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The Spirit Who Surprises · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Experiencing the fulfillment of biblical prophecy is thrilling beyond words.
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Speaker 1: I mean, have you ever put yourself in the place
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Speaker 1: of the disciples who had never really put together the
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Speaker 1: story of the resurrection, even though they had been told
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Speaker 1: of it on more than one or even a few occasions?
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Speaker 1: And then finally, after the empty tomb experience, finally after
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Speaker 1: it all began to fall into place, they realized, they
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Speaker 1: personally realized firsthand that that Jesus had indeed miraculously and
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Speaker 1: bodily been raised from the dead, and they lived to
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Speaker 1: witness the fulfillment of what he had predicted. They literally
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Speaker 1: lived in a time when biblical prophecy was fulfilled. Another
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Speaker 1: occasion comes to mind. I do not know if it
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Speaker 1: is legend or if it is truth, but I have
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Speaker 1: both read it and heard the story that when Alexander
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Speaker 1: the Great was told that he appeared in the prophecy
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Speaker 1: of Daniel as the male goat who showed himself in
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Speaker 1: strong splendor. Daniel chapter 8. When the scroll was unrolled
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Speaker 1: before Alexander and he saw himself in symbolic form in
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Speaker 1: the pages of Holy Scripture, he dropped to his knees
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Speaker 1: in stunned amazement. He saw himself on the page of
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Speaker 1: Scripture and realized that he had been, in fact, living
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Speaker 1: the experience of fulfilled prophecy that Daniel had written about before.
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Speaker 1: Do you know that you experience the fulfillment of biblical
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Speaker 1: prophecy on a regular occasion as a Christian, if you
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Speaker 1: are a student or a teacher of the Bible? Let
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Speaker 1: me show you that prophecy in John chapter 14 verses
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Speaker 1: 25 and 26. You will observe that the prediction that
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Speaker 1: Jesus made had to do with the ministry of the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. John 14 verse 25, the prediction is made
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Speaker 1: and we are still living out the fulfillment of this prophecy.
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Speaker 1: Jesus says, 1425 of John, these things I have spoken
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Speaker 1: to you while abiding with you, but the helper... The
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
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Speaker 1: he will teach you all things and bring to your
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Speaker 1: remembrance all that I said to you. Before I address
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Speaker 1: the prediction itself, please observe the name that is given
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, this intimate spirit of whom we are
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Speaker 1: studying these days. He is called here... the helper. The helper.
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Speaker 1: The Greek word parakletos is from para, which means alongside something,
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Speaker 1: as you would place something alongside a desk or beside
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Speaker 1: a pulpit. Alongside. And the other word is from the
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Speaker 1: verb kaleo, which means to call out. Called alongside is
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Speaker 1: the idea. In fact, if you were to amplify it,
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Speaker 1: it would mean One called alongside to help, to be
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Speaker 1: of assistance. If you were in severe physical need around
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Speaker 1: the clock, you would hire a nurse to serve alongside
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Speaker 1: you to be of assistance to you in your physical
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Speaker 1: ailment and in your hurt, in your pain. She or
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Speaker 1: he would work alongside you to be of help. That's
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Speaker 1: the word that is used here by John. In describing
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Speaker 1: the terms of Jesus, the helper, the one who has
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Speaker 1: been called alongside to help. Now observe the prophecy. Two
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Speaker 1: things are stated. Verse 26. First, he will teach you
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Speaker 1: all things. And, implied, he will bring to your remembrance
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Speaker 1: all that I said to you. The Spirit of God
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Speaker 1: is in the continual process of teaching us the truth
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Speaker 1: of the scriptures. And he is continually bringing to our
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Speaker 1: remembrance the things that Jesus said. Now this had an
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Speaker 1: immediate fulfillment in the lives of the disciples once they
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Speaker 1: were involved in the very dynamic years of the early church.
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Speaker 1: The Spirit of God came alongside to help them and
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Speaker 1: to bring to their attention the truths of what Jesus
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Speaker 1: had taught and to bring to their remembrance the things
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Speaker 1: that he had told them when he was on earth
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Speaker 1: with them. And yet today, 20 centuries later, we are
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Speaker 1: still experiencing the fulfillment of that prophecy. The one who
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Speaker 1: has been called alongside to help continues to teach us
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Speaker 1: all things and continues to bring things of the truth
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Speaker 1: to our remembrance. Jesus later uses the same title two
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Speaker 1: chapters later, John chapter 16, verses 7 through 15, when
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Speaker 1: he explains further some of the special help of the Spirit,
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Speaker 1: 16 verse 7. Jesus, still talking to the same group
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Speaker 1: of frightened disciples, only hours before the arrest, trials, and
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Speaker 1: death of our Lord, says to them, I tell you
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Speaker 1: the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away.
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Speaker 1: For if I do not go away, here's the word again,
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Speaker 1: the helper, the one called alongside to help, shall not
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Speaker 1: come to you. But if I go, I will send
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Speaker 1: him to you. Notice the future tense. He is not
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Speaker 1: yet with you. He is not yet in you. I
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Speaker 1: will send him, however, I will send him to you.
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Speaker 1: And then he goes on to describe the work of
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Speaker 1: the helper. He, when he comes, will convict the world
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Speaker 1: concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. He amplifies those three statements.
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Speaker 1: Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. So
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Speaker 1: let me break in here and say, it is the
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Speaker 1: work of the Holy Spirit to convict individuals of sin.
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Speaker 1: You cannot do it. I cannot do it. It is
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Speaker 1: the work of the Spirit of God. You have a
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Speaker 1: lost friend who seems to be merrily moving along his
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Speaker 1: way without Christ, seems to have a nonchalant attitude to
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Speaker 1: spiritual things, living wrong, and you know it's wrong. He
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Speaker 1: doesn't care that it's wrong. He has no standard. He
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Speaker 1: doesn't live according to biblical standard. He has not yet
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Speaker 1: been convicted of his sin. It is the work of
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin into the
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Speaker 1: life of the lost. He will continue to do that
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Speaker 1: on behalf of those who do not believe in our
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. And then he continues, verse 10, concerning righteousness,
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Speaker 1: because I go to the Father and you no longer
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Speaker 1: behold me. As long as Jesus was on the earth,
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Speaker 1: they had an example of righteousness. They had a model,
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Speaker 1: a standard. They could look to him. They could talk
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Speaker 1: to him. They could listen to him. And in the
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Speaker 1: process of relationship with Christ, they literally saw righteousness. Now,
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Speaker 1: when he left the earth, no longer seen on the earth.
