Don’t Abandon Your Faith: Why the Holy Spirit Changes Everything
This post is part of Blackbird Mission’s 2025 Summer of Sermons series, featuring Daron Earlewine’s most impactful church messages.
Ever felt like throwing in the towel on your faith? Maybe you’ve failed God one too many times, or perhaps it feels like He’s failed you. You’re stressed about finances, relationships are falling apart, or life just isn’t working out the way you thought it would when you first believed. If you’re reading this and thinking about abandoning your faith, this message is specifically for you.
Learning to hear God’s voice
“I don’t know how to hear God’s voice,” people tell me constantly. I think you do know – you just make it too complicated.
God speaks through His creation. When you’re stressed about finances and you see wildflowers blooming without worry, remember Jesus’ words: If God cares for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, how much more will He care for you? He’s saying through those flowers: “I see you and I will care for you.”
I’ve never heard God’s audible voice, and I probably never will. But I’ve learned to recognize the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit guiding and directing me, reminding me that I’m never alone and He’ll never abandon me.
The power of “yet”
When the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was teaching, they admitted it. This should encourage us – it’s okay if you don’t totally understand yet what God is doing in your life.
There’s incredible power in the word “yet.” Instead of saying “I can’t forgive them,” say “I can’t forgive them yet.” Instead of “I don’t know how to hear God’s voice,” try “I don’t know how to hear God’s voice yet.” When you embrace the power of “yet,” you embrace the power of hope.
The promise that changes everything
Jesus ended His teaching with this promise: “I’ve told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart because I have overcome the world.”
The disciples would abandon Jesus, but Jesus would never abandon them. Even when Peter denied knowing Him three times, even when they all scattered in fear, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come to guide them. And He did – on the day of Pentecost, everything changed. Those same scared, confused disciples became bold leaders who launched a movement that continues today.
Your invitation today
You’re invited into that same power. But you have to seek the Holy Spirit. You have to be open to what He might do in your life.
What does seeking the Spirit look like? Start each day remembering that living for God is impossible without His Spirit. Find time to slow down, get still, and listen. Whether it’s during a walk, at the gym, or in quiet moments, make time to connect with the Holy Spirit because this life is impossible without Him.
Even though you’re not very good at it yet, He will guide and direct you at the pace of your obedience so that you will not abandon your faith.
If you’ve been thinking about quitting on your faith, know this: It’s no accident you’re reading these words today. God orchestrated this moment for you to hear Him say, “Don’t abandon your faith. Don’t quit on yourself, and don’t quit on me. I’m with you, and I’m sending my Spirit to guide, comfort, empower, and strengthen you.”
We have to abide so we don’t abandon. Stay connected to Him, and let His Spirit lead you into the future He has planned for you.
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Want to dive deeper into understanding your purpose and spiritual growth? Email me at daron@daronearlewine.com – I’d love to hear how God is working in your life and answer any questions you might have. Remember, you were created on purpose and for a purpose.
Episode Summary:
The Christian life is impossible without the Holy Spirit. That’s not a metaphor—it’s a fact. In this message from John 16, Daron shares why Jesus said, “It’s better if I go,” and how the Holy Spirit now guides us in real-time through every struggle, setback, and decision. You’ll discover how to stop repeating spiritual mistakes, how to hear from God clearly, and how to move forward one obedient step at a time.
Key Takeaways:
⚡️ Jesus teaches you at the pace you can understand
⚡️ The Holy Spirit won’t lead you past your level of obedience
⚡️ Stuck? It may be because you’re not doing what God has already said
⚡️ Your future depends on your faithfulness in the present
⚡️ Don’t abandon your faith—abide and obey
Notable Quotes:
⚡️ “God will never teach you past your level of disobedience.”
⚡️ “The Holy Spirit is your coach, your comforter, your guide.”
⚡️ “Obedience is the bridge between revelation and transformation.”
⚡️ “The Christian life is not hard—it’s impossible without the Holy Spirit.”
⚡️ “If you hear His voice today, do not harden your heart.”
