this earth.
[17:16] Is that the whole time he's just, he's just waiting for us to allow him that we can live life together.
[17:31] And ultimately that will end in eternity and in heaven being with him. One thing I want to, I want to just say here is we know that Jesus was going away.
[17:46] Jesus was going to be crucified. He was going back to heaven. The disciples were going to be left here. And this was an immense change of taking place here right, right in front of the disciples.
[18:04] They, you know, they were just common fishermen. Jesus came along. They followed Jesus. They walked with him three and a half years. And now Jesus is going to leave them. But not only that, this is the end of a dispensation.
[18:19] I mean, think about this. And the beginning of another dispensation. This is the end of the old covenant. It's the beginning of the new covenant. And everything that they knew as Jews and, you know, the way they were raised.
[18:36] All of that is now is in the process of change. And church, we're at the, I believe, I believe we are at the end of the dispensation.
[18:51] And we are at the, we are, we're at the, we're going to see the dawning. We're seeing the dawning of a new day, a new dispensation. Last night, some of us were together.
[19:02] We were talking about end time things. However you perceive that to be, whatever your eschatology is on that, it's okay. But the truth is, we cannot, we cannot in reality look at what's happening in the world, not just in America, but in the world as a whole, and not see that something is changing and changing and changing.
[19:32] Something that, in a matter of moments, our lives could be just radically changed.
[19:46] I don't know when it's going to be. I don't know the timing of all that. But the change is taking place. We are at the end of a dispensation, and we're about to come into a new dispensation.
[20:04] Or I don't know if dispensation is the right word, but a new time. The coming of Jesus Christ is near. I personally believe, and some of you might not agree, and I'm not telling you how to believe.
[20:18] I personally believe that Jesus is going to come back on this earth and rule and reign here a thousand years. And he's going to show the world what we could have had if we would have just had Jesus.
[20:33] If we would have just wanted Jesus all along. But you don't have to agree with that. I love you just the same. I might be, you might be wrong and I might be wrong.
[20:46] But I know something, I know something is changing. Something is going to be different. What was the heart of Jesus for his disciples?
[21:01] What was the answer of Jesus? What was the provision of Jesus Christ for these men that he loved so intimately and realized that they are going to live out this radical change that if something hadn't been provided for them, they could become so confused and so disillusioned.
[21:27] You know, you think about, they grew up for a couple thousand years under the law, being taught the law and the, you know, the sacrifices and all of those things.
[21:42] That was so ingrained in them. They could not think outside of that. And yet they were going to have to as followers of Christ. Notice the heart of Jesus.
[21:58] How intense his love and his desire was for them that they are prepared for this.
[22:10] And again, what is his answer for this? Again, verse 4, let me go on here.
[22:24] And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Again, Jesus is talking about I'm going somewhere. And I want to just say that this is what Jesus is saying when he's going.
[22:44] I believe if this is the same answer Jesus has for us as he's coming. He's not going, he's coming. And when he comes, everything is going to change.
[22:58] And I believe his answer for us in his coming is the same answer he had for his disciples in his going.
[23:09] It's the answer that's going to get us through this moment in history and have us prepared for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
[23:23] And that thought just really warmed my heart. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not what...
[23:34] That's exactly, he said, basically, it's exactly what we don't know. We don't know where you're going. Look at the transition here.
[23:44] They're trying to wrap their minds around what Jesus is saying. And he says, how can we know the way if we don't even know where we're going? The reason we knew how to get here to Plains is because we knew where we were going.
[24:06] And if you know where you're going, we can find out the way to get where we're going. And so Jesus is trying to just prepare them for this.
[24:20] Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, you should have known my Father also.
[24:32] And from henceforth you know him and have seen him. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me, the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
[24:52] Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works' sake. And again, I want to just notice how, just notice the heart of God.
[25:09] God wanted man to see who he really was. And he could never accurately show man who he was under the old dispensation in the law.
[25:22] He needed, the only way that man could see God in the way that God wanted to reveal himself to man was through the person of Jesus Christ.