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Speaker 1: It was the Holy Spirit's responsibility to reveal righteousness, to
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Speaker 1: convict people of the lack of righteousness. And he continues
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Speaker 1: to do that. And also his work, verse 11, concerning judgment,
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Speaker 1: because the ruler of this world has been judged. He says,
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Speaker 1: I have many more things to say to you, but
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Speaker 1: you cannot bear them now. Now the verse that's of
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Speaker 1: critical importance, 13. And when he, the spirit of truth,
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Speaker 1: notice again the future, he will guide you into all
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Speaker 1: the truth. For he will not speak on his own initiative,
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Speaker 1: but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he will
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Speaker 1: disclose to you what is to come. Once again, I
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Speaker 1: see two particular ministries of the Spirit in verse 13. First,
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Speaker 1: He will guide you into all the truth. Who hasn't
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Speaker 1: sat down at a desk, at a table, opened up
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Speaker 1: a Bible, and begun to work their way through, began
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Speaker 1: to work their way through the passage of Scripture, and
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Speaker 1: with a prayer on the lips saying, I want to
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Speaker 1: know what this means, Lord. I want to know what
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Speaker 1: this means to me. And in the passing of a
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Speaker 1: period of time, maybe 10 minutes, maybe 20, 30 minutes,
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Speaker 1: perhaps an hour, when you have finished with your study,
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Speaker 1: the truth has begun to dawn on you as to
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Speaker 1: what God has written in his word. That is the
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Speaker 1: fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Christ said, when the spirit comes,
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Speaker 1: he will guide you into all the truth. He won't
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Speaker 1: speak on his own initiative. In other words, it will
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Speaker 1: be coming from the father and He will be the
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Speaker 1: go-between in the revelation of truth, in the illumination of truth,
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Speaker 1: and once you begin to pour over the scriptures and
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Speaker 1: the truth begins to dawn, the fulfillment of this prophecy
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Speaker 1: will have taken place. It happens on a regular basis. Furthermore,
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Speaker 1: he says, he will disclose to you what is to come.
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Speaker 1: There is something fascinating about the subject of prophecy. We
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Speaker 1: are all sitting on the edge of our seats, in
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Speaker 1: every era of time wondering what this means in light
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Speaker 1: of the prophetic scripture. We're all concerned about the fall
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Speaker 1: or the renewal of or the beginning of nations around us.
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Speaker 1: We're all concerned, of course, as Americans about the role
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Speaker 1: our country will play in the picture of biblical prophecy.
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Speaker 1: And all the way through, there are all kinds of
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Speaker 1: fascinating subjects. It is the responsibility of the Spirit of
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Speaker 1: God to disclose the to us, those things that are
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Speaker 1: yet to come. And he continues to do that. This
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Speaker 1: is a good time for me to toss in something
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Speaker 1: with no extra charge. I can do that, can't I?
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Speaker 1: Some of you are coming across books these days that
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Speaker 1: have set dates regarding the future. You perhaps have been
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Speaker 1: foolish enough to buy some of those volumes because you
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Speaker 1: were taken in by someone who continues to teach that
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Speaker 1: he or she knows the details of Christ's return. They've
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Speaker 1: set a date. They've said a year, some have even
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Speaker 1: said a month. I have one great Greek word for
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Speaker 1: all of that, hogwash. It is the Spirit of God
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Speaker 1: who discloses the truth, and it is not for us
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Speaker 1: to know the exact time, the date, or the era
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Speaker 1: in which Christ will return. He may not return for
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Speaker 1: another 150, 200 years. He may return before this meeting
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Speaker 1: is over, which is kind of an exciting thought, isn't it?
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Speaker 1: He may come before we awaken in the morning. It
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Speaker 1: may be at morn and the morning. It may be
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Speaker 1: at noon. It may be at sunset. But the point
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Speaker 1: is no one knows the exact time or the day
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Speaker 1: in which Christ will return. Do not believe those things
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Speaker 1: that continue to be written no matter who may write them.
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Speaker 1: The Spirit of God discloses to us things to come.
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Speaker 1: Our Lord himself said it is not for us to
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Speaker 1: know the times or the epochs, that is the specific times,
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Speaker 1: We can put some of the pattern together. We're doing
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Speaker 1: pretty good to get the frame around this puzzle in
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Speaker 1: God's mysterious plan for the future. But no one can
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Speaker 1: put all the pieces together, not until Christ returns. Now,
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Speaker 1: just a little further on Jesus' words about the Spirit.
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Speaker 1: Verse 14, He shall glorify me, for he shall take
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Speaker 1: of mine and shall disclose it to you. Once again,
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Speaker 1: a prophecy. And he continues to do that. He takes
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Speaker 1: the things of God... the things of our Lord Jesus,
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Speaker 1: and he discloses them to us. All things the Father
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Speaker 1: has are mine. Therefore, I said, he takes of mine
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Speaker 1: and will disclose it to you. He has said that
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Speaker 1: three times. He will disclose to you what is yet
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Speaker 1: to come. Verse 14, he will disclose to you the
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Speaker 1: things that are mine, says Jesus. And verse 15, he
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Speaker 1: will disclose to you those things that the Father has
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Speaker 1: revealed to me. The Spirit of God is this reservoir
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Speaker 1: This member of the Godhead who is a reservoir of knowledge,
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Speaker 1: of information, of truths, along with comfort and compassion. And
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Speaker 1: he is able to take the things of God and
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Speaker 1: reveal them to us. And when he does, you and
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Speaker 1: I experience the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. It's happening right now.
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Speaker 1: You have learned more things regarding the Spirit of God, perhaps,
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Speaker 1: than you knew before. in these last 10 minutes. You
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Speaker 1: have added to your reservoir of information. And if you
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Speaker 1: have learned it, if it has become a reality to
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Speaker 1: your mind, you can thank the Spirit of God for
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Speaker 1: taking the truth and revealing it, making it clear to you.
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Speaker 1: The insights that you have gotten on occasion in your
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Speaker 1: study of the Bible, you have the helper to thank.
