SPEAKER_00: Alright, so this morning we're going to talk about the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe you're here and that makes you a little nervous.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just new to church and it makes you nervous, or maybe you're just coming back to church and it makes you nervous.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just a little unsure about the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Because one time somebody called the Holy Ghost, and that just really kind of weirded you out.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, we'll clean up some of these concerns.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of us, it's like God the Father, get it.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: I have a father, I can relate to that.
SPEAKER_00: God the Son, Jesus, okay, sibling, man, get it.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, maybe there's just a little bit of kind of being a little unsure how far you want to move into that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe because you just, I mean, if I can just be honest here, maybe you just knew some people who were all about the Holy Spirit and they were just weird.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm not making fun of them, but but it just seemed a a little odd, maybe a little out of control, a little chaotic, or you know, and you weren't you just weren't into that.
SPEAKER_00: Um perhaps.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying definitely, I'm not even saying they're weird, they just maybe seem weird to you.
SPEAKER_00: Um we're gonna talk, maybe clear up some of these concerns.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the first John 16, 7, before we get to our actual text in John 14.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, John 16, 7, Jesus talking, uh, but very truly I tell to you, it is for your good that I'm going away.
SPEAKER_00: So he's talking to the disciples, he's referring to the fact he's about to be crucified, he's gonna die, he's gonna rise again, and then he's gonna be in heaven, be saying that it's actually good for you.
SPEAKER_00: And you the disciples gotta be going, man, Jesus, I don't I don't know because I was a fisherman, and like you came and got me.
SPEAKER_00: These last three years have been incredible.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these last three years have been fantastic.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, just walking with you, I mean, this has been the highlight of my life.
SPEAKER_00: How could it be for my benefit?
SPEAKER_00: How could that possibly be?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus continues, unless I go away, the advocate, and maybe in your translation it might say helper, might say counselor, the advocate will not come to you.
SPEAKER_00: But if I go, I will send him to you.
SPEAKER_00: Not it, not some weird force, you know, black cloud from lost, kind of coming out of the forest.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, him, right?
SPEAKER_00: A person, to understand him as a person.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit sort of sort of dropped in, sort of like dropped in and did something and then and then kind of wasn't around.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've picked up on that.
SPEAKER_00: You read the Old Testament, but the presence of God was in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Now in the New Testament, so Jesus has died, so this barrier of sin between us and God, this has been covered and removed, and so we actually are the temple.
SPEAKER_00: So the spirit actually resides in us.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: See, like if I die, I rise again, I go away, and the advocate, the spirit of God, can live in you.
SPEAKER_00: All right, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_00: All right, back to John 14, 25 through 27.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same conversation.
SPEAKER_00: We've been at this dinner table, the upper room, the Last Supper.
SPEAKER_00: We've been like a month.
SPEAKER_00: We've still got a lot to cover.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is covering a lot of ground in this conversation.
SPEAKER_00: He's laying a lot out there.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, this all this I have spoken while still with you.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, what will he do?
SPEAKER_00: He will teach you all things, and he will remind you of everything I have said to you.
SPEAKER_00: Peace I leave with you.
SPEAKER_00: My peace I give you.
SPEAKER_00: I do not give to you as the world gives.
SPEAKER_00: So different kind of peace, not circumstantial.
SPEAKER_00: It's deeper than that.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: So the advocate is the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit will teach and remind why does he need to do this?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we need God active in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 27, because you're afraid.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have fear.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you remember the story, Genesis, Adam and Eve, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the most simplified story for us to grasp and understand how we relate with God.
SPEAKER_00: So God creates Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Adam's in the garden, he's in a good time, he's tending the garden, he's naming animals.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, not good for man to be alone.
SPEAKER_00: And so God creates woman, and Adam says, Who is she for?
SPEAKER_00: For you.
SPEAKER_00: She's for you.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, man, woman, right?
SPEAKER_00: And they're there and they're together and they're naked.
SPEAKER_00: Where I'm from is naked.
SPEAKER_00: They are naked and they're together, and they are one.
SPEAKER_00: I won't go into too much explanation, but in every way that you sense one, they are naked, they are one, and there's no shame.
SPEAKER_00: There's not even the awareness of fear.
SPEAKER_00: The serpent comes along, right?
SPEAKER_00: Says, Did God really say you can't eat of any tree in the garden?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's not what God said.
SPEAKER_00: God said you can't eat of the tree in the middle of the garden.
