The Helper Has Come: Loved, Adopted, and Never Left Alone

Hey, if you brought your Bible, would you get it out right now? We're going to get into this book because this is no ordinary book. It's God's word. This book speaks. It's alive. It's active. This book becomes your weapon when you put it in your heart. So, I'm going to ask you if you brought it today, wave it in the air like you care and keep it up there. Even if you didn't, I want you to participate. We're all going to shout word on the count of three. Here we go. 1 2 3. Word. Come on. We're getting into God's word. So, God's word will get into us. I like how you guys were holding it together. That's like a sword together. Come on. We are better together. Let's go. Hey, when I was uh younger, my kids were younger. I know, profound, right? Uh when I was younger, my kids were younger. And when I would come home from work, every single night when I came home from work, all three of my kids would scream, "Daddy!" And they would run to me almost like a puppy dog. When you come home, you know how loyal puppy dogs are, like it

doesn't matter who you are, where you've been, or what you've done, the dog is just going to greet you. Well, that's how my little kids used to be. I mean, they used to greet me at the door. I mean, it was absolutely awesome. Every day, it was as if I was gone for like months at a time. It's like, "Daddy's home." I mean, the whole atmosphere of our house would change because I came home. It's not like I I came bearing gifts or I I was doing anything differently. It was just that I was gone and now I was there. And all of a sudden, I would hug them and all of a sudden the rules changed in the house because dad's home. and and and just just my very presence of being homed changed our home. Uh and we all know who really holds the house together. It's the moms. But at the end of the day, the kids love seeing their daddies.

And today, my prayer for you is that you would have the same expectation of your heavenly father. that there would be some excitement, some zeal, some some expectation that just being in the presence of Aba, of your heavenly father is exciting. It changes things. If you're just joining us, we've been reading the book of John is it tells the life of Jesus and we're in the last hours of Jesus life. And what does he focus on? He's focusing on the father. That if you've seen Jesus, you've seen the father. And today we're going to learn that it's not just knowing Jesus. It's not just knowing the father. God actually gives us himself, the helper, the Holy Spirit. We see we have one God and three persons. The triune God, the father, the son, and the holy spirit. So I pray today you'll get a great revelation because when you understand

this, it changes you. And not just a little bit, it changes everything. You're willing to surrender your whole life to God. You're willing to be sold out. And I wonder what's stopping you from being completely sold out for Jesus. Use your imagination for a moment. What would it look like if you were fully surrendered to God? You can't even imagine it because now you've got the power of God to do what you could never do on your own. So today, with the help of God himself and the words of Jesus, we're going to see what that's going to look like because he's equipped us with everything to have a right view of God. And when you see him rightly, it will change everything. you see who you are because of who's you are. We're going to cover a lot of texts today. So, I need you to work with me and if if we work together, we're going to get all the way to the end of John chapter 14.

We're going to start with verse 15. If you would stand for the reading of God's word, I'll read the text to you and then we'll understand the application for our lives. Jesus is speaking in John 14:15 through31. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I

am in the Father and you in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not a scariot, said to him,"Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. And my father will love him, and he will come to him and make our home with him. And whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine, but the fathers who sent me. These things I've spoken to you while I am still with you. 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 have said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I am going away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I'm going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

Rise. Let us go from here. This is the word of the Lord. and you may be seated. So, let's set the stage. If you're just joining us, Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples. He He's just moments away from being betrayed. He's moments away from being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's just moments away from being beaten and even crucified. He knows this because, as he tells us earlier in the book of John, no one can take his life from him. He willingly lays down his life. And it's in these last moments that he lets us know not only who he is, but who the father is and who the Holy Spirit is as well. He lets us know that you do not have to do life alone. You do not have to earn the love of God. Nor do you deserve the love

of God. But when God just shows up, it changes everything. And Jesus shares with us the reality of what that looks like. Today, Jesus starts off and says in John 14:51, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Jesus doesn't separate the two. He doesn't say, well, if you keep my commandments, that's how you're going to love me. He says simply, if you know who I am, you will love me because God is love. So once you've been loved, you're going to love like Jesus. You're going to keep his commandments. Love is not proven by emotion, by what you feel. Love is proven by devotion, what you do. So it is what we do with God, we do with one another. So what are the commandments of God? Well, Jesus said something incredibly difficult in John

13:35 when he said, "A new commandment I give you? You shall love one another." Doesn't sound so hard until you see what he says next. You shall love one another as I have loved you. You shall love one another. Now, how did Jesus love us? Here's the commandment. Love one another as I have loved you, Jesus said. Well, he washed the feet of the disciples. That means he served people. He got down in the dirt even to his very betrayer. If we go to the book of Matthew and just see some of his teaching, he he says, "You've heard that it was said." And he's referencing the Ten Commandments that you find in the Torah, the Old Testament. You've heard that it was said, but he flips it upside down and he says, "You're taking this so literal, you're missing the heart behind the law.

