Darren Tappouras – The Power of His Presence – Class 3

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As an introduction to his talk,
we’re going to take a reading

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from John chapter 14 and we’re
going to read the 1st 23 verses.

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John 14.
Let not your heart be troubled.

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You believe in God, believe also
in me, in my father’s house and

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many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have

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told you, I go to prepare a
place for you.

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And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and

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receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there ye may be

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also, And whither I go, ye know,
and the way ye know.

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Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we
know not whither thou goest?

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And how can we know the way?
Jesus said unto him, I am the

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way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father

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but by me.
If he had known me, you should

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have known my Father also.
And from henceforth you know

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him, and have seen him.
Philip saith unto him, Lord,

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show us the Father, and it
suffice us.

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Jesus saith unto him, Have I
been so long time with you?

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And yet hast thou not known me,
Philip, he that hath seen me,

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hath seen the Father.
And how sayest thou then?

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Show us the Father.
Believest thou are not that I am

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in the Father, and the Father In
me?

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The words that I speak unto you,
I speak not of myself, but the

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Father that dwelleth in me, He
doeth the works.

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Believe me that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me, or

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else believe me, for the very
work’s sake.

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Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me, the

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works that I shall do, he do
also, and greater works than

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these shall he do, Because I go
unto my Father, And whosoever ye

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shall ask in my name, whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name that

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will I do.
And the Father may be glorified

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in the Son.
If you shall ask anything in my

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name, I will do it.
If you love me, keep my

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commandments, and I will pray
the Father, and he shall give

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you another comforter, that he
may abide with you forever.

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Even the Spirit of Truth, whom
the world cannot receive because

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it saith him not, neither
knoweth him but ye know him, for

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he dwelleth with you, and shall
be in you.

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I will not leave you
comfortless.

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I will come to you yet a little
while, and the world seeth me no

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more.
But ye see me because I live, ye

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shall live also at that day you
shall know that I am in my

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father, and ye in me and I in
you.

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He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, he it is that

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loveth me.
And he that loveth me shall be

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loved of my father, and I will
love him, and I will manifest

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myself in him.
Judas saith unto him, not

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Iscarius, Lord, how is it that
thou will manifest thyself unto

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us, and not unto the world?
Jesus answered and said unto

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him, If a man love me, and he
will keep my words, and my

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Father will love him, and we
will be.

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And we will come unto.
Him and make our abode with him.

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Thanks, brother Darren.
Excellent thanks, brother

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Jeremy.
And good evening once again, my

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dear brothers and sisters, and
the Lord Jesus Christ and dear

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young people.
We are, of course, continuing

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our consideration of the
presence of God, and in a

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previous class we.
Define the presence of God and

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compare it to the English word
close or closeness.

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And we talked about the fact
that you can be close to

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somebody in two different
dimensions.

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You can be spatially close to
somebody in the proxim, in

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someone’s proximity, in their
face, as a, as a as a term that

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is sometimes used.
And you can also be close to

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someone in the sense of a
relationship that you are.

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You have a close friendship or
or or a close relationship in a

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a relational sense.
And so exactly as how as the

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English word has those two
dimensions to it, so does the

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idea of God’s presence.
And throughout Scripture, I

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might just play with the screen
because I’m not getting what

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you’re getting up there, so I
might just have to.

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OK, throughout scripture those
two dimensions are are

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emphasised.
So the idea of the proximity,

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closeness to God is spoken of in
terms of God dwelling with us,

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God never leaving us, God never
forsaking us.

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God being with us in our lives,
us in Him and and Him in us in,

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in those sorts of words that we
saw particularly read in our

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reading tonight.
And also the other idea of,

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sorry, just recreating this, the
relationship aspect of Presence

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was considered last, I think our
last class we looked at the New

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Covenant and how we are in a
relationship with God in that

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way.
So this chart, hopefully we’ve

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all got the same thing on the
screen that I’m looking at now

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is our road map, I suppose for
our our thoughts as we move our

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way through this session.
The presence of God seen.

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Relationally, as we’ve looked at
already, now, we’re going to

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look at it in a spatial
perspective, and those two

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dimensions leading to the temple
concept that we are the temple

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of God, which we’re not going to
get to in our series here, but

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maybe another time we can follow
that through.

