Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest
questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search
and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead
pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth
for the life we're searching for. Well, good morning. I'm so looking forward to unpacking
this message today. The title of our message today is, How does the Holy Spirit teach us?
How does the Holy Spirit teach us? It's found in John chapter 14, verse 21. You might want
to take your Bibles and turn to that text. I'm doing something different today and began
it last week. We'll continue to do it in the future. We're going to make Bibles available
at the three main doorways to our worship center. And those Bibles, those doorways are
the same as those under the seats that you are sitting on. Every row has a few Bibles
under those seats. If you don't have a copy of God's Word, either pick one up when you
come in or you may find one under one of the seats that you're sitting on or on that row.
And these Bibles are all bound in black. They're hardback versions. They all have the same
page numbers. I'm going to give you some page numbers when we go through because I want
you to have every advantage to walk through the scripture with us as we look at the very
important things that we're talking about. This is really our guide. The Word of God
is our guide and we need to know it well. Now, regarding those Bibles, if you pick one
up and you already have some at home, you can drop it back off when you leave. Or if
you need it, just take it with you and we'll just keep stocking that, all right? John chapter
14, how does the Holy Spirit teach us today? Would you stand with me as we read God's Word?
John 14, beginning in verse 21. Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. Last week we began
this series by answering the question, who is the Holy Spirit? And I think one of the
greatest verses in the Bible is the verse where he introduces the Holy Spirit to them.
He says in verse 16 and 17, I will ask the Father, he'll give you another helper, meaning
another helper like myself, that he may be with you forever. That 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 abides with you and will be in you. That was Jesus' introduction to the
Holy Spirit. We spent some time looking at that last week. Now we pick it up in verse
21. He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me
will be loved by my Father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. Judas,
not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, what has happened that you're going to disclose yourself
to us and not to the world? That word disclose is huge. God, how are you going to reveal
yourself to us? What are you going to do to show us who you are and what you're doing?
Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father
will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him. In other words, I'm
going to live inside of you. I'm just going to dwell in you during your lifetime. Verse
24, he who does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you hear is not
mine but the Father who sent me. These things I've spoken to you while abiding with you.
Now, verse 26 is the key verse to this whole text. He says, but the helper, the Holy Spirit
whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance
all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. Not if the world
gives do I give you. Do not let your heart be troubled. Neither let it be fearful. Father,
in Jesus' name today, we want to unpack this verse, verse 26. We want to ask you to help
us with it. Help us know how your promise of the Holy Spirit guides us every day of
our lives. Help us understand how we're never without an answer, never without direction,
never without having all the wisdom that we need to know because of this promise today
and help every one of us know that it's available for us all. Father, thank you for your promise
and fulfilling those, keeping those. In Jesus' name I pray. All God's people said amen. Amen.
Please be seated if you would. So what an incredible verse that we're going to look
at today. We're going to take some time, unpack that, unpack that and spend some time on it.
It's on page 1078 by the way. If you've got one of those black versions of the Bible,
just open it up and that cover there will help you know it's the Bible. Now, 1078 is
not the page that this verse is on in all the Bibles in the room, okay? We do know that,
it's just that particular one that we have and made available. You know back when I was
going to seminary, I didn't have much money. We were just out of college and my wife and
I moved to Fort Worth area. Actually we lived in Irving at the time and I was to be driving
back and forth to Fort Worth and going to seminary. We had one car, my wife needed the
car to get to work, I had to buy a car. And so not having much money, I bought a car for
all the money I had, $50. Yeah, it was a real hot rod. There was a Volkswagen Beetle and
the back end had been cut off. Someone was going to make a Baja bug and while they were
making the Baja bug, the engine blew out and so I had a Baja bug what it would want to
be. Right, that's what I had. It was hideous. But I had $50 and that was the cost of the
car so I bought it. And then in my father-in-law's driveway, I began to take that engine off
the back of that Volkswagen. You know first of all I had to realize that the Volkswagen
engine is at the back, it's not at the front. So once I figured that out, I started taking
the engine off the back. I bought a book, it was a spiral binder with cardboard cover
on it and it had about 250 pages in it. It was a manual. It was called, How to Keep Your
Volkswagen Alive, a Step-by-Step Manual for the Complete Idiot. It had kind of a hippie
looking cover on it and you know honestly when you look at that book you think, you
really can't take this book serious. It doesn't really look like it's going to help me keep
my Volkswagen alive or resuscitate it as it were. But I actually overhauled that Volkswagen
in the driveway with that manual, step-by-step procedure for the complete idiot and it actually
began to run and drove and ran all the way through my seminary years. Yeah, I mean somebody
ought to clap about that. That was a modern day miracle. I had four key parts that were
left over but I never did know where they went so it was okay. And I sold it for $1,000
at the end of my seminary days. Oh yeah. And that basically, you know it's going to do
something like that today. You're going to do it on YouTube today. You're going to get
on YouTube and somebody's going to walk you through it. Now my point of course is you
can't do something without someone helping you do it. You've got to have some expert
who give you insight or wisdom before you can do what they can do. That's what Jesus
is saying to these disciples who realize that Jesus is about to go away and they're worried.
