Over the last couple of years, you might have seen this across many businesses, but it seems like a lot of places are short staffed and so you walk into a business or a restaurant or store and you'll see a sign of some version of the sign that just simply says help needed. And the reason they have that sign help needed is because they don't have enough manpower to complete the job that they're responsible for and so they can't get it all done. And when I see those signs, I think about the fact that in the christian life that every single one of us really is walking around life with that sign help needed is because there's no way for us to live and to do what God has called us to within our own strength. In fact, it really is impossible. It is, it is so difficult that we cannot do it. But we are in week two of our series called The Upper Room where we are focusing in on the last conversation jesus had with his disciples before he would be arrested and ultimately crucified on the cross. And what's interesting is that the writer of the Gospel of john devoted about 25% of his book of the Gospel account To this one conversation on one night, it says in the Gospel of john that he wrote the book for the purpose of helping people believe that jesus is the son of God And that he is lord and that through believing in him, you may have life. And so John could have written about a lot of different things. So why did he choose to take 25% of his book and focus not just on the scope of his life, but on one conversation or a series of conversations that took place over a couple hours on one night, I believe he did. So for two reasons, number one Jesus knew the end was near for his earthly ministry and when you know the hour has come, when you know the end is near and you're surrounded with the ones you love, you share your heart. And so in these words, we hear the heart of jesus And then number two, I think John spent so much time in this conversation because this conversation radically transformed his life, the life of the disciples and really launched the movement of the church when you take this conversation and you match it with what Jesus would do that weekend, which was to die on the cross and then to rise again on the third day, I think it gave so much weight into the life of john that when he gets to the end of his life and he is writing this gospel, it's the last gospel account that they have, they have Matthew mark and luke seen as the synoptic gospels. And so john comes in and kind of fills in the gaps a little bit and he says, no, you've got to get this, you've got to hear this, you gotta see what jesus did, you gotta hear what Jesus said. And so it changed my life and I believe this idea that if it can change his life, it can change our lives. And so we're spending these weeks leading up to easter and what's known as the upper room discourse. And so today we pick it up in john chapter 14, Now in John 13, last week's message, we saw that Jesus didn't seek a title, but instead grabbed a towel and that most people when they are given power, use it for selfish gains. But instead Jesus took on the form of a servant and he washed the feet of his disciples and and told them to love one and serve one another and that through their love of one another, the world will know that they are connected to him. And then he says in there that I'm gonna be going away, I'm leaving. Now this put the disciples in an anxious spot because in verse 36, Peter responds because Lord, where are you going? He was a fisherman, He left everything to follow jesus follows jesus for three years. So all these crazy miracles and so all these sermons and messages and and healings and the feeding of the 5000 and the walking on the water and the, and he enters Jerusalem on a donkey and everyone's shouting, Hosanna and the king is here and the king of kings and they're praising him and in this final meal, they don't realize that it's the final meal, but jesus does and he says, hey, I want you to know I'm leaving and the disciples like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second, you're the whole reason we're in this thing, what are we supposed to do? And so then in John 14, he started to offer them assurance and share with them promises And we're gonna focus on the later part of Chapter 14, but let's give a little runway and lead up to what is it? In fact that jesus promised the disciples, if you picture like the community pool that's got the diving board on it, that you have the long diving board and you start back and then you kind of run up and then jump into the water. So we want to do is just take a few minutes and just give you that diving board that lead up to where we're gonna dive into the water today. And Jesus there in 14 1 Promises a couple of things in verse one, he promises them. The person in other words himself, he says, don't don't be anxious, don't let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. What's interesting there is by saying that he is equating himself with God, which is the very reason that he was killed. So he's not just a good teacher, he's not just a nice guy, he was someone who claimed to be God and saying believe in God, but believe also in me this is not some theoretical idea, this is not just some concept, but it's the person, jesus christ. Then he goes on verse two and he says, I am going to prepare a place for you. So there's the promise of the person and then there's a promise of the place, You know, what's amazing to think about is that God created the entire universe and the Galaxies that we know today in six days With the 7th day of rest. So imagine what he could do with an eternity. He's saying, you have me and I'm going to be preparing a place and then the disciples are excited. And so they're like, well this sounds awesome, jesus and thomas goes, will show us the way how are we gonna know how to get there? There's no google maps for that place that you describe. And then there's a famous verse in 146 in which Jesus says for