Good morning, Church. I know today is Super Bowl Sunday and all the hype is around the game. All you Swifties right? All around the game tonight. But now thank you for being here. Thanks for being here this morning. For those of you online with us, we know it's a crummy day. We wish you were here, but thanks for being there online. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Look, if my math is correct, today is the sixth Sunday of the year, number six. And also it is the sixth time I have asked you as part of this series to rethink a major chunk of your life. Not to rethink and like a deconstruction mindset, but just to rethink and ask yourself in these major things we're talking about, am I following who I want and what I want, or am I following who God is and what God wants in my life? We've been walking through just some major areas. We started this series by just looking at our relationship with Jesus and rethinking: Do I know that I have a relationship with Jesus? We moved from that to rethinking our relationship with the Word of God, with Scripture that it is the irrefutable, perfect word of God. We moved from that week into rethinking what is worship. In my understanding of worship, my personal worship, my public worship, and my offering, God is worthy. 

We move then into the sticky subject of rethinking success. And am I pursuing an earthly success or a kingdom success? And then last week, probably my favorite one of all, we really began just to rethink our prayer life, something that every Christian knows that we need to do and have. But what does that look like for me? We looked at Jesus last week in Matthew chapter six, where he taught us how to pray. He walked us through this model of prayer that really shows us that Satan hates prayer because prayer unleashes the power of God. And when we pray, we're to lift up King Jesus to submit our lives to Jesus, and then we are to ask. Now, let me say this about these last five weeks before I move into this week. If. All right. And those who say the word, if. If you take these last five weeks and use those weeks as the foundation of your faith, you will begin to see that really, this is just a bait-and-switch kind of deal. Really, all that we've been doing over these last weeks is looking at the foundations of Christianity, the foundations of our relationship with Jesus. And what we've been doing is walking through the mechanisms or disciplines that I need to give my life to, to see God move in my life. So if you just watch those last things over the last couple of weeks, you will see that those things are what build a foundation for your relationship with God. 

Now, today's kind of rethink focus, and I'm not just saying this for dramatic effect or to have a cool intro; I'm saying it like this. Today's Rethink Focus can be the fuel that takes those things that we've already looked at can be the force they take those things and it can set all of those things on a trajectory to where you're not living this Christian life that's just wearing you out all the time. That looks like it's all on you and all on your power or all on your will. In fact, today I want you to turn me to John Chapter 14 Today, John Chapter 14. And I'm going to ask you today to rethink your relationship today with the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Spirit. Now, as you're finding that, here's what I know it. As soon as I mention the word following the Holy Spirit, there are a lot of things that just begin to roll around, particularly in church people or in Christians' minds. Why? Because there's a lot of extremes, right, that are that are present. All right. I know that there are some that kind of fall on this side over here that they just seem to be totally obsessed, right, with the Holy Spirit. They seem to have some kind of direct line that some other people may not have. They had these super high emotions when it comes to the Holy Spirit. If you ever go to worship with them, things might get a little bit loud, right? They may get a little bit wonky. There may be things that that happen you really can't describe, right? You really can't get those things into words. You go to worship with these guys. It may be a long day. Amen. Ever been in that situation, or it may be expected of you to get some exercise in your worship right? Some of this side that kind of has this supercharged emotional relationship with the Holy Spirit. They often use words, maybe even like, Hey, God gave me a word for you or a message for you. They may even pull something out. Even goes far to say this. I have a word. I have a revelation for us. Now, I don't mean any disrespect. I maybe poked a little bit and I don't mean any disrespect. Right. But that's what comes to mind when some of you hear what it looks like to walk in the Spirit. 