How are we going to be able to do what you've been doing? You've called us to this Christian
life to follow you even though you're leaving us. In verse 12 of John 14, Jesus said, it's
expedient that I go away because if I don't go away, the Father will not send the helper
on my behalf. He says, but the works that you see me do, greater works than these you
shall do because I go to the Father. In other words, when I leave, you're going to do just
what I've been doing and the disciples are going, how are we going to do that? As Jesus
begins to teach them about the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, they will teach them to
do all those things. Step by step manual for the complete idiot in my life, me. I need
help. I need the Holy Spirit to show me how to live the Christian life. You and I need
the Holy Spirit to show us how to live life day in and day out. Now we knew Jesus knew
all things. The disciples knew this. The disciples always looked at Jesus when they had questions.
In fact, several places in the New Testament, you'll find these words being written in John
chapter 16 verse 30. One of the disciples looked at Jesus and said, now we know you
can do all things. We know you know everything, Jesus. In John chapter 21, Jesus asked Peter,
Peter, do you love me? And Peter said, Jesus, you know all things. You know I love you.
And he was insinuating the fact that all the disciples realized Jesus knew everything.
He had every answer. He had all the wisdom that was necessary. I mean, through Jesus,
God created the heavens and the earth. I mean, Jesus was the Word made flesh. He was the
infinite wisdom of God. And the disciples knew that. And now Jesus is leaving. Jesus
knew everything and they're wondering, how are we going to know everything now? How are
we going to know those kinds of things to live the Christian life? And this one verse
gives them the answer. So I want you to look at it again. And it's in John chapter 14 verse
26. I'm going to read through it very, very slowly. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. And he will bring to your
remembrance all that I said to you. Now years ago when I began to study this text, I thought,
okay, I'm going to dig into the original language and find some incredible meaning for the word
teach or the word remembrance. Because surely there's a whole story behind these words.
And I was a little disappointed that there is no deeper meaning to the word teach and
there is no deeper meaning to the phrase bring to your remembrance. They mean just what they
say in simple fashion. The Holy Spirit will instruct or teach you and he will remind you,
bring to your remembrance everything Jesus did. The emphasis is not on some secret way
that we're going to find out the wisdom that we need, but the secret and the power is in
the person of Christ that the Holy Spirit will remind us of and teach us about the words
he gave us. In other words, the focus is going to be on Christ. And the only way to live
the Christian life is if Christ is in you the whole of glory. He's got to get inside
of you and the Holy Spirit inside of every one of us gives us the power and the wisdom
to live life like we need to live it. So this promise is going to be powerful for you. Jesus
is basically saying, I will teach you everything you need to know through the Holy Spirit's
teaching ministry in your life. What Jesus did for the disciples, don't miss this, what
Jesus did for the disciples the Holy Spirit will do for us. Amen? I mean how many times
have you said this in your life? How many times have you said, you know if only Jesus
were walking on the earth with me side by side I'd be a much better believer, a much
better follower of Christ if he was physically here. I'd do better than Peter, surely. I'd
do better than John. And some of those other guys, surely better than Judas. I mean if
Jesus were here I would be a far more devoted believer in Jesus Christ. But that's actually
not true. Because you have something better than that. Better than Jesus standing side
by side with you is the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Now we need to be excited about
that. We need to be excited about the fact that Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now we've got some incredible promises to unpack here. I want to give you four ways
the Holy Spirit fulfills the promise to teach you everything. Now today we're going to begin
with this verse. But because this verse only says he will teach you and bring to your remembrance,
I went and found the other examples where he actually did that in scripture. Number
one, I want you to see the Holy Spirit gives us the scriptures. The Holy Spirit gives us
the Bible. Now remember at this moment when Jesus made the promise the New Testament scriptures
had not been written. In fact Luke that was listening to Jesus in this conversation, Matthew
that was listening to Jesus, John and Mark that were listening to Jesus, these disciples
eventually went on to pen the New Testament gospels and later on others with the epistles.