It's not just about a list of dos and don'ts." And so he goes on to say that you ought to pray for your enemies. That's some hard stuff. And Jesus says, "If you love me, you're not going to live like the world. You're not just going to do a list of duties that you read in the law. You're going to live the law." And Jesus is the fullness of the law, the fullness of grace and truth. And now he lets us know something will be different with you when you decide to follow Jesus. You're no longer the same. All year we've been looking at this theme of love like Jesus, which sounds so great until you really understand what it looks like. That when you love like Jesus, it doesn't just speak. It doesn't just sing about this, but it actually is an action. It's something you do in your

life. You forgive other people, not because they've earned it, but because you've been forgiven. When you've been forgiven much, you love much. You not only forgive, you not only serve, but you give. For Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive. So when you take Jesus seriously, it seriously changes you. You're you're no longer the same person that you used to be. And the only way that you can love Jesus is if you've been loved by Jesus. I like the way that Paul prays for the church in Ephesians chapter 3. He's he's writing this letter to them. And right in the middle of the letter, he's praying. And then right in the middle of the prayer, he's he's reflecting on the love of God. And he says this, "So that you so that Christ may dwell in your

hearts through faith." That that's the ultimate goal is that you would believe in Jesus. That's faith. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. What happens when you put your faith in Jesus? You being rooted and grounded in love. Everyone shout love. Love. So, so when you believe in Jesus, when you have faith in Jesus, you're not rooted in religion. You're rooted in love. And when you're rooted and grounded in love, you may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints. God doesn't want a few of us to understand these things. This is not a holy huddle or the frozen chosen. God wants all of us to understand what is the breadth, what is the length, and what is the height, and what is the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Can we just stop there for a moment? You can't fully

experience God's love because it's wider and deeper and higher than you fully comprehend. God's love is so great that we could spend eternity experiencing it, and there's still more. This is the love that when you believe in Jesus, you're rooted in, you're grounded in, that you spend your life getting to know. This love that can't even be comprehended. Which means professors can't teach this. Philosophers can't philosophy about it. Politicians can't legislate this love. Doesn't matter what somebody says, it's found in Jesus. And this is the love that when you put your faith in Jesus and when you find this love, you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

You, little old you, would be filled with not some of God, all of God. So if you are loved by this God and he fills you, Jesus says in John 14:15, your response is you love him back. That's how you know you're loved by God. This is not a religious duty. This is devotion to a God that's loved me, so I love him. And now I'm going to do what he says to do. And the only way to do that is to stay close to Jesus. Jude puts it this way. Jude is a little teeny tiny book. It's the second to the last book of the Bible. And Jude says, "Keep yourselves in the love of God." Let me tell you,

you're not going to be able to keep the commandments of God unless you keep yourself in the love of God. Or else it becomes overwhelming. And John says in first John that the commandments of God are not burdensome. So, if anybody's here today and you hear commandments and you grew up in Catholic school and your hand was swapped, you know, swapped, swapped, slapped, if your hand was whipped uh by a sister or someone that made you feel guilty about not being good enough, that's not the commandments of God, right? There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So, you come as a hot mess. And here's what God's just asking you to do. receive my love and your response is I love you and I'm going to do what you tell me to do. You see, when when I came

home from work when I was younger and my kids were younger and they welcomed me and they said, "Daddy," none of my ca kids came to me with guilt and shame and said like, "Dad, we've got to tell you what we did today. I don't deserve your love, Dad." None of them came to me saying, "I don't deserve this, Daddy. That the roof you put over our head, the food you put on our table, like, daddy, what am I going to do?" No, my kids just wanted to be in my presence because they were my kids. And the the response to Jesus ought to be, I just want to do this because of who you are. And the key to keeping the commandments of Jesus is not you trying harder. He tells us the key to keeping his commandments and loving him. It's in verse 16. Don't miss this. It's not trying harder. It's [snorts] the helper.

