God's Word for Me Today

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Focus: Our Mission With The World

A note about online study
Introduction to God's Word for Me Today

My Prayer Today

Heavenly Father, I pray Your blessing on all who will be participating in Wednesday Night Live this afternoon and this evening.  Pour out Your Holy Spirit on the leaders and the participants alike that each one my glorify you and receive Your blessing.  As I read this commission from Jesus to His first followers, commission me to follow You faithfully today.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

God's Word for Me Today: John 16:5-15

5“But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and none of you has asked me where I am going. 6Instead, you are very sad. 7But it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Counselor won’t come. If I do go away, he will come because I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will convince the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9The world’s sin is unbelief in me. 10Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11Judgment will come because the prince of this world has already been judged.

12“Oh, there is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. 15All that the Father has is mine; this is what I mean when I say that the Spirit will reveal to you whatever he receives from me.

Questions for Reflection

When you think of the Holy Spirit, how do you picture Him?

 

Think of any counselor you have ever gone to for advice: a guidance counselor, a marriage counselor, a business consultant.  What traits make for the best counselor?

Questions for Exploration

Jesus tells His disciples that it is best for Him to “go away,” meaning for Him to die, rise again and ascend to heaven.  Why is this best for them? (16:8)

 

What is the “world’s sin” according to Jesus?  What will happen as a result of it?  (16:9-11)

 

Jesus wanted to tell  the disciples more, but He knew it would “overload” them on whom or what does Jesus rely to reveal the truth to His followers in His absence? (16:12-15) KEY VERSE

Questions for Understanding

What is the most important gift Jesus gives to us for understanding His truth?

 

What is necessary for us to have righteousness according to Jesus’ words in this text?

 

Jesus’ commission to His disciples is not nearly as clear in John’s Gospel as it is in the others we have read.  There is one significant reality Jesus tells us about the world knowing Him and salvation, and that is that we won’t be the ones who can provide it through what we do.  According to Jesus, who will convince the world of its sin?

 

Questions for Application

Jesus makes it clear in this text that our knowing Him, being forgiven of sin and understanding the truth all depend on receiving the Holy Spirit.  What do you do to ensure that the Holy Spirit is part of your life on a daily basis?

 

The evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is that we produce the “fruit” of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Pray for God to deepen these nine aspects of the Spirit’s fruit within you, today, and every day!

The Power Source for Sharing the New Life of Jesus with The World!

The Holy Spirit is the “third person” of the Trinity.  That has been a part of orthodox Christian belief for two millennia.  We live as Christians with the ministry of believing in only ONE God, but ONE God who shows Himself to us in “three persons.”  Those three persons are God, the Father; God the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.  Many illustrations and analogies have been offered to explain how God can be one-and-three, or three-in-one.  Some point to the egg which has a shell, a white and a yolk, but is one egg.  Others have pointed to water which can exist as a solid (ice), a liquid (water) or a gas (steam).  Some point out that a man may be a father, a son, and a brother all at the same time.  Each of these analogies may help us understand some small part of how our One, true God, manifests Himself in three persons. Yet, they are all inadequate, because we are dealing with the creator of the universe.

A far better approach is to turn to the Bible, our only rule for faith and daily leave and find out what it says about our God.  We find in the Bible that Jesus says, “The Father and I are one.”  (John 10:30)  In today’s reading Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is a person, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”  Notice the attributes of the Holy Spirit.  First, the Holy Spirit is a “He,” not meaning that He’s a man, but that He’s a person.  The Holy Spirit is not some nebulous universal force, as in Star Wars fame, and yet many times Christians refer to the Holy Spirit as “it.”   The Holy Spirit guides us, counsels us, reveals the future to us.  In other places Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will give us the power to understand the Scriptures, and that He will give us power.  Indeed, the Holy Spirit is THE power source for sharing the new life of Jesus with the World.  In Acts 1:8, which will be our key verse for next week, we read that we WILL receive power, when we have received the Holy Spirit.  Thus, the key to sharing the new life of Jesus with the world (after we have received the new life for ourselves, of course!) is that we operate in the Holy Spirit’s power.

The Holy Spirit is the “person” of God, with whom we have intimate contact day-to-date, because He lives in us!  In Ephesians 5:18 the Apostle Paul tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which is a command, but it is in the passive voice, that means that we have to allow God to fill us.  Jesus told His disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit.  That means that we open ourselves (as an empty bottle) and ask God to fill us. Then He will give us His Spirit and we will have the power we need to live for Him 24/7 and tell others about Him.  Ask God to fill you with His Spirit EVERY day, and when you have received the Spirit’s power—tell someone about the greatness and love of God, and the new life He offers us!

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from either the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, © 2006 (after Dec. 2, 2007) or the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, © 1996 (before Dec. 2 2007). Both are used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189, All rights reserved. New Life Christian Ministries, Inc. holds CCLI Number 1966192.   Individual copyright information is provided for words of praise songs and hymns used in the Daily Bible Studies.

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