So the Holy Spirit is going to give us the scriptures. Let me just tell you that one
of the teaching ministries of the Holy Spirit and the one that is based on the foundation
of his teaching ministry to us is this book that you have in your hand, the Bible. The
Bible is the essence of that. It's what God gives us in the way of wisdom. Now Luke was
the author of the Gospel of Luke but also the book of Acts. And the Gospel of Luke as
he opens up with those first few verses he talks about how he was giving the account
of the words and life of Jesus in a logical chronological order. Then when he opens up
in the book of Acts he says something interesting in Acts chapter one verse one and two. He
said the first account I can pose Theopolis, he's talking about the Gospel of Luke, about
all that Jesus began to do and teach. That phrase is interesting because Jesus said the
Holy Spirit will teach you all things that I told you and bring to your remembrance all
that I said to you. Now Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is saying that same thing.
He said the first account about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was
taken up to heaven after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the disciples whom
he had chosen. What Luke says in Acts he also says in the Gospel of Luke he knew he was
a vessel of God, a vessel empowered by the Holy Spirit to write the words for us. Not
only him but also Matthew and Mark and John and a number of the other disciples including
Peter wrote by the Holy Spirit and gives us the teaching of the Holy Spirit in our lives
today. This is part of Jesus fulfillment to give us all the truth. Now I want you to hold
your book up for just a moment. If you've got it in hand I want you to hold it up. Just
hold it high enough for it to be seen around the room. Look at all the people around the
room holding this book up. Some of you have phones. Phones are allowed. But man I like
to hold a book in my hand. That is the result of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit
right there. That is part of the fulfillment of what Jesus said in John chapter 14. Now
let me go further. Later on in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 20 by the way that's on page 1216
of that Bible we refer to. He says this. But know this first of all that no prophecy of
scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. Now Peter's talking about where scripture
comes from. Where it originates. He says for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human
will but men and what does that next line say? Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from
God. Again the fulfillment of John 14 26 is right here. Peter says we didn't write these
words on our own. We didn't make these words up. We weren't giving you fairy tales and
legends and things like that. We didn't even come up with the words ourselves. We knew
that we were moved by the Holy Spirit to pen these on the scrolls that you read them off
of. Later on Paul in 2 Timothy says these words. That's page 1192. You'll be able to
see that on the upper right of your screen. All scripture is inspired by God. That means
God breathed in profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness
so that the man of God may be adequate or mature or perfect equipped for every good
work. This is what I want you to know about the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit today.
The Holy Spirit helped the disciples remember and record Jesus' words in the gospels and
he inspired the writers of the epistles to explain and teach those words. Let that sink
in for just a few moments. That's the book you have in your hands. It's not the only
way God speaks but it's the foundation for every way God speaks. To ignore your Bible
is to ignore the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit given by Jesus to remind you of
everything he taught and said and did. What a powerful reminder that we need this word.
Open the book and read it and meditate on it and dwell on it and make sure you go to
it time and time again because the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit is unfolding in
your life as you open this book. Are you glad that you have the word of God today? Somebody
say amen. Somebody give a hand. To God for giving us this word. What an important thing.
Not only is this God's word to us, it's God's word to the world. I remember years ago flying
on a plane back from Dubai, from India to Dubai and then on back I think we had another
link before we got home. And I sat next to an airline attendant who was off shift but
flying to another city and she saw me typing on my computer and I was writing something
about the book of John and I was talking about Jesus and how Jesus is revealed in the book
of John and she asked me what I was writing so I began a conversation with her. She was
Hindu by upbringing. She believed in many, many gods, many thousands of gods. She had
never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ but she was interested in what I was writing.
