Never Left Alone – Pastor Sam Simoes – May 10, 2026

Pastor Sam Simoes message for Sunday May 10, 2026. 

Welcome to the Northwest Church of the Nazarene podcast, where we share the heart of our church’s mission: discovering and engaging in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ through inspired worship and intentional ministry. Each episode brings you sermons, insights, and messages that challenge and encourage spiritual growth. Whether you are part of our diverse, multicultural church family, or listening in for the first time, you’ll find a community that loves Jesus and welcomes everyone with open arms. Join us online at nwnaz.org or in person in Columbus Ohio, as we journey together toward a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Jesus and each other. 

Transcript

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Every Sunday at Northwest Church of the Nazarene in Columbus, Ohio, our congregation is challenged to grow spiritually. This podcast shares the sermons, insights, and messages that encourage our congregation to mature spiritually.

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Today's message and passage is named, is titled Never Left Alone. And today, as we celebrate Mother's Day, we also celebrate the Holy Spirit. As we've been looking at the Holy Spirit is these last uh few weeks, and as we're preparing for what God's about to do, we have looked and embraced and adopted the vision of belonging and how we want to not only belong to one another but belong to the kingdom of God, but we want to make that others, when they visit us, when they are with us, they feel that they belong. Also, we are now preparing ourselves for what God is about to do. But today, being a Mother's Day, I'd like to start with a story about mothers. A mother asked her daughter what she learned in Sunday school, and she said, Mom, we learn not to be afraid, we're gonna get our own quilt. And she said, Can you repeat that? She said, Yes. Uh, in Sunday school, we learn not to be afraid because we're gonna get our own quilt. She thought, okay, well, that's strange, but I don't know what kind of conversation they had in Sunday school. So she met with a Sunday school teacher later that day and said, Hey, what did you guys talk about today in Sunday school? I said, Well, we talked about do not be afraid, the comforter has come. Today we're gonna be talking about the comforter. We're gonna be talking about the Holy Spirit. But before we talk about the Holy Spirit, let's set the scene, the stage from when this passage was written. We're gonna be looking into the book of John and we're going to see on chapter 14 what happened and why did Jesus speak the words he spoke to his disciples? Now, it before on chapter 13 and chapter 12, we see that they are coming together and they are becoming a part of the most important and most painful and most difficult part of their time with Jesus. When Jesus begins to say his goodbyes. Now, we don't think often about Jesus saying his goodbyes, we don't think often about Jesus saying that he is leaving, but at this moment, not only he begins to prepare the disciples about his departure, he's preparing the disciples on how to live a life that is worthy of the moments of the three years that they spent with him. So at that room, they begin to hear very, very difficult words. Words about him leaving, him departing. And in this moment, he begins by having a meal in which he speaks of a betrayal. And later we found out it's Judas who betrayed him. And in that meal, he presents the bread and presents the cup. And later on today, we're going to repeat that meal. And then in the moment of wonder, of loss, of shock, Jesus speaks very comforting words. And those are the words we're going to read today. So if you'd stand with me, and if you have your Bibles, and open your Bibles in the book of John, we're going to look into chapter 14, verses 15 to 21, as we consider the word of the Lord, and as we consider what he has in store for us for his word for our hearts. John 14, chapter 14, verses 15 to 21. And as we consider the word of the Lord, thus say the word of the Lord. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. The Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you before long. The world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you'll realize that I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. Father in heaven, we pray that you'd speak to our hearts today. That you would encourage us, that you would enable us to experience not only your power, but your presence. Father, we want to leave this place transformed, uplifted, renewed, strengthened by your word. So speak to us today that we may be transformed. And we pray these things in your son Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. In this passage, we find that John speaks of this moment of this time with endearment, but also reminded of the words that Jesus has given them. Jesus could read the room and realize that they were afraid, that they were concerned. But Jesus said, No, I am leaving you someone. So we read in in this chapter that he begins by saying, If you love me, keep my commands, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you. And here's the word that if you like to underline your Bible, you should underline another. I will leave you another. Because the word another means that they already had one, they already had an advocate, they already had someone in presence, and that someone is Jesus. So he's bringing us another person to continue the relationship with God. And what he is promising them is the greatest promise that Jesus could give them. Not the promise that they're going to be fine, not the promise that they're going to be wealthy or healthy, or the promise that they're going to live a beautiful life in a sea and a bed of roses. The