1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:03,720 The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,320 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them 3 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:11,440 now. When the Spirit of truth comes, 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:13,760 He will guide you into all the truth. 5 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,000 For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He 6 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,960 hears, He will speak. And He will declare to you the 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,840 things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will 8 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,240 take what is mine and declare it to you. 9 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:31,720 All that the Father has is mine. Therefore I said that he will 10 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:37,200 take what is mine and declare it to you, the gospel of the Lord. 11 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:45,440 Let me tell you a story of a young Christian man who found 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:52,520 himself in a conceptual dilemma after drifting away from 13 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:54,080 childhood. Faith. 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:01:00,760 This young man was miraculously brought back to faith in Christ, 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:07,640 and by then this avid reader had broken into the library of a 16 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:13,400 local school where his mother worked, and he had stolen a 17 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,920 dozen of books. And though this wrongdoing was 18 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:24,320 unknown, he soon began feeling a conviction to return the stolen 19 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:27,960 books. And yet the fear of shame and 20 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:32,880 the possibility of facing consequences for this misdeed 21 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:38,720 and others kept him from acting upon this persistent in a call. 22 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:45,120 And the closest that he came to fulfilling this conviction was 23 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:50,440 packing the stolen books in a travel bag and dropping them at 24 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:55,960 his mother's house on the school premises and returning to his 25 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,720 rented apartment that was miles apart in another city. 26 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,320 But still the conviction remained because the prompting 27 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,720 was clear. He needed to return the books 28 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,639 directly to the school authorities. 29 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,160 So the reminder continued, starting in the heart of this 30 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:20,760 young Christian man. And on this fateful day, the 31 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:25,920 young Christian man had visited his mother and was scheduled to 32 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:30,360 work in the garden. And that morning he felt a 33 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:35,400 strong conviction, telling him that if you proceed with your 34 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:42,320 work before returning the books, you will encounter red ants or a 35 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:47,200 snake in the garden. But he resisted to the prompting 36 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:52,680 and continued on to go ahead and slash a bushy section of the 37 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,520 garden. And no sooner had he started 38 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:01,320 slashing that he stumbled on a colony of red ants. 39 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:07,720 And he said maybe they're here, change the spot and went and 40 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:11,000 tried another area, still the same story. 41 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,800 He comforted himself and tried another area, still the same 42 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,040 story. Red ants. 43 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:25,240 It was then that he recalled the morning caution that he had and 44 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,800 realized that something was was coming. 45 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:36,320 And his heart pounding, he scanned around for a snake says 46 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,400 with fear. He fled away from the garden, 47 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:44,440 and summoning all his courage, he took the travel bag, carried 48 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:49,360 it to the school headmistress's office, and with humility 49 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:55,040 expressed his regret, saying, I took these books from your 50 00:03:55,040 --> 00:04:01,360 library, but something is telling me to bring them back. 51 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,560 Notice the usage of the words something, something has told 52 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,000 me. Doesn't this confession express 53 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,680 a conceptual dilemma? What is this something? 54 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:19,360 Could it be that the Holy Spirit was guiding this young Christian 55 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:24,800 man? In John 16/12/15, which I 56 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:29,840 request you to turn to in your bulletin, Jesus makes another 57 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:34,200 profound promise of the Holy Spirit, which remembered it 58 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,600 being fulfilled last Sunday on the day of Pentecost. 59 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:43,640 But in this passage, he offers us valuable insight into how the 60 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,240 guidance of the Holy Spirit can be recognized. 61 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:51,400 And in this and from these words of Jesus, we are able to 62 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,240 identify two general characteristics of how believers 63 00:04:55,240 --> 00:05:00,560 can be able to recognize and be able to trust the Spirit is 64 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,720 leading. I invite you to reflect with me 65 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:07,440 on these two marks of the Spirit's leading. 66 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,960 First, the Spirit leads according to God's Word. 67 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,800 The Holy Spirit is consistent and trust what unfaithful for 68 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:24,080 the character of God as revealed in Christ and in Scripture. 69 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:29,440 To paraphrase this mark as well in a form over the spiritual 70 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:33,760 discernment anchor. The Holy Spirit always leads in 71 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:39,400 harmony with God's Word, never independently of it and never in 72 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:44,720 contradiction of it. As a Master teacher, Jesus 73 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:50,040 exemplifies the principle of aligning instruction with Lana's 74 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,680 stage of understanding. He recognizes that at this time 75 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,400 of His spiritual and physical journey with the disciples that 76 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:02,840 we are not yet fully ready to grasp some of the things He was 77 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:08,200 going to present to them, blessings like His suffering and 78 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,280 His resurrection and His ascension. 