John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.
Ah my Friends, what a wonderful, Leader, Lord and Saviour our Jesus Christ is! Praise His Holy Name my people! Send shouts of thanks and gratitude heavenward so that He knows we truly appreciate all He’s done for us! Yuh know Friends, Jesus could simply have come to earth, died for our sins and gone back to heaven, leaving us here to fend and fight it out on our own. But instead He chose to send a Comforter, a Helper, in the form of His Spirit to assist us in navigating this crazy, cruel, violent, greedy, immoral and sinful world. Give Him some more enthusiastic thanks Friends, He certainly deserves it! Imagine how His disciples must have been perplexed and scared when He told them He was leaving them, going back to where He came from. Even the promise of building mansions for them to come and be with Him, would not have assuaged their fears, since they were simple, down to earth people without the heightened spiritual understanding needed to accept Jesus’ words. They had been with Him for roughly three years and saw the confusion His words and actions stirred up, but He still expected them to go around preaching in His name after He left. I’m sure all they could envision was more trouble. However my people, our Jesus is so thoughtful, kind and caring that He gently reassured them. ‘If ye LOVE me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless (orphans): I will come to you.’ (John 14:15-18) Oh mih Friends, what a beautiful, moving promise! And yuh know what people? That promise still holds true, to all who believe on Jesus, LOVE Him, and obey His dictates, from the day He made it, until forever. What an awesome High Priest my Friends! No other deity cares as much about their followers as Jesus does. According to the scholars, the literal meaning of the Greek word ‘parakletos’ is ‘one called alongside to help,’ from whence comes the idea of a comforter, a helper. And Jesus talks about ‘another Comforter’ because that is also one of His titles, translated as ‘Advocate’ in 1 John 1:2. The Father is also known as the ‘God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.’ (2 Cor.1:3-4) And how does the Lord comfort us Friends? Through the Holy Spirit; the Messenger, which emanates from both the Father and the Son, who works alongside them to further the kingdom. Oh my brethren, the most important element in a believer’s life is the Holy Spirit. Having repented, accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour, and been born again unto salvation and eternal life, it’s that Holy Spirit that comes to dwell in you, to guide and comfort you. As Jesus said in the Bit: ‘But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.’ Let’s quickly look at a few things here Friends. Right before His ascension, Jesus reminded His disciples: ‘And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.’ (Luke 24:49) He was referring to the Holy Spirit again. And note, He told them to remain in Jerusalem until they received that marvellous ‘power from on high,’ since they could not perform the tasks He set them without it. Oh my people, the very same thing applies to us today. Without the Holy Spirit of Father and Son existing beside and within us, we’re unable to do much in the Lord’s name. That’s just the way He designed it. And we all know how on that first Day of Pentecost, the apostles received the Holy Ghost: ‘And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven (divided) tongues like as fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ (Acts 2:2-4) Wow! When our God moves, it’s certainly on a grand scale. But that was only a one time thing. (smile) The Spirit doesn’t come to ordinary believers like us in such dramatic fashion, but comes quietly to enhance our souls. We have to listen for it too Friends, pay attention to that still, small voice, what we sometimes call our conscience, that comes to us when we are faced with decisions. Jesus called it, the ‘Spirit of truth,’ which it surely is, for it never guides us wrong. He also claimed of the Spirit ‘and he shall testify of me.’ And it definitely does my people. John proclaimed: ‘This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.’ (1 John 5:6) Oh Friends, the water is the water of Jesus’ baptism, and the blood is that of His atoning and redeeming death, and the Spirit is what gives us the encouragement and assurance that the scriptural message regarding Jesus is true. Remember John was told that whoever the likeness of a dove descended upon was the Messiah, and He saw that when Jesus came to be baptized. So the Spirit indeed tells the truth. Yes mih people, the Holy Ghost is the most powerful force on earth today. We really don’t know it’s awesome power and full potential because most of us barely use it, if ever. But take it from me, as a personal testimony, it is a most powerful tool, and I am nowhere close to it’s full potential, so you can imagine what wonders we could do on this earth in Jesus’ name if we truly invoked His Spirit. Hn! The world would be overwhelmed by our godly reactions, sinners would be gladly coming to repentance in droves, and the Lord’s name would be eternally glorified. Let’s turn with more passion and belief to that Helper, that Comforter, that Holy Spirit nuh Friends. It was given to enlarge us and consequently our God, so please, let’s use it more than we’ve been doing. Much LOVE!…not by might…nor by power…but by my Spirit…saith the Lord of hosts…
