2024-03-17 Persecution is...

Alright, we are wrapping up our series on the / / Beatitudes this week. We’ll have made it through the whole of the list as we finish up today. Today will be the biggest portion of scripture from these verses we’ve been reading. Matthew 5:2-12. We’ll finish up with vs 10-12 today. So we’ll just jump straight to our verses of focus today:

/ / Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Ok, so we’ve gone through these 9 distinct statements that Jesus makes:

/ / Blessed are the poor

Blessed are those who mourn

Blessed are the meek

/ / Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

Blessed are the merciful

/ / Blessed are the pure in heart

Blessed are the peacemakers

And then the two we just read, the persecuted and the reviled. And although Jesus uses the word persecute in both of these statements, the emphasis is different and so we need to treat them as two different things.

So let’s look at verse 10 first.

/ / Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

First thing we can notice is that this is now the second time that the benefit is the same. “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If you remember in the very first week, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Did Jesus just run out of things to say? Maybe he couldn’t think of a new benefit of being persecuted so he just said the same thing?

I would suggest that the most important thing to note here is that regardless of what is said, or what the benefit might be, it is all receiving the kingdom of heaven, right? Maybe this is why he’s bookending it this way, right? At the beginning, and at the end he is establishing, This is about the kingdom!

That’s something we’ve been talking about throughout this whole series, that this life that Jesus is inviting us into is the life of living in the kingdom of heaven. Living as though we are where we eventually will be, and as such, we are living as ambassadors of that kingdom, under that authority, even though we still live in this world of sin and brokenness.

The interesting thing about this word, Kingdom, is that in it’s definition it says, / / “Not to be confused with an actual kingdom, but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom.”

And this makes sense, doesn’t it? We talk about living under the rule and reign of Jesus. As Prince of Peace, we talk about being under that authority. And as we continue to realize we are ambassadors of the kingdom, ministers of reconciliation on behalf of Jesus Christ, what does that mean? It means we walk in the authority of the kingdom of heaven in this earth. As we live in this way that Jesus is describing, we fulfill the mandate of being an ambassador and are imbued with the authority of the kingdom.

It’s not a gift based on our good behavior or good following of the rules, but by the very nature of living under its authority, which we do by following the way of Jesus, we put ourselves in position to walk in what it stands for.

We’ve talked about this a little bit, one of the benefits of an ambassador is that you have what’s called diplomatic immunity. Now, this is only an analogy that goes so far, but may be helpful in thinking about how we receive from a kingdom that is not here as though it were.

Diplomats are governed by the laws and rules of their home country.

I read this week: / / Diplomatic immunity allows diplomats and employees of international organizations to perform their official duties without fear of criminal or civil suit.

Super important words in their…/ / “perform their official duties…”

Diplomatic immunity is about doing the work you were sent to do. Not about doing whatever you want and getting away with it.

So in one sense we could hear the words of Jesus in this way, “I’m commissioning you to be ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven, and this is your work, be poor in spirit, allow yourself to feel emotional grief and mourning, be humble, meek and gentle of heart, hunger and thirst for doing what is right, by my Father’s standards, be merciful to everyone, be pure in heart, choosing to live holy before God, be a peacemaker, wherever you go, and if and when the people of this world persecute you for doing what is right by my standards, don’t worry, because it’s all about the kingdom you serve.”

Now, we’re talking about persecution, and if you read the book of Revelation, and you read some of the things that Jesus says about the time leading up to his second coming, things seem to get pretty dark. Let’s be honest, none of us really know what that will look like, right? I don’t know what the is fully going to look like. I don’t know how dark and how bad it is going to get before Jesus returns. I don’t know what kind of persecution we are going to go through as the church, even here in America. What I do know is that Jesus is coming back for his bride. That’s a love story. And if there’s anything we can and should be praying for, is that all would come to repentance and join this great love story, right? That’s what Peter says in 2 Peter 3:9, / / The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

Some people seem to be constantly praying, “Jesus come back, this world is getting too crazy.” Let me caution you with this. In once sense, go for it. The bible says, “The spirit and the bride say ‘come!’” BUT, if you are going to pray for the return of Jesus, make sure you are also praying 2 Peter 3:9, that all would come to repentance. That should be at the top of our memory verse list - God does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

Because that’s the work we’ve been called to, isn’t it? Ambassadors of the kingdom of God, ministers of reconciliation.

