The Promised Holy Spirit

Bobby Cooley | John 14:18-31

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well, good morning. It is my uh just privilege to open God's word with you this morning. I'm humbled, uh super excited. If I hadn't met you yet, my name is Bobby Cooley. I'm the adult pastor here at Kingsland. Uh raise your hand if you're an adult. Raise your hand. All right. It's my joke. Um I get to oversee our adult ministries and anything and everything for our adults, and that's you. And I love what I get to do here at Kingsland. I also get the opportunity to go on mission trips uh throughout the year, but specifically with our students. You just heard just all that God had has done on our mission trips. And my favorite part of mission trips is watching our kids and their confidence grow so much. Their confidence in themselves, their confidence in the Lord. Uh, I went to the eighth grade mission trip with uh the Mission Arlington, and we were doing VBS in these apartment complexes. And to get kids to come down for VBS, uh, all of our students had to go knock on doors. And we we pull in and we're like, okay, go knock on doors. And they were like, but what do we say? Uh and they were like, uh, what if someone answers? Like, talk to them, talk to them. Uh and so there was nerves, but then by the end of the week, like I couldn't even put the van in park before they were running out to go and knock on doors and get kids. Their confidence, just seeing that grow, or a kid who's painting and they're just so nervous and they don't want to mess up. And then by the end of the week, their confidence grows and they're like Picasso, right? They're just, I love mission trips and seeing confidence grow in our students. And it's a great opportunity that we give them, and not just in their skills, their confidence in the Lord. When I was in college, I needed some extra income. I was working full-time during the day. I also uh was a student, and I was uh RA in the dorm. So I was pretty busy, but I was like, another job would be so great. Um that's how broke I was. And so I was thinking an evening job is what I needed. And uh I thought, no better place. Let's deliver pizza. Um, and I may get free pizza. So that's even a double whammy. Uh so I went to all the local pizza places and I went to college in uh in Abilene, Texas, and all we had was Papa John's, Domino's, and Pizza Hut. And uh I went to all three. I said, I'm gonna go to all three, I'm gonna apply to all three, and I am going to see who calls me first. So that's what I did. Um, I went and applied, and then I one day after class, I was walking back to my dorm and I walked in, and uh, this was before cell phones, and I had a dorm phone and an answer machine, and uh the answer machine was blinking with the little red light, right? Y'all remember that? And uh all the kids are like, gosh, he's old. Um and so that blinking light, I I went and I hit play and I heard the message, and I was so excited. I was like, all right. And it was a lady, she's like, I'm so-and-so. I would love to interview you. Just come by at your earliest convenience. There's no need for uh to set up a time. Uh, I'll be here. So I was like, sweet. So I was looking at my watch, I was like, I got a little bit of time. So I drove down the street, um, real close to campus to Pizza Hut. And uh Pizza Hut was just not far at all. And I walked in, I was spoken with the manager. I was like, can I uh I'm Bobby, I'm here for the interview. And uh she's like, hold on a second, I'm I'm working on some stuff, I'll be there uh shortly. Go sit down in the dining room. And this was a Pizza Hut that had the buffet, and so I'm sitting there what felt like an eternity watching all the pizza just glisten and call my name. And so I'm sitting there in the dining room and I'm waiting on her to come out. She finally comes out and she's just awkward. And I thought maybe I'm awkward and maybe I'm nervous, and she's just asking me a bunch of questions, and it's just a weird interaction. But then she throws some paperwork at me and says, fill this out. Can you start Friday? I'm like, Woohoo, I got another job. I'm gonna make some extra money. So I fill it all out and I go back to the dorm and I get to the dorm, and again, the little red light was blinking. And uh I go to the message and I hit play on it, and it was uh the manager from Papa John's. And I was like, ha ha, too late. I'm working at Pizza Hut. So I just hit delete. And uh the original message that was on my phone was still there, so I was gonna delete that, but you got to play it to delete it. So I played it again, and as I played the original message, my heart sunk. Because I hear the lady saying, Hey, I'm so-and-so, I'm from Domino's. Y'all, I went to the wrong pizza place. I was supposed to go to Domino's for the interview, and I walked into Pizza Hut and I I straight up walked in. I said, Hey, I'm here for a job. Give me a job. And this crazy lady hired me. Like, crazy. And so I thought after I deleted that message, I cannot tell a soul. Um, but it it ate me up. And so I worked there for a couple months and I got pretty close with the manager, and I was like, I gotta confess, I gotta tell her. So it was a slow shift, and so I tell her, I was like, hey, remember when I came in for the interview, it was super weird and awkward. I gotta tell you, I wasn't supposed to come here, I was supposed to go to Domino's. And uh she goes, huh? I guess it all worked out. And uh I was like, Yeah, I guess so. And then I asked, I was like, why in the world did you hire me? And I'll never forget what she said. She said, I loved your confidence. Now, if I'm being honest, I wasn't confident. I was ignorant. I hadn't messed up the whole situation, but I got the job. Now, today we're gonna talk about confidence. We're gonna talk about confidence in our future. Um, and there's a big difference between false confidence and real confidence. And as believers, our confidence isn't found in knowing the future. Our confidence is found in knowing who is with us in