Living Water for a Thirsty Soul (John 4)

In John 4 Jesus told the Samaritan woman about the Living Water he had for her thirsty soul and then again in John 7 Jesus told the Jews at the end of their festival that he was their connection to Living Water that would quench their spiritual thirst. “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’” – John 7:37–38. Come to Rockwell Church this Sunday to be encouraged to live the refreshing life that Jesus offers so the Holy Spirit will flow in and through you. 


Notes:

Rockwell Church     June 23, 2024     Pastor Chris Teien
Living Water for a Thirsty Soul

#1 Jesus OFFERS Living Water
  To the Woman at the Well (John 4:13–14)
  To People at the Festival (John 7:37–38) 

#2 Jesus REVEALS Living Water is the Holy Spirit (John 7:39)
 A. Receive the Holy Spirit? (Acts 2:38, Eph 1:13, Acts 19:1-7)
 B. Be Transformed by the Spirit (John 3:5-6, Gal 5:22-23)
 C. Be Comforted & Guided by the Spirit (John 14:16-17)
 D. Be Empowered by the Spirit (Acts 1:8)
 E. Be Filled by the Spirit (Eph 5:18)

#3 Jesus EXPECTS the Holy Spirit to Live within You
 A. The Holy Spirit Advocates, Teaches and Reminds (John 14:26)
 B. The Holy Spirit is our Source of Peace and God’s Presence (John 14:27)
 C. The Holy Spirit Convicts of Sin, Righteousness and Judgement (John 16:8-11)
 D. The Holy Spirit Guides, Reveals and Glorifies (John 16:13-15)

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

Today we're gonna talk about some things that I know a bit about. Would you agree with me that experience can be a good teacher? If you think about experiences you have, would you say, oh I didn't know that until I had that experience, and now I learned some things. So um where we used to live, there was big torrential rain that washed out roads and flooded houses and kind of what you experienced. And so literal parts of farm fields and roads became lakes and roads and bike trails and everything washed out. Um the highway, many of the highways around the Twin Cities had become like little lakes, and we needed to be somewhere. So I had an old Dodge Ram truck, and so in the midst of the pouring rain, we went down to Minneapolis for something, and then we came back, and so there was just like water everywhere. And the two intersections near our house, our house wasn't under water, but the two intersections were in them. Utility worker drove through it, and the fire department drove through it. So I decided that I was gonna drive through it too. And so I learned a few things, and um it helped me uh the other day to know what I might not want to do or what what I wanted to do. So um the first thing that I would suggest is if the water is deep, but you don't know how deep it is, get out there and walk through it so you have a general idea of how deep it is, because it doesn't really make sense to drive your truck into an unknown depth with great confidence that you're gonna make it through. So um the second thing that I learned, and then I knew this from before too, because I actually had driven in water some before, but there's no need to speed through the water because the water will rise up and it can go over your hood and swamp your engine, and then you won't be going anywhere. Uh another thing that I learned is you should stay away from light posts because for some reason, as I was driving through the high waters, the light post fell down and it fell at an angle, and I saw it coming at me from the mirror and it landed in front, and I'm like, oh, this is like electrical, I don't know what to do, so I ran it over. And then I got a bill for over$3,000 for the light post from the utility company. But fortunately, one of my neighbors, a godly woman from the church I was at, said, We watched the whole thing and that light post fell on you. So then I was able to tell the utility company that it fell on me. And if you want to come out, I can show you at least one or two other light posts that would probably fall over if I just pushed on them, in which they said, No, that's okay. And the last thing that I learned is that sometimes if you go through deep waters, you're going to have to replace parts on your truck. I had to replace with the front wheel bearings after that adventure. So the reason that I tell you this is because when all the rain was coming down, we were gonna head out to help somebody, and as we were heading out of our neighborhood, we saw all the water rising, and we thought to ourselves, huh, we might not make it back. We might have to go through that experience again. That might be expensive, it might not turn out as we hope. Um, so we called the people that we were going to help and told them, and they said you should stay home, and we did. And the reason I tell you all of that is because that's an experience that I learned from, and maybe you can learn from it too. The other experience that I've learned from is my personal experience with the Holy Spirit. And growing up a Baptist, I mean, when I