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Speaker 1: The occasions when you have discovered His will and you
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Speaker 1: saw it in a principle of Scripture, or perhaps in
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Speaker 1: a sense of peace that the Spirit of God gave you,
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Speaker 1: you have the helper to thank for leading you into
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Speaker 1: the Lord's will. You have had flashes of truth that
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Speaker 1: you received just in the nick of time so that
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Speaker 1: you made a tough decision. You said no when you
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Speaker 1: should have, or you said yes when you should have.
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Speaker 1: You have the helper to thank for an understanding of
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Speaker 1: that moment and the importance of that decision. He revealed
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Speaker 1: that to you. Some of you are engaged in counseling
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Speaker 1: those who are hurting. You could speak for yourself here.
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Speaker 1: I will speak for you right now. You would say
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Speaker 1: there were times in dealing with these who were hurting
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Speaker 1: and their lives are so complicated and knotty. And while listening,
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Speaker 1: it was as if I had a flash of insight
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Speaker 1: that saw through the struggle and was able to put
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Speaker 1: my finger right on the problem. And when I did
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Speaker 1: that with the help of the person who was responding
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Speaker 1: and working with me in the process of this unraveling
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Speaker 1: and untying the knots, I just sensed it was from God.
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Speaker 1: That was from the Helper. The Spirit of God gave
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Speaker 1: you the truth that you needed for that moment, and
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Speaker 1: the benefits that come are just innumerable. Now, from this
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Speaker 1: 16th chapter of John, I want us to turn our
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Speaker 1: attention to the first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
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Speaker 1: the second chapter. Because, interestingly, these two chapters tie in
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Speaker 1: together rather well. What Jesus taught before he went to
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Speaker 1: the cross and then left the earth, the Apostle Paul
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Speaker 1: addresses a little more in detail in his letter to
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Speaker 1: the Corinthians. So we have some examples in 1 Corinthians 2.
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Speaker 1: of the Spirit's inner workings. I'm fascinated by the subject.
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Speaker 1: The more I dig into it, the more I'm beginning
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Speaker 1: to see about the intimate Spirit of God. Because we
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Speaker 1: cannot see the Spirit of God, we tend to ignore,
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Speaker 1: or we tend to overlook, is a better, kinder word,
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Speaker 1: we tend to overlook the power of His presence in
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Speaker 1: our lives and in our midst. The Apostle Paul looks
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Speaker 1: back on his early days in the Corinthian church when
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Speaker 1: he was just founding the church. And he calls to
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Speaker 1: mind his ministry when he was among them. And the
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Speaker 1: very first thing he puts his finger on is the
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Speaker 1: demonstration of God's unique power. As he recalled his early
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Speaker 1: months and even early year, year and a half, he
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Speaker 1: was with the Corinthians. He remembers that. the demonstration of
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Speaker 1: the Spirit's power. Listen to Paul's own testimony about his ministry.
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Speaker 1: He's writing to the Corinthians. When I came to you, brethren,
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Speaker 1: I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom,
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Speaker 1: proclaiming to you the testimony of God. Now, that is
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Speaker 1: what he did not do. He didn't come displaying his
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Speaker 1: superiority of speech or Or of wisdom. Was he a
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Speaker 1: brilliant man? Just read the record. He was brilliant. Saul
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Speaker 1: of Tarsus was a household name among the Jews. He
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Speaker 1: was the up and coming Sanhedrinist. He was the Pharisee
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Speaker 1: of the Pharisees. He was the persecutor of the church.
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Speaker 1: He was the sine qua non of scholarship. Had studied
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Speaker 1: under Gamaliel. He was a man with advanced degrees, brilliant indeed. Oh,
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Speaker 1: he had earthly wisdom. He had a vast vocabulary. He
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Speaker 1: had enormous capability. And then the Spirit of God poured
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Speaker 1: into his life at his conversion, and the Apostle Paul
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Speaker 1: went through a transformation, so much so that in the
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Speaker 1: letter to the Philippians, he looks back and he says,
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Speaker 1: I consider all of those things but refuse that I
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Speaker 1: might worship Gain Christ. I don't walk in my own righteousness.
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Speaker 1: But now in a righteousness. That is of God. And
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Speaker 1: he changed his whole direction in life. His entire approach.
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Speaker 1: His entire philosophy of life changed. And he writes of
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Speaker 1: it here. So that when he came to this. Entertainment
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Speaker 1: center of Greece. Corinth of Greece. Among people who looked for. Uh.
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Speaker 1: great eloquence and entertainment and all of the things of
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Speaker 1: the flesh. Paul says, I deliberately did not come to
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Speaker 1: display that. I didn't come with superiority of speech and
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Speaker 1: of wisdom. Well, what did he do? Verses 2 and 3,
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Speaker 1: I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ
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Speaker 1: and him crucified. I had a single purpose, a single-minded focus,
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Speaker 1: and that was Jesus Christ, the cross, and the message
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Speaker 1: of the Savior. I was with you. You're not going
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Speaker 1: to believe this. That is, if you read the popular
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Speaker 1: idea of Paul, I was with you in weakness. I
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Speaker 1: was with you in fear. I was with you in
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Speaker 1: much trembling. Now, if I were to ask you to
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Speaker 1: describe Paul, I doubt that you would use any one
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Speaker 1: of those three words. Because our idea of Paul is
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Speaker 1: a man of enormous strength. Capability on his feet. The
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Speaker 1: ability to move from place to place with hardly a
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Speaker 1: missed word. When in fact Apollos was the eloquent one.