Episode Resources:
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Links to the Daron Earlewine Podcast
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TRANSCRIPT
Hey, welcome back to the Daron Earlewine Podcast. Daron Earlewine, your host. And hey, one thing I love to do in the summer is shake things up a little bit, right? You got four seasons and everyone’s a little different. And I like to change things up in the summer. And that’s what we’re going to do here on the Daron Earlewine Podcast. So here’s what we got for you. You know, we do a lot of purpose development stuff, whether it’s at schools, the purpose paradigm, with what we’re doing now and kind of communicating the future of Rogue Collective as we’re doing purpose and personal development in the marketplace. And one of other things that I’ve been doing, well, shoot, now for like, I don’t know, since I was 16, is going to churches or being a part of faith communities and sharing sermons out of the Bible. And so what we’ve done this summer is gotten maybe some of the greatest hits over the past year or so of me speaking at local churches and we’re going to put them together. We’re going to share them with you here on the podcast. And here’s what I hope. I hope they inspire you. I hope they help you understand how much God loves you. Okay. I hope they help awaken within you the fact that God is near you, right? That God is for you. And as we say every week on the podcast, that God has created you on purpose and for purpose. Lots of different topics that will be coming this summer, but hopefully just great content that’s going to inspire you. And we always love to hear from you. A very easy way for you to do that. Just email me, Daron, D-A-R-O-N at DaronEarlewine.com. Love to hear what you’re learning, love to hear questions you have. Maybe there’s a topic you’d love to hear us jump into on the podcast. Please reach out, Daron at DaronEarlewine.com and enjoy the 2025 Summer of Sermons. Created on purpose and for purpose.
Before we get going, I wanted to say a big thank you to anyone who thought to pray for me a couple weeks ago. As I told you guys the past couple times I spoke, decided to herniate a disc in my back back in August. That was a lot of fun. And two weeks ago, I got spinal fusion surgery and everything went great. So thank you for your prayers. It’s healing up. The doctors told me that I needed two months off and I told Ken that and he said, well, if you don’t preach this week, you’re not a good Christian. And so I was like, Ken, it’s called grace. I’m just kidding. I didn’t say any of those things. Anyway, I’m so glad to be back in the mix today and you know, going through this the past couple of months, I multiple times I thought to myself, you know what I could really use in this struggle? A soundtrack.
Soundtrack, okay? You gotta think about it. Every movie you watch, if you take the soundtrack out of it, that movie is half as good. And you don’t even know it’s actually happening if you really think about it. You watch a movie and you don’t think to yourself, here comes the music. You just find yourself watching the movie and all of a sudden you’re either ready to do pushups or you’re crying and you don’t realize it was the soundtrack, okay? So I could have used the soundtrack a couple times during this whole situation when I herniated the disc. It probably would have been something good, I don’t know, kind of kind of sad yet kind of spooky. You know what I mean? Anything could have been good. So it just, makes quotes happen. So we need a soundtrack. I got to get a soundtrack this morning. Got to get a soundtrack, okay? And you get a soundtrack. It doesn’t matter what you say.
When there’s a soundtrack, there are times you just take people by the heart. There’s just music behind what you’re saying. Doesn’t matter, you can just hit him with a… A… B… C… D-F-G-H-I-G-K. It makes all the difference and your music and you have these quotes where you know when you have music in the background and quotes like this you know something big is about to happen. Let me hit you with this and you’re gonna help me finish it.
They may take our lives! But they will never take our freedom!
So well done, so well done, so well done. And there’s this moment. In John 16 where I… I get it, it didn’t have like an Alexa. Jesus couldn’t be like, hey Alexa, play this music in the background. There wasn’t music, but there should have been music enough. There are music in the background. This moment when Jesus says this in John chapter 16, it would have been even more effective than it was. I’m sure the disciples would have been like, hello, this is real.
Cue that music again. Cue that music.
