Truths About the Holy Spirit

John 16.1-14

We are traveling on the path from the upper room where Jesus had the Last Supper with His disciples on the way to the Garden of Gethsemene.  He was speaking to them right before He was arrested. Think about the last few hours you have spent with people before they went to heaven.

Jesus had completed His teaching ministry with this chapter. The last things He said are for all His followers.

1. Some Things Are Different Than They Seem or Appear. v.7

It was for the disciples good that Jesus went back to heaven.

The worst thing imaginable turned out to be better than the best imaginable.

Remember last week- pruning is painful but produces abundant fruit. 

Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 

2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

It was not only necessary that Jesus return to heaven, it was for their good!

What brought sorrow and pain to their hearts was for their good.

Good= profitable, bring together, contribute to in order to help.

Psalm 104:3-4 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.He makes the clouds his chariotand rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers,flames of fire his servants. 

John 16:20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 

On the Day of Pentecost they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized with the Spirit.

We see the Sovereignty of God here. Being the Feast of Pentecost... Acts 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 

The disciples were filled with the Spirit and began to speak in the languages of where these folks were from! They all heard in their own languages.

How come we don't see that today? Oh but we do!

This past week we had many visitors to our Sunday Morning Message. It is in English. We had readers from around the world. Among them were people from Curacao, Belarus and Montenegro. 

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, north of the Venezuelan coast, that is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. 

Montenegro is a small Balkan country with rugged mountains, medieval villages and a narrow strip of beaches along its Adriatic coastline.

Jesus said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8  The uttermost parts of the earth.

Through the Google Translator they can take my message, copy it and paste it in and in a split second have what I am giving hereto you this morning in their hands. You say, "Well that's the technology." Who gave man that wisdom? Who created a universe where we could send satellites up into space so things coud be beamed all over. 

God is using this little church to touch the world for Christ- small, yes. But happening. I spoke with young men in India and Cambodia this morning along with sending greetings to the congregation in Haiti.

2. He Shows People Their Need of Christ. vs.8-11

Through exposing sin

Through convincing them of righteousness

Through speaking of judgment (a forgotten theme in the American church)

Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem did this.

3. He Guides Us Into All Truth.- v.13

He is the breath of God/ He moved on the writers of the Bible

II Timothy

He illuminates the Scriptures today for us

He exposes Christ on every page of the Bible.

4. He Will Glorify Christ. v.14

He will not speak of Himself.

He will make the things of Christ known to us

known= announce/ declare

When the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, He had a man leading the nation who was slow of speech. He brought them up to the Red Sea, then opened up the way for Israel to cross on dry land. When the Egyptian Army tried to cross  He caused the Sea to flow and they were all drowned.

I think one the reasons He did this was so that in years to come, generations later, when the Jews celebrated the Passover or when they came into insurmountable problems in their lives personally or nationally they could remember the way God delivered them and worked in a miraculous way in their behalf and they would be encouraged by remembering how God worked and that He could do the same in their time. Paul said that this event of the Red Sea caused them to be baptized into Moses.

When Jesus pointed the disciples to the coming of the Holy Spirit, He told them to wait in Jerusalem until they would be clothed with power from on high. I believe one of the reasons that the LORD had this planned to take place on the 

Day of Pentecost was so that in years to come when the church found itself in need the answer would be to call upon the LORD, remembering His mighty power. It wasn't in their ingenuity, their qualifications. 

Mark 1:8 I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 

Acts 4:13-14 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 

Here we are today in America. The church is in decline. Other religions are growing, the number of agnostics are rapidly increasing among the 20's and 30 years olds. The missionary movement has declined in part due to the lack of giving, or so we say. But that is a symptom. Our real need today is prayer. 

A dream I had this week...

Adly is in Haiti today. Besides some of the things we sent and he brought were 2 tarps. Maybe you saw the post on Facebook. The tarp they had for a roof has holes in it, huge holes. Today they have 2 new tarps to shield them from the sun and the rain. Prayerfully, in September, we will have 2 teams going for a week each and we will be able not only to get the walls up but the roof on.

It was last September we came back and began to explain what need to be done. I believed as we helped them to repair their building, the LORD would help us. He has. The three main projects were the parking lot, the steps outside the church and roof. The parking lot has been repaired. This week the steps were finished. We are now looking to get the roof done. The money has been come in for the materials. God is taking care of both churches. We prayed along with others and He answered. 

He sent us His Spirit to do what we could not do alone. He delights in blessing us. If we call on Him He will answer.