An Introduction to the Gift

Good morning.

We shall assemble on the mountain.

We shall assemble at the throne, with humble hearts.

Into his presence we bring an offering of song, glory and honor and dominion.

And offering of song, glory and honor and dominion unto the Lamb and to the King.

Oh alleluia, alleluia, oh alleluia.

We sing the song of the redeemed.

We shall assemble on the mountain.

We shall assemble at the throne, with humble hearts.

Into his presence, we bring an offering of song, glory and honor and dominion Unto the Lamb and to the King.

Oh hallelujah, hallelujah, we sing the song of the redeemed.

Sing to me of heaven, sing the song of peace From the toils that bind me, it will bring release Burdens will be lifted that are pressing, so showers of great blessing o', for my heart will flow.

Sing to me of heaven.

Let me fondly dream Of its good and glory, of its pearly gleam.

Sing to me when shadows of the evening fall.

Sing to me of heaven, sweetest, sweetest song of all.

Sing to me of heaven, tenderly and low, till the shadows o'er me rise and swiftly go.

When my heart is weary, when the day is long, sing to me of heaven.

Sing that old sweet song.

Sing to me of heaven, let me fondly dream of its golden glory of its pearly gleam.

Sing to me when shadows of the evening fall.

Sing to me of heaven.

Sing the sweetest song of all.

Come, let us all unite to sing.

God is love.

Land, heaven and earth their praises bring.

God is love.

Let every soul from sin awake, each in his heart sweet music make and sing with us for Jesus' sake, for God is love.

God is love.

God is love.

Come, let us all unite to sing that God is love.

How happy is our portion here.

God is love.

His promises, our spirits cheer.

God is love.

He is our sun and shield by day, our help, our hope, our strength and stay.

He will be with us all the way Our God is love.

God is love, god is love.

Come, let us all unite to sing that God is love.

Our scripture reading today is John 14, verses 26 through 27.

John 14:26–27

It says but when the Father sends the advocate as my representative, that is the Holy Spirit.

He would teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you.

I am leaving you with a gift peace of mind and of heart, and that is Jesus telling us about the coming of the Holy Spirit.

All right, we're going to get started with the word of prayer.

Dear God, we thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for an opportunity to be together this morning, god, to be surrounded with family, with brothers and sisters, and to be encouraged by the things that you're doing in our lives.

We're thankful for this time that we had to interact with one another and hopefully be encouraged and motivated by the things that you're doing in each other of our lives.

God, we're thankful for a time now that we can study your word, hopefully be encouraged by the things that you tell us and the gifts that you give us, and, god, I pray that you'll open up our hearts and our eyes and our ears to the things that you want us to know.

We thank you for Jesus and his ultimate example of love and how to interact with people and we pray for opportunities this week to see your love and to show your love to the people we're around.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen, all right, good morning, all right, I'm going to do this on the spot here.

Keaton, keaton, you stand up real quick.

Everybody.

Say hi to Keaton.

Wait, hold on, he wasn't standing.

Now, say hi to him.

This is Keaton.

Keaton, I'm going to introduce you to somebody today, okay.

So, keaton, I need you to walk out of there.

All right, keaton, go to the back of the auditorium, all the way to the back.

Go to those glass doors on the left side.

Okay, there's a gentleman sitting right there to your right.

Nope, nope, nope, nope.

Face the doors.

Face the doors To your right.

Okay, keaton, this is John.

John, this is Keaton.

Keaton is a student at Muskingum College.

Right, yeah, still Still Two to be determined.

Right, john, retired coach.

Right, shenandoah.

John Glenn Coshocton.

Anymore, mount Vernon.

What was your overall record, john?

No, no, no.

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

Hey, keaton, I want you to meet John.

John, I want you to meet Keaton.

So there you go.

Now you know each other.

Okay, you can have a seat, keaton.

That's all I needed.

I've been wanting those two to meet each other for like a month now, so we just made it happen.

No, that's part of the sermon this morning.

We're going to get started.

We're starting a new series.