SPEAKER_00: And Eve says that, says, You're twisting the words a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Don't eat of the tree in the middle of the garden.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the serpent's got to be like, oh, I'm already in, I'm messing with her, I'm having a good time.
SPEAKER_00: And then the serpent says, You know that.
SPEAKER_00: The only reason he said that, he doesn't want you to be like him.
SPEAKER_00: He's holding you back.
SPEAKER_00: He's limiting your life.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to control you.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to dictate for you.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want you like him.
SPEAKER_00: Serpent just works that little lie in there.
SPEAKER_00: And the thought is, is you want free.
SPEAKER_00: If you want freedom, then you've got to move away from God.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to move into independence.
SPEAKER_00: And so we go our own way because we think God's infringing on my rights as a person.
SPEAKER_00: And as we see them go their own way, they taste the fruit.
SPEAKER_00: They can see good and evil.
SPEAKER_00: They have shame.
SPEAKER_00: They're aware of fear.
SPEAKER_00: They make coverings.
SPEAKER_00: They cover themselves up.
SPEAKER_00: We're still covering ourselves up.
SPEAKER_00: And then they hide.
SPEAKER_00: They hear God coming in the garden and they hide.
SPEAKER_00: And don't you, don't you, I love it.
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
SPEAKER_00: God comes in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Where are you at?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Goes and finds Adam.
SPEAKER_00: I heard you walking in the garden and I was afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're here, you'd say, ah, I'm not afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I'm successful.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sort of in control.
SPEAKER_00: I kind of have it, I have a pretty good life going.
SPEAKER_00: I can manage it all.
SPEAKER_00: So why does it bother you if you fail?
SPEAKER_00: Why does it bother you so much if things don't go right?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you have to manage every little detail?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you worried about all of it?
SPEAKER_00: What if you lose your money?
SPEAKER_00: What if you lose your child?
SPEAKER_00: What if he leaves you?
SPEAKER_00: What if she leaves you?
SPEAKER_00: Why won't you let anyone get close to you?
SPEAKER_00: What if you get rejected again?
SPEAKER_00: Another application?
SPEAKER_00: Another relationship.
SPEAKER_00: What if you get rejected again?
SPEAKER_00: Why does it move past this outer core and affect our self-worth?
SPEAKER_00: It's because we're we have fear.
SPEAKER_00: You have fear.
SPEAKER_00: And if we begin to get honest, we'll start to see real fears inside of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read you another verse, 1 Corinthians 6, 19.
SPEAKER_00: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's what I referred to before.
SPEAKER_00: Who is in you, the Spirit of God in you, whom you have received from God, and I love this.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you don't like it, maybe it rubs you wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You are not your own.
SPEAKER_00: And the more you try to be your own, the more you will move into fear.
SPEAKER_00: Because you will realize more and more and more your aloneness and your finitude.
SPEAKER_00: You're finite.
SPEAKER_00: And you're going to realize it more and more and more, and it will create more and more fear.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying in this passage, John 14, 25 through 27, he's saying, you're not alone.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be your own God.
SPEAKER_00: You're not alone.
SPEAKER_00: I'm leaving, but I'm sending the Spirit of God with you.
SPEAKER_00: You are not alone in your fear.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: About five years ago, we were living in Grant Park and we were remodeling this tiny little two-bedroom, one-bath shoebox house, and one bath, and we were renovating the one bathroom.
SPEAKER_00: So what that means, if you do the math, there's no bathroom in the house.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are showering at the Y in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: We are using the restroom at our neighbor's house or at the CVS.
SPEAKER_00: You know, hey, good to see you again.
SPEAKER_00: Not stealing anything, I promise.
SPEAKER_00: Just using your bathroom.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are renovating this bathroom.
SPEAKER_00: So the tile guy had been coming in for several days, and so we're we're without the toilet.
SPEAKER_00: And so he's coming in several days.
SPEAKER_00: He thinks it's gonna be three days, and so we're managing through, and Christy's being tough, and we're being tough, and we're just we're gonna make it work, and so we're there.
SPEAKER_00: And so the tile guy says, Well, I can uh I can do it all.
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll put the fixtures back, I'll put the toilet back in.
SPEAKER_00: I said, well, no, how much would if I don't do that, how much does it save me?
SPEAKER_00: This is what I used to do.
SPEAKER_00: I don't do this anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Uh how much does it save me?
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Oh, it's you know, I don't know, fifty bucks.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, well, I'll I'll I can do that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've I've saw a YouTube video of somebody doing it, and it took them like three minutes, so I'm pretty sure I can handle it.