79 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,680 They were not yet ready to understand them fully. 80 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:18,440 Therefore He postponed these hardcore lessons to a later 81 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,480 time, and He assigned them to the teaching ministry of the 82 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:26,360 Holy Spirit. So He says when the Spirit of 83 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:31,200 truth comes, He will guide you into all truths. 84 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:36,320 Notice how the personality and the role of the Holy Spirit is 85 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,280 described in terms that are closely associating Him with 86 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:43,400 Jesus. He's referred to as the Spirit 87 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:48,520 of Truth, a title that mirrors how Jesus identifies himself 88 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,960 elsewhere in John. I am the way the truth and the 89 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,320 light and his ministry is described. 90 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:59,440 Using these words, He will guide you in all truths. 91 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:04,360 Similarly, all over the Gospel of John, Jesus is portrayed as 92 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:09,080 the bearer of truth. A couple of verses ago, in the 93 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:13,200 same chapter, verse 7, He says, I tell you the truth. 94 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:18,440 The truth bearing nature and the ministry of the Holy Spirit 95 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:23,880 indicates that he continues on the revelatory work of Jesus 96 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:29,480 Christ, making true known the God who Jesus had made known in 97 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:34,600 his actor ministry. The Holy Spirit is not something 98 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:39,000 that is revealing, something that is new, independent from 99 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,680 what Jesus was revealing. He's a continuation of the same 100 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:48,280 revelation that Jesus was disclosing, disclosing to us who 101 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:52,320 God is. His self disclosure aligns and 102 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:57,080 affirms with the truths that Jesus had already revealed and 103 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,800 as they are tested to in Scripture. 104 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,680 And as a complementary guide, the Holy Spirit enables the 105 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:10,040 believers or the disciples to freshly understand the words of 106 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,200 Jesus. He would illuminate the truths 107 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:17,640 that Jesus had presented, even those truths that the disciples 108 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:21,160 we are not yet able to grasp and understand. 109 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:26,640 The Holy Spirit will empower the disciples to understand these 110 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,280 truths. These teachings are new to also 111 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,880 enable them to apply the teachings of Jesus into new 112 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:39,159 situations and revealing new strategies and insights that are 113 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,159 parallel with the teaching of Christ. 114 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,920 Just as the Holy Spirit illuminated the lives of the 115 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:52,000 disciples to understand Jesus's word, he still acts today in our 116 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,320 lives, bringing clarity and wisdom and freshness into the 117 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:01,080 complex and evolving needs of human nature that around us. 118 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:05,040 I mean, it's challenging political, social and economic 119 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,200 issues that around us. The Holy Spirit empowers the 120 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,440 believers to be able to discern God is will to be able to know 121 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,320 what is Christ is teaching. How does it apply to my context 122 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,760 at the moment? And he offers us strategies to 123 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:25,480 remain faithful to the heart of the gospel as we address the 124 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:30,360 real issues that are around us. But according to the teaching of 125 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:35,760 Christ, and Jesus speaks clearly about the source of the Spirit 126 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,160 is guidance. He says, for he will not speak 127 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:43,360 on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will 128 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,920 speak. And he already anticipates that 129 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:51,160 there might be an implied question asking for whom does he 130 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,440 then hear from? Jesus continues on in verse 15 131 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,960 to say all that the Father has is mine. 132 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:02,800 That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and 133 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:07,960 declare it to you. He reveals A promote A profound 134 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:13,040 truth in this statement because the message of the Holy Spirit 135 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,520 is not detached from the Trinity. 136 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:20,360 He does not act independently from the character of Christ and 137 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:25,040 the will of God the Father. His guidance is perfectly 138 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:29,080 aligned with the unified purpose and the truth of the trying God. 139 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaking about the trying God on a Trinity Sunday like this, it 140 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:38,040 is a fitting moment to reflect on the work and ministry of the 141 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:43,000 Holy Spirit alongside the other persons of the Divine Head, 142 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:48,800 because it is only after the completion of His earthly 143 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:51,560 ministry Jesus returns into glory. 144 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:55,320 He ascends, which culminates into the out powering of the 145 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:57,520 Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. 146 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,960 And after all those events, the disciples, we are now in at the 147 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:06,680 right time to understand the God in His God, in His trial nature. 