It's free. Our Father, we do come and offer our lives to you today. And it's not difficult to do when we have reflected upon who you are as our Father, who is Almighty and yet all loving. When we have seen Lord that you are the one who has called us to yourself and that you love us and the word grace means more than just the blue eyed blonde. It reminds us of the way you move toward us even when we weren't lovely. It reminds us that when we were very unattractive, when we were sinful, you loved us anyway and you called us and you sent Jesus to die in our place. It reminds us that you still want to have a close relationship with us. It's the Father we come into your presence today and we bow before you and we praise you. We worship you, Lord. We lift up to you who you are in your majesty and in your might and in your holiness and your righteousness. And all of who you are, Lord, we give you praise and honor. And because of who you are, we do, as we are honest with you today, have to confess our sins. We bow before you today, Lord, and we confess that we have fallen short. We have sinned. Some of us are here today, Lord, and we feel the burden of guilt that is so great that if we were to talk about it, we'd burst out in the tears. Father, some of us have issues that we need to reconcile with other people. But now we're talking about reconciling with you and so as we confess our sins, we look at the cross and remember that it's empty, Lord, and pray today that you would help us to remember that the cross is empty because the work is finished. That Jesus has paid for our sins and that we are, for faith in him, your children, forever. And you're never going to let us go. So Father, make our repentance real today, our confession real, but make our experience of your forgiveness real today as well. And cause us to walk out of here today knowing that we are your children and glad that we are. Father, today we ask you to work in our lives. We pray that you teach us from your word and so as we look at that. In a minute we pray for the ones who teaches that you'd forgive him his sins and use one Lord who is limited and finite to communicate your infinite truth. Father, take the truth and make it relevant in our lives. We pray your truth is relevant. Help us to see how in fact it is. So Lord, we pray that you be with some of those that we love, pray that you be with Matt and Grace. We pray Father for healing and give them your touch. Father, we pray for others who are having pain inwardly that is so great Lord right now. The one that doesn't have enough money, the one that is really inundated with opportunities, but they don't know what priorities to choose. The one in transition. Father, we pray that you'd meet us across our paths and make us different because we've met here. Now Lord, we are glad to give of our offerings to you. You've given so much. Now we give back and pray that you'd receive what we give from hearts that are glad because of Christ as we pray his holy name. Amen. We're here today because it wasn't us. It was Jesus for us. Thank you Julian. We're going to continue in worship this morning as we look into God's Word. The kids you first may be dismissed for children's church. And while they're moving out, would you take your Bibles and turn to the gospel of John back in the New Testament? John chapter 14, 15 through 27 is our text for today. And we are continuing in our Modern Mystics series, John 14 verses 15 through 27. If you don't have your Bibles, that's all right. Because the program has the text of Scripture type for you there, John 14 verses 15 through 27. By the way, while you're turning, I do want to make one more announcement. And guys, I want to encourage you again to come to our men's seminar. Now I know that you might be prejudiced against the speaker, but we really want you all there guys. And this is going to be a great opportunity for you. So bring one other guy, make it a challenge to bring one guy outside the church who's loosely connected or non-connected to Willa Creek. Be a great time for us as well. All right, John 14 verses 15 through 27. Jesus says, if you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you before long. The world will not see me anymore, but you will see me because I live. You also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in the Father and you are in me and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father and I too will love him and show myself to him. Then Judas, not Judas Iscariot said, but Lord why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus replied, if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own, they belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit and the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Now this morning as we continue our study in the modern mystics, some of you are still wondering why have we entitled this the modern mystic series? Well, we are looking at some topics that really come out of the whole issue of studying the book of Revelation. As we studied Revelation, we saw the big truth that Jesus Christ is coming again, right? If you read Revelation and missed that, you have missed the book. And so Jesus Christ is coming again and we know that. And when we get to heaven and we had a great time talking about heaven and how it is going to be a perfect place, it is going to be beautiful, no rain, of sun all the time, no mud, no sand getting stuck in the sand or no getting dirty shoes. Anybody picked off because their shoes are a little wet this morning? Well, me too. But the reality is that heaven is going to be a perfect place, it is going to be perfect relationship with the Father, but