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Speaker 1: Paul by his own declaration was not. He came in
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Speaker 1: a sense of weakness. In a spirit of fear and
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Speaker 1: in trembling. Now you might wonder why? Well do a
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Speaker 1: little study in the book of Acts. Just before chapter
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Speaker 1: 18 of Acts. Where the Corinthian church is founded. He
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Speaker 1: is in Athens. Where no church was founded. And he
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Speaker 1: meets with the assembled brain trust of Athens. The political
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Speaker 1: center of the Grecian world. and meeting with them proved
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Speaker 1: to be virtually void of significance. They laughed him off
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Speaker 1: the stage, as it were. As he got to the
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Speaker 1: subject of the resurrection, they turned him off. And Paul
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Speaker 1: left Athens with his tail between his legs, as it were. Broken, disappointed, discouraged, lonely, broke,
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Speaker 1: perhaps even depressed, defeated, and he stumbled into Corinth and
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Speaker 1: went back to the tent-making trade where he lived with
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Speaker 1: Aquila and Priscilla, according to the early part of Acts
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Speaker 1: chapter 18, and that's another story. But together they founded
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Speaker 1: the church at Corinth. And when he began there, he
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Speaker 1: was a broken man. He came to them in weakness,
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Speaker 1: in fear, and in trembling. By the way, that's a
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Speaker 1: good word for all of us. You will find yourself
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Speaker 1: in places where you will be intimidated, where you will
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Speaker 1: be in fear and weakness, and believe me, that is
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Speaker 1: when the Spirit of God does his best work. For
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Speaker 1: when I am weak... What? Then God is strong. He
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Speaker 1: learned that. He tells us of it in 2 Corinthians
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Speaker 1: chapter 12. The Lord has shown me in his grace
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Speaker 1: that when I am weak and unable and incapable and inadequate,
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Speaker 1: that's the work of the new covenant. The ministry of
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Speaker 1: the spirit of God comes in like a flood and
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Speaker 1: he makes those occasions the most powerful and profound of
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Speaker 1: all that you can remember because it doesn't come from
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Speaker 1: the flesh. How could he have been strong in his weakness,
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Speaker 1: powerful in his fears, and effective in trembling? We'll look
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Speaker 1: at verses 4 and 5. My message and my preaching
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Speaker 1: were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration
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Speaker 1: of the spirit and of dunamis. There's that word again.
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Speaker 1: We saw it first in Acts 1.8 in our study,
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Speaker 1: and we've seen it again and again. It's the dynamic
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Speaker 1: of the Spirit of God. My preaching not being words
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Speaker 1: of persuasive wisdom, but really they were inflamed by the
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God who empowered my tongue and gave significance
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Speaker 1: to my words. Verse 5, that you Corinthian believers, you
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Speaker 1: young converts, that your faith should not rest on the
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Speaker 1: wisdom of men, but on the power of God. It's
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Speaker 1: a good place to pause and make a statement regarding
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Speaker 1: the temptation today of relying on the wisdom of men
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Speaker 1: rather than the power of God. You visit some places
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Speaker 1: of worship and they are more proud of their pastor
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Speaker 1: than they are of the Lord. Almost without exception, the
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Speaker 1: man is eloquent, capable, seldom reveals inadequacy, and is just
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Speaker 1: sort of taken to place by storm. Weakness is not
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Speaker 1: talked about. not addressed, and the continued emphasis is on
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Speaker 1: the man. When you come to a place where there
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Speaker 1: is weakness and fear and inadequacy and times of trembling
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Speaker 1: and the Spirit of God has given power in place
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Speaker 1: of those things, it is remarkable how you hear about
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Speaker 1: the work of God rather than the words of man.
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Speaker 1: When the Corinthian believers left those meetings where they had come,
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Speaker 1: To listen to and be ministered to by this man
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Speaker 1: who founded their church, they left talking about the Lord,
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Speaker 1: not the person. And that pleased Paul immensely. The helper,
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Speaker 1: we're back to the subject, the helper empowered the man's message,
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Speaker 1: his leadership, his style of ministry, and as a result,
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Speaker 1: the awesome presence of God was felt. Don't be afraid
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Speaker 1: of that. don't resist that. There are occasions where the
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Speaker 1: presence of God is so obvious, it is like an
24:13
Speaker 1: electricity upon the gathering. You have been in such occasions,
24:20
Speaker 1: and I have as well, certain gatherings where you sense
24:25
Speaker 1: the power of the Parakletos, the spirit of God who
24:31
Speaker 1: has come alongside to help and he has moved through
24:34
Speaker 1: the presentation of music and he has moved through the
24:38
Speaker 1: ministry of the word and your soul is fed. Your
24:42
Speaker 1: heart is lifted up. And interestingly, you're not that impressed
24:46
Speaker 1: with the person. What you leave with is the revealed
24:52
Speaker 1: word of God as the spirit of God has taken it.
24:55
Speaker 1: And I am so convinced that it is of the
24:57
Speaker 1: spirit that I would say it cannot be defined, it
25:01
Speaker 1: cannot be denied, and it cannot be duplicated. You walk
25:05
Speaker 1: away trying to describe to someone else the significance of
25:09
Speaker 1: that time, and you can't do it. You can't describe it.
25:12
Speaker 1: And yet you can't deny it. And you can't duplicate it.
25:17
Speaker 1: It isn't something that is like a performance that can
25:19
Speaker 1: be done over and over again. Paul's experience among the
25:23
Speaker 1: Corinthians by his own testimony was that it was the
25:26
Speaker 1: work of the Spirit And God was doing it. Now,
25:30
Speaker 1: he doesn't stop here. He digs even deeper, and he
25:33
Speaker 1: talks about the searching work of the Spirit. Now, put
25:36
Speaker 1: your thinking cap on. Verses 6 through 10 address the
25:42
Speaker 1: searching of God's hidden wisdom. Now, think with me. Paul
25:48
Speaker 1: continues to write to these friends of his in Corinth.
25:52
Speaker 1: Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature.
25:57
Speaker 1: A wisdom, however, not of this age. Let me read
26:01
Speaker 1: it again. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who
26:04
Speaker 1: are mature. He is speaking of a wisdom. It is
26:08
Speaker 1: not a worldly wisdom. It is a godlike wisdom among
26:12
Speaker 1: those who are mature. Then he describes it. A wisdom, however,
26:16
Speaker 1: not of this age, nor of the rulers of this
26:20
Speaker 1: age who are passing away. But in contrast... to wisdom
26:25
Speaker 1: learned in this world, wisdom learned from the books, wisdom
26:29
Speaker 1: learned from the nobles and the scholars of any era.
26:33
Speaker 1: But we, on the other hand, speak God's wisdom in
26:38
Speaker 1: a musterion, in a mystery. Mystery is really a transliterated
26:43
Speaker 1: Greek word. We speak wisdom that is from the secret
26:48
Speaker 1: places of God made clear to us by the Spirit.