148 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:09,600 They had seen the Son walk with him. 149 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:14,840 Now they had also encountered the Holy Spirit, but also they 150 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:18,720 had known of the God of their Father in all ages. 151 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:23,120 So now they were at this at the right moment to understand the 152 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:26,400 Trinity. That is why the events of the 153 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:31,800 Trinity we think about this on Trinity Sunday, because Trinity 154 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:36,160 Sunday follows after all those events of Christ ascending and 155 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:37,880 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 156 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,520 Because at this time we presume that we are able to interact 157 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,840 with all the Persons of the Trinity, We celebrate Trinity 158 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:50,440 Sunday not just as a Sunday for us to think about the mysterious 159 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,480 concepts of the Trinity, but also to understand how the Holy 160 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,920 Spirit continues to work in salvation history. 161 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,760 He came as we remembered last Sunday, but also now we are 162 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,840 prepared to understand the Divine Trinity in all His 163 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:08,240 working. Because we have been able to 164 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:11,920 encounter the Son, we have seen Him, we have remembered all 165 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,520 those events, we have remembered how the Holy Spirit came, but 166 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:19,520 also we know that God the Father has always been working in or 167 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,080 ages. The Trinitarian origin of the 168 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:27,800 Holy Spirit is revelation offers us a vital question for 169 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:32,360 spiritual discernment. As we are designing the will of 170 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:36,120 God through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, We also ought 171 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:41,080 to ask ourselves, is this consistent with the character of 172 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,800 the Father and the Son? In other words, we might hear 173 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:49,680 something, we might hear voices speaking to us, but does that 174 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:53,960 reflect the heart of Jesus and the revealed will of the Father 175 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,120 in Scripture? We ought to hope, we ought to 176 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,320 ask ourselves a question, is this prompting or the word that 177 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:04,320 I'm hearing? Does it align with the nature 178 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,280 and the purposes of God as revealed in Christ? 179 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,480 When we faithfully answer those questions, we are able to 180 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,880 discern where whether the Spirit of God is speaking to us. 181 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:20,320 But also another close discernment question is, does 182 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:24,400 this align with the Scripture? In other words, is the word or 183 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:26,760 the prompting that I'm receiving or hearing? 184 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:31,480 Is it in alignment with the revealed truths in God's Word? 185 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:37,520 The Holy Spirit did not only enable the disciples to remember 186 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:42,080 the words of Jesus, but also He inspired them to write what we 187 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,120 know now as the New Testament, the words in the Scripture, the 188 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:48,000 New Testament. He inspired them to write all 189 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,800 those books. He continued on to give them the 190 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,640 self revelation of God which they wrote for us in the New 191 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:58,760 Testament. He not only inspired them to 192 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:02,000 write but also inspired them to apply. 193 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,720 He inspired them to interpret the teachings of the of the of 194 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,360 the ages which we know as the Old Testament. 195 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,960 They were able to interrupt it to them and to apply them a new 196 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,680 sometimes in places in the New Testament. 197 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,320 The Spirit of the Lord continues to inspire us to interpret and 198 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:25,560 to apply Scripture in our lives. Several times we encounter what 199 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:30,000 are called difficult passages in the Bible, and when we encounter 200 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,000 those, we feel we cannot apply them in our lives. 201 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:37,880 Some of these difficult Texas difficult passages are passages 202 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:40,960 because some of them are detached from our culture. 203 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,840 Some of them are written in a literary style that we are not 204 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,320 comfortable with. Some of them are written in a 205 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,360 historical context that is away from us and we feel they are 206 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:55,560 difficult for us to understand. What what do we do? 207 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:59,680 Sometimes we discard them. We say these are they don't 208 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,560 apply to me anymore. How about if we just surrender 209 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,800 because the Spirit of the Lord can enable us to interpret and 210 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:11,600 apply All scripture Is God breathed by the Spirit of God? 211 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,520 We can ask the Spirit of the Lord to enable us to understand 212 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,800 even the hard passages that we say those we are for that 213 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,280 culture, they don't apply to us. This is the word of God, how 214 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:26,560 does it apply to me? We should continue to ask the 215 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:31,960 Spirit of the Lord to enable us to freshly apply the Scripture 216 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,400 in our lives. Even those passages that seem to 217 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:39,240 be hard and difficult, the Spirit of the Lord can breathe 218 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:43,440 life into those passages, but also breathes life into those 219 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:46,560 passages when we study them. If we don't study them, they 220 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,520 don't have meaning, they don't have life, but when we study 221 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,560 them, they have life. Even those passages that you 222 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,840 feel that they are distant to me, they can't have life. 223 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:59,200 If you ask the Spirit of the Lord to breathe life into them 224 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,920 anew. But also the Spirit of the Lord 225 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:08,000 gives the ongoing prophetic gifting to the church, the 226 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:11,520 gifting that is revealed as forestalling and foretelling. 