It's called A Gift.

It's an introduction.

That's why we just did that introduction.

Okay, it's an introduction of the Holy Spirit Jesus.

When he tells us that he's leaving this earth and when he's going to go to heaven, he tells us multiple times and he tells his disciples I'm leaving, but I'm leaving you a gift, and we don't always understand what that gift is.

That gift maybe makes us uncomfortable, but an introduction is simply telling somebody your name, telling them who you are, and oftentimes, when you introduce somebody, you intervene in a way that you tell them why they need to know each other, and so that's all an introduction is is just getting to know someone.

That doesn't mean you're going to know everything about it.

It doesn't mean that you're going to become all-knowing of that person.

But you are now introduced.

Now.

Keaton knows John and John knows Keaton.

That's an introduction.

What happens after that is up to those two to build that relationship.

Does that make sense?

Okay, so that's what we're going to do over the next month is just an introduction of what the Holy Spirit is and hopefully you get a better understanding of the Holy Spirit and hopefully that relationship builds with you and who the Holy Spirit is.

Does that make sense?

Okay, shifting gears for just a second.

What's the most memorable gift you've ever received?

Doesn't mean it's the best gift, doesn't mean it's the greatest gift, but it's the most memorable gift you've ever received your first bicycle.

What color was it?

Gold.

What color rims?

Silver, steel, steel.

Okay, so a gold bike.

Who gave it to you?

Your parents, okay, anybody else Memorable gift?

A Lionel train set.

Who gave it to you, mom and dad?

A train set A Lionel train set.

Who gave it to you, mom and dad?

A train set.

You're flashing a ring at me.

Awesome, very cool First car?

Yep, I got a Pontiac Grand Am.

It was red and leaked power steering fluid.

I would leave Subway because I was a sandwich artist and I was like I remember that.

You remember your first car.

Anybody else Memorable gift.

It was 2004,.

I think I was 10 years old-ish, justin would have been 12-ish and it was Christmas.

Justin and I had been begging for a four-wheeler.

Begging for a four-wheeler.

We wanted it so badly.

So we're opening Christmas presents.

There's one box in the middle of the tree and we know what that meant.

That meant it was the shared gift, and so there was hope in the back of our mind that that's the gift.

And so, of course, we did like every kid did.

We picked that box up and we shook it and you could just hear like a there was something small in there.

And so what could it be?

We open it up.

It's a key.

It's a little key.

Then we get one more box, open it up.

It did not shake as well.

It was something big, bright, lime green helmet with some blue paint on it.

So we have a key and we have a helmet.

So I think dad and mom then told us to go downstairs and in the garage you have one more gift had a big red bow on it.

It was a lime green.

I think it was a Honda, right?

No, it was a four-wheeler.

It doesn't matter what it was, it was a four-wheeler.

It doesn't matter what it was, it's a four-wheeler and it was.

I mean, it was small, it's like an 80, right, but it was souped up to be like a 125.

It had a little kick in it, a two-stroke, okay, automatic, real easy.

Most memorable gift.

It's memorable, yes, because I wanted it, but it's most memorable because what happened right after that?

Dad looked at Justin and said you're the oldest, you get to go first.

Do you know what you're doing?

Yeah, dad, I read one at my friend's house last week Okay, here's the key, here's the helmet.

And where our house was, you had the yard and there was a flat yard up on top of the hill, and then the neighbor had a field.

And so Justin gets on the four-wheeler, goes up on the top hill, he's riding on the flats, then he goes out into the field.

Remember, he knows what he's doing.

I am waiting, waiting for my turn, just waiting, standing there, here goes.

Justin waiting for my turn, just waiting, standing there, here goes.

Justin Boom.

Smacks the tree, jumped right out in front of him, bent the frame.

I didn't get to ride the four-wheeler that day.

I don't think Maybe I did, but it bent the frame.

It went away for a few weeks, had to get re-welded.

Most memorable gift.

I'll never forget that Christmas.

I'll never forget how long it took to wait those couple weeks to get to finally have my turn.