Jesus is with the disciples, they’re having this Passover meal, right? This is his last time with them. In the past two weeks, we’ve been walking through this speech he’s been giving them after he washes their feet, which they would have been like, that’s kind of weird. You’re like supposed to be God, we think, we’re trying to figure it all out. And all of a sudden you’re doing like the servant thing, you’re washing our feet. That’s kind of unsettling for us. Now all of a sudden there’s this tension. You seem a little bit more intense than you usually are. And you’re saying some really wacky stuff like you’re gonna leave.
And then Jesus gets to this moment and says these first sentence in John chapter 16, which we’re going to walk through today. And when he said it, it should have had this soundtrack because I guarantee you the disciples were like freaking out a little bit when he said this. And remember when he said this, he didn’t like this is the first verse of chapter 16. Jesus didn’t give the speech and then go Chapter 16, and then keep talking, right? You gotta know that. Like the Bible, we put the breaks in there, but they weren’t in there. He’s just talking to them as they’re having the Passover meal. And Jesus has talked to him for all of what was chapter 14, chapter 15. And then he opens up chapter 16 and he says this.
I have told you these things so you won’t abandon your faith or it could have been more like could have been more like I told you these things so you won’t abandon your faith.
I don’t know how he said it, but I’m saying music would have been made it better, wouldn’t it? Check it out, right? Here it is. Here’s what Jesus says to him. All of that was just nonsense just to get us into the sermon, right? That’s how the brain works right up here. Bingo, bingo. All right. He, Jesus says, I told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. Wait a second. We’re in an abandon the faith situation here, Jesus.
Like we’ve been following you around for three years, we’ve seen you the miracles, we’ve seen all this stuff, we’re in, we really feel like this is something we’re bought into, and you’re saying everything you just got done saying to us, you said all this stuff, so we won’t completely abandon our faith? Like this is high pressure wording. So what are these things? What things have you said Jesus so that we won’t abandon our faith? Well in John 14 Ken started two weeks ago he let us know this one that if we love him we will obey his commandments and he said I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you he is the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus said, Hey, here’s the deal. Things are going to get a little bit wacky. It’s going to get tough. But I’m going to, I’m going to send the Holy spirit, the advocate, the counselor, the guide, the strength, the comfort. I’m going to send the Holy spirit. Okay. And then later on there, he says, he’s actually going to be in you that God’s spirit is going to not be something outside, not something, you know, apart from you, but God’s spirit is actually going to live within you. And God’s just going to send the spirit. I want you to know this you don’t abandon your faith. Then, Caleb happens last week, right? He talked about in John 15, Jesus said, listen, I’m the vine, you’re the branches. You gotta remain in me. You gotta abide in me. We gotta be together.
Now Caleb cut this next part off, okay? He was too busy with his tree, all right? But, just kidding, it was a phenomenal illustration. Because right after that, Jesus hits him with like, listen, you gotta remain in me, because listen, it’s gonna get tough, like the world’s gonna hate you the way it hates me. And they’re like, say what?
And then he comes back and says, but hey, listen, no big deal. They’re going to hate you. It’s going to be tough remaining in me. And he says in verse 26, but I will send you the advocate, the spirit of truth, and he will come to you from the father and will testify all about me. So he’s saying, Hey guys, this is going to be difficult. You’ve never done this before. You’re going have a lot of persecution opposition, but remain in me. I’ll remain in you. And I’m going to send the Holy spirit to guide and direct you to be with you, to be in you, to guide, direct the comfort and strength. I’m telling you these things because I don’t want you to abandon your faith.
To abandon means to cease to support or to look after, to desert. To completely give up because of discouragement, weariness, distaste or the lie. I’m telling you these things because I don’t want you to cease to support, to desert, to quit on your faith because you’re discouraged, weary, or have a distaste for it.
Ever felt like abandoning your faith? Yeah.
You know, it usually happens when you fail God again. And again. And again. I’m discouraged, God, I don’t think I’m cut out for this. It seems to work for other people, but it’s not working for me. I’m thinking about abandoning this faith because I just keep failing. Sometimes I think for some of us it happens when we think he fails us.
