Help Has Arrived! - Part A

Help is available, but they don't always ask for help. Many believers are unaware that there is a helper, the Holy Spirit, that they can ask for help. In fact, many believers don't think much about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It's just how active the Holy Spirit is in your life and in your faith.

Now, here's a resource that will help you pursue a life of faith and purpose, even in uncertain times. The desire to fit in, to be thought of as normal, is a basic human instinct. But would you believe that children as young as three years old already want to follow the crowd and fit in with the group? That's what researchers found in a Duke University study. In the Bible, we learn that some of the people who've made the most impact have done so by defying normal.

Here's Skip Heitzig. I think the Bible calls us to a holy defiance of the status quo. Paul the Apostle said, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

So what does it take to go from conformed to transformed? Find out in Pastor Skip's book, Defying Normal. Our thanks to you when you give $35 or more to help expand this Bible teaching ministry. And when you give today, we'll also include the booklet, What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren.

Get your copies of these two bold resources when you call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, let's get into today's teaching. We're in John chapter 14 as we begin our study with Skip Heitzig. I distinctly remember the summer of 1965. I was in my little kid. I was in my parents backyard.

It was August and the song of the summer came over the radio. Help. I need somebody. Help.

Not just anybody. Help. You know I need someone. Help. I've always needed help.

People that know me go, uh-huh. I needed help when I was a baby. I needed help to walk when I was a toddler. I needed help learning how to ride a bicycle. I needed help to figure out how to swim. My oldest brother and my dad helped me in that category. I needed help in school. There were certain subjects that I was naturally good at but many subjects I needed extra help to understand. I needed help to learn how to drive.

It's called driver's ed and to drive a car on the freeway in Southern California. Believe me, it takes help. I needed help in sports.

Coaches would give me techniques to make my sporting experience in whatever it was a better experience. So I've always needed help but I haven't always been good at asking for help. My dad was sort of a self-made man, figured things out on his own and I guess I inherited that from him. And when I should have asked for help, I just sort of weathered it on my own and it has not served me well. Kind of a classic example from my own life is when I was in grade school and I had forgotten an assignment paper at home. And so the class started and the teacher asked for the assignment papers and it dawned on me that I had left mine at home. So the easy thing to do is go and say I left it at home, go to the principal's office, call my parents, ask them for help, they would have driven it down. Oh no, what I did is I decided at break I would leave the school and walk home to get my paper. Four and a half miles one way, four and a half miles back. So this is me not asking for help. I'm walking, walking, walking. The school calls my parents because now I'm missing in class and they think he ran away or he got abducted or something.

So my dad is in his car looking for me and he found me on my walk and he picked me up and he held up my paper and he said all you needed to do is call and ask for help. Now my experience as a child sadly is how many Christians live their Christian experience. Help is available but they don't always ask for help. Many believers are unaware that there is a helper, the Holy Spirit that they can ask for help. In fact, many believers don't think much about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

A.W. Tozer said, the idea of the Holy Spirit to the average church member is so vague as to be non-existent. I was reading an article this week in a source called The Federalist and it was about what Christians believe in America. These articles always fascinate me but especially this one because the title grabbed my attention. The title of the article was, Survey Finds Most American Christians Are Actually Heretics.

I go, I got to read that article. It basically began by saying if you were to give American Christians a theology test, the only way they would pass it is if God grades on a curve and went on to talk about different beliefs that evangelical Christians have in America. And one of the things in the article that got my attention for this particular message is it said most evangelical Christians say the Holy Spirit is a divine force or a symbol of God's power or presence.

Now think about that. He's not a person to many evangelical Christians. He's just a symbol of God's power or presence. Last time I checked, symbols don't do much. Symbols are just there for you to look at and appreciate their symbolism.

They don't actually do any work. The Holy Spirit is far more than a symbol of God's power and God's presence. Truth is we couldn't do anything of any eternal value without the Holy Spirit's help.

John Lloyd Ogilvy wrote these words, sadly, many Christians settle for two-thirds of God. God the Father is way up there somewhere aloof and apart from their daily lives. Christ is out there somewhere between them and the Father.

The Holy Spirit is some kind of vague force or impersonal power that they hear about but they do not know intimately. It is my sincere hope and prayer that we will get to know the Holy Spirit more intimately. The truth is you need help. The good news is help has arrived and we find that in the promise of Jesus in John 14, I'm beginning in verse 15 where He said to His disciples in that upper room, If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the 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 will be in you. I will not leave you orphans.

I will come to you. Let's remind ourselves of the emotional state of the disciples at this moment. They're at the Last Supper throughout the evening. In these chapters, Jesus has told them that He is leaving them. They're not too stoked about that. They're pretty depressed about that idea. They're starting to become unraveled emotionally.

They're starting to feel helpless. And Jesus of course knows that and makes throughout the evening in these chapters several promises of someone who is coming to help them. What I want to show you in the verses that we just read, I want to drill down in them, and I want to show you the fivefold function of the Holy Spirit in helping or assisting the believer.