Huh, there was a moment where I thought he died.

Yes, we can't look past that point, all right, but it's memorable.

I'll never forget that.

If I I meant to do this and I didn't do it.

But if I had somebody bring me a gift right now and they handed me that gift and all I did was take it up here and sit it on the podium and didn't open it, what would you all want me to do?

You would all be curious of what's in that bag, right.

But what if I never opened it?

I've never received it, right?

I've never opened it, I've never looked at it.

That's not what you would do, right?

If you get a gift most of the time, there are some occasions where you wait until a later time to open it, but most of the time the respectful thing to do is, if somebody gives me a gift, I'm going to open it right now.

Somebody brought me cookies today.

So right after communion, chloe and I were over there eating those cookies because I got a gift and I had to open it, and they were very good, by the way.

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I'm not sharing them, chloe, stand guard.

But if you get a gift, you're going to open it.

That's what people would expect you to do, and if you didn't open it, it would almost be kind of crazy.

And so, as we talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit, we're going to try to introduce the idea of the Holy Spirit this morning.

So here we go.

John 14, verse 26 through 27.

John 14:26–27

This was our scripture reading this morning.

It says but when the Father sends the advocate as my representative, that is the Holy Spirit.

He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I've told you.

The early church, there on your outline, the early church looked to, interacted with, depended on and spoke of the Holy Spirit.

He was always involved in every activity.

So there on your outline, the early church looked to, interacted with, depended on and spoke of the Holy Spirit.

If you read through the book of Acts, ever since Acts 2, you read of the Holy Spirit.

He was always involved in their activities.

But the truth is, many of us, speaking personally, have not allowed the Holy Spirit to be a part of my life.

I've heard of it, it's been mentioned, I've said the words, but it wasn't until recently that I've become more aware of what the Holy Spirit is and who he is.

The truth is is we don't like to talk about things that we don't fully understand.

Right, when you do an introduction, you usually tell somebody their name, what they do and then why they would interact with one another.

I'm not going to have a conversation about hockey.

Why?

Because I don't know hockey.

I'm going to talk to you about parenting, and I'm going to talk to you about how big of a disappointment the Ohio State Buckeyes were yesterday.

Okay, because that's what I know, and so it makes sense why we don't talk about the Holy Spirit?

Because we don't fully understand it.

But the goal of this series is and over this month of December is to raise awareness of the gift that Jesus speaks so highly of.

As I read this word or verse, I can't help but want to know more about what the Holy Spirit is.

What I found out is I'm not the only one.

I've had a retired head coach look at me and say I know about the Father and I know about the Son, but man, that Holy Spirit is something huh, not sure I know about it.

I've had an 18-year-old kid come up to me and say there's the Father, the Son, but what's that Spirit thing?

So we're going to talk about it.

And will every question be answered?

No, do I fully understand it?

No, do I think talking about it is going to help?

Yes, I made the comment a couple weeks ago that when you're car shopping, you start to see the car that you're shopping for, right, like we were in the market for a Honda Odyssey last year.

We started looking up Honda Odysseys.

We looked up the prices, we looked up the colors, we looked up the different engines and the different specs and all of that stuff.

When we started to drive around, guess what?

We started to see Honda Odysseys, because we've made ourselves aware that that's a thing, and so, as we make ourselves aware of the Holy Spirit, my hope is is guess what?

We're going to see how the Holy Spirit has already been working in our life.

That makes sense.

That's why we're here to this point this morning as we keep reading 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 17,.

2 Corinthians 3:17

It says for the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The Holy Spirit provides freedom through the Lord.

We want freedom, right?

We don't want to waste this gift.

So the purpose of this series, just so you understand, is to introduce you to the person that is the Holy Spirit.

It is a person You'll hear me say that a few times today.

We're going to introduce you to who he is, his personality.

We're going to try to define our relationship with him, share why that's important and how he empowers us to fulfill God's desires for our life and hopefully to propel us into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God.

So every introduction starts with a name.