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So we’re going to look tonight,
particularly at the proximity

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dimension, if you like, of God’s
presence.

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And of course, this will involve
the idea of God’s Spirit now

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before we.
We go into this subject, we’re

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just going to lay out a few
assumptions, things that we of

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course don’t believe about the
Spirit and we don’t have to come

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back to them and qualify
ourselves all the way through.

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Of course we don’t believe that
the Holy Spirit gifts are

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available to believers today as
they were in the 1st century to

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the the Apostles and those that
received the gifts from them.

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We do not also believe the Holy
Spirit is the third person of

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the Trinity.
Nor do we believe there is some

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sort of Holy Spirit indwelling
that guides us and gives us

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direction and answers that
question and makes decisions for

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us in our life.
So let’s put a pin in those

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things.
They’re stated as as things we

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do not believe.
We want to focus more on things

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we do believe and look at what
scripture tells us about that.

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So we have considered.
This is driving me nuts.

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I don’t know why this is
happening, but I’m getting all

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my screen fully revealed and at
once here so we’ll try and work

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our way through it.
I have to keep turning around.

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The presence of God was lost of
course, and access to the

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presence of God was lost right
back in early the early chapters

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of Genesis.
So right back when scene entered

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the scene, because of the shame
felt by Adam and Eve, they hid

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themselves from the presence of
God and.

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Subsequent to that, they were
then banished, as it were, from

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the place of God’s presence,
from the garden itself.

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Then, as we continue further
through the book of Genesis, the

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situation even deteriorates.
More than that, and we come to

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Chapter 6 of Genesis, the famous
chapter that leads us into the

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the flood story.
And God is is of course, very

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upset with the the state, the
moral state of the world, and

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He.
Makes the observation of man’s

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hearts evil continually and
he’ll restate that after the

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flood of as well.
And there’s this statement made

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in Genesis 6 verse three that
God says my spirit will not

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always and the authorized
version has strive with man that

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that word is probably
translating just about every

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other translation of the Bible
as to dwell or abide.

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And so God is saying, I’m not
going to dwell, I’m not going to

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abide with man.
Not only was this relationship

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fractured in Eden, but even now
there’s a further gulf between

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God and man.
And so Genesis 6 verse three

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says that the Lord said my
spirit shall not abide in man

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forever for his flesh.
And there was a a a related

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consequence of that if you like
in in in man’s age was there

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defined as 120 years and so.
This relationship breakdown

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leads us to where we are today.
And so part of the gospel

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message is is re binding that
relationship that has fallen

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away and we want to sort of
think about that tonight and

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think about that as a major
component of the gospel.

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We often think of the gospel in
terms of the message about Jesus

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Christ, of course, which it is,
and and salvation through him

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and.
Forgiveness of sins through him,

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etcetera and the coming Kingdom.
But repairing that relationship

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is a big and a fundamental part
of the gospel message itself.

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Just to also start our thinking
tonight, I want us to maybe

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recalibrate the way we think
about God and we’re tonight

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focusing on the spatial
connection with God and wants to

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maybe rethink the idea that.
God is in some sense billions of

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light years away outside our
universe, which is apparently 12

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1/2 billion light years.
Travelling at the speed of light

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will take you 12 1/2 billion
years to reach the known edges

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of our universe, and God is
outside of that.

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And so we think in terms of our
prayers and our connection to

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God and this huge spatial
separation between US and God,

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and we think of God in terms of
Him in heaven.

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Having some sort of incredible
vision, some sort of incredible

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perception that he’s able to
look down on us and hear our

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words and see what we’re doing
in that sense.

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And there’s a little song we
sing in the Philippines with the

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kids that goes be careful,
little hands what you do because

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the father up above is looking
down in love.

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So there’s this idea that God’s
way way up there and he’s

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looking at you and he’s
observing what you’re doing.

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And he can also pick up through
his power what you’re saying and

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even thinking.
What we’re going to present

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tonight is it’s a little bit
more sophisticated than that.

