May 11, 2023

Scripture: John 14:16-17 – “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.”

What it means

The news was difficult – both in content and in understanding. Jesus, their beloved teacher, rabbi, Master, etc. would be leaving them soon. He spent much time in trying to prepare His disciples of His imminent departure, and again…tough to swallow, and tough to completely understand, to be honest. But fear not – another advocate would soon arrive on the scene to take over where Jesus had left off. The Holy Spirit – the third member of The Trinity – would not arrive in bodily form, as a human, but He would be no less powerful and effective and The Father and as The Son had/have been.

What it means to me

There’s not a whole lot mentioned in scripture about The Holy Spirit, but if you dig deeply enough – and yes, even in the Old Testament – you can find some content that deals with The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was for a selected few. He came only on selected leaders of the people, such as the 70 elders (Num. 11:24-27), Othniel (Judges 3:10), Gideon (6:34), Jephthah (11:29), and others. Also, if you look at The Apostle’s Creed and The Nicene Creed, you’ll find again that The Holy Spirit gets equal airtime as God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit has very specific roles – to encourage, to convict, to nudge us to go in certain directions in our life…a little more behind the scenes in nature, but it’s been my experience that the “behind the scenes” people in church are invaluable in many ways. I love verse 17 – even though we can’t see/hear/smell/touch The Holy Spirit, we can know that He’s there – “for he lives with you and will be in you.” He is in our heart, in our mind, and in our spirit, guiding us into all truth, since He is The Spirit of Truth. Amen!

Love you guys, see you Sunday!

In Christ,

Brian