I’ve been asking for the same thing over and over and over, God, and you aren’t listening. You’re not responding. You’re not helping. You’re not healing. In fact, it seems like you’re leading me in the exact opposite direction. I feel abandoned by you. If I’m honest, God, so what I’m thinking about doing is abandoning my faith.
You know, don’t get the job, you don’t get the promotion, you get the divorce, you lose the child. Discouragement, wariness, distaste. Life is hard.
That’s why in this moment of great importance when Jesus is like, guys, I’ve only got a few moments left with you, right, before I head to the cross. You gotta get this down. I need to say these things because life is going to be really hard for you and for the millions and millions and millions of followers after you. And I want you to hear these things so you don’t abandon your faith.
I wanna say this, if you’re here right now and you say, Daron, I don’t know how you knew what I was going through when you just said what you said, but I have been thinking about quitting on my faith for a while now. Here’s what I want you to know. I thought about you and I prayed for you this week. And I believe that it is no accident, not even close to an accident that you happen to be finding yourself sitting in that chair this morning, hearing the words that are coming out of my mouth.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I believe that God orchestrated this whole situation to have you here today so that he could have you hear him say don’t abandon your faith. Don’t quit on yourself, don’t quit on him. And that you would hear this truth of what else we’re gonna read today of him saying, I don’t want you to quit because I’m with you. And I’m sending the advocate, I’m sending the Holy Spirit, sending my spirit to guide, direct, to comfort, to empower, to strengthen you. So you don’t abandon your faith.
We have to abide so we don’t abandon. We have to abide, we’ve been walking through this now for three weeks, to stay with him, to stay connected with him.
Jesus begins to teach this more in John chapter 16, we jump down to verse five now, but now I’m going away to the one who sent me and not one of you is asking me where I’m going. Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. But in fact, it is best for you that I go away because if I don’t, the advocate or the Holy Spirit won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. It’s best for you that I go away. Can you imagine how difficult that would have been to hear, you’re the disciples? You’ve been walking with Jesus, seeing him face to face, learning from him, being taught from him, watching the miracles, everything, and you’re beginning to believe, I think he’s actually the son of God. And he says, hey, this has been cooling off for three years, but it’s better for you if I leave.
Have you ever gotten to a place where you felt like you kind of understood a little bit of what God was saying and then God was saying, hey, cool, you got that. We’re going to take it up a level. And you’ve been like, no, no, no. This amount of growth was just fine with me. Thank you very much. I wasn’t really looking for like A plus Christianity. I was looking for more like a passing grade.
Jesus says, no, no, this is actually better. It’s better for you that I go, because if I go, I will send the Holy Spirit for you. And guys, here’s what I want you to know. It’s not just about you 12. What I wanna do is I’m actually restoring all things so that all humans have the opportunity to be brought in relationship with me, the living God, and then I can actually send my actual spirit to fill them, to guide them, to direct them, to encourage them. This is better for you, and it’s better for all of you men that they have access to my actual spirit. I’m telling you these things so you won’t ever feel alone and abandon your faith. Then Jesus keeps going in verse 12, I love this. He says, there’s so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. I love that he says this. And you could read this a couple different ways. If you feel like God’s usually disappointed in you, which some of you do,
You read it like this. There’s so much more I wanna tell you, but you’re so freaking stupid I can’t do it now. Let’s just shut it down, right? And that’s how some of you feel about how God feels about you. Like you are so dumb. I’ve been trying to teach you how to follow me for so long. There’s so much more I can teach you, but you’re such a nimrod. I can’t, right? Like just stop, we’re done. That’s not how Jesus speaks to you. If you feel like that’s how God speaks to you, it’s not God speaking to you.
I think what Jesus was saying, this is very encouraging to me because I’m not that bright. I think what Jesus was saying, guys, there’s so much more I want to teach you, okay? But you just can’t bear it right now. And what I love about this is I think what it tells me is that Jesus teaches us at the pace we can understand. Isn’t that good?
