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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 The Continuing Presence of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the gift of this day in which we have the privilege of rejoicing in You and responding toy Your purpose for our lives.
We come in humility to worship You as the giver of every good and perfect gift.
We thank You for life itself.
We thank You for the joy of being a coworker with others and with You in bringing Your kingdom into the lives of men, women, and children.
Bless these gifts to that end.
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 possible to experience painful loneliness in the midst of a crowd.
To feel separated by distance or by death from someone who is very precious is one of life’s most painful experiences.
As our Lord approached the end of His ministry, His disciples were horrified at the thought of their loneliness and helplessness if He should be taken from them.
They sought to persuade Him to avoid danger and the possibility of imprisonment or death.
We can sympathise with their anxiety.
From our perspective as those who live on this side of Calvary, the first easter, and the day of Pentecost, we can understand better what they found impossible understand.
Jesus sought to encourage them and to equip them for future ministry by His teachings and by His promise of another comforter, another counsellor, another helper.
This one, in contrast to Jesus’ brief ministry of three short years, would come to abide with them as a continuing presence never to depart.
They came to understand this only after Pentecost.
Jesus told them that the Father would give to them another counsellor of exactly the same kind as He was, but who would be different in that He would “be with you forever.”
Jesus is the Saviour, the visible manifestation of the invisible God, was limited during His earthly ministry to being at one place at one time.
For this reason, He said to them in John 16:7, Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
- The Holy Spirit is God’s good gift to each believer.
In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit did not indwell all believers as He does on this side of pentecost.
Rather, He would come on chosen individuals for a limited period of time to equip them and to empower them for some unique task.
There is a marked difference in the manner in which the Spirit came on individuals before Pentecost and the manner in which He comes to indwell each believer following Pentecost.
The gift of the Holy Spirit comes by God’s grace.
We do not earn the privilege of having the holy Spirit abide within us.
The gift of the Holy Spirit comes to us through faith.
By faith we receive Christ, and by faith we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Holy Spirit is the continuing presence of the resurrected Christ within each believer.
Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:18, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
In this specific passage our Lord was not referring to His glorious return at the end of the age.
He was referring to His return in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost following His ascension to the Father.
As our Lord gave the Great Commission to His disciples regarding their evangelistic task in the world, He said in Matthew 28:20, “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
We experience the presence of the living, triumphant Lord in and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who has come to abide within the heart of each believer.
Paul wrote to the Galatians, in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Paul experienced the presence of the living Christ through the abiding Spirit who had come to dwell within him and within the heart of every believer.
3. The Holy Spirit abides within us to teach us God’s truth.
He is the Spirit of truth who came to teach us all of the things that God wants us to understand.
His mission is to guide us into all of the truth of God.
Since God is a spirit, those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
The holy Spirit uses the Scriptures to teach us God’s truth, He uses the church to help us understand the truth, and He uses other believers to lead us unto the truth.
The Holy Spirit works in our mind, emotions, and will.
4. The Holy Spirit creates conflict with the lower nature of each believer.
The Holy Spirit creates a civil war between Himself and the lower nature of each believer.
He fills us with a holy discontent until we let the living Christ reign supreme within our hearts.
The Holy Spirit comes to fill us and give us victory over evil.
The Holy Spirit produces within us the fruit of the Spirit.
Conclusion.
God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit as the abiding presence of Jesus Christ.
Let each of us recognise and rejoice in this precious gift of the Holy Spirit.
Let us respond to the tender words, gentle impulses, and loving leadings of the Holy Spirit.
Let us trust the Holy Spirit to guide us and enable us to do all God wants us to do.
If you have not yet received Jesus as Saviour, the Holy Spirit is prompting you to open the door of your life for the entrance of Him who can forgive your sins and give you the gift of eternal life.
Open the door today.
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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