promise that he gives is the promise of presence. The promise is the presence. And when he says that he gives another presence, he's talking about someone who's already been there and he has been there. But he leaves us with his presence. And the greatest gift of a mother, the greatest gift a mother can give is the presence. Is the presence when the child gets hurt or when the child has her heart or his heart broken, and they share with their mother, and they don't want the mother to solve, they want the mother to listen. Fathers tend to want to solve it. Mothers listen. Mothers have the gift of presence that can be there, just listening, just being in that moment with us. And this is what the Holy Spirit is wanting to do with us. This is what Jesus is speaking about the Holy Spirit. Is that the Holy Spirit is not just someone that tells us what to do, but it's someone that's going to be with us. And it's the greatest gift. As a child likes to have the light night on, because it does not take away the darkness, but it's just a reminder that they are not alone. A reminder that they are in a place that is safe where the parent is nearby. And when we look into a presence of the Holy Spirit, we're looking into the personality, we're looking into the character, into the love that we have received by Jesus, is the same love that we'll receive with this Holy Spirit. One of the things I like to do is cook. And I like to use the recipes that that my family has left. And I have a couple recipes in my home that my mom wrote, is in her handwriting. And even though she is very far away from me, every time I cook and I read her handwriting, it reminds me of the times that she cooked for me. And it's one thing that I really hold dear. And I tell a lot of people if you have uh a favorite meal, ask your mother or or whoever makes it to write down because it's a memory. And this is exactly what the Holy Spirit is doing. He's giving us a memory that is not just what he does, it's how he does it. We feel the comfort, we feel we are reminded of his presence. So the promise is the presence. Now, last week we talked about also the advocate, the one that fights with along with us. We talked about the one that's that journeys with us, and we talked about the Greek word that meant a battle partner, someone who just journeys with us and has our back and fights along with us. And the name was who remembers? The paraclete. And we talked about the paraclete and how we have a paraclete. We are not alone because we have a paraclete. And this is the paraclete, and the word advocate is translated into Greek as paraclete, which is translated into English as advocate or comforter or someone who's gonna be there with us, and um a companion. So the world tries to find companionship, tries to find advocates, tries to find fulfillment, tries to find a lot of desires in the world when we have someone with us, we're not alone, and today we have that message, and the message is that the promise is the presence. Jesus promised that he will be with them, he's going to bring an advocate. Now, when we read the Great Commission, which is in Matthew 28, we read the Great Commission, he tells us that to go forth and make disciples. And then the very last few words that he says is, and I will be with you until the end of days. That is the promise of his presence. Nothing else we desire, nothing else we need, but his presence and the presence of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit does more than just be there. He also, the Holy Spirit, reminds us of Jesus. The Holy Spirit reminds us of his words, the Holy Spirit reminds us of his ways, of his will, of his journey, of his healings, of his miracles. The Holy Spirit reminds us of Jesus as we consider the Word of God. And as we read the Word of God, we are reminded of God's grace. We are reminded of God's plan for us. We are reminded of God's infinite love. We are reminded of God's work in our lives. But the Holy Spirit goes beyond reminding us about Jesus and reminding us about God. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we belong to God. We don't belong to the world. Praise God. Imagine if we belong to the world. If we belong to the world, every whim, every every change, every political instability, we would be under it. But we do not belong to the world. And the Holy Spirit reminds us: you do not belong to this world. You belong to a kingdom, a kingdom that has no end, a kingdom that that is beautiful. Now you will go through tribulations in this world, you will go through trials, you will go through despair, you go through loss, but you will not be alone because we belong to God. The only difference is when we belong to God, we are not alone. Because orphans feel that they don't belong anywhere. They're just hoping that someone will adopt them, just hoping that someone will take them in. They feel they don't belong, and Jesus was very clear to say, I will not leave you as orphans, and the word of God tells us that. But just like children, we will feel safe. Why? Because in the past they felt abandoned by their leaders, they felt abandoned by their rulers, by the Pharisees, by the religious leaders. They were abandoned over and over and over again. And now they spent three years with Jesus, and he's sitting down and he's saying, when he leaves, the place where he is going is preparing a place for us. We just read that earlier in chapter 14. And we just hear these words, and they were thinking, We're going to be orphans, we're not going to have him with us. But Jesus said, No, I will not leave you as orphan. There's going to be a Holy Spirit. Oh, and later in Acts, we see that the Holy Spirit comes, and sure enough, they were not alone. So we belong to God, and the Spirit reminds us that. The Spirit also reminds us that we are not forgotten, that there's faith and