Do You Realize? - 10/30/2016

WARNING PREACHY…

¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate [helper] to help you and 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. 

(John 14:16-20)

I’ve heard people say that they were not sure if the Holy Spirit is in them or not.  I always answer that it like is wondering if your right arm just got chopped off.  In both cases: if you have to ask…

Part of our identity as Christians is that Jesus has not left us on our own to figure things out, but we have “another helper” -- the Spirit of Truth who lives in us.  Verse 20 tells us that on that day we will realize that the Father and Jesus and ourselves are intertwined as God is in us.

²¹ By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. ²² Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

(Exodus 13:21-22)

When God redeemed the Israelite slaves from their bondage in Egypt, he led them out into the desert.  He did not redeem them and then send them out on their own without direction, but he led them by a pillar of cloud by day and one by fire at night.  In this way he led them so that they were not alone.

Just as God redeemed the Israelite people from their enslavement to Egypt, so also God has redeemed us from our own to sin and death.  And he has not left us on our own.  Remember Jesus’ Promise that God would send another helper from John 14?  50 days after the resurrection of Jesus, on the Jewish Day of Pentecost, we realize another pillar of fire.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 

(Acts 2:1-4)

If you are a Christian today, have you realized that the father and Jesus are One, and they are presently in you?  Your identity is not just one that is proclaimed by a certificate of baptism or a magic prayer, but rather your identity is much more spiritual than that, and you should know it without question.

If you have question then I encourage you to do some serious soul searching.  Shoot me an email, I'd like to help.