H Is For Help, Helper Series

Introduction

1. A blonde goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards...

She says to the clerk, "May I have 50 Christmas stamps?"

The clerk says, "What denomination?"

The blonde says, "God help us! Has it come to this?

Give me 6 Catholic,

12 Presbyterian

10 Lutheran

10 Baptist...

and 12 Nazarenes"

2. As we continue to study our ABCs of the Bible…

We come to the letter H…

If it wasn’t for what I preached about on Sunday…

I would talk about HOPE…

The hope we have in Jesus…

The hope we have in heaven…(heaven is another good “h” word)

The hope that Jesus brings to the Christmas season…

And the hope we have in Jesus coming again…

But instead, I would like to talk about the word “help” and different forms of that word.

Read Text: See below

1. Help, helps

A. Help typically means, “to give assistance”…

To lend a hand…

To facilitate…

In one interesting case…

In Acts 27:17, Luke tells us that ropes or cables were wrapped around a ship to hold it together and keep it from being pulled apart in the storm…

The KJV actually uses the word “helps” for these ropes or cables…

In (1 Cor. 12:28), Paul tells us that “helping” is a spiritual gift…

And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

B. And, sometimes, we just need a little help…

William Schultz tells the story about his daughter Laurie when she was 3 years old…

He says, “one night she requested my aid in getting un dressed…

I was downstairs and she was upstairs, and so I hollered up…

"You know how to undress yourself,"

And she called back…"Yes," she explained, ’but sometimes people need people anyway, even if they do know how to do things by themselves."[1]

I’d say that little Laurie hit the nail right on the head…

Sometimes we do need each other…

C. Never is this more evident than in the work of the church…

We accomplish much more for the Gospel of Jesus Christ when we work together than when we try to do everything our selves…

One of the nice things about being a part of a denomination is that We are able to share resources…

We can work together to spread the Gospel of Jesus to places that you and I could never go by ourselves…

But more than just missions…

Even here in our local church…

We can help one another…

We can work together to decorate the church…

We can help in the various ministries that our church is involved in…

C. When we work together…

And help one another…

It is like putting ropes around this old ship to hold it together in the storm…

And certainly, the “gift of helping” must be one of the most important gifts in the Church!!

2. Not only do we see the words Help and helps…

A. We also see the word “Helper” Gospel of John (14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7)

The NAS translates parakletos, as Helper…

Parakletos is a distinctive title for the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John.

(Holy Spirit is itself another good “H” word)

Other versions translate the term “Comforter” (KJV),

“Advocate” (NEB),

or “Counselor” (RSV, NIV).

parakletos is difficult to translate with any single word,…

some interpreters just use the word “Paraclete”

and allow the context of the Scriptures to provide its meaning.

B. One use of the word for the Holy Spirit is “advocate”…

Advocate gives us the picture of a courtroom scene…

In 1 John 2:1, the Advocate is specified as being Jesus Christ…

“My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”

In this courtroom scene, Jesus Christ, the righteous “Advocate,” intercedes with God “The Judge” on behalf of sinners.

C. In John 16:7, we see that The Helper, who could not come until Jesus Ascended…

It says "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

And we see that Jesus words are fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.

D. Not only did the Helper come after Jesus ascended…

The Helper also functions as the continuing, ongoing presence of Jesus among His disciples…

In (John 14:16-18), Jesus says…

16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;