Dr Charles Stanley - God the Holy Spirit Our Helper

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Start your day off right with the Free in Touch
devotional Subscribe today. When you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ
as you save you, you probably thought things were going
to be rather easy for you. It just may be

(00:22):
that things got tougher for you, and as a result,
you began to question God where he was, and why
didn't he answer your prayers? And why didn't he keep
his word? Well, he has kept his word. God always
keeps his word. He knows that all of us will
face situations and circumstances in life that it's difficult for us.

(00:43):
We don't know which way to turn. This is why
He said to his disciples before he left, he was
going to send them someone that he called the Helper,
and this helper would be with them throughout their life.
This helper is called the Holy Spirit, because you see,

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God has made an awesome deposit for everyone who is
willing to believe him, willing to trust him. The Bible
talks about God being God, the Father, God, the Son God,
the Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Trinity, and
sometimes people are confused with that. So I want to
show you a brief diagram just to give you an

(01:29):
idea that really they're old one. And if you'll notice,
there is God as God, the Father, who's the creator
and the sovereign rule of the universe, God the Son,
the Savior, and our Lord, God the Holy Spirit, our
helper and hour in power. All three persons of the
Trinity make up the Godhead. Imagine living with such assets

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to your name and you never drawing upon them. That's
where a lot of Christians are. They know nothing about
the Holy Spirit. At some point in their life they
got saved, no question in their mind about that, and
then somebody said to them, well, now that you save,
you do the best you can. One of these days
you'll die and go to heaven. And so they're are

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some deposit of the Holy Spirit. Nobody ever tells them
about it, nobody ever explains it to them, and so
they live their Christian life dissatisfied, having needs that they
don't know how to answer, thinking that they're praying to
a god they're not sure he listens, and so they
die very dissatisfied with their Christian life. Their spiritual gifts,

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they know nothing about. Their abilities and talents, they know
nothing about and so they just live their life as
best they can with some sense of disappointment. And I've
met lots of people who have been saved early in
life who are saying, well, you know, this Christian life
is not all it's cracked up to be. Oh, yes
it is, don't know about it. Now. Are no disappointments

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in Jesus, in God, the Father, God, the Son, God,
the Holy Spirit. So in this message, I want us
to see what God has done for you. What is
at your fingertips, what is deposited in your heavenly account
if you are willing to yield yourself to Him and

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draw from these awesome reserves that God has placed at
your account? What do you do when you go through
difficult times when you find yourself maybe you're back to
the wall, you don't know what to do. Who do
you go to? Do you cry out to God? Probably
do at some point. But what I want you to

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see is this that God has very specifically said, I
have sent you a helper. A helper is someone who's
going to be there for you when you need him.
In fact, this is going to always be there. So
I want you to turn to the fourteenth chapter John,
because Jesus, right before he was crucified, the night before

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he told them some of the most awesome things, and
he was preparing them because he was going to be crucified. Listen,
the next day, he was going to the cross, the
next day he was going to the tomb. He was
going to be resurrected. And then another point out there
he would meet them. But at this point it looked

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very dismal. He made all these promises, and now he's
getting ready to die. And in spite of all the
things he said, he's going to die. That overshadowed everything else.
So if you look in the fifteenth verse of the
fourteenth chapter of John, if you love me, you will
keep my commandments. And then he said, knowing he's getting

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ready to leave them, I will ask the Father. Now
watch says, here's the whole trinity in one verse. I
will ask the Father. That's Jesus speaking, and he will
give you another and Capital h the Helper, who is
the Holy Spirit, that he may be with you for
how long? Forever? Not a short period of time, but forever.

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He says, I'm leaving you, but I'm going to give
you a helper Capital that is a person of the Trinity,
the Holy Spirit. He's going to be with you forever.
That is the spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot
receive because it does not see him or know him.
But you know him because he abides with you and
will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans.

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I will come to you. At no point since the
moment you trusted Christ is your personal savior, have you
ever been alone? At no point have you ever been helpless.
You may have felt helpless, But when you trusted Jesus
as your savior, God's seal upon you, His absolute assurance

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to you is the end dwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, God,
the Father, God, the Son God, the Holy Spirit, three
persons of the Trinity, your guarantee that you're going to
heaven when you die. So I wonder in your personal life,
what part does the Holy Spirit? What part has the
Holy Spirit had in your life? You probably got saved

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like I did, and they told me at twelve years
of age, charge you be a good boy. In one
of these days you've done, you go to heaven. Being
a good boy was a little tough at twelve years
of age. But anyway, that's all they told me. That's it.
Be good. Well, oftentimes I wasn't always good. That's all.
The They never told me that I had this awesome

