He's Got Your Back

Songs It is well w my soul go to www.aquarelles.com/spafford/ (might be neat to see a copy of the song on the projector). Then Haven sing and Tricia Daugherty sign to Michael W Smith’s ‘This is the air I Breathe” (sp.)

Most Mondays our EE team goes out to call on people who have visited the church. I will never forget the night that we called on Darryl and Sharon who went with us to TN on our marriage retreat in February. After a time of sharing the gospel the trainee realized what I already knew that Darryl and Sharon are strong Christians and deeply involved in a local fellowship. We shared with them that since it was still early we were going to make a cold call at a local Laundromat. We prayed together before leaving and the prayer was powerful and was laser focused on the person or persons we would encounter at the local Laundromat. Well, we got to the Laundromat only to find standing in front of that Laundromat two of the biggest African American men I have ever seen!

The other male member of our team felt like we should move on to a more timid side of town, but our lady member was insistent that these men needed the gospel and these were the ones God provided because of our prayer.

We are all afraid of different things at different times in our lives. Many Christians are like Peter the night he walked on water, they hear the Lord’s voice calling them to do something, but once they see the size of the task they take their eyes off of Jesus and they begin to sink.

Some Christians fear death, while others are just simply scared to death of all kinds of things, even to share their faith.

The only fear we should have is the fear of the one who has the power to throw us into Hell.

Therefore, if we should only fear God then we must believe that Jesus has provided the cure for any other fear we will ever face. Amen?

Well He has and His name is capital “P” Pneuma the Holy Spirit.

In our Christian churches and our churches of Christ we don’t talk a great deal about the Holy Spirit-maybe we “fear” that people will think we are Pentecostal. But the truth is in a way we are Pentecostal and although fire didn’t dance on our heads or we didn’t speak in some foreign tongue, we received the gift of the Holy Spirit when we were baptized into Christ.

The Scriptures we will hear today deal with the cure for fear through the power of God’s Holy Spirit. They will also deal with his role as prompter and comforter. We will see the power of the Holy Spirit living in our lives to prevent us from sinning and face death, even a violent death.

Jesus said some very important things to his disciples before He left this world. He said, “don’t worry, I am going to give you peace in every situation, so that you don’t have to toss and turn and worry all night.” “I am sending to you a counselor a comforter during your times of trouble, one who will remind you of everything I have taught you, when you are to be my witnesses and then find yourself on trial.”

I think A.W. Tozer understood the work of the Holy Spirit in this area as he penned these words: “Religious instruction, however sound, is not enough by itself. It brings light, but it cannot impart sight. The assumption that light and sight are synonymous has brought spiritual tragedy to millions. The Pharisees looked straight at the Light of the World for three years, but not one ray of light reached their inner beings. Light is not enough. The inward operation of the Holy Spirit is necessary to saving faith. The gospel is light but only the Spirit can give sight.”

Tozer said, . The inward operation of the Holy Spirit is necessary to saving faith. Without the Spirit running your life Tozer says “you don’t have a faith that is going to save you.”

1. The Holy Spirit is a counselor to bring to our mind all that we have learned through studying the WORD of God.

However way too many people believe that the Christian life and the believer’s sanctification is totally the work of the Holy Spirit and they love to quote Phil 1:6 “ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” They forget to include verse 5 “because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

In our passage from Luke Jesus says this, “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.” The point is that the disciples participated in their learning they studied under the great rabbi himself- Jesus and we also must study the Word of God under men who have studied to show themselves approved by God and aided by the teaching of the indwelt Holy Spirit. When we do our part as the disciples did theirs when that temptation comes through the door the Holy Spirit reminds us of the Scriptures we have study and we will flee the situation and be prevented to falling into sin that brings death.