You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org This is the day when the lost are found This is the day for a new beginning This is the day, the day when life begins This is the day, the day when life begins Come with these very familiar words of Jesus.
Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, you may be also. These words of Jesus have brought comfort, hope, and perspective to millions and millions of people for over 2,000 years. To people who are grieving, to people who are afraid, to people who are stressed out and are agitated, to people, well, just like us, Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And we live in such troubled times right now. So these words of Christ are so relevant. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. But now Jesus continues on in verse 16 of John 14.
And I pray the father that he will give you another helper, underline those two words, another helper, that he may abide with you forever. This 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 shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.
A little while longer and the world will see him no more, but you will see me because I live, you will live also. I am in the father and you in me and I in you. And he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him or reveal myself to him. Judas, not as scary yet, said to him, Lord, how is it that you manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said, if any man loves me, he'll keep my word and my father will love him.
And we will come to him and make our home with him. He that does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. These things I've spoken to you while being present with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I've said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled.
Neither let it be afraid. Now, there's a lot of misunderstanding concerning the role in working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of both believers and unbelievers. Remember I said the Holy Spirit is not an it, it's a him, it's a personality.
Because later in John 16, eight, Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. So again, the Holy Spirit is not an it, he's a him. For a being to be considered a person, he or she must possess certain characteristics. First among those is intelligence, then there is will, then there is emotion.
So to be a person, or to be a personality, you must have intelligence, you must have will, you must have emotion. God is a person, he has a personality. So the Holy Spirit has a personality, and the Holy Spirit has intelligence.
He has intelligence. First Corinthians 2 10 says, God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. So the Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of God. Objects don't know things, but the Holy Spirit knows things. Also the Holy Spirit has a will.
He has a will. Because we read in First Corinthians 12, speaking of the gifts of the Spirit that God's Holy Spirit distributes, it says he gives to each one these gifts as he wills. It's a Holy Spirit who decides what kind of spiritual gifts each believer will receive. In Acts 15 28, the apostles were talking about different issues and they said it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. So the Holy Spirit had a will, and the Holy Spirit expressed his will. Listen to this, the Holy Spirit has emotion. I mentioned he can be grieved, quenched, resisted, even lied to.
A little bit more on that in a moment. But the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer seeks to convict them of their sin, or a better translation would be convince them. Convince you that you're a sinner in need of a Savior.
No clever analogy, no illustration is gonna do it. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, and I trust in the work of the Spirit when I present God's word that he will touch a person's heart and show them their need for Christ. That's why we need to pray for people as we share the gospel. The Holy Spirit that gives them the inner assurance that they're a believer. Romans 8 18 says his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God. How many of you are children of God?
Raise your hand up. Now I would just dare to say the reason you know you're a children of God is you have that inner witness. It's not just that the Bible says you are, you believe the Bible and what it says, but there's something deep inside of you that says yes, I am a child of God. And I know I am a child of God.
You know where that came from? From the Holy Spirit. His spirit is bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. And not only can I sense that I'm a child of God, but I know it when I meet another child of God.
Maybe we've only known each other for five minutes, but boy there's an immediate connection. The Holy Spirit does. Here's something else the Holy Spirit does. When you become a Christian, he seals you. He seals you.
Ephesians 1 13 says after you trusted and heard the word of truth and received the gospel, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who has a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance and the redemption of those who are God's possession. Now what does that even mean? Well back in the old days, the days in which this was written, when goods were shipped from one place to another place, from one place to another, they'd be stamped with a wax seal. This is before Amazon.com. Little drones flying around, dropping off packages, which they say they will do soon.
I just hope they don't weaponize them, right? So if you're delinquent in your payment, you have trouble with the little drone. I don't know. But in the old days, they would send documents from one place to another and they would take these documents and they would seal them. They would have sent the documents. So let's say a document was sent by a king. It's like a scroll, a parchment with a wax seal and the king's signet ring was stamped in the wax.
So if you saw that document, you dare not open it because that is a private correspondence from the king to someone else. So when the Bible says you're sealed with the Holy Spirit, it's as though God has put his mark on you. Let's use a different illustration. It's like an ID tag, right? I have a suitcase and the problem is other people have suitcases that look like mine because most people have black suitcases. But I have a pink one with a smurf on it.