[25:34] And again, God owed us nothing. But it's very important to God that we see him. Like Ray read there.
[25:48] That we know him. That Paul, the heart of Paul was that I may know him. Intimately. Know him as a man knows his wife.
[26:01] As one. Like Aaron preached at the wedding there. Leaving and cleaving only to him because the love, we know them.
[26:13] It's an intimate knowing. And that's how much God wants us to know him. That he sent Jesus to live life.
[26:25] And if we've seen Jesus, we've seen the Father. What a beautiful thought that is. And then verse 12. Verity, verity, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I shall do, he shall do also.
[26:39] And greater works than these shall he do. Because I go unto my Father. I won't take time to. But yeah, these are the words of Jesus. Very important. I love John 14, 15, 16, and 17.
[26:55] Just love these teachings. This discourse of Jesus to his disciples. To me, it becomes very personal. Not only to him, but I believe Jesus is speaking to me.
[27:06] He's speaking to us as his church in these days. It's whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.
[27:20] Again, do we believe that? Do we know Jesus in that way? Is Jesus that real to us? That we actually believe this? And don't just somehow dismiss this great promise, these great truths of Jesus Christ.
[27:37] If you love me, keep my commandments. And then this is, yeah, this is the main part of the text here. Again, he's called us to be with him.
[28:15] But he also wants to be in us and shall be in you. But ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.
[28:29] Christ in you is the hope of glory. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Yet a little while the world seeth me no more, but ye see me because I live, ye shall live also.
[28:51] At that day, which day? The day that he comes to them in the person of the Holy Spirit. At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
[29:06] And what a beautiful truth that is the heart of God. This is how intimate God wants to be with us.
[29:18] This is what he has provided for us in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the kingdom of God, in Christianity, that we would know that we are in him, that we are in the Father, and that we are in Christ, and that Christ is in us.
[29:42] How do we know that? How is that made real to us in our experience, in our journey, in our life? It's through the person of the Holy Spirit. When he, the Holy Spirit, comes, there's an aspect that you will know that in a way you've never known.
[30:00] It'll be real to you. It is real to us in a way that it was never real to us before. It is something more than head knowledge. It's something that we realize that the very person of Jesus now indwells me, lives in me, abides with me, in the very person of the Holy Spirit.
[30:26] I want to look at... Well, I want to... Let me just catch up with my notes here. How could Jesus, as a man, so clearly show to humanity the Father?
[30:43] I believe it comes from his incredible emptying of himself as one with the Father. And Philippians brings that out. He didn't claim that right that he had as one with the Father, but he emptied himself and he became completely dependent on the Father.
[31:04] And to me, that's very important. That was how Jesus was able to reveal the Father to us because he became totally dependent on the Father.
[31:19] And self-emptying and dependence is the opposite of the spirit of this world. We do everything we can.
[31:32] I think, Aaron, I think it was you that said on Friday at the wedding, independent or dependent. Not...
[31:42] Independent is subject... Or independent is not subject to the control of others. And dependent is relying on someone else for support.
[31:56] Relying on one another. Somehow, somewhere, I just kind of wrote down a few of those thoughts as you were... And I want to just say that Jesus said that the world cannot receive this spirit.
[32:15] Even as a Christian, a so-called Christian or whatever, if you have this spirit of independence, you will not receive the spirit because the spirit is only received by those who seek a dependence.
[32:34] That really stood out to me. This... Whom the world cannot receive. Why is it so difficult in our culture? Why is it so difficult, may I say, even in our circles, to have people genuinely baptized, immersed, filled with the Holy Spirit of God?
[32:57] I think it's... We do everything in our culture we can to be independent. Financially, John talked about how we need each other.
[33:09] We put these shells around us that we can make it as Christians without the church, without each other, all of these things. I tell you, the Holy Spirit does not answer to that.
[33:21] The Holy Spirit does not come to that. The Holy Spirit comes to a people that knows that I cannot do life alone.
