SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Adam Caseel.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the lead pastor here on staff.
SPEAKER_00: Just so you know, every week we have prophetic discerners.
SPEAKER_00: They always sit on that bench on that back wall over there.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have uh a word that you think um might be for the church, go share that with them.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we do have have a few.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna share two right now uh that hopefully will be encouragement, um, some healing words.
SPEAKER_00: Um one of the words that we got was just liver and the other sleep.
SPEAKER_00: So if you if you have an issue with with your liver or sleep, the Lord sees you, and we're gonna have a ministry time at the end for you to come forward uh and to get prayer uh for that.
SPEAKER_00: And then we've got a couple others that we'll uh likely share it the during ministry time.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to encounter the love and power of God and give it away to the world.
SPEAKER_00: If you are new or looking to get more connected, the best thing that you could do is to fill out a connect card.
SPEAKER_00: You can fill out a physical one and drop it in the offering box at the back of the room or take it out to the welcome desk, or you can scan the QR code and fill that out digitally.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we'll add you to our weekly email list.
SPEAKER_00: That's a great way to know uh different upcoming events and ministries that are uh meeting in the upcoming week.
SPEAKER_00: You also should have received a bulletin as you came in.
SPEAKER_00: That's another way to get some information.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I know some of us we love the old analog physical copy, right?
SPEAKER_00: If we can't touch it, it's not real.
SPEAKER_00: So uh you have that available.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a first-time guest and are feeling bold, raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: We have a gift for you.
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna ask anything of you.
SPEAKER_00: We just want to say welcome, we're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Just a little gift uh with some information, uh a coffee mug, because you can never have too many coffee mugs.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: All right, welcome.
SPEAKER_00: So one of our greeters will come over and bring you a gift.
SPEAKER_00: Glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Well, something we like to do every month.
SPEAKER_00: We haven't done it yet for uh because we've had various things going on, is we celebrate anniversaries and birthdays, wedding anniversaries and birthdays.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have a birthday in the month of July, stand up.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Busy month.
SPEAKER_00: Great.
SPEAKER_00: Stay standing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if somebody around you is standing, feel free to extend a hand in their direction, lay one on their shoulder.
SPEAKER_00: We just want to bless you.
SPEAKER_00: So receive this blessing.
SPEAKER_00: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
SPEAKER_00: Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
SPEAKER_00: You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for each person standing this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We celebrate the gift of their life today.
SPEAKER_00: As they begin another year, we ask that you would continue to guide them in your word and help them trust in your goodness and grace.
SPEAKER_00: Bless them with every blessing.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, you can be seated.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a wedding anniversary in the month of July, stand up.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Any?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Great.
SPEAKER_00: Same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody standing near you, extend a hand in their direction, just an agreement with the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Love is patient.
SPEAKER_00: Love is kind.
SPEAKER_00: It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_00: Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
SPEAKER_00: It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for all the years that these couples have had together.
SPEAKER_00: Today, as we celebrate their anniversary, we ask that you will continue to bless them in the years ahead.
SPEAKER_00: Let their life together be one of love and forgiveness, and may it be a help to other couples as they start their own journeys into married life.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we pray that you will honor their commitment to each other and to you by granting them many more years of happiness.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, you can be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Well, as they sit, let's all stand and find somebody, greet them, uh, look them in the eye, smile, say, I'm glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna make an announcement on behalf of Nick and Courtney.
SPEAKER_00: Um, Nick had a resurgence of some mental health issues that he hoped he was past, but came back due to the stress of their recent wedding ceremony and early married life.
SPEAKER_00: After numerous conversations with Randy and me and others, Nick realized he's uh unfortunately not able to continue in the role of youth pastor full-time and is transitioning uh to a part-time administrative role for the youth effective immediately.
SPEAKER_00: And once we find a youth a full-time youth pastor, uh Nick will eventually exit his position on staff in order to focus on his new marriage, his graduate program, and his mental health.
SPEAKER_00: So this is not a moral issue, but really a realization that he's not able to give uh Courtney, himself, the students, and their families the attention that they all deserve, which is why he's stepping down.