227 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:16,280 But also this remains subject to the authority of Scripture, 228 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:19,640 because even when the Spirit of the Lord is speaking 229 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,040 prophetically, he does not contradict. 230 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:26,160 God is revealed word in Scripture and through Christ. 231 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:30,400 So it also gives us another means of discerning whether the 232 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:34,880 Spirit of God is speaking. But he does read in harmony with 233 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:39,760 God is truth in His Word. Then secondly, the mark that I 234 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:44,200 can refer to as is the second general mark is the Spirit of 235 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:48,800 God who leads us to Jesus. This is what he says in verse 236 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:52,560 14. He will glorify me because it is 237 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:57,480 from me that He will receive what He will make known to you. 238 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,040 The Holy Spirit functions like a floodlight up there, above, 239 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:07,640 there, casting illumination not on himself, but on another. 240 00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:12,280 Just as the floodlight is designed to cast light on a 241 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:14,440 building, on a scene, not on itself. 242 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:16,480 The floodlight does not shine on itself. 243 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:20,480 It casts light on the person speaking, not on itself. 244 00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:25,839 It brings glory to another subject, not on itself. 245 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:29,280 The Spirit of the Lord walks like that. 246 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,520 Even Jesus himself worked like that. 247 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,960 He cast him he he brought glory to the Father. 248 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,800 He says that I have glorified you speaks to the Father. 249 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:44,200 The spirit is law is not self promoting. 250 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:48,160 He does not reveal in a way that he promotes himself brings 251 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,000 himself to be the one who is in the in the in the floodlight. 252 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,920 He reviews the presence of God, but without seeking the 253 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,240 spotlight for himself. This is what I would refer to as 254 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:06,000 the floodlight ministry of the Holy Spirit, which is a vital 255 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,880 litmus test for us to be able to design spiritual revelation but 256 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:15,640 also spiritual ministry. Passages like Deuteronomy 257 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:20,920 chapter 13 verse one to five teach us how the measure of us 258 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,400 of a prophet. How should we recognize that a 259 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,800 prophet has spoken in that verse? 260 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:32,840 It says even when there is accuracy, if a prophet leads you 261 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,880 to another God, then that is not the word of God, even when it's 262 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,040 an accurate word. Sometimes we look at prophets as 263 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,400 being if someone speaks and it comes to pass, but in determine 264 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,920 and other passages, even when it's accurate, if it's directing 265 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,800 you to another God, that is not the word of the Spirit of God 266 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,880 revealing to us that genuine spiritual revelation must lead 267 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,600 to glory to God. It should lead us to submission 268 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:06,200 to God through Jesus Christ. If the Spirit of the Lord is 269 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:12,840 leading, He leads us to see God. To see him through Christ, 270 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,720 through illumination into the spiritual realm is always marked 271 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:21,360 by exaltation of Jesus. It is not self exaltation, but 272 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:26,080 it's exaltation of Jesus. It is not just having emotions 273 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:29,320 of the Spirit is leading. If you have those emotions that 274 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:33,080 the Spirit is leading you, He should be leading you to Christ. 275 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,360 It is not just merely being fascinated with supernatural 276 00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:40,640 revelation, but these should lead us to Christ. 277 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:44,240 Therefore, we should continuously ask ourselves a 278 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,160 central question. Does this magnify Jesus? 279 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,680 Is this deepening my love for Him, and is it increasing my 280 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,800 trust in Him? Does it lead me to greater 281 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,640 obedience? If it doesn't address those 282 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:02,000 questions, it is not the leading of the Spirit. 283 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:04,600 Even when it's prophetic and it's actually it in one way or 284 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:12,760 another, then Spirit empowered ministry is identified by its 285 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:17,560 focus on Jesus. A ministry that is truly led by 286 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:22,080 the Spirit of the road will exalt Christ, bringing 287 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,880 preeminence said to him and to Him alone. 288 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,640 It doesn't shed light onto the minister. 289 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,160 I've seen ministries that tend to, to to to put light onto the 290 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,560 charisma of the person ministering. 291 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,800 And then all people are drawn to the charisma of the person 292 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:41,840 ministering. Some of those people refer to 293 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:45,880 themselves as people of the Spirit, not even as servants of 294 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,560 Christ. But genuine Spirit LED ministry 295 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:54,160 evaluates not the individual and his experiences, but it 296 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:58,880 magnifies Christ. So this is caution for us as 297 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,840 spiritual leaders in whatever form, maybe as the pastors, 298 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:06,960 maybe as worship leaders, not to see to it that we turn the glory 299 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,040 of the Spirit for our own serves. 