Alright, so we don’t know how dark or what persecution in the future might look like, but what about today?

That’s the first part of these verses we are closing out this series with. / / Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Well, first things first, persecution is kind of a big word. And there are people who think they are being persecuted, but they aren’t, and there are people who are being persecuted and don’t realize that’s what is really going on. And of course we know all around the world in various places there is heavy, dark, horrifying religious persecution against christians.

Now, I don’t want to really spend much time today on persecution toward the church around the world, that isn’t necessarily relevant for our lives here. However, I do want to mention a few things, because as the global church we should be actively praying for Christians around the world suffering because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

1 in 7 Christians are persecuted (worldwide).

317 million christians face very high or extreme levels of persecution.

1 in 5 Christians are persecuted in Africa.

2 in 5 Christians are persecuted in Asia.

4,998 Christians were murdered last year - because of their faith.

14,766 Churches and Christian properties were attacked last year.

4,125 Christians were detained last year, for their faith.

Those are some pretty staggering numbers.

And all I will say toward that is this: / / Take advantage of the freedom you have and do not take it for granted. We are allowed to, and even encouraged to at this point, be part of a local community of believers. It is still largely seen as a benefit for people to be a part of a religious community. Take that seriously.

Second, your bible is still protected. But for how long? / / Treat your bible like it’s something that could be taken away at any moment, and the information inside is crucial to your life!

Don’t just leave it on the shelf. Prepare yourself today by being in the word of God!

In Joshua 1:8, God is speaking to Joshua encouraging him as he’s taking command of the people of Israel. Moses has passed away and Joshua has taken the lead and he says this, / / Study this book of instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.

Maybe this is why Psalm 119:9-16 says, / / How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word. I have tried hard to find you - don’t let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. I praise you, O lord; teach me your decrees. I have recited aloud all the regulations you have given us. I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word.

What happens on the day they come for your bible? Do you know scripture enough?

Listen, I’m not saying that is going to happen. And I’m certainly not saying we should live in fear. But there have been points in history where those before us didn’t think that could ever happen, and it did. In what seemed like a moment, a split second, things changed and they were caught unaware.

Again, I’m not living in fear of what could happen that is evil or wrong. But I do live in the light of what God said to Joshua - study this book of instruction continually so you know what to do!

Again, we are talking about persecution. This is an encouragement in light of so many people in this world who do not have access to what we have access too. And we take it so for granted. We miss opportunity to connect together, to study together, to grow personally and together. And I’m not saying that as a word of condemnation to any of us, because if I were it would be directed at myself more than any of you. I’m saying it in way of hoping to inspire us as a community to pursue the things of God more both personally and corporately.

So, that’s the, let’s call it the Capital P “persecution” - the Christians around the world that are legitimately suffering because of their faith.

Now, let’s try and translate that for us over here, see if there’s any way we can be encouraged by these verses.

In both vs 10 and 11, the word that Jesus uses for persecution is the same, it’s the greek word / / dioko, and it means to make to run or flee, put to flight, to drive away, by implication to persecute.

Our english definition of / / persecute is - to be the subject of hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race, or political or religious beliefs.

So, we have these two different aspects of persecution here that Jesus is talking about, and we’ll look at them separately, but first, / / blessed are those who are persecuted for ‘righteousness’ sake’.

That’s the key part right there, for righteousness’ sake.

We’ve looked at righteousness before, and it means to do, or be made RIGHT.

/ / Christianity isn’t about learning to NOT do wrong, but to embrace doing what is right!

In the Old Testament you will see over and over again that the people of God forgot what the word of God said, and although they still called themselves Israel, they still thought of themselves as the people of God, they didn’t live like it. And that’s when it started to cause problems.

You can live under the banner of a title but if you don’t live like that banner represents you won’t live in the blessing that it is meant to bring to your life.

Israel failed time and time again, and yet, they were still called the people of God.