I asked her, I said, have you ever read the Bible? She said, you know I read the Bible
every day. I said, really? She said, yes. When I check into a hotel at night I open
that little drawer and I find the Bible, I copy the Bible everywhere I go and so I just
read a page of the Bible every night before I go to bed. I said, what do you read? She
goes, wherever the book opens. I read wherever page that is. And I go to bed. And I said,
have you learned much about Jesus? She said, I haven't yet. And I said, would you like
me to help you? And she said, I would. And I said, oh boy, I've got four hours to tell
you about Jesus. And so I walked through the book of John with her and I asked her to promise
me that she would read a chapter of John every day. When she opened up that drawer and got
that Bible out, just read John one, the next day read John two. And I was confident of
this. I told her this. I said, I promise you if you read the Bible 30 days in a row and
you read the book of John, Jesus will reveal himself personally to you. And I believe that
with all my heart. He revealed himself to you because the teaching ministry of the Holy
Spirit is not just for us who are believers, but to those that are far from God, but who
may want to know him. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to them and brings all the words to
them that they need to hear. I can say that with confidence when I tell someone, read
this verse of the scripture because I believe these words are supernatural. They are supernatural
and it's the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. And you and I need to have that kind
of confidence in them. Now, if you have confidence in the word of God, if you have confidence
in the Bible, say amen. If you have confidence in the word of God, then from another angle,
never consider any teaching of the Holy Spirit, quote unquote, that is not closely connected
with the scripture. If you believe the Bible is something you can have confidence in, then
everything else we know about the Holy Spirit is going to be revealed to us in part through
the scripture. In other words, let the scripture be the boundaries for what we understand about
life and ministry and about God and the Holy Spirit and Jesus. Because when you don't let
them be the foundation, you move into uncharted territory and you want God to have gone before
you wherever you go. So number one, the Holy Spirit gives us the scriptures. Number two,
the Holy Spirit will give us specific and divine direction. Turn over to page 1080 or
John 16 13. Jesus is still in this discourse where he's having the conversation in John
14, 15 and 16. And in verse 16, he explains this further. He says, but when he, the spirit
of truth comes, he will guide you. You see that phrase? He will guide you into all the
truth for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he
will disclose to you what is to come. This is a fascinating word picture. The word guide,
it's a word that means to tutor, but it has a more direct application. And that is, it's
the kind of guide that would take a blind person by the hand and leave them where they
needed to go. And the illustration is really, really strong because behind that word, that
word picture is the realization that the person who is blind will be lost and unable to see
the next step without that guide. And it says to us that we need the guide of the Holy Spirit
in our lives, leading us and guiding us and directing us for all the specifics of how
to live life. Basically, the promise is that the Holy Spirit will be a clear, perfect and
unwavering direction for the next steps in life. And I love how he says this. He says
he won't speak on his own initiative, but what he hears, he will disclose to you. Now
Jesus said this himself in John 14 and John 15 about himself. Jesus said, I don't speak
to you words of my own initiative. I speak from the Father. What I hear from the Father,
I tell you. And now he's saying about the Holy Spirit, what he says are not going to
be his words alone. They're going to be from the Father and from me. In other words, we're
all going to be on the same page and leading you the way you need to go. Now wouldn't you
and I talk about the Trinity, about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?
It's really important for us to know three persons, one God. They are never inconsistent
with each other. They're always perfectly aligned. What God the Father will say, God
the Son will also say that, and God the Spirit will also say that. It's very important for
us to know that they are never inconsistent with each other. They're in perfect harmony,
they're in perfect unison, and in perfect alignment. One won't guide you where the other
one wouldn't guide you either. So you say, okay, how does he do that with specific ways?
Well, I've written seven or eight ways down. If you're taking notes, you can write them
real fast. How does he do this? First of all, by commands. In the Bible, there are a large
number of commands. For the believer in Jesus, those commands in the New Testament are commands
about how we live the Christian life. Whenever you see a command in the scripture, then acknowledge
that that's not only what the apostolic writer said or what Jesus said, depending on who
the immediate author of that was, but it's also the Holy Spirit is saying this to you.
What he tells you to flee, flee. What he tells you to pursue, pursue. Don't pursue the things
he says to flee. Don't flee the things he says to pursue. Do the commands of what the
scripture says, because it's the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit that's showing
you, this is how you walk the Christian life out. So there are commands. Secondly, there
are warnings. Whenever you see a warning in scripture, that's a moment to pay attention.
It's like a red flag, red light. It's like a blinking light. It's for you to look at
this and zero in and say, wow, what is the Holy Spirit warning me about in this verse?