Five traits. First of all, the Spirit is an active Helper. Now I counted four times in this upper room discourse, this Last Supper message that Jesus gives His disciples, four times our Lord refers to the person of the Holy Spirit by the title Helper. He's going to be a Helper.

When the Helper comes, then the Helper will do this. Four times He calls him the Helper. It is the designated term that Jesus chose to describe the Holy Spirit. Of course, He could have used many other terms, for He is given different titles throughout the Scripture. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Might, the Spirit of Knowledge.

That's in Isaiah chapter 11. Jesus could have called him the Eternal Spirit, like in Hebrews chapter 9. The Holy Spirit is called God in Acts chapter 5 verse 4. He is referred to as the Good Spirit in Nehemiah chapter 9. He is called the Lord by Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. He is designated as the Power of the Highest, Luke chapter 1. Paul again calls him the Spirit of Adoption, Romans chapter 8, and Peter gives him the title the Spirit of Glory in 1 Peter chapter 4.

None of those Jesus uses. He calls him the Helper, the Helper. Now the word Helper is the Greek word parakletos. Some of you are familiar with the term paraklet because of the churches you grew up in.

It's a term that was thrown around. Parakletos is a Greek word that means somebody who is called alongside to help or one who contributes their assistance. A Helper. It could be translated Advocate, Counselor, Comforter, Exhorter, Intercessor, Encourager, or in this case Helper. Often times in ancient times it was associated with the legal profession, the law courts. It would refer to somebody who was a counsel for the defense or somebody who would help you plead your case, help you win your case.

I love how the Amplified Bible renders it in this verse. It says, one called to stand constantly by us and who is ready to take part in everything in which his help is needed. He's the Helper. God knows you need all the help you can get. So he has provided for you and for me a Helper.

Now we don't always know that. We are often like the young Skip Heitzig walking home for his assignment paper. All we have to do is ask for help because there's a Helper available. But do you ever feel or have you ever felt that you're at a breaking point that if life throws you one more curve ball in 2020, that's it? Or do you ever feel like the temptations in your life are too much, the trials are just so accumulating? Do you ever feel the pressure is too intense or sin is too powerful?

This is where the Helper comes in. One of my all time favorite quotes of the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Christian is written by a guy named Tim Downs. Tim Downs wrote this, watches, cars, and Christians can all look chromed and shiny, but watches don't tick, cars don't go, and Christians don't make a difference without insides.

And then he says, for a Christian, that's the Holy Spirit. I've watched Christians struggle over the years. As a pastor, I've seen many a Christian marriage struggle. I've watched people struggle in choices that they've made, addictions that they suffer struggle with. I've seen them deal with purity issues and struggle in that area.

What's going on? Well, we're in a kingdom, right? It's called the kingdom of God. Now to get into this kingdom is pretty easy, pretty straightforward. All you need to do is believe in Jesus Christ, and the Bible says you are adopted into the royal family.

That's all it takes. To get into the kingdom is easy, but to walk like royalty takes help. To walk as a son or daughter of the king takes the Helper, and Jesus said help is on the way. Now, would you like to know what kind of help He'll give you? Let's examine that. Let's drill down a little more. Not only is He an active Helper, but the Spirit is a similar Helper.

I want to explain that. Go back to verse 16, and notice the promise, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you not just a Helper, but what's the word right before it? Another Helper. Now that word is very precise, another Helper.

It means a Helper of exactly the same kind, a Helper of exactly the same kind, or from the same category. Now in English, we have one word for another, and that's the word. What's the word? Another. That's it. There's only one word. Very good.

Matt, you get an A on the test. So we have one word in English. In the Greek word, if you want to say another, you have a choice between two different words.

You can use the word allos, which means another of exactly the same kind, or you can use the word heteros, which means another of a different kind. How would this be used? Well, here's an example. Let's say you go and order a hamburger at your favorite burger joint, and it looks like the one on the left. It's greasy.

It tastes a lot like cardboard, seasoned cardboard. So you take a bite of that burger, and you go, ah, I'm not going to eat this thing. So you tell the guy who gave you the burger, I want another hamburger. You don't mean I want one just like this bad one. You're not going to use the word allos.

You're going to use the word heteros. I want another burger, but I want it to be different from the first. But if you like the hamburger that you ate because it's really juicy and good like that, look at that cheese. Wow.

You have that. I don't eat cheeseburgers, by the way, anymore, but it does look good. So you look at that, and you eat that, and you say, that's so good.

I think I could eat two. So now you go up to him, and you say, I'd like another. You're going to use a different word. You're going to use the word allos.

I want another exactly like the first one. So when Jesus said, the Father's going to give you another helper, what he's meaning is disciples. I've been a helper to you. I'm leaving, but the Father's going to give you another helper exactly like I've been to you. Everything that I have been to you, the Holy Spirit will now be to you. Just like you've turned to me in every situation, you can turn to the Holy Spirit in every situation. I have been a helper to you. The Holy Spirit will now be your helper. Now let's just quickly examine that. How did Jesus help his disciples?