So this word, righteous, is a big word here. It’s when you choose to do right, and people around you treat you differently because of it.

What does that look like?

Well, maybe in our world it looks like:

I decided to file my taxes on ALL the money I made. Really? Yah, Even the stuff people paid you cash for? Yup. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. Well, whatever man, if you want to give the government more than they deserve.

I just had this opportunity yesterday. Kelley did a photography job this week and they paid her cash. We choose to take that cash, put it into our business account, it hits our book keeping software and at the end of the year if our business has made enough to pay taxes on, we’ll pay taxes on that money.

But, it’s not about the taxes. It’s about the integrity, honesty, doing what is right.

And if we want God to bless our finances, we have to be good stewards with what we receive.

I have met so many people that want God to bless a certain area of their lives, but in that area of their lives they choose not to do what is right. Don’t live your life like “everyone else does”. It’s just not worth it. If you want God to bless you, live a life of righteousness.

So that means another one could be:

You’re dating, but you’re not sleeping together? “nope” “why not?” “We want to honor God. We believe that intimacy is blessed in the context of marriage.” “Dude, it’s 2024…”

Don’t do what everyone else is doing just because it’s been normalized. That doesn’t make it right.

Maybe the next time you’re by the water cooler at work and the crew starts bashing the boss and you choose to walk away because you don’t want to be a part of that.

OR maybe someone makes a joke that’s completely inappropriate and you decide to say something.

Why would we do these things? Because there is such a thing as righteousness.

There is such a thing as right and wrong. And you believing in and living for what is right is first, what God has asked of you, and second, how we honor him.

Remember Matthew 5:6 that we looked at few weeks ago, / / Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Do you? Do I? Am I concerned with what is right? Am I thoughtful about what is right and wrong and am I making a very conscious effort to live that way?

Do I even know what right and wrong are? Have I read the word of God, studied what the bible says, studied the words of Jesus that don’t just lead to live but tell me how I should order my life around the righteousness of God?

In talking about money, it doesn’t matter whether you think the government uses our money wisely or not. I would rather bank on God’s ability to bless me as I choose to do what is right, vs my own best efforts to get ahead by doing what is wrong.

Now, I don’t need to go over this again, I think we all know we aren’t talking about works for salvation. That’s not the point. We are not made right with God by doing what is right. We are dependent on the salvation of Jesus Christ. But, his salvation is an invitation. Romans 6:15-16 says we are made righteous by Jesus, and we now choose whether we live in sin, which produces death, or in obedience to God which produces righteous living.

So, the goal is two-fold:

/ / To have faith in Jesus Christ who MAKES us righteous by His righteousness, and THEN

/ / So we can live a life of obedience to Him that produces righteous living.

Just think of the simple fact that these beatitudes are 9 distinct statements and two of them are about doing what is right, about living a life of righteousness. And although Jesus isn’t connecting them, or Matthew in writing this doesn’t put them next to each other, they are connected, aren’t they? First Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Those that want to, strive to, dedicate themselves to doing what is right as described and prescribed by the Lord through Scripture.

THEN, he adds to that thought, “But just so you know, they might not get it. Those around you. The world around you. They might not get it. They might not understand why you want to do what is right. They might not understand choosing to do the right thing over doing what you want.”

I was reading Judges this past week, and there’s some pretty hard portions of the bible in that book. But one thing stuck out to me specifically this time. Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25, which bookend a terrible story, both say this, / / “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

That is a recipe for disaster. Doing right in our own eyes is seldom right, and the further we are away from what God says is right the more our idea of right and wrong get distorted. And it’s not hard to see that in the world around us these days. The world hardly knows what right and wrong are.

Isaiah 5:20 says, / / What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

And in this pulling away, or this gradual giving up of what God says, Paul says in Romans 1:21, / / Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what Go was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

And the result, Paul says in vs 29, Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.

And he goes on from there. What’s the point.

Well, there is a clear call to choose righteousness, but Jesus is also giving the warning, “Hey, the world might not get it, and when they don’t get it, or when you’re different from them they will push you away.”

When we take a stand for what is right, sometimes it means we are driven away for that stand.