Some of us might learn faster than others. I love the fact that Jesus said, hey, you can’t understand it all right now, that’s okay. I’m gonna teach you at the pace that you can understand. And here’s the great news is I’m gonna now send the Holy Spirit, the advocate, the great teacher, the comforter, the guide who will guide you into all truths so that he can take you at the pace at which you can understand.
Verse 13, when the spirit of truth comes, when the Holy Spirit comes, He will guide you into all truth. It’s better that I go because I can send the Holy Spirit. You guys can’t understand everything now. You’re going to learn at the pace that you’re ready. So I’m going to send the Spirit. He’s going to guide you into all truth, right? He will not speak on His own, but will tell you what He has heard. Well, this is good. 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. This is why I said the Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me. The Holy Spirit teaches us at the pace we can understand. And he’s not just making stuff up. This is a beautiful image. Jesus is saying the Holy Spirit is going to teach you what he hears from me.
Isn’t this an amazing thought? That Jesus is alive today, right? And he actually wants to guide and direct, mentor, disciple you in your life. And he has sent his spirit to live within you. And the spirit only speaks to you and guides and directs you what he is hearing from Jesus himself. That’s an amazing reality that’s available to your life. Jesus only teaches us at the pace of our understanding, but here’s the thing that I thought about this week and I’ve experienced this and I don’t like this part, but I also think the Holy Spirit doesn’t teach me past my level of disobedience.
I wish the way that God discipled me, and I think it’s the way he disciples us, I wish it was like, he had like, you know, class 101 and 201 and like 301. And if you just kept bombing 301, he was just like, no worries, let’s just go to 401, 512. Like you just get back and it’s like, he’s just gonna keep bringing you breakthrough and new things, but you never learned this one.
What I have found in my life is that I tend to put myself in a really long feedback loop of learning the same things over and over again because I don’t actually learn them. Because I still won’t be completely obedient to the voice of God’s spirit within me to do what he’s asking me to do. How about you?
Jesus says the Holy Spirit, wants to tell you about the future. Why? Because he wants to take you there. Right? Jesus dealt with the sin, your sin in the past. He did that on the cross. Now what the Holy Spirit’s saying is, now I’m going to actually invite you as my sons and daughters. We’re going to come together. I’m going to send my spirit within you and I’m going to begin to tell you about the future. I’m going to begin to actually open your minds. This is a movement of visionaries and dreamers. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to be able to join together to see my kingdom come and my will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so I want to show you and lead you into the future and we’ll progress there at the pace of your obedience to my voice.
But what happens in that is that God is coming to some of you and he’s saying this, and you hear it through songs, and you hear it in the word of God as you’re reading, and you hear it in conversations, and it seems like everything around your life keeps conspiring with this message. You need to forgive them.
And you sense that and you read it and you see it in a movie and you hear it in a song and all this keeps coming and every time you sense in your spirit that God might be saying you need to forgive them something within you goes No. If I forgive them, they’ll let go of this and I can’t do this. And what happens is that is the Holy Spirit is like Jesus saying, I’m trying to take you into your future and you’re going, I will not listen. And so you stay chained in your past.
Hey, I want you to grow and understanding how to manage your finances and do it the way that the word tells you and use that. No, I’m going to do it my way. Okay, well, you’re still here. I mean, I just sense like maybe the Lord’s telling me that man, every time I look at my life, I keep kind of setting it on fire. It’s when I’m drunk and the word says don’t get drunk on wine and leads to debauchery. And I keep having these conversations and then I keep setting my life on fire. I don’t know what the Lord’s saying to me. I bet he’s saying, stop drinking.
I don’t want to do that. Okay, well, then just stay in the same feedback loop of you not moving into your future.