was a kid, um my step-grandparents were most influential and they were independent Baptists. A lot of people didn't talk about the Holy Spirit. There was like this mystery, um, you know, it's kind of like, well, you know, God the Father, God the Son, and then the Holy Spirit, too. But um we we don't want to. He he did some things in the New Testament church that caused a little confusion, and we don't really know what to do with that. And it just seemed to be like this: nobody wanted to talk about the third person of the Trinity, an individual who is involved in your salvation, who is involved in your spiritual growth, who reveals things to you, who teaches you, who empowers you, who convicts of sin and helps you to be successful in this Christian life, a life, a comforter and one that brings us peace. We should be all about the Holy Spirit and know who the Holy Spirit is to us and have that experience. And so I had many of the experiences that I had with the Holy Spirit before I became a pastor. So you can't say, oh, well, that's just because you're a pastor and that just kind of comes with the job. No, I think that because I had those experiences growing in Christ and following in faith and volunteering and doing all those things, that it made me more qualified to become a pastor. Because some people think that you just go to school and you get a degree and then you get to become a pastor, and that's not usually how it works. So usually they want to know what areas did you volunteer in? How did you serve? How have you been involved in the church? What leadership opportunities did you take, and uh, what things have you done? So they want to know not just how much you know, but they want to know what experience do you have. And so I thought that when I got out of high school, I'd go to Bible college and become a pastor, and God said, wait, uh, instead, you need to grow up a bit and learn some things. So I got to have like an eight-year wilderness experience learning other things and experiencing life and volunteering in church before I actually became a pastor. And so these experiences with the Holy Spirit are something that every one of us get as believers in Christ. Every one of us get as believers in Christ, and so got another case of these How to Find God New Testament Bibles, because I see the stacks getting a little lower and lower. And so uh, one, this Bible makes it easy for you to share your faith. Two, it makes it easy for you to disciple it to disciple someone, and three, it makes it easy for you to grow in your faith. A matter of fact, in regards to the Holy Spirit, on page, I'm not sure what it is, page A27, I think, here, there's a whole section on who is the Holy Spirit. And then, you know, it talks about what the Holy Spirit does in our life. So Christians have been born of the Spirit. Uh the Holy Spirit works in our lives. Um when the Holy Spirit is sinned against the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of God's promises. Um, and it talks about this and it has Bible verses to follow. So you can use this as a resource, but when you are growing in your Christian life, don't forget the Holy Spirit is active in your life. And hopefully you are yielding to the Holy Spirit and you are being filled with the Holy Spirit. So uh we've been going through John and Mike read uh from John chapter 4 about the Samaritan woman at the well. And when I was talking about that, I'm not sure when that was, April 21st, in a message, worship in spirit and in truth. So you could go back and listen to that one if you want. But I said that I would, in the future, I would get to this living water part. This what was Jesus talking about? So here I am, following up on that promise on this day to talk about living water. So, first of all, Jesus offers living water. So uh there are two occasions in the book of John where Jesus says, Hey, um, I offer you living water. He never said he was the living water, and he never said the living water was, you know, part of the earth as it replenishes and all this other stuff. Um, but in John 7, uh John makes it clear that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. So um Jesus offered the living water or told the Samaritan woman at the well about this living water, because she had to go draw from the deep well and pull the bucket up of the water, and she had to do that continuously, day after day, because she didn't have indoor plumbing, because the water didn't just come to her like it does to many of us. Many of us just turn the turn the little knob, the spigot, and here comes the clean, fresh, wonderful water. And so Jesus was trying to tell this woman about a different type of water, and she is like, I really want that, like it was indoor plumbing. And that's not what Jesus was talking about. Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water, the stuff coming out of the well, the stuff in the bucket, will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. So um then again, um in John 7, uh at the there's a festival, and so at this festival, um Chuck Swindall writes about it in his commentary, he says, Um Each day at the Feast of Tabernacles, uh there was a solemn procession in which a priest carried a goblet of water from the pool of Siloam, which was fed by the Gihon Spring, through the water gate into the inner temple court. As the congregation sang a hymn based on Isaiah 12 3, the priest poured the water on the altar, commemorating the Lord's provision of water in the wilderness. So towards the end of the Feast of the Tabernacles, uh, Jesus stood up and addressed uh all the people in the temple, uh, maybe just before or even during the priest's procession from the pool of Saloum, and Jesus called all people to receive from him living water, not unlike his offer to the Samaritan woman. The living water is the Holy Spirit. So um, perfect timing. So they're talking about water. They're talking about how God caused water to come out of the rock when the Israelites were in the wilderness and they needed water, and so the water came out of the rock and they celebrate this. So at this feast, they're pouring a bucket of water on the rock for all these days, and then the last day, then they all don't pour water on the rock. Instead, they pray for consistent rain. And during this time, Jesus is like, hey, everybody, let me tell you. Oh, in the context of this, by the way, the Pharisees are still trying to kill Jesus. So um they do not like what he's saying or how he's going about it, and so there's some tension there. But John 7.37 says, on the last day and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink. The one who believes in me, as the scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep from within. And so um people heard this and they must have been curious. What is he talking about? What does this mean? How can this even be? And then um, number two, Jesus revealed that the living water is the Holy Spirit, that the living water is the Holy Spirit. So John MacArthur in the book The Gospel according to Jesus, what is authentic faith? says, saving faith, repentance, commitment, and obedience are all divine works wrought by the Holy Spirit in the heart of everyone who is saved. So John says, by this, by what Jesus said, this living water, he meant the Spirit, in whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that point, the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. So when Jesus died on the cross and he rose again, and then he ascended into heaven, they waited, and then the Holy Spirit came, and then the Holy Spirit took up residence, and the Holy Spirit takes up residence with all of us as soon as we become believers in Christ. So there are some people that teach that you need to receive the Holy Spirit as a second work of grace, that you need to pray to receive the Spirit, and then you receive the Spirit, and that will be indicated by you speaking in tongues. And if you back that up, then if you're not speaking in tongues, then therefore you're you probably don't have the spirit, which means you're probably not saved. And we don't believe that to be true. So on the other hand, though, I'm not gonna stand up here and say that no one anywhere at any time ever speaks in tongues as from the Holy Spirit. So um it's not the norm, but there's no reason why the Holy Spirit couldn't move in someone's life to do that. And what would even be better, and what would be great for every person that's trying to be a missionary to somebody that speaks a different language, is if the Holy Spirit just came upon you and allowed you to speak in a language that you've never learned and never known, so that the person that you are talking to understands you clearly in their native language. And I've I've heard stories about that before, like in a New York taxicab or something. And so I think it would be foolish to ever say that the Holy Spirit can't do something. But I think it would be wise to look around and look at, you know, the church today and church history and the way things work and be wise to say that's not the norm. That's not the norm the way that the Holy Spirit works. But you and I, we receive the Holy Spirit. We receive the Holy Spirit when we are saved. So Acts 238, Peter says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, in Acts, the norm in the church was that you turned from your sin, you turned to God, you were baptized as a believer, and then you received the Holy Spirit. Now, one thing that you have to remember about the book of Acts is it is a historical book of what happened. It's not a doctrine book, it's not um, you can't write a theology of, you know, going through the book of Acts and saying this is, you know, we need to follow each and every one of these steps. It's just the way that the Holy Spirit worked at that time to give the apostles authority, to let the Jews know that Gentiles and the Samaritans were included to grow and to start