Sermon nuggets Thurs Oct 2
Theme- The Work of the Holy Spirit
Verses- John 16:12-13 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
The Guiding of the Spirit
In our summer Bible study on Heaven a new thought was impressed on me. That thought was from the word of God and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. It was simply this- We will be spending all of eternity discovering more of God-the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God will be continually creating and His abilities, characteristics, and wonder are inexhaustible. We will find our delight and joy in our relationship with Him and seeing His wonder in new ways forever.
As a child I had been brought repeatedly to Sunday School and church, VBS, Camp, and children’s clubs. I had a mother who read Bible stories to me before bedtime, and when I could read well enough was given Hulburt’s story book of the Bible. In time I would to get bored going to Sunday school hearing the same stories over and over again. I defiantly told my mother I didn’t want to go anymore because I had heard it all and knew it all. I couldn’t count the number of times I had heard about Adam and Eve, Babel, sacrifice of Isaac, Moses and the Red Sea, David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lion’s Den, the Firery furnace. I knew the story of the Christ and the cross and most of the parables.
As I grew in my faith in the Lord I came to understand more about these stories. My greatest discovery was the Bible was not from man’s point of view, but God’s point of view. I came to learn these were not about us, they were about Him.
The guidance of the Holy Spirit wasn’t so much which color of shirt I should wear, or even which bike I should buy. It was about a life seeking to get beyond the mundane human pattern to see the work and wonder of God in and around me that allowed me to love Him more. It wasn’t about the activities, it was about the relationship. The older I get I need to be guided into the truth that it isn’t about what I do for Him. IT is to love Him more and from that love God will do what he wants in me if I am willing to let Him. It wasn’t that if I had enough faith I could kill a giant, but God desires my daily trust as I seek to obey Him and allow His spirit to guide me throughout the day.
Jesus said the disciples cannot bear all that He wanted them to know and learn. They were limited in their ability to appreciate all that was happening to them. The walk in following Him will be ongoing and their need for guidance from the temporary to the eternal needed the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In the world of lies they needed to see truth. They needed to be life long learners and God was not done with them yet.
The paths He leads through the guidance of the Holy Spirit will be filled with learning more about Him. Life will not be about the activities, for they will be both good and bad, hard and pleasurable, but it will be about connected with the glory of God to prepare us for the inexhaustible wonders ahead. He will tell you what is to come.
Pastor Dale
