The Holy Spirit Our Teacher

Sermon by Youth Pastor Jason Rivera

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hey, thanks so much for joining us on the Siri Bible Church Sermon of the Week. We hope you enjoy this message by youth pastor Jason Rivera.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

I don't know what's happening. Good job over here. Okay, I am Jason, and I also want to say what's up to Skyline. That's sweet, right? We just got a second campus and we didn't even know it. What's up, Skyline? We're excited you're here. That's really cool. We have this thing called um Joy Club, which is like what Skyline is. They're just older youth, right? We're all just older youth. Joy Club, it's awesome. Okay, I have a question for you right out of the gate. Are you ready? Are you sure? Okay. My question is who taught you the most growing up? Who taught you the most growing up? You know, was it maybe like a pastor, a teacher, a parent, a coach? Who taught you the most growing up? And as you have that thought and you're like processing through that for a second, I have a follow-up question. How many of you have ever had someone teaching you something and you just fully missed it? Just like I want to see that hand. If you like had someone teaching you something and you just like fully missed it, like a hundred percent didn't get it, right? They were explaining it to you. They were walking it, like walking you through it step by step. Like, this is how you do it. This is exactly what you do. And you're sitting there, your body's in the room, you're there, and you're just like, I don't know, like, I don't, I don't know what you're trying to tell me. Right? That question, it hits a little bit different than the first question. Right? And it hits different for me too, because I spend, most of you don't know this about me, I spend most of the mornings of my week in a classroom. I teach construction at Sonora High School. So I spend most of my mornings over there at Sonora High School teaching construction, and it's guided me into like a little bit of understanding, right? It's like this idea that like I'm teaching, I'm giving information, I'm telling you exactly 100% what you need to know. And they don't get it sometimes, right? They don't get it. It's like I'm guiding them into some sort of understanding. My hope is as a teacher is that, like I said, I'm guiding them into some sort of understanding, and I'm hoping that they're gonna see it a way that they've never seen it before. That's my job as a teacher. And like I said, I've also learned that if like I'm teaching teaching, you know, like like up in front, just like fully sending teaching, and then they're just like staring at me like this. I'm like, this one's this is not gonna work. I'm gonna have to go back to the drawing board on this one. So I want you to hold on to those two questions for a second because I'm gonna bring you into a moment with Jesus where I think that this same situation happens. Before we get there, I want you to picture with me that you're sitting at a table. There's a table, you're there with a bunch of guys who have followed Jesus for three years. They've done everything with him, they've given up everything in their life to follow him. Right? They've they've left their jobs, they've left their families, they've given everything up to follow this guy, Jesus, and they're watching crazy, amazing things happen. Time after time after time. They're watching this. And this just isn't any meal that you're sitting at here. This is the meal. This is like the last meal before Jesus is gonna go to the cross. They're sitting there and they're listening and they're leaning in. And in this moment, Jesus states something that totally rocks them. Totally rocks them. He tells them, right? One of you guys is gonna betray me. And then he goes on to say, and Peter, you, you're gonna deny me three times. Real soon, this is all gonna happen. And then he says this, he says, and I'm getting ready to go somewhere that you cannot follow me. You can feel it, you can feel the tension, you can feel the confusion, you can feel the fear. They're just like sitting there, like, what do you mean you're leaving? Like things are just getting good, everything's going great. What you're