the church to give the apostles authority. Um, it is what God did at that time. But this is good. This is good. We, if we're trying to lead someone to Christ, Jesus' first sermon was to repent. They need to realize that they're sinners and they need to turn from their sin. To repent is a good idea. So repent is a basic and wholehearted change of mind that results in a change of purpose, direction, and values. So repent who? Each, every one of you, every one of you, for that time and for today, in the name of Jesus Christ. That's important. So you don't just turn from your, you know, okay, I'm not gonna do that anymore. I'm just gonna be a good, nice, moral person and follow these rules. So, no, you turn from your sin and you turn to Jesus and follow his ways for the forgiveness of your sins. Um, I hope that is the experience that you have had. That is the experience that I have had. I've had other experiences that I don't, you know, teach or promote or, you know, publicize, but they happened. And it was my experience, just like going through the deep water. So when I was a kid, I would repeatedly ask Jesus to forgive me of my sin and to come into my life and save me. So J.D. Greer hadn't written the book, Stop Asking Jesus into your heart, which is not a book that says you shouldn't say the sinner's prayer. It is a book that talks about how you can have assurance of your salvation and quit going forward every time and saying the prayer, because uh, you know, there is a time when you come to Christ and you're truly saved. So I'm not sure when, somewhere around 10th grade, um, I prayed to receive Christ, and I felt the assurance and peace and confidence of the Holy Spirit tell me, you don't need to keep praying this anymore. You're in, you're saved, you're mine. You don't need to keep praying that prayer anymore. And so that I don't think that's the norm for everybody, but it would be weird because I, you know, I had this period of time where I seemed to have a lot of like understanding into scripture. And so it was a period of time where I just had this great feeling of assurance and confidence. And after a period of time, it kind of went away. And I spent a lot of time chasing the feeling, trying to get it back. And then I realized that I didn't need the feeling. What I needed to do was walk in obedience and follow Christ. And I fear that sometimes when people are over-emphasizing the stuff of the Spirit, they're chasing after an experience. And when the experience doesn't make them feel like warm-hearted and exciting or whatever, they think that God has left them or they think that they're they're not in anymore. And I've I tried some other like charismatic Pentecostal churches at a point. My wife and I decided to look around and you know see what else was out there. And so there are some people that would come into church and they'd be like, they'd sing the same songs like for a really, really long time. I just love that you know, we sing the verses of the song and then we move on. We don't sing the same verse 72 times until somebody starts shedding a tear, um, which can be emotional manipulation. But anyway, so these people would be like, oh, that spirit, that pastor's so anointed. Oh, I just felt so moved, oh, praise God. And then there's other times where they're like, I just wasn't feeling it today. No, uh, something must be wrong with the pastor of the church. No one ever said something must be wrong with themselves, but they were chasing the feeling, and that's not what we're to do. We're not to chase the feeling. We're supposed to follow in obedience in Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit empowers, and that's some of the stuff that I wanted to highlight today. But again, uh Acts 2.39, then if the promise is for you, and your Jerry, you want to grab the lights here in a second? The promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. So there's actually a thing called Pentecost Sunday where you remember when uh seven weeks after Easter when the Holy Spirit came, and we were busy doing other things that day, so I didn't talk about that, but I'm gonna show you the video I would have shown you on that day about the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Once upon a time, it was a great wind, a mighty life-giving energy that breathed everything into existence, a power that moved along the waters of the deep. The Spirit of God. One day a group who loved God was praying and meeting, celebrating a Jewish feast with friends and family, unaware of what was going to happen. Heaven was about to pay a visit. A violent wind filled the room where they prayed. Tons of fire descended, separated, and rested on each of them. The Spirit of God didn't just come near them. The Spirit filled us. All those people each one could hear their own native language at the same time. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be today. And the best news is for those who believe, the story never ends.