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Holy Spirit within me to help me to grow up,
help me to be what God wanted me to be,
help me to do what God wanted me to. It
didn't tell me anything like that. The same God who
saved you saved me, the same Holy Spirit who in
dwells me and dwells you. And when I think about
people who go to church twenty thirty, forty fifty years,

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and that person lived their whole life and never knew
the treasure of their life living within them, and they
never were told about him. And I think about whoever
you are and wherever you go to church, if you
never hear about the Holy Spirit, you need to change
churches because somebody isn't telling you the whole story. The

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whole story is God, the Father, God the Son, and
God our helper, the Holy Spirit. So he said to them,
I'm going away and I'm going to send you another,
that is the Holy Spirit, will be your comforter. Now
watch this carefully. What is the work of the Holy Spirit?

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What does he do in a person's life. What I
want you to realize is this. I'm simply going to
tell you what's true. I'm going to tell you what's
true about you. I want to tell you about this
awesome asset that God has deposited within you to help
you every single moment of your life, as much as
you're willing to call upon him, trust in and rely

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upon him, believing what he'll do for your life. I'm
simply saying, you have God, the Holy Spirit living within you.
And notice what he called, Jesus called the Holy Spirit helper.
How many of you have ever needed help? Every one
of us needed help, and we have the great, infinite, awesome,

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all powerful help living withinside of us, willing to give
us direction and guidance and other help when that help
is needed. So let's look at it for a moment. So,
what is one of the first works of the Holy
Spirit when you were saved? How are you saved? The
work of the Holy Spirit? And when the Holy Spirit comes,

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he will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.
That is one of his first works in our life
is the convictors of sin, to make us realize that
we're sinning against God and that we need to save
you and He lives within us. Therefore, when you and
I daily in our life. When we have a bad
thought or say something, we shouldn't treat them by the

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way we shouldn't treat him, fail to do what we
need to do. That feeling we get is not just
a feeling. That is the work of the Holy Spirit
reminding us of who we are followers of Jesus, and
that shouldn't be in our life. This shouldn't be in
our life. That's what should be in our life. That's
who you should love. In the words, He's at work
in our life. Whoever you are, whether you recognize it

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or not, he's at work in your life. You may
think it's just your feeling. The Spirit of God is
at work in your life. A second thing he does
are very important, is found in Ephesians one thirteen, which says,
this in Him, that is in Jesus, you also, after
listening to the message of truth, the Gospel of your salvation,

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also believed, He said you, having also believed, you were
sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now
what does that tell you? Watch this carefully. A seal
in those days meant something was authentic, something was authentic.
It also spoke of ownership and also spoke of protection.
We have within us an awesome protector. And so he says,

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the Holy Spirit of God has sealed us. Now what
does that mean to you, for example, who have been
taught that you can be saved and lose your salvation
as not true. Listen, God doesn't break his own seals.
He sealed you, which means just what we said, you
owned by God. God is living within you. You're under

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his divine protection and everything we need he has provided.
And so when we think in terms of the whole spirit,
we're not talking about some spirit. Were talked about the
person of the God that living within you has sealed you.
Know what does that say about people who think you'd
be saved and be lost? Watch this? Who can break

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a divine seal? The devil can't. You can't. You wouldn't
want to. And so here's what God's saying. When you
trusted him as your personal savior, he sealed you as
one of his children. You are forever a child of God.
Now I know what some people are thinking, Well, that
means I can just sind like the devil and I'll

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be saved. Try it. The Holy Spirit within you, first
of all will convict you and make you miserable. He's
going to make you miserable for years if it's necessary,
keeping reminding you that you're living an ungodly life. You're
living an unholy life. God isn't pleased with that. You're
going to miss blessing after blessing after blessing, and then
people wonder, well, what's wrong with my life? What's wrong

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with your life? Is sinning your life? You're ignoring the
Holy Spirit who's trying to say, look, look, look, look
what you're doing. That's not necessary. That is God's awesome love.
The Holy Spirit has sealed you with the divine heavenless seal.
You are his He's your helper. Then the third thing

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he does, and this simple way of saying what we
have saying in Romans eight eleven, he in dwells us.
That isn't something that the Holy Spirit's up in heaven
and we are down here and it's the long ways
I'm not sure, and on we go. Listen to this.
But if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from
the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus from

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the dead will also give life to your immortal bodies
through his Holy Spirit, who dwelled you. That is, we
have a gift that is an eternal gift, and that's
the Holy Spirit marked by his ownership. So when you
listen to this, when you and I sin against God,
we are violating his principles, violating the very person he's