leaving and we can't go. You're telling us we can't go where you're going. I can totally go where you're going, right? Like you can feel it. It's just like chaotic and heavy in the moment. And right there in the middle of their confusion, Jesus says something incredible. He tells them, hey, you guys, you're not going at this alone. You're not going at that. He says, I'm gonna send you help, not just advice, not just instructions. I'm gonna send you a teacher, I'm gonna send you a helper, I'm gonna send you the Holy Spirit. We're not gonna get to this text today, but but at the end of the text that we're reading, if you just read along a little further, there's this beautiful line where Jesus says, I'm not gonna leave you orphans. Think about that. Everything that they have known, they're sitting at this table. Everything that they had felt, everything that they had seen. Jesus says, I'm leaving, and he goes, But I'm not gonna leave you orphans. I got you. They feel like everything is falling apart. And Jesus just looks at them and it's like, you're not abandoned. I'm gonna equip you for good works. Now, here is why this like setup matters to each one of us today. This is why. Some of you that are in this room right now, you have followed Jesus your entire life. Some of you were in this building on the first day it was open, right? Some of you have like given everything in your life to just be like, God, I want to chase after you. I know you have good works planned for me. I'm coming after you, God, your whole life. And then some of you are sitting in this room and you're like, why does this guy yell into the microphone so much? I don't understand. You're just trying to figure out what this like church thing is all about. You're like, okay, so I showed up on Easter, there was a cross, there was a guy, his name is Jesus. I've heard of him. He went there for my sin. That dude doesn't know my sin. You're sitting here trying to figure it out, and this is why it matters. Because both groups, I don't care what group you're in, both groups, you've been following Jesus your whole life, you're just beginning to kind of like lean in on who this Jesus character is. Both groups wrestle with the exact same question. How do I hear from God? How do I hear from God? How do I know what's true? How do I actually follow Him in real life? No matter where you're at in your relationship with God, those are three questions that we all wrestle with. And Jesus' answer is the same for every one of us. You have a teacher. You have a teacher. Okay, we're gonna be in John chapter 14. If you have your Bibles, I see a couple Bibles. That's what's up. We love reading the Word of God. John chapter 14, verse 25. Jesus in the upper room, right there. Jesus says this, these things I've spoken to you while I'm still with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring your remembrance to all that I have said to you. This is Jesus in this moment saying, like, I am leaving, yes, but I'm not leaving you alone. I am sending you a teacher. A teacher is coming. And then a little later, if you just move your paper one paper over to chapter 16, Jesus like then builds on this promise. And this is what he says He says, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you all the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare to you all that the Father has as mine. Therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Did you guys catch that shift between those two verses? He will teach you, that's the first verse. Now he will guide you. He's not just giving you information, he's walking you into the truth of life. And that's where it gets personal for each one of us. Because the same promise that Jesus gave to these disciples still rings true to each one of us in this room. The Holy Spirit teaches us truth as we learn to listen. The Holy Spirit teaches us truth as we learn to listen. The Holy Spirit teaches. That's what it does. Jesus says the Holy Spirit is gonna teach you all things. That's a super bold statement, right? Because if we're honest, I think this is the spot where many of us just get kind of like stuck. We're like, uh okay, the Holy Spirit teaches us truth. Great. Because we think if the Holy Spirit is our teacher, then why do we not hear him clearly?

