Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. I bless you today to get your second wind. Maybe you've seen it. The runners at the back of the pack. It seems like that she has no chance.
But then everyone else starts fading and she finds her second win. I'm talking about the rejuvenation of body and mind that can happen by a mystery, by a miracle. And I think that can happen for us in Christ. The wind of the Spirit blows. Right when we're about to give up, we find new grace.
to keep on going. We give up too early. We might stop walking around Jericho the sixth time around. But one more lap and the walls come down. May you have the strength to persevere as you find your second wind.
Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. We need the actual teacher. The Holy Spirit. To just Let our hearts get tuned in to what he's saying day in, day out. Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Teach me just now. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Abide, taken from John 14 through 17, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina.
If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire broadcast today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, which can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. At any point, contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here. is Alan Wright. I finished college and I was going to go to seminary.
I was doing youth ministry in Winston and I needed to learn Greek before I went and so I got permission to go and study Greek at Wake Forest and I got Carl Harris. He'd been teaching there for decades, teaching Greek, teaching classics, and he loved this old language. And he loved his students. And everybody would say he was the gentlest He would just stay patient and gentle and just keep repeating things that you needed to know. And he loved the words and he loved Greek.
And I'll never forget the day that he started talking about the Greek word logos. And he began to explain how it was in ancient Greece the ordering rational principle of the whole cosmos. And then he showed us John chapter 1, verse 1, enarche en hologos. And he began to talk about it. And when he did, it was like he'd opened up double doors to me.
And said, there's a whole other world on the other side of this in your New Testament. And. I kept up with Carl Harris until his death. Think about the good teachers in your life. What were they like?
They were gentle. They cared about you. They had a capacity to take complicated things and paint a vivid picture so you could get it. This is the Holy Spirit. But much more so.
It's all knowledge. And he wants you to have his help. He's a helper. It's not a wrong thing to think of him being your helper. Remember Jesus washing feet on this very night.
And he comes to Peter and Peter says, You'll never wash my feet. And Jesus said, Oh, Peter. If I don't wash you, you have no part of me. And he was using inheritance language there. If you want to be an heir, You gotta let me wash you.
And Peter goes, okay, then watch all of me, not just my feet. He was saying Peter Let me do this little thing, washing mud off your feet. Because I'm showing you a bigger picture of the whole reason I came. If you won't let me wash your feet, how are you going to let me? Wash your soul.
by dying in your place. I came to die for you. I came to help you. I came to do for you. What you can't do for yourself.
This morning, our early morning prayer time, we just wonderful prayer time before our first service. This phrase just came to me, oh Lord, help us to let you help us. Because there's something in us that's like Peter's like, no, you can't. But the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him, a helper. And that's part of letting him be your teacher is just saying, I really want to learn from you.
Please help me. I need your help. And here's how he teaches. He teaches by reminding. This is what good teachers do.
They don't grow impatient with you because you forgot something. They're there to help bring it to your remembrance. Verse 26, the helper, the parakletos, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he'll teach you all things. And look at this, bring to your remembrance all that I've said to you. This word, it means not just like remind you, like a sticky note, you know.
Like Ann and I saying, remind me after church, I need to stop by and get some milk. You know, it's not that. It's not like, like, remind me, you know, she said to me yesterday, remind me that I need to call so-and-so. And I'm like, I can't even remember the people I'm supposed to call. I can't, no, no, we got to write these things down.
You know, okay, I'll put it on a list. He's not a sticky note, although he'll do that. I mean I've had plenty of times where it's like, oh, thank you for just that. Thank you for reminding me of that, Holy Spirit. There's no way I would have thought of that.
Have you ever thought? But he's talking about something much deeper and more active than that. He's talking about bringing to your remembrance what is necessary for you to have abundant life and godliness in that given moment. This is a very active kind of word. It's like stirring your thoughts in the right direction.
Again, it's like a good coach or trainer who's there with you, and you're doing it wrong, and that voice says, No, let me show you, you're getting off here, do it this way, right? And that's who the Holy Spirit is. And he's not just meaning this, like, oh, that's a nice reminder. I have this ongoing joke with Pastor Chris about this. uh ridiculous moment when He came into our denomination and received into what we call our presbytery, which is a gathering of preachers and elders.
And, you know, it's a real honor if you ever get to preach to this group. And he was invited to preach. And I was excited because I knew he was going to preach from this Colossian text that he loved and I loved. And he preached a doozy of a sermon. I mean, it was really a soaring message about how Jesus.
Is holding all things together in a mystical way, and he wove in physics and how there's this some sort of invisible particle that seems to be holding all the cosmos together, and how Jesus is actually that, and how he must be therefore preeminent over all things and yet in all things. And it was robust and soaring and beautiful, and he finished, and everybody should have applauded or fallen down in worship. But instead, there was an unskilled liturgist who was leading the service who just awkwardly stood up at the end of this message. He didn't pray or anything, and he just said, Thank you, Pastor Lawson, for that nice reminder. I was like, dude, I'm so sorry.