our future. And so, if you got your Bibles, we're gonna be in John chapter 14. Go ahead and turn there. And I want to give some context of what's happening in this passage. And the context is uh the disciples were in the upper room. Jesus had just washed their feet. Jesus was proclaiming all these things that were about to happen to them. He was telling the disciples, hey, I'm about to leave you. I won't be with you much longer. He was explaining all of these things. And then he unloads some incredible promises that can give us confidence in our faith today. You see, the disciples were worried. The disciples were anxious, the disciples were fearful because they didn't understand what the future was about to be. They didn't understand what was about to happen. All they knew was their leader was about to leave. Starting in verse 18, let's read what Jesus told these men. Jesus said, I will not leave you as orphans. I'm coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me because I live, you will live too. On that day you will know that I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you. The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him. Verse twenty two, Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you're going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The one who doesn't love me will not keep my words, but the word that you hear is not mine, but from the Father who sent me. I've spoken these things to you while I remain with you, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I've told you. Verse 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful. You have heard me tell you, I'm going away and I'm coming to you. If you love me, you will rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you may believe. I will not talk to you much longer because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me. On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father and I do as the Father commands me, then he says, Get up, let's leave this place. So Jesus is in the upper room. The disciples are anxious, worried about what the future may hold, and he drops these amazing promises on them. And I love sports, I'm a big sports guy, played sports all my life, and I coach my kids sports, and I just imagine in my mind this kind of locker room scene where they're about to leave this place, leave the upper room, and Jesus has given his final charge for them to be ready, to be encouraged, to walk out, able to face whatever is coming their way. And so today I want us to look at three promises that Jesus made in the upper room about the Holy Spirit and how we can walk with confidence about our future. The first promise Jesus makes very clear, he says, Jesus will be with us. He says, I will be with you. Jesus will be with us. Verse 18, I will not leave you as orphans, I'm coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me because I live, you will live too. There's incredible statements that Jesus makes in these few uh verses. He says, I will not leave you as orphans, I'm coming to you. Uh, you will see me because I live, you live too. You are in me and I am in you, I will reveal myself to you. Do you hear the common thread? Jesus is assuring his disciples of his presence. Although his physical body would soon leave them, his presence would never leave them. And he wanted them to know that even after the cross, they would never be alone. When Jesus says, In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, he's pointing to two events that are about to happen. He's pointing to the cross, he's pointing to the tomb, and then he's pointing to the resurrection. When he returns victorious from the grave, that his death would not be the end of his relationship with them, it would begin a new way of experiencing his presence through the Holy Spirit. One of the things I love to do here with our adult ministry is uh all of our parenting classes for our parents and grandparents, and one of the things we say over and over and over is one of the greatest gifts you can give your kids is your presence. Not the greatest toy or stuff, there's nothing wrong with those. Not the greatest event or experience, there's nothing wrong with that. But the greatest gift you can give your kids is your presence, your love, your listening, showing up constantly, being emotionally available. You see, presence communicates love in ways that words can never do alone. And this reminds me of a story. There was a young boy who was flying across the country by himself. Uh he was by himself, and an older gentleman sat right next to him, and they hit some small talk, and the young boy just kept reading his book. Well, halfway through the flight, uh the fasten your seatbelt light comes on, and there's some crazy turbulence, like the type of turbulence you see in movies where people are just shaking all around, and people are falling down on the floor, like it's just a crazy storm that they hit. And so the older man he takes his seatbelt and he tightens it up and he's holding on to the armrest, white knuckled, just scared. He's thinking he's gonna die. And then as he's sitting there, he looks over to the boy, and the boy's just reading this book, cool as a cucumber, not a worry in the world. He's going, This kid is crazy. Is he not scared? This is we're gonna die. And then the plane evens out, the fastener seatbelt side comes off, and he asks the little boy, he's like, son, how in the world were you so calm through that turbulence? He said, Weren't you afraid? Little boy looks up to him with confidence and he says, No, sir, my dad's the pilot. You see, there's power in knowing that his father was just a few feet away, the presence of his father, but there's even more power because we know as believers. Yes, we have his presence, but we know who's in control. We know who's in control. And that little boy knew who was in control of that plane. It wasn't because the turbulence wasn't real, it wasn't because the storm wasn't real, it was because he understood and believed that he was safe in