Ah my Friends, what a wonderful, Leader, Lord and Saviour our Jesus Christ is! Praise His Holy Name my people! Send shouts of thanks and gratitude heavenward so that He knows we truly appreciate all He’s done for us! Yuh know Friends, Jesus could simply have come to earth, died for our sins and gone back to heaven, leaving us here to fend and fight it out on our own. But instead He chose to send a Comforter, a Helper, in the form of His Spirit to assist us in navigating this crazy, cruel, violent, greedy, immoral and sinful world. Give Him some more enthusiastic thanks Friends, He certainly deserves it! Imagine how His disciples must have been perplexed and scared when He told them He was leaving them, going back to where He came from. Even the promise of building mansions for them to come and be with Him, would not have assuaged their fears, since they were simple, down to earth people without the heightened spiritual understanding needed to accept Jesus’ words. They had been with Him for roughly three years and saw the confusion His words and actions stirred up, but He still expected them to go around preaching in His name after He left. I’m sure all they could envision was more trouble. However my people, our Jesus is so thoughtful, kind and caring that He gently reassured them. ‘If ye LOVE me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless (orphans): I will come to you.’ (John 14:15-18) Oh mih Friends, what a beautiful, moving promise! And yuh know what people? That promise still holds true, to all who believe on Jesus, LOVE Him, and obey His dictates, from the day He made it, until forever. What an awesome High Priest my Friends! No other deity cares as much about their followers as Jesus does. According to the scholars, the literal meaning of the Greek word ‘parakletos’ is ‘one called alongside to help,’ from whence comes the idea of a comforter, a helper. And Jesus talks about ‘another Comforter’ because that is also one of His titles, translated as ‘Advocate’ in 1 John 1:2. The Father is also known as the ‘God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.’ (2 Cor.1:3-4) And how does the Lord comfort us Friends? Through the Holy Spirit; the Messenger, which emanates from both the Father and the Son, who works alongside them to further the kingdom. Oh my brethren, the most important element in a believer’s life is the Holy Spirit. Having repented, accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour, and been born again unto salvation and eternal life, it’s that Holy Spirit that comes to dwell in you, to guide and comfort you. As Jesus said in the Bit: ‘But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.’ Let’s quickly look at a few things here Friends. Right before His ascension, Jesus reminded His disciples: ‘And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.’ (Luke 24:49) He was referring to the Holy Spirit again. And note, He told them to remain in Jerusalem until they received that marvellous ‘power from on high,’ since they could not perform the tasks He set them without it. Oh my people, the very same thing applies to us today. Without the Holy Spirit of Father and Son existing beside and within us, we’re unable to do much in the Lord’s name. That’s just the way He designed it. And we all know how on that first Day of Pentecost, the apostles received the Holy Ghost: ‘And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven (divided) tongues like as fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ (Acts 2:2-4) Wow! When our God moves, it’s certainly on a grand scale. But that was only a one time thing. (smile) The Spirit doesn’t come to ordinary believers like us in such dramatic fashion, but comes quietly to enhance our souls. We have to listen for it too Friends, pay attention to that still, small voice, what we sometimes call our conscience, that comes to us when we are faced with decisions. Jesus called it, the ‘Spirit of truth,’ which it surely is, for it never guides us wrong. He also claimed of the Spirit ‘and he shall testify of me.’ And it definitely does my people. John proclaimed: ‘This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.’ (1 John 5:6) Oh Friends, the water is the water of Jesus’ baptism, and the blood is that of His atoning and redeeming death, and the Spirit is what gives us the encouragement and assurance that the scriptural message regarding Jesus is true. Remember John was told that whoever the likeness of a dove descended upon was the Messiah, and He saw that when Jesus came to be baptized. So the Spirit indeed tells the truth. Yes mih people, the Holy Ghost is the most powerful force on earth today. We really don’t know it’s awesome power and full potential because most of us barely use it, if ever. But take it from me, as a personal testimony, it is a most powerful tool, and I am nowhere close to it’s full potential, so you can imagine what wonders we could do on this earth in Jesus’ name if we truly invoked His Spirit. Hn! The world would be overwhelmed by our godly reactions, sinners would be gladly coming to repentance in droves, and the Lord’s name would be eternally glorified. Let’s turn with more passion and belief to that Helper, that Comforter, that Holy Spirit nuh Friends. It was given to enlarge us and consequently our God, so please, let’s use it more than we’ve been doing. Much LOVE!…not by might…nor by power…but by my Spirit…saith the Lord of hosts…
SCRIP-BITS 