And I, Jesus said, and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you. How long? Forever. Here's God's desire to have a relationship with you is that you get to spend time with him forever. He clarifies the Holy Spirit, the helper, even the spirit of truth. Remember when Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Now, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I I hope you can see this today that Jesus isn't asking you to come sing on Sundays. He's asking for your life on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and forever.

He's not asking you to look like a Christian or to call yourself a Christian. He's asking you to believe in him. And when you do, you have a God that helps you do what needs to be done. This this word helper is a really interesting one because the it's a Greek word as it was originally written and the Greek word for helper here is pericletus. And so as it is in the English language sometimes it's hard to translate another word into English. But that word paricletus is an awesome word. In fact sometimes you'll see in a different translation the word is not helper it's comforter. Or even in another translation you might actually find that word paricletus translated as a counselor. For the word paricletus means a helper, a comforter, a counselor, a defender, an advocate, a strengthener.

Don't think of a counselor as like a psychologist that's just going to listen to you and try to give you counselor. Think of it as a lawyer. That you just got the best lawyer you could ever hire and his name is the Holy Spirit. That's paricletus. That when you come before a judge and you're guilty, this helper is the one that says, "Keep your mouth shut. I will speak for you. I know you're guilt. Don't worry. I'm going to take care of this. So, the paricletus comes into your life and says, I'm going to be your counselor. I I'll comfort you. You're not going to have a guilty sentence here. I know where you're going to be forever. Just let me help you. So Jesus is essentially saying, "Don't worry. If I'm not here, you're going to have the best of the best, the very, very best." So, he didn't just promise

us comfort. He gave us a companion forever. He He didn't just tell them, "I want you to follow rules, my commandments." He says, "No, I want you to have a living relationship with the Holy Spirit." He didn't just give them work to do. He says, "I'm going to give you the power of my very presence to go do what I did. Now you go do." That's how you can do the greater works than these. It's not by yourself. It's through the helper, the Holy Spirit. I wish I just had one more than just one shout back. Come on, somebody. The helper is the spirit of truth and he's yours. And Jesus says the helper has come. We're not desperate. We're not in dire need. You don't need to go protest nothing because you got something in your heart. Somebody.

So when Jesus says, "I'm leaving." He says, "The Holy Spirit is staying." Which is the person of God. One God and three persons, not three gods. God is going to dwell in you. And what God is telling you today is, I don't want to come and rent a room in your heart. Just give me the whole house. He He's not saying, "I want to be a renter in your house. I want to be an owner." Because there's a big difference between a renter and an owner in the way that you think, the way that you live. He doesn't want to just visit you on Sundays. He wants to abide in you forever. So much so that some of you might be here today and say, "Well, pastor, this can sound good and it's a lot of hype." But let me just tell you, this is not

hype. This is hope. In the book of Romans, chapter 8, here's what the paricleas does. When you need help and you don't even know what to pray, and you will get to that point when you don't know what to pray. Likewise, the spirit, God himself, the spirit helps us in our weakness. He's the helper. Do you see this? When you don't know what to pray, the helper helps you. He's not a guilty God that says you don't know what to pray. Memorize these words. Say them 10 times over. He's He You don't have to have eloquent words. You don't have to have the right words. You don't have to have the right place in the right time. You just need the spirit of God. And he's going to help you in your weakness. For we do not know

what to pray for as we ought to. But the Spirit himself, he'll intercede for us with groanings too deep for words. So when you're weak, Holy Spirit strengthens you. When you're broken, he comforts you. When you're confused, he doesn't leave you. He's going to guide you. The helper is here. Jesus finds this so important for you to see this because if you don't have a revelation of this, you won't believe this and you won't act like a child of God. And so here's what Jesus says in the next verse 18. He says, "I will not leave you as orphans." This is so important. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet

a little while the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. Can I just take a timeout? If we really believe this, we're going to understand this. You can't die. The message of Jesus is so dramatically different than the message of this world because the message of this world is say says fear death. So, so billionaires will try to extend life because they don't want to die. But Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will not die. He will live. Jesus is the only person, if you want to look at religions, he's the only one that walked towards death because he knew that the resurrection could not happen without death. So here he lets us know in the last hours he's telling us

