I Believe --- The Apostles' Creed --- Come Holy Spirit
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Come Holy Spirit
John 14:15-27
“Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
John 14:23
Join me as we read the Apostles’ Creed.
The Apostles’ Creed
1. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;
2. and in Jesus Christ, His only (begotten) Son, our Lord;
3. who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,
4. suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried;
He descended into hell;
5. the third day he rose again from the dead;
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
7. from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost,
9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
10. the forgiveness of sins,
11. the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen
Let us pray … “Come, Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and minds. Empower us with Your Holy Boldness. Inspire us to go out and sow seeds of faith. Amen.”
Let us turn to Gospel of John and hear what Jesus told His disciples in the book of John 14:15-27. Dare I share that in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of THE LAST SUPPER---John is supposedly the one to Jesus’ right hand! Just something to mull around in your mind right now!
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.[i]
This morning I would like to give you three “P’s” of the Holy Spirit: The promise of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, and the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Let me tell you a story of a simple, illiterate man who was converted through the work of the Salvation Army. He went regularly to the Salvation Army church. One day he came home rather sad.
His wife said, "What's the matter?"
He said, "I've just noticed that all the people in the Salvation Army wear red sweaters, and I don't have a red sweater."
She said, "I'll knit one." So she knitted him a red sweater.
The next Sunday after he went to church, he still wasn't happy.
His wife said, "What's wrong this time?"
He said, "I just noticed all their red sweaters have yellow writing."
They were both illiterate, but she said, "Don't worry about it. I'll embroider some writing on for you."
She had no idea what the yellow writing on the red sweater of a Salvation Army man said--Any of you know what it is? They have a yellow circle, and in it, BLOOD AND FIRE. That's their motto. (Unbutton the jacket of a Salvation Army man when he's ringing his little bells sometime; tell him you're just checking.)
The man's wife had no idea what the letters said, and she couldn't read anyway. So copying a sign from a store window opposite their home, she embroidered the words of that store sign onto his red sweater.
When he came back the next Sunday, she said, "Did they like your sweater?"
"They loved my sweater. Some of them said they liked my sweater better than their sweater." What neither of them knew was that the sign on the store window she had copied read, THIS BUSINESS IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.
That's what it means to trust in God alone. That's what it means to know Jesus as Lord. That's what it means for the Holy Spirit to fill you: this business under new management.
THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Word of God promises us the Holy Spirit. The words “Holy Spirit”, or “Spirit of God”, or “the Spirit of the Lord” are used 131 times in the Bible. In our Old Testament reading from the prophet Joel, God promises the Holy Spirit; “Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” What a wonderful promise --- God will pour out His Spirit upon all people! Jesus, the night before He is about to die for our sins, offers us the promise of the Holy Spirit. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.” Jesus gives us another advocate --- the Holy Spirit who will be with us forever. That is a powerful and comforting promise. We will not be orphaned --- we will never be alone! We always have the promise of the Holy Spirit.
When I think of the promise of the Holy Spirit, I think of Alka-Seltzer. Alka-Seltzer promises fast relief for fever, body aches, headaches, runny nose, sore throat, and coughing. Alka-Seltzer promises healing, wholeness and comfort. So often we have the medicine for healing, but we do not open the package. Let me show you (drop an unopened package of Alka-Seltzer into a glass of water) there will be no power, no healing, and no comfort if the package is never opened. Yet there is a promise for comfort if we just open the package (open a package of Alka-Seltzer and put it in a glass of water) and see the promise for healing, all we have to do is open the promise.
THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
So what is this promise? Better yet, who is this promise? When Jesus says that He “will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth,” what does He mean? I believe that we need to look at a few of the Greek words that are used in this sentence. The first word that we should see is the word “another” in the Greek, the word is “allos.” “Allos” in the Greek means “another just like the first one.” Who is the first Advocate? It is obviously Jesus himself. Therefore, the second Advocate is to be just like the first one. That is, he is to be a divine being living with them and in them. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity. The Trinity is truly a mystery. When we speak of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, we speak of them as persons. When John Calvin and other theologians speak of the persons of the Trinity, they mean that in the Trinity we have one essence (being) and three subsistence’s. The three persons of the Godhead subsist in the divine essence (being). Now that is a lot of deep theological language. When we recognize God alone as our sovereign creator and invite Jesus Christ into our hearts to live, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to set up residence in our hearts, our homes and lives. In essence, we are allowing God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit --- the Trinity to rule and reign in our lives. I believe that if we talk or think about the Holy Spirit as a mysterious power, we will be continually thinking, “how can I get more of the Holy Spirit?” On the other hand, if we think of the Holy Spirit as a person, our thoughts will be, “how can the Holy Spirit have more of me?” That is a great question ---how can the Holy Spirit have more of me?
THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The role of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ. The Holy Spirit acts as a mirror and reflects Christ. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth that reflects God, teaches and leads us into all truth. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ by reproducing Jesus in believers. “Christian” means “little Christ” and the Holy Spirit does that in the Christian’s life by reproducing little Christs. Here the meaning of the word “Advocate,” “Comforter”, or “Counselor” is of great importance. The Greek word for “Advocate” comes from “parakletos” which is a compound of two Greek words; “para” meaning “alongside of” and “kletos” which means “called.” “Parakletos” therefore means “one who is called alongside of” another a person as the person’s helper. The Latin Bible translates this word as “Advocate” however this word can also be translated as “comforter” and “counselor.” The word “comforter” comes from two words; “cum” which means “with” and “fortis” which means “strength.” In other words a comforter is one with strength. The Holy Spirit as the “Comforter” is the one who will bring us strength to live as little Christians. The Holy Spirit as “Comforter” will bring us strength to withstand the blows and the wounds that we incur in the world. The “Comforter” gives us strength and the power to stand up and face anything that may come against us. The Holy Spirit is the one who comes --- who is called alongside to guide us, to comfort us, to convict us and challenge us to grow and trust more in God alone. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live as Christians and reflect the glory of Christ to the world.
During Superbowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years. Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, "Thank you." But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, "If I may ask, what was in that package?" She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds."
Like the contents of the package, the power for growth and strength are available for every Christian who will take advantage of them. The power for growth comes from using our spiritual gifts and allowing the fruit of the Spirit to grow and blossom in our lives. Scripture says that we shall be known by our fruit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is defined in Galatians chapter five: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control. This is the power of the Holy Spirit.
When I think of a GPS (Global Positioning System), I realize that not many people can afford a car or system that gives you a GPS. But, in reality we all have our own inner GPS --- GOD’S PROMISED SPIRIT, GOD’S PERSONAL SPIRIT AND GOD’S POWERFUL SPIRIT --- to guide us, to fill us, to strengthen us, to counsel us, to convict us and comfort us.
Jesus said; “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth.”
To know about God, the father, alone is good, to believe in Jesus, as Lord, is great and to be filled with the Holy Spirit is wonderful. We should all walk around with shirts that say, “This business is under new management.” Don’t be afraid to open the box --- the gift that God has given you --- the Promise, the Person, and the Power of the Holy Spirit. Today I encourage you to pray, “Come Holy Spirit fill the heart of the faithful and kindle in me the fire of your Love.
Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me --- melt me --- mold me --- fill me --- use me!”
The Person and the Works of the Holy Spirit
Luke 11:11-13 Holy Spirit is a gift
John 14:12 Equipper
14:16-17a The Spirit of Truth
14:16 Holy Spirit is Counselor
14:26 Holy Spirit is Teacher
14:17b-18 Holy Spirit is presence of God in us
15:26 Holy Spirit makes Jesus known; Uplifts Jesus
16:8 Holy Spirit convicts world of sin
16:13 Holy Spirit moves us to where we need to be
17:23 Holy Spirit and answer to Jesus prayer
Acts 1:8 Power to witness
2:4 Filled with Holy Spirit
2:42-47 Charter of New Testament Church
9:17 Filled with Holy Spirit
Romans 6:11 Dead to sin, alive in Christ
8:28-29 Holy Spirit moves us to where we need to be
12:6-8 Gifts of Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 6:19 Holy Spirit resides in believers
12:3b Holy Spirit in all believers; Giver/Worker of faith
12:7-11 Gifts of Holy Spirit
2 Corinthians 5:17 Holy Spirit brings righteousness
Galatians 5:22-25 The Fruit of the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4:3 Unity of the Spirit
5:18 Filled with Holy Spirit
Colossians 1:27 Holy Spirit hope of glory
2 Timothy 3:16 Holy Spirit inspired Holy Scriptures
Hebrews 13:5 God's promise to never leave or forsake
1 Peter 4:8-11 Gifts of Holy Spirit
2 Illustrations
Tres Dias --- man who saw the same image of one of the palanca letters from Kansas and Missouri
Brian --- parking at the beach --- 128 dollars
So What?
I saw a strange sight. I stumbled upon a story most strange, like nothing in my life, my street sense, my sly tongue had ever prepared me for. Hush, child. hush now, and I will tell it to you.
Even before the dawn one Friday morning I noticed a young man, handsome and strong, walking the alleys of our City. He was pulling an old cart filled with clothes both bright and new, and he was calling in a clear tenor voice: 'Rags!' Ah, the air was foul and the first light filthy to be crossed by such sweet music.
'Rags! New rags for old! I take your tired rags! Rags!'
'Now this is a wonder,' I thought to myself, for the man stood six-feet-four, and his arms were like tree limbs, hard and muscular, and his eyes flashed intelligence. Could he find no better job than this, to be a ragman in the inner city?