[33:32] I cannot do life alone. And that is... That was Jesus' answer. Jesus' answer to His disciples and Him going away is it was never meant for you to do life alone.
[33:50] I... Jesus, in essence, is saying, I love walking with you men. And you're not...
[34:01] In me going, you're still not going to be alone because I'm going to send... I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and He's going to be another comfort.
[34:15] It says here, another comforter. They found comfort. They found security in walking with Jesus Christ.
[34:26] Jesus as a man, as the person of the Son of God. But He was not going to be here in that realm. But He was going to send another one that would take His place and be to them like He was to them as a person.
[34:45] I think we understand that. I want to look at this word, the comforter, because that's one of the...
[34:57] That was one of the very difficult Greek words that they could find no... They could not find one word that defined what this word in the Greek meant.
[35:12] And so we think of comfort, we're sad, someone comforts. It does not necessarily mean that. But they used it, they used this word.
[35:23] I love the way the Amplified says, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby.
[35:34] that's who Jesus sent for us or for the disciples in Him going away. And I believe that still...
[35:44] Last night we were talking about how do... How do we prepare ourselves and our people and the church for what's coming? We were talking about AI, artificial intelligence, and you know, how do we...
[36:00] What is that? Is it the... You know, all of this stuff. How do we prepare? God never meant for us to figure that out alone. He sent us the Holy Spirit to walk with us.
[36:14] To walk with us through the mark of the beast. If we're here, if we're living, if the church is here through the mark... Again, depending on your eschatology.
[36:27] If we're here through the mark of the beast, we're not going to be here alone. He's going to show us what to do. He is our... He's going to help us through that. And I just...
[36:38] I find so much comfort in that. Again, not just a theory, not just an influence, but the reality of a living person living with me in life, walking with me when I walk...
[36:54] If I need to face the mark of the beast, that person is with me and in me and is walking with me through that. Wow. What a...
[37:05] What an awesome thing. So I want to... Again, the word comfortless there in verse 18 is not the same Greek word where it says I will send a comforter in verse...
[37:21] In verse... Comfortless in 18 is not the same word as a comforter in 16. Comfortless, that word in 18 it means friendless or parentless or teacherless.
[37:37] Again, He had been their guide, their teacher, their protector and Jesus is saying with me going, you're not going to not have that.
[37:48] You're still going to have that in the person of the Holy Spirit. Okay, I want to just... I think I'll just take... What time is it?
[38:00] Anybody have time? I want to just see how important this was to Jesus. Let's drop down.
[38:10] I'll just... Well, let me read on down here and then I'll just finish up with my notes. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them. Verse 21.
[38:23] And again, what are the... What are the requirements for receiving this spirit of truth, this comforter? I think it's just very basically just love, obedience, and faith.
[38:40] And Jesus brings that out here. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth of me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.
[38:56] And I want to just... I'll just throw this in going through here. We hear a lot today about unconditional love. Is... Verse 21.
[39:08] Let me read on here. Judah saith unto him, not as scary, Lord, how is it that thou will manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world. Jesus said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
[39:24] I just ask you, is that unconditional love or is there a condition to that love? I think there is a sense of unconditional love that God loves all of humanity the same.
[39:37] This... somehow Jesus put a condition on the love of the Father. It's conditioned on how we love him. I...
[39:49] I love all of you but I don't love all of you the same as I love my wife. There would be... There's a condition that comes with the relationship that my wife and I have together.
[40:04] This intimate... And this is... This is what Jesus desires. This is why Jesus came. This is what the Father desires. God wants to be with us and us to be with him forever.
[40:18] And it starts here. And the condition of that is our love toward him. And we love him because we know that it starts with him. When we see his love for us, when we see how much he desires for us to be together for eternal...
[40:38] for eternity, it draws love out of our heart back to him. And that brings this intimate relationship, this spiritual intimacy that God has meant for us to have as believers.
[40:55] That he will manifest himself to... He says, and I will love you and will manifest myself to you. And my Father will love you in verse 23. And we will come unto you and make our abode with you.