to cling to him and hold on to the promise of the Holy Spirit because in that day you will know that I am in the father and you in me and I in you. So just as Jesus was unified perfectly with the father, he's saying we're we're going to be good. that no matter what you face, just like no matter what I face, we're going to be good because whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will I will love him and manifest myself to him. Manifest is to reveal. So the more you stay close to Jesus, the more you're going to get to see Jesus and what God's able to do. There's a great psalm. It's one of my favorites. It's also one of the longest. Psalm 119 where every single psalm reflects on the commandments of God. How they're sweet to the soul. They're not sour or bitter.

That the commandments of God, they're they're like a lamp to your feet, a light for your path. How could a young man keep his way pure? Hiding the commandments of God in his heart. And we see that God's commandments aren't there just to tell us what to do or not to do. They're actually there so that we can experience life. And as Jesus told us, the devil is a thief and he wants to steal, kill, and destroy. But he came that you might have life and have it abundantly. And this this is no small promise here. The the indwelling of the helper allows you to know who you are. That you're no longer an orphan. You are a child of God. And when you get this, you you got to recognize this. This is not temporary. You are permanent residence for God in your life. What the Bible says is you are a temple of the Holy Spirit.

God wants to live in you. He wants to manifest himself through you. You see, in the days of old, they would have to travel to a temple because they wanted to encounter a living God. And the only person that can go in there is the high priest once a year. But now God says there's no more need to travel to a temple. I want to manifest in you not once a year, not through a high priest, but now you are the temple of the living God. And when God dwells in you, the residence of God is inside of you, which means that when something else wants to live inside of you, you got to tell it there's no room for you. That's right. So when fear moves in and says, "Hey, can we just hang out again? It's been a while. Can we can we hang out?" Well, the Bible says perfect love drives out fear. I'm going to hold on to what the Holy Spirit says. When depression comes and darkness comes, cuz come on, somebody starting to get cold and

gloomy. It's going to get darker earlier. Then we got to simply just like the psalmist says, "Why are you downcast on my soul?" And you preach back to yourself what the Holy Spirit says. No, you put your hope in God. I know where my hope is. My My hope is not in the weather or what I see outside. My hope is inside of me. He lives inside of me. So I simply got to say when when I'm not sure where I'm going to get my next meal or my next paycheck, I got to keep coming back to I am not an orphan any longer. So, I'm not going to think like an orphan. I'm not going to act like an orphan. I'm not going to live like an orphan anymore. I'm a child of God. I have a great inheritance. Everything is his. So, it changes everything. Too many of us are still living like

orphans. And Jesus is telling us, "Quit acting like orphans. I'm not leaving you as an orphan." John 14:18, "I will not leave you as an orphan." Jesus is declaring over every believer in him your new identity. And what the enemy would like to do is to try to get you to feel like an orphan still. And if you feel like an orphan, you you will not live like a child of God. What will begin to happen is an orphan has to work to try to be loved because they want someone to adopt them. An orphan fears rejection because their parents have abandoned them or or or passed away. An orphan is is someone that that feels like they have the need to kind of long for something they don't have. But a child of God says, "I have everything I need in my heavenly father."

But lest we think that any of us will get it. I'm so grateful that God's word is real. Aren't you? Because at the end of John 13, it was Peter that says, "Oh, I will die for you, Jesus." And Jesus like, "This is going to be the worst night of your life, Peter. you're about to deny me three times before tomorrow morning when the rooster crows. And then Jesus lifts their head up high to the hope of a heavenly home and he says, "I'm going to prepare a place for you in my father's house." And Thomas is over here like, "Well, where is it?" And then as Jesus explains these things, he says, "Oh, you still don't get it because if you see me, you've seen the father." And Philip's like, "Just show us the father and it's enough." So, you've got Peter and Thomas and Philillip and then now you've got Judas.