there's action. We have to place our faith in action. In other words, it's not just that we believe in God, it's that if we believe in God and we're going to fulfill his commandments, we're going to obey his commandments. It's not just the commandments that we we know about, the ten commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain. He's talking about every single commandment. That if you love the least of these, then you're going to serve them. That if someone is hungry and we're not feeding, we're not loving them or God. It means that every commandment that he has, we obey. But we don't obey just because it's a set of rules. We don't obey just because it's the law. We obey because we love him and he loves us. And it's out of the love that we receive, out of the love that we have been poured, out of the love that we have been anointed with, with the Holy Spirit, that we do those things. And that's why Jesus said, if you love me, you obey my commands. And my commands is to love your neighbor as yourself. My commandments is for you to love others as you love yourself. It's for you to care for the widow. It's for you to care for the orphan. It's for you to care for the broken. It's for you to care for the ones that have been ostracized. It's for you to care for the foreigner. It's for you to care for those who are different than you. And it's for you to be reminded that I will be with you. You are not going to love out of your own effort. You're going to love because you have been loved. And this is what mothers teach us. Mothers teach us to love by loving us, by caring for us. And when we receive that love, we learn how to love others. And I tell my children, the way your mother loves me is the way you will love your husband one day. And I tell my son, the way I love your mother is the way you're going to love your wife one day because you are seeing in real life what love looks like. And the Holy Spirit does the same thing. The way He loves us, the way He cares for us, the way that Jesus cares for us is the same way we're going to pour that. But we we cannot love someone if we haven't spent time with Him. We cannot love someone if we don't believe that He loves us because we feel somehow that we don't deserve it, that we feel somehow that we're not worthy, that we feel somehow that we have done something in the past that God is going to take away His love. That is not biblical. That is not theological. That is not even logical. Why would God look at our past when He knows our heart? He knows our heart, so He's going to love us because He loves us. And those of you who have a child, those of you who are familiar with children, you know you don't choose to love your child. You don't say, you know what, I'm gonna love my child. You know, if I brought it to the world, I might as well love it. No, on the moment you see those eyes, on the moment you hold that child, something changes in you. That there's absolutely nothing a child can do that will remove the love you have for that child. And God is 100, 1000, 1 million times more than that. Because He truly loves us regardless of our past, regardless of our present. He truly loves us, and all He wants is for us to recognize that love, that we are deeply, deeply loved, and we are not forgotten. And the Spirit reminds us that we are not alone. You know, in today's world, loneliness is huge, and after COVID, a lot of people are feeling depression because they feel lonely. And the loneliness is happening, and it's happening in the church. And why is loneliness happening in the church? It's because people feel lonely because they think that someone should come and talk to them, someone should come and embrace them, someone should come and welcome them, someone should come and invite them, and they just keep waiting when the Holy Spirit is saying that He is going to be in us and through us as we are together. That's why church is so important, that's why the body of Christ is so important, because we will experience the love of God together. We will experience the love of God in singing, in praying, and that's why praying is so exp is so important, and it's such a beautiful experience because when we are together in prayer, we are talking in one accord to the Lord. And that's why we have on Wednesday nights, and I know it's a shameless plug, but it's important for us to come together and pray, together as a family, and lifting our hearts, our voices, our desires, crying out to the Lord and celebrating. But together we become what he envisions as the bride of Christ. The bride of Christ is not individual people, is the church. The scriptures were not written for us individually. This is not tailor made for you, is made for the body, is made for the church. When John wrote this passage, he was writing to the Jews, not to one particular person, but to the body. So we fulfill this together. And when we are together, it's very hard to be alone when you are journeying together, when we're praying together, when we are living together and experiencing the beauty of the presence of God together, we are not alone, and that's what the Holy Spirit reminds us. So, what are we to do? If we recognize that the promise is presence and that the spirit reminds us. Then we are not alone. What are we to do? Well, we practice awareness. If you are in military or security, you are aware of practicing awareness. I know several people that get when they get to a restaurant, the first thing that they see is identifying exits. In case something happens, they know where the exits are. And I know a lot of people that just go into a restaurant's like, I wonder what's good today to eat. But the those that practice awareness are aware, okay, that person over there is sitting this way, okay, identifying any kind of threat and making sure their family's protected. And they were