I followed him. My curiosity drove me. And I wasn't disappointed.
Soon the ragman saw a woman sitting on her back porch. She was sobbing into a handkerchief, signing, and shedding a thousand tears. Her knees and elbows made a sad X. Her shoulders shook. Her heart was breaking.
The Ragman stopped his cart. Quietly, he walked to the woman, stepping round tin cans, dead toys, and Pampers.
'Give me your rag,' he said gently. 'and I'll give you another.'
He slipped the handkerchief from her eyes. She looked up, and he laid across her palm a linen cloth so clean and new that it shined. She blinked from the gift to the giver.
Then, as he began to pull his cart again, the Ragman did a strange thing: he put her stained handkerchief to his own face; and then he began to weep, to sob as grievously as she had done, his shoulders shaking. Yet she was left without a tear.
'This is a wonder,' I breathed to myself, and I followed the sobbing Ragman like a child who cannot turn away from mystery.
'Rags! Rags! New Rags for old!"
In a little while, when the sky showed grey behind the rooftops and I could see the shredded curtains hanging out black windows, the Ragman came upon a girl whose head was wrapped in a bandage, whose eyes were empty. Blood soaked her bandage. A single line of blood ran down her cheek.
Now the tall Ragman looked upon this child with pity, and he drew a lovely yellow bonnet from his cart.
'Give me your rag,' he said, tracing his own line on her cheek, 'and I'll give you mine.'
The child could only gaze at him while he loosened the bandage, removed it, and tied it to his own head. The bonnet he set on hers. And I gasped at what I saw: for with the bandage went the wound! Against his brow it ran a darker, more substantial blood -- his own!
'Rags! Rags! I take old rags!' cried the sobbing, bleeding, strong, intelligent Ragman.
The sun hurt both the sky, now, and my eyes; the Ragman seemed more and more to hurry.
'Are you going to work?' he asked a man who leaned against a telephone pole. The man shook his head. The Ragman pressed him: 'Do you have a job?"
'Are you crazy?' sneered the other. He pulled away from the pole, revealing the right sleeve of his jacket -- flat, the cuff stuffed into the pocket. He had no arm.
'So,' said the Ragman. 'Give me your jacket, and I'll give you mine.'
So much quiet authority in his voice!
The one-armed man took off his jacket. So did the Ragman -- and I trembled at what I saw: for the Ragman's arm stayed in its sleeve, and when the other put it on, he had two good arms, thick as tree limbs; but the Ragman had only one.
'Go to work,' he said.
After that he found a drunk, lying unconscious beneath an army blanket, an old man, hunched, wizened, and sick. He took that blanket and wrapped it round himself, but for the drunk he left new clothes.
And now I had to run to keep up with the Ragman. Though he was weeping uncontrollably, and bleeding freely at the forehead, pulling his cart with one arm, stumbling for drunkenness, falling again and again, exhausted, old, old, and sick, yet he went with terrible speed. On spider's legs he skittered through the alleys of the City, this mile and the next, until he came to its limits, and then he rushed beyond.
I wept to see the change in this man. I hurt to see his sorrow. And yet I need to see where he was going in such haste, perhaps to know what drove him so.
The little old Ragman -- he came to a landfill. He came to the garbage pits. And I waited to help him in what he did but I hung back, hiding. He climbed a hill. With tormented labor he cleared a little space on that hill. Then he signed. He lay down. He pillowed his head on a handkerchief and a jacket. He covered his bones with an army blanket. And he died.
Oh how I cried to witness that death! I slumped in a junked car and wailed and mourned as one who has no hope -- because I had come to love the Ragman. Every other face had faded in the wonder of this man, and I cherished him; but he died. I sobbed myself to sleep.
I did not know -- how could I know? -- that I slept through Friday night and Saturday and its night too.
But then, on Sunday morning, I was wakened by a violence.
Light -- pure, hard, demanding light -- slammed against my sour face, and I blinked, and I looked, and I saw the first wonder of all. There was the Ragman, folding the blanket most carefully, a scar on his forehead, but alive! And, besides that, healthy! There was no sign of sorrow or age, and all the rags that he had gathered shined for cleanliness.
Well, then I lowered my head and, trembling for all that I had seen, I myself walked up to the Ragman. I told him my name with shame, for I was a sorry figure next to him. Then I took off all my clothes in that place, and I said to him with dear yearning in my voice: 'Dress me."
He dressed me. My Lord, he put new rags on me, and I am a wonder beside him. The Ragman, the Ragman, the Christ![ii]
The Seed Christian Fellowship
Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com
July 28, 2019
Pastor Dave Peters
[i] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Jn 14:15–27). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[ii] Ragman by Walter Wangerin, Jr.