Chris T 20:25

The good news is that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. So when they were truly in Christ, they received the Holy Spirit. And when you talk about, you know, receiving the Holy Spirit, sometimes if you're reading through your Bible, you're like, What's up with that? I'll read that to you real quick from Acts chapter 19. While Apollos was in Corinth, uh Paul traveled during his third missionary journey through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus on the coast, where he found several believers. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? He asked them. No, they replied, We haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Then what baptism did you experience? He asked, and they replied, The baptism of John. Paul said, John's baptism called for repentance from sin, but John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus. As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. So I believe this is the last time in the book of Acts you see anybody speaking in tongues. Um it gave John's disciples um the ability to know who they were being saved, uh, that they were being saved, that they were uh becoming part of Jesus' church, uh, that Paul and the apostles were um and Peter were uh the apostles that God had given authority and uh helped them to come into a right relationship with Christ. So there are people that are out there that I would claim are religious lost. So uh they do uh believe in Jesus. But they do not have enough belief to actually become to cross over from death to life, to become truly saved. Even Satan believes that Jesus exists, and there's lots of people that believe that Jesus was a great teacher, moral authority, and all those things. But they're not truly Christ followers, haven't truly repented of their sin, haven't truly come to Christ. And you and I need to be aware of that and think about that, that when the Holy Spirit comes in someone's life, there is a once and for all identification that gives us continued assurance that we are God's children. So as we have opportunity to grow in Christ, I hope that you'll be able to see that the Holy Spirit's been working in your life, that you'll have confidence that you're truly saved and you truly are in Christ. And I would love to help you. I'd love to help you to understand that. But Acts is a book that records the transition from the old covenant to the new covenant, from the old way of temple worship into the New Testament church. And so when we read these stories, we look and we look pray for understanding and we look and move forward. So again, I don't think this is a sufficient passage to show that we need to receive the Holy Spirit as a second act of grace. Because I'm convinced that when you come to Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit transforms us, that we can be transformed by the Holy Spirit. And that is a good thing. So in John chapter 3, when Nicodemus is like, uh Jesus, Jesus is like, you must be born again, and Nicodemus is like, how can an old man go back into his mother's womb? So Jesus said, I truly tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water in the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. So the thing that you can see in this passage that is 100% sure is that Jesus said, You cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are born of the Spirit. So theologians and Bible commentators question what exactly that water part means. Does it mean that you have to be born from the amniotic fluid and come into the world and then be born of the spirit, and then you can be saved? So does the water refer to baptism that you have to be baptized to be saved? I don't think that baptism is necessary for salvation, though. I think that every saved person will want to be baptized. Um, and then, or does the water, is it just two ways to talk about the spirit? But the one thing's for sure, if you are headed for eternity with Jesus in the kingdom of God, you need to be born of the Spirit. And when you are born of the Spirit, uh there will be evidence and indicators in your life. There'll be fruit of the Spirit in your life. You can see that you're changing. You can look back and realize I'm not the same person that I used to be. I am becoming becoming more like Jesus. My thoughts, my mind, my attitude, um, the way that I treat people, it's changing from within. And so when it says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, look for those things. Is that happening in your life? Are you getting more and more of that? So I thought it was interesting. Paul Tripp's uh definition of forbearance. Forbearance is patience under provocation, being patient when immaturity is directed at you. So that's just a little more than being patient. That's being patient with difficult people. That's being patient as you're trying to help other people grow in Christ. So, the church, there's lots of opportunities for conflict as people come together and sometimes hurt each other's feelings and things like that. And to be able to be growing in the fruit of forbearance is a good thing to patiently wait for those people to mature, to patiently wait for those people to grow some of that fruit of the Spirit. So the Holy Spirit transforms us, changes us, helps us to become more and more like Jesus. And the Holy Spirit also also comforts and guides us. The Holy Spirit comforts and guides us. David Jeremiah says, when you are facing all the issues of life and you don't know what to do, except the fact that you are human, we all are. We don't have the capacity to understand Almighty God. But you know what? We know Jesus Christ. He's the wisdom of God, and he put his Holy Spirit in us. So having access to the Holy Spirit and Jesus, we can face the challenges of today with the wisdom of God. And