So so here's some of the names the Holy Spirit has been given through Scripture.

We know him as the helper, we know him as the comforter, we know him as the advocate.

That's a big word, not really a big word, it's a fancy word.

What's an advocate mean?

Somebody's just going to stand up for you.

You read about the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will work as an advocate for us.

He's going to talk when we don't know what to say.

He's going to interact with God when we don't know what to do.

He's an advocate.

He's an intercessor, he's going to intercede for us.

He's a counselor and he's a strengthener.

So those are there on your outline this morning.

Those are the names.

Read a different version.

It says but the helper, the comforter, the advocate, the intercessor, the counselor, the strengthener, the standby, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, in my place, to represent me and act on my behalf.

He will teach you all things and he will help you remember everything that I have told you.

And so the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to point back to Jesus, and when everything points back to Jesus, it also points back to God.

Okay, so who is the Holy Spirit?

As we continue on this morning, we've attempted here's what I think we've done We've attempted to understand the work and the power of the Holy Spirit, without coming to know Him as a person.

We've tried to understand the power and we've tried to understand the work of the Holy Spirit, but we've never tried to study Him as a person.

We've studied Jesus and we know Jesus and we read the miracles of Jesus and we've studied God and we've read the creation and we see how God's in it, but somehow, some way, we've just kind of stood back from the Holy Spirit.

And so that's what we're going to try to do is study him as a person.

He's not an influence proceeding from God, he's not a mystical power.

And calling him a person is not saying that he is human.

That's not what I'm saying.

I'm simply saying that he possesses the attributes of what we'd consider a personality.

He is a deity.

He's not a human being.

That make sense.

Okay, he desires the Holy Spirit, desires to be our closest friend.

Yet I think we've limited his involvement In our uncomfortable understanding.

We have rejected or severely limited the most fulfilling relationship that is available to us.

So the Holy Spirit lives within us.

We read that the Holy Spirit is within us.

At baptism we receive the Holy Spirit.

It's the most fulfilling relationship that's made available to us, yet we've limited it or even rejected it, just because it's uncomfortable.

Here we go.

What's that left?

Image, the big image.

What is that?

A picture of Wrong?

What is it?

H2o?

Somebody said it.

Thank you, hoppy.

H2o.

Okay, the top right picture.

What's that?

It's H2O.

Okay, the bottom right.

And Tyson.

Tyson called me out in the 830 service.

He said that was a false perception of H2O.

But I was trying to find dry ice, you know, to get the gas look of it.

He said that's a false perspective.

He called me out I think he's 11.

He busted me.

He didn't do it in front of everybody, but after class he said that's not a good picture, that's not a good representation.

Here's my point.

H2o stays the same.

The molecule structure never changes.

However, it changes its structure.

It can become a liquid, it can become a solid and it can become a gas, but it's all the same makeup.

Does that make sense?

God is the same way.

When you see the Son, you see the Father, and the Spirit was sent to reveal the Son.

So it's like an ever-going circle, All of one God.

Okay, so hopefully that illustration kind of clears that up for you.

1 Corinthians 12, 5 through 7 says there are different kinds of service but the same Lord.

There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now, to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

So the Father God operates and initiates, the Son administrates and the Spirit manifests and takes action.

If I were to build a house, isn't that a beautiful drawing?

The Son administrates and the Spirit manifests and takes action.

If I were to build a house, isn't that a beautiful drawing?

If I were to build a house, who do I need?

What do I need?

What's the first person?

I probably have to contact An architect, okay, and what's the job of an architect?

To draw the plan?

Okay, so the architect is going to draw the plan of the house.

After I have an architect, then who do I need to hire?

A contractor or a foreman, right?

And what's the job of the foreman?

Make sure we follow the plan, right, the kind of the overseer, I think.

I heard somebody say going to make sure the work, the plan, right, the kind of the overseer, I think I heard somebody say going to make sure the work gets done.

Okay, going to make sure we follow the plan and the work gets done.

Then, after there's a foreman, what's underneath the foreman?