also perfect relationships with people, with one another. But the most important is our relationship with the Father. And so as I was studying that and thinking about that and knowing that Revelation gives us the reality that we will have a wonderful time then, the question is what about now? Do we have the opportunity of having the same kind of relationship with God now that we will have within one day in heaven? And the answer is yes to some extent. Yes, the reality is that God has provided a way for us to begin that eternal relationship within now and not just know that we are going to heaven, but to be able to experience a good bit of heaven now. And that is why we have called this series the Modern Mystic series, because we need to be a little bit more spiritually oriented as God's people. We eat angelicals in America, are so task oriented, so doing oriented. Sometimes it is hard for us to really feel like we are in touch with the Lord. And so last week, two weeks ago, we studied prayer. Last week, Dr. Mark Futano preached on meditation. I was a good message. I heard it. If you didn't hear it, you ought to get the tape. And so today, we pick up talking about the whole idea of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, is the one who puts us in touch with the Father, enables us to experience our relationship with God right now. This past week, the Owlinson men had a little guide time over at TCBY, and that high and holy meeting place. And I don't know about you when you go there, if you go there, but when we go there, we almost inevitably ask for the sampler. We may know what we are going to get, but we ask for the sampler or something else anyway. They give you a lot, by the way. So we take that little sampler and we challenge that down. And it's a taste of what we might get. I mean, we might get it, we might get something else. Well, as we look at this topic today about the Holy Spirit, we're going to see that the Holy Spirit, as he comes into the life of the believer, gives us a taste of heaven, we really can experience it, the relationship with God now. And so we need to learn a lot about this. And that sums up pretty well what Keith brought up earlier about the whole idea that we have been called not only to glorify God, but to enjoy him. Do you enjoy God? Do you enjoy being with him? Is he something you do on Sunday, or is he a relationship, is he a person that you relate to through the week? Well, I hope we'll get down to the point where we will be able to relate more with him. All right, the background of this text, in John 14, the background is simply this, Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross. He's getting ready to leave and he's preparing his disciples in chapter 14, 15, 16. He's preparing the disciples for his departure. And in this chapter, chapter 14, he's giving them comfort because he's going to be gone. And so that's what this is all about. The comfort that Jesus gives his disciples, you and me, when he is going to go to heaven. So, first of all, I want you to note about the Holy Spirit and about the comfort that we have because of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit is a gift. Notice the Holy Spirit is a gift. John 14, verse 15, through 17, if you love me, you will obey what I command and I will ask the Father and He will give you another counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. I love the confidence that He has here because Jesus says that because He's leaving, He's going to ask the Father that we would receive the Holy Spirit, that God's people would receive the Holy Spirit. Notice that He says, I will ask Him and He will give you. And that shows how connected Jesus is to the Father. It shows that the gift is not something He was hoping that we would get but something that we would definitely receive through faith in Christ. And you say, I know that. I've been raising the church or I've been around a long time. I know Christians are supposed to get the Holy Spirit. But guys, you need to understand that historically, biblically, in this point in history, this is big news. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was not dwelling in each individual believer. You remember David, the one who inspired so many Psalms and was the leader of Israel, in Psalm 51 after he committed the biggest sin of his life. After he committed adultery, he said, this, creating me a pure heart of God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. That was a sense that David, who was entwelt by the Holy Spirit, he had the sense that all of this inspiration that God had given him, all this comfort that God had given him. All of this real veer right at hand presence of God would be taken away because of the sin. And so believers in the Old Testament were assured of the indwelling presence of God all the time. Now you say, what about Psalm 139? That's a good point. In Psalm 139 it says, where can I flee from my spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence if I go to the furthest end of the earth you're there? That's true. That is true, but it's different. God is overseeing believers, but there's a difference when he is in believers. So guys, this is big time when he says that the Holy Spirit is the gifts for all of us. And as through faith and Christ this is a big deal. I don't know who said it, but they're right when they said the greatest things in life are not things, but they're people, they're relationships. And the greatest thing that we have is our relationship with God. Now here's the point I want to make. You were created to experience a relationship with God on a spiritual basis. You were created to relate to the Holy