Now, but on the other side of that coin, alright, the converse of that is that there's a side over here, other Christians that just seem to disregard the Holy Spirit totally. They seem to totally just leave the Holy Spirit out of the conversation together now. Now they know that the Holy Spirit exists, right? They wouldn't go as far as to say that He doesn't. But they would say that the Holy Spirit is kind of like their pancreas. They know it's in there somewhere. They just don't know what it does right? They don't know what it's for or how it functions. That's how some of us view the Holy Spirit. They're just not sure of the what's and the why. They might even go too far as far to say that functionally the Holy Spirit is kind of taken out of the Trinity. They live like it's God, the Father, the Son in the Holy Bible, right? Not the Holy Spirit, because they've just taken that out. Now, for those people on this side, it's really unfortunate because they've surrendered the power in their lives. They haven't tapped into the movement of what God wants to do in them. So here's what I want to do this morning. I just want to scratch the surface. Okay? I fully realize that that is like a 40-minute talk. I can't do all of what the Holy Spirit is and what he does justice. But I want to scratch the surface today, and I just want to speak. I want to attempt to get you thinking about the reality, the role, and the function of the Holy Spirit in the believers' life. And I want to do it by walking and processing through Jesus's description of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. 

Jesus's introduction to what the Holy Spirit is and what He does to the disciples. Now, it is one thing, right? It is one thing to sit under the teaching of a master teacher. I mean, have you ever been taught by someone in your life where you're just like, Man, I got to be teaching me about Tiddledywinks I don't care. He can teach, right? He can lead. Have you ever been in that situation? Maybe it was a history teacher. Maybe it was your health teacher. I don't know right now, whoever it is. Still, we're going to get to do today is we're going to get to see one member of the Trinity Jesus, not only introduce another member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, but he's going to walk us through what the Holy Spirit does and who the Holy Spirit is. It's incredible. And Jesus is so passionate about what He's about to say. Later on in the message, you're going to see Jesus say one of the most confusing things to the disciples that He ever said when he looked at the disciples and he said, Listen, it is good that I go away. And they're like good? What? He said It's good that I go away so that you can receive the Holy Spirit. 

So, let's jump into the text this morning. It's in John chapter 14. It's part of an incredibly emotional section of scripture. This, this this is it's literally called the upper room discourse, right? Or the upper room Talk from Jesus. Now, John 13 through John 17 is one long teaching from Jesus. It's one long moment from Jesus where Jesus is looking at the disciples in this incredibly emotional moment. He's looking toward the cross and he's describing to them what is about to happen. And he's kind of giving them his last and final instructions. Jesus knows he's going to the cross. He knows there's going to be some huge times. There's about to hit them. And he begins to talk about his death and his resurrection. And we're going to come right in the middle of this upper room discourse in John 14. And I just want to read this text and let Jesus introduce us to the Holy Spirit. 

Watch what he does; starting in verse 15, Jesus says, If you love me, then keep my commands and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. The spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him or won't accept him, right? Because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. Verse 16. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Now, I want to pause there. We're going to spend almost all of our day in these scriptures. I'm going to read some more, but this is our kind of primary text. But before we get to the ones above it, I love verse 18 where this promise that Jesus is leaving them with is this idea that we have been brought into the family of God. In fact, write this principle down in your notes. I put in the app for you. Listen to this. Through Jesus, we have been brought into the family of God forever. Forever. That's what Jesus just told us here. Now, we are not brought into the Trinity. Don't get those things mixed up. But we are brought into the family of God. That means that we are offered this incredible joy, this incredible peace, and this incredible grace that Jesus has given us. 

And when you think about this, this is incredibly profound. Why? Because as a member of the family of God, what that does to us is it stamps on us an identity marker or a role or a title on our lives that can never be taken away, that can never be stolen from us. We can never; it's not something that we give back. Listen to me real close. Every single other title in your life you can lose. You can lose, but you can't lose this one. You say, Matt, what do you mean by that? Let me explain it like this. Let me give you a couple of examples. I am Melissa Petty's husband. All right. 23 glorious years. I hope there's like 50 more, right? Amen. I know I'm in this thing. I don't know where she's at, but I'm in it, Right? I'm there. I'm in it. I am Melissa Petty's husband's. But. But listen closely. God forbid, though, at any moment something could happen at any moment, something could happen to us. It could. And that and really, truly that title all my life, because we live in a fallen world that could be taken from me. I'll go even one step further. I am. I am Blake and Dalton's dad. I love those guys. Most of the time I would die for them, right? I am. I'm their dad. Right? But listen, God forbid. God forbid. We saw it this week, didn't we? God forbid, something could happen. Was ailment, sickness, something accident? Something could happen in that title; It could be taken from me. Let me go one step further. I am the lead pastor. I'm the senior pastor, whatever that means. Right, of this church, Right? I am. But I know, I know, I know I am one vote away, Amen. Of making enough of you guys mad, right? Making enough of ya'll mad. I got dirt on most of you, so don't try it. I know, I know. I'm one vote away from that not being who I am anymore. Does that make sense? 