the presence of his father. It changes everything for us. So when the future feels uncertain, we don't respond as orphans who've been abandoned. No, we live as sons and daughters of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We walk with confidence. Let me say this again. Our confidence is not found in knowing the future. Our confidence is found in knowing who is with us in the future. So Jesus promises his presence. And next, Judas asked a question that I think we all kind of, as we read this, are thinking ourselves, and it reveals the second promise. Promise number two, Jesus will live in us. So Judas said to him, He said, Lord, how is it that you're going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The one who doesn't love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. Like all the other disciples, Judas uh believed that the Messiah was coming in this grand way. He was going to come and he was going to be very public. He was going to go to Rome and go to the crowds and to the entire world. But Jesus says something completely different. He says that his greatest revelation will not come through public displays, but rather come through personal relationships with those who love him. I imagine Judas's uh follow-up question is like, How are you going to make your home in us? And Jesus answers this in verse 25. He says, I've spoken these things that while I remain with you, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I've told you. Through the Holy Spirit that will be within us. The Holy Spirit is now the presence of Christ that dwells within every believer. Think about this way: Jesus had been with these men for three years. Three years. He walked alongside them. Jesus taught them, Jesus encouraged them, Jesus corrected them sometimes. Jesus comforted them. He protected them. He reminded them of truth. He prayed for them. And now Jesus is telling his disciples that that ministry is not ending. It will continue through the Holy Spirit, through the counselor, will carry on everything. It says that he will remind them of all the things that I have taught you. For three years Jesus walked beside his disciples. Now the Holy Spirit will be with them. We're not alone. Christ's presence is no longer limited by geography. Through the Holy Spirit, he makes his home in every believer. I'll say it again, as believers, our confidence is not found in knowing the future. Our confidence is found in knowing who is with us in the future. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the promise of his presence. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the promise of the counselor that lives within us. And now Jesus connects it all together with the third promise. And the third promise is Jesus will give peace to us. Verse 27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful. Jesus speaks these words just hours before his arrest, and just hours before his death. Outwardly everything was about to fall apart for Jesus. But Jesus possessed this complete peace that now he offers to us. Jesus promised his presence, he promised the Holy Spirit in us, and now he's promising to give to us. And what I love is he didn't tell the disciples, hey, I want you to now go find your peace. He says, No, I am giving you peace. And he makes it clear that this peace is not what the world says peace looks like. The world will tell you, hey, if I'm financially stable, I have peace. If I have the right relationships, I have peace. If I have the right job, I have peace. No, this is a biblical peace. The Hebrew word for this is shalom. Our Jewish friends still use this word as a greeting and a goodbye. And Pastor Tim Keller said it this way: He said, peace is often defined as the absence of conflict. Shalom is the presence of God that brings wholeness even in the middle of conflict. The promise of peace that Jesus is talking about here is wholeness, security, and being rooted in his presence around you and the Holy Spirit, which dwells in you. Over the past eight years, I've sat in this room for countless funerals. I've sat here and sat with families on their worst day. I've watched husbands say goodbye to their wives. I've watched wives say goodbye to their husbands. I've sat with families. I've sat with parents who bury their children. I've sat with the brokenhearted. I've seen the tears, I heard their questions, I felt the weight of their grief, and it was almost unbearable. And yet I also witnessed something that the world cannot explain. I've watched men and women whose hearts were shattered somehow stand with peace. The world would look at them and say, I don't even know how you're standing. How is this possible? It's not because they're naturally strong, it's not because their pain wasn't real, it's because the Holy Spirit was giving them peace that the world cannot manufacture and that the world cannot understand. That's the peace that Jesus is promising here. The peace that steadies our hearts in the middle of a storm, a peace that doesn't uh always make sense, a peace the world cannot manufacture. So Jesus promises these guys in the upper room, he says, I will be with you, I will be in you, and I will give to you. And what a gift, believers in the room, that we receive through the same Holy Spirit these same promises every single day. And when it comes to confidence of your future, I don't know about you, but I for sure needed this message. As I was prepping and planning, it was like, okay, God, I hear you. You're talking straight to me. Because our future is uncertain. Right now, in my personal life, I've got three kids that are gonna go through three different schools next semester, and they've got three different activities and three different sports schedules and three different practice schedules, and then I want to spend time with my wife and take her out on dates, and then we have ministry opportunities, and we have all this stuff, and I think about the future and all the moving parts, and I can get overwhelmed. And God said, Hey Bobby, did you forget? I'm with you.

