Hi, my name is Wendy Blight, and it is my joy
to spend the next few minutes with you as we begin our final online study of 2022 -- I can't believe
it -- "Help Is Here." Over the next few weeks, we're going to be learning from our dear friend
and gifted Bible teacher and author, Max Lucado. He is the author of "Help Is Here." Max, it is
an honor to have you here. And, I know you know how much we love you here at OBS because we have
done many of your studies, and always get amazing, amazing reviews. So thank you for joining us.
Wendy, it's my honor. My only regret
is we're not in person so we can chat, you know, face-to-face. But this is second best and I'm
really grateful to have this opportunity.
Well, we agree. You and I agreed beforehand, we so wish we could be together like we have been the
past few times. But you know, as our team prepared for our time together today, this teaching time,
we saw this as a great opportunity to just ask you frequently asked questions. Because you and
I talked about beforehand that there's a lot of material out there, but it's not always easy to
access. It's not always easy to understand. But with you, your voice makes it easy to understand.
So, I'm going to have one question each week so I'm going to start with our first question.
And I'm going to read it to make sure that I read it correctly. And that is, we know that God is
three persons in one, right? God the Father, God, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And in
Christianity terms, we call that the Holy Spirit ... and God, the three parts, the Trinity. So,
we'd love to know from you the unique qualities: what unique qualities does the Holy Spirit have
and what roles does the Holy Spirit play that God the Father and God the Son do not? What
distinguishes the Holy Spirit?
OK, that is a great place to start. It really is. According to the Bible,
our Godhead is at once one and three: God is God the Father, God is God the Son, and God is God the
Spirit. And sometimes we struggle to understand this, yet there are similarities in our lives:
I am one person, yet I am a husband to my wife, I'm a father to my children, I'm a grandfather to
Rosie and Max. I am one person but I'm expressed in three different roles. Now, this metaphor is
not perfect because the Trinity is comprised of three persons who are together one person.
The work of the Holy Spirit is unique because the work of the Spirit seems to be to complete
and sustain what God the Father has planned and what God the Son has begun. Perfect example:
Genesis Chapter 1 in verse 2, "The Spirit of God was hovering or moving upon the face of
the waters." The Spirit appears after the work of creation has begun. Another example is Pentecost.
It is the Spirit, who gives power to the Church that Jesus began. The Holy Spirit is the Person of
the Trinity through whom God is most active today. He's called the guarantee of our salvation. So
again, what Christ began at at Calvary, the Spirit sustains and completes in our lives. Now, I think
to help us understand this, we can look at these metaphors that the Bible gives us to understand or
describe the work of the Spirit -- there's over a dozen, well over a dozen. In fact, I think it's a
testimony to this grandeur of the Spirit that one metaphor will not suffice. Do you want to be wowed
by Jesus? Well, the Holy Spirit is the ultimate teacher. Do you struggle to obey God's commands?
Well, the Spirit is the wind of God that blows and gives us strength. Do your prayers seem weak?
Well, the Holy Spirit is our intercessor. Maybe you're unsure of your salvation. Then it would be
wise for you to get to know the role of the Holy Spirit is the seal of heaven on your on your sa,
on your soul. The Spirit is the dove of peace who calms us, the gift giver who equips us,
the river of living water who flows out of us. So all of these are images to help us
understand the assignment of the Holy Spirit. I believe one primary assignment of the Holy
Spirit that is often overlooked, was revealed to us by Jesus on the night before his crucifixion.
The Holy Spirit's task is to teach us about Jesus. Jesus Himself said of the Holy Spirit,
"He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
When the Helper comes -- isn't that a great word for the Holy Spirit? -- "When the Helper comes,
whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father,
He will bear witness about me...He will convict the world...when the Spirit of truth comes,
He will guide you into all truth..." -- again the Words of Christ -- "for He will not speak on
His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that
are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you." Those are all
phrases found in John 14, John 15, and in Chapter 16. So, the invisible presence of God on earth
exists to help us learn about Jesus. The apostle Paul echoed this point in one of his letters.
Paul said, "No one has ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything
quite like it -- What God has arranged for those who love Him. But you've seen and heard it
because God by His Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you." This is in 1
Corinthians 2: 9-10. You know, secularists look for answers in human philosophy and knowledge.
The world religions look to the teachings of their now-dead founders: Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius.
