Sunday: Jesus and the Promise of the Holy Spirit
With the promise of the Holy Spirit, Jesus met the disciples’ concern about His leaving them and returning to heaven. “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7, NKJV). The Greek word for “helper” is parakletos. It refers to “one who comes alongside of” for the purpose of helping. One of the prime functions of the Holy Spirit is to come alongside of all believers to empower and to guide them in their witnessing activities. When we witness for Jesus, we are not alone. The Holy Spirit is beside us to guide us to those honest-hearted seekers. He prepares their hearts before we ever meet them. He guides our words, brings conviction to the seekers’ minds, and strengthens them to respond to His promptings.
Read John 15:26-27 and John 16:8. What do these verses tell us about the Holy Spirit’s role in witnessing?
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The Holy Spirit testifies or witnesses of Jesus. His ultimate goal is to lead as many people to Jesus as possible. His mission is to glorify Jesus. In this role, He convicts all believers of their responsibility to witness. He opens our eyes to see the possibilities in people all around us and works behind the scenes to create a receptivity to the gospel message.
The Gospel of John states it clearly. He “will convict the world of sin” (John 16:8, NKJV). In other words, He moves upon hearts to bring a deepening sense of alienation from God and the need of repentance. He also convicts the world “of righteousness”. Not only does the Holy Spirit reveal sin, He instructs us in righteousness. He reveals the magnificence of Jesus’ righteousness in contrast to our own filthiness. The Holy Spirit’s role is not merely to point out how bad we are; it is to reveal how good, how kind, how compassionate, and how loving Jesus is and to mold us into His image.
Witnessing is simply cooperating with the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus. In the Spirit’s power and under His guidance, we testify of this amazing Christ who has transformed our lives.
| In our desire to work for souls, why must we always remember that we can’t do the converting, but only the Holy Spirit can? |
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When I graduated from Avondale College, my first appointment was to teach in a church School in Western Australia. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the geography of this region of the world, Perth, Western Australia is about 4000km from Sydney, NSW. Further, my home was in New Zealand which is nearly 2000km east of Sydney. Going to Western Australia was like being sent to the end of the earth and to make matters worse, the only way we had of getting there was in a 20 year old Holden FJ car. It was scary stuff. Newly married to Carmel, we took a week to drive from one side of Australia to the other, sleeping in the car on the way.
Fortunately for us, two of my father’s sisters had married Western Australian men and were living there. I had met them previously, and they and their families welcomed us with open arms and provided the sort of help and comfort that young people need when they are so far from home. They provided meals and put us up while we searched for a house to live in. And when we were settled in, they were always on hand to help if needed. It was reassuring to know that even though we were so far from home, we had family on hand to comfort us as we started our life in an entirely new place.
When Jesus left the disciples to return to heaven, it must have been quite scary for them. They had had about three and a half years together before their whole world was turned upside down by the events of the crucifixion and now Jesus was leaving them, again. But he had promised they would have the Comforter with them. That was just like having “family” to help and encourage as they started their new life after graduating.
Hello Maurice, I also enjoy your insights as well and would like to pose the following question to you.
You cited John 15:26. I would like to inquire about John 15:27. It states that the disciples must also testify because they have been with Jesus from the beginning.
The disciples were able to personal from Jesus and was the Holy Ghost. We today have the same Holy Ghost that was sent from the father. Do you think think the disciples (by divine design) had a needed advantage (walking with Jesus and now the Helper) in order to develop our current belief. If we personally walked with Jesus (like the disciples), would our today's witnessing be different?
I'm curious of your thoughts. Thank you Maurice.
Hi Nelson. thank you for your kind comments. I will answer your question with an illustration. We recently went to Iceland as part of our 50th wedding celebration. This was a country way off the horizon for us. We had 10 days to see and experience the sights of the country. But we did not just arrive there and say to ourselves, "Hey what will we look at?" We had studied the maps and looked at the Youtube videos, and further we had a friend Johanne Thorvaldson who lived there, and who we had first met on Sabbath School Net many years ago. So we prepared. The day after we arrived we called in to see Johanne, and his wife Ida, who welcomed us to their country. Then we travelled all over the country using our maps and itinerary. Then on the last day of our trip Johanne rang us to ask us if we were in a position to call it and seen them before we left. We just happened to be 15 minutes from the town where they lived, so we called in and reminisced about what we had seen (and what we had missed) as we travelled around the island. The trip to Iceland was really great, but what made it memorable was the personal touch of meeting up with friends and sharing together even though it was for such a short time. The friendship established a long time ago and renewed again made a wonderful experience for us.
Likewise, our effectiveness as Christian witnesses depends on our relationship with Jesus, If we have together established that relationship, then the work of the Holy Spirit in us can be effective.
Thank you, Maurice.
What a privilege we have to walk and talk with Jesus through His Word as John said all these things Jesus said and did are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31
The lovely song - I come to the garden alone - tells of the experience it is possible to have with Jesus, listen to the chorus:
The slothful man saith, there is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
Jesus and the Promise of the Holy Spirit
Jesus was about to return to his Father to his home in heaven. The disciples were disappointed that he was leaving. He told them another just like him will come, an Helper.
A Helper to us who will need him.
This helper will have several different roles and duties. He helps us make decisions, helps with our witnessing, helps bear our burdens, sorrows, guides us into all truth, tells us about Jesus, brings things to our remembrances.
The Holy Spirit dwells with every human being but not in every human being. There is a difference. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are pass away, behold all things become new.
Good day, Sister Shirley. I am so confused by that lovely song, "I come to the garden alone". Does it mean that Jesus is not walking with him?
Livingston, I believe the song is about one's private time with Jesus only.
It’s good to know Jesus for yourself, and eventually the Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth.
Regarding the Holy Spirit's role in witnessing: as with the lamp without oil can give no light, a witness without the Spirit cannot witness to the truth, and even the greatest effort will be powerless. The presence of the Spirit is as the presence of Jesus Himself(Eph 3:16,17).