And John really wants you to know this is not the betrayer Judas. This is this is not Judas's scary. There was two Judas's on the team. Just like in this room there probably two Toms or uh two Steves or uh two Georgees or you know it's a familiar name at the time. Ain't nobody naming their kid Judas anymore though. But this is this is not the Judas that was dark that stepped into the dark that we read earlier. Judas, not a scariot. This is Judas the son of James. He said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not the world? Why would you reveal yourself to us?" And earlier, if you remember in verse 17, he says, "The world will not get this. They cannot understand this." Jesus is letting us know that this is a God thing. Don't expect someone who has not believed in Jesus to understand the power of the Holy Spirit. Not everyone will

understand your fire. They can't comprehend your worship because they haven't comprehended Jesus. So Jesus is letting us know that there will come a time where the world will be confused by what you have. They will call you a crazy fanatic and you say, "No, no, I'm just spiritfilled." They will call you emotional. You say, "No, no, no. I'm just anointed." They will say that you're losing the things of this world and you say, "This isn't my home. I've got a heavenly perspective." Hallelujah. It's really important that we understand this that the world cannot fully comprehend this. But why in the world did Judas not get it? Why did Philip not get it? Why did Thomas not get it? Why did Peter not get it? Because just like us, this life is a journey. You don't just come to church and you got it all figured out in one day. We've got a God of grace who walks with us on this journey. And at the time of this writing, they were look looking for a

conquering king. The Roman Empire was ruling the world. And here Jesus is they've devoted their lives, the 12 disciples for three years to the Messiah, the Hamashiach. And they believe the Messiah was going to save the world because that's what the promise of scripture says. So if you're going to save the world, doesn't the world need to know who you are? How are you going to overcome the Roman Empire if the world doesn't know who you are? We need someone greater than Caesar. But what they didn't realize is that's politics. Those are the things of this world. And Jesus came to bring a kingdom that does not last for four years, but he came to give us something even greater, namely himself inside of you. So, so when the world says, "Well, well, calm down about your Jesus thing," the spirit's going to say, "No, no, rise up."

When the world says it's over, unless I think that I'm a better than anyone else, I remember many times in my life where I've said it's over. Did y'all forget the pandemic? or the last election or the election before that. There's there's always a reason that the world will say that this is over. But when we believe in Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit so we always have hope. And so we simply say that even if it looks like it's over, no, this is just the beginning. You see ashes, well, God says, "I'm going to bring beauty from the ashes." You might be mourning right now, but don't worry. Joyy's coming tomorrow. His mercies are new every morning. You might have made a mistake today, but my my my M me M me M me M me M me M M me M me M me M me Mess messiah does not run out of mercy he's going to give you the grace you need to be strong so here we have in a

small time frame Peter Thomas Judas all missing it and Jesus answered him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and he will come to him and make our home with him don't miss what Jesus is prioritizing here if your hope is not in a heavenly home, you will constantly think that this world will give you what only God can give you. You will never be fully satisfied. The world's ways are very contrary to the kingdom of God. So Jesus is prioritizing your place and he's saying the Holy Spirit's going to help you with this so that God can father you well so that you can see what God's only able to do. And Jesus lived a perfect life so that you can keep turning to him. This

is the love of God. Verse 24, "Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father who sent me." Jesus is teaching us a relationship with the Holy Spirit is God fathering us to do what the Father says to do. That his ways are higher than our ways. They're better than our ways. So Jesus says in verse 25, "These things I've spoken to you while I'm with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all these things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. So the life of loving Jesus is letting the Holy Spirit speak to you. And then you have to be open to listen.

You have to let the helper help you. Be your defender, your advocate, your counselor. Here, here's why you need the Holy Spirit. In Romans chapter 8, chap chapter 8 verse1 15, Paul is writing and he says this, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear." This is big. God doesn't give you the Holy Spirit so you can go back to your old ways. Fear in some sense is faith, but it's in the wrong thing. It's in what could happen, what's going to happen. It's role playinging a reality that hasn't happened yet. Fear will always fight for a space in your heart that should only belong to your heavenly father to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you, not the ways of this world.

You see, faith every single time will say God can. But fear will say, well, what if he doesn't? See, fear is going to say this could happen. And faith says, even if it does happen, I'm not giving up on God. I don't know why we think somehow that suffering can't happen, that something wrong can happen. Because listen to what he continues to say. Because if you have the Holy Spirit, it's not a spirit of slavery that's going to keep going back to fear, which is going to stop you from the future God has for you. But here's what you do have. You have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, "Aba, Father." That word aba, when you see the Hebrew culture today, the Jewish culture, when you go to Israel, children still call their dads aba.