Spirit. Some of you say, yeah, but my charismatic friends, you know, they're in touch with the Holy Spirit, but I'm not. Let me tell you that you were created to be in touch with him. I love the story of the father of polar bear and the son polar bear. They're out in the Arctic and they're sitting around talking and the son was over the father and says, Dad, am I 100% polar bear? Dad says, of course you're 100% polar bear. And a little while later he says, Dad, I mean, don't spare me. Am I really 100% polar bear? I mean, there's no panda bear, there's no brown bear, no grizzly bear. You know, grizzly bear makes a son. Your mother's 100% polar bear. I'm 100% polar bear. You're 100% polar bear. Oh, while later he says, Dad, am I really? Come on, tell me the truth. He says, son, you're driving me crazy. Why are you so concerned about whether or not you're 100% polar bear? And he says, Dad, I'm freezing. Sometimes we don't feel like we're children of God because we don't feel very spiritual. Sometimes we know that God is spirit. We know we're to worship Him in spirit and in truth, but sometimes we just don't feel spiritual. I'm here to tell you that you are 100% physical and you are 100% spiritual. That when you accepted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit came to dwell within you and He is in you now. If you haven't had the experience that you feel Him there, that's all right. He's there. You gotta take it by faith. You gotta accept truth and get your experiences from truth, not build your truth off experiences. He's there. He is in you. Whether you feel it or not. And it's so important to understand that this Holy Spirit is not just a mode of God but is God. The Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity. It is God who is dwelling in you. And so you guys have received an amazing gift. God is in you. And He wants to communicate with you. Now, let me give you an application of that because this is so important and it's this. If the Holy Spirit is in all Christians, then that means that we are all equally blessed and that means that we are all on the same level with each other in the body of Christ. Let me say that again. If the Holy Spirit is in you, that means that we are on all the same level in the church and there is no need to feel inferior in the body of Christ. Do you ever feel inferior around other Christians? They are more spiritual. God must have honored them because of the car they drive or what they have. We are on the same level because we have the same spirit and the same Father. Put another way. We all have that incredible potential to experience a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. And there isn't one of you that can't feel and be closer to God because of the Holy Spirit. One of my students at Reform Seminary this past week in Communication class told an illustration about the writer cup golf tournament. Did you guys follow the writer cup when it was on? Yeah. Some of you couldn't get away from it. Then John Triner told us about it. I know that there was a golf competition. I didn't realize that it was between Europe and America. But he brought out the point and this was so good. He brought out the point that when England brought their team to play at the writer cup, they only used nine of their players. They used their nine best players. They didn't use them all. But Ben Crenshaw, the American team captain, used all of our 12 players. And he used all of the 12 players even those that weren't shooting real good. And he had faith in them and trusted them and they tended to rise to the occasion and did a good job. What's the point? The point is this. Because the Holy Spirit is in you. God can work through you. You're not a second class citizen. Nobody else in the body of Christ is better than you. And we need to trust each other in the family. We need to expect that God would work through each other. In fact, we need to allow each other ourselves to be in touch with God. And so the first thing is I want you to understand that the Holy Spirit is a gift. Secondly, I want you to note that the Holy Spirit is our counselor. Look at John 14 verse 16. I will ask the Father and He will give you another counselor to be with you forever, the spirit of fruit. Do you notice here that Jesus says we're going to receive another counselor that he had been a counselor to his people on earth. When the word counselor comes from the Greek word maybe you have heard it. It's the Greek word parakeet, not parakeet, parakeet. Which carries forth the idea of an advocate someone who goes to someone else for you who prays for you but also someone who comes right alongside of you to help you out when you need it. Jesus was that for the disciples on earth. Do you imagine what have been like to walk with Jesus to be there with him to ask your questions. Well, he was their counselor. He was their helper. And now he says when he goes the Holy Spirit is going to be our counselor. Not somebody that's sitting back on a couch or laughing you lean back on a couch and say now tell me what's going on in your life. But the counselor of the Holy Spirit comes into our life and he encourages us. He teaches us. He also helps us understand the passages in the Bible. In our officer training class we talked about the different types of revelation about how God has revealed Himself to us in nature and how God has revealed Himself to us in His Word. And so today as God's people we're not really looking for new revelations. We're looking for illumination, clarification, understanding of what God has already revealed. Guys, when you read the Bible, who is it that's going to illumine to you what the Bible