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sent to seal us to make us one of his own,
to be our helper. We are his children, We are
under his divine leadership. He says, he dwells us. I
wonder how people would live if they thought every day,
I'm in dwelt by Holy God. If you thought in
your life every single day when you wake up in

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the morning, that you're in dwelt by Holy God. Because
you are the Holy Spirit. He's there to endwel us,
to enable us to do anything and everything that He's
required of us. A fourth thing he does is he
teaches us listen to the fourteenth chapter of John the
twenty sixth verse. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom

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the Father will send in my name, he will teach
you all things and bring all things to your remembrance.
Now think about this, the moment you now received. We
have the teacher, the teacher above all teachers within us.
He's the one who helps us understand the truth. He's
the one who helps us convey truth to other people.

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He's the teacher. For example, when you find yourself in
a difficult situation and you're looking for a pastor of scripture, Lord,
what should I read? He's the one who will show
you where to go. He's the one who will interpret
the word of God. He's the one who will encourage you.
He says, he's a helper. He encourages us, bringing us
to the right passage, helping us to see what God

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thinks about our situation, what the circumstances are. We have
this awesome asset that many people ignore in their life.
And they'll say, well, I don't read the Bible much
because I don't understand it. How do you learn to
understand the Word of God by reading it and by
trusting the Holy Spirit? Think how many times you face
the difficult situation in your life and what did you do?

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You turn to a passage of scripture or you were
just flipping through the Bible and this particular verse hit
you and you thank God, you know I needed that. Yes,
he does, That's why he led you there. Watch what
he says. He says, I'm s I'm sending you another
capital h helper. We have a divine, supernatural, godly helper

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within us to help us in every circumstance of our life.
He is our teacher. But following being our teacher, what
does he do? He reveals truth to us, and so
look if he will. In First Corinthians Chapter two, in
verse twelve, we have received not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is from God, that we may

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know the things freely given to us of God. The
many things we don't understand. And yet we have the
Holy Spirit living within us to give us understanding. And
how many times have I listened to people tell me
how discourage they were because they've read the Bible and
didn't say anything to them. Listen the Holy Spirit, who
is our teacher. That's one of his works. He will

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teach us the truth if we will come to the
Word and ask him to show us. That's one of
his responsibilities as the Holy Spirit, teaching us to help us,
to show us the truth. If you don't like the
way things are in your life, ask yourself the question,
why why is this happening in my life? Why don't
I feel God's presence? Why don't I know about heaven.

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Why don't I have people loving me? Why do I
have such a hard time on my job? Maybe the
fact that you have ignored the helper. You've ignored the
helper who wants to help you through someone else, give
you something through someone else, help you in your occupation
through someone else, he says, he sends the helper in

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order to help us. And usually what does he do.
He speaks through some other believer, oftentimes to show us
exactly what we need and how to find what we need.
So he reveals the truth to us. And oftentimes people say, well,
I'll read that verse, not I don't understand it. Well, listen,
nobody understands all of it. If somebody says I got it,

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you don't have it. In fact, you're ignorant. You think
you understand every single verse of the Word of God.
Because this is divine knowledge, this is holy knowledge, godly
knowledge that reaches far beyond our universe. He's our helper
revealing the truth to us. And when I think about that,
I think oftentimes the verses that I've read that I thought, now, Lord,

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how do I apply that to my life? Here's what
I discovered If I read the past of scripture. I
don't quite get it at that moment, for whatever it
might be. And I want to know what is the truth?
Who are you saying it to? How did you say it?
What did you mean then? And then what do you
mean today? He's our teacher, He's the one that watched this.
He's the one who translates for us what a verse

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of scripture means. And I think about people who never
read the Bible and wonder why life is the way
it is. If you don't read the Bible, what you
do is you ignore this truth. People who reject Jesus,
reject life at its very best, reject the Helper, and

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then wonder why things are not going right for them
for the simple reason they've turned their back upon this
awesome asset sealed by the Holy Spirit. He sealed his believers,
He seals us today, teaches us, gives us understanding if
we're willing to listen to him. And I think sometimes

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people have their Bible by their bed at night or something,
and every once in a while they'll turn it light
on and say, well, I'm going to start reading a
passage here or there, whatever, But oftentimes not till something's
bad do they open the Word of God. It's there

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for you. All of this awesome truth is there for you.
If you will open the Word of God, if you
will ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding, he will.
And you say, well, does that mean all of it's
understandable first time you read it? No, tenth time you
read No. Sometimes listen, we're talking about God. We're talking