Man, it was an awesome sermon. And now I'll just see him. I'll just joke with him. Thank you for that nice reminder. This isn't a nice reminder.
The Holy Spirit isn't bringing a nice reminder. The Holy Spirit is interested in transforming everything in your life. That you're going down a path of destruction and he wants you going towards life. That things are falling apart in this way of thinking, but if you come to this way of thinking, it's going to cause you joy. And where you become an ungrateful person and is bringing to your remembrance all the blessings of God so that you could become grateful, so that you could have joy, so that you could be strong.
He is much more than a nice reminder. He is the essence of life and all wisdom and all power and grace and strength of flowing through the mighty third person of the triune God. And yet, he is a gentle teacher who just wants to help you. I love him. I want you to love him.
I want you to welcome him as your best friend. He's the Spirit of Jesus. The Holy Spirit's the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Jesus was a teacher, a rabbi. Everywhere he went, he was teaching.
Every moment for him could be a teachable moment. And so the Holy Spirit is bringing to remembrance, Jesus says, all that he had been talking about. This word, panta, he'll teach you all things, panta. He'll bring to your remembrance all things, panta. It is.
Not to say that the Holy Spirit is going to be teaching you every single thing. It's everything that you would ever need to know for life and godliness. And everything that Jesus ever said is a living word that does not fall to the ground. God's word does not return to him empty. And the Holy Spirit is keeping that word alive like God's breath in the earth.
And he brings it back to your remembrance. Praise the Lord. Yeah. That's Alan Wright. and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series.
Are you ready for some good news? In a world filled with confusion and false advertising, Jesus knew exactly who he was and exactly what his work would accomplish. He did not leave us guessing. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. What if the Christian life is not about striving harder?
but about abiding. Living with God, not just under Him or for Him. But in him. Living as secure, spirit-filled children of God, not as spiritual orphans. Living with the Holy Spirit as our live-in teacher, helper, reminder, and guide, so we do not have to rely only on our own voice.
This month's featured resource from Pastor Alan is Abide, Experiencing Jesus in John 14 through 17, a powerful digital audio series that explores Jesus' most intimate words to his disciples. Through teaching from these chapters in John, you will discover the freedom and confidence that come from living in Christ's finished work. As our thanks when you give today, you will receive digital access to Abide, Experiencing Jesus in John 14 through 17. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer.
Now, we are in our final days of offering this special product. Call us at 877-544-455-555-555-545. 4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org.
Today's teaching now continues. Here once again. is Alan Wright. Dale Bruner is my favorite. Scholar on John, and he wrote this about these verses.
How do we Christians learn to see And make our way ahead in our new century with as many fresh challenges and hard questions. By listening to the Holy Spirit's reminders, reformulations, and fresh faithful shapings of Jesus' historical teachings in the first century, and listen to this line. We learn everything we ever need to know now by being reminded of everything Jesus ever said then. And he is the best teacher, finally, because he is. God.
Which means not only does he know everything, But he owns everything. He has everything. And all power in heaven and earth are his. He has. authority.
Look at verse 29. And now I have told you before it takes place. Jesus talking about his death and resurrection.
so that when it does take place, you may believe. He's told them about his death, his resurrection, about the coming of the Holy Spirit, so that then, when it happens, you'll go, oh, this is that. Oh. It says, I will no longer talk much with you. I said, I'm running out of time here.
And the ruler of this world is coming, talking about the devil. He has no claim on me. But I do as the Father's commanded me, talking about going to the cross, so the world may know I love the Father. Rise, let's go from here. He said, here's what's going to happen.
I'm telling you in advance.
So that when the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost, You're gonna go oh This is the very presence of God. Because he told us about all of this ahead of time. Because if you can predict and then bring about an event, it increases the glory. It's like when we were a kid when we played horse. You know, the little basketball game we play over at the Ryan's house and you go out and you get a basketball and you take a shot.
And if you make it, then your opponent has to make that same shot or else they're getting the letter H and whoever gets H-O-R-S-E is out of the game. But in the game of horse, what makes it interesting is if you can call a trick shot, then you can demand that they also make the trick shot. The most basic of which is if you say ahead of time, I'm going to shoot from right here and I'm going to swish. Meaning I don't touch the rim at all, just swish. And if you make it and you swish and you don't touch the rim at all, then your opponent's got to come there and swish it.
Even if they make it but they hit the rim, they get a letter. And sometimes we come up with bizarre trick shots. I'm going to take this ball, throw it off the Ryan's roof, roll down the gutter, land on the driveway. I'm going to hit it up with my knee, and then my elbow against the backboard, and in for the And if you can do it and you call it ahead of time, then glory to you, you know. It's kind of like Babe Ruth.
