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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
Holy Spirit |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
hn 14: 26 |
Date |
2009-05-31 |
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Passage
[John 14: 26]
"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 that I said to you."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today is Pentecost Sunday.
In Acts chapter 2 there is a scene depicted in which the Holy Spirit descended on the people in Mark's upper room.
Pentecost is the day celebrating this event.
Jesus had already spoken about the Holy Spirit before He died on the cross.
While Jesus was having the Last Supper with His disciples, He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16-17 says, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."
What do you think Jesus felt as He had to go away leaving His disciples in this world?
He had burning heart for them when He spoke the following.
In John 14:18, He promises, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
This means the Lord will come again and take us to the heavenly kingdom.
Also, it means He will send the Holy Spirit, who is one with the Lord, to be with us.
This promise is the promise of the Father God who is one with Jesus.
In Jesus' words is contained the heart of God the Father as it was.
Even after Adam committed a sin and was driven out from the Garden of Eden, God never forgot about Adam.
He couldn't communicate with Adam like before, but He wanted to guide Adam and all others to live according to His will.
And when the time came He sent Jesus to make Him the atoning sacrifice for all men.
He demolished the wall of sin that stood between God and us.
He wanted to recover the relationship between the Father and His children, and He wanted to walk with us just as He walked with Adam before.
It was in His providence to guide us to the kingdom of Heaven and be with us forever.
After Jesus reconciled us with God and ascended into heaven, God sent another Helper, the Holy Spirit.
Jesus opened the way for us to come to God, but He also knew very well that we were too weak to go all the way to Him.
God showed how much He loves us by sending Jesus, and likewise, He showed us His love once again by sending the Holy Spirit to help us.
The Holy Spirit is the heart of God the Father itself.
So, we can feel the love of the Father God through the Holy Spirit.
I will talk about what the Holy Spirit does for us on this Pentecost Sunday, and I hope you will feel the love of Father God who sent the Holy Spirit to us.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will have a more intimate relationship with God and reach New Jerusalem, the seat of the throne of God.
[Main] Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what does the Holy Spirit do for us?
First, He gives us the strength to overcome the world.
If I ask you, "Do you long for New Jerusalem?" then, most of you here will say 'Amen!'
New Jerusalem is where God's throne is located, and is the most beautiful and happiest place in Heaven.
You know it very well. Also, you know very well that you have to cast away worldly things from your heart to get into New Jerusalem.
Why do we have to cast off worldly things?
1 John 2:15 says, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."
As said, the things of the world are flesh, which is opposite of God who is spirit.
They are untruth, the opposite of God who is the truth.
That is why we can love God only when we get rid of our love for the world.
We can also become sanctified and be faithful until death to reach New Jerusalem only when we love God.
But some of you feel it is difficult to cast off your love for the world while some others feel it relatively easy.
Why is it so?
It's because men are made from the dust of the ground.
Dust of the ground changes its characters when mixed with other substances.
Men also have this character like the dust of the ground.
Since the Fall of Adam, as men accepted more flesh from the world, they changed into flesh more.
Also, men are living in this fleshly world, which is controlled by the power of darkness, the enemy devil and Satan.
They see, hear, and come in contact with a lot of untruth, sins, and evil.
That is why their mind can easily be stained with the world, and they can be tempted.
Especially, going towards the end of the time, the power of flesh becomes stronger.
Flesh calls for more flesh, and evil for more evil. The flesh and evil combine together and extend its influence.
Just by seeing the culture of the world, we can see how far away it is from God.
People are stained by sin and evil day after day.
It becomes more and more difficult to find the least bit of morality and ethics.
We are living in this dark world and because of having bodies made of the dust of the ground, it's not very easy to cast off flesh.
No matter how much we want to cut off the flesh and get rid of it, we cannot do it by our own strength.
But we can surely cut off the world and cast away flesh with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 103:14 says, "For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust." God the Father knows this character of men very well.
That is why He sent the Holy Spirit to us.
Now, how does the Holy Spirit help us overcome the world?
If we take in anything of the world, at first He gives us a warning in our hearts.
He rebukes us with the Word, and lets us discern the worldly things, the perishable things of flesh, and the sins leading to death.
He groans in the heart of God's children so they feel the agitation in their hearts.
While they are partaking in the world, they can feel the groanings of the Holy Spirit and turn away.
Also, the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to root out our love for the world itself.
As we pray to cast away worldly things, He gives us the strength to cry out earnestly and fervently in prayer.
As we pray fervently, we can cast away worldly things easily by the fullness of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit also consoles and encourages those who are trying to cast away their love for the world.
Romans 14:17 says, "for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
He not only teaches us to cast away worldly things but also lets us taste the joy of living in the Holy Spirit, so we can love God more than the world.
For example, as we try to stop taking in worldly pleasure, He gives us joy and peace in our hearts.
He also gives us financial blessing or health, which are visible blessings.
Many believers say that they quit various worldly things only by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Some of them say they quit smoking and drinking which they couldn't do.
Some students say they were set free from Internet addiction and study harder.
But above all, the Holy Spirit lets us feel the love of God the Father.
When faced with temptation, if you think about the Father God who is watching you with deep love, you will gain the strength to drive it away thinking, "God will be heart-broken if I do this. I will keep my heart."