[41:08] Again, I'm going to read that in the Amplified. It's just too good. I'll just read the last part. I too will love him and will show, reveal myself to him.
[41:19] I will let myself be clearly seen by him and make myself real to him. Is... And again, is Jesus real to you?
[41:31] That's my question this morning. Is the Holy Spirit real to you as a person? If he's not, there's something we're drastically lacking in our relationship, in our whole premise, in our whole confession of being Christians.
[41:51] The whole aspect of being a Christian is that Jesus is revealing himself to us. And he's showing us the Father and he's showing us his heart.
[42:04] And he's making himself real to us. And then, in verse 23 there in the Amplified, just the last part, we will come to him and make our home, our abode, our special dwelling place with him.
[42:18] That's... In essence, that's all God's looking for, church, in us, that God wants to live in us. God has provided to live in us.
[42:29] God desires to live in us. But, Leon, let me just get down here and read verse 25.
[42:42] These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. Okay, it just said this. Notice what Jesus says again, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father was sent in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I say unto you.
[42:58] Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Let's go down to John chapter 15.
[43:10] He's still pouring out his heart right before he was crucified. And notice what he keeps saying and keeps saying to them. In John chapter 15, he says, but when the Comforter has come in verse 26, well, let me back up to 23.
[43:28] He that hateth me hateth my Father also. So, he's preparing them for the hatred that the world has, that Satan has to the things of God, to the ways of God.
[43:43] And he says, if they've done, if I had not done among them the works which no, none other man did then, they had not had sin.
[43:54] But now they both have, they have both seen and hated me, both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they hated me without a cause.
[44:06] So this is the context now, as he goes on and teaches them that there's going to be great animosity and persecution in the world against who Jesus is.
[44:20] And church, that's exactly what we're seeing building up more and more in our own nation, in our own culture, and around the world. There is a hatred, not just an aggravation or an intolerance.
[44:35] There is building a hatred for the things of the kingdom of God, of Jesus Christ, the people of God. And we're going to, you and I are, if we, unless Jesus somehow comes quickly, we're going to face that.
[44:52] How are we, how are we preparing ourselves? How are we going to deal with that? What Jesus is telling them, this is what is in the world.
[45:04] Why would, why do we struggle so much with the world? Because the world hates our Lord and our Savior. The world hates the one person that's real to us, that has died for us, that loves us.
[45:20] The world wants to use us and whatever. The world don't love us in that sense. So what is Jesus' answer?
[45:33] Boy, when the comforters come. Why does he say it again? But when the comforters come, whom I will send unto you. This is now the third time in one message he comes back to this.
[45:48] Even the Spirit of truth that proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. Down in chapter 16, he goes on. Now he brings it, makes it very personal to them.
[46:00] These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. They shall put you in synagogues. Synagogues. Not only do they hate me, but they're going to hate you. This is going to get very personal to you.
[46:12] The time cometh when whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God's service. These things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.
[46:26] But these things have I told you that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. This is something we need to be reminded of, church. This is something we need to prepare ourselves for.
[46:38] As we see things changing in our world, in our culture, we need to prepare ourselves. How are we going to deal with persecution? We do a persecuted church report once a month in church.
[46:56] I know they did that years ago at Grace and Truth. Yeah, we started doing it again. We had done it years ago. It's just amazing the amount of persecution that is building up in the world.
[47:11] I mean, as far as they can tell, like never before in these different countries and so on. And I tell you, that is coming here.
[47:25] Let's not be deceived that somehow that is not coming here. I believe it is. How do we prepare ourselves? Will you stand? I tell you, if you have Christianity as a certain theology in your mind, you will not stand.
[47:43] If you have the reality of the person of Jesus Christ living in you and the reality of the person of the Holy Spirit living in you, you can stand.
[47:55] You will stand. I believe even more than stand. I believe we will prosper. I believe we will do great exploits because the very person of God is living in us.