trained to do that in the military. Now, those that have never been in the military can still practice awareness. Oh, I I'm I'm looking at that couple, and it looks like that couple is about to, looks like he's about to propose. Now, women can pick that up. Men just think there's a couple eating. But when they see him nervous and and you they see a box and you know, shape in their pocket, they notice those kind of things. So we all notice different things about people, don't we? So what do we do to practice awareness with the Holy Spirit? We start looking, what is the Holy Spirit doing? What is the Holy Spirit preparing? What is the Holy Spirit doing in our lives, doing around us, doing in someone's life? And when we are spiritually aware, when we are practicing awareness, we become aware of what they are doing. You know, the the glorious thing about being a mother is they're rarely recognized. And I'm glad that there's a day we recognize mothers and we celebrate the motherhood. But every day they're not. I hear a story of a mother that that said that uh her children asked, Mom, what it feels like to be a mother. And she said, Well, I'll let you know. So at two o'clock, she woke them up and saying, Hey, my sock fell off my foot. Because mothers have had that before. And you know the recipe of uh the iced coffee recipe from a mother? It's a very simple recipe. You prepare your coffee, you put it in a mug, and then your kid calls you because they can find a shoe. So you go help them find the shoe until you finally find the shoe and find out that the coffee is cold. So you put it in a microwave and put it for two minutes, and then the kid cannot find the coat. So you go look for the coat, and eventually you find the coat, and then you come back and look for the coffee and you find, oh, it's in a microwave. You pick up the microwave and have your iced coffee. That's the recipe for iced coffee from a mother. You just keep going and going until the coffee is cold. So the prepare, the awareness of what we do, the sacrifices that we do, the sacrifices that mothers do, when we recognize those as saying, Mom, I really appreciate when you did this for me. I appreciate when you were able to take care of me when I was sick. I appreciate and I see you, but you're not invisible. I see you, you are valued. And when we do that with a mother, the way they feel is they were seen. And when the spirit recognizes that we see it, can you imagine how the spirit feels? When we say, Oh, I see what the spirit is doing, I see what the spirit is moving among people, I see what the spirit is doing in that family, I see what the spirit is doing in my life. And when we spend time reading, when we spend time with God and in prayer, he reveals a lot of things and we become aware of his presence, of his touch. So in our prayer, in our devotion, we will find a new wonder, a new curiosity. So practice awareness, practice awareness of where is the spirit in my life, where is the spirit in this situation? Where is the spirit in the church? Where is the spirit in my work? Where is the spirit in my gym and in my affairs and in the things I do? What is the spirit doing? Because the spirit is active. And if you're filled with the spirit, as we talked about last Sunday, if you're filled with the Spirit, then you will recognize the Spirit in everywhere and everything you do. So we practice awareness, but we also create belonging. You know, the scripture was not written for individuals, it was written for the church, it was written for the people of God. And if the people of God have been asked to make others belonging, we're asked to welcome the stranger, to welcome the foreigner, to welcome the broken, to welcome the prostitute, to welcome those that have been ostracized, have been separated, to welcome them, to make them a part of the body of Christ. Because many times people need to belong before they believe. Because they will not believe, because if they don't belong, why should they believe? But when they belong, they will believe. And that's why we as a church have been preparing ourselves. That's why we as a church have been preparing our vision, our ideas, and our ministry to make people belong so when they come, they can feel that they are a part of something beautiful, even before they believe, even before they accept, even before they recognize who God is, but they belong first. And that's why it's so important that we do that. And that's why we are working on our children's ministries, we're working on our youth ministries to make sure that when they come, they can belong. We're even working with our adult ministries. We just started a new Sunday school, not only to prepare our teacher who is now a district license, to prepare him in ministry, but also to welcome people when they come in with another option for a Sunday school, to belong. We want people to belong whether they believe or not. But if they belong, it's much easier to believe because they already start seeing the love of God through us. Amen. And that's what we want to do. We want to show the love of God by making people feel that they belong. So we create belonging, something deep and yet personal, something that is a part of the body, something that really says that they know us. Like the two children that went to and bought flowers to their mother on Mother's Day. And they brought the flowers, said, Mom, we bought you flowers, but this is all the money we had for these flowers. But while we were at the florist, we saw these beautiful flowers we want to get you. They were like in a circle, in a wreath. They were so beautiful, and they have the words that made us remind you of you because you're always asking for peace and and rest. And it said, rest in peace. And we wanted to get you those flowers, but these were the only ones we could afford. They knew their mother