Eventually, you have to hire what?

The contractors or the workers.

There's got to be somebody that actually physically builds the house.

And so there's an architect that draws the plan.

There's a foreman, who administrates the plan and sets the plan in motion, and then there's the workers that actually make it happen.

Okay, so if we look at that, we can break this down.

God is the architect, he's designed the plan.

Jesus is the foreman he put the plan into action and he's got it arranged.

And then the Holy Spirit is the workers.

And really, if we look at this, if we have the Holy Spirit, then we are the workers.

So God has made this awesome and mighty great plan.

Jesus has came to fulfill the plan and then now, through the Holy Spirit, there are workers.

Does that make sense?

Hopefully that makes this idea of what the Holy Spirit is just a little bit easier to understand this morning.

Break it down into those three examples.

They're all three essential to build a house.

You can't build a house without the architect.

It's not going to get done if there's not a foreman that helps guide the way, and it's certainly not ever going to get built if the workers aren't working.

Here we go, john 16, verse 7.

John 16:7

This is Jesus speaking to His disciples.

But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don't go away, the advocate won't come.

If I do go away, then I will send him to you.

Jesus speaking to his disciples he's been with them for over three years.

Everything Jesus has ever said has happened.

He told the wind to be still and it what it be still right.

He told the disciples you're going to go into Jerusalem.

You're going to find a donkey.

Bring me that donkey.

The disciples went into Jerusalem.

What did they find?

A donkey.

They brought it to Jesus.

Jesus said one of you amongst the twelve is a traitor.

There ended up being what A traitor.

Everything that Jesus said came true.

Jesus walked by a fig tree, was hangry, yelled at it and said you're going to die.

And what happened to the fig tree?

It died.

What Jesus says happens.

And so he's looking at the disciples here and he says, in fact, basically just saying hey, listen up, don't miss this.

I'm speaking right now.

Listen to this.

It's best for you that I go away.

Imagine this moment for the disciples, their leader, their teacher, the man that they've discovered.

As the Son of God tells you, I'm leaving, but it's best for you.

It's best for you.

It's best that I leave.

It's like a benefit for you as people that I'm going to leave.

There's going to be this great benefit because the Advocate is going to come, the Holy Spirit is going to come.

It's really great that I'm going to leave.

There's going to be this great benefit because the advocate is going to come, the Holy Spirit is going to come.

It's really great that I'm going to leave.

That would have been hard to understand, right and it doesn't make any sense.

Jesus, you're here, physically with us right now.

How could you leaving be anything better than you being right here with us?

But Jesus tells them it's best for you, it's best for you.

So how and why is it best for them?

If Jesus never left the earth, the Holy Spirit would have never came alongside of us.

If I wanted to receive something from Jesus if he was still here, I'd have to travel miles to see him.

My journey would include a flight to the busiest airport in the world, because wherever Jesus would be would become the busiest airport in the world.

I would need to rent a car.

I'd have to probably drive to Galilee.

I'd have to find a decent accommodation, maybe more than an inn.

Then I'd have to locate Jesus, which wouldn't be hard because there'd be millions of people where he was at, lining up to speak with him.

I would have to then wait for everyone else in front of me to ask him whatever it is that they wanted to ask him.

And since there was a long line, it would probably become a limited time slot that you were allowed to be with Jesus.

So let's say it's 60 seconds.

You now have 60 seconds to speak to Jesus, so I'd have to know exactly.

It is what I wanted to say.

He would need to sleep and eat, so there would be breaks, I'm sure.

So maybe 14 hours a day he would be working and answering people.

So at this rate, jesus would be able to see 840 people a day.

If he spent 60 seconds with each person, it would take 1,190 days to see a million people 3.2 years.

490 days to see a million people 3.2 years.

And you have to keep in mind, hopefully that line would just keep getting longer and longer as people discovered who Jesus was.

And what if there was a fast pass lane?

You know, somebody got sick, they got to go right to the front of the line and so that would push you back.

Silly example.