says. It's the Holy Spirit. Who is the gift that is going to come into your life and is going to help you see what you need to apply in your life when you read the Bible. It's the Holy Spirit. He's the counselor. He's the one that comes alongside and if you have a good counselor you know a good counselor is going to sometimes tell you things you don't want to hear. A good counselor is going to be the burr under your saddle in the Holy Spirit. I've taken a lot of psychology classes and read a lot of psychology. And one of the my favorite psychologists in writing is Carl Rogers, reality therapy. And one time I took a class where I had to be canceled. And it was an awful experience because all this counselor did was reflect back to me some of the things I was saying. But then the reality therapy of William Glasser came into play when he kept forcing things into my face about myself. Now sometimes the Holy Spirit does that. Have you ever said, have you ever had those feelings inside where you felt like maybe it was God maybe it was somebody trying to tell you something and you kept saying down. I don't want to hear that. It's probably been the Holy Spirit. Who is your counselor. And one of the reasons why we don't feel as spiritual as Christians is because we said no to the Holy Spirit. And when we say I'm not going to listen, then his voice becomes less clear. And so the reality is is that we're his children. We belong to the Father and he said his spirit to be our counselor to help us understand the Bible. I do apply it to be the burr under our saddle to face ourselves. And God, I don't want to give you three easy steps to getting to the point where you can hear God. What I want to challenge you to do is just to get with God and take my faith that the Holy Spirit is in you and read the Word and ask Him to illuminate to you and then listen and then listen and begin to discern the still small boy. It's a little mystical, isn't it? That's okay. That's what it's about. We're like the guy who was dancing with his girlfriend and another guy kept breaking in trying to break into the dance. And finally this guy who was dancing with his girlfriend took off his glasses, handed it to his girlfriend and said here would you please hold this? And she said you're not going to get it off. Fight with this guy. Are you? He said no. I just don't want to see him anymore. Sometimes we think that grace is when we sin God taking off his glasses and not looking anymore and that's not grace at all. Grace is when God keeps the glasses on and he sees us and because of Christ we're still here and he loves us and he speaks to us. And if we listen, the Holy Spirit will counsel us. He will never leave you if you sin. Confess it and get right and they start listening again. And then I want you to notice not only the Holy Spirit is gift and the Holy Spirit as our counselor, but notice that the Holy Spirit is our direct connection to Jesus. This is so important. Look at John 14, 18. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you before long the world will not see me anymore. But look at this. But you will see me because I live, you will live also. Almost every New Testament scholar I consulted said this pertains not to his second coming at revelation, but his second coming through the Holy Spirit to us. And I agree. Guys, we have forgotten that the Holy Spirit is our direct link to Jesus is our direct link to Jesus. I tell you, there's sometimes and I use the sanctified imagination sometimes when I pray sometimes I think of myself being with Jesus talking. It's not new age. Trust me. But sometimes I think of walking along a road in Israel with him. Sometimes I imagine him to some extent. But the amazing thing is sometimes it seems so real. Guys, I want to be with you. Listen, I have never gotten over Jesus. The reason I'm a pastor is I've never gotten over Jesus. And the reason you're here is that you've never gotten over Jesus. He's changed us. And I just want I'd love to be with him physically right now. I'd like to tell him the things that I'm struggling with. Things I don't know how I'm going to solve. I would like with the disciples from time to time to just be able to say, would you talk to me about this? The reality is we can. We can, because he said, I will come to you. And the reason he sent the Holy Spirit is that he would be in us and he is our direct link to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our direct link to Jesus. And I want you guys to connect with him. And I want you to understand that truth. And no matter how busy your life is, no matter how bad you feel about yourself, to understand. No matter how difficult it is, what you're going through, you can connect with him. This was a busy week for me. And I had a hard time finding a place to think and study. You ever have those days? I couldn't study here. It was too crazy. Couldn't study at home. It was too crazy there. So I went to Arby's. And if you go about an hour and a half before lunch, there's nobody there. And even at lunch time sometimes there's... But I was at Arby's and I was just nice and quiet. I was listening to the song played over the intercom and some good ones were coming. And then the song, Dust in the Wind. Remember that one? All we are is Dust in the Wind. And for some of you, young people, you'll remember that. But it was more and full and kind of depressing. And I was thinking about that because I was thinking about this stuff. And I was thinking, All we are is Dust in the Wind. And you know, that's true. What it's trying to combat is that this idea that we're little gods running around. No, we're not gods. But we're not just Dust in the Wind. Here