SPEAKER_00: So my friend Chris had had done this in his house, and he says, Well, you need me to come over and help.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, No, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: I've seen it.
SPEAKER_00: Watch a YouTube video.
SPEAKER_00: I know about the flange, I know about the wax ring.
SPEAKER_00: I put it down or the bolts come up.
SPEAKER_00: I know about it, I can I can handle it.
SPEAKER_00: And so the day comes we're getting our toilet back.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, big moment in the Masterson family household.
SPEAKER_00: You're getting a toilet back, and that only means something to you if you've been without a toilet for multiple days.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's time to put it back.
SPEAKER_00: So I get home a little bit early because it's toilet day, and so I get home and I got the flange down there, and I got I bought two wax strings, but I figure I'm gonna mess up once.
SPEAKER_00: And so I put the wax string down, drop that toilet on, and then it doesn't work.
SPEAKER_00: The bolts don't reach up through, and so I go, well, maybe I didn't get it right.
SPEAKER_00: So I use the other wax string.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the bolts are too short, so I'm back up at lows again, and I'm getting getting another wax screen, and I'm coming back and I'm doing it again.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, Christy, you know, she was great on the no toilet thing, but she's not a lot of help in the installing the toilet thing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm at the end of myself.
SPEAKER_00: I don't I can't figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm extremely frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: It's getting later and later in the evening, and you're going, I just all I want, all I want is a toilet.
SPEAKER_00: Why is this so hard?
SPEAKER_00: And you're just getting mad at yourself, and you're watching another YouTube video, it's not helping.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm at the end, I'm at the end.
SPEAKER_00: I need I need a helper in this moment, right?
SPEAKER_00: We've all been there, maybe hopefully not with the toilet, but maybe with some project, or maybe with your child, or maybe some paper you were writing, or something at work, or maybe with yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You're just like at the end, like I don't even know how to get through this.
SPEAKER_00: Can't figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: So I call Buddy.
SPEAKER_00: Buddy's a plumber.
SPEAKER_00: That's his name, Buddy the Plumber.
SPEAKER_00: His name actually is Buddy, not just my buddy.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Yeah, I'll be there in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: And it just like that, it's gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_00: I have somebody coming who knows how to install a toilet.
SPEAKER_00: That's good news.
SPEAKER_00: I have a helper.
SPEAKER_00: He shows up the next morning, I show him what I've been doing.
SPEAKER_00: Me and Buddy become friends over the years, and so I'm like, let me watch you do this.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, No problem.
SPEAKER_00: He said, He doesn't berate me, he doesn't beat me down.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Oh, you're such a dumb homeowner, I can't believe you.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Well, the flange isn't high enough, and he goes down the basement, he cuts the pipe and adds a pipe, and he's done in like 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you just need a helper.
SPEAKER_00: You just need somebody.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is what this passage is saying.
SPEAKER_00: You will get to the end of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And you need a helper.
SPEAKER_00: You need a counselor, you need an advocate.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you get to the end of yourself, all this fear, you start to see the fears we've been there the whole time driving your behaviors.
SPEAKER_00: You start to see all of that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Russ, all right.
SPEAKER_00: So we have fear, but we aren't alone.
SPEAKER_00: We have a helper, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So what is he doing inside of our hearts and minds?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: He will teach you and he will remind you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says.
SPEAKER_00: So his role is not to be a straitjacket on you and limit you and hold you back.
SPEAKER_00: He's to teach you and remind you unto peace.
SPEAKER_00: So let me be very clear.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give a great clear sentence I found this week.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit works in you to illuminate your heart, pointing out places in your heart where you refuse to trust God, believe in God, and walk in the freedom God has provided for you in Christ rather than living your own way.
SPEAKER_00: So he's teaching us, he's reminding us what is true, what is life, what is good.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes this is moral, right?
SPEAKER_00: Just don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't say that.
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't have said it, shouldn't have done it.
SPEAKER_00: And it's conviction.
SPEAKER_00: It's not guilt.
SPEAKER_00: Talked about that last week.
SPEAKER_00: We're not guilt motivated, it's not guilt.
SPEAKER_00: He's not guilting us unto condemnation because we're we're free and forgiven in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But he is convicting us, he's just saying, hey, uh, it's not you.
SPEAKER_00: That will never work for you.
SPEAKER_00: That's not who you are.
SPEAKER_00: As a child of God, as forgiven and free, that's not who you are.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't go there, don't do that again.
SPEAKER_00: And the conviction leads us to the kindness of God, which leads us to repentance and trust.