SPEAKER_00: Nick loves the students and parents, and so he he actually offered to serve in an administrative role uh in the transition so that the ministry can function as well as possible during this time, which we're grateful for and celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for Nick's three and a half years of full-time youth pastor service and his four months as an interim when Ian moved to Nashville.
SPEAKER_00: So the Canes will continue being a part of Indy Vineyard, which we're really glad about.
SPEAKER_00: I want to express how much I appreciate Nick's openness with us and his willingness uh to recognize what he needs to do in this season and to have the courage to do it.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for his faithful service during all of his time with us.
SPEAKER_00: There's never been a doubt that Nick loves the students and their parents.
SPEAKER_00: He's approached his role always desiring their best.
SPEAKER_00: He's also demonstrated a commitment to doing his job with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: My wife Carrie and I will lead the youth group times on Sundays until a new youth pastor is hired or we find an interim.
SPEAKER_00: And we've just begun the search process and hope to hire someone quickly while ensuring that they're a great fit.
SPEAKER_00: So Nick will be sharing this afternoon with the students and any of the parents who want to attend uh during the youth group time.
SPEAKER_00: So, students and parents, if you've not received that communication, um, we we hope that you're able to join us.
SPEAKER_00: So um, Nick, why don't you and Courtney come on up and love to just pray for you guys um and let us all encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you uh just extend a hand in agreement as we just ask um the Lord to bless the Caines as they make this uh transition?
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus, um we thank you for Nick and for Courtney.
SPEAKER_00: Um you love them deeply.
SPEAKER_00: You know them, you've called them to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you have their best in mind, and so we're thankful that we get to partner with you in that.
SPEAKER_00: We just pray over their marriage that you would bless that, bless them as they focus on this gift and this calling that you've given to each of them.
SPEAKER_00: Um and we just pray for continued healing as they do the work necessary.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh again, we just celebrate and honor uh Nick's courage and openness and um just pray for many fruitful years of marriage um and whatever you have in store for them in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna take a moment and let that settle before um we transition into the message.
SPEAKER_00: As a parent, one of the things I've been really thankful for is that all of our kids are really helpful.
SPEAKER_00: They're willing to help around the house, varying levels of willingness, of course.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we just got back from a week vacation, we did some camping.
SPEAKER_00: It was great.
SPEAKER_00: There was very little I had to do as they set up and tore down camp.
SPEAKER_00: It was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: One of our kids, our youngest son, Declan, has been the most enthusiastic helper from a very young age.
SPEAKER_00: He has always wanted to help us out.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we, our last house in Cincinnati was an old farmhouse that was a single-family home, got converted to a triplex, and then before we bought it back to a single-family home.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's a third story, an attic that that was an apartment.
SPEAKER_00: And we fixed it up and we ended up renting it out.
SPEAKER_00: And I was doing some work in the bathroom.
SPEAKER_00: Now, because it wasn't really designed to be a bathroom, it was very tight quarters.
SPEAKER_00: I I as I was fixing this leaky toilet, I had to actually be in the bathtub to be able to reach under the toilet where I needed to work.
SPEAKER_00: And as I was doing this, Declan asked me at three years old, Dad, can I help?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can come help me, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm in the bathtub, like contorting my body in an unnatural position.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, I feel this three-year-old body climb on my back, and he's giggling the whole time.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, he decides to hold on with his arm around my neck.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, I got a picture so he can see it.
SPEAKER_00: There we are.
SPEAKER_00: That that's the toilet by my head there.
SPEAKER_00: And and look at the big old grin on his three-year-old face.
SPEAKER_00: On uh my left side, you can see his arm around my neck.
SPEAKER_00: So not only is it difficult enough trying to work on the on a toilet in tight quarters, I've got a three-year-old on me, and he's restricting my airway.
SPEAKER_00: So that was a fun job.
SPEAKER_00: I made it through without passing out.
SPEAKER_00: Uh when we think about helping, three types of helpers.
SPEAKER_00: One, like little kids.
SPEAKER_00: They just want to be around us.
SPEAKER_00: They offer to help, their help is just being in our midst.
SPEAKER_00: The other type is what I do with my father-in-law.