unknown 11:00

Right?

SPEAKER_02 11:01

If the Holy Spirit is our teacher, then why do we not hear him clearly? Let me bring it back to my classroom. Right? There are days where I'm like teaching and explaining and walking step by step by step through something, and I just like look up and no one is there. No one is paying attention at all. Not because I didn't teach, it's because they weren't listening. And I wonder sometimes does God look at us the same way? I'm speaking, I'm guiding, I'm reminding. Are you listening? Are you listening? Let me give you a picture. There's been so many moments in my life where I felt like God was nudging me to do something. Nothing crazy, right? Nothing like out of the ordinary, just like normal life things, like go talk to that person, send a text, encourage someone. I remember one day I had like a very busy day, right? Like I have my school job, my youth pastor job, four kids, a wife, um, we're starting a new business, right? Like I have a few things going on in my life. So most days you see me, I'm like already behind schedule, right? Like, I'm already there, I'm already out of time. And I was walking into Starbucks, and I was just like, wanted to do that normal thing that we all do when we go into Starbucks, right? You like pre-order your coffee, you just like walk in like this, you grab your coffee, they're like, hey Jason, you're like, have a good day. And then you just walk out to your car and they're just like going to your next assignment. I walked in and I clearly felt like the Holy Spirit told me to talk to someone. And I was just like, Are you sure? That feels like chicken pot pie that I had last night instead. I'm not like, you know, are you sure? Go talk to him. My first reaction, like, I don't, I don't know. Is this just me being distracted? Like, I'm on a timeline. So I just like ignored it and kept doing my own thing. Just like went to get my coffee, and then I walked by. The dude's now standing right in front of me, and I'm like, ugh, okay. So I was just like, hey, what's up? My name's Jason. And he looked at me like, Why are you talking to me? And then I asked him, like, or I told him, like, oh yeah, I'm a youth pastor at Sierra Bible. And then he like leaned a little bit. And I was like, Do I know you? And he's like, no. I said, Okay. Do you have any high school students? He's like, Yeah, I do. What's her name? You know, like I didn't know his student, but he was like, My daughter's been struggling with severe anxiety and depression, and I don't know what to do. And unfortunately and fortunately, as a youth pastor, four years ago, I didn't know what to do either. But now I actually have resource to give to people, and so we sat there and we talked for like 20 minutes, and I gave him some resource, and this dude like texts me once a week and is like, hey man, my daughter's doing awesome. The counselor helped, this whatever it was, right? I still don't know his daughter, I've never met her. But I just like paused for that one second. We talked for a few minutes, it wasn't a big deal. Now, I have missed it many, many times. Many times I have missed it, but in that moment, God chose to use me to meet this hurting father. So my question is, who is God calling you to meet? Now, sometimes, sometimes the nudge doesn't go away, sometimes it does. What I've realized is most of the time, the Holy Spirit doesn't interrupt your life with something huge. Most of the time, the Holy Spirit invites you into something that's small. He invites you into a conversation, a step of obedience, a moment of courage. It doesn't have to be this crazy story. I have plenty of stories that were just like, How are you? As you respond to those small nudges, though, you begin to recognize his voice. As you respond to the small nudges, you begin to recognize his voice. Now, this is not because it gets louder, it's just because your trust as a follower of Jesus grows. Over time, what once felt uncertain now begins to feel familiar, which I love. I think a lot of us are waiting for God to do something big, and he's just over here waiting for us to be faithful with something small. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit guides. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth, not force, not control, guide. A guide, what does a guide do? A guide walks with you, leads you step by step, helps you see what you miss on your own. The Holy Spirit doesn't just give information, he leads transformation in your life. He doesn't just tell you what's true, he helps you live it out. That's the job of the Holy Spirit as your teacher to help you live it out. Think about it. You all like invite your family here from like Timbuktu or wherever they live, and you take them to Yosemite. I don't know why. No, I'm just kidding, I know why you take them to Yosemite. You take them to Yosemite and you like guide them around like you know the place. You've been a guide to someone, someone's been a guide to you. Someone taught you something sometime in your life. The Holy Spirit is that for us. It's the guide, it's the quiet, it's the direction. That's the Holy Spirit. There's one line in the book that stuck out with me so much. Um it's in chapter 7, and it says this. Tyler says this, he says, so maybe God whispers not because he's evasive, but because the louder his voice gets, the more polarizing it becomes. It's because the louder that his voice gets, the more