I Will Not Leave You As Orphans

*If Nervous in the beginning just pray*

Introduce Self

Ian Miller, husband of Abbie Miller

Ministry Apprentice at the Church, Hopes to serve as a chaplain in the future

US Air Force Bomb Disposal Technician for 10 years

Dealt with >4,800 explosive items in Arkansas alone

(stories need to be normal ian voice)

Arkansas is scarier than you thought huh? next time your mowing and see a piece of metal

Introduce Series

Steven’s upcoming series: Conversations with Jesus in the Gospel of John

He will be watching the recording so just make sure you guys pay attention to James and Meech who have applause cards in the back of the sanctuary.

Context of the Passage

Conversation takes place in the upper room

It is right in the middle of the Holy Spirit passages which are John 13-17,

We are gonna be reading the same thing (Lighten Up Jokes)

Have them flip to John 14:15-21 and give them time

Read John 14:15–21 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.””

Wait Jesus is Leaving?

Disciples hear: “I’m Leaving”

Disciples gave up everything to follow Jesus

(Don’t Forget This)

Story of Dad announcing move to Malaysia

Disciples’ confusion:

Heres what i think Peter thought. John 6:68: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”

The Messianic Expectation

Cultural expectation of the Messiah:

“Cleanse Jerusalem from the nations that trample it in destruction, to expel sinners from the inheritance in wisdom, in righteousness, to rub out the arrogance of the sinner like a potter’s vessel, to crush all their support with an iron rod”

Disciples feel like orphans: abandoned and alone

From conquering heroes to a bunch of terrified boys in an attic,

Disciples were mostly teenagers (Peter was the only one over 20)

Jesus could see the fear and confusion in their eyes. “I will not leave you as Orphans”

Life as an Orphan

Three realities of living as an orphan:

No Helper

verse 16 tells us Jesus was their helper; now He’s leaving, John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,”

No one to help carry life’s burdens

Can you imagine what it would be like for the Guy who did all the miracles and had all the right words went away.

This happened to me at our Kids closet once, I walked out with Gonzolo who is fluent in spanish to pray with a family, but right when we went to pray he had to run back inside. The family stared at me, and I stared at them. It was terrifying.

Where in your own life have you felt alone with no helper?

No Comforter

John 14:27: “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”

You know what would make my heart fill with trouble, watching my Rabbi and Father Figure, be dragged to a false trial in front of a known corrupt judge, then be paraded through the street and crucified.

You know what would make me even more afraid, sitting with my friends wondering if I’ll be next.

For me I tend to forget God in my grief, Abbie and I have been struggling with infertility for 2.5 years. There was a moment when one of Abbies procedures got rescheduled and then canceled. I snapped, I spent an afternoon talking about how terrible doctors are, and how little they care to anyone who would listen. I had utterly forgotten to seek God.

In that moment I felt alone with no comforter.

No Counsel

“Helper” can also mean “Advocate” (like a defense attorney)

John 16:7–8 NIV

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:

The Disciples didn’t expect to be on trial, until Jesus was on trial. They didn’t expect

We are also put on trial every day. wether we expect it or not. when we are accused or accuse ourselves, with the voices in our mind, that say

“I’m not good enough, im such a screw up”

“I Always get it wrong”

“It’s always up to me”

“It will always be this way”

The Problem

Some of us feel utterly alone.

We feel overwhelmed by the weight of our burdens,

shackled by grief and pain with no comforter,

stuck on an island of guilt without an advocate waiting for our sentence.

The Good News

Story of first IED experience: terrified, then hearing a voice I think its God but its just Airman Campbell

*THIS IS THE MOMENT*

John 14:18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”

You don’t have to live as an orphan now you can live as a Son

Life as a Son

In Christ, we are not orphans but beloved sons

How can this be? John 14:19–20 “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”

No longer responsible for our own lives

Disciples experienced this on Pentecost when the holy spirit came and they received “another Helper”

We Have a Helper

Peter’s transformation in Acts 2: from denying Jesus to boldly proclaiming the Gospel

Holy Spirit now dwells within believers… but do we really know that?

Remember the Malaysia story… Malaysia didn’t make sense on a computer screen. I only truly understood when it was a lived experience.

Is Your relationship with the Holy Spirit still stuck on a screen, or do you walk the countryside with him?

We have to experience the Father’s presence just as intimately

We Have a Father

In 1 Peter 2:6 “For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.””

Before Christ, we were defined by sin and rejection, now it all rests on the cornerstone

John 14:23 ESV

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

The truth of this conversation that the disciples missed until pentecost and that We sometimes miss today is that The Holy Spirit is better than Jesus in person. which Jesus says explicitly in the later sections of this very conversation. “It’s for your good that I go away”

Application

Challenge:  I don’t know if you’ve experienced it but moving the spirit from the screen into a reality, here are some of the practices that have helped me to engage my relationship with the holy spirit.

Ways to engage with the Holy Spirit: (Lighten up, no speaking voice)

My Freedom Prayer with Morgan

Fasting (brian beck class… but no story) Sandra and I really struggled those 3 days

Listening for God

The motto of EOD is “Initial Success or Total Failure”, but thats not what this is.

I didn’t get all of malaysia the second I got there.

Promise: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”

Pray (come lord Jesus)

Explain what we are about to do before starting to pray

“God, where are you right now in my daily life or specific circumstance……… Thank you for that truth.”