I know it seems heavy, but the point Jesus is making here is all of that stuff that we think makes us all of that stuff can be taken away from us. Why? Because I'm not all-powerful. I'm not all-knowing. I'm not everywhere at once. I live in a broken world. But listen, when you and I, when we are called into the family of God that can never be taken away from you. You now have something that is planted into you. Why? Because you were saved by Jesus. But you were sealed by the Holy Spirit. That's what Jesus is saying right here. And no matter the tragedy, no matter what happens, no matter the issue or circumstance, you are now his. He is now yours. And now our role. What did Jesus say? We just read the text. 

Our role is to walk out that command in relationship. Now, we're going to come back to those verses. But I just want to read the next section because it kind of builds on this and we're going to come back to it. I know it's really confusing, but don't worry about it. Here it is, verse 19. Jesus says this. Before long, the world will not see me anymore. But you will see me because I live, you also will live. On that day, you will realize that I and my father and you are in me and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my father. And I too will love them and show myself to them. Verse 22, then Judas. I love this: parentheses, not Judas Iscariot. How would it have been to be that guy, right? I mean, I would have changed my name right? Then Judas, not Judas Iscariot said, but Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not the world? Jesus replied Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. The Father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them. Verse 24: Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own. They belong to the father who sent me. 

Now, verse 25. Watch this. We're back to the Holy Spirit. All this I've spoken to you are still here, Jesus says. Right. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace. I live with you. My peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. Now listen, we could use that text for like the next three months of this church. All right? But with respect to what I'm asking of you today, to rethink your relationship with the Holy Spirit, here's what I want it to do. 

I just want to allow this text to answer two questions about the Holy Spirit. And it would do well for all of us to walk through. And here are the questions. It is who is the Holy Spirit and what does the Holy Spirit do? Because at its core, Jesus says, in all reality, if you kind of boil all of his teachings down about the Holy Spirit, Jesus would just give us this one principle about who the Holy Spirit is. Jesus would say this I put in your notes. It's a principle. He would say that the Holy Spirit is God, the all-powerful Holy helper. That's what Jesus, where He would boil it all down to that Now notice. There are four things in that. The Holy Spirit is God, the all powerful Holy Helper. Notice the four things. That is, He is God. He's a member of the Trinity. He is a member of the Godhead God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. He is all God. It also He is all-powerful. That means that He is not limited by time, space, or power. He can do as he chooses to do. He has all the power. Third, it says that he is holy. Holy literally means that he is set apart. He is above all. And the last one, Jesus says He drills down into this idea that the Holy Spirit is the helper. He's the helper, and that's the one I want to key in on today, that he is the helper. Why? What Jesus does in the next kind of verses in this whole text that I just read is Jesus lays out these five traits of the Holy Spirit that can not only help us understand the Holy Spirit but can help us begin to trust the Holy Spirit to run our lives. 

It can lead us in a way that we can know him more intimately. Let me give you the five and then I think you'll grab on to this. Number one. Jesus would say this about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is an active helper. The Holy Spirit is an actor's helper. You say, Matt, what verse points to that? They all do every single time. In fact, if you read the whole description, the whole upper room discourse, you'll see that four times at a minimum, Jesus, when he's describing the Holy Spirit. He continues to say things like, Hey, the Holy Spirit is coming to help, He's coming to move, he's coming to heal, he's coming to comfort. Or when the helper comes, when that advocate comes, he will do this or he will do that. The reality is, is that every time the Holy Spirit is mentioned, it is always in the context of him moving or doing something in our lives. I love that this is the description that Jesus gives us of the Holy Spirit more often than not. Why? Because there are a lot of other descriptions of him. 

