With You From the Beginning

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

John 15:26-27: [Jesus is saying,] "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning."

This week's blogs are about facing up to the challenges of being Christians in today's society. And our society today is anti-Church, anti-Christianity, and anti anything else that we stand for. And today we have the words of Jesus Himself that both equip us for the days ahead as well as encourage our faith with hope and strength to engage the world ahead. As we look at our verses today, let examine:

1. The Helper
2. Witness, and 
3. Jesus

The Helper:
I had the privilege of sharing time with a member of our congregation who went through some very tough challenges last week. He talked, and I listened. At that time, I considered myself a helper for him because he needed to share AND to know that he wasn't alone in this struggle. 

We cannot go it alone in this world. It will drive us crazy. We are designed to be in community. Especially for Christians, we are part of a community of believers in Jesus. And Jesus sent to us the Helper, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, to equip us from His Word with Jesus, to encourage our hope in the promise of God of life with Him and to be with us in our engaging the world. He is the...

Witness:
The Holy Spirit bears witness to us about Jesus and His life that He gave to us. Everything that the Holy Spirit tells us is directly from the Father. The Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus through the Word. And the Holy Spirit inspired men to write their witness, or testimony, about God and His action in the lives of His people. It is totally true and the written Word of God contains no error.

And the Holy Spirit continues to inspire us through the same Word to witness, or testify, all about Jesus and what He did. We are His witnesses to all that He did. We bear witness, or testify, because He was, and is, with us from the very beginning. Our task is to take to the world what the Holy Spirit is telling us about Jesus.

Jesus:
He is the center of everything. He is the life, salvation, and grace. Jesus is the one, the ONLY one, who forgave the sins of all mankind of every age. Jesus died to free man from sin and cleanse mankind from all unrighteousness. Jesus rose to bring life and immortality to light; to you. When you believe in Him, you have life.

And this life is a full and rich life. It is full of grace and truth. Jesus will confront you about your sin and sinfulness. Jesus points out our sins so that you will ask Him to forgive you. And when you confess your sins to God, He, who is faithful and just and right, WILL, AND DOES, forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. That is the sure and certain promise we have. Believe it. Share it.

Dear God, thank You for Jesus and thank You for the Holy Spirit. Through them, we have life and share that life with others.