SPEAKER_00: He can fix anything.
SPEAKER_00: So I say, hey, Pat, can you help me?
SPEAKER_00: And what I do, I say I just stand around him as he does all the work.
SPEAKER_00: And I listen to his stories, I fetch different tools for him or whatever he might need.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as he gets older, there's a little bit, there's less he's able to do and and more I'm able to do.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the second type of helper.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, why don't you help me by do this job for free uh for me?
SPEAKER_00: Then there's a kind of part the true partnership, right?
SPEAKER_00: The the job is a two-person job, or you need complimentary gifts.
SPEAKER_00: So uh this last week or before that, as we were preparing for our camping trip trip, we had to we had this uh roof rack, and so Carrie wanted to put it back on and remount it.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know, there's a 10-inch height difference between the two of us.
SPEAKER_00: So getting it back on was my job, and tightening the screws was my job.
SPEAKER_00: So it was a two-person job.
SPEAKER_00: At the end, the night as we're we're getting ready for bed, she goes, Hey, thanks for your help.
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't have done it without you.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I know.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, we're gonna be looking uh from some passages in John uh verses 14 to 16.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have a Bible with you, turn uh to John 14.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be looking at this um some passages where Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit in a really unique way.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as you just so you know, as a reminder, we're in a series that we're calling Paraclete.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing this on the Holy Spirit because what we we realize is oftentimes the Holy Spirit is really mysterious to us, more mysterious than what he needs to be.
SPEAKER_00: We've looked at how the Holy Spirit He sustains all of life.
SPEAKER_00: He's so present uh in all of creation and in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: He is He's the one who has worked in and through God's people throughout uh biblical history, throughout salvation history.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Holy Spirit works in and through people.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who uh filled and empowered and led Jesus throughout his earthly ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He's the person of the Godhead who dwells within us.
SPEAKER_00: Sparkle last week reminded us of that.
SPEAKER_00: He empowers us, the Holy Spirit empowers us to be like Jesus and to do what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: We uh we the second week of the series, we had an opportunity to receive from the Spirit through other people.
SPEAKER_00: We had a prophetic prayer time.
SPEAKER_00: Then the week after that, Randy talked about how this the Holy Spirit meets us in our weakness and overcomes fear.
SPEAKER_00: And then last week, our guest speaker, Sparkle Sanders, had a great message about being connected to the power of the Spirit that's available to all of us.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning I want to touch on this aspect of who the Holy Spirit is and how he overcomes some of these self-imposed limitations that the enemy is really uh happy to come alongside and make us to believe more deeply than the truth.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna read uh the first section from John 14, verses 15 to 21.
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be up on the screen, and then I'm gonna pray for us.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is uh Jesus' words in what is commonly called the upper room discourse.
SPEAKER_00: So these are the last hours that Jesus has with the disciples, and so this is a part of that teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
SPEAKER_00: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, so that he may be with you forever.
SPEAKER_00: The helper 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 remains with you and will be in you.
SPEAKER_00: I will not leave you as orphans, I am coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: After a little while the world is no longer going to see me, but you are going to see me, because I live, you also will live.
SPEAKER_00: On that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I in you.
SPEAKER_00: The one who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and it will reveal myself to him.
SPEAKER_00: So let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are the God who comes alongside us and is with us always.
SPEAKER_00: You are for us and always desire our best.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, would you open our hearts to receive this morning what we need to know about you as the paraclete in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So the number one takeaway from this morning is to remember that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Paraclete and teaches us why he comes alongside us.
SPEAKER_00: So again, uh Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the paraclete and teaches us why he comes alongside us.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna do just two things.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at general words about the paraclete and then some specific words about the paraclete.
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing, the general words about paraclete as a part of you know, understanding why Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the paraclete.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this was from the passage, uh sorry, uh general words about paraclete around that time, um, people what they would have understood when Jesus under used that word.
SPEAKER_00: So it was a legal term, it was a role.
SPEAKER_00: A person was a paraclete in a court of law.
SPEAKER_00: They would come alongside a person as a part of the trial process.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, there's not a really good one-to-one English equivalent of this Greek word.