that is a good thing. So maybe we needed to hear that last week before we endured so many difficult things. So I hope that you guys are doing okay. So uh you can be praying for um the Evangelical Free Church in Barris and the First Baptist Church in Cook, as they are related to each other in a way. Uh, First Baptist in Cook is our sister church. But um Lawrence is Brian, the associate pastor at Chisholm, the associate pastor at First Baptist Cook is the father-in-law to Lawrence, who was a younger guy with a wife and I think five kids. Uh he's been struggling with cancer and he just died. So you can pray for um Ashley and Lawrence's family and for that church, Ephraim Embarrass, and you can pray for Brian, who's the father-in-law, um, going through all this. Um he knew it was coming, but not only that, but the lead pastor is on sabbatical while um, so the associate pastor Brian is trying to do everything in the church while their newly remodeled church building, the basement was flooding or taking in water while they're surrounded by water and cook, and people in the church are being evacuated, and so he's got all this stuff coming together. And so I pray that the Holy Spirit will comfort, guide, and empower those churches, those people and that family as they go through this hard, difficult time. And sometimes when we go through really hard stuff, the Holy Spirit gives us insight or gives us comfort, or maybe we don't understand, but we get the assurance to get through. Sometimes when other people are going through it, sometimes the Holy Spirit gives us the right words to say. And sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us to just sit there and not say anything, even though we want to, because sometimes that's more important when people are grieving. But the Holy Spirit can comfort us and help us. So Jesus knew that his time was going to come to an end and that his disciples uh would eventually be left alone. And so he kept telling them, like in John 14, 16, he says, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you. So another advocate. So Jesus is the first advocate, and then so after Jesus is gone, he's going to give you another advocate who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you. So I mentioned this in the past, but in the old covenant, in the old testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon people so that they could accomplish different tasks, so they could do different things. So when David, uh, when he fell into sin with Bathsheba and he was repenting, it took him a long time to repent. But anyway, when he was repenting of a sin and he was praying, he said, Don't take your Holy Spirit from me, because that was the thing. So the Holy Spirit would come and go. Um, but now we have the Holy Spirit and we keep the Holy Spirit as our deposit on our salvation. So at this time, while Jesus was still there, the Holy Spirit was with them. And later on, Jesus is like, When I'm gone, the Holy Spirit will not just be with you, he will be in you and part of you. And that will be a good thing. And that will be empowered by the Spirit. To be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Have you ever felt the empowerment of the Holy Spirit before? You felt, you just had this need. Um, there's been times when, you know, we've shared in church before, and when I'm in a different church sharing in church, it just burned within me that I just needed to stand up and and say uh, you know, this testimony or whatever. And then when I didn't, I felt disappointed. And when I did, I felt like I was, you know, answering that the Holy Spirit wanted me to say something. Um, empowered to share your faith. And then so much of the empowerment is through is to share your faith. Acts 1.8, you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. It's interesting too that Samaria was a big deal to Jesus because we think about it as far as location. You know, it's like, okay, yeah, share Jesus in my neighborhood, my state in my world. Um, but Samaria was a bigger deal because when we talked about the Samaritan woman, um, they were like half Jew, half Gentile. They came up with their own religious worship system. They weren't um acknowledged or uh they were despised by the Jews. And Jesus is like, hey, I want you to tell this gospel message to those people in Samaria to let them know that they're not like off by themselves, you know, second class religious people, but they are part of the true, the new true church. And so anyway, Charles Stanley wrote, God is looking for imperfect men and women who have learned to walk in moment by moment dependence on the Holy Spirit. Christians who have come to terms with their inadequacies, fears, and failures, believers who have become discontent with surviving and have taken the time to investigate everything God has to offer in this life. So we receive the fruits of the Spirit and we receive spiritual gifts, but another thing that we receive is this empowerment. So, um filling of the Spirit. So in Luke 115, John the Baptist being filled with the Spirit proclaims the coming of the Lord. Luke 141, Elizabeth being filled with the Spirit proclaimed blessing over Mary. Acts 167, Zechariah being filled with the Spirit prophesied about the coming glory of Jesus. Acts 2 4, the Holy Spirit fills the apostles at Pentecost, and they begin to declare God's praises in multiple languages. Acts 4.8, Peter is filled with the Spirit and preaches to the rulers that Jesus is their only hope of salvation. Acts 4 31, the disciples are filled with the Spirit, and they speak the word of God boldly in the face of severe persecution. Acts 9 20, Paul is filled with the Spirit, and he immediately begins to preach in the synagogues. So, is there a time when you've ever been filled with the Spirit where you started to share