A Recap from Sunday’s Sermon

Preaching Text: John 16:5-15

Please repeat these words as if you wrote them and they belong to you:
“The Holy Spirit and Me, a team working together to deepen my love for God.”

In Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:26-27, God promised a New Covenant that would lead us to a deeper relationship with God, and that the Holy Spirit would live within us as The Helper.

In John, we learn that the first job of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin so that we know that we need a Savior. When we confess our sins, Jesus cleanses us through his grace of forgiveness and the love relationship with God is restored.

If we are occupied with the Spirit we will not gratify the sins of the flesh. It is difficult to live in both camps. When we sin, we are not walking with the Spirit. If we spend time with the Holy Spirit, talking and listening and obeying him, he changes us and helps us repent, filling us with the fruit of the Spirit. (See Galatians 5:16-25)

We learn in Genesis 3 that Adam and Eve felt shame and fear when they disobeyed God, so we find that there is an element of shame and fear with every sin. When we team up with the Helper and repent, Jesus takes our shame on himself. Jesus, through his grace and mercy removes whatever is blocking our relationship with God and increases our love for God. It’s as if Jesus converts our shame to love as we repent with the help of the Holy Spirit for each sin in our lives.

Taking it Home:  Which of the 9 fruit of the Spirit do you least see in your life right now? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you why and how to overcome this.