I just keep getting these bad relationships. People just take advantage of me and they won’t, then this seems like God’s not moving in my life. And then you sense that God just keeps sending women into your life to mentor you and guide and direct and to tell you your worth and your value. And you keep not moving towards those people. And the Holy Spirit’s saying, I’m trying to take you into the future, but I can’t lead you past your level of disobedience. You see, what’s interesting is in the Old Testament,
is God was trying to lead the Israelites into the future, into their promised land, correct? Do you know how long the Israelites walked around the desert before they got to the promised land? Anybody remember? 40 years. God said, here’s the future. I’m taking you into the future. This is the promised land. You know how long it would have actually taken them to walk to the promised land? How many days it should have taken them? Anybody know?
Eleven.
God said, I’m leading you into the promised land. It’s about 11 days of a journey over there. Just keep obeying what I tell you to do. Oh, cool. It’s hot and I want some water. When we were slaves, we had better food. And hey, let’s put a golden calf and bow down to it. And for 40 years, they took an 11 day journey and wasted 40 years of their lives.
How many more years are you going to waste of this one singular, precious, divinely crafted life God has given you?
Gosh, I hope Ken preaches next week. I hate this guy.
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the wilderness for your ancient ancestors tested and tried me for 40 years. They saw what I did. This is why I was angry with that generation. I said their hearts are always going astray. They have not known my way, so I declared an oath. They will never enter my rest. So see to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God, but encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today. Today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.
So, I get it, and this is what Jesus is saying, wants to tell me about the future, wants to tell me whatever Holy Spirit receives from me, but I don’t know how to hear the voice of God. I hear that a lot. I think you do know how to hear the voice of God. I think you make it too complicated. I think we all do. Word of God tells us that even creation, right, is the heavens proclaim the glory of God, the skies display his craftsmanship, day after day they continue to speak, night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word their voice has never heard.
God said, nature is speaking out to me. And that’s why Jesus used a lot of nature illustrations when he taught. Like when he said, hey guys, let’s not be overrun with like greed and envy and anxiety and worry because I’m gonna take care of you. So like, look at the grass and the lilies, the wildflowers and the sparrows. Do you see how they don’t worry or envy or, and I take care of them.
And don’t you know you’re way more valuable than them? And so you want to know how you can, one way you can hear God’s voice is that you know that Jesus has said that and you believe that. And then as you pay attention and you seek God, speak to me today through the Holy Spirit. And you’re driving and you see a bird flying and you see the beauty of nature and you think back of what has God already said? God said that he cares for me more than he does those wildflowers.
And I’m really, really stressed out about my finances. But today, God, you know what you’re saying to me through those flowers? You’re saying, I see you and I will care for you.
I think it’s funny is a lot of people tell me I’ve never heard the voice of God and neither have I. I’ve never heard the audible voice of God. I don’t think I probably ever will. But I do know how to hear and sense the still small voice of the Holy Spirit guiding and directing me to let me know I’m never alone and he’s never going to abandon me and he can guide and direct me. And I have learned that and I’ve grown in that and so can you. And I love this fact that Jesus says he’s just gonna tell you
what he hears from me. And when I read this this week, I thought immediately of eighth grade football, as you would, as you would coach. Great football this year was great. Things my last year ever coaching anything really sad about that actually 15 years to think it is coaching my kids. If you got kids, they’re brand new, you just get in the mix. Uh, I suggest you try to coach as much as you can. Unless you’re a jerk, then don’t need to coach. If you’re not sure if you are just ask people, Hey, am I a jerk? Just kidding. They won’t tell you the truth anyway.
I love coaching. I love pouring into kids lives. This year I got to coach eighth grade. Uh, we should have won a lot more games. We didn’t know the story. Uh, my favorite part about coaching though is parents who, uh, don’t volunteer, you know, 10 hours a week of their life, uh, to be a part of it. Uh, and then tell you how stupid you are and how you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s my favorite part of it, honestly. Uh, you know, because what’s great is everyone else is a genius when they’re not coaching, which is wonderful. Right. And,
We have some of the most amazing kids I got to coach. I mean, I love them to death. And here’s what I wish I had. Because what you don’t know if you don’t coach football is that you can’t really see on the sideline. It’s the worst place to be. And football plays last like two and a half, three seconds. So what happens is you’re supposed, I coach the safeties in the cornerbacks, right? So I’m supposed to be watching them to see if they’re doing what I told them to do. But my kid plays linebacker. So of course I want to watch what my kids do. I’m like, did he make the tackle? And then I’m like, oh freak, I’m supposed to watch the safeties. I don’t know what they did. Did they do the right thing? I don’t know. Where’s the ball at?