and how much peace and rest she wanted, but they did not know what rest in peace meant. But that's how the Holy Spirit knows us, and the Holy Spirit knows us in such a way, and if we know the Holy Spirit because we have spent time with him, we have spent time in prayer, we spent time in in the word, we spent time listening to what he has for us, we will create belonging, not because we are very special and because we we believe that that other people. No, it's just because the love of God overflows in us. And what beautiful we'll be when we see people accepting Jesus because they first belong to us, because they first belonged to our lives, because it first belonged to our welcoming arms. And belonging was something that Jesus did. Even before the disciples knew who Jesus truly was, they belonged. Jesus said, Follow me and welcome them. Before they understood, before they realized, before they even had an idea that he was the Messiah, they belonged. And that's what we are doing. We are welcoming people even before they recognize who Jesus is. Could you imagine a church where people come in and just feel that they can belong? And when they belong, they they hear about Jesus and they want to know about Jesus because of the love they have experienced. Can you imagine someone that's been broken and they have been rejected coming and experiencing our love and saying, you're a part of our family. You know, like they did at um at um Olive Garden. If you're here, you're family. And we're just saying, if you're here, you're family. You're a part of us. We don't care if you believe in God, we don't care. We just care that you are a part of our family because you are a fellow human being that we love and we want to love people. Not because we feel it's something Pastor Sam told us to do, but because of the love of God is just flowing through us. And can you imagine people accepting Jesus and coming to a transformation in their lives just because we love them first? How beautiful that will be. And then I think that's what God is preparing our church to do. I believe that's what God is preparing us to see is we are prepared to receive people. So I have a challenge for you this week. And the challenge is very simple. I'm gonna challenge you to remind someone in your life that they are not alone. Remind someone that they are not alone by just giving them a call and saying, I just want to remind you you're not alone. I just want to remind you that I'm here for you. Let's get together. Let us be reminded that God loves us. And I just want to let you know you are not alone. We're together in this. Remind someone that they are not alone because they too need a paraclete, they too need an advocate, they too need a comforter, they too need God's presence. So I don't know where you are on your journey with Jesus Christ, but I do know that he is calling us today, not for us to, not for us to do something or to accomplish something or to go into a crusade, but he's asking us to know him and obeying him, we welcome everyone, we make everyone belong, and when they belong, they can see the love of God through us. Amen. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took the cup, and he took the bread, and he shared about this very, very important meal that he had for his disciples. This meal was not just a meal to be reminded of Passover, but was a meal that Jesus asked them to repeat. And that's why we're doing it today. A meal that reminded that Jesus would die on the cross and would shed his blood, and he would die on the cross, and his body would be broken. And as we partake of this meal together, we are reminded again of his death, of his resurrection, but also that he will return. The meal is a reminder of God's presence. So as we take this bread, we are reminded of the presence of Jesus. And as we take the cup, we are reminded of the presence of Jesus. So as we read from 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23, for I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So as we take the bread, you may be um you may be taking the bread out of your cup. Jesus took the bread, and when he took bread, he broke it and said, This is my body broken for you. Take and eat, and as a family, we do so together. Amen. Father, we thank you for your body broken for us, for a body that even though it died three days later, was not only resurrected, but it has come to let us know that you truly are God. So we thank you for the sacrifice on the cross. Amen. After he took the bread, he took the cup, and he passed the cup and said, This cup with the fruit of the vine is the new covenant in my blood. And he told his disciples to take and drink in remembrance of his blood. The blood of Jesus shed for you. I'd like to ask the worship team to come forward as we pray. Father in heaven, we thank you. We thank you for the bread, we thank you for the cup, but we thank you evermore for your body and your blood that has given us eternal life. Not only that we may know you and journey with you and the advocate and the paraclete that you have brought us, but that we may obey you by loving others and together build your kingdom. So lead us into your ways that we may see you, that we may experience you, and we may experience the presence of God every day of our lives. And we ask this thing in your son, Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

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As it is known in our community, Northwest Church is committed to discovering and engaging in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, with inspired worship and intentional ministry. People from all walks of life are welcome and received as family members. Our family is diverse, multicultural, and although not perfect, in love with Jesus. Join us online at nwnat.org by visiting us in Columbus, Ohio. God bless you.