But it would take a really long time to see Jesus, to communicate with God.

I'd have to wait all that time.

So Jesus says it's best for you that I leave because I'm going to send the Advocate.

I'm going to send the Holy Spirit that's always going to be with you.

The Holy Spirit isn't going to have to eat or sleep.

The Holy Spirit can have multiple conversations going on at once, like he can have billions of conversations going on at once.

And so my hope is, as we continue this study, is that we become more aware of the Holy Spirit and its purpose and it becomes easier to understand why Jesus says it's better that I go.

I hope this morning that hopefully you've become at least a little bit more aware of who the Spirit is, and maybe you're sitting here this morning and you've realized how much you've limited the Holy Spirit in your life, like I have.

In simple terms, the Holy Spirit is our guide.

He helps us get to where we need to be, helps us to say the things that we need to say.

He becomes our counselor.

When we're going through something, he's there.

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

He's our protector, constantly watching over us and guiding us and keeping us, probably from many different things, and he's our coach Something that we can all relate with, probably, but the main thing that we know about the Holy Spirit.

Hopefully, what you walk away with this morning is is that we need him, is that we need the Holy Spirit.

We need him in our lives and we need to accept that idea as well.

So let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for your love.

God, we thank you for the way that you work in our life.

God, we're thankful for Jesus.

We're thankful for his example of how to love and interact with people.

God, we're thankful for just the way that he worked.

And, god, I do pray that we can understand this idea that your son had to leave so that you could give us the Holy Spirit.

God, I pray that, as we study the Holy Spirit over the next couple weeks, that you will make us more aware of your presence, to know and understand that You're working in our lives, to know that it's a blessing that Jesus left so that we could receive the Holy Spirit.

God, I pray that, as we become more aware, that we can recognize and understand and fully worship you for the way that you're working in our lives.

And, god, I know it's easy to not talk about it or to maybe brush it under the rug because we don't fully understand it.

But, god, I pray for an understanding.

God, I pray that, as we study this, that you will open up our eyes and our hearts to the Holy Spirit and the work that you're doing.

That we won't leave the gift to the side, that we'll open it and fully embrace the way that you've worked in our lives.

God, we thank you for Jesus.

We thank you for his life, thank you for his death, his resurrection.

We thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit this morning.

It's in your Son's name that we pray, amen.

He leadeth me.

O blessed thought O words.

Without me comfort fraught.

What e'er I do, where'er I be, still tis God's hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me.

He leadeth me by his own hand, he leadeth me.

His faithful followers I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me, and when my task on earth is done, when by thy grace the victory's won In death's cold way.

I will not flee, since God, through Jordan, leadeth me.

He leadeth me.

He leadeth me.

He leadeth be for by his hand.

He leadeth me.

We thank you everyone for coming today.

We appreciate you being here.

Hope you have a great week and let's go ahead and close with one more song.

Troublesome times are here In the midst of our fear.

Freedom we owe oh dear.

Now is at stake Pumping your heart to God, safe from the chains of a chasing rod.

Take away pilgrims, draw Christians away.

Jesus is coming soon.

Morning or night or noon, many will bear doom.

Trumpets will surely sound.

All of the dead shall rise.

Righteous be in the skies Going where no one dies.

Heavenward bound Love is so many cold.

Losing their home of gold.

This is God's word.

This is God's word is told Evil's about.

When these signs come to pass, nearing the end at last, it will come very fast.

Trumpets will sound.

Jesus is coming soon.

Morning or night or noon, many will bear their doom.

Trumpets will surely sound.

All the dead shall rise.

Righteous be in the skies Going where no one dies, heavenward bound Troubles will soon be o'er happy forevermore.

When we meet on that shore, free from all care, rising up, pointing up in the sky Telling this world goodbye, oh, when we then will fly Glory to share.

Jesus is coming soon.

Morning or night or noon, many will be there too.

Trumpets will sound.

All of the dead shall rise.

Righteous me in the skies, going where no one dies.

Heavenward bound Amen.

Have a great week, guys.