Actually, when you read the Bible, you will see the Holy Spirit described as the spirit of wisdom, the good Spirit that He is known as God. He is known as Lord, and He is the spirit of glory. But out of all of those, when Jesus describes the Holy Spirit, there is always this phrase that is attached to the Spirit: He is the helping helper. That's the literal definition. What kind of boil it down to? He's the helping helper that is going to come to help you and me. Now, this doesn't seem like a big deal, but the word helper, this word advocate that we keep running into here, it's the word parakletos. it's the word parakletos. It's an incredibly specific word, especially during Roman times, that describes a person who gives assistance. A person who comes behind. A person who is maybe even in a legal profession. That is the legal defense behind your case being pleaded. 

I love how the amplified Bible kind of boils this down. It says The Holy Spirit is the one who is called to stand constantly by us, who is ready to take part in everything in which his help is needed. Are you feeling this a little bit? The Holy Spirit is the active helper. He's not just this weird kind of deal that it's around. No, his role, his title, his whole life is all around acting inside of us. Here's why. It's why. Because God knows we need help. He knows we need help. We know we are one step from stupid, right? God knows that, right? He knows that we need help. But he also knows that we are not good at asking for help. So what did God go ahead and do? He went ahead and he gave us the helping helper. That's what it says. 

So believers, listen. Have you ever felt like you just are ready to break? Have you ever felt like you're overwhelmed or this is too heavy or the trials are too much or the pressure is too much? That's where the Holy Spirit does his work. That's why God has given him to us. He's the active helper. I feel like so many of us have a grasp on the idea that at the moment of salvation, I'm inviting Jesus and the Holy Spirit into our lives. But for some reason, we don't invite the Holy Spirit to fight our battles for us. That's his role. Number one, he's the active helper. But number two, here's what Jesus would say: that the Holy Spirit is a similar helper. He would also say that He is a similar helper.

Now, I know this sounds a little bit weird, but let me explain it by just reading verse 16 to you again. You'll see it. John 14:16 says, and I will ask the Father. This is Jesus talking obviously. And he will give you. watch this: another advocate to help you and be with you forever. Now, this word, another is an incredibly specific word. We already looked at the word advocate. That's parakletos. We looked at that. But this word another is very, very specific. And here's where the breakdown is. You see in the English language, we only have one word for another. Let's say that in an hour from now, you're sitting at the restaurant, and you order a Coke, right? You order a Coke, right? When you first sit down, you're so thirsty you slam that thing down because it is the best Coke. They've got the mixture just right. You know what I'm talking about right here? I mean, it is perfectly carbonated. You drink it so fast that the server comes back up to your table and says, Can I take your order? You're like, Yeah, you can. But first, can you give me another one of these? That's what, that's what this word is. You see in our language, another just means another because you would use that same word if the server handed you a Coke and if it had no fizz in it. And it's the worst thing you ever drank, and you'd look at them and say the same thing, right? Can I have another? 

But in Greek, there are two words. For another, there's one word another, which is allos, which means another of the same kind. In other words, Hey, I love it; give me another one. And there's one word heteros, that means give me another one that's different. This one was terrible. Jesus, in this moment, looks at the disciples and says, Listen, I am gone. But another of the same kind, catch this, is coming for you. He's coming for you. Now, this didn't really hit me too much until I really began to study this week because this is what Jesus is saying right here. He's saying, Listen, I'm not just sending you another helper. I'm sending you another helper that is just like this one. That's what Jesus did. So, church, listen, what this means is that everything that Jesus was to the disciples, now the Holy Spirit is to us. Any time you read anything in Scripture that Jesus was doing, now that is the role of the Holy Spirit in our life. Why? He is an allos parakletos. That sounds really smart, Doesn't it? That is who he is. 

He is the same kind of helper that gives us the help, the same thing that Jesus did. I know the words. What did Jesus do last week? We just looked at Jesus. Teach what? How to pray, right? He gave us an example of prayer out of Matthew chapter six. But Romans 8:26 tells us this in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit intercedes for us. In other words, that's what Jesus did. Now, that’s what the Spirit does. What else did Jesus do? He did so many things. He comforted. He walked with them. He did all kinds of miracles for them. Another one is that he taught them right. For three and a half years we had the teaching Ministry of Jesus over the disciples, and now he's looking at the disciples going, Hey, I'm about to leave, but I'm going to send you another one. 