300 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,600 One of the people who were in the Bible who could have turned 301 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,360 the glory for himself was John the Baptist. 302 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,880 John the Baptist comes on sin after a time of prophetic 303 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:25,320 silence and when there was a lot of messianic expectation. 304 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,640 People are waiting for the Messiah, and then he comes on 305 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:33,040 the scene giving prophecy. But this is what he says. 306 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,520 He must increase that I must decrease. 307 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,560 He wants Christ to be glorified in all ways. 308 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,240 This is the confirmation that indeed this John the Baptist had 309 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,440 the Holy Spirit, even as we hear that from from Bath. 310 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:50,600 He had the Holy Spirit leading him. 311 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:55,320 He was able to be humble and submit himself to the leading of 312 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,840 Christ to give Christ the glory, not himself. 313 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,960 Of course, this principle of giving glory to Christ does not 314 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,200 only apply to Christian or church ministry, but also in 315 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:10,840 every city of life, even on other forms of leadership. 316 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:16,080 We should always strive to see that Jesus is given his 317 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,920 exaltation in everything that we do. 318 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:21,600 Even on the things we are feeling we are gifted. 319 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,080 Christ should take the glory even where we feel that we have 320 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:27,960 the talent. Christ should take the glory in 321 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:34,120 all those things that we do. By the way, I didn't finish the 322 00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:40,120 story of the young Christian man, and the young Christian man 323 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:47,800 is yours truly. And despite my questionable 324 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:55,920 confession, the headmistress was moved by my honesty because she 325 00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:01,920 knew how naughty I were. So she mercifully forgive me and 326 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,080 he she offered to that I can even keep some of the books, 327 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,840 those that I still wanted. And among the books that I kept, 328 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,480 I kept a commentary on the on revelation. 329 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:20,280 And it became dear to me that even it inspired my very first 330 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:24,760 summon that I preached. But if I were to go back today 331 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:29,440 and make that confession, I would revise my shallow wording 332 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:31,840 to sound like something like this. 333 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:35,760 I would edit that word. Something is telling me and I 334 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,800 would submit that with someone is telling me. 335 00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:42,800 And this is how I would say I took these books from your 336 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,200 library. But the Holy Spirit God Himself 337 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:51,480 has told me to return them to you, friends. 338 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:56,160 Likewise, every believer should come to a point of growing in 339 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:01,160 recognizing the leading of the Holy Spirit because this 340 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,960 awareness is outstanding. This awareness begins by us 341 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:08,680 noting that the Holy Spirit is the person. 342 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:11,000 He's not a thing. He's the person. 343 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:13,760 And as a person, He speaks to us. 344 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:19,360 He interacts with us, He directs us, He commands us on what to 345 00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:21,680 do. He even knows the future. 346 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,280 He is the person who I can relate with. 347 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:31,000 He's the person who relates with me, but after knowing that he's 348 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:36,440 a person, we are invited to remain teachable, to cultivate a 349 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:41,000 deep and an ongoing willingness to surrender ourselves to His 350 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,440 leading. We should adopt A posture of 351 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:49,240 humility and submission because the Spirit of the Lord wants to 352 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:54,160 reveal to us issues. But when we are submissive, if 353 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,680 we continue on in our heartedness, then we shall miss 354 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:03,880 Him out when He speaks to us. He led the disciples in speaking 355 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,000 to them about the truths of Christ. 356 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,880 He still wants to speak to us even at this time, but He speaks 357 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:15,920 to us depending on our spiritual maturity and our openness. 358 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,520 So I pray that as we think about the Holy Spirit on this Trinity 359 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:25,680 Sunday would allow Him to act as a person in our lives as we open 360 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,800 ourselves and we surrender to Him to lead us to Christ. 361 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,640 And according to the Word of God, let us pray. 362 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:47,120 Holy Spirit, we don't want to speak about you as a mere 363 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:54,640 concept in the Bible. We want to speak about you as a 364 00:25:54,640 --> 00:26:00,360 person who we can relate with, We can speak to, we can ask 365 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:05,400 questions. We can wait upon a person who 366 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:13,760 can speak to us right now. We ask you to continue directing 367 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:16,840 our lives. Feel us anew. 368 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,680 We open our ears to hear from you. 369 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:39,370 The mysteries of the Trinity continue, leading us towards 370 00:26:39,370 --> 00:26:44,970 knowing and understanding of the Father and the Son. 371 00:26:50,090 --> 00:26:53,530 Pray all this in the name of the Father and of the Son and the 372 00:26:53,530 --> 00:26:55,410 Holy Spirit. Amen.