26:53
Speaker 1: The hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to
26:57
Speaker 1: our glory. Don't let that slip by. In the eternity past,
27:04
Speaker 1: before there ever was a world, before there ever was matter,
27:07
Speaker 1: before there ever was time, and of course before there
27:10
Speaker 1: were ever people on this earth, in the eternity past
27:17
Speaker 1: when the Godhead existed and existed alone, in the divine
27:23
Speaker 1: decrees of the Father and the Son and the Spirit,
27:28
Speaker 1: in the working out of the plan that God would
27:30
Speaker 1: have run its course on this earth when earth began
27:34
Speaker 1: for that period called time. It was the Father's plan
27:40
Speaker 1: to work out and to reveal within the Godhead all
27:44
Speaker 1: of these things that would transpire. and would be sovereignly
27:49
Speaker 1: superintended by the Godhead through the passing of time. He
27:53
Speaker 1: is looking back to that era in the hidden wisdom,
27:57
Speaker 1: in the mystery of God's wisdom, which was all predestined
28:02
Speaker 1: before the ages for our glory. The wisdom which none
28:07
Speaker 1: of the rulers of this age has understood, for if
28:09
Speaker 1: they had understood it, they would not have crucified the
28:12
Speaker 1: Lord of glory. Well, of course not. You see, when
28:16
Speaker 1: you operate in this pinpoint called time, when your perspective
28:20
Speaker 1: is riveted to today, you do not enter into the
28:25
Speaker 1: realm of God's wisdom. His wisdom is pervasive. It goes
28:31
Speaker 1: beyond eternity. It goes beyond our past, even the beginning
28:35
Speaker 1: of this world. It goes back into eternity past, and
28:38
Speaker 1: it goes far beyond our future, beyond time. His wisdom
28:42
Speaker 1: covers all of the existence Through all of the eras,
28:48
Speaker 1: it was all arranged ahead of time and it is
28:50
Speaker 1: running its course exactly as God predicted it and as
28:53
Speaker 1: God predestined it. And none of the rulers of this
28:57
Speaker 1: age riveted to today understood that or will ever understand it.
29:03
Speaker 1: If they had understood it, they wouldn't have crucified the
29:05
Speaker 1: Lord of glory. They would have understood that it was
29:07
Speaker 1: a part of the plan. And now we come to
29:10
Speaker 1: a verse, if I may add a personal word, my
29:13
Speaker 1: father's favorite verse in all the Bible. When I come
29:16
Speaker 1: to 1 Corinthians 2.9, I flash back to times when
29:20
Speaker 1: he talked about this verse. And now I'm beginning to
29:22
Speaker 1: see why he loved it so. You see, the apostle,
29:27
Speaker 1: when describing these things of God's wisdom hidden in the
29:31
Speaker 1: mystery of the past and beginning to be revealed to
29:35
Speaker 1: us in the passing of time, he turns back in
29:38
Speaker 1: his mind to Isaiah's words. and he sort of paraphrases
29:42
Speaker 1: them probably drawing them from the Septuagint which was the
29:45
Speaker 1: Bible of Paul's day certainly the Old Testament of Paul's
29:48
Speaker 1: day and verse 9 he says just as it is
29:51
Speaker 1: written things which eye has not seen and ear has
29:55
Speaker 1: not heard and which have not entered the heart of
29:57
Speaker 1: man all that God has prepared For those who love him.
30:01
Speaker 1: What's he saying? He's saying that you cannot sit down
30:05
Speaker 1: and surmise and figure out. No matter how many earned
30:09
Speaker 1: degrees you have. In your educational academic history. You cannot
30:15
Speaker 1: learn from man. You cannot learn from the books. And
30:18
Speaker 1: you cannot learn from your own gray matter. The depths
30:23
Speaker 1: of God's truths. You are dependent upon another to know them.
30:29
Speaker 1: Those truths must come from a member of the Godhead,
30:34
Speaker 1: and the one appointed to that task is the Holy Spirit,
30:38
Speaker 1: the intimate Holy Spirit who lives within every child of God.
30:44
Speaker 1: He lives there not to be dormant, but to be
30:47
Speaker 1: engaged in the active work of revealing God's hidden wisdom,
30:53
Speaker 1: which this earth cannot get from the books. We cannot
30:57
Speaker 1: learn it from one another. That is, from one another's
31:00
Speaker 1: academic accomplishments. Because they must come from God. Verse 10.
31:07
Speaker 1: For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For
31:13
Speaker 1: the Spirit searches all things. Even the bathos of God.
31:21
Speaker 1: The depths of God. Why, of course. The Spirit is God.
31:27
Speaker 1: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
31:31
Speaker 1: The one who planned, the one who implemented, the one
31:33
Speaker 1: who empowered. Working together in the Godhead, there is this
31:38
Speaker 1: enormous body of truth, the wisdom of God. And it
31:44
Speaker 1: rests within the heavenly places. And thanks to the Holy Spirit,
31:49
Speaker 1: it is deposited into our minds, minds which believe. do
31:54
Speaker 1: not have within themselves the ability to learn those things,
31:59
Speaker 1: so it must be placed there by the Holy Spirit.
32:03
Speaker 1: That's why James says, if any of you lacks wisdom,
32:05
Speaker 1: let him ask of God, who gives to all men
32:08
Speaker 1: liberally and does not chide us for our frequent coming.
32:15
Speaker 1: This is God's hidden wisdom. I sometimes think of the
32:20
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit as a deep-sea diver. who goes for treasures.
32:25
Speaker 1: He drops off the side of the boat and with
32:28
Speaker 1: bubbles you see him going down deeper, deeper, deeper, digging
32:33
Speaker 1: into treasures that the human eye cannot see from the
32:36
Speaker 1: surface of the waters. And by and by in a
32:39
Speaker 1: period of time he will come up and he will
32:41
Speaker 1: bring with him the treasures of some sunken vessel. It's
32:45
Speaker 1: happening more and more these days. We're reading, we're hearing
32:48
Speaker 1: about it. And those treasures are looked at for the
32:51
Speaker 1: first time by human eyes for the first time since
32:54
Speaker 1: they have sunk those centuries ago. Now, the spirit of
32:59
Speaker 1: God in the same manner is able to search into
33:02
Speaker 1: the deepest parts of the wisdom of God and to
33:06
Speaker 1: lift from the wisdom the truths that are needed in
33:09
Speaker 1: our lives today and then he is able to bring
33:12
Speaker 1: them to our attention. Eye has not seen, ear has
33:16
Speaker 1: not heard, neither has entered into the heart of a
33:18
Speaker 1: human being all of those things that God has for us.