today, Ghana-Maro, me, nothing. We are created in the image of God. We are dirt. But we're special dirt. And the breath of God has been breathed into us. And every one of you is so unique, so called, so saved by Jesus that the Holy Spirit dwells within you. And that's the vehicle to have fellowship with him. You can take what you're struggling with to him. You can talk to him immediately. If you'll go there and you'll wait and you'll read and you'll let the Spirit put you in touch with Jesus. Now, mystical, it is. It's spiritual. But lastly, I need you to note before we take communion, you need to note that the Spirit produces peace. John 1427, peace I leave with you. My peace, I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. This is one of the greatest things we receive from the Holy Spirit is peace in our hearts. If we'll do this spiritual pilgrimage and try to medium, he will give us peace. It will stay in his presence long enough. And the children's book entitled Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. We find this. I love it. It's an old story, but I got to share it with you. Alexander has one of those days when God seems to be shouting his loudest, Alexander awakens in the morning and he says, I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair. And when I got out of bed this morning, I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake, I dropped my sweater and the sink while the water was running. And I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And after a bad time at school and even a worse time with a dentist, Alexander continues his lament, lima beans for dinner. I hate lima beans. There was kissing on TV. I hate kissing. My bath was too hot. I got soap in my eyes. I bit my tongue. The cat wants to sleep with Anthony and not with me. It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And I think I'll move to Australia. And we have those, don't we? And we want the three keys to get rid of the pain. And I'll tell you where the key is. It's with Jesus. It's meeting him. It's getting quiet. It's getting alone. It's getting the book open. It's saying, I need you. It's saying, would you meet me? It's saying, touch me at a place I cannot go. And would you do it all because, well, you did everything. You died on the cross for me. Would you meet me if you will? If we will begin to think that way. And think more spiritually, you'll meet us. Last week, I was in California speaking to men. And you know, I typically do Friday Saturday fly back. Well, I said yes to this before I checked the flight. And the reason I wasn't here is that I could get back and have any sanity here on Sunday morning. So I appreciate Mark Trutano preaching for me. So last Saturday night, I got together with some friends from California. We went out to dinner at the Chart House in Las Gatos, a real nice place to eat. In an old, 100-year-old building, a 100-year-old house. It's just great. It had been a funeral home for a lot of years. And they just converted it into a restaurant. So I'd been a home, a funeral home. And we got talking to our waitress, and she was telling us about how the bottom room in the house is called the red room. Still red. That's where they kept the bodies. And she said, oh, by the way, we also have a ghost in this place. And I looked at her. She was dead serious. She wasn't kidding. And so I said, tell us about it. She said it was a little girl who died. And we've seen her. Many of us have had the experience. And my friend and I just gave her a rough time. But you know what? I was glad she was taking spiritual. If nothing else, she was thinking spiritually. And she was thinking that there is another realm other than just the physical. And guys, we need to take that. And we need to understand that we can have a connection with Jesus. Because of the death, burial, and resurrection. And what he did on the cross through faith in him, we're connected. And as we take communion now, understand that communion is one of the greatest times to connect. As we take the bread, it's one of the greatest times for us to understand that Jesus died in our place. Should have been us. Should have been me. We did it for you. And he's alive today. And the Holy Spirit is in you through faith. Confess your sins while we pass the bread. As we pass the cup, remember that the New Testament calls it the cup of blessing in which as we take communion, it really is a time where we literally really partake of Christ but not physically for faith. As our elders come forward, let's prepare our hearts to partake of our Lord and to experience him. If you are not a Christian, we're glad you're here. Maybe that you're looking over the fence at what it means to be a believer. We're glad you're here. But this time is a time just for Christians. It is a time for us to really celebrate our relationship with God. It is a time to remember how special we are in Christ. And so we just encourage you to just pass the elements by and really the thing for you today would be to receive Christ through faith. And then next time take communion with us. For Jesus, we know a lot about you. We think a lot of things about you. Sometimes our emotions aren't touched. Sometimes our spirits are not engaged. And so Lord Jesus, I pray that you would would cause us now to meet you in the stillness of this time, in the quietness of this place and through these sacraments. Lord Jesus, thank you that you died for us and that we are connected now to you through faith. Meet us, we pray now, in your holy name. Amen. And now this week made a Holy Spirit be your friend and lead you to Jesus as you remember his deep love and concern for you. Amen.