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However, the dimensions in which
God is in and and God operates

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and how he interacts with our
dimension in time and space, we

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do not understand.
We’re not even pretending to

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understand.
But God is not billions of light

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years away and and picking us up
through some sort of mechanism.

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God is here with us, and that’s
that’s what Scripture presents.

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Is not very far from every one
of us.

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And that is a a, for me, a bit
of a recalibration as to how we

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interact with God.
We’re not sending up packets of

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of prayer to him as if it’s like
some information highway that

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we’re sending to him.
We are in His presence.

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He is here literally, and we’re
in in and in some way we are.

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We are in His presence and
interacting with him now.

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He’s one of the most famous
preaching campaigns.

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Ever undertaken in Acts 17.
It’s poor preaching to Oh dear,

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OK is that OK?
Because it’s like I’ll just send

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someone up.
No worry thank you.

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Paul’s Paul’s of course he’s
preaching to non Jewish people.

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He’s preaching to Pagans and
particularly philosophers in

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Athens.
They have no Old Testament

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background.
He’s not appealing to messianic

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prophecies and and trying to
show that Jesus is a Messiah,

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he’s introducing the unknown God
to them from scratch.

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Now, the pattern of his
presentation initially would

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reflect what I would give, I
suppose at a seminar or a

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lecture at my own ecclesia.
So he starts off saying God made

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the world, this unknown God that
you don’t really know about.

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He made the world, He made
everything in it, and in fact he

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made you, He made humans.
Should that work now?

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We’re still in play.
Let’s give it a go.

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I just.
It’s just the same stuff.

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Oh, yeah, That’s better.
That works better than what you

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had.
Yep.

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No, that’s good.
Thank you.

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Sorry about that.
Does that work too?

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Yep.
That that’s good.

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That’s good.
So now.

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OK, Brilliant.
Brilliant.

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So he gets to the point he’s
he’s gone through this seminar

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presentation, if you like, and
he’s introduced God, this

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creator of heaven and earth.
And he’s made man, he’s giving

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him certain limits and and
boundaries in his habitation.

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And then he said then he gives
the reason for it.

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He says this is the reason God’s
created this planet and he’s

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created the humans who inhabit
it.

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He says that’s that this is this
is the reason.

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So remember he’s preaching to
non biblical people giving them

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a reason for this unknown God.
He says that.

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Man should seek God.
That’s at the very heart of what

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00:14:17,840 –> 00:14:22,240
God’s trying to achieve here.
And he says perhaps feel their

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way towards him, and that that
would feel it.

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00:14:25,840 –> 00:14:30,320
It’s a word that some
commentators say describes a

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00:14:30,320 –> 00:14:34,480
blind person feeling their way,
feeling structure as they try

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and find their way.
Through a building or through a

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00:14:37,120 –> 00:14:39,360
through a city, they’re looking
for structure and they they

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00:14:39,480 –> 00:14:41,360
they’re touching it to find
their way.

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They’re groping in that sense,
they’re verifying with their

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touch.
And he says, God made us all

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00:14:48,160 –> 00:14:51,720
made the world that we might
reach out for him and and touch

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00:14:51,720 –> 00:14:55,560
him and not just feel our way
towards him, but he says, and

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find him and find him.
That’s that’s the point.

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00:14:59,440 –> 00:15:01,680
And then he goes on to say,
well, we’re talking about the

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spatial connection of to God, he
says, in fact.

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Actually, he’s not very far from
each of us, for in him we live

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and move and have our very
existence, and we are in fact

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his children.
So you can see Paul is

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highlighting this, this feature
of the gospel and the feature of

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God’s objective in reaching out
to humans that they might feel

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their way back to him.
And it’s repairing, of course,

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what was lost back in.
Back in Genesis isn’t it?

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00:15:34,440 –> 00:15:38,440
And and repairing that gulf
again Ephesians 4 is probably a

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00:15:38,440 –> 00:15:43,200
well known verse says there’s
one God and Father of all and

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00:15:43,200 –> 00:15:45,800
that theme runs through
Ephesians of fatherhood of God.

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00:15:46,080 –> 00:15:49,360
Again we saw that was a new
covenant concept that God is a

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father and has an intimate
connection to us.