SPEAKER_00: So, verse 26, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the advocate, right?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe your version of the scriptures, the translation, says counselor, helper.
SPEAKER_00: Advocate's the fullest word for that.
SPEAKER_00: It's the fullest word.
SPEAKER_00: A few years ago, uh we were at our previous church, Christy uh became friends with the family, and uh the son uh he had Down syndrome.
SPEAKER_00: And the parents are having a hard time with their school, and and they didn't know all the laws and the rules, and they were they were being bullied a little bit, you know, by the school, like where they're gonna place him, and the parents are going, I'm pretty sure we have some more rights than this, but they're not sh they're not really sure.
SPEAKER_00: And Christy's background's in special education, and so she knows all the paperwork and all the rules and all the laws, and they come to her and they say, Christy, we not just will you be our advisor, will you be our advocate?
SPEAKER_00: So she meets with them, she learns the case, she looks at all the paperwork, and then when they go to the meeting, so she's not just there to not just there to help, not just there to counsel, she actually is their representation and speaks for them.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean this is the this is the role of the Holy Spirit to speak for you.
SPEAKER_00: To represent you to the power at be.
SPEAKER_00: That she was their voice.
SPEAKER_00: So earlier in John, uh, Jesus says, I will send you another advocate.
SPEAKER_00: So he's saying, okay, so there's a previous advocate, so Jesus is the previous advocate, our representation before God, because we stand before God, we know we're not as we should be.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to break that down for you.
SPEAKER_00: You know that.
SPEAKER_00: You know that you're not what you want to be, and you think things you should.
SPEAKER_00: You know that.
SPEAKER_00: And that's because you fall below the standard God has set before his holiness.
SPEAKER_00: And we fall and we're rebellious, and we're messed up, and we're, and Jesus is our covering, savior, deliverer, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He's our advocate.
SPEAKER_00: So we don't have to speak our righteousness back to God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is speaking it, and then Jesus says, all right, so I do that for you, but then I'm going to send you another advocate.
SPEAKER_00: So the Holy Spirit is doing that.
SPEAKER_00: And this is such good news.
SPEAKER_00: This is such good news for us.
SPEAKER_00: Because we don't have to plead our own case before God.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to plead your case of righteousness before God.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to list your righteous deeds before God.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is pleading your case based on the other advocate.
SPEAKER_00: Last Monday I woke up and I just woke up in a funk, just kind of not thinking right.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Holy Spirit's in you, spirit of God's in you, got kind of these dueling voices, and maybe you can't even figure out the voice, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: And you're trying to figure that out, and I'm the same way.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going, is that spirit talking or me talking?
SPEAKER_00: And um, and so you're trying to figure that out.
SPEAKER_00: I woke up Monday and I'm just sort of like doubting everything I do, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you do this as well.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't admit it in front of a crowd of people, but but you do it.
SPEAKER_00: Just sort of going, what have I given my life to?
SPEAKER_00: Like what I create, I create a lot, so I'm constantly creating what I'm creating meaning anything.
SPEAKER_00: Does it mean anything?
SPEAKER_00: Does it matter?
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And there's no amount of like, oh great, great job.
SPEAKER_00: There's no amount of that that helps that inner voice of judgment and doubt.
SPEAKER_00: You know that.
SPEAKER_00: There's no amount of success that can fix that.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that can help you is something that hit me about as I started studying this passage, the Spirit of God inside of me, not a not a void, not an audible voice, that'd be nice, wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_00: If it's just like a GPS unit and you're like, you know, 500 meters ahead, turn left.
SPEAKER_00: That'd be great.
SPEAKER_00: It'd be so easy and clear.
SPEAKER_00: But reading this passage and through the truth of God's word, to hear the Spirit of God just say, you're afraid.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you don't have peace.
SPEAKER_00: You're living out of your own fear.
SPEAKER_00: And you're afraid because you're acting as your own advocate in a court you can't handle.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you stop?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't you don't have to fight for your own righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Your righteousness has been given to you.
SPEAKER_00: You have an advocate in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to fight for your own value by what you produce.
SPEAKER_00: Toil.
SPEAKER_00: I'm your advocate.
SPEAKER_00: That's what this is about.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the Spirit is telling me through through this John 14, and you go, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So I I went and cooked two hot dogs and had a great afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: See, I needed the gospel to become a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I needed the gospel to become a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I need to be reminded of it.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be reminded of it.
SPEAKER_00: Today, tomorrow, the next day.
SPEAKER_00: Every hour, every moment, you need to be reminded of it.
