The Promise: I Will Be With You Always (John 16:5-15)

Following Jesus

Oct 30

SERMON NOTES

Sermon Series: Following Jesus

Sermon Title: The Promise: I Will Be With You Always

Sermon Text: John 16:5-15

The Spirit guides the Church in truth (v13a)
- 3 ways to discern if the Spirit is guiding:
- 1) If you hear the Spirit speaking in a way that contradicts what God has already said - that’s not the Spirit speaking, but you.
- 2) If you feel the Spirit leading you in a way that leads you further form God - that’s not the Spirit leading, but you.
- 3) If the Spirit is always saying what you want him to say and always leading you where you want to go, when you want to go there - that’s probably not the Spirit leading, but you
The Spirit guides the Church with authority (v13b, 14b-15)
The Spirit guides the Church for Christ’s glory (v14a)

This series was inspired by Following Jesus: Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety by Henri Nouwen.
This morning we read from the Nicene Creed as we expounded on John 16:7 (regarding the Holy Spirit) and 16:9-11 (regarding Jesus).
“[If] God was in heaven and His Spirit a mere force, He would be more distant than the moon.” - Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith
We have “Christ’s presence in the Sprit’s presence” - St Augustine (taken from Dale Bruner’s Commentary on the Gospel of John).
The Spirit was sent by Jesus “to continue the work of Jesus.” - Leslie Newbigin, The Light has Come
“The church is not just an aggregate of Christians. It is not simply a collective term for talking easily about many individuals who have similar beliefs about God. The church is an entity all its own. It has an organic life with a particular spiritual shape, characteristics, and qualities…It is an organic spiritual body, with Christ as head and all of us as members. As we are incorporated into it, we live lives not our own. We become participants in teh church’s life.” - Eugene Peterson, On Living Well