October 8, 2023 / How Does the Holy Spirit Teach Us?

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

John 14:21

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

John 14 · chapter mention

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

John 16:30

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,

John 21 · chapter mention

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

John 14:26

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

John 14 · chapter mention

let me go further. Later on in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 20 by the way that's on page 1216

2 Peter 1:20

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

Proverbs 3:5

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

Luke 12 · chapter mention

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

Luke 12:11

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

Acts 3 · chapter mention

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

1 Corinthians 12:16

a few pages to page 1142. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, excuse me, verse 16, chapter 2

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

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

1 Corinthians 2:12

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

Romans 12 · chapter mention

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.