The CEV version of Matthew 5:10 says, / / God blesses those people who are treated badly for doing right.

So, as we move on to the next verses. Let’s just establish these three things:

/ / We are meant to do what is right. Whether or not it gets pushback

/ / Doing what is right doesn’t always get pushback.

/ / But when it does, God sees it and honors you for being faithful and obedient.

Now, the second portion of scripture we’re looking at today:

/ / Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

The NLT says it this way, / / God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.

Ok, so that’s the key part, / / Because you are my followers.

I used to think this was, Because you’re a Christian. And we can get a bit bent out of shape in the western world about being persecuted for being a Christian. But here’s the thing, “Christian” can end up just being a title these days, right? And also, people associate Christian with the church and the church doesn’t always have the best name. BUT truly following Jesus will actually shine a spotlight on you, and you shouldn’t even need to tell anyone that you’re a Christian.

What Jesus is talking about here is being a genuine follower, a true disciple. If you put these 9 principles we’ve talked about here in the beatitudes to work in your life, you would stand out. You would. Your life would be different than a lot of people. If you actually focused on being meek, and humble, and gentle of heart. And we haven’t even got to the rest of the Sermon on the Mount yet. He keeps going!

So, this is the distinction we need to make, that what Jesus is talking about here is NOT being persecuted simply because you are called a Christian, although that happens, but because you are a genuine follower of Jesus.

Sometimes we suffer what I would maybe called “misplaced persecution”. Meaning, yes, maybe people are treating us differently, but it’s not because were doing such a great job at presenting Jesus to the world. What do I mean?

Well, sometimes people don’t like the church because it’s been hypocritical. Saying one thing, doing another. Or preaching against something, and actually doing that in secret. That’s not on Jesus’ account - that was our own fault.

Maybe being pushed aside not because of what we believe, but because we have been trying to push moral and biblical living on people who don’t believe the same way. You might think, but isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? No, it’s not. We’re supposed to introduce them to the love of God expressed through Jesus Christ in a way that invites them to also choose to follow him.

That might include an encounter with the presence of God through the Holy Spirit.

That might include a recognition of their sinfulness and a desire for salvation.

That might be seeing your life and wanting to experience what you experience.

But pushing morality down someone’s throat that doesn’t view that morality as valid doesn’t work. So that’s not on Jesus’ account either.

Misplaced persecution… they are persecuting what the church has been and done that they shouldn’t have, rather than hearing the good news of the gospel, the message of reconciliation.

I think we’ve all seen enough scandal, misrepresentation of the gospel, problems within churches that we get why the world doesn’t always trust the church. Carey Nieuwhof says, “The church has been harsh, judgmental, exclusionary and too often, abusive. These aren’t qualities people should expect from Christians, but too often, that’s exactly what Christians have shown them.”

That’s sad. And so my point is this. There is truly being treated differently because of what we have chosen to do in our lives that is genuinely following the way of Jesus Christ, and then there is being treated differently because of the world’s perception of what the church is, or what Christianity is. And the reality is that one of those is on the account of Jesus, and unfortunately, the other one is on our account, or the history of the church.

So, what does this really mean for us? Because some of the stats we read earlier about the global church suffering real and dangerous persecution makes me feel pretty darn weak sometimes. Is Jesus even talking to the western church of 2024 where we complain about our politicians not being Christian enough while Christians in other parts of the world are literally being beheaded for their faith.

I think this just takes some sober minded reflection, that yes, there are things that happen here, and yes, we should be praying for the global persecuted church as well.

So, three things here that Jesus says:

/ / Blessed are you when people revile you… on my account…

/ / Blessed are you when people persecute you… on my account…

/ / Blessed are you when people utter all kinds of evil against you falsely… on my account…

Alright, so the first one. / / Blessed are you when people revile you…

/ / Revile means to criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner.

Here’s point of thought - Sometimes we can help our situation by reading the room, so to speak, thinking about how we say things, about who we are engaging in conversation with, speaking truth in love, not just truth for the sake of making a point.

And sometimes there will be moments where we feel the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, being bolstered in our faith to not be ashamed of the gospel. Paul says in Romans 1:16, / / For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.