It's often translated in English as daddy, but it doesn't even do it justice because abba means you're the one I obey. Have you ever seen a little child uh go up to a grown man and hug his leg and then he looks up and realizes it's not his daddy and he runs away? That's the reality. You're not my Abba. My Aba keeps me safe. If my Aba says come, I come. If my Abba says do this, I do this. So Aba is not just this this translated word daddy. It actually is an intimate relationship that if my dad says for me to do something, I'm going to do it because the truth is I know what will happen if I don't. I've done it before. And if he disciplines me, it's not because he's a mean Aba. It's not because he's a bad

Aba. No, I've grown up to learn that he actually knows what he's doing. So when I received the Holy Spirit in my heart, I keep coming back and say, "Daddy, here's the truth. I screwed up. I need your help. My little girl the other night was at a football game and she took my car and when the football game was over she went to get in the car but the key fob was dead and everyone had already left and she was out in the dark in the freezing cold all alone. Who do you think she called first? Her mom. No, no, no. Ellie, did you call me first? Where's she uh Did you call me first, girl? She called me first,

but it didn't answer because my phone goes on do not disturb after 9:45. And so she called her mama next. And I heard the mom's phone ringing, but mom's asleep. So I went to check who's calling her after uh after 10:00. And I went and looked and it was my daughter and I answered and she let me know, "Dad, I need you. I need you to come do what I can't do on my own. I don't know what to do right now. I'm stuck. I need you. It's Abba is what the Holy Spirit call you. Call him when you need help. He's not gonna be like, "You figure this one out on your own child." He's gonna help you. The spirit himself, look at verse 16. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that you are a child of God. You're not an orphan. God brought you here to tell you, you don't have an orphan spirit. You believe in Jesus. You have a child of God's spirit inside of you. And if you're a child of God, then you're heirs. Heirs of God.

Fellows with Christ. provided we also come on get this now we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. So suffering is not the absence of God. It's the opportunity to experience the fullness of God so that we trust in him even if our keep fog goes bad. I don't give up on my daddy. I call him. I keep coming back to him. I turn to him. I want more of him. I got to recognize that when I have a need, he can provide all of my needs according to his glory. There's nothing that he can't do. So fear is faith in the wrong way. I'm not turning to God. I'm turning to my old ways. Faith says God can and he will. Look what Jesus says in verse 27. Peace I leave with you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not

your hearts be troubled, neither let them be what? Afraid. So here's the good news of Jesus. He gives you a peace that stays. There's not much in this world that stays. You're going to need new cell phone in two years. You're probably going to need new tires soon. There's a lot of things in this world that you're going to constantly need something new of. What you'll never need more of is peace. And can I tell you why? Because the prophet Isaiah says that the Messiah will be the prince of peace. So therefore, this peace is not based on my circumstances or the things that I go through. This peace is based on the presence of God. And Jesus ascended into heaven. So that when we believe in him, we get his very spirit, the helper, the Holy Spirit inside of us. And this is a peace that he leaves

with you. This is not like the peace of the world because if you Google right now definition for peace, it will probably say something like the absence of war, the absence of conflict. But the peace Jesus gives you is a peace through conflict, peace through war. You might still experience a storm of life. the this peace walks on the very water of waves that are crushing on you. This peace meets you in the storm. So Jesus says this is integral because there will come a time that you will be troubled and you will be afraid. And Jesus says remember I gave you my peace which is a person. Fear says that I can't follow you Jesus. Faith says I obey you. Even if I don't feel it, even if I don't see it, I'm still going to believe you, Daddy. I don't know what's happening, but you're

my father. You said it, so I believe it, and I'm turning to you. Fear is the thief that's going to rob you of peace. But when I have Jesus, he leaves it. He gives it, and he's not going to take it back. Even if I go through the storm. [applause] So today, when Jesus says, "If you love me, you're going to keep my commandments, and I'm going to give you a helper." He's here so that instead of anxiety, instead of fear, you have peace. Philippians 4:6 and 7. Do not be anxious about what? Anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. The author here is saying, "Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, and start thanking God because he can and he will do it." And when you do