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00:15:51,680 –> 00:15:55,120
The relational presence of God.
He’s our father, the Father of

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00:15:55,120 –> 00:15:58,400
all who is above all, through
all and in new all.

247
00:15:58,800 –> 00:16:02,640
And so there’s this spatial.
Terminology used to describe God

248
00:16:02,640 –> 00:16:07,720
in relationship to his creation.
However, that works in physics

249
00:16:07,720 –> 00:16:11,840
or metaphysics we don’t really
know, but we are told by the

250
00:16:11,840 –> 00:16:14,880
inspired word that God is not
far from every one of us and

251
00:16:14,880 –> 00:16:23,440
he’s in all and through all the
the the the relationship between

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00:16:23,440 –> 00:16:28,680
the Spirit and God has has been
hard to explain, and I’m in

253
00:16:28,680 –> 00:16:31,440
Sunday school.
I think instructor uses the

254
00:16:31,600 –> 00:16:35,640
analogy of the sun and it’s
rays, the light or the heat that

255
00:16:35,640 –> 00:16:37,880
comes from the sun, which is not
a bad analogy.

256
00:16:37,880 –> 00:16:42,040
However, there is a sense that
the light or the photons if you

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00:16:42,040 –> 00:16:45,880
like, of light that come from
the source from the sun, they

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00:16:45,880 –> 00:16:47,840
are not actually the sun are
they?

259
00:16:47,840 –> 00:16:50,760
They are something that proceed
and they are disconnected from

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00:16:50,760 –> 00:16:54,280
the sun as they move.
It apparently takes 8 1/2

261
00:16:54,280 –> 00:16:57,440
minutes for a photon of light to
reach our planet.

262
00:16:58,080 –> 00:17:01,200
And they can be blocked with a
cloud or or a mountain or

263
00:17:01,200 –> 00:17:03,400
something can stand in their way
and block them and cast a

264
00:17:03,400 –> 00:17:08,040
shadow.
So it’s not analogous to a level

265
00:17:08,040 –> 00:17:10,680
that that really explains the
connection between God and his

266
00:17:10,680 –> 00:17:14,560
spirit in in my opinion.
Anyway, I came across another

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00:17:17,359 –> 00:17:20,599
analogy if you like, or another
comparison made in this booklet

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00:17:20,599 –> 00:17:22,480
called the Declaration, which
probably the older.

269
00:17:23,160 –> 00:17:25,800
The other guys here might
remember, and it’s published by

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00:17:25,800 –> 00:17:29,000
Robert Roberts and it again,
he’s trying to describe what the

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Spirit is in relationship to
God.

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00:17:32,160 –> 00:17:36,560
And to cut a Long story short,
the the clause here that talks

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00:17:36,560 –> 00:17:39,120
about the Spirit says the
distinction between the Father

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00:17:39,120 –> 00:17:41,880
and the Spirit is not that
they’re two people, as the

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00:17:41,880 –> 00:17:46,080
Trinitarians believe, he says.
The former, which is God, is in

276
00:17:46,080 –> 00:17:50,880
this description is spirit in
focus, so intense as to be

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00:17:50,880 –> 00:17:54,800
substance.
OK, so when we think of God, he

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00:17:54,800 –> 00:17:57,160
is spirit.
And remember Jesus says in John

279
00:17:57,160 –> 00:18:01,200
424 God is spirit.
The art is not in the original,

280
00:18:01,360 –> 00:18:03,240
it’s an italic.
So God is spirit.

281
00:18:03,240 –> 00:18:08,240
But Robert Roberts is saying he
in the substance in the person

282
00:18:08,240 –> 00:18:11,800
of God that his spirit
concentrated so intense as to be

283
00:18:11,800 –> 00:18:15,840
substance.
And the latter he says is spirit

284
00:18:15,840 –> 00:18:18,120
in diffusion.
So it’s not in it’s not

285
00:18:18,120 –> 00:18:20,440
substance and it’s continually
outflowing it’s.

286
00:18:20,720 –> 00:18:23,120
It’s continually connected to to
the source.