I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me. This means that Jesus promised the path of how to get there. And so he's saying no, it's it's through me, I'm the path, the way the truth. I want you to hang on to that word truth. You're gonna see that pop up later in the message, but this idea of of coming to jesus alone and then Philip is saying, well you're talking about going to the heavenly father, just show us the father and jesus, well it's not doesn't work that way, but don't worry because I'm going to give you a purpose, that's the next promise. And he says not only will you be able to do what I'm doing, but you will actually do greater things then I what? That's got to be crazy to the disciples, right? Like how are you gonna out, jesus, jesus like he's walking on water, he's raising the dead, he's feeding the thousands and so greater is not in proportion to quality. Like I'm going to raise someone even more from the dead, like it doesn't work that way, but instead it's more of greater in quantity. So Jesus Earthly Ministry was restricted to a relatively small geographical area for about three years and ended with about 120 disciples or 120 followers. Well, in acts two Peter preaches a sermon and boom, 3000 people are added to the church And here, we are 2000 years later and there are millions, if not billions of people who have heard the name of jesus. And so this greater than ministry and purpose is actually lived out and should be encouraging for you and for me because what this means is that jesus isn't just preparing a place for us. And so the purpose of being a christian is not just simply waiting until death, but rather he gives us purpose and meaning right now and then he goes on and says, not only are gonna be able to do greater things that you will actually have answered prayers. That if you ask anything in my name, father will give it to you as it glorifies me. Now. That phrase of praying in his name is important because one, it also points to the fact that he is God, But two, it gives a guarantee and a limitation to our prayer life. It is a guarantee because if you pray in the name of the Father or in the name of jesus and when you pray in the name of who God is for what God wants, you're gonna see answers to prayer. But it is a limitation because he's not saying a prayer is for our needs and our wants and our desires. He's not saying prayer is like a genie in a bottle and just make a wish and it's gonna happen. It's it's a limitation because our prayers are not focused on us, but focused on him and all these things sound great, but they also seem really overwhelming. And so where he spends the rest of Chapter 14, which is where we're gonna jump in today, is that jesus promises them the power to make this happen and if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down is that you cannot and will not live the christian life apart from the Holy Spirit, you cannot and will not live the christian life apart from the Holy Spirit. Now, grammatically speaking, you know you have the word apart and then you have two words a part very different meanings Apart. one word means separation from in other words it is impossible for us to to do the things of God apart from this power. I love action movies, I love the Mission Impossible movies. I think there's like six of them out. Uh and there's actually two more slated. So there's gonna be two more Mission impossible movies coming out in 2023 24 And with Tom Cruise one, I don't know how Tom Cruise is still going like the the problems change like is he fighting with a walker next round? I don't know. Um you know, does he get a senior discount at this point? I don't know. But the fact that there's going to be movie seven and eight at some point, I feel like the mission has become possible right? Like impossible odds. But again and again and again, well here's the thing in the christian life, it literally is impossible for us to do the things God has called us to do and to become who God has called us to be apart from the spirit, there is no way we have no chance. You can try Over the last 20 years there's been this terminology that's been thrown around to describe really, especially in America but in Western thought where we try to live a religious life but without the power of God. And it's called therapeutic or moralistic, therapeutic, therapeutic deism. And so moralistic meaning that you want to live a good life, just be a nice person, therapeutic meaning that like better ourselves a self help section in Barnes and noble kind of thing. And then deism meaning that there is a god but he's relatively absent from our everyday life and that if you just are a nice person and you work really hard that at some point that's gonna be enough. The problem is it's not enough because either we find ourselves falling short of our own expectations or the expectations of others and we struggle or we meet those expectations. We get the promotion, we get the job, the house, the car, the boyfriend, the girlfriend, the spouse, the kids that we think we need. And then we realize that's not enough. So the one thing you cannot live without in the christian life is the very power of the holy spirit that you cannot live this life without him. And yet for some reason we try. Yeah, yeah, yeah. God you you died for us and rose again and defeated death as we know it and created all of the universe. But I got it. I got it. Look what I can do, jesus ready. Here we go. And it's like no it's it's the very Spirit of God that gives us the power to do anything, writer Andreas costin burger, put it this way, he said the primary role of the Holy Spirit is that is that of the substitute presence for jesus. The Holy Spirit is not an it or an abstract thing, it is the person of God is the person of God who empowers our everyday lives in the old testament, prophets like moses and Elijah had the Spirit of God on them in the gospels, we hear about how Jesus was with the disciples, but what he's saying to the disciples in this final conversation