that, verse seven, the peace of God, now we know what that peace is because Jesus said, "I'm going to give you that peace. The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." That word guard is the same word that we have in English for umpire. If you take the Greek to the Latin to the English, it is umpire. This is the one that's going to tell you what the decision is. So when you have the piece of Jesus in your heart, it's going to tell you whether or not you should listen to the lie or the truth. It's like when the umpire says ball or strike, it doesn't matter if everyone argues. If the umpire says it, you got to go with what the umpire says. Now, if you have peace in your life and the enemy starts accusing you, you know what the truth is and what the truth isn't. Because I've got peace that

guards my heart, it protects me, it defends me because he is my paricletus. I've got a really good lawyer and the Holy Spirit. So, I know that whatever I face, there might be a sea in front of me, but my God can split the sea. I might be in the middle of a storm, but my God can walk on that water. There's nothing my God can't do. So, when fear shouts at you, just listen to that whisper of peace that's telling you it's going to be okay. And you pray and you pray and you pray. Let me wrap this up for the sake of time. Verse 28. You have heard me say that I'm going away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I'm going to the father for the father is greater than I. When I read that last statement, for the father is greater than I, it messed with my theology for just about a second. And uh when I studied this more and I I brought in the

staff and I asked them about this meaning because you'll find cults, false religions will actually twist this and say, "See, Jesus isn't as great as the father." But you need to remember Jesus is God, but he's also fully man. So being fully man, he subjected himself to the father in full obedience. So we see just because you're obedient and you allow someone to be greater than I, it doesn't mean that you're less valued. Let me give a couple of real examples that God gave in the family context. The Bible says that the husband is the head of the household. The husband is to be the head of the wife. That does not mean that the wife is any less valued than the husband. It means that the husband has a role and the wife has a role. And that's really important because the perverseness of the world says, "Oh, the you're degrading women. You're not letting them be valued." And that's that's not true. Well, it's true because

God says it. And it doesn't mean that the husband can be abusive to the wife. It means that he ought to lead in such a great way that the wife says he's greater than I. And when the world sees us in a right relationship, we will see that she is no less valued. She is of equal value. Let me give you another example because some of you are staring at me blankly. the example of a of a child and a parent. The Bible says that children must honor their parents. Another thing the Bible says is children must obey their parents. That does not mean in the Bible that children are any less valued. It just means they are the parents are greater than. Now, what does that look like in relationship of of right relationship uh with each other? It means it's a mutual submission in the understanding of the roles, the father, the son, and the holy spirit. And Jesus

is just simply saying, if you have seen me, you've seen how great the father is. We work in perfect unity. I I want the father to be glorified. And the only way it's going to happen is if you believe in me because the father gave the son and now you have the helper, the holy spirit. And it changes everything. The last verse I want to leave you with today is the last words of Jesus. They go from the upper room. Jesus says, "Rise. Let us go from here." Here's one thing I've learned with with with with the Lord. He'll never leave you where you are ever. He's constantly telling you to rise and go where I want you to be. Now, we know in this context they're going to they're going to go on a journey to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, but you often don't know where God's taken you. but the commandment of God over and over. Matthew 28,

Jesus said, "Go," which is a verb. As you're going, make disciples of all the nations. And now Jesus in this context, he's he's left us with the love of the father. He said, "If you love me, you're going to do what I tell you to do, my commandments, but don't do it alone. Do it with the help of the Holy Spirit. And by the way, here's my peace. Exchange it for that anxiety that you're carrying." And then he says, "Rise. Let's go, church." I believe Jesus is saying that to us today. You're about to get out of your seats. And I would just tell you the words of Jesus. Rise and go. Take the word of God with the help of the Holy Spirit and live this out in your life. You're not to live like orphans. You're not to live as if somehow you don't have everything you need to accomplish what God wants for you. Do you have financial need? Go to your daddy. You have some health needs, go to the help of the Holy Spirit who is still a great physician.

You have some reconciliation needs with your kids, with your spouse, with somebody in your life. Oh, let me tell you, he'll give you the spirit of reconciliation. Somebody's here today and says, "I don't know what to pray." Go back to Romans 8. That's okay. Let the Holy Spirit do some work in you. And if all you do is groan, weep, and some words come out that really don't have articulation, that's the Holy Spirit. Nothing to be ashamed of. You no longer are to live empty lives. You are to be lived with filling of the Holy Spirit. Because love obeys. Because we love Jesus. We obey. We allow God to help us. Then peace abides in us. Can anybody use some peace today? If your neighbor didn't raise your hand, just slap them a little bit. You need some peace. You need some peace. There's there's some hurt in the room.