No, that's not true. No, I have a silver suitcase. So it comes down, but I always check my ID tag because the other day I picked up my bag, I'm walking out and some lady starts chasing me and says, you took my bag. I said, no, this is mine. And I checked the ID tag and sure enough, it was her bag. Looked just like mine. That's why you check an ID tag.
So if someone wants to steal that bag, they'll think twice. So here comes the devil. I'm going to wreck havoc in this life. I'm going to destroy this life. I'm at, whoa, whoa, wait, wait. There's an ID tag.
Let me check the ID tag. Property of the Lord Jesus Christ. He backs off.
He backs off. That's what it means to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. But it's interesting because it also goes on to say he's a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance until the redemption of God's possession. He's a deposit. So when you go to buy something, you may put a deposit down. Maybe you see a car you want to buy and you'll say, I want to buy this car, but I want you to hold it for me for a week.
Guys, so I really can't do that. I'll have it if I put a deposit down in good faith. Okay, and then so you put your deposit down. So that means that you're putting a certain amount of money down in that car or whatever it is you're buying. Maybe it's a home.
You say, well, I want to buy this home and I'm going to put a deposit down on it. So they'll hold it. Now that won't go on forever, but they'll hold it for a period of time for you. So here's what God is saying. I want you to know I mean business. And when I say one day you'll join me in heaven, I mean it. And just so you know I mean business, I'm giving my Holy Spirit to you as a down payment, because that's what the word means, as a down payment to reassure you that I'm going to keep all of the promises I've made to you.
I think that's pretty amazing. I want you to know I'm giving my Holy Spirit to you as a down payment to reassure you that I'm going to keep all of the promises I've made to you as a down payment to reassure you that I'm going to keep all of the promises I've made to you. With a perfect faith in life, what does he know? At that moment, you began to share about the passing of your son, Christopher. Your testimony saved my life, because for so long I thought I deserved what had happened to our son because of my disobedience to God's word. But hearing your testimony for God made me realize that God doesn't waste our pain. Then and there, I set my heart on seeking God. I started listening to your podcasts and devotions.
And wouldn't you know it, you were in a series called Hope for Hurting Hearts. I know it was the leading of the Holy Spirit for me to tune in. Thank God for that moment, his perfect timing, grace, and love. And thank you, Pastor Greg. You have done more than you realize. We're so blessed to hear how Pastor Greg's messages have comforted this woman.
Would you like to share a personal story with us? If so, drop Pastor Greg an email and let him know. Send it to gregatharvest.org. That's gregatharvest.org. Well today, Pastor Greg is presenting a message called The Holy Spirit and You, Part 1.
Let's continue. What else does the Holy Spirit do? He teaches us. Look at verse 26. Jesus says, The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. The Holy Spirit can open up passages to us in an incredible way.
And that comes as we study and read the Bible. You want the Holy Spirit to illuminate Scripture. You must read Scripture or listen to Scripture. But get Scripture in you. You can't just hold the Bible up to your head and pray that it just jumps in there somehow. You know, you've got to read it and process it. But then the Holy Spirit can bring it to life. A passage can just jump off the page.
Have you ever had that happen? And it's so relevant or someone sends you a verse and it's just so appropriate for what you're facing. And sometimes you're in church and you're listening to a message and it's so, it's like it was written for you. And you're thinking, he's the greatest preacher I've ever heard. I'm not referring to me, of course, but whoever might be preaching. But it's not that he is the greatest preacher you've ever heard. It's that the Holy Spirit is taking the Word of God and he's bringing it home to your heart because that's part of the work he does in the life of the believer.
It's not some great preacher. It's a great God whose Holy Spirit is illuminating the Word. And that's one of the things that the Holy Spirit does.
He sheds more light on the original light. 1 Corinthians 2, 9 says, it's written, eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit. Because no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. So that's the Holy Spirit doing that for you.