[48:07] And that is, that's the reality of the Christianity that we need to embrace and we need to pursue in our churches. Not see what, just how we can make it to heaven.
[48:24] But how, how deep and how intimately can I know this Jesus that whatever I face, he is so real to me that I'm willing to lay down my life for him.
[48:38] And that's, we know that that's, that's the Christianity the apostles had. But now I go to him, but now I go my way to him that sent me and none asks you with it goest thou.
[48:53] But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. This is the fourth time the fourth time in one message. Jesus is saying, nevertheless, I tell you the truth.
[49:06] It's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And we could, we could go on just what the Holy Spirit will do in the world.
[49:21] And I believe, I believe, how is he going to do that in the world? I believe if he is real in the church, that's going to be real in the world. The conviction of sin, righteousness, and the judgment that come and so on.
[49:37] But then let's, let's go down to verse 12. I have yet many things to say unto you and you cannot bear them. Now, albeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak of himself.
[49:52] But whatsoever he shall hear, he shall speak, and he will show you things to come and he shall glorify me. I tell you, if we're facing death and the thought, the truth, the reality hits us because the spirit of God is so real in us that my, the laying down of the giving of my life could actually glorify God.
[50:20] I think the truth of that, I think that can hit us. It's by the Holy Spirit that we will just gladly lay down our lives. And I tell you, we're not going to lay down our lives to death if we can't even lay down our lives here for one another or for the sake of the kingdom, the sake of the gospel.
[50:43] If we just live here for everything we can get out of, how in the world, everything we can get out of life, how in the world are we ever going to lay down our life when it, when it costs us our life, when it literally might cost us our life.
[50:58] And then verse, I need to read verse 15, 16 yet. All things the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I unto you, he will take of mine. Look, look at this.
[51:09] This is our, this is this counselor. This is this advocate. He's going to take what is Christ. He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you.
[51:27] All of his love, all of his conquering power, all of his victory over sin, all of his victory over the world, everything that was Christ as a man, having this Holy Spirit, this person of the Holy Spirit living in us.
[51:44] He's going to take that and just show it to us. That's mine. What Christ had, that wasn't only Christ. That's also now mine. I can live that way.
[51:57] I can die that way if I need to. All things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I will take of mine and show them and will show it unto you.
[52:07] Yet a little, a little while, you shall not see me. And again, a little while, you shall see me because I go to the Father. I just, four times, Jesus says here, talks about the comforter.
[52:23] Three times, and I want to just make this message. My focus is not on the spirit of truth, but he's not the spirit, he's not the spirit of comfort if he's, if you don't have a heart for truth.
[52:34] Three times, he says he's the spirit of truth. That's his title. Notice in the King James, it's capitalized. Comforter is capitalized.
[52:45] Truth is capitalized. It's a person of the spirit. He's the spirit of truth. And the fourth time, it talks about he's the teacher, and it's referring to truth.
[52:55] He's going to teach us. Doesn't call him the spirit of truth, but it talks about him being our teacher. So I just want to emphasize that. We do not have any more of the Holy Spirit than we walk in truth.
[53:14] Let's not delude ourselves, deceive ourselves in any way with that. Again, there's five times this Greek word is used in the New Testament.
[53:32] Four of them is right here. The other time is in 1 John 2. I just want to read, I'll read that real quick. 1 John chapter 2. The only time this word is used, and notice how it's used here, verse 1.
[53:56] My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. If any man sin, we have an advocate, we have a comforter. It's the same Greek word.
[54:07] We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So in this interpretation, the translators use the word advocate. So I want to just break this down here quickly, just this thought of the comforter.
[54:23] What does that mean? Who he is in us as we have him in our lives. It means one summoned, called to one side.
[54:39] And again, he says, I will, Jesus said, the Father will send to you. He will, and the thought there is, he will summon, he will say, Holy Spirit, go to them, people.
[54:55] Go to them. He will send them. He will summons them to be there with them. I just love that thought of that word.
[55:07] Called to one side, especially called to one's aid. The Holy Spirit was destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles after Christ's ascension to the Father.