Remember, they said he, in that famous game, he pointed to center field to call his own shot. He's like, some people said, no, he was just pointing at the Cubs duck out, or some would say that he was just gesturing of some other look. But all the Yankees fans would say, no, no, no, he was pointing to it. It had gotten down, the score was tied 4-4, and Ruth steps up to the play, and I think he'd already taken two strikes were against him, and then he points. And he pointed twice, and then he smashes this ball 440 feet to the deepest part of center field, went over the normal.
Seating into some temporary seats that they'd set up beyond the bleachers. And everybody said that's the most glorious moment in sports because if you can call your own. Amazing shot. It's more glorious. Jesus called it all.
Yeah. This is exactly what's gonna happen. The Son of Man is going to suffer many things at the hands of the chief priests and religious leaders and Roman authorities. And he will be delivered up unto death, but on the third day. He will rise.
And I will not leave you alone, but I'll come back in the person of the Holy Spirit so that you will know that I'm with you forever. The rabbi is not leaving, he's coming in a different personhood, in a different kind of presence that will be spiritual.
So when the Holy Spirit came, everyone realized this is the Spirit of the living God. And he has all authority. And they realized their teacher. was right. The devil had no claim on him.
You're going to see the Son of Man suffer many things, Jesus said. For the ruler of the age now comes. He was talking about. Judas and his posse, but he was also talking about when he was on the cross, it was open season. for every demon of hell to mock the Son of God while he suffered and hung there and could have called down a legion of angels and wiped out everybody that was crucifying him.
But instead he said, I love the Father. The Father loves me. We're one. I'm going to carry out this mission. But don't you think for a moment that just because you see me suffer and bleed, don't think for a moment because they put the mockery of a crown of thorns on my brow and I breathe my last.
Don't think for a moment that he has any claim over me. The devil has no claim. claim over me and you will see this the son of man has authority you remember when jesus started teaching in the synagogues they said he doesn't teach like other people The other rabbis, he's different. because he seems to teach as one who has authority. He doesn't just talk about it.
He does it. Your teacher, the Holy Spirit. doesn't just talk about How you are to live. He does it. I should have gone over and talked to that guy on the practice range that day who was just going.
I was like, don't hold your head still. Quit swaying. Quit. Don't get the clock touch. Oh, now you're just in my head.
I should have just gone over and said, I know exactly what you mean. I've heard all those same voices. What we need, brothers and sisters, is not the voice just inside our head or some inner voice. We need the actual teacher. The Holy Spirit.
To just Let our hearts get tuned in to what he's saying day in, day out. Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. Teach me just now. Show me the way. Help me.
I really do need your help. And he, like any good teacher, loves it when you say that. I think what any teacher hates the most is like they teach their heart out and then somebody raises their hand and they're like, okay, here comes a question. They really hungering to know something more about that point I was making and they go, is this going to be on the test? No teacher's worst moment.
But their best moment is when some student goes. That's really intriguing what you were just saying about that third point. Could you tell us more? I'm not totally. Yes, I thought you'd never ask.
The Holy Spirit's a teacher. Ask him. He's the third person of the triune God. He's the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And he's in the heart of every believer.
He is. The best. Teacher. Effer. And that's the gospel.
Okay. Yeah. Master Alan Wright, our good news message, best teacher ever from the series, Abide. Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment.
Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free, and just to click away at pastoralen.org. Are you ready for some good news?
In a world filled with confusion and false advertising, Jesus knew exactly who He was and exactly what His work would accomplish. He did not leave us guessing. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. What if the Christian life is not about striving harder? but about abiding.
Living with God, not just under Him or for Him. But in him. Living as secure, spirit-filled children of God, not as spiritual orphans. Living with the Holy Spirit as our live-in teacher, helper, reminder, and guide, so we do not have to rely only on our own voice. This month's featured resource from Pastor Alan is Abide, Experiencing Jesus in John 14-17, a powerful digital audio series that explores Jesus' most intimate words to his disciples.
Through teaching from these chapters in John, you will discover the freedom and confidence that come from living in Christ's finished work. As our thanks when you give today, you will receive digital access to Abide, Experiencing Jesus in John 14 through 17. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer.
Now, we are in our final days of offering this special product. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-444-400. five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org.
Back here now with Pastor Alan at the conclusion of Best Teacher Ever. Pastor Alan, what's your closing thought for today? What do you need to learn and grow in right now in your life? Take that to God. Think about what you'd like to see changed in your life.
Take that to God. Show me God. Teach me about this. I think a lot of Christians have had just a little bit of legalism and a little bit of shame that's infiltrated into their gospel, and it makes them a little concerned about maybe God's just going to be disappointed at me. That's not what a good teacher does.
What a good teacher does is help you. Learn it, grow in it, so that you can be changed. And God is perfectly loving. Repentance is not about you getting so Deeply obsessed with your own sin, that that's what you're thinking about all the time. Repentance really means changing your mind.
That means I was thinking it this way, but you know what? The Holy Spirit's been showing me this is the way. That's the teaching. And the great teaching is the very revelation of God's love for you.
So open up your heart and invite Him to teach you. He's the best teacher ever. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastoralan.org. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