John 14:25 What did he say? He said all this I've spoken while still with you. Now look at verse 26. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and he will remind you of everything I have said to you. Man, I hope you feeling this. Jesus is saying everything I have done while I physically walked with you. Now the helper is going to come and do it for you. Now, this is important because people like me and this little self-compassion moment, people like me over the years have said things like, Man, wouldn't it be so cool to walk on the earth as Jesus walked on the earth? Wouldn't it be so cool just to see him walking down the street? Wouldn't it be so cool to be here in that first century when he was here to experience his power? I mean, yeah, it would be. But what Jesus wants us to know right here is that the Holy Spirit is not just a perfect substitute for who He is, but he is a better substitute for who he is. Why? Jesus could only be in one place at one time, at one moment, and it was best he could see you for like 30 seconds for like a million people waiting on him. But the Holy Spirit is everywhere. He's all around. He's in all of us. In fact, in John 16:7, Jesus says, But very truly, I tell you, it is good for you that I go away. Unless I go away, the advocate can not come to you. So, as the disciples learn to turn to Jesus, let me just beg of you, church: We need to learn to turn to the Holy Spirit. It's the same thing. 

He's not only an acting helper, but he is a better helper. He's a similar helper. Jesus had a part for me that you can do nothing, but he's now looking at us, going apart from the Spirit, you can do nothing. And the faster that we can grab hold of that, the more we can learn to use the Holy Spirit as our internal, as our instructor, as our guide, and as our helper. So, number one, He's active. Number two, He's similar. Number three, catch this. When the Holy Spirit is a permanent helper, he's a permanent helper. Here's what that means. He's not going anywhere. What that means is he is not here one day and gone the next. The Holy Spirit is an eternal spirit inside of every true believer's life. Look at verse 16. He tells it to us. We're gonna spend a lot of time. Verse 16, he says, And I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate to help you. And he will be with you forever. Here's the point. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life at salvation, all right. Let me say that. He is with you forever. He's with you forever. 

What that means is he's not going to get you to a certain maturity point and then go, Hey, you're okay. You do your own deal. He's not going to get you to a certain checkpoint in your life. And him go, Hey, you don't need me anymore. He's not going to look at you when you're 25 years old. Say, get out of the basement, kid. Right. He's not going to do that. He is a 24/7 living helper who wants to comfort you, mature you, counsel you, and pray with you. So what that means is, yes, you can grieve the Holy Spirit. Yes, you can resist the Holy Spirit. But every single believer still has the Holy Spirit. And if we will turn and repent and invite His power back into our lives, he will step in and move in us. You see, the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is way different than it was in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come at a different time and a different place with different people for different roles. Right? But First Samuel 16 is really clear. When it said, the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. I love the King. David saw that and later on in the Psalms, in Psalms 51, David even said, Hey, Lord, don't leave me. But on the day of Pentecost. All that changed. The Holy Spirit became less of something that just bounces in and out of somebody's life. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit became a body that moves into us at salvation, and we are now sealed in our faith because of it. 

The Holy Spirit is in you. In fact, verse 17 it says, You know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. So, the spirit lives in you. The Spirit will be with you. And then later Jesus says, Hey, the spirit is going to come upon you in a special power. So, think of your relationship with the Spirit in three ways. He is with you, he is in you, and he is upon you. He was with you before you even met him because he is the one who drew you to himself. When you gave your life to Jesus. First Corinthians 3:16 says, Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and the spirit dwells in you? 

And last, the Holy Spirit is upon us. To do what? To give us power Acts 1:8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In other words, he empowers us. So listen, at salvation, you are gifted with all of the Holy Spirit that you will ever be gifted with. You're like, whoa. Matt hang on a minute. That's not what I remember. No, it's true. You are given all of the Holy Spirit that you will ever need. Why? Because the power is there. He is present. He hasn't gone anywhere. So instead of saying How can I get more of the Holy Spirit, which some terrible worship songs say, Right? Why don't you say, Hey, God, how can I give you more of myself? See, the spirit is there, and the spirit is available. The problem is not the spirit. The problem is I just keep stealing myself away from it. 