unknown 21:59

Did you?

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Forget, Bobby, I'm in you. Did you forget, Bobby? I give to you. I needed to hear this locker room talk from Jesus. And I'm sure many of you need this as well. My favorite part of this whole passage, it's a weird thing to look at, but my favorite part is the last line of chapter 14. Two words. Get up. Get up. If we want to have confidence and believe these promises of the Holy Spirit, we can't just hide and say, I'm just gonna stay here and let the Holy Spirit lead. No, we got to get up. Take your first step of faith and obedience and know that He's with you, He's in you, and He gives to you. Get up. The Holy Spirit is not passive, He's active and moving and wants us to do the same. And when Jesus says, get up, let's go, where are they going? They're going into betrayal, they're going into suffering, they're going into confusion, they're about to walk into the darkest weekend of their lives. And Jesus didn't remove him, remove them from what was ahead, He prepared them for it. The disciples had no idea what the future was about to hold, they just believed in these promises. When they walked out of the upper room, nothing was certain. They walked into the unknown. Yet because they trusted Jesus that day, these ordinary men became the foundation of the church. They preached the gospel in hostile cities. They endured persecution, imprisonment, and suffering. They faithfully pointed people to Jesus, sharing the good news everywhere they went. And when their lives came to an end, the mission didn't. The same Holy Spirit that used these disciples to change the world, who made disciples, who made disciples, who made disciples, continues in us today. He is with us, he is in us, and he gives to us. Think about it this way. Almost 50 years ago, a small group of faithful believers from Tallawood Baptist Church stood right here on this very property and they prayed about starting Kingsland Baptist Church. They didn't have every detail mapped out. They didn't know what the future was going to hold. They were just obedient to the Holy Spirit leading. They got up. Now look around. Today, thousands of people worship on this campus every week. Countless lives have been changed. We just watched amazing lives walk through the waters of baptism. Families have been restored. Children and students come to know Christ. Missionaries sent out around the world. And none of this happens because people could predict the future. It happened because they trusted the Holy Spirit was leading. Amen. And just as God was faithful to those disciples when they left the upper room, and just as God has been faithful to this church nearly 50 years, He will be faithful to you. Our confidence isn't in understanding or knowing the future. Our confidence is knowing who's with us in the future. Jesus walks with us, He's with us, His presence is felt. Now, a room this size, this many faces, so many that I know and love. Some of the stories in this room I know. Just this next week, you got stuff going on that you're not excited to walk into. Maybe it's a doctor's appointment, maybe it's a meeting with your boss, maybe it's something that you have anxiety and worry. Maybe you're like me, worried about this next school year with all the things going on, whatever it is. Hear the words from Jesus. You can have confidence tomorrow because I'm with you. I'm in you. And I will give so much to you. So, church, whatever tomorrow holds, we can walk in confidence because of who he is. So, as we leave this place, I want you to leave this place thinking like you're leaving the upper room. You might still have butterflies about this next week. I'm sure the disciples were still worried. They didn't fully understand what was going, but I have to believe that they were encouraged and they were ready to face whatever came at them, knowing these truths and knowing these promises, and you can too. Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, I thank you for these promises. I thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. God, thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us, for going to the cross for our sins, for dying. But God, thank you for the resurrection that you now live within us. So, God, as we leave this place today, may we hold fast to the Holy Spirit and know that your presence goes with us, your spirit lives in us, and your peace guards our heart. And that we leave this place for your kingdom and for your glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Hey, Pastor Ryan Rush here, and I just want to thank you for being with us to Kings Among Line today. What an honor. But I'll tell you what'd be even better. We'd love to see you get connected with the physical church in the days ahead if you haven't already. And that means maybe if you're local in the West Houston area, we'd love to see you at Kingsman. Otherwise, regardless, we'd love to help you facilitate jumping into a local church near you, and we can do that together. You can go to KingslimeOrg slash unlike annex. KingslickOrkslash Unlike Connect to find out the next steps on your journey. Listen, thanks again for being with us today at Kingslive.