your faith in such a way that you are surprised at what was coming out of your mouth? You were like, huh, this conversation's going pretty good as you're sharing your faith with somebody, and you realize that you are being empowered by the Holy Spirit. Some people think that, oh, that's just certain people. It's not my spiritual gift. I don't have the gift of evangelism. Doesn't mean that you don't need to share your faith. Uh J.D. Greer had mentioned that, you know, some people say, I witness with my life. Uh how do you do that? The gospel is not a good example about what you do, but a message about what Jesus has done. So trying to watch a newscast with the sound turned down is difficult. And so trying people trying to figure out what's going on in your life without them telling you, they'll just walk away and say, He's a good moral person. His parents must have taught him good manners. Um, you need to tell them it's Jesus in you and let them know how they can have Jesus too. So, all right, so we need to also be filled with the Spirit. So the Bible says, Don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the Holy Spirit when we cautiously consider our actions and yield ourselves to the Spirit's power, allowing him to guide, influence, and govern our behavior. We carefully align our daily choices and decisions with the wisdom and truth Scripture teaches. All right. Number three, Jesus expects the Holy Spirit to live in us, to live in each one of us. So the Holy Spirit advocates, teaches, and reminds. Jesus said in John 14, 26, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. So when we're reading Scripture, when we're in God's Word, um, we can learn and then the Holy Spirit brings that back to mind. As we memorize verses, the Holy Spirit can bring that back to mind. Um sometimes we just read the verses a lot instead of trying to memorize them, and still the Holy Spirit can bring those back to mind. But the more time we spend in God's Word, the more the Holy Spirit can remind us. This is important though, because the question is, how did we get this gospel New Testament? I mean, so Jesus is with a Samaritan woman by himself and then having this conversation. And the disciples show up and then uh she goes off and gets all of her friends, and all of her friends come. So the disciples would have some of the information. They could say, Yeah, Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman, um, don't really know exactly what they said, but then all these people came and they could report of that. But how did they report of everything else? The Holy Spirit brought it to mind. And I'm sure maybe they had discussions. It's like, hey, is the Samaritan woman still alive? Yeah, she is. Hey, um, tell me, would you tell me that story again? But we trust that the Holy Spirit has brought together the scripture that we have so that we have uh the resource that we need to live the Christian life and to be right with the Lord. The Holy Spirit is our source of peace and God's presence. Jesus said, Peace I live with you. My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. See, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin righteousness and judgment. In John 16, 8, when he comes, the Holy Spirit, he will convict the world of its sin and of God's righteousness and of coming judgment. The world's sin is that it refuses to believe in me, Jesus. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged. Jesus knew he was sending the Holy Spirit and why he was sending the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit would convict of sin. So when we're sharing our faith with other people, we can trust the Holy Spirit will be convicting them of sin. Sometimes some of us try to do a way better job of trying to convict people of sin. So we should be offering them hope and life and trusting the Holy Spirit to bring the conviction. Let them know about the penalty of sin. Let them know about what happens to sinners that don't receive Jesus Christ in this lifetime. And then let the Holy Spirit convict them while you offer them a lifeline, uh, a source of hope, uh, the way to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit guides, reveals, and glorifies. The Holy Spirit guides, reveals, and glorifies. John 16 13. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That's why I said the Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me. So the word Trinity isn't in the Bible, but it's clearly on what Jesus said here. So Jesus represents the Father, and the Holy Spirit represents Jesus, and together they're in perfect unity, and together they're on the same page. This Holy Spirit's not going to tell you something or guide you in some way that's not right with the Father or with Jesus. And so as we walk through this life, we can know that the Holy Spirit is living in us and that Jesus expects it to be that way. And it is a good thing to be living in Christ and following after the Lord. So the Holy Spirit, He guides, He reveals, and He glorifies, and we can trust the Holy Spirit in our lives. So I'm going to pray, and the worship team is going to come forward. So, Lord Jesus, I thank you so much that we have all the information that we need to know about the way that you want us to live the Christian life and about how the Holy Spirit worked in the beginning of the church and how he works today. We pray that you would show that the Holy Spirit would convict us of sin and show us what it is in our life that we need to change. We pray that we would glorify you, Jesus, and the Father, and that we would be empowered, functional, uh loving Christ followers that make a difference in this world and bring many people to you for your glory and our good. And Lord Jesus, we just thank you for this time and we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.