Experiencing the Spirit: Living in the Active Presence of God by Youth with a Mission (Author)

Chapter One

Assures Us of His Presence John 14:15-27; 16:5-15

"I don't know how to tell you this, Joe," Alan blurted out to his colleague, "but I'm facing a powerful sexual temptation with one of my students. It's not to the point of any real physical involvement yet, but my mind often drifts to imagining it. I just don't know how to stop what's happening." Alan fell silent, tense, and anxious.

Joe sat quietly, listening for wisdom from the Holy Spirit. After a moment, he asked, "Alan, when you're imagining the sin, where is Jesus in the picture?"

Alan was stunned. He hadn't thought of Jesus being there. Finally he responded, "I guess he's off in the distance somewhere, waiting to see if I get it right."

Like many of us, Alan needs a radical change in his understanding of Jesus! He is present in every circumstance of our lives. When we respond in faith to Jesus' death and resurrection, it makes it possible for God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, to dwell within us. Thus we take him into every situation we enter. His presence is active and always available. He is ready to provide whatever we may need. The resources of God were available to Alan all along, if only he were aware of that divine and loving presence. In this study we will look at the truth that the Holy Spirit was given to assure us that Christ is with us.

Preparing Heart and Mind

How has your inner world changed in the last few years?

In what relationship or situation do you need to be assured that God is with you?

What keeps you from sinning?

Engaging the text

Read John 14:15-27

1. Describe the context of this passage. When, to whom, why, and about what is Jesus talking? (See Setting the Stage.)

2. Jesus implies that, without the Holy Spirit, the disciples are like "orphans" (v. 18). What are some words or phrases that might describe the orphaned state of these disciples (or any non-Christian)?

3. By implication, you, before you received the Holy Spirit, were "orphaned." Describe the evidence in your attitudes, emotions, or behavior that you are no longer an orphan since you became a Christian.

4. What are all the various things said about the Holy Spirit in this passage?

Share an aspect of your own life where you have experienced the work of the Holy Spirit as described in these verses.

5. In verse 20, Jesus says that the disciples will realize the truth that "I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." How does the Holy Spirit make us certain of this truth?

How does the certainty of this truth affect your daily life?

6. Why might some people not want to believe this truth?

Read John 16:5-15

7. "It is better to live today with the Holy Spirit in us than to have been one of the original disciples with Jesus." Is this statement true or false? Explain why.

8. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit convicts us of three realities. Identify each of these and explain how each might affect a believer.

9. Choose one of these realities which the Holy Spirit convicts us of. How might your life change if you responded more deeply to his conviction? Be specific.

10. What is Jesus offering to you in verses 12-15, and how can you respond to him?

Setting the stage

Jesus has reached the last week of his public ministry and of his life. Very soon he will face the cross, followed by his resurrection.

In John 14 and 16, Jesus warns the disciples of the changes soon to take place. He clearly states he is leaving them, but he assures them that it is for their good.

Connect for Life

Most days it was a pleasure to sip coffee at the sidewalk café and watch people pass by. But not this day. A teenager accidentally had tumbled off her bike and fell under a passing tram. In an instant, her leg was severed below the knee. The bloody, broken limb lay beside her, no longer connected to its source of life.

Just like this limb, humanity is separated from the source of life. Paul calls this condition being "dead in our transgression and sins." Apart from Christ, we are all spiritually dead, separated from God. We all have chosen ways to live without him.

If a separated limb were attached to a substitute source of air and nutrients, what good could it do? The image of a leg connected to a life support system seems ridiculous. But that is what we did before connecting to life through faith in Jesus.

Medical workers had little hope of reconnecting the severed limb to the young woman's body. But Jesus is able to unite all of us together with God. When we acknowledge our dead condition and reach out in faith to Jesus, we are connected to the source of life.

What does it mean to have eternal life?

A Personal Testimony

My world came crashing down when my wife left me for another man-worse yet with another married man from my office. I had invested so much love in her, and now my hopes for the future lay shattered.Yet in my darkest hours of loneliness and pain, I began to sense that God was reaching out to me. It dawned on me that I had placed all my security in a person, and people fail. "But I never fail. I will never leave you or forsake you," said the gentle words that popped into my mind.

For the first time in years, I found myself wanting to go to church. I took a close friend and both of us felt a love that beckoned us to return. The following Sunday both of us gave our hearts to Jesus. I don't remember what the pastor said that day. I only know I became aware of my need for a Savior. I stopped blaming my wife for all my troubles and took responsibility for my own sin.

God's work in me began from the inside out. I didn't feel any emotional rush, only a sense of his Spirit inside me. Old desires began to melt away. New desires replaced them. Desires to draw near to God, to read the Bible, and to fellowship with Christians. It wasn't always easy. During the divorce, I sometimes felt angry and bitter. But the Spirit inside me kept drawing me back, reminding me that I had to let go and trust God. I've had to keep yielding my will to God in the twenty-five years since then. The temptation to sin is always there, but the more I yield to the Spirit, the more I see how empty the enticements of this world are. By following him, I have had joy and blessing beyond my imagination.

(Continues...)

Finding Your Purpose: Becoming...