SPEAKER_00: Helper or advocate are probably the best English words.
SPEAKER_00: There's other translations that talk about the they they use the words uh counselor or comforter.
SPEAKER_00: That is true, the Holy Spirit, uh, but I think it can be a little misleading because this is very much about a legal setting.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is using a legal term.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think those English words can get us to think of of other things.
SPEAKER_00: Randy last week or two weeks ago talked about uh he used the word alongsider.
SPEAKER_00: That's a great word for what the Holy Spirit does.
SPEAKER_00: He comes alongside of us.
SPEAKER_00: This word is only used five times in the whole New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Four of them here are in these passages that we're gonna look at this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The fifth time is in uh 1 John 2, where Jesus is called the Paraclete.
SPEAKER_00: Um of all the words and names that Jesus could have used, he chose this one in the midst of talking about the Holy Spirit in his final hours with the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying that what the Holy Spirit does for us, like in a court of law, is he he plays a role to declare us righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Questioning of our righteousness or worthiness is a common tactic that the enemy utilizes to interfere with the power that's available to us, the power that's within us.
SPEAKER_00: When uh when I was a sophomore in college, so a little bit about Ashton University, it's a dry campus.
SPEAKER_00: Alcohol is not allowed on campus, even if you're 21 or older, can't have alcohol on campus.
SPEAKER_00: Well, my sophomore year, I was 20 years old, had two roommates.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we lived on campus, same age, and um I didn't drink, but my roommates did.
SPEAKER_00: And this particular night they consumed some adult beverages and left the containers in the room.
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of the night, the RA who was on duty and campus security came, knocked on our door, saw they said we heard some some bottles.
SPEAKER_00: We want to look around in your room.
SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, busted.
SPEAKER_00: I got written up.
SPEAKER_00: Guilt by association.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So I also was on the soccer team.
SPEAKER_00: The coach made it perfectly clear every year, if or when you get in trouble, I better hear it from you first.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So if I because I he was saying if if I hear it from my boss, the athletic director, or anybody else, the consequences are gonna be worse.
SPEAKER_00: So I had an early morning class, I got up, uh, stopped by his office, he wasn't in yet.
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, but I can't miss class.
SPEAKER_00: So I go have breakfast, went to class, made a beeline for my coach's office.
SPEAKER_00: Went in, sat down.
SPEAKER_00: Coach, just so you know, uh the RA campus security came in, they wrote us up.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, I know.
SPEAKER_00: Your your your teammates came in already.
SPEAKER_00: Your roommates came in.
SPEAKER_00: I said, He goes, and they told me it wasn't yours.
SPEAKER_00: You're all right.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, cool.
SPEAKER_00: Still had one more hurdle.
SPEAKER_00: Had to meet with the resident director uh in charge of the whole dorm.
SPEAKER_00: We sit in, we're in this meeting, we sit down, one of my teammates' roommates, Brad.
SPEAKER_00: Pipes up right as it starts, he goes, He shouldn't be here.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't drink.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't his, it was ours.
SPEAKER_00: And the R looks at me and says, Is that true?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, it's true.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Okay, you're free.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, All right.
SPEAKER_00: They were my advocate ahead of time.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have to say anything.
SPEAKER_00: They went ahead of me.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you had a similar experience, somebody standing up for you, vouching for you.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, when we get referrals for jobs, that's a person being an advocate, being a paraclete on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: So that in general, what the paraclete does.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the paraclete and teaches us why he comes alongside us.
SPEAKER_00: So there's some specific words that we're going to look at now about the paraclete.
SPEAKER_00: There's four passages.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to use one-word summary for each of these passages.
SPEAKER_00: I read one of them already for John 14, verses 15 to 21.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Holy Spirit talks, or sorry, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit a lot more than just these, but I'm just going to zero in on the paraclete passages.
SPEAKER_00: So the first word is adoption.
SPEAKER_00: First word to sort of summarize the whole the Holy Spirit as a paraclete is adoption.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus starts out by calling him another helper, another paraclete.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus himself is our paraclete.
SPEAKER_00: He continues the work that Jesus started.