[55:19] To lead them to a deeper knowledge of gospel, spiritual truth. And give them divine strength needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the divine kingdom.
[55:36] The function of the Holy Spirit as the comforter, again, we're not focused on the spirit of truth, but as the spirit of the comforter, the advocate, is to fill us with the spirit of power and courage, which makes it possible to triumphantly cope with life.
[55:55] This is in the word stuff. So again, you see something deeper than just when we're sad or when we have great loss or whatever, we receive natural comfort.
[56:11] He gives us power and courage and makes it possible to triumphantly cope with life. He is here to help, to assist us.
[56:21] He is the constant illuminating, strengthening, enabling presence of Jesus Christ in our life. Again, He makes us able to cope with life.
[56:35] That's one of the primary thoughts there of the comforter. We can cope because we have someone living in us that gives us the courage and the strength to cope with life.
[56:48] the Holy Spirit in us is none other than the presence and the power of the risen Christ living and dwelling within. When the Holy Spirit is functioning in our lives, we know the reality of this intimate spiritual relationship of Christ in the person of the Spirit indwelling us.
[57:11] And this is the part I guess that just really just in the meditating on who God sent the Holy Spirit to be in us.
[57:22] He is here. He is in me. Oh, the miracle of God's desire to dwell so intimately, so closely with us.
[57:33] Do you, do we believe, do we have the faith this morning to believe how much Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit long to just be with us?
[57:55] Just be with us. He wants to be with us. He wants to walk with us. He was here. He walked outside of man with the disciples and the world there.
[58:11] But now he is here walking with man inside of man. And in that way, he is with us everywhere we go, everything we do, everything we think, every struggle we have, every temptation we overcome or every temptation we fail.
[58:31] He somehow wants to be with us. Is, I don't know, somehow that just became so real to me and it just, it just touches my heart.
[58:49] The incredible desire. Why would God want to be with me? I know who I am. I know my carnal thoughts. I know my frustrations.
[59:03] I know when I gloat. Why would God even have any desire to walk with us imperfect people?
[59:15] But he does. That's what he longs for. That's why the whole, we could talk about the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit and tongues and all of those kind of things.
[59:28] But the thing that overwhelmed my heart is one reality of the Holy Spirit is simply that God wants to be with us constantly. And the thought that came to me as I read this was simply this thought that I felt God ministered in my heart that I want to be in your space.
[59:56] Just let me in your space. I want to be where you are. Ultimately, if he, if we let him in our space or in our life now, the ultimate end of that is he's going to let us in his space, in his life, in his home return.
[60:17] And I guess the thing that overwhelmed me too was I could see that at the final redemption and when everything, when we're get rid of this body of flesh and the struggles we have and all of that, you know, and the final end of of, yeah, of our redemption is that we have a new body and we have a new life and we're never tempted but he don't wait for that.
[60:54] That wasn't good enough for God to wait till the, this thing completely works itself out to the end that he can totally perfect us and then he lets us in his home.
[61:07] He comes, he wants to dwell with us now in our imperfections and I don't understand that about God. He, he not only is willing to, he wants to.
[61:22] He wants to live with me, with us as totally imperfect, unworthy, failing many times people and he wants, he wants to do that together with us.
[61:42] To me, that's in essence, one of the great realities of the comforter, this advocate, this counselor coming to us. You know, I preached this at home and a brother came up to me afterwards and said, he said, I make so many mistakes.
[62:09] He said, I just can't really believe that God really wants to walk with me. And I, I didn't know what to say except the thought came to me and I said, you know what, I don't even know if this is theologically correct, I don't know if it's right or not, but this is what I told him.
[62:28] I said, you know, God never made a mistake. He sees mistakes firsthand in walking with us.
[62:39] They're not His mistakes, but He's right there even when we make mistakes and He knows how that feels, He knows what that is because He never did that.