33:22
Speaker 1: What a magnificently important work is going on and how
33:26
Speaker 1: seldom we even think of it. Hold your place here
33:31
Speaker 1: and go back a book to the book of Romans
33:33
Speaker 1: chapter 11, saying very much the same thing in sort
33:39
Speaker 1: of a crescendo at the end of this massive doctrinal
33:42
Speaker 1: statement of Romans 9, 10, and 11. Look at Romans 11,
33:45
Speaker 1: 33 down through 36. We spoke of the Spirit of
33:54
Speaker 1: God going to the depths of God, searching out these things.
33:57
Speaker 1: Now look. Oh, the depth of the riches of both
34:01
Speaker 1: of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable
34:06
Speaker 1: are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. And then he
34:13
Speaker 1: quotes Isaiah, who has known the mind of the Lord
34:16
Speaker 1: or who became his God's counselor? The point is no one.
34:20
Speaker 1: And then Job, who has first given to God that
34:23
Speaker 1: it might be paid back to him again? No one.
34:27
Speaker 1: We are the recipients, not the givers. We are the
34:31
Speaker 1: ones who need, not the ones who provide. When will
34:35
Speaker 1: we learn that? We are the ones who are dependent,
34:39
Speaker 1: not independent. We are the ones who rely on, not
34:43
Speaker 1: the ones who pour forth. The Lord is the giver
34:48
Speaker 1: of truth and he is the one who is the
34:50
Speaker 1: source of this wisdom. Now, the point is, verse 36,
34:56
Speaker 1: that we might remember that from him and through him
34:59
Speaker 1: and to him in return are all things. To him, therefore,
35:06
Speaker 1: be the glory forever. Amen. And He is referring, of course,
35:12
Speaker 1: to these truths about the living God that are to
35:17
Speaker 1: us in many ways mysterious and deep, but essential for
35:23
Speaker 1: living the Christian life. Theology has been called through the
35:29
Speaker 1: centuries the queen of the sciences. To it, all other
35:36
Speaker 1: truth bows. Only those who have a grasp of the
35:41
Speaker 1: wisdom and the magnificent, profound, unfathomable plan of God can
35:46
Speaker 1: fit truth into its proper place in whatever era in
35:50
Speaker 1: which he or she may live. And that is why
35:53
Speaker 1: to truly have an education, and our forefathers knew that.
36:00
Speaker 1: We've long since forgotten it. Some have in our nation.
36:05
Speaker 1: Our forefathers knew that. That is why when the earliest
36:09
Speaker 1: schools of higher learning were founded, they were founded for
36:13
Speaker 1: the purpose of establishing a literate ministry that the people
36:20
Speaker 1: might continue to keep the wisdom of God in focus
36:23
Speaker 1: with the needs of human beings. I stood knee-deep in
36:27
Speaker 1: the snow in Boston years ago, 1964 as I recall,
36:31
Speaker 1: and 1965 it was, and I As a matter of fact,
36:37
Speaker 1: some of the campus was being burned at the time
36:41
Speaker 1: because of a student unrest. And I went down to
36:44
Speaker 1: help out in any area I could. I was ministering
36:47
Speaker 1: up there at the time. And I remember standing by
36:49
Speaker 1: the cornerstone, Harvard University. I don't know if you've ever
36:53
Speaker 1: read the cornerstone, but you owe it to yourself to
36:57
Speaker 1: see it. I wish I had memorized it or brought
37:00
Speaker 1: the card that I wrote on that day that wrote
37:02
Speaker 1: the words down. But the purpose of establishing the university...
37:06
Speaker 1: Harvard University, named after John Harvard, who died in his 30s,
37:10
Speaker 1: and his library was bequeathed to that university and it
37:14
Speaker 1: became the beginning of that place, this minister of the gospel.
37:19
Speaker 1: And it was established for the purpose of perpetuating a
37:22
Speaker 1: literate ministry that before our churches and the people of
37:27
Speaker 1: our churches lie in the dust, they will have known
37:30
Speaker 1: the wisdom and the truths of God. I spoke to
37:35
Speaker 1: a Harvard graduate about it a week and a half ago,
37:38
Speaker 1: and he said, through the process of time, you'd be
37:40
Speaker 1: interested to know that around one of the 1800s, he said,
37:44
Speaker 1: a decision was made to change the whole symbol of
37:47
Speaker 1: the university so that we were no longer waiting upon
37:50
Speaker 1: God for his truth. Now it is man's truth that
37:54
Speaker 1: is significant. We've drifted, we've eroded a long ways, having
38:02
Speaker 1: come to the place where we no longer in our
38:04
Speaker 1: places of higher learning Sense the need for the wisdom
38:06
Speaker 1: of God. Back to Corinthians. He is referring to the
38:11
Speaker 1: depths of God. God's hidden wisdom. It is the work
38:14
Speaker 1: of the intimate spirit to reveal the deepest things of God. Again,
38:19
Speaker 1: don't be afraid of that. Let it happen. Let it
38:23
Speaker 1: take place in your mind. Now, a part of the
38:26
Speaker 1: spirit's work is revealing God's deep thoughts. Verses 11 and 12.
38:30
Speaker 1: So we're carrying on. It's going to sound almost like
38:33
Speaker 1: a tongue twister. It isn't that. It'll make sense as
38:36
Speaker 1: you ponder it. Listen to verse 11. For who among
38:40
Speaker 1: men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit
38:43
Speaker 1: of man which is in him? If I could look
38:48
Speaker 1: deeply into your eyes and study you for a few moments,
38:51
Speaker 1: are you with me? I would still not be able
38:54
Speaker 1: to know what was on your mind. I could not
38:57
Speaker 1: know what is in your mind, what is in your spirit,
39:00
Speaker 1: nor you me. Each one of us knows that in himself.
39:05
Speaker 1: in himself. Who among men knows the thoughts of another
39:09
Speaker 1: person except the spirit of the man which is in him?