And I know the helper that can help you in your hurt. Suffering is not the absence of God. So today, Jesus has given us his word. I want just ask you in the seriousness of this moment if you just close your eyes. As you close your eyes, may I just encourage you for just a moment, would you not get up? I know we've been here for for quite a while. This is going to be short. I'm just going to ask you for just two or three minutes. Can you stay right where you are? Because this is the seriousness of salvation in this moment. It's just going to be two or three minutes. And I want to ask those who have never believed in Jesus, if today you want to do this, this is your invitation. You do not know if you have tomorrow. Yesterday is gone, but you have this moment. So if you need salvation, this is your moment. The Bible says you just have to believe in your heart that Jesus did die for your sins. In short, that means you're forgiven. And Jesus rose from the grave on the third day, which means this. The same power that rose

Jesus from the grave is the same helper you get in your heart. So if you need that today, you need help of the Holy Spirit. God does more than that. He gives you the gift of eternal life. You'll never be separated from him. If you want that today and you want to believe in Jesus for the first time or you want to be forgiven, you want to be given hope and peace today, would you just raise your hand and open up your eyes and wave to me with your hands? All the other eyes are closed. But praise God, I see you. The Bible says there's so much joy in heaven right now because you just said yes. That word is repent. You've changed your thinking. You're going to keep doing that from this day forward. That little booklet just gives you next steps. God's not going to leave you where you are. You're going to keep you're going to keep growing. You're going to do more than you ever imagined. Praise be to God. I I want to just tell you too that the devil's been trying to hold you back because he knows the influence that God can do in your life.

God's grace is so great. He's going to change everything. If you've ever had issues that you don't like, he's going to change them. But rely on the Holy Spirit. And it'll be hard. So, you got to die of your flesh. Be filled with the spirit. Praise be to God. Anyone else? Raise your hand. Wave at me. I want to see who's making that decision today. Praise be to God. Raise your hand high. This this is your moment. I don't want to force you. I don't want to manipulate you, but this is so important. It changes everything. Oh, praise God. Yes, yes, yes. I see both of you back there. Praise God. You might have been sitting in the back of church today, but I'll tell you, in God's heart, you're right in the front. He loves you. He's been thinking of you. He's been calling out your name. He He not only knows you by name, he gives you a new name.

I don't know what you think of yourself, but God thinks very highly of you, sir. Thinks more highly of you than anybody else. He loves you more than anyone else. That love's going to shape and change you. Keep coming back to that love. Praise be to God. Anyone else today? I love seeing men saying yes to Jesus changes everything. Any ladies in the house that say, "I'm tired of living a lonely life, empty life." Live a life with Jesus today. This is your day. Praise be [music] to God. You're never too old. You're never too young. You've never sinned so greatly, he won't forgive you. This is the day of salvation. Don't miss it. For all those who have believed in Jesus and you have the help of the Holy Spirit, can we pray together with those who are

making that bold step? We got a hand over here. Praise be to God. Amen. Amen. I see your hand. Oh, you're so beautiful. You're the young lady that God put on my heart. Come on, somebody. From this day forward, God's always with you. No matter what happens in your family, you've got a greater family in Jesus. A heavenly father who loves you. Let's pray together out loud. Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I trust you. I trust you. Fill me with your spirit. Help me love you. Help me love you. Help me follow your commandments. Help me live in peace. For you are peace. For you are peace. In Jesus name. in Jesus name. Just in the in the posture of prayer, if I could just pray over you before we leave today. Lord, [music] I thank you for your church that God, we are your bride and you love

us so deeply. And just like Jesus, you said that the father is greater as a church. I just want to just be in unity. Say you're so much greater. If we are the bride and you are the groom, we just come under your submission. We say, Lord, you're great. You've loved us well. I ask that you continue the work that you've begun today and you do even greater things than these. Lord, equip us with the anointing of your Holy Spirit that we would see Central Oregon saved. Oh God, we lift up our state and even our nation and we say, Lord, just remove all the political division and and all the the issues that we have in our day and let us keep our eyes on you. May we pray to you and humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways and we declare healing over our land in Jesus name. You are the God that's able. So we

trust in you and your word in Jesus name. Amen.