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about knowledge and wisdom far beyond human capacity. But nothing
that we don't need. That is, whatever we need. The
Spirit of God's going to give us understanding. So when
I think about that, he will reveal the truth to us.
And then of course he will guide us. When the heed,
the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into

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all truth. So somebody says, well, you know, I'm trying
to make a decision in my life, and I've evaluated
this and that and the other, and I've talked to us,
and so have you talked to God? The Holy Spirit
who lives within you, is willing to give you guidance
in every single decision you face. When you're making a

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decision in your business, making a decision, your personal life,
relationship to others, financial, whatever it might be, you ask
him to give you direction he will give us. He
will show us the truth when when he comes, he
will guide us into all truth. That is, you can't
think of a question about your life in which you

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need something that he won't show you what to do.
He's there to show you, to give you divine guidance
and direction. What about your children, for example, you want
your children when they get into a situation they don't
know what to do, They want you to come to
them as parents and ask and trust you to help them.

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And so we get into situations and circumstances we don't
know what to do. What do we do? We run
ask somebody else. It's okay to ask somebody else, but
you should ask God first. If you will ask the
Lord first, Lord give me wisdom and direction, he says,
he will guide us into all truth. Whatever I need

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in direction, He's more than willing to show us if
we're willing to take the time to ask him and
believe what he says. And sometimes if you ask him
about something, what he tells you is not going to
be as easy as what your friends tell you. But
first of all, they don't know anhing about it anyway,
They just know partly. But the Holy Spirit of God

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is willing to teach you and to show you exactly
what to do in every single situation. Then I think
about what he says that he does in and through
us in Galatians chapter five twenty two, here's what he says.
He says the fruit of the spirit, that is, this
is what he produces in us. See if it's in you.

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The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self control. You see any of those you need? I
need them all. And the truth is we all need

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them all. Well, look at this has given you a
hard time, and you feel very impatient, but you can't
really there afford to do that. You can't be impatient.
You have the Holy Spirit to give you his patience. Sometimes,
for example, somebody that you just don't love, that in
fact you they're just obnoxious, and you think. You sit

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in church and listen to sermons, and you stand up
and sing and you pray, but deep down in your
heart you can't stand them. So what so what happens?
You ask the holes. Let me tell you something. It
will be amazing, and how God can change your attitude
to somebody that you don't want anything to do with it. Now,

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you don't tell him how to do it. You just say, Lord,
you know I don't love them. This is the reason
I don't I need Here's what you said, God, you
just got to love them through me. You will be
amazed what God will do in your life. I'll change
your attitude and you'll think, well, Lord, I didn't know
I was that obnoxious myself. And so everything begins to change.

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Why and listen, patience, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
All of us need self control. Where do we get it?
We trust the Holy Spirit to exercise self control through us.
That's what you're telling him, Holy Spirit, I want you
to exercise self control. What I see, what I do,
what I hear. I want your control in my life,

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not mine. He will exercise that through us. And so
as you and I yield to the Holy Spirit, is
what happens. All non gifts of a spirit, the Spirit
of God begins to work them into our life. And
so what happens our life changes. And then he also
as as one of his responsibilities, to remind us lick

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In John fourteen, the twenty sixth vers for a moment,
and he says to them. But the helper capital age,
the Holy Spirit. The helper the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name. He will teach you
all things and bring to your remembrance all that I
said to you. Now think about this. These twelve disciples

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had walked with Jesus for three years. They had seen
a lot. They'd heard a lot, from walking on water
to feeding five thousand, to healing Bartamas to raising Lasparus.
They'd seen a lot. Now watch this. So their life
was consumed with this miraculous life. But all of a

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sudden he's gone, and they're over here. Watch this. They
had no notes, they didn't have a notepad, they didn't
have a computer, they didn't have a Bible. They think
about where that left them. All they had is what
they remembered. How much did they remember? Imagine walking with

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him three years and seeing this that, and never knowing
what was going to happen, and doubting him here and
there and so forth, and all of a sudden he's gone.
This is the reason he said to them. Sit down
in the city of Jerusalem until you be filled endued

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with the Holy Spirit, who will bring all things to
your Rememorans. God Almighty has given us his word and
then given us the Holy Spirit to do what to
interpret the word of God for us and help us
to understand. I will teach you all things and bring
all things to your rememories that I've said to you.

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Think about how much you remember when you have read
the Word of God. We are gifted with a treasure
called the Bible, and the Holy Spirit our teacher, our guide,
the one who helps us to interpret it. You can
read it, you can hear it, but most of all
you apply it. God didn't leave us empty. So when

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you trust Jesus as you savi you, you receive this
awesome treasure of the Holy Spirit. You say, well, I've
never been to school. Is that the other night? I
don't know what it means. Here's what he says, the
Holy SPIRITU your helper. Forget what somebody else says. The
Holy Spirit your helper. You start reading the Word of God,
and here's what will happen. You begin to understand it.