Listen to this. The Holy Spirit helps us in our prayers and our obedience to God. He helps us in our prayers and our obedience to God. Look at verse 15. Jesus says, if you love me, obey my commandments and I'll ask the Father and he'll give you another advocate who will never leave you.
This is the key that unlocks the treasures of heaven. In the Old Testament the law of God was given. And effectively the law of God said, don't do those things. Thou shall not have any graven images before me. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shall not lie. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not covet. A lot of nots.
A lot of nos. And so as an Old Testament believer you would try to not do those things that were wrong before God and keep his commandments. But in the New Testament it's different. Because now those commandments are written in our heart. And we do them out of love.
We do them because we want to not because we have to. And if you're a Christian that's living in a law-like relationship with God and you see the Christian life as a bunch of restrictions you're missing what it's all about. Because if you really love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind you will not want to do those things that displease him. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying right here. He's saying if you love me obey my commandments. You know I love my wife so I will be faithful to my wife.
I love my wife so I will not lie to my wife. So it's not fear of what will happen if I do the wrong thing but rather it's a love causing me to want to do the right thing. You say yeah but what if I'm torn between two lovers?
Well then you're an idiot for starters. And the fact is you don't love either. You just love yourself. So if you really love someone you'll want to please them. And if you really love Jesus you'll keep his commandments.
Let me flip it over. If I don't keep his commandments do I really love Jesus? You know a lot of people say oh I love the Lord.
Oh I just love the Lord. Let's get drunk. Wait hold on.
What? The Bible says don't be drunk with wine. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yeah whatever.
Let's get drunk. You know you're just obeying God. I really love Jesus but I'm going to slander that person over there.
Just tell a flat out lie about him because I don't like him. Oh I really love Jesus but I'm going to look at porn now. Oh I really love Jesus but it's fill in blank here. Do you really love Jesus? You say you love him but if you go out and deliberately do things his word says you should not do do you love him? It would be questionable wouldn't it?
At best. You know what else the Holy Spirit does? He empowers you for service.
He gives you power. Look at verse 17. The spirit of truth in the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor does it know him but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. You see for a believer at this time and they were still effectively living in the old covenant until Christ died and rose. Still the old covenant. And so the Holy Spirit wasn't in them yet. So here's what Jesus is saying. He's going to come in you.
Well when did that happen? That happened in the upper room. Remember we read in John 20 after Jesus died and rose again Christ appeared to them in the room and he said receive the Holy Spirit and he breathed on them and the Holy Spirit came and lived inside of them. So now when you become a Christian the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. But there's even another dimension of power you can experience because over in Acts 1 8 it says you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses unto me and Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. So the Spirit comes in you when you become a Christian. But then the Spirit can come upon you with the dimension of power giving you a boldness or a courage to be a witness for Christ or to share your faith. And that happened on the day of Pentecost when all those believers who had the Holy Spirit in them were waiting for power from on high and God's Spirit came on them.
Remember that story? And listen to this. After that happened Peter said this promise of the Holy Spirit is to you and it's to your children and it's to your children's children and to all that are afar off even as many as will call on the name of the Lord our God. So here's what Peter is saying. This promise of what happened on Pentecost is available to believers today. We don't need another Pentecost any more than we need another Calvary. What happened at the first Calvary is sufficient.
What happened at the first Pentecost is sufficient. I just need to take hold of it and ask the Holy Spirit to empower me and fill me again and again and again. And you refill. Some people you know you need to get more refills than others do but we all need a refill of the Spirit. Pastor Greg Laurie with important thoughts about the way the Holy Spirit helps us in our daily walk with the Lord and there's more to come as this message continues. Now if you enjoy these teachings in God's Word why not drop Pastor Greg an email and let him know. His email address is Greg at harvest dot org. In fact why not put Pastor Greg on your prayer list. Pray that God continues to use him to touch lives through these daily studies. And if you can invest in this outreach that would be wonderful.
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Your choice. Sign up today free of charge at harvest dot org. Well next time important information about the dangers of resisting the Spirit and insulting God's Spirit. More from Pastor Greg's series in the Gospel of John. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding podcast was made possible by harvest partners helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a harvest partner. Sign up for daily devotions and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest dot org.
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