Christians, however, hold to this inscrutable, this beautiful promise that our teacher not
only spoke, but He speaks. He taught, but He teaches. And His wisdom is not confined to an
ancient document but it is part of the day-to-day curriculum of our mentor, the Holy Spirit. Again,
the apostle Paul said, "The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface,
dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along...God offers a full
report on the gifts of life and salvation that He is giving us." Paul goes on to say,
"We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading
books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and
we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way's....Isaiah's question', 'Is there
anyone around who knows God's Spirit, anyone who knows what He is doing?' has been answered:
Christ knows, and we have Christ's spirit." (1 Corinthians 2) All of those passages come from
that chapter. Bottom line, we're not left alone with our questions. It's not up to us to solve
the riddles of our existence. We have a helper. We have a divine instructor, and He will save
us from the cul-de-sac of confusion, the dead end of doubt and He does this by enrolling us in the
primary course of his university: Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "He will teach you all things and
bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." Now, this phrase, bring to your remembrance
is more than just jog your memory. It means make contemporary. The Spirit does more than repeat the
words of Jesus. He makes them relevant; He unfolds their significance for the world in which we live.
I can recall one afternoon early in my ministry when the invitation of Jesus to the weary became
an invitation of Jesus to Max. I was supposed to be studying, but I could not concentrate.
I was in the throes of weariness. I was battling insomnia. I had dozens of insecurities. I had many
deadlines. I was under the false impression that I was in charge of everybody's life and I had to
shoulder everybody's burdens. And also, I had to do so without ever complaining or growing weary.
Well, after some moments, I just moved from my office chair to the chair I use for guests, and
I bowed my head and sighed. And when I did, this scripture came to mind: "Come to me, all you who
are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28. It was the pronoun me that got
me. I was turning to everyone and everything but Him. The words of Jesus went from ink on a page
to balb for my soul. Now, why did that verse come to mind? Simple. My unfailing friend, the
Holy Spirit, my teacher, reminded me. The Spirit of Christ will do this for you, my friend. Isn't
this great news! The Spirit, the Person present at creation, the one alive in incarnation, the moving
force in the resurrection, the mighty hand at the final revelation -- He is your tutor. And He
will reveal new and wondrous things to you. I came home the other day to find my wife, Denalyn,
on the floor, playing with our two grandchildren. She had purchased half a dozen brightly colored
matchbox-sized cars and as I walked in, she was pulling them out of the bag. Rose and
Max just went crazy. That's what you'd expect of a four-year-old and a twenty-month-old toddler. Rose
knew what to do with the cars. She recognized them as self-propelling and she took one and she rolled
it back and forth until the stored energy allowed the car to zip across the floor. Max, on the other
hand, had never seen them. The idea was brand new to him. Denalyn was thrilled to thrill him.
And when I came in, she was on the tile floor, teaching Max up to roll the car back and forth
until it was ready to be launched. And when it exploded forward, oh, how he laughed with glee.
And when he laughed, Denalyn laughed twice as loud. She was so excited to see him excited.
The Spirit wants to do the same with you. He will be a Denalyn in your world. The question is, Will
you and I be a Max in His? You see, my grandson modeled this attitude -- a childlike spirit.
Hungry to be taught. Willing to be led. Humility is the soil out of which the fruit of the Spirit
can grow. So, invite Him into your world today. And, let your day begin every day with the words,
"Welcome, Holy Spirit!" And just make it your aim to walk in the Spirit by inviting Him into the
details of each day. "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." wrote Paul.
Let this prayer be quick to come to your mind: "In this moment what are You teaching me?" Or,
"How am I to respond to this challenge, Lord?" Or, "Direct me, please. Which way should I go?"
And then pause and listen, keep an ear inclined toward the Spirit, because He's certainly inclined
towards you.
Wow, Max, first of all, what I see you doing here is -- I think of all these different scriptures
as pearls about the Holy Spirit -- and you just took and strung these beautiful pearls together
to give us just a beautiful picture, almost like a necklace, that we can put around us
to just remind us of these scriptures. And I want to encourage everyone that's listening,
go to John 14, 15, and 16 and write down these scriptures that he said, and go and
just ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through them. Thank you for reminding us that really,
that living and active Word, that's the Holy Spirit, right, that makes the Word living and
active and penetrating in us. So that's, what a great message. Thank you for that, Max.
Thank you.
We are so excited because
we get three more weeks! Because I didn't want you to stop talking. I could have just sat here
all day and listened. So we're gonna have some more messages from you the next few weeks. And
I'm going to pray for us right now. And then we will do a quick close. Does that sound good?
Sounds great. Thank you.
OK. Heavenly Father, thank You for
Your Holy Spirit who has just moved right into Max's heart and his mind and given him a passion
for this topic of the Holy Spirit. We thank You for that. And Father, I invite You to just
pour out Your Holy Spirit on every person who's listening to us, Lord, and who listens to this,
and become so very real. Be active and show up and help us to know that You really are a person.
You really are someone who wants to come in and speak to us and minister to us and direct us and
convict us and encourage us and love us. We are so grateful, God, for the gift of Your Spirit,
and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, friends, we so enjoyed our time together with you,
just the beginning of diving deeper into the Holy Spirit. And we always like to end
everything we do here with our favorite saying at Proverbs 31: When we know the truth and live
the truth, it changes everything.