There are times we might just feel compelled by the Spirit to share the gospel, or to live out the gospel. By that I mean taking a stand for what is right, or choosing not to do something, choosing to speak up one behalf of someone else, or something that we see happening that either shouldn’t, or something we see that should be happening - that is informed by our Christian worldview.

And we can ask ourselves in these moments. Am I trying to defend God? Because I don’t need to do that. Am I trying to prove a point just to be right? I don’t need to do that. Are we about to get into an argument that just doesn’t matter? Especially online these days. I don’t need to do that. OR are we in relationship with this person and we can have a real conversation that leads them toward the saving grace of God through a ministry of reconciliation in Jesus? That’s different.

But Strong’s dictionary says of this word, / / revile, undeserved reproach, which means you are receiving an undeserved expression of disapproval or disappointment or accusation.

So, we can simply ask of these things we might encounter, “Was what I just experienced because of my belief or lifestyle of following Jesus, was it deserved or undeserved?” “Did I act in a way that deserved that reaction and if so, ok, learn from it. Or was that purely because they don’t like Jesus, and so they don’t like me.” “Was the backlash because I actually was NOT acting like Jesus, or was it because I WAS acting like Jesus?”

So that’s reviled. Pushed away and treated differently because we’re acting like Jesus and the world doesn’t get it.

Ok, we’ve looked at persecution, I think in some ways that one is directed more heavily at what we see the global church going through. But then the last one Jesus mentions: / / Blessed are you when people utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. The NLT says, “And lie about you…” which maybe hits a bit closer to home than “utter all kinds of evil”…

The statistics show that only 32% of Americans actually trust the Church and organized religion. So we might be on an uphill battle to begin with, right?

Perfect example. A few years ago when we were broke into here at the church, it happened in a series of three break-ins. The first two were into this building, and the third was into the school building. A couple news stations asked to come out. One of them came and interviewed me. Now, this isn’t slanderous, but it also wasn’t true, the way they represented me. I can’t remember the exact wording but I’m pretty sure they said, “Pastor Augi, fuming with rage…” Now, I don’t really get all that “rage-y” in the first place, let alone ‘fuming’ with it. It was laughable to me, but it was also a proposed representation of me, to the community we serve, as what I’m like as a pastor. It was untrue.

Second thing that happened in that was words in slander, but again, completely untrue. We had recently put together a page on our website asking for people to consider helping us financially because the roofs were in really bad shape. Also, at the time we did not have insurance - which meant everything that was damaged in the break-ins was out of pocket financially. And so on the news website, and you can probably still go find it, the comments on the story got a bit rough. One said that we were using this to get money, “check out their website, they’re trying to raise funds, they probably did this themselves…” honestly.

Now, that didn’t cause any long term or even short term problems, those words pretty much fell flat on the ground. And thankfully I’ve done a lot of work toward the healing of my heart, and forgiveness. Which is exactly what Jesus is warning us about. He says, “Don’t worry about it.” in fact, he says rejoice and be glad! Your reward is great in heaven. They did the same thing to the prophets who came before you.

For someone to say that the church in general has been scandalous isn’t wrong.

But if someone said that Cutler Bay Worship Center is trying to use some thing like a break in to get money from people in some sort of scandalous manner, is 100% false.

Now, as much as I would like to say that we can do something to mitigate all of this, and as I mentioned, we do need to do our best in being the best representation of Jesus - kind, loving, gentle etc…, the reality is, Jesus basically promised this. If you follow his ways, there are going to be times where people just absolutely hate you for it.

Why say all of this today? Why talk about it?

Well, first of all, you need to be aware of it. One of the worst things we could do as a church is not tell people that getting into this whole Christianity thing might have some unwanted attention. That wouldn’t be fair, would it? Here, Jesus is full on saying some people, if not all people who follow him, will be hated, persecuted, lied against, and hurt, and he tells his disciples in other passages that some will even die. He says in John 16:33, / / Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.

Second, because Jesus doesn’t stop there. He says, You are not alone in these things. And you are not defeated because of them.