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My grandfather preached the Gospel for about fifty some years,
had never been in the schoolroom. He learned to read
by reading the Bible. I don't know how that worked,
but I know this I watched him and listened to
him preach for one solid hour and never read anything
except the passage of Scripture. He learned to read reading

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the Bible, and so that's why he knew it so well.
So if you don't know anything else and you start
reading the Word in I think. But the Holy Spirit
worked in his heart to teach him the truth. The
same Holy Spirit who was in the days of Jesus
working and in that New Testament day working, is the

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same Holy Spirit who works in you. If you read it,
he'll show you the truth. He says, I will guide
you into all truth, all truth that you and I need.
No matter what kind of decision you have to make,
you can ask him. And here's what he says. I'm
sending you a helper, the Holy Spirit, who will teach
you all the things that I've said. So when you

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think about that, think about how sufficient is. And then
of course he says he will equip us with spiritual
gifts in the twelfth chapter First Corinthians. What a spiritual gifts? Well,
for example, there are probably seven major spiritual gifts. Does
the gift of prophecy, of teaching, of mercy, encouragement of service,
of giving, of administration. All gifts probably fall into those seven.

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So the truth is, watch this, you have a spiritual gift.
And so he gives us the gifts and exercises those
gifts in our life according to what he wants us
to do, what he's called us to do. Somebody says,
I don't have any gifts. Yes, you do. You do
have gifts. It's a question of asking God to show

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you and thinking about what you do, what you need
to do, what you need help in, and he'll show
you what that is. Then, of course he empowers us.
In that first chapter of Acts, verse eight, he said,
you will receive power. After that, the Holy Spirit comes
upon you, and you shall be my witness. That is,

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he will release within us the energy and the strength
and the authority to do whatever he wants us to do.
That's the promise of Almighty God. When you think you
just can't go another step, what do you do? You
ask the Holy Spirit to help you, to give you guidance,

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to give you strength and energy. Watch this, The Holy
Spirit is practical. The Holy Spirit does follow us what
we cannot do for ourselves. He has equipped us in
every single area of our life. Then I just mention
one other, and that, as he says in Ephesians chapter
five eighteen, be filled with the Spirit, which simply means this,

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continually allow the Holy Spirit to live in your life,
give you guidance, give you direction, fill those needs, whatever
those needs may be. To be filled with the Holy
Spirit means we're to live in the conscious presence of
the Holy Spirit living within us in order to help
us and enable us so that no believer has a

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legitimate excuse for not obeying God. He has equipped you
to do whatever he wants you to do. He has
equipped you to have enough of what He wants you
to have, to understand what he wants you to understand,
to be the person he wants you to be. You
have not only the promise, but when He sealed you

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as a child of God, you are equipped to do
and to become whatever God had in mind when he
brought you into this world. Now, think about the people
who've never heard that they're just living out their life
the best they can. Haven't you heard people say, well,
how you doing? Just doing the best I can? That's

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no way to live. The best I can is not
very good. The best he can is awesome, absolutely awesome,
the best he can do. So the Holy Spirit is
our helper, our friend, our sustainer, our provider. He's everything.
Jesus said, I'm going away, but I'll send you the Helper,

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and when he comes, he is what he'll do. So
let's go back for a second to this chapter fourteen chapter.
I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another helper capital h that he may be with you forever,
not partially. That is the spirit of truth, whom the

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world can't receive. They don't understand it because it doesn't
because the world doesn't see him unno him, but you
know him, because he abides with you and will be
in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I
will come to you. Now. Where do you get it
more encouraging than that? Amen, you should be praising the Lord,

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thanking God for who he is in you, that he
hasn't left you to do it yourself. Whatever you do
in life, it's not you to just do it yourself.
You have four times he called the Holy Spirit the
Helper to enable us and to help us do his will. Amen, Father,

(32:03):
how grateful we are. We could never thank you enough.
We praise you for it, for giving us the Holy
Spirit in our life every single day to enable us
to do and to be what you've called of us.
Pray the Holy Spirit has spoken to every person here
today that every person will walk away encourage in their heart,

(32:26):
reminded in their heart, challenge in their heart, or convicted
in their heart that you have something for them to do,
that that's your will for their life. And I pray
that they'll surrender to that. We love you, and we
praise you. We bless your holy name, and we pray
this in your wonderful, blessed name, Jesus Amen.