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The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Without a proper response to the Holy Spirit, our lives will be unproductive and our service will be feeble and weak.
To start the new year off we are going to discuss Recognising and Responding to the Indwelling Spirit.
Today we are talking about Another Comforter.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for all of your blessings on us during the past year.
We thank you for the privilege of being alive in this new year of 2022.
Help us as we bring our financial gifts that we might do so with loving and grateful hearts, eager to share with those in need.
Help us to give our total self that hearts might be Your royal throne.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Text
John 14:16 NKJV
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
Scripture Reading
John 14:15-18 NKJV
Jesus Promises Another Helper
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Introduction
It is always exciting when a new year arrives before us as a page on which we will write the history of our life.
Let us pray for each other that it might be a good year for our Lord’s work, for ourselves personally, and for our families.
When we face the future seriously, we often feel anxious.
Particularly, this is true if the future looks fearful and if we are plagued with a feeling of our helplessness and insignificance.
The disciples of our Lord were horrified at the thought of facing the future without the comfort of His continuing companionship.
Our Lord sought to allay their fears and to challenge them to faithfulness with a promise of another Comforter.
Toward the end of His earthly ministry, our Lord concentrated on His twelve apostles.
He spent most of His time with them in seclusion because of His desire to avoid His enemies.
At the same time, He wanted to strengthen these men for the task that was before them.
He gave them some exceedingly great and precious promises, including the promise that He would give them “another Comforter,” a promise they were incapable of understanding at the time.
Furthermore, He said, in John 14:18, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
And in John 14:28, He said, “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.”
So that we might better understand the significance of these promises for the present, today we are looking at what discipleship meant to these disciples.
- A call to discipleship is.
A call to trust in Jesus Christ.
A call to a profound learning experience.
A call to leave lesser things.
A call that involved the excitement of true fulfilment.
A call to partnership and friendship with Jesus Christ.
A call to serious self discipline.
A call to high rewards.
2. Jesus invited His disciples to draw close to Him.
To Philip He said “follow Me.”
To Philip and Nathaniel, Jesus said, “Come and see.”
To James, John, Peter, and Andrew, Jesus said, “Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Jesus chose the twelve “That they should be with Him.”
As these men followed Jesus, they experienced a transforming friendship.
They visited together in crowded cities.
They sailed and fished together on the Sea of Galilee.
They prayed together in the mountains and deserts.
They worshipped together in the temple.
They watched Jesus and listened to Him.
They saw in Jesus Christ what in meant to make a complete surrender to the absolute claims of God over one’s life.
They saw what intent to completely forsake sin.
They sa the perfection of love in all attitudes, all ambitions, and all relationships.
They saw a supreme example of one who was willing to deny Himself for the sake of others.
They witnessed one who demonstrated a unique aloofness from attachment to material things.
They saw and experienced one who lived totally for eternity.
Eleven of these apostles became so committed to Jesus that they could not even consider their future existence without His companionship.
For Him to depart was totally unacceptable and unthinkable to them.
It was in that context that Jesus continued to tell them that He must go back to the Father.
He sought to comfort them with a promise of “another Comforter” who would be their Counsellor and Helper.
3. Jesus promises another comforter.
Note the word Jesus used in making this promise.
The original language of the New Testament, two different words can be translated by our English word “another.”
The context determines which of these Greek words is used.
Alios is used when “another of like kind” is referred to, while “heteros” is used when “another of a different kind” is referred to.
When Jesus spoke of the Comforter who would come, He used alios.
Jesus was saying, “I am going to ask the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor, another Comforter, another Helper of exactly the same kind as I am.”
The word translated “comforter” literally means “one called to walk by the side of.”
This had been Jesus’ relationship with His disciples for three years.
“That He may abide with you forever.”
Jesus’ bodily presence with His disciples had been very brief, and now it was necessary that He depart.
This was devastating to them.
He promised that the Comforter would be with them always, forever.
John 14:17 says, “for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
Christ as Immanuel is God “with us.”
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit who will dwell within us.
The Holy Spirit is a far greater blessing that Jesus’ earthly presence, for He can be within each one of His disciples.
Conclusion.
As we face the new year, we need to accept by faith the presence of this Comforter who came on the day Pentecost to dwell in the church.
He came on the day of your conversion experience to dwell in your heart.
We should with joy recognise the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence and find the strength we need for living effectively in this year 2022.
With eagerness we should listen for the Holy Spirit’s voice as He speaks to our innermost being as we study the Scriptures, as we pray, and as we see a needy world.
With love for the Lord and His people, let each of us decide to cooperate with this divine Comforter and Counselor as we walk through the days of this new year.
If you have come to this day early in 2022 without knowing Jesus Christ as Saviour, this would be a wonderful time to respond as the Holy Spirit leads you.
Invite Jesus Christ to come and live in your heart as Saviour, Lord, Teacher, and Friend.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us
2022 IS A YEAR OF REPENTANCE AND BLESSINGS
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