Jesus finishes his thought in John 16:33 with, / / “But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” He says in Matthew 5, rejoice and be glad when these things happen!

Why? Well, you’re not alone, it’s been happening since the prophets of old. And all of heaven looks down at you and says, “Well done good and faithful servant.” Paul says in Romans 8:18, …/ / what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

This is probably why he wrote in Romans 5:3-5, / / We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

So I want to close with this thought this morning: / / Persecution is part of your preparation.

That might sound weird, and you might not want to agree, but this is what scripture is telling us. Persecution is an opportunity for us to develop character. It’s an opportunity for us to rely on the Holy Spirit, to test our fortitude, to remind us of what we know, of what we’ve studied. Remember earlier we were talking about the need to be in the word of God, to have a grounding, a foundation of scripture to rely on in these moments. The testing shows us what we know and in turn, what we know helps us in those moments. Scripture has power to comfort and remind us of God’s truth.

As we close here this morning, let’s focus in on Romans 5 for a second.

Trial, which persecution would be included in, leads to an opportunity for endurance.

Endurance leads to our character being more developed, in us becoming more like Christ.

The development of our Character bolsters our hope, reminds us of our hope, sets our eyes forward, not behind.

Character here is this word that means proof through experience. That’s why it builds our hope, because the more we endure, the more we are shown that who we are in Christ Jesus is what gets us through. Going through something proves what we are made of, which increases our hope because we see that it works. But that requires that we have endured… which is what builds up our character. The word / / endurance isn’t just suffering through it, but it actually means the characteristic of someone who shows loyalty to faith and christian discipline through even the greatest trials and sufferings. So, discipleship. Following the way of Jesus.

But let’s just look at the very last thing Paul says here and wrap ourselves in it.

/ / For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

You ever see those commercials that say, “Don’t try this at home” or “Stunt performed by a professional on a closed track.” Well that’s the encouragement from this last line. Don’t try to do this without the Holy Spirit. Don’t think you can go out there and suffer trial and sorrow, or persecution and being lied about without being constantly filled with the love of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s the key.

I’ve said this before, the transformation we seek is a supernatural work through very natural obedience. As we follow Jesus, our expectation MUST be that we will encounter the Holy Spirit. He is the promise. With every move we make of obedience, let our mouths also say, “Holy Spirit be with me.” With every task we set out to accomplish, let our hearts cry be, “Holy Spirit be with me.”

Reading your bible, “Holy Spirit, make light of scripture to my heart.”

Prayer, “Holy Spirit, pray on my behalf and speak to my heart.”

Fasting, “Holy Spirit, be with me in this.”

Trial at work, “Holy Spirit, be with me.”

Counseling for your marriage, “Holy Spirit, be with us.”

12-Step program, “Holy Spirit, be with me.”

I was listening to a little video clip from Bill Johnson the other day, and he made a beautiful observation that when Jesus says in John 16:7, / / it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you…

Bill Johnson said, what Jesus is saying here is that Us with the Holy Spirit is actually a BETTER scenario than they had with Jesus in the flesh… It is to your ADVANTAGE that I go.

Yes, there’s a part of us that will probably always have the question, “What would it have been like to walk with Jesus in the flesh.” And that is a wonderful thought. But, Jesus himself said, it is to our ADVANTAGE that he went, so that we could have the Holy Spirit.

Do you know what advantage means? A circumstance that puts you in a superior position.

Jesus is saying that our position with the Holy Spirit is superior to that of those who experienced him in the flesh on this earth.

Not my words, not Bill Johnson’s words…Jesus’ words.

So, Jesus said we would experience some persecution, some rejection, some being pushed away, some trial and sorrow.

Paul says when those moments come, the trial leads to endurance, the endurance leads to character, the character leads to hope… and we can do that how? Because the Holy Spirit has been given to us and is filling us with God’s love.

So I want to pray this morning, I want you to join me in prayer this morning, for a fresh and renewed infilling, experience, and overflowing of the Spirit of God. That our eyes would be opened to the reality of his presence. That our hearts would experience him. The same power that raised Christ from the dead, residing inside of us would be felt by us.