[62:50] He never could identify with mistakes, with failures. He never had a failure. He never had a failure. Why God, the Holy God, would so long for humanity that He's willing to walk in Him and live in Him, is, I mean, the wonder of that grace, the wonder of that love is just unfathomable to me.
[63:29] in Jesus Christ, God was living life, was living our life. God entered into an ordinary home, into ordinary life.
[63:44] God was not ashamed to do a man's work. Jesus was a carpenter of Nazareth. He knows the difficulties of our ordinary lives.
[64:01] And I guess this is, you know, sometimes we think of the filling of the Spirit as these extraordinary, and it does produce extraordinary. But it starts with just the reality of God being in our ordinary lives.
[64:20] The difficulties of construction. How does God know how hard it is to frame a house? You know He has infinite...
[64:31] I mean, think about you guys that are builders. Just think about the reality of God's right, in you. The Holy Spirit is in you as a person experiencing what it is to do construction, what it is to bake a cake, what it is to go through the struggles of child training, you know, trying to raise a family, but all of those things, the ordinary things that make up our life, God's not, it's not like God says, okay, you guys get that right, go do it.
[65:08] You know what to do. No, no, that's not God, that's not the gospel. He comes, He is in us to do that together with Him. He wants us to do that together.
[65:21] And I really appreciate again the thought, the more we do that together with the Spirit, I think the more we're also drawn to each other to do life together with each other in the sense of the body.
[65:39] You know, most of you here have met Gary, our neighbor that got saved years ago when we moved there to Trinidad. And one of the things that just blessed me about Gary being a drunk for 30 years and being, you know, getting saved, being part of the church is after he grew a little ways and Jesus became real to him, he used to tell me, he said, when I go on a Harley ride, he said, it's like he knows that Jesus is sitting right there behind him on that Harley.
[66:21] And he said, you know, and I was like, we're too religious to think that way, but that was so real to him and I knew it was real to him. And he said, I mean, he said, Jesus loves to go on a Harley ride.
[66:34] He's just right there with me. We're doing that together. He never seen it as something separate from who Jesus was in his life.
[66:50] And, I mean, praise God after, what, 14 years or whatever, it's like, you know, every once in a while, he says, yeah, I'm getting a Harley out, the weather's nice.
[67:01] He said, I just, I just know that Jesus is just in for, he wants to go on a ride, you know, he just, and I love that.
[67:11] I love that Jesus is that real to him. And would to God that he would be that real to us. When you get up in the morning, whatever you're, whatever you're going to do, do you ever think about, we're doing this together.
[67:25] the Holy Spirit is with me and we're working at this together. He's going to be involved in this. I tell you, you talk about helping you overcome temptation and stuff.
[67:40] If we lived in the reality of that, if you're tempted to, if you're tempted to, you know, to get involved in something that you know is not right, you've lost the reality of who's, you're going to drag, am I going to drag the Holy Spirit into that?
[67:58] Am I going to bring him into that? He's right there. He's seeing that. He's observing that. He's part of it. I mean, he's not going to be part, but he's, I think, I don't think he just leaves at that moment.
[68:11] He's hearing our temptations and our frustrations in an amazing act of love.
[68:22] God in Christ by the Holy Spirit stepped into our space, into our lives to be with us every moment of our journey. He is so infinite that he is with us always.
[68:34] He is in the midst of our storms. Thought of that song, he's in the midst of our storm, he's in the valley we walk through, but he's not only there when we're going through a hard time, he's in the midst of our triumphs, he's in the midst of our joys, he takes us to mountain heights of glory and spiritual pleasure with him as we walk with him and know him in that way.
[68:58] again, he didn't wait to be with us until we reach the final perfection of our salvation, until we are in heaven together.
[69:12] No, he came to us, he couldn't wait, he couldn't wait until we get to heaven. I'm so excited about what it's going to mean, you know, to when we can go to heaven and be free from all this, but he didn't wait until we're there.
[69:30] He couldn't wait. He came to us now in our imperfections. He's not ashamed to walk with us in our failures, offering hope, assistance, light on our pathway, joy for the journey.