SPEAKER_00: I'm choosing the word adoption because even though it's not in here, what does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: He says, I won't leave you as orphans.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to come back for you.
SPEAKER_00: You're a part of the family.
SPEAKER_00: This section is bookended by Jesus talking about keeping the commandments.
SPEAKER_00: The indwelling presence of the Spirit empowers us to keep the commandments that Jesus has given us.
SPEAKER_00: That there's the Holy Spirit does something within us that our desire is to honor the Father and the Son in everything that we do.
SPEAKER_00: That's part of the work of the Paraclete, being in the family.
SPEAKER_00: Being in the family, we get the protection of the family.
SPEAKER_00: We get all their legal services.
SPEAKER_00: As we are adopted, we live according to the family way.
SPEAKER_00: One of our kids, we'll remain anonymous for this story, uh loved whenever they felt like they were slighted by one of their siblings.
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe they did something and and there was a retaliation by the sibling.
SPEAKER_00: They would quickly pipe up, Casles don't get revenge.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: Carrie and I have never said that.
SPEAKER_00: We've never said caseles don't get revenge.
SPEAKER_00: When we notice, when we see it unfolding in front of us, we step in, be like, hold on, that looks like revenge.
SPEAKER_00: We don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we say.
SPEAKER_00: We don't do revenge.
SPEAKER_00: But being in the family, this one, peace together, I'm a casele, we don't get revenge.
SPEAKER_00: Casles don't get revenge.
SPEAKER_00: It was always used when it helped them out.
SPEAKER_00: The next thing, the next passage is uh still in chapter 14.
SPEAKER_00: Go down to verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read verses 25 through 28.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, These things I have spoken to you while remaining with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of all that I said to you.
SPEAKER_00: Peace I leave you, my peace I give you.
SPEAKER_00: Not as the world gives do I give.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled nor fearful.
SPEAKER_00: You heard that it was that I said to you, I am going away, and I am coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
SPEAKER_00: So this word, the one word summary for this passage is peace.
SPEAKER_00: What the Holy Spirit does as the paraclete is he brings peace.
SPEAKER_00: Now, throughout the gospels, really throughout the scriptures, what we get promised is there's going to be challenges.
SPEAKER_00: Just live in the world.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have challenges.
SPEAKER_00: There's no way out of it.
SPEAKER_00: The gift of the Spirit and the work that he does doesn't exempt us from challenges.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus also promised peace.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said the Spirit will teach us all things and remind us of what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: Our ability to stay open and to learn is directly tied to peace.
SPEAKER_00: I've been doing some work with an organization called the Leader's Journey.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things, as they talk about anxiety, that's kind of their general word for just the stress of life.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things they say is that anxiety makes us stupid.
SPEAKER_00: When we don't have peace, it's really difficult to learn.
SPEAKER_00: When we move into a place, we're receptive to thinking clearly and to learning.
SPEAKER_00: One of the common lessons from my dad growing up was don't panic.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Because when you panic, you can't think clearly.
SPEAKER_00: I had a moment, going back to that bathroom story, working in the bathroom.
SPEAKER_00: So I had to like turn my shoulders and lean forward.
SPEAKER_00: And I sat up or was trying to get out, and my shoulders got stuck, and there was a shot of adrenaline rushed through my body.
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, I'm stuck.
SPEAKER_00: I do not want the fire department to come in and try to get me out of here.
SPEAKER_00: So I thought, I'm like, okay, I got into this, I can get out.
SPEAKER_00: I lean forward, turn my shoulders, backed out.
SPEAKER_00: That helped.
SPEAKER_00: Peace.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Peace helps us to think clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Often the first evidence of God's manifest presence with us is peace.
SPEAKER_00: When the spirit is moving on somebody, we can see it with our physical eyes.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we encourage our ministry teams to pray with their eyes open.
SPEAKER_00: You can see peace come over somebody, right?
SPEAKER_00: Their whole body starts to relax, their face relaxes, they start breathing more deeply.
SPEAKER_00: In personal quiet times, when I'm able to be fully present, which is a bit of a challenge, but when I am, the first thing I experience is peace.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing what can happen in the room and in our lives when we give a space for peace.