When you see a warning, pay attention. Third, principles. Principles. Sometimes the Bible
speaks by way of principles, not just commands or warnings, but also principles. Things God
blesses. For instance, I go back to the book of Proverbs, and when I read Proverbs, I see
incredible numbers of principles about how to live the life we're called to. And I can
think of dozens of examples from the book of Proverbs about principles by which we live
the Christian life. And many of us are very, very familiar with them. What does it say
in Proverbs 3, verse 5 and 6? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your
own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your pathway straight.
That's a biblical principle. It's a general principle that when you apply that to a specific
extent in your life, God will honor that. He's directing you in that. That's number
three. Principle. Fourth is examples. When you see an example in the scripture, either
for positive or negative, pay attention to that example and paint it onto your life.
Number five, there are reminders in the scripture. Reminders. Have you ever read something, learned
a lesson of some kind, and later on you were in a scenario and you'd kind of forgotten
what you had read, forgotten what you learned, and all of a sudden in the middle of that
scenario the Holy Spirit will remind you in that moment, remember what I taught you five
years ago? Remember what I taught you ten years ago? It's a good time to practice that
again. That ever happen to you? It happens to me all the time. He reminds us of what
Jesus said. We might not be thinking about it at the moment. We might have all kinds
of challenges in front of us. People may be clamoring for our attention, whatever it might
be, and all of a sudden we will have a reminder of a biblical principle or example or command
or a warning or something we've read before and it's the Holy Spirit highlighting that
and calling your attention to that, reminding you. The next one, the next word I use is
the word highlighting. And by highlighting I don't mean taking a yellow marker or a pink
marker or a green marker and marking your Bible up even though that's a healthy thing
to do. But have you ever read a clean version of God's Word and while you're reading a certain
verse it looks like one of those verses is in bold print and you blink and then you blink
again and realize it's not in bold print, it just seems like it is. And sometimes the
Holy Spirit calls your attention to that phrase, that verse. If that's never happened to you
then it's okay, but someday it may. And if it does, it's a moment for you to stop and
say why is my attention being directed to this verse? It's really not in bold print
but it seems like it is at this moment. I'm reading, I'm asking questions of God, I'm
asking for wisdom. He will highlight some aspect of God's Word for me to be able to
put into my life. Sometimes that happens in a message, it happens when someone is preaching
or teaching and all of a sudden some principle, some truth, some warning is highlighted, it
comes out loud and clear to us that's God working on that principle in your life. There
are times people have come up to me over the years and just have said, you know I felt
like you were just preaching to me today, just to me. And you know that's always true
and it's never true. You know what I mean? I have no idea what's going on in your life,
I cannot read your mail or your mind. God has a way of highlighting truth in our lives
when we need it the most. You think that's not the Holy Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit
at work in your life. Thank God for the Holy Spirit that He does that. He's always doing
that in our life, He cares for us, He uses that. There are also promptings where we are
prompted to do something that we normally would not do if it's consistent with scripture
or scriptural example, that would be an important thing. A leading is very similar to that,
where we're led to do something. God had led me to do this or to say this or do that. Finally
is discernment, discernment where you're facing a circumstance or a situation, all of a sudden
you have a sense of foreboding in the Spirit, in the spiritual realm where the Holy Spirit
is teaching you this may be something you want to back off of or it may be something
that you need to be warned about. Watch that step, remember He's leading us like someone
would lead a blind person to avoid the catastrophes in life. I want to tell you something about
your Christian life, it pays to listen to the Holy Spirit. I don't mean in a financial
way, although it can also include that, it's just smart, it's just wise for you to trust
someone that's far wiser than you are to get through life. It's smart, it pays to listen
to the Holy Spirit in your life. So He will give you specific divine direction. Number
three, the Holy Spirit will teach us what to say in troubling times, in troubling times.