before he's arrested and then crucified says, hey do not worry, I'm not gonna leave you as orphans, I'm gonna send someone to help you. In fact he's gonna help you, it's gonna be to your benefit that I'm going away because if I don't go away, he's not coming. And so it's not gonna be the Spirit of God on you? It's not gonna be me being with you, but instead it's gonna be the Holy Spirit in you. And so how does the Holy Spirit work in the life of a believer in the life of the christian? Well let's look at the very words of jesus and he shares From his words five rolls of the Holy Spirit in our lives number one, the Holy Spirit advocates for us. The Holy Spirit is described as an advocate, John 1416-20 says this and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper. That word helper. It comes from a greek word, Paraclete lactose and it's only used about five or so times and it's used in the Gospel of john. And in first john and it's only used to describe the Holy Spirit. And that word literally means called alongside to help or to assist. That's why it's oftentimes translated as helper. Other translations, you see the word advocate or you see the word comforter, counselor is someone to fight for you. Having gone through some experiences in the foster care adoption world. There are positions are people that are called child advocates. Why do those positions exist? Well? Because the child, it doesn't have the ability to fight for him or herself. And so there's somebody that comes in, somebody that has authority. Someone who has ability to fight for that person where it's awesome for us is that the Holy Spirit fights our battles. That the Holy Spirit is an advocate for us and an active advocate for you and for me. And so this first here continues another helper to be with you forever. Even see that word truth. The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him for 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 before long. The world will not see me anymore. But you will see me because I live. You also live and on that day you will realize that I am in the father and you are in me and I am in you. This is important because the christian life in eternity and eternal life and abundant life doesn't begin the moment you die, but the moment you meet jesus that the goal of the christian faith is not to just sit around and twiddle our thumbs and wait to maybe one day sit on a nice cloud and play a harp. It doesn't work like that, that we're not just praying for us to go to heaven. We're praying for heaven to come down. That's why the Lord's prayer. We pray Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done. That the Holy Spirit gives us access to God right now. That the Holy Spirit is a helper of the same kind of the same authority as jesus christ himself that is able to dwell in you. And so we see this power that comes and yet we are limited. Mhm. By what our fears, our circumstances, our addictions, not when you have the Holy Spirit fighting for you in you, mission impossible now becomes mission unstoppable and the same power that would raise jesus from the dead is now available to you and in you and he is your helper and he's your advocate. He is active Number two with the Holy Spirit teachers. The Holy Spirit teaches. He continues on There in verse 25 of Chapter 14 and Jesus is speaking and he says these things that I have spoken to you while I'm still with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in, my name 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. I want you to notice the connection between teaching truth and then peace because I don't give as the world gives. Well, well, how does the world give? What is the world's version of peace? It usually comes in one of these three forms. No one the world says, hey, ignorance, ignorance is bliss. If you don't know, don't care. That's not actual piece. Yes, I don't need to know all things. But just ignoring something doesn't is not genuine peace. It is not lasting meaningful piece. 2nd, the world offers apathy. Well, just don't care about it. Well, that's not lasting peace either. You can't just sit there with the weight of the world going or whatever. You might display that at church. You might display that to your friends or family members or your coworkers. How are you doing fine? Fine. I'm fine. But yet you find yourself up at night, you find this internal wrestling match in your head and in your heart, why? Because that's not going to give you lasting peace. You can't you know, it's almost like if you picture like there's this heavyweight that just gets handed to you and you're holding this weight and maybe it's not even heavy and you're holding it, but you can't let it down, right? Even a small weight, if you just hang on to this thing at some point, you're like, man, my arms are exhausted. The world doesn't give you anywhere to put it. So it's not ignorance, it's not apathy. Or maybe the world says we'll just be self reliant. Just gut it out. Okay, well I okay, I'm hanging on I guess I got this weight, but after a while it wears on you and it's heavy what jesus does through the power of the Holy Spirit, what he's doing to offer you peace. He says, here, give it to me. So yes, a weight comes into your life await comes something unexpected in your life and you're hanging into this. But you you you don't have to hang on to it by yourself. You can give it to someone who was strong enough to hold the weight of the sins of the world. It says give it to me. And so the spirit teaches us the truth. It is the spirit of truth, telling us about jesus, Who is the truth in the Word of truth. Second timothy 27 talks about how the Lord will give you insight when you have if you read something over and over and then you have the lightbulb moment. What is that? That's the spirit of God Romans 12 1 and two no longer be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind and then you will be able to test and see and know what is the will of God. It is the Spirit of God teaching