SPEAKER_00: I've really been learning lately the value of being completely honest with God about where I am internally.
SPEAKER_00: What am I thinking about?
SPEAKER_00: What's consuming my thoughts?
SPEAKER_00: And as I do that, peace starts to meet me right there.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord doesn't chastise me.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why are you worried about that?
SPEAKER_00: Stop thinking about that.
SPEAKER_00: Be here now.
SPEAKER_00: A few months ago, I was getting ready and I became aware, like I'm as I was getting some things ready in the morning before I sat down to spend time with the Lord, I kept finding more things to do before I did it.
SPEAKER_00: And this thought came, this realization came to me, I'm avoiding spending time with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And as I just admitted that, Lord, I'm avoiding spending time with you.
SPEAKER_00: Peace kind of entered in into that moment and did shift something within me.
SPEAKER_00: More recently, a couple of weeks ago, I had two things really on the forefront of my mind as I was making some coffee, and I just, they were unrelated, but I asked the Lord about them.
SPEAKER_00: Bang, bang.
SPEAKER_00: What about this?
SPEAKER_00: What about that?
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's how quickly in my mind I asked.
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't hear a voice, but the just this deep sense within me came in.
SPEAKER_00: It was like, you know, if you don't give me space to answer, I can't answer.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00: And what accompanied that was peace, not condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord can't work in denial.
SPEAKER_00: Denial pushes away the truth.
SPEAKER_00: He works in truth.
SPEAKER_00: So with that goes to the next section, the next the next mention of Paraclete from chapter 15, verses 26 and 27.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, namely the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father, he will testify about me.
SPEAKER_00: And you are testifying as well because you have been with me from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Now I mentioned how Paraclete is this legal term.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of John, John's gospel is actually like a legal case for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because the the words for testify, testimony, witness occur 35 times in John's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And these signs point that Jesus does, points to who he is.
SPEAKER_00: John is making the case.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is he declaring Jesus not guilty, he's declaring him innocent, the truly righteous one.
SPEAKER_00: All the signs, all the testimony, all the witness points to he was truly innocent.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Holy Spirit does the same thing for us.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the times Jesus also calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth.
SPEAKER_00: Because he can only tell the truth about Jesus, and he bears witness to what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: And we get to bear witness to who Jesus is and what he does when we talk about what he's done in our lives, whether it's the time, how we came to know Jesus and trust what he's done on our behalf through the cross and the resurrection, or when we talk about how he's entered into our lives in specific moments.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he doesn't change a situation, but he changes how we think about and perceive a situation.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes he changes situations, right?
SPEAKER_00: And when we talk about that, we bear witness to what to who Jesus is and what he does.
SPEAKER_00: Kerry has an older brother.
SPEAKER_00: Um he's married, they've got a son and a daughter.
SPEAKER_00: Um they live in Columbus, Ohio.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you can pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: Um, everything's good, but they have to live in Columbus, Ohio.
SPEAKER_00: So they need prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Uh my sister-in-law, she's a she's a teacher by trade.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but she's uh she's a really gifted teacher and it teaches multiple times at their church that they're a part of.
SPEAKER_00: And she told I've known her for over 25 years, and I never heard this story, so I'm gonna share one of her stories.
SPEAKER_00: Um so when she was in her early 20s, a really good friend of hers, same age, was going through a divorce real early on.
SPEAKER_00: So here it was, a really young marriage, and it wasn't working out.
SPEAKER_00: And Lisa would, she Lisa's such a faithful prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Um she so she would pray for this friend for and I'm sure every day.
SPEAKER_00: And as she did over the course of multiple months, she heard this word valuable.
SPEAKER_00: Valuable.
SPEAKER_00: And Lisa's like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna tell this person that.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is so patient, he's so kind, he kept bringing it back to her.
SPEAKER_00: So finally they had coffee together one morning, and Lisa works up the courage and she goes, as I I just want to let you know, as I've been praying for you, the word that keeps coming to mind is valuable.
SPEAKER_00: And her friend just breaks down in tears.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Thank you so much for sharing that.
SPEAKER_00: As I've been going through this, what I thought is if God thinks I'm valuable, then I'm valuable.