And then like somebody’s like, Hey, did you see that the tackle’s are crashing in? I was like, no, I didn’t see any of that. It happened so quick and I’m not that bright. I don’t know. Okay. Here’s what I wish. I wish like they like in high school and college of pros, they have somebody way above the scrum, way above the chaos, right? And they can see what’s happening. And then they radio down to the person on the sideline. They say, Hey, I know that all happened too quick and you don’t have the perspective to see. So I’m just going to tell you what you need to know so that you can tell the players what they need to know. And a great coach, he just says what the people from on high tell him to say to the team that can’t see what they need to do. And Jesus says just like that. Holy Spirit’s kind of like the offensive coordinator, right? Up in the press box.
Actually, Jesus would be the offensive coordinator, Holy Spirit’s on the sidelines. He’s hearing from Jesus and he’s just telling you, hey, here’s what you need to do. I’m gonna lead you into the future.
I didn’t have that in eighth grade football, but I’m really, really glad I have it in my actual life. And so do you.
Jesus keeps teaching, so good. Some of the disciples ask each other, what does he mean when he says in a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me and I’m going to the father and what does he mean in a little while? We don’t understand. This makes me real happy that they kept this in the Bible. You wanna know why? Because it’s okay if you don’t totally understand yet what God’s doing in your life.
The disciples are with Jesus. He’s teaching them face to face. And they go, uh, yeah, we’re not really sure we get what you’re saying. Not sure how to really apply this yet. And there’s one I’m gonna encourage you with. I taught this to my eighth grade football players this year as well. Amazing power, the word yet.
Coach, I’m the worst, can’t tackle good. Coach, I’m not fast at all, I’m not fast, I’m not a good player. They have all these things they would say negative about themselves. And what we tried to do this year was help them understand the power of yet and the power of disbelieving the lies that you hear in your head. You see, I heard somebody say once that a lie is a limiting idea entertained, L-I-E, limiting idea entertained and The devil loves to throw these lies into your brain. You can’t listen to God You don’t know how to hear the voice of God. You can’t obey him You can’t forgive them You can’t you can’t you can’t and you begin to entertain that over and over again Then you begin to believe the lie, but watch this I can’t forgive them yet. I Can’t hear the voice of God like they do yet
I don’t always obey the first time that God asked me to do something yet. You see, you know what you do when you embrace the power of yet, you embrace the power of hope. I’m growing and learning and what God is teaching me.
Jesus understands that. And he teaches him some more stuff. And then verse 24, I love he hits him with this sentence. He says, I tell you the truth, you will ask the father directly and he will grant you requests because you used my name. And then verse 24, he says this, you haven’t done this before. How good is that?
Hey guys, I get it. You’ve never done this before. This is tough stuff. You’re not gonna get it yet. And here’s the good news. You’re not gonna abandon your faith because I’m telling you these things because I’m gonna send the Holy Spirit. He’s gonna guide and direct and teach and instruct you into the future.
And Jesus ends this, talks to him a little bit more. I love it. I didn’t get any of this in the first service because I talked too long. And I’m already two minutes over, but I’m just gonna take your time. I want to teach this last part.
Jesus teaches him, says, you know, I’m gonna talk to you more clearly, whatever, and then he says some different things to him, and it’s kind of funny because then the disciples are like, now we understand that you know everything, there’s no need to question you from this point, we believe that you came from God. It’s kind of funny if I read the whole thing, like Jesus kind of says the same thing, the same way, it’s not that more clarifying, but all of a sudden the disciples are like, we get it now, we got it, Jesus, right on.