you the word of God so that you can have the peace of God. You see that you have the Spirit of God teaching you the word of God so that you can have the peace of God and God gives peace, not like the world gifts, it doesn't change your circumstance necessarily, but it gives you something to hold onto. You're not holding onto the worry anymore, You're holding on to the God who loves you. And that's why in Philippians four talks about praying for peace beyond understanding or a piece that can guard your heart, because the spirit of God will never contradict the word of God. The spirit of God is never going to lead you down into temptation, temptation because the spirit is one of truth. And so if you're worried about what you do know, you can have peace or if you're worried about what you don't know, you can have peace and what you do know and so you can say God, I have all this weight, I have all these worries, I have all the struggles. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what happens in the world. I don't know what happens to this, but my peace does not come from my social media. My peace does not come from a news channel. My peace comes from the God whose sustaining and holding me in the spirit that's within me. So the Holy Spirit advocates the Holy Spirit teaches and then third, the Holy Spirit bears witness mm bears witness. It tells us the story of jesus And John 15, Jesus is speaking to the disciples in the same conversation here and it says, 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. So here's how this works. The Spirit of God through a person of God bears witness to you. And then this and then that moves you and then you now tell others about it. You cannot do anything apart from the Spirit. It says in the scriptures that we are dead to sin, that we were dead in our trespasses, but made alive together in christ like if we took this whole sound system right now and the lights and everything in the chairs and we went out to a cemetery, it would not matter our strategy that if I, if I speak louder, if I say more eloquently where it's like I'm not gonna make someone who was dead come alive. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, only the Holy Spirit can draw someone. And when it does, it changes you every single testimony that I've ever heard involve someone. Not just something, there's a common phrase that's quoted around christian circles that says share the gospel and if necessary use words That sounds great, right promoting service and action. We just talked about that John 13 that's great. Except you need words. It would be like if I came to you and said I'm gonna feed the hungry and if necessary use food like you need the testimony of God working. And here's where this is amazing is the fact that the Holy Spirit is what's drawing people the Holy Spirit is what gives us the words to say. Then our job is not to save, our job is to share. And so it's not about the eloquence of my words, but the power of his spirit. And so it bears witness in your soul and it can bear witness in somebody else's soul. You don't have to be the Holy Spirit for someone else. You get to be the hands and feet of jesus and pray for God to bear witness to them, there's power in that we don't have to make the food, we just get to serve it. We're not the cook. If someone comes back and says, I don't like how that's cooked, they're like not my job, All right, My job is not to spit in their food before I give it to them. Okay, it's the servant. It's to give it to him and trust the Holy Spirit to do his work. So we see that the Holy Spirit is an advocate. We see that the Holy Spirit teaches us the truth, which then gives us peace. We see that the Holy Spirit bears witness to what God is doing. But then fourth, we see that the Holy Spirit convicts the Holy Spirit convicts, jesus in this discourse, is talking to his disciples, he's sharing with them the potential of persecution, how the world is gonna hate them because the world hates him. And he's talking about this power of the Spirit. And he says this year in 16 verse seven, he says, nevertheless, I will tell you the truth, that it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you and when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness, because I go to the father and then you will see me no longer and then concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. We love justice, but just not for us. We we get enraged when something or someone experiences an action against them and victimized unless we were the one to do it. And here's why this is important because that word convict and let's throw really means to expose or bring to light. What is true? Here's here's an example. It doesn't it doesn't just make truth. It reveals truth. There's a there's an important distinction there. So guys in the back, help me out for just a moment. If we could just turn off the spotlights for just a moment, I'm gonna stand here and and online it's about to get dark for just a moment. All right. I didn't go anywhere. I didn't disappear. And some of you might think it's better with less side of me and that hurts my feelings. Um, I didn't leave. It's just darker. All right. The lights, Let's bring the lights back on. The lights expose what is already there. This is why it's important because the Holy Spirit, does it make you a sinner? The Holy Spirit exposes the sin in your life and until you expose the sin in your life, until you bring it to light, what is there, nothing is gonna change. Think of it this way is if you have a child who has a messy room and you say to go clean your room and they just flip the lights off done. I can't see anything, I know that the lights on or off doesn't make the room a mess. It shows you that your room is a mess. Well once you see that the room is a mess, where do you turn? You turn to the only one who can cleanse you? And this is why it's important. It's because feelings of like guilt and shame and this identity battle that were not enough comes from