SPEAKER_00: Stories like this bear witness to the God man who see who sees us and knows us intimately.
SPEAKER_00: And he loves us more than we could ever imagine.
SPEAKER_00: The last thing that uh the Spirit does is is convict.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna read the passage and just to summarize it for the sake of time.
SPEAKER_00: Largely, what Jesus has done and what what the Holy Spirit does through us is he puts the world on notice.
SPEAKER_00: If I was cool, I'm not.
SPEAKER_00: But if I was, I would say Jesus has put the world on front street.
SPEAKER_00: He's letting the world know that that the the way they viewed him and treated him, they got it all wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And so the Holy Spirit through us reveals that to the world and ideally draws people to himself through our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: So we have seen how the Holy Spirit, as the paraclete, he comes alongside us, he helps us, he brings, he reminds us, lets us know we're adopted into the family.
SPEAKER_00: We're a part of the family.
SPEAKER_00: All the resources of the family are available to us.
SPEAKER_00: He gives us peace, and he bears witness, he testifies about who Jesus is in our lives, and he brings conviction to us and to the world.
SPEAKER_00: Um last week when Sparkle shared, she talked so much about the empowerment that's available to us.
SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes there's things in our lives that we use and we let the enemy use to limit those things.
SPEAKER_00: And so we need an advocate or an help or a helper.
SPEAKER_00: Because in Revelation, the enemy is called the accuser of the brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Peter calls him our adversary who prowls around looking for someone to devour.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus calls him the father of lies, and yet we believe the lies that the enemy speaks over us more than the truth.
SPEAKER_00: So not only does the Holy Spirit bring about adoption, peace, testimony, conviction, but we also get to do the things that Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: Now I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that in two weeks, on August 9th, we're going to start showing some videos from John Wimber.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a part of our 40th anniversary as a church.
SPEAKER_00: And so these uh as a reminder, John Wimber was the catalytic leader of the vineyard movement, and he did a great job of helping people know if you have the Holy Spirit, you get to do what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: So that's why we're gonna be showing these videos.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we're even talking about the Holy Spirit, is because we get to do it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just believe it and think, oh, that was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Wish I could see it or be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: But we do get to.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna watch a brief video to set it up.
SPEAKER_00: This was this teaching, the audio from this is from one of the teachings of the conference.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but somebody did an animated visual presentation of it.
SPEAKER_00: So let's go ahead and and show that.
SPEAKER_01: As I read the New Testament, I fell in love with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't you?
SPEAKER_01: I liked him.
SPEAKER_01: I liked what he was like, I liked the things he did.
SPEAKER_01: I like the things he said.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't you like those things?
SPEAKER_01: I thought that stuff was hot.
SPEAKER_01: I liked it when he multiplied the bread.
SPEAKER_01: You like that one?
SPEAKER_01: Huh?
SPEAKER_01: How about it?
SPEAKER_01: You like that?
SPEAKER_01: And the fishes, you know, the sardines?
SPEAKER_01: I always picture sardines.
SPEAKER_01: I like that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I like all that stuff, you know?
SPEAKER_01: I liked it when he went by the fig tree and said, hmm, you know, and it died.
SPEAKER_01: Can you picture him doing that?
SPEAKER_01: I like all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I like it.
SPEAKER_01: I remember last night?
SPEAKER_01: Come forth.
SPEAKER_01: That's a biggie, you know?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's hot.
SPEAKER_01: There's not many guys doing that come forth thing, you know, telling anybody to come up from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: I like all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And when I became a Christian, I thought that's what I was gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: I spent several weeks reading the New Testament and talking with these people, and I thought, this is great.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm gonna join up.
SPEAKER_01: I want to do this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And so I remember the frustration of attending church the first few times.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I thought they did at church?
SPEAKER_01: I thought you that people gathered at the church, had a good time together, sort of divvied up the land, and everybody went out and healed a few and cast out a few demons and won a few people to Christ before lunch.
SPEAKER_01: And so the first few times I went to church, I went prepared with the idea that we're gonna, you know, ha, I'm gonna take Anaheim.