He's a permanent helper. He's in you, He's active. He's similar. He's permanent. Here's number four, the Holy Spirit. He's a truthful helper. He's a truthful helper. Now, what does that mean? That means that you can trust the spirit. You can trust the spirit so much more than you can trust your own emotions. You can trust the spirit so much more than you can trust what culture puts at you. You can trust the spirit so much more than you can put any other trust on this planet. Why? Because the spirit always speaks the truth. He's always reliable. Time after time, in this whole upper room discourse, you will see that Jesus refers to the Spirit as the spirit of truth. Now, this is huge because first of all, that really means that he can't lie. The spirit can't lie to you. He is the definer of truth, and he stamps truth into your lie. Secondly, this means that one of the key roles of the Holy Spirit in all of our lives is that He reveals truth to us. He shows us truths. You say, Matt, what do you mean? 

Well, look at John 14:25. Jesus said, all of this I've spoken while I'm still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, from whom the Father will send in my name. Watch what he'll do. He'll teach you all things and remind you of everything I said to you. Notice what the spirit does He teaches us, but then go to the next chapter. John 15, verse 26. He says, When the advocate comes, I will send you sent to you from the father, the spirit of truth, who goes out from the father and watch what he'll do. He will testify about me. In other words, the Spirit never points to himself. It's always pointed to the son. It's always pointed to the salvation the son offers. Now, this is incredible on two fronts. First, it's incredible on the disciples' front because it's this promise that the Holy Spirit will remind the disciples all of what Jesus did that enables us to trust the Bible. Why? Because the Bible was written by the disciples underneath the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is how the jokers could remember every single thing that Jesus did because the Spirit brought it to their reminder. That's why we can trust it is an infallible word of God written by sinful man because it was given to them and reminded of them by Scripture. I know that's super deep, but I just wanted you to have it. 

But secondly, it is this. It is important to us because the spirit is what helps us understand truth, and the spirit is what illuminates truth to us. The Spirit doesn't give you new truth. Why? Because revelation is finished. But the spirit gives you the truth that is already there. He reminds you of the truth. He shows you the truth. You say Matt, I don't. I don't think I've ever had that kind of interaction with the spirit. If you're a true believer, you have. Why? Because First Corinthians 12:3 says, No one can say Jesus as Lord except by the Spirit. He's the one that revealed that truth to you. Why? Because one day you were like that Jesus thing that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. One day, you were like that Jesus thing. I would never do that. And then before you know it, one month later, you're like, What just happened in my soul? That was the spirit of God revealing his truth to you and you submitted your heart to Him. Also made you think about this. Have you ever had that moment when you're reading Scripture and then this clarity moment happened to you like this was just written for you? That's the spirit talking. That's the spirit leading. Have you ever had that moment where were you, you're in this moment of temptation, and all of a sudden this Bible verse pops into your mind from 1983 VBS, right? That's the spirit in you. If you ever had that moment, something in you looks at another person across the way. He's like, Man, I need to pray for that person. That's the spirit illuminating His truth. Do you ever have that moment where you just kind of felt like something was wrong, felt that the direction was wrong and you just kind of shut that down and went somewhere else? That's the spirit. Have you ever had that moment where you just kind of at that moment felt God's love in a little bit different way? That's the spirit.

Don't run from the spirit. The spirit speaks truth. That's what he does in our lives. Always trust the spirit more than you trust yourself. He's eternal. He's all-knowing. He's all present. He's God. That's the spirit. Now, back to the disciples. The disciples at this moment are obviously distraught. Jesus has just told them that He's about to. He's about to die. They're about to lose Jesus. And Jesus says, looking at them going, I know your head is spinning, and I know I've told you a lot. I know you're not going to get all of this at once. He's looking at them going I know you're going to forget it. I know you're going to fail. I know you're going to blow it. Look what Jesus says. That's okay. That's why I'm leaving you with this spirit. And for some of you, you have felt like for so long that you have had to do this Christian life on your own. You don't. You've got a helper. You've got the helper and the helper is active and the helper is similar. Have Jesus the helper is permanent in your life. The helper is truthful, always. But number five, I just want to close it by saying this. The Spirit is an exclusive helper, though. He's an exclusive helper. You see, Jesus is extremely clear that not everybody has the spirit. He's extremely clear. 