polarizing it becomes, the more fear it becomes. God doesn't usually shout, he whispers. Not because he's a distant God, but because he's personal. If he shouted, we might only obey out of fear. But when he whispers, what do you have to do when someone whispers? See, I'm getting old. I'm like fully losing my hearing. My wife is like talking to me, and I'm like, I don't, I don't know what she just said. And then she talks louder, and I'm just like, as you've been married for 20 years, almost like me, then you begin to just like learn that you get two tries, two strikes, and that's it. That's all you get to figure out what she said. So, so I'm sitting there like leaning in, leaning in when she's talking. Like, I want to hear it. I want to hear what you have to say. We have to lean in when God's whispering, which I love that picture. We have to slow down, we have to be close. Most of us aren't struggling because God isn't speaking. We're struggling because we're too busy. We're too distracted. Life is too loud. We don't create space, right? We want direction. We long for direction. We just don't slow down enough to receive it, right? For all my parents in the room, you got like travel volleyball, travel soccer, travel basketball, travel like pickleball now. You got all this stuff going on in your life. Not to mention like just normal old homework, but then your kids like, ooh, I'm gonna do three AP classes, and you're like, what are okay? And then you got like, for my older generation in the room, you're like also so, so busy, busier than you ever were. You got all these grandkids' things. You you're like, again, trying to play pickleball. I don't know what's going on with pickleball, but like everybody wants to play pickleball. And then you got like, you know, retirement and all these things and chaos and just happening, happening. Our lives are so loud and busy and filled with chaos, and then we wonder, like, why can't I hear from God? Let me take it one step further. Because sometimes the issue is not that we're not listening, sometimes, sometimes the issue is that we just don't trust what we're hearing. It's not that we're not listening, it's that we don't trust what we're hearing. Right? Have you ever had that moment where like like God might be leading you in a direction and your first response is like, is that really you? Like, should I actually just forgive that person because it's like the right thing to do? Is God actually telling me to step out? Or is this just me being an emotional person? Is God telling me to slow down? Or am I just tired? Right? Is this God actually telling me, like, Jason, slow down, or I'm just like, bro, I cannot keep up with this life anymore. So what do we do in those moments? We like hesitate, we second guess, we wait for something louder, clearer, more obvious. But here's what I've noticed God rarely starts with the loud, obvious thing. He often starts with the quiet nudge. I think part of the reason why we also struggle is because we're trained to look for the dramatic, right? Like, just read through Genesis. It's like bush on fire. You're like, okay, and then you get to Exodus and you're Like walking up to a sea god, I don't know, and he's just like sea open. You're like, water rock. You go on and on and on, and it's like, you know, like guy coming out of the ceiling, and then he's just healed. Jesus throws a couple little bit of shade to the Pharisees. He's like, What is it easier for me to say? Like your sins are forgiven? Or like, I don't know which ones. I was wrestling with that this week because I'm like, I don't. They're both like the same amount of words, but okay. I love you, Jesus. So it's this idea, right? Like, we're looking, we're trained to look for the dramatic. We're trained to see the chaos and see Jesus in it. But the Holy Spirit doesn't always show up in the dramatic. You know where he always shows up? The consistent. And I'll be talking to someone, and a scripture will come into my head, and I'm just like, bro, there is no, like, that is God. He reminds you at just the right moment. You know what else the Holy Spirit does? He brings conviction when you're off. I love that about the Holy Spirit. He also brings peace when you're not aligned. And over time, as you learn to listen and recognize his voice, not because it gets louder, but because you become more familiar with the voice of God. It's like learning someone's voice in a crowded room, right? At first, everything sounds the same, but you more you know that person, like Raiden went to a concert and they were up in the upper deck. And our bass player, who's not here today, but one of our bass player drummer, Chris Hembry, he was down like in the crowd. They were at the Golden One Center, and Raiden is like, I can hear Chris from up here. Like he knows his voice, he knows what it sounds like. See, at first, in a crowded room, everything sounds the same, but the more you know them, the easier it is to pick you out. Like, how many of your dads have a whistle or some sort of weird call, and you're just like, Where's my dad at? Where's where is he? I I hear him. My dad's just like, I'm like, what is that? Okay. The Holy Spirit is listening, but learning to recognize his voice takes time, it takes attention, and it takes trust. Let me show you what my spiritual life often sounds like. I'm gonna bring you into this. Ready?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