39:12
Speaker 1: Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except
39:17
Speaker 1: the spirit of God. Get that part clear in your
39:22
Speaker 1: mind first. Within the person of God, within the mind
39:27
Speaker 1: of God, there is this vast, unfathomable treasure house of truth, wisdom.
39:33
Speaker 1: And it's all known by the living God. And the
39:37
Speaker 1: Spirit of God, being deity, knows all of that wisdom
39:42
Speaker 1: within the Godhead. All of that mysterious, hidden, magnificent wisdom.
39:49
Speaker 1: That is just essential for living. Just portions of it
39:53
Speaker 1: essential for surviving the times in which we live. Now
39:58
Speaker 1: God knows those things. In verse 12. Now he says.
40:03
Speaker 1: Now we believers have received. Not the spirit of the world.
40:10
Speaker 1: But the spirit who is from God. Why? Why has
40:15
Speaker 1: he become resident within us? that we might know the
40:20
Speaker 1: things freely given to us by God. Is that marvelous
40:27
Speaker 1: or what? You at the moment of salvation were given
40:32
Speaker 1: the Spirit of God. You were identified with the body
40:36
Speaker 1: of Christ. You were made a part of the family.
40:41
Speaker 1: And part of the package deal included the presence of
40:45
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit within your being. And he comes to
40:49
Speaker 1: live within you, think of it, having all of the
40:52
Speaker 1: wisdom of God and ready to reveal, having searched the
40:58
Speaker 1: deep things of God, ready to reveal those things to
41:01
Speaker 1: you and make them known when you need them. You're
41:04
Speaker 1: facing an impasse. The Spirit of God is there to
41:07
Speaker 1: assist you through the impasse. You're going through grief and loss.
41:10
Speaker 1: The Spirit of God is there to give you wisdom
41:13
Speaker 1: and insight in the midst of the grief and the loss.
41:16
Speaker 1: You're facing the unknown. The surprise factor is very real
41:20
Speaker 1: in the week ahead. The Spirit of God lives within
41:22
Speaker 1: you to assist you from being intimidated when facing the
41:25
Speaker 1: surprises of the immediate moment of this week. He lives
41:30
Speaker 1: within you to reveal to you, to teach you, to
41:34
Speaker 1: show you. And these are thoughts that are so beyond
41:39
Speaker 1: human thoughts. Other individuals would wonder, where in the world
41:42
Speaker 1: did you get such thoughts? I was reading this in
41:47
Speaker 1: my study and I thought of Isaiah 55. You've read it.
41:52
Speaker 1: My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord, neither
41:54
Speaker 1: are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are
41:59
Speaker 1: high above the earth, so are my thoughts above your
42:01
Speaker 1: thoughts and my ways above your ways. High meaning profound, deeper,
42:08
Speaker 1: outside the dimension of our five senses. He has thoughts,
42:14
Speaker 1: he has wisdom, he has truth, that is beyond our
42:18
Speaker 1: ability to conjure up, to work up. So we live
42:25
Speaker 1: our lives dependent upon our God to show us truth
42:30
Speaker 1: to live by. Let me go a step further. This
42:38
Speaker 1: may very well explain how you and I can have
42:40
Speaker 1: inner confidence and assurance in a certain matter that others
42:44
Speaker 1: may not have. Have you ever had that happen? You
42:51
Speaker 1: have poured over something in prayer, you have waited on God,
42:54
Speaker 1: you have searched his truths in the book, and you
42:58
Speaker 1: come to a settled conviction, this is what I ought
43:02
Speaker 1: to do, or this is what I ought not to do.
43:05
Speaker 1: Others don't agree with you. Others around you can't see
43:08
Speaker 1: the logic of it. And it is as though you
43:11
Speaker 1: are bound in the Spirit to carry that out because
43:15
Speaker 1: you know that is what God would have you do.
43:17
Speaker 1: That's the work of the Spirit. I'm going to show
43:19
Speaker 1: you an example. Acts chapter 20, verse 22. It happened
43:25
Speaker 1: among the leaders in Ephesus as Paul was saying goodbye.
43:33
Speaker 1: He has gotten the elders together to say farewell for
43:36
Speaker 1: the last time. They are about to put their arms
43:39
Speaker 1: around him and he them and fall together in weeping
43:43
Speaker 1: in the sadness of they're not seeing each other again.
43:46
Speaker 1: But he tells them before that 2022 of Acts and
43:50
Speaker 1: now bound in spirit. I am on my way to Jerusalem,
43:53
Speaker 1: not knowing what will happen to me there. Wait, bound
43:57
Speaker 1: in spirit. Don't miss those words. It is as if
44:01
Speaker 1: I am captured in my mind by the spirit. It
44:04
Speaker 1: should be a capital S. I think it's the Holy Spirit,
44:07
Speaker 1: not his own personal spirit. I think it is the
44:10
Speaker 1: work of the Holy Spirit, and I say that because
44:12
Speaker 1: of the next verse. I am going bound in the
44:15
Speaker 1: Spirit to the city of Jerusalem, and I don't know
44:17
Speaker 1: what's in front of me, except that the Holy Spirit
44:21
Speaker 1: solemnly testifies to me. Look at that. Did you ever
44:25
Speaker 1: see that before? The Holy Spirit is testifying to Paul.
44:31
Speaker 1: And what's he saying? He is saying that in every city,
44:36
Speaker 1: bonds and afflictions await me. You see, it is not
44:41
Speaker 1: the work of the Spirit to always lead you into
44:43
Speaker 1: a place of comfort. Sometime, it is the plan of
44:47
Speaker 1: God to lead you into a difficult place to serve
44:50
Speaker 1: Him and to be His representative. Paul is an example.
44:54
Speaker 1: I'm going to Jerusalem, and I know before I get there.
44:57
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened. You study the rest of Acts,
45:00
Speaker 1: you will see a man cast on God for survival.
45:04
Speaker 1: And he knew ahead of time, the Spirit of God
45:06
Speaker 1: testified to him that bonds and afflictions awaited him. And
45:10
Speaker 1: verse 24 tells you why he could go. He says,
45:13
Speaker 1: I do not consider my life of any account as
45:15
Speaker 1: dear to myself. See, that's what you call having the
45:18
Speaker 1: long view of life. If I were only looking at today,
45:21
Speaker 1: I'd be very protective of myself. But I'm looking at
45:25
Speaker 1: life in light of eternity, past and future. I don't
45:28
Speaker 1: consider my life as of any account as dear to
45:30
Speaker 1: myself in order that I might finish my course. I'm
45:32
Speaker 1: a part of the plan. I'm not the whole picture.