Listen closely; you are not born with the spirit. He's extremely clear. But just because your parents are Christian, just because you're an American, just because you came to church once, or maybe even just because you own a Bible or know the name God or John. 3:16. He's telling you Jesus is making the point that the Holy Spirit is not just this automatic gift that everybody has that is dealt out because you're a human being. No, no, no, no. That ended at the moment sin separated us from God in Genesis chapter three. But what he is saying is this: while it might not be automatic, it's available. It's available, and the spirit is available. That's why he's having this conversation with these whole people. In fact, look at verse 17 again. He says this: The spirit of truth. The world cannot. I like the word will not there better. The world will not accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives within you and will be in you. And I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Here's what the first part of that verse says. We just said it, right? Not everybody has the spirit. And without the Spirit, there is no salvation. It's saying that there are some people who cannot or have not accepted them. But why? Because they're watching and looking and seeking with the wrong eyes. That's what he's saying here. So, what eyes are they looking for? They're looking with worldly eyes. They're looking with an eyes of I need to see the spirit. And you're not going to see the spirit. But what eyes do we look for the spirit with? With spiritual eyes. And really, it truly is the eyes of faith. So here's what Jesus is boiling all this down to. He's saying listen, the reason that we don't receive the spirit is because we have not got to the point in our lives where we have taken the step of faith that we have given the control of our lives over to Jesus, and we've invited the Spirit into our life to be the advocate and to be the helper. 

Listen until we relinquish control of our lives. Man, you know what we're doing for God? We're trying to surf the Internet without plugging into the Wi-Fi. That's what we're doing. We're trying to seek out who God is without having God to help us seek him out. But when we take the step of faith, the promise is this. The Holy Spirit rules in our lives. So here's the invitation today as we close. We've seen all of this stuff that the Holy Spirit does, right? But my question to you is this: Has there been a moment in your life where you've turned from your sin and you've sought Jesus to save you and the Spirit to seal you? Has there been a moment in your life where you have stopped looking with these eyes? Right? Neither sees him nor knows him, but you began to see with this eye and say, Lord Jesus, I'm yours. 

Do you need to trust Christ today? Do you need to give Him your life today? Do you need to ask Him to come into your heart to give you the Holy Spirit so that you can now begin to walk and the power that's available to you? The promise is this: when you take that step, the spirit is yours. It's the promise from Jesus. He's given it to us. It's number one. Do you need to give your life to Jesus today? And number two, here it is. Do you need to ask the Spirit to rule in you? Do you need to, quite frankly look at the Spirit and just say, I need you to take all of me? Here's control. I love how Paul says it in Ephesians five. He says, Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the spirit. Who? Why that contrast, right? That's so weird. No, it's not. When you think about the fact that when you do get drunk with any intoxicating substance, what are you doing? You are offering up control to that substance. That's exactly what Jesus is saying our connection with the Holy Spirit needs to look like. That we say, here's all of me, here's all of my control, here's all of my life. And I'm saying rule me. Even to the point where I don't even really realize that you're doing it. Run my life. 

Can I just say this quite frankly? The Holy Spirit wants to give you truth. He wants to speak to your life. But he's a gentleman. He does not step in where he is not invited. 

Lord Jesus today, Lord, as we move into this invitation moment, Lord Jesus, I'm just praying for the people in the room, Lord that just need to trust you with their lives today, to give you their hearts, to invite you to be their savior and Lord. God, may they take a step of faith today and see you with spiritual eyes. May they be saved. Lord I pray for those that are saved in the room that have given their lives to you today. God today would take a step to relinquish control of their lives and to be filled constantly with Your Spirit. Lord move in these next couple of minutes Lord Jesus, it's in your name. We welcome your spirit into this place. 

Amen. Amen. 

Would you stand with me? If you need to give your life to Jesus, I'm going to be right over here by the Next Steps banner. If you just need somebody to pray with today. I'll be right over there as well. But let's sing together.