I'll give you just two quick examples. Number one, he helped them pray. He helped them pray. They came to him one day, and they saw that John's disciples taught, John had taught his disciples how to pray, and they said, teach us to pray like John taught his disciples. So Jesus said, okay, when you pray, come to the Father like this. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come. You know the Lord's prayer, the disciples' prayer. He helped them pray. Likewise, the Holy Spirit helps us pray. Romans chapter 8 verse 26, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.

Mark that. A lot of times you pray for stuff, you're way off base. The Lord knows that.

So watch this. See, he helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Here's the silly illustration. You think you need a new car, so you pray for it. God, please, in Jesus' name, I claim it. Give me a new car.

The Holy Spirit might be saying, don't answer that prayer, Father. He does not need a new car. He needs patience. So keep that old car going.

Give him a good mechanic to keep it going. So he knows that. He's going to help us in our prayers. A second thing that Jesus helped his disciples with is instruction. He taught them for three and a half years. They listened to the Sermon on the Mount. They listened to the Upper Room Discourse. They listened to the Olivet Discourse. They listened to all those parables he gave and all the life situations he instructed them in. He taught them. He schooled them. He educated them.

He matured them. In the same way, the Holy Spirit will do that. Look down in chapter 14 at verse 25.

Verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. I've taught you while I've lived among you. But the Helper, verse 26, 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. So I've been a Helper to you. He's going to send you another Helper exactly like I have been to you. This is important because I've heard throughout the years the sentiment of many believers, myself included, something like this.

Wouldn't it have been great to live during the time that Jesus lived, to actually be there to hear His voice and watch His miracles and be there when you needed something? Every need you have He could fix. Yes, that would be good. I'm not at all depreciating that.

I would love that. But what Jesus wants you to realize is that the Holy Spirit is the perfect substitution for Himself when it comes to being a Helper. The Holy Spirit is a perfect substitution of Jesus Christ when it comes to being a Helper. And just as the disciples learned to turn to Jesus for everything, you and I need to learn to turn to the Holy Spirit for help. Jesus told them, apart from Me you can do nothing. He wants us to know apart from the Holy Spirit we can do nothing. And the quicker you learn that, the happier you're going to be. I'll sum it up this way.

It's a little simplistic, but I think it helps. We need God the Father for external life. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. We need God the Father for external life. We need God the Son, Jesus, for our eternal life. He died on a cross for our sins, gave us life eternal as a free gift.

But we need the Holy Spirit for our internal life. He's the source of our strength. He's the source of our comfort. He's the source of instruction. He is our Helper. He is another Helper, a similar Helper.

Here's the third trait I'd like you to look at. The Spirit is a permanent Helper. He's permanent. He's not going to be here one day and then leave the next. He's in it for the long haul. Verse 16. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.

Forever. He's not going to be with you three and a half years and leave. He's not going to be with you the first decade of your Christian life until you get your own footing and you can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and then leave and say, okay, you're on your own now. Grow up. He's not going to be with you until you're 18 and then kick you out of the house like my parents did. Okay, get out.

Do your thing. He's with you forever. He is with you forever.

You have a 24-7 live-in Helper who will be comforting, maturing, counseling, and praying for you. Yes, you can grieve the Holy Spirit, no question. Yes, you can resist and quench the Holy Spirit. But you need to know He's hanging around and He's pretty committed to the process of growing you and I up.

He is with you forever. You see, the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is not like the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, you remember the Spirit of God came upon individuals at different times for specific reasons and specific callings and sometimes He would work powerfully and be upon them and then He would leave.

And sometimes it was very disconcerting when He did. For instance, King Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 16, we read, the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. That's not good.

That's not good. Because Saul is the king of the land and if anybody needs help in ruling God's people, it's the king. And so the Spirit of God departed from Saul. David watched it happen and it scared him to death because he prayed later on in Psalm 51, do not cast me from your presence, do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Don't let it happen to me what happened to Saul. Well, this is New Testament.

It's not going to happen. That's Old Testament. In the New Testament, He is permanently in the believer. The Holy Spirit is with you forever.

That's Skip Heiteck with a message from the series 2020. Now, here's Skip with an important message for you. God's Holy Spirit lives in us.

Why? To help us live out our faith in this world. And our heart is to come alongside of you to do the same.

That's why we work to make these Bible teachings available to friends like you. And you can help connect even more people to God's Word today through a generous gift. Here's how you can give now to impact others' lives with God's truth. Visit connectwithskip.com slash donate to give a gift. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Or call 800-922-1888. 800-922-1888.

Thank you for your generosity. And come back tomorrow as Skip Heiteck shares why you can rely totally on the Holy Spirit to help you live faithfully to the Lord. At least three times he is called the Spirit of Truth by Jesus. The Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive.

Because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. So He's the Spirit of Truth. He can't lie. He can't deceive. He won't leave you to lie.

He won't leave you to deceive. He traffics in truth. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing.

Cast all burdens on His Word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heiteck is a presentation of Connection Communications. Connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.