And then I love in verse 31, Jesus says, Jesus says, do you finally believe? And I wish we could be in this moment with Jesus. Because I guarantee you, like he says, here’s what’s gonna happen, kind of clarifies, and then you could tell they’re all fired up, like yeah, now we know you are from God and going back and we understand everything. And Jesus, I’m sure, just like with a little bit of a side eye and a smirk was like, do you finally believe?
And then I think he paused for a good minute and just looked at him and thought, man, I’m so glad I’ve said these things to them so they don’t abandon their faith. I’m so glad I’m sending the Holy Spirit because, the time is coming. Indeed, it’s here now when you will be scattered each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. You guys believe?
That’s good. Well, the time is here, Peter, when literally in probably about a half hour, you’re going to cut off a dude’s ear. Okay. And then Mark’s actually going to be so scared. He’s going to run away naked. Then about few hours after that, Peter, you’re going to deny even knowing me three different times. You all are going to completely bail on me and leave me completely abandoned and alone. So you guys are just really killing it. Well done, fellas.
But Jesus says, listen, here’s the deal. You guys are gonna abandon me. You guys are not going to be faithful. But I’m never alone because the father is with me. And it’s good that I go away because I’m going to send the Holy Spirit so that you can experience the same thing. Then no matter what, when someone betrays you, abandons you, fails you, you fail yourself, you’ll know this, that you’ll never be alone because the Holy Spirit is now with you.
Stand with me and we’ll close now.
Jesus finished and he says, I’ve told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart because I have overcome the world. Basically, I think if we could summarize everything Jesus said to the disciples in John 14, 15 and 16, it’s this, the Christian life is impossible without the Holy Spirit.
This life in Christ is impossible without the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus, he went to the cross, he came back from the dead. It says he lived for 40 more days teaching to the disciples. And then he told them very, very clearly, said, listen guys, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends the Spirit, right? Don’t leave. You gotta stay here until you get the Spirit, because you cannot do this without the Spirit.
And if you keep reading in Acts two, what happens is they’re gathered together praying. And then on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes into the room and he descends, blows in like a gale force wind, a 50, 60 mile per hour winds blow in and the room that they’re praying in and these tongues of fire come and descend upon them. And they are filled with the Holy Spirit. And from that point on, these disciples that were scared, that were confused, they went on and lived in power and in strength and in healing power. They launched a movement that led all the way to you and me today.
And that’s what we’re invited into. But we have to seek Him. We have to be open for what the Spirit might do in our lives.
What does it look like for you to seek the Spirit? Do you walk through every day thinking to yourself, this is impossible without God’s Spirit in my life?
Do you wake up and you stand and go, you know what? There’s the Holy Spirit that’s within me and he is hearing things that Jesus wants me to know. And so I need to find time. I need to get, I need to slow down. I need to get still. I need to find some silence. I need to find some solitude, whatever it looks like, whether it’s a walk, whether it’s in the gym, whether it’s whatever is, I have to make some time because this is impossible for me to do without me learning to connect to the Holy Spirit. And even though I’m not very good at it, yet he is going to guide and direct me at the pace of my obedience so that I will not abandon my faith.
God, I pray for every single one of us. This is not easy stuff. And it’s impossible without you, Holy Spirit. So God, I thank you. Jesus, I thank you that you’ve designed it this way, that now we, every one of us has access to the Holy Spirit when we’re coming to a relationship with you. By believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.
We receive your righteousness, receive your forgiveness and your Holy Spirit comes to guide and direct me. Thank you for that. And I pray for every single one of us so we can step into that relationship and those of us that have remember these things that you have said so we will not abandon our faith when we face trials and struggles of many kind because you have overcome you have overcome this world and you have given us your spirit to teach to guide to comfort to empower
So God, I’m afraid you would encourage us, that you would strengthen us. that you would give us hope and vision for the future you’re guiding us into, that you would help us to embrace humility and obedience to say yes to how you’re guiding and directing us.
Holy Spirit, we thank you for who you are, guide, direct, us today. Jesus.