287
00:18:23,120 –> 00:18:26,440
It’s not, it’s not like a photon
of light that that that is

288
00:18:26,440 –> 00:18:28,080
removed from the source and
continues on.

289
00:18:28,080 –> 00:18:31,120
And he says it forms a unity.
And he might think, why are we

290
00:18:31,120 –> 00:18:34,680
getting into all this language
and getting bogged down in this

291
00:18:35,400 –> 00:18:38,280
terminology?
I’m trying to get us to think

292
00:18:38,280 –> 00:18:41,880
about the Spirit not as
something separate from God, but

293
00:18:41,880 –> 00:18:45,880
actually God himself.
And so when we read about the

294
00:18:45,880 –> 00:18:48,400
spirit doing something, it’s
actually God.

295
00:18:48,400 –> 00:18:50,760
It’s not some other entity or
some other power.

296
00:18:51,120 –> 00:18:53,240
When the spirit reveals
something to somebody, it’s

297
00:18:53,240 –> 00:18:55,120
actually God.
When the spirit inspires

298
00:18:55,120 –> 00:18:59,040
someone, it’s God himself.
And so, to use this analogy of

299
00:18:59,040 –> 00:19:04,800
Robert Roberts, you have God in
heaven, if you like, described a

300
00:19:04,800 –> 00:19:08,600
spirit in focus, so intense to
be substance, and proceeding

301
00:19:08,600 –> 00:19:10,320
from him his spirit in
diffusion.

302
00:19:10,320 –> 00:19:13,680
Which is a nice way to think of
it, but both ends of that.

303
00:19:14,400 –> 00:19:16,880
Of that spectrum, if you like,
are God.

304
00:19:18,120 –> 00:19:22,000
The substance of God in heaven
is God, but so is the Spirit.

305
00:19:22,800 –> 00:19:26,760
When God is here in our midst,
when God does things in our life

306
00:19:26,760 –> 00:19:29,280
or in in the world, it is God
doing that.

307
00:19:29,280 –> 00:19:30,600
It is.
It is God.

308
00:19:31,400 –> 00:19:35,360
And so it’s just just a little
bit of sort of for me, a little

309
00:19:35,360 –> 00:19:40,720
bit of calibration for us to
think about that reality that

310
00:19:40,720 –> 00:19:44,080
God is Spirit.
And together himself, a

311
00:19:44,120 –> 00:19:48,520
substance and his spirit that
proceeds from him are one and

312
00:19:48,520 –> 00:19:52,960
and it is God himself.
As we move our way through the

313
00:19:52,960 –> 00:19:56,280
Bible, we get some definitions
of spirit in connection to

314
00:19:56,280 –> 00:19:58,640
presence and it starts to tell a
story.

315
00:19:59,040 –> 00:20:01,280
So we have in this very famous
Psalm when it comes to the

316
00:20:01,280 –> 00:20:03,840
presence of God.
This is probably one of the most

317
00:20:03,840 –> 00:20:06,160
famous passages.
It’s the Psalm that talks about

318
00:20:06,160 –> 00:20:07,520
where can I go from your
presence?

319
00:20:07,920 –> 00:20:10,640
And and it gives all these
hypothetical options.

320
00:20:10,640 –> 00:20:13,720
Can I go?
Down to the sea can I go up into

321
00:20:13,720 –> 00:20:15,360
heaven?
Can I go to the east, the West?

322
00:20:15,360 –> 00:20:19,760
And God is there everywhere.
And it uses a Hebrew parallelism

323
00:20:19,880 –> 00:20:23,520
in in that Psalm that helps us
get a a handle on what’s

324
00:20:23,520 –> 00:20:25,960
happening here.
So the right of the Psalm says

325
00:20:25,960 –> 00:20:30,760
where can I go from your spirit
or where can I flee from your

326
00:20:30,760 –> 00:20:34,480
presence?
And in this parallelism we have

327
00:20:35,240 –> 00:20:37,640
a synonym, don’t we?
We have spirit being synonymous

328
00:20:37,640 –> 00:20:41,480
with the presence of God.
So we God’s spirit is active or

329
00:20:44,000 –> 00:20:48,280
there in spatial terms, God is
there, it is God.