45:35
Speaker 1: I want to finish my course. And the ministry which
45:38
Speaker 1: I received from the Lord Jesus. To testify solemnly of
45:40
Speaker 1: the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold.
45:45
Speaker 1: I know that you all. Among whom I went about
45:47
Speaker 1: preaching the kingdom. Will see my face no more. I'm
45:50
Speaker 1: on my way. And I know what's ahead of me.
45:53
Speaker 1: Because somehow in the revealing. The searching. The teaching ministry
45:57
Speaker 1: of the spirit. I have gotten this insight. And today
46:01
Speaker 1: we may call it a premonition. Uh. Could it be
46:06
Speaker 1: that a premonition is more often than not a movement
46:10
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit within us? You see, it's so iffy.
46:13
Speaker 1: It's so difficult to nail it down. It's hard to
46:17
Speaker 1: describe it in exact terms. It's like nailing a poached
46:23
Speaker 1: egg to a tree. You just can't get it there.
46:25
Speaker 1: You can't get it to stick. I want to make
46:30
Speaker 1: it so clear, but I can't. You have to experience
46:34
Speaker 1: the revealing work of the Spirit where He testifies to you,
46:38
Speaker 1: this is what I want you to do, and you
46:40
Speaker 1: do it. And it's as you should live your life.
46:44
Speaker 1: That's why we walk by faith and not by sight.
46:49
Speaker 1: I care about these things. Verse 13, the last part
46:54
Speaker 1: of this message, where we see the teaching of God's
46:57
Speaker 1: profound insights. Having mentioned those things which are freely given
47:02
Speaker 1: to us of God, he says, verse 13, which things
47:04
Speaker 1: we also speak. Not in words taught by human wisdom,
47:11
Speaker 1: but in those taught by the Spirit. Isn't that great?
47:14
Speaker 1: I'll make this clear. We have this truth of God,
47:18
Speaker 1: and in order to get it communicated, we are limited
47:20
Speaker 1: to words. Words. If you could see my thoughts, you'd
47:26
Speaker 1: learn so much more. I just can't put all those
47:29
Speaker 1: thoughts into words. But I do my best and you
47:31
Speaker 1: do your best when you teach and communicate with words.
47:35
Speaker 1: And so it is the Spirit of God who takes
47:37
Speaker 1: the things of God. And apart from the human wisdom,
47:41
Speaker 1: it's not human wisdom, it is divine wisdom. Having taught
47:45
Speaker 1: us these truths by the Spirit, we combine spiritual thoughts
47:50
Speaker 1: with spiritual words. And that becomes the direction God is
47:55
Speaker 1: leading us. Spiritual thoughts mixed with spiritual words, all of
48:00
Speaker 1: that coming from the Spirit. And you know what happens
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Speaker 1: when that occurs? Last part of verse 16, we have
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Speaker 1: the mind of Christ. We have the very mind of Christ,
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Speaker 1: meaning we can walk in that kind of obedience. We
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Speaker 1: can have that clearer direction. We can have those firm
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Speaker 1: convictions that even if they put us to the stake,
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Speaker 1: we won't deny. We won't recant. We won't turn back.
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Speaker 1: We will have the mind of Christ when we operate
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Speaker 1: mixing spiritual thoughts with spiritual words that come from the
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God. This has not been a shallow and
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Speaker 1: simple study. The next time I want to look at
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Speaker 1: the anointing of the Spirit, the next time we get together,
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Speaker 1: I want to talk about Those words in 1 John
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Speaker 1: 2 which speak of the unction or the anointing of
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Speaker 1: the Spirit. I don't think I've ever heard anybody, certainly
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Speaker 1: in my circles, address how this anointing of the Spirit
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Speaker 1: impacts our lives. Somehow we have learned in the process
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Speaker 1: of these last few minutes that we have a helper,
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Speaker 1: one called alongside. In place of weakness, he brings power.
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Speaker 1: In place of ignorance, he brings knowledge. In place of
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Speaker 1: human knowledge, he brings divine wisdom. In place of a
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Speaker 1: superficial arrangement of things, he brings the depths of God's plan.
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Speaker 1: And in place of good ideas... He brings profound insights.
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Speaker 1: That's all the work of the intimate spirit. And he
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Speaker 1: continues to do that. Let me encourage you as a
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Speaker 1: child of God to seek the mind of the Lord.
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Speaker 1: His book is the major source, really the only source
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Speaker 1: of inspired truth, and it is the major source of
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Speaker 1: significant revelations. And as you learn more of his word,
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Speaker 1: you will discover more of his mind. And you will
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Speaker 1: discover that you're able to live, though you're on this earth,
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Speaker 1: you're able to live on a plane that is above it.
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Speaker 1: Not that you're better than it, but you see past it.
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Speaker 1: It is a transcending wisdom that keeps you from being
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Speaker 1: so riveted to the cares and the needs and the
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Speaker 1: aches and pains. of today. It will give you an
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Speaker 1: enormous sense of relief as the Spirit of God teaches
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Speaker 1: these things to you. Let's bow together. Lord God, I
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Speaker 1: want to thank you for enabling us to grasp what
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Speaker 1: is so terribly important for life. We want to thank you,
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God, for your ministry in and among us.
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Speaker 1: especially within us. Lord, forgive us for operating as though
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Speaker 1: we belong to ourselves and we really are not in
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Speaker 1: that great dependence upon you when the contrary is true, Lord.
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Speaker 1: Without you, we are not even able to breathe. Our
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Speaker 1: hearts would not beat another time. Our spirits would be heavy.
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Speaker 1: Our emotions would be out of control. Our eyes would
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Speaker 1: be blind to real living. We'd miss the mark because
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Speaker 1: we are by choice, by birth, and by nature sinful people.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for choosing to live within us. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for taking from the depths of yourself and revealing some
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Speaker 1: of those things to us, how meaningful they are becoming
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Speaker 1: to us. And we recommit ourselves to you and to
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Speaker 1: living for your glory, Father. In the dear name of
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. All rights are reserved worldwide.
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