I pray in the name of the Lord that, like the above, you will overcome the world and live a happy life with the help of the gentle Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, secondly, the Holy Spirit guides us to realize the love of God.
What kind of being is God to you?
Is He the Almighty who performs mighty works? Is He God the Creator who sits on His throne?
Both are right. But before that, God is our Father.
He doesn't exist only on the heavenly throne but He is our Father who is always next to us.
He is the Father of our spirit and body. It is He who made our spirit, soul, and body.
2 Corinthians 6:18 says, "And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty."
Since the Fall of Adam mankind became children of the enemy devil. When we were separated from God, we couldn't feel His presence with us any longer.
And Holy Spirit is the one who lets us realize that God is our Father.
Romans 8:14-16 says, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies to our spirit that we are children of God,"
As we accept the Lord and receive the Holy Spirit, we come to call God 'Father'.
But at first, it is awkward to call Him 'Father'.
As we had been children of the devil standing against God, it is somewhat embarrassing.
But as we cast away our old self, the slaves of the devil, and try to resemble God, that awkward feeling disappears and we feel an intimate closeness with Him.
The Holy Spirit is the one who guides us to have more intimacy with God.
The Lord guided us to come back to the side of God, and the Holy Spirit recovers our relationship with God.
Easily put, He guides the believers in their walks of faith after they accept the Lord.
In what ways does the He guide them?
He continually lets them understand about God and the heart of God through the word.
The Bible is written in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and Holy Spirit knows even the deep things of God. He knows the heart of God the most.
As we understand the word of the Bible, then, it is not just some words written in the Bible that have no relation to us.
The Word becomes the living Word of God working in us.
Namely, we will change into those children who resemble God to the extent that we understand the Word and practice it.
Then, we will always feel the living God who is always working in us.
We will know the invisible God so well it will be as if we have met Him.
We will feel how much love God has.
The more clearly we know God and His heart, the closer the relationship will become that we have with Him.
We will have deeper love for Him.
Eventually, we will act by the will of God as His children who truly love Him.
Then, we can also live a life like the patriarchs who always walked with God.
As we rely on God who is with us, we will be prosperous in everything.
We will live a happy life on earth until we go to heavenly kingdom.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will walk with God the Father through the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Holy Spirit, thirdly will let us know the spiritual realm clearly.
He lets us know that this physical, visible world is not everything but there is spiritual realm.
He teaches us there is a spiritual space where the Father God and the patriarchs are staying.
How does He do that?
He shows the spiritual realm to us by doing the things that are impossible in this physical world.
Signs and wonders and extraordinary works take place by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit is the heart of God the Father itself, and also the power of God the Father itself.
We can see there was a great manifestation of power when the Holy Spirit came into Mark's upper room.
Jesus, the disciples, and the apostles performed signs with the power of the Holy Spirit when they preached the gospel.
Seeing these, people could really believe in God the almighty and the existence of Heaven and Hell.
Through these works of the Holy Spirit, we who are living in this world with physical body can feel the spiritual realm.
Today, God is showing us these works of the Holy Spirit even more greatly.
Latter part of Matthew 13:13 says, "while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." As said, there are many people who are spiritually blind and deaf.
They do not believe in the life to come, nor do they believe in Heaven or Hell, even after hearing the gospel.
With the development of science and technology today, there are more spiritually blind and deaf people.
God wants even these people to open their spiritual eyes, see the spiritual realm, and believe it by showing to them the works of the Holy Spirit.
They can have hope for the heavenly kingdom only when they can believe in the spiritual realm without any doubt.
Particularly, in this church God has shown us numerous works of the Holy Spirit through which we could feel the spiritual space.
We could not just be sure of the existence of the spiritual realm, but we could also understand there are many spaces of different dimensions.
Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, He let us understand Heaven is not just one space but is categorized into many places.
It is His love to guide His children to go into better dwelling place in Heaven and enjoy greater honor and power.
With this love, many of you are trying hard to become sanctified and be faithful more completely.
I hope you will remember this love whenever you see the fiery works of the Holy Spirit and run towards your spiritual goal even more.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will forcefully take hold of New Jerusalem the best dwelling place in Heaven.
Let me conclude the message, Brothers and sisters, through the Holy Spirit, we can feel God as our Father who helps us all the time and remains with us.
Today's reading passage from John 14:26 says, "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 that I said to you."
The Holy Spirit teaches us the will of the Lord and the heart of God. He raises us as true children of God.
But the Holy Spirit does not force us to love God.
He endures until we change and continually dedicates Himself for us.
Through His sacrifice, Holy Spirit shows us how much God the Father loves us.
On this Pentecost, I explained in detail how the Holy Spirit works for us.
First, the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to overcome the world.
Second, through the word, He lets us realize the heart of God, namely the love of God.
Third, He continually shows us amazing works so we can clearly know and believe in the spiritual realm.
Unless we depart from God, the Holy Spirit will stay with us all the time and help us until the Lord comes back.
I hope all of you will come forth as fruit of this dedication and endurance of the Holy Spirit.
Namely, I hope you will realize the love of God and come forth as true children who love God from the depths of your heart.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be with the Helper the Holy Spirit not only on this earth but also in New Jerusalem in the kingdom of Heaven (as promised in John 14:16)!
[Amen] |
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