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Lessons on Assurance

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Integrity: Living the Truth

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Daniel

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Chapter One

Assures Us of His Presence John 14:15-27; 16:5-15

"I don't know how to tell you this, Joe," Alan blurted out to his colleague, "but I'm facing a powerful sexual temptation with one of my students. It's not to the point of any real physical involvement yet, but my mind often drifts to imagining it. I just don't know how to stop what's happening." Alan fell silent, tense, and anxious.

Joe sat quietly, listening for wisdom from the Holy Spirit. After a moment, he asked, "Alan, when you're imagining the sin, where is Jesus in the picture?"

Alan was stunned. He hadn't thought of Jesus being there. Finally he responded, "I guess he's off in the distance somewhere, waiting to see if I get it right."

Like many of us, Alan needs a radical change in his understanding of Jesus! He is present in every circumstance of our lives. When we respond in faith to Jesus' death and resurrection, it makes it possible for God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, to dwell within us. Thus we take him into every situation we enter. His presence is active and always available. He is ready to provide whatever we may need. The resources of God were available to Alan all along, if only he were aware of that divine and loving presence. In this study we will look at the truth that the Holy Spirit was given to assure us that Christ is with us.

Preparing Heart and Mind

How has your inner world changed in the last few years?

In what relationship or situation do you need to be assured that God is with you?

What keeps you from sinning?

Engaging the text

Read John 14:15-27

1. Describe the context of this passage. When, to whom, why, and about what is Jesus talking? (See Setting the Stage.)

2. Jesus implies that, without the Holy Spirit, the disciples are like "orphans" (v. 18). What are some words or phrases that might describe the orphaned state of these disciples (or any non-Christian)?

3. By implication, you, before you received the Holy Spirit, were "orphaned." Describe the evidence in your attitudes, emotions, or behavior that you are no longer an orphan since you became a Christian.

4. What are all the various things said about the Holy Spirit in this passage?

Share an aspect of your own life where you have experienced the work of the Holy Spirit as described in these verses.

5. In verse 20, Jesus says that the disciples will realize the truth that "I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." How does the Holy Spirit make us certain of this truth?

How does the certainty of this truth affect your daily life?

6. Why might some people not want to believe this truth?

Read John 16:5-15

7. "It is better to live today with the Holy Spirit in us than to have been one of the original disciples with Jesus." Is this statement true or false? Explain why.

8. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit convicts us of three realities. Identify each of these and explain how each might affect a believer.

9. Choose one of these realities which the Holy Spirit convicts us of. How might your life change if you responded more deeply to his conviction? Be specific.

10. What is Jesus offering to you in verses 12-15, and how can you respond to him?

Setting the stage

Jesus has reached the last week of his public ministry and of his life. Very soon he will face the cross, followed by his resurrection.

In John 14 and 16, Jesus warns the disciples of the changes soon to take place. He clearly states he is leaving them, but he assures them that it is for their good.

Connect for Life

Most days it was a pleasure to sip coffee at the sidewalk café and watch people pass by. But not this day. A teenager accidentally had tumbled off her bike and fell under a passing tram. In an instant, her leg was severed below the knee. The bloody, broken limb lay beside her, no longer connected to its source of life.

Just like this limb, humanity is separated from the source of life. Paul calls this condition being "dead in our transgression and sins." Apart from Christ, we are all spiritually dead, separated from God. We all have chosen ways to live without him.

If a separated limb were attached to a substitute source of air and nutrients, what good could it do? The image of a leg connected to a life support system seems ridiculous. But that is what we did before connecting to life through faith in Jesus.

Medical workers had little hope of reconnecting the severed limb to the young woman's body. But Jesus is able to unite all of us together with God. When we acknowledge our dead condition and reach out in faith to Jesus, we are connected to the source of life.

What does it mean to have eternal life?

A Personal Testimony

My world came crashing down when my wife left me for another man-worse yet with another married man from my office. I had invested so much love in her, and now my hopes for the future lay shattered.Yet in my darkest hours of loneliness and pain, I began to sense that God was reaching out to me. It dawned on me that I had placed all my security in a person, and people fail. "But I never fail. I will never leave you or forsake you," said the gentle words that popped into my mind.

For the first time in years, I found myself wanting to go to church. I took a close friend and both of us felt a love that beckoned us to return. The following Sunday both of us gave our hearts to Jesus. I don't remember what the pastor said that day. I only know I became aware of my need for a Savior. I stopped blaming my wife for all my troubles and took responsibility for my own sin.

God's work in me began from the inside out. I didn't feel any emotional rush, only a sense of his Spirit inside me. Old desires began to melt away. New desires replaced them. Desires to draw near to God, to read the Bible, and to fellowship with Christians. It wasn't always easy. During the divorce, I sometimes felt angry and bitter. But the Spirit inside me kept drawing me back, reminding me that I had to let go and trust God. I've had to keep yielding my will to God in the twenty-five years since then. The temptation to sin is always there, but the more I yield to the Spirit, the more I see how empty the enticements of this world are. By following him, I have had joy and blessing beyond my imagination.

(Continues...)

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Experiencing the Spirit: Living in the Active Presence of God (Smyth Sewn)

Youth with a Mission (Author)

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