SPEAKER_01: I want to go to Anaheim, you know, the deepest, darkest pagan Anaheim over there by Disneyland.
SPEAKER_01: That's where I want to go.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's where I was raised.
SPEAKER_01: And when they didn't do it, I was disappointed.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember one day asking a guy about it.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, when do we go out and do it?
SPEAKER_01: He said, What?
SPEAKER_01: I said, When do we go out and do it?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Oh, you don't have to do it, you just have to believe it was done once.
SPEAKER_03: Now that's pathetic, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: I found out over the next year or two that we cried about it, we sang about it, we preached about it, we prayed over it, we gave to it, but we never did it.
SPEAKER_01: We never got to go do the things that Jesus did.
SPEAKER_01: And I grew disillusioned in the process.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, when I worked for the devil, he let me do his stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Did he let you do his stuff?
SPEAKER_01: He let me do his stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But when I came to work for Jesus, they didn't want to let me do his stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And I to tell you the truth, I joined up to do the stop.
SPEAKER_01: Did you?
SPEAKER_01: You see, it's doing the stop that's gonna change the world.
SPEAKER_01: It's not knowing it was done once, it's not knowing that it's important, it's doing it that's going to change the world.
SPEAKER_01: Somewhere, someplace, somebody's got to start believing this book.
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like I figure it might as well be us.
SPEAKER_01: We're qualified.
SPEAKER_01: And we understand that it can be done.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to learn to do the stuff, a couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Uh August 9th, four o'clock in here, come out.
SPEAKER_00: Um we will we'll watch the teachings and then we'll have opportunities to respond to it.
SPEAKER_00: And so there we have an opportunity right now.
SPEAKER_00: So let's all stand.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Blaine, are you gonna play?
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_00: So because of the work that John Wimber did and those who were a part of the vineyard early on, it's very normal and natural for us to be able to respond.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're on the ministry team, could you come forward just to pray?
SPEAKER_00: So we want to have an opportunity to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Now I mentioned at the beginning um we had a couple of words for maybe some healing, um, maybe tied to sleep or to your liver.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so if either of those resonates with you, our teams would be happy to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the other thing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you don't have to come up just because you have a need.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe things are going great.
SPEAKER_00: You can come up and just say more.
SPEAKER_00: More, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you want to see if the Lord just wants to say something to you through one of these prayer, these teams, they'll be more than happy to just listen on your behalf and share what they believe that they're they're getting.
SPEAKER_00: James, um Just as a word of encouragement that you had, you shared.
SPEAKER_00: Um so maybe this will resonate.
SPEAKER_00: So go ahead, Jane.
SPEAKER_04: Um so during worship, I had a picture and I was telling Delane, it's like, I just have a picture of the sanctuary or anywhere in the kingdom being being like a uh test board, and it feels like we're all moving about on that chessboard, finally realizing the uh the things that God is calling us to do.
SPEAKER_04: And sometimes it's hard to um walk out whatever he's uh laying on our hearts, but I just want to encourage everybody.
SPEAKER_04: Um just all it does, all you have to do is just take a step.
SPEAKER_04: That's all, and then he'll do the rest.
SPEAKER_04: So I encourage you, um, if that's something that's stirring in your spirit or your soul, just come up and get prayer and um watch the doors fly open.
SPEAKER_04: Thanks, Jake.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had just even another word about um God's fire coming from his throne and just as we were worshiping coming out.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think that that's tied if you felt something just during during worship.
SPEAKER_00: Um just want to give you an opportunity uh to respond right now.
SPEAKER_00: Could you come forward and be available to pray?
SPEAKER_00: So we've got some people waiting.
SPEAKER_00: If you have kids in children's ministry, um help us to love our volunteers well and go pick up your kids.
SPEAKER_00: You can bring them back in.
SPEAKER_00: Um if you're waiting for prayer, feel free to give your tag to somebody you trust, and they can go pick up your kids on your behalf.
SPEAKER_00: So our teams will be available if you want to, if you can wait around to receive prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Blaine will continue praying.
SPEAKER_00: If you need to go, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance and give you rest.
SPEAKER_00: Have a great week.