Before John 14, 15, 16, before that discourse that Jesus had, Jesus used the word the Holy
Spirit in another way with His disciples. It was in Luke chapter 12 where He warned
them about something that they were just becoming acquainted with. Now let's go to page 1038,
just turning in your Bible to that, Luke 12, verse 11 and 12, here's what it says. Jesus
said to the disciples, when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the
authorities do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense or what you
are to say, and notice this next line, the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour
what you are to say. In other words, it won't be based on prior preparation. You may not
have a time to prepare what you're gonna say and it's during, according to the contact,
very stressful to most of the times where you may be out of your normal presence of
mind, the Holy Spirit in troubling times will give you the words to say. The Holy Spirit
will come and help you, He says. He will rescue you. He will enable you to know what you should
say or do. It's really interesting when you read the book of Acts, you'll see this come
up over and over. There are two things that are consistent in the book of Acts. One is
that the disciples were walking under the power of the Holy Spirit, that's number one,
and number two, they were always in trouble with the culture around them. They were full
of the Holy Spirit and the world wanted to put them to death. It was just what Jesus
was prophesying to them about regarding the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit in chapter
12 or chapter 11. So I was reading through the book of Acts recently and I saw Acts chapter
3. Most of us know the story where James, or rather Peter and John are going up to the
temple to pray. It was during the hour of prayer so they go up that way and there is
a gate there called Beautiful. The name of the gate is Beautiful and there was a man
that had been lame from birth there at the gate and he's imploring these two disciples
to do something for him. So Peter says, gold and silver I have none but what I do have
I give you in the name of the Lord Jesus rise up and walk. This amazing miracle takes place.
This guy gets up and starts walking and running around and celebrating and everybody in that
area is angry because these disciples do that on that particular day and they don't understand
what's going on and they put these two guys in prison. In prison. But before they get
them in jail, Peter stands up and says, business what's going on? And he preaches a powerful
message without preparation, without knowing that the crab is going to be there, without
knowing he's about to be put to jail and 5,000 men are saved on the spot. Now I'm a preacher,
that doesn't happen unless the Holy Spirit makes that happen. Can you imagine Peter standing
up and Peter always kind of said the wrong thing but all of a sudden Peter is kind of
saying the right thing under the power of the Holy Spirit, right? Because in that moment
of trouble the Holy Spirit will teach you what you need to say. And over those next
few hours Peter had the chance to articulate the gospel over and over and over again in
a time of great trouble. I don't know how exactly that applies to your life other than
at some point you will be in trouble and at some point you will need the Holy Spirit's
words in your life. And what you can count on is that he will be with you because he's
in you and he will teach you what you are to say in the most difficult of times. I am
so grateful for that. The Holy Spirit will teach you what to say. Listen for him. Watch
for him to show up when troubling times unfold and when you need help the most he promises,
I won't desert you. I'll be there with you. Number four, the Holy Spirit will teach us
to align our thoughts with his. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 16, you need to turn over
a few pages to page 1142. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, excuse me, verse 16, chapter 2
verse 16. There's a statement that Paul gives us at the end of a long chapter in which he
says don't trust the wisdom of the world. We have something much better that we can
trust. And he sums that whole statement up by saying that we have the mind of Christ.
I want you to say that with me. But we have the mind of Christ. It's really important
that we understand what that means. Paul's statement regarding the source of wisdom from
God that is made available to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is that you
will know everything you need to know at that moment. When you come to Christ, you have
the capacity to have the mind of Christ. Here's what that doesn't mean. That doesn't mean
that just because you're a believer, everything you think is correct. Surely you know that,
right? You know. How many of you since you came to Jesus have been wrong at least once
in your life? Would you raise your hand? Okay. Some of you didn't raise your hand. You must
be asleep or something. I don't know. I'll ask your spouse and get the real answer. I'll
ask your friends and find another answer. It doesn't mean that everything we think is
correct, but it means that we have the capacity to realign our thoughts with his thoughts.
You have, we have as believers the mind of Christ. Now this is not, this principle is
not for our opinion to rule, but for his wisdom to overrule and for us to come into alignment.
Now if you read a few verses before that particular verse, look at 1 Corinthians 2 verse 12 and
13, and we could take a long time to talk about this. So we'll just summarize this today.
Paul said, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God.
What would that be? The Holy Spirit. This is not a hard answer. It's not a hard question.