So my God, I know you're talking. So I know you're meeting the gods. I know you have a plan for me. I know I'm gonna listen this time. Like as I've been saying what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

That's what my spiritual life often sounds like. Just chaos, just noise, just movement. Like next thing, next thing, next thing, next thing. This is gonna be the one that I'm finally gonna get to slow down. This is gonna be the thing that's finally gonna allow me to spend more time with the Lord. All this is just chaos and chaos and chaos. Same signal right now, just different clarity. God isn't silent, it's just that we're not necessarily tuned in. Charles Spurgeon says something kind of like this in the screw tape letters. He says, Oh, sorry, C.S. Lewis paints this picture and it says that if the enemy can do anything, it's just to keep us distracted to make life so loud that we never slow down enough to hear God. Make the world so noisy that people forget God is even there. What's noisy in your life right now? What's chaotic in your life right now? There's this moment in scripture where Elijah is just beaten down and exhausted and overwhelmed, and he's like, God, I need to hear from you. And God takes him to a cave. And in the cave, right, what happens? You guys have probably read this, right? The first wind comes, God wasn't in the wind. Then this crazy earthquake comes, God wasn't in the earthquake, then a crazy fire comes through, God wasn't in the fire. Where was God? He was in the whisper at the end. He was in the whisper. God didn't compete with the noise, he waited for the quiet. The voice didn't get louder, the noise got quieter. We keep asking God to shout, inviting us to listen. We don't need a louder God, we just need a quieter life. We don't need a louder God, we need a quieter life. If the Holy Spirit is our teacher, then we need to learn to listen. I was trying to like drive this point home like a way that Pastor Nate would, with some sort of really cool thing, but I couldn't figure it out. And then I started like Googling and doing all this research, and I came across this guy named Saint Ignatius. Saint Ignatius was around in 1600. The dude was wild. He was like full-on womanizer, like crazy guy. He had a lot of things wrong with him. He's like really small, it says, and they go into war, and he's like, let's kill them all. And then he gets his like leg blown up into a bunch of pieces in that moment. And so he's at home, and the dude's so worried about his appearance, so worried about whether or not girls are gonna like him, that as his leg's healing, he doesn't like the way it's healing, so he re-breaks his leg. Bro, what are you doing? So then he's sitting laid up in his brother's house for three months while his leg's healing, and he wants to read like some romance novels, you know, keep the spark alive in his head. So he's like trying to read these romance novels, they don't have any. They had two books in the house. One of them was the gospels, the other one was a prayer book. So he just read them because he was bored. He sat there reading them and reading them and reading them. And in this moment, he God met him and he was like, I have so many things wrong in my life. I make so many mistakes. So he gave his life to Jesus, he healed up, he's like committing that he's gonna spend the rest of his days telling people about Jesus, and then he walked back out into the world. And he found himself right back in his old habits, right back in his old mess, doing the same things that he was doing. And so he wrote this thing called examine. And what the examine is was a reminder for him. When talked about, he said, sometimes I only have to do it six times a day. Sometimes I gotta do it like 30 times a day to remind my mind that I am God's. I committed my life to him, I want to be used by him. These are the mistakes that I'm making. So this is what examin is. Number one is gratitude. It starts with gratitude. Where did I see God today? We did that when we started here. Where did I see God today? What's something that I've seen God do in my life? And then it goes to next, ask. Ask, Holy Spirit, help me to see you clearly. And then it goes to review where do I feel close to God and where do I feel distant. Then it goes to repentance. This is the one that all of us, well, maybe just me. I like, I'm like, do I really have to do that one? Okay. God, I missed you here. God, I missed you. I'm so sorry. Renewal is by far my favorite one. Lead me tomorrow. Lead me tomorrow. Help me stay faithful tomorrow. Help me stay intentional tomorrow. This is how we begin to create space. This is how we begin to listen. Some of you are in this room waiting for God to speak. You want to be a hundred percent sure. But faith has never worked that way. The Holy Spirit speaks as we learn to listen to his voice and walk with him. You guys, you're not alone trying to figure this out in your life. God has a plan. God is our teacher, God is our guide, and it starts by us being intentional with him. If you want to hear from God, read your Bible. And I don't mean like this. Like, what is this Bible? Okay, I get up, it's 5.25. Here we go. Oh, Jeremiah 444. This is a good one. Oh, wait, it's 6.30. The stock market's opening. I gotta check that. Right? Like, we live in this world that's so distracting. You want to hear the voice of God? Read this. He's your teacher, he's your guide, he will help you grow. And over time, you will begin to understand his voice more clearly. Lean in. I'm gonna pray for us. And we're gonna do some other things this morning. God, I thank you so much for the way you teach, for the way that you guide. And I just ask that as we, God, as we just allow us to see the things in our life that we have to get rid of. Truly. Help us see the things that that we need to let go of so that we can slow down enough to hear you speak. God, we're so grateful for you. It's in your name we pray. Amen and amen.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Thanks so much for joining us, church. We hope that you enjoyed this message. To find more messages like this, or to see where you can get connected or to give financially, please visit Sierra Bible.com.