SPEAKER_00: And this is this is why we're waking up and we're saying, I'm not living out of guilt today.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your grace, it's shown up, is already here.
SPEAKER_00: God would help me be open because I need to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: I need to hear from you in my heart and in my mind.
SPEAKER_00: I need to be reminded that I'm already something I haven't become.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that fantastic?
SPEAKER_00: I need to be reminded that it's not my record of success, but it's yours.
SPEAKER_00: I need to be reminded, I'm not an orphan.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't leave me alone.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've we've all known Christians, right?
SPEAKER_00: We've all known people you you you you looked at and you saw their life and you thought, man, I could never be like them.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they just have their act together, they look so disciplined, and their life's together.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I know those people.
SPEAKER_00: They're not that great.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I have lunches with those people also.
SPEAKER_00: They're not that great.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit's your helper, your advocate.
SPEAKER_00: So just be open to him.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about trying to become perfect and have a perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: It's about walking in the Spirit day by day.
SPEAKER_00: Just saying, I'm I'm open, speak to me today.
SPEAKER_00: And I need to be taught, I need to be reminded, I need you to advocate for me, and I need to trust it more.
SPEAKER_00: Even last night, I'm sitting there and I'm watching Rocky Ford, very manly thing to do.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm watching Rocky Four.
SPEAKER_00: It's training in Siberia, you know, you remember the music.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm watching it and I'm just I'm half-watching it, I'm just processing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how do you communicate how the Holy Spirit speaks to you?
SPEAKER_00: And I just I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think it's about as different as each person in here.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm a little more intellectual, I'm not as emotional, I've become more emotional maybe in the last year or so, maybe I'm just like falling apart, I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_00: But the Holy Spirit talks through emotions, he speaks through your intellect, through your heart, through other people.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the commonality.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the commonality.
SPEAKER_00: The commonality is it's consistent with God's word, and as you grow in grace and truth, it's like a muscle you didn't know was there all of a sudden starts to work.
SPEAKER_00: And you'll still have those days where you're going, is that, is that, what voice was that?
SPEAKER_00: What's what you're not quite sure?
SPEAKER_00: But you learn it.
SPEAKER_00: And it's always the same voice.
SPEAKER_00: And what he's saying, he's saying, I'm with you.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: You're not an orphan.
SPEAKER_00: You are a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: Be open to me.
SPEAKER_00: I'll guide you.
SPEAKER_00: I'll teach you.
SPEAKER_00: I'll remind you.
SPEAKER_00: For you are God's beloved.
SPEAKER_00: You're God's beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Always and forever.
SPEAKER_00: Today's Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Father's Day is tough for you.
SPEAKER_00: As you lost your father and you're thinking about him and he was wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: You just miss him.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Father's Day is tough for you because your dad just wasn't that great.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it good to know we have an advocate for us?
SPEAKER_00: And we can think about a heavenly father that's perfectly loving to us.
SPEAKER_00: For many of us, fatherhood feels just like we've bit off more than we can chew.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe we feel like we didn't do it well.
SPEAKER_00: You have an advocate for you?
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you feel like you're not doing it well now?
SPEAKER_00: It just feels like you're not quite living up to it.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to give you a gift this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the gift.
SPEAKER_00: If you're fathering right now and you got little kids or middle-age, you don't have to be preoccupied with your next deal, your next success.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to because you have already have an advocate that's saying to you you're valued.
SPEAKER_00: So you don't have to be with your kids and 50% of yourself is worried about how successful you are.
SPEAKER_00: You can let go of that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be with your kids and worry about some mistake you made, it's been forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: So you can father in the fullness of being a father because you have an advocate.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to pray for us.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're a father, if you just stand up and we're going to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: It takes one person.
SPEAKER_00: I know there's more than one father in here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not the only one.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to pray for you, and then my wife Christy's going to come and pray for all of us fathers as well.
SPEAKER_00: Laura, it's not just fathers that need to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps some of us have really kept this as an intellectual relationship with you.
SPEAKER_00: But we know you're in us.
SPEAKER_00: And we we need to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: Our friends need us to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: Our work needs us to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: Our creativity and our children, our families and our community needs us to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: But really, we need to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: To live forgiven and free, to be pursuing you in a life that gives you honor.
SPEAKER_00: We need to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be taught and reminded, not just of what is right and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: We need it.
SPEAKER_00: We need that.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to be reminded of who we are.
SPEAKER_00: And that you're our advocate.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to take that role.
SPEAKER_00: And we thank you for it.