[69:44] He will not come uninvited or unwelcomed into our space.
[69:57] That's one aspect of the Holy Spirit. He has to be wanted. We have to see our need of him. We can't do life alone.
[70:08] We were never meant to do life alone. But when we see our need of him and have a desire for him to occupy the space of our lives, he will come and he loves to be here in our lives.
[70:22] Not to dominate, but to do life together. Do you ever think of that? We're doing life together with the Holy Spirit.
[70:34] I'm doing life together with Jesus. He doesn't just send us out and say you've got all this stuff you need to do. No, we're doing life together. When that becomes real, I tell you, Christianity takes a totally different dimension.
[70:51] Again, he loves to be with us and have us with him. This is God's deep desire for each of us, to abide with us, live in us, love in us, love on us.
[71:02] He wants our lives to be his dwelling place on this earth. And again, that's why the Spirit came. That's why the Comforter has come. We could look at Romans 8 there, the Spirit prays for us.
[71:16] Again, part of his work as an advocate. I won't take time to turn there. But I do want to just close with this, where Jesus says, peace I leave with you. Again, right after he talks about the Holy Spirit.
[71:31] God's, by God's indwelling Spirit, we experience the very peace that Jesus had as a man involved here. He left that peace with us.
[71:43] If you want to know peace in your life, just invite the Holy Spirit to come and to come into your space, to come into your life.
[71:58] And one aspect of him being there is the peace that Jesus had. And I've known little glimpses of that, but we're so quick get frustrated.
[72:11] We get, we try to do it on our own and all of those things. And whenever we do, we're not relying on the Holy Spirit. But again, when we allow the Holy Spirit, just recognize him as, as the spirit of God, the spirit of truth, the spirit of comfort in our lives, the very peace that was in Jesus' life is somehow manifested in us and given to us.
[72:39] And what a beautiful thing that is. Church, so we're in these end times, we're going to need this person of the Holy Spirit to be more real than he's ever been.
[72:51] We might, some of you have experienced the feelings of the spirit and so on and we praise God for that. but that simply is meant to give way to the daily reality of the spirit of God living in you, the person of God's spirit.
[73:15] Let's just stay and I don't, I'm not sure who's going to close. You are. Okay. And I just, I want to just open it up between you and the Lord.
[73:31] Invite God into your space. Invite God into your life. Tell God you don't want to do life alone. You want to do life together with them.
[73:41] That's what, that's his desire. All he's waiting is just an invitation. Hallelujah, Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord. Lord, we invite you, O Spirit of God.
[73:56] Lord, we invite you, Lord. Come into my life, Lord. In a fuller way, in a deeper way, in a more intimate, real way.
[74:08] Come into my life, Lord. Lord, I open my heart. I open my space to you, Lord. I open my life to you, Lord. Lord, what a glory it is to do life together with you, Lord.
[74:25] To walk together with you in life, Lord. Fathers, we see these things approaching. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The glorious appearing, Father.
[74:36] Lord God, you're going to invite us into your home, to your life. But Lord, now, Lord, we invite you into our life, Lord. Lord, to be with us, walk with us.
[74:47] We need you, Lord. Empower us, Lord. To be our advocate, Lord. To give us courage, Lord. To be able to cope with everything we face in life, Father.
[75:00] To give us courage to go into battle, Father. Lord, to face the difficulties of our day and our journeys, Father.
[75:11] Lord, thank you. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. We just welcome you. We welcome you in our lives. We welcome you in the church. Be real to us. Live in us.
[75:23] Abide with us as a people. Hallelujah, Father. Lord, forgive us where we've tried to do life alone and felt so stressed out, so frustrated, Father.
[75:37] So, it becomes so difficult, Lord. We've failed you so many times. Lord, just forgive us of that, Lord. And we receive your answer for us, Lord. Even the filling of your Spirit.
[75:50] In the name of Jesus. You may be seated. We'll see youcesh on the strategies right there.
[76:09] Give it us as a little bit. That way.