satan but feelings of consciousness and a conscience and conviction of hating your sin, wanting to change. That is from the Holy Spirit. And this is important because the Holy Spirit works in our lives and we don't have to be the Holy Spirit for somebody else. Which means it is not our job to convict somebody else. It is our job to pray for the Holy Spirit to work in that person's life. And to ask ourselves where is the Holy Spirit convicting in my life. And so if you have someone far from God, if you have someone away that you are praying for it, you are not praying judgment upon that person. What you're praying for is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring to light what is there and then to cleanse them. Your job is not to be the Holy Spirit for someone else. But you can pray for the Holy Spirit to work in their life. And then you can set the example for how the Holy Spirit is working in your life. I'm so grateful that we have a God who has a Spirit who can fix because the Holy Spirit can reach someone that we can, the Holy Spirit can change someone's conscience. We can't, that means there is hope for every addiction, there is hope for every downfall. There is hope for every estrangement. There is hope for every loss and struggle and battle. Because if we just sit there and we try to like run faster, work harder and grind it out to a certain point, like you can only get so far. But with the Spirit, it goes from mission impossible to mission unstoppable because the Holy Spirit can do things that are supernatural in your life. And so we see that the Holy Spirit moves. The Holy Spirit is an act advocate that he teaches, but he bears witness that, that he convicts. Lastly, the Holy Spirit glorifies at the end of the day. It's not about you, it's about jesus. He says in there, in john 16 verse 12, he says, I I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them for now that when the whole, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come that he will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you all that belongs to the father is mine. That is why I said the spirit will receive from me and he will make known to you as Andrew and john come up, I just wrap up here that I am so grateful that the spirit leads us to worship leads us to an adoration and appreciation for the very glory of jesus. Is that what we are called to do and who we are called to be is to be spirit filled and spirit led and that we have a God who is alive and who is active. So it's time for us. It is time for us to receive and to release the Holy Spirit in our lives to receive and to release the Holy Spirit that I'm not sure where you're at today. I'm not sure what you're battling or what you're struggling. But what I can tell you is that we can't do it on our own that we can't get the promotion or the job or or make the move or or or change in action or behavior on our own strength. And assume that's going to be enough. But what I want to offer to you today is that we have the Spirit of God that's called the comforter that's called the counselor that's called the advocate the helper. The very presence of God that draws us to God himself and jesus christ and calls us to him that it is not our own strength, that it is not our own peace. It is not as the world gives, it is not as we give. It's not what we do, it's what God does through us. That our prayer goes beyond just asking for more of the Holy Spirit because God's not any more or any less God. So our prayer goes beyond asking for more of the spirit to say Spirit have more of my life. God, I give my marriage to you, I give my kids to you, I give my job to you, I give my worry to you, I give my anxiety, I give these struggles, God, I cannot do it, I cannot make it. But here you go and with you, you can and he will and he does and he is alive and he is active and I'm so grateful because we don't have the Spirit of God on us. We don't have jesus here, present with us, we have the Spirit of God in us. And through that God took 12 ordinary guys who had no money, had no fame, no building no authority and they change the world, Jesus says in there in Acts 18 that you will receive power and be my witnesses in Jerusalem to judea Samaria to the ends of the earth. Because if you receive that if you understand that if you receive the spirit in your life, if you release the spirit in your life that there is nothing that cannot change. There is nothing you cannot overcome because instead of being overwhelmed by what's happening around you, you can overcome with what's happening in you and the spirit moves and the spirit changes and so our relationships gets stronger, our purpose gets fulfilled. That our life and our peace can sustain us and endurance so that when the world looks at us, like how are you holding it together? How has that worked? And that is not me, it is God, there is hope available to you and that hope has a name and that's the holy spirit glorifying jesus christ in your life. Will you pray with me dear heavenly father. Just I just humbly come before you that my words mean nothing on their own but God you are present here with us. The spirit is present here with us. And so God I pray that you will break strongholds. I pray that you will convict where you need to convict that you will change where people need to change that we can have courage and strength and endurance and passion and purpose that comes because God with you, life goes from being impossible to being unstoppable. So God we receive you into our life where you receive you jesus as Lord and savior. And we ask not just for more of your spirit but God, We give our life into your spirit and we ask you to move and be in our life in every which way. Thank you for sharing your heart to the disciples and sharing the power of the spirit that is still alive and active today. And so it's my prayer that we can experience that today, maybe receive that and then release that into our lives. We love you. Let me pray Amen, Will you stand and sing with me?