The Holy Spirit. We've received the spirit who is from God. Why? So that we may know
the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak not in words taught by
human wisdom, but in those taught by the spirit. Now this last line is important. Combining
spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. All that's highlighted there. Combining spiritual
thoughts with spiritual words. Now if you look at that at the screen, please note in the original
language the word thoughts and words are not present on the manuscript, but rather combining
spiritual with spiritual. The translators have added the word thoughts and word words
to give and convey the sense of what's going on there. What's going on there is that we
are challenged to align our thoughts with his words. Now the word that you need to see
is the word combine. The word combine. Combining spiritual with spiritual. The word means to
compare. We compare spiritual thoughts that we may have that are less tangible and less
clear with the spiritual words we've already been given, which is in the Bible that we
have right here, that are very clear and very tangible, put thought by thought with the
words of scripture and the thoughts of our own mind and then bring them to alignment
to know what the mind of Christ is for our life day in and day out. So here's how we
do that. You've got the word of God and you lay your thoughts alongside thoughts that
you may believe are spiritual thoughts. You lay them alongside the word of God and reconcile
them without removing any of the word of God. Reconcile your thoughts or adjust your thoughts
to become in alignment with the word of God and think that way. Please, please hear me
out. Please hear me out. We live in a world where you are encouraged to find your own
truth and you must reject that as quickly as you hear it because your truth is sinful
just like mine is. I have the mind of Christ because I have the spirit of Christ and he's
given me words to compare my thoughts with and when I do that then I can have the mind
of Christ and move forward in confidence that I'm in his will. But not until I compare
my thoughts with his words. And here's why. I can't always determine where my thoughts
come from but I can always determine where God's word comes from. My thoughts come from
me but God's word comes from God. So I combine spiritual thoughts with spiritual words and
align those thoughts so that I can be in alignment with God's Holy Spirit himself. That's why
Paul said in Romans chapter 12, don't be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing
of your what? Your mind. When you're outside the will of God in some area of your life
you don't change the circumstance, you change your mind and you begin to think the way he
says you're to think. You begin to walk the way he says you're to walk. I'm going to
give you a warning before I end this message and this is a big warning. Today it's a thing
in churches across America, sometimes across the world that when a church begins to unhitch
the Old Testament from the New Testament they're doing it to remove a large portion of God's
revelation so that they can interpret the New Testament how everything want to interpret
it. The idea is if I can remove certain words and ideas of scripture I can think like I
want to think. You know who tells you to do that? Cults tell you to do that. The devil
tells you to do that. God does not tell you to do that. Combine spiritual thoughts with
the Word of God with spiritual words to determine the future. You know I could have when I rebuilt
that Volkswagen all those years ago I could have sat down without a manual and tried to
do it. But at the end of many hours I promise you that that thing just wouldn't run. But
I knew that I didn't know anything and I needed the help of an expert. I went and got the
book. I am so glad that I know I can't live the Christian life by myself. I'm so glad
that Jesus gave me His Holy Spirit and I've got the book and I can live the life He called
me to live and I'm so glad you can too. You know the very first step to the ministry of
the Holy Spirit in your life and that is putting your faith and trust in the person of Jesus
Christ. You know what happens when you put your faith and trust in Christ? He forgives
you of sin, He gives you eternal life, and He gives you the gift of the who? The gift
of the Holy Spirit. Wow. If you don't have Him today then you need Him today. In just
a few moments I'm going to close and we're going to have these decision stations open
as you walk by them stop and talk to someone and say you know I need to put Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior of my life. I need the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life. I need
that direction and wisdom day in and day out and those that are standing behind those tables
would love to talk to you about that. They would love to. That's my first invitation
to you today. In addition to that first invitation I would also say you go home and you look
at your Bible in a different way. Don't look at it like it's just an ancient book that's
sitting on the coffee table. Look at it as a teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit that
Jesus has given you for your life and open it up and spend some time in it. Second invite
is I'd love if you were a guest today for you to come to our Guest Reception Center
just outside the center exit door. I would love to meet you and tell you about our church.
The third invite is come back next week when we're digging even deeper into the Holy Spirit
series. I promise you it's going to rejuvenate your personal walk with Christ. Let's stand
together for a closing word of prayer. Father I want to thank you today that we have this
extreme privilege of looking at you word and worshiping and I thank you for all those in
the room. Father I pray today for those that have never given their lives to you as Lord
and Savior today that they would stop and not take another step until they make the
decision to ask you to be Lord and Savior and give them the forgiveness of sin, give
them the gift of eternal life and the Holy Spirit Father. Thank you. Father for those
of us that have already accepted Christ I pray that the minister of your Holy Spirit
in our lives will be alive for us, that he will be real to us and we pray that you'll
guide us Holy Spirit. Teach us Lord today use this time that we've had together to
help us follow you more closely in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful Lord's
Day.