330
00:20:48,280 –> 00:20:51,080
It is God’s presence that is
there with us.

331
00:20:52,440 –> 00:20:55,320
Another Psalm, Psalm 51.
Before I comment on this Psalm,

332
00:20:56,280 –> 00:20:59,360
when we move into the New
Testament, the terminology is

333
00:20:59,360 –> 00:21:03,280
going to change dramatically.
In the Old Testament, it’s

334
00:21:03,280 –> 00:21:06,640
spirit and there’s only two
occasions in the entire Old

335
00:21:06,640 –> 00:21:09,000
Testament where we have the term
Holy Spirit.

336
00:21:09,840 –> 00:21:12,880
It’s not until we get to the New
Testament when Holy Spirit

337
00:21:12,880 –> 00:21:15,720
becomes so prevalent in the in
the in the text.

338
00:21:16,800 –> 00:21:19,400
So we’ll look quickly at these
two places in the Old Testament

339
00:21:19,800 –> 00:21:22,320
and again, we’re getting this
new covenant emphasis, aren’t

340
00:21:22,320 –> 00:21:24,600
we?
Something that was there in

341
00:21:24,600 –> 00:21:29,240
shadow in prophetic terminology,
pointing forward to something

342
00:21:29,240 –> 00:21:33,240
else, describing the Holy Spirit
of God does not become actual

343
00:21:33,240 –> 00:21:37,160
and realized until we get to the
New covenant and things then

344
00:21:37,880 –> 00:21:41,040
dramatically change.
So here’s the famous reference.

345
00:21:41,040 –> 00:21:44,520
I’m sure all of you would
remember this in Psalm 51,

346
00:21:44,880 –> 00:21:48,640
David, saying do not cast me
away from your presence

347
00:21:49,280 –> 00:21:53,440
paralleled with and do not take
your Holy Spirit from me.

348
00:21:53,440 –> 00:21:57,880
It’s the first time in the Bible
Holy Spirit is used in this, in

349
00:21:57,880 –> 00:22:00,880
this Psalm.
So we’ve got the the synonym

350
00:22:00,880 –> 00:22:04,360
emphasized there, the concept of
God’s presence and his spirit,

351
00:22:04,360 –> 00:22:07,600
but not just his spirit.
Now we’ve sort of taken it up a

352
00:22:07,600 –> 00:22:10,800
notch to something called the
Holy Spirit as we move our way

353
00:22:11,200 –> 00:22:16,160
through the story.
Just a couple of quotations as

354
00:22:16,160 –> 00:22:18,760
we go through tonight.
And I’ve recommended this book

355
00:22:18,760 –> 00:22:21,320
before, Brother Alfred Nichols
on the Spirit.

356
00:22:21,880 –> 00:22:26,080
And he says there, and this is
very helpful, what he said in

357
00:22:26,080 –> 00:22:29,280
Scripture of the Spirit, in the
in the natural life, like we

358
00:22:29,280 –> 00:22:31,440
know about the Spirit of God
holds everything together.

359
00:22:31,720 –> 00:22:35,360
If God was to withdraw his
spirit or flesh would perish.

360
00:22:35,360 –> 00:22:38,200
The Spirit maintains the
universe, if you like.

361
00:22:38,360 –> 00:22:42,480
What he said of the Spirit in
the natural life, however, can

362
00:22:42,480 –> 00:22:46,360
be said of the Holy Spirit in
the spiritual life.

363
00:22:47,000 –> 00:22:49,640
For it is the very breath of the
spiritual life.

364
00:22:50,600 –> 00:22:54,080
It quickens.
It is the presence of God.

365
00:22:54,960 –> 00:22:57,840
It is his personality, his very
self.

366
00:22:58,600 –> 00:23:03,120
So here we’ve got some
interesting terms to try and

367
00:23:03,560 –> 00:23:07,040
pass out, I suppose.
I mean pass out, I mean pass out

368
00:23:07,200 –> 00:23:11,520
trying to divide.
We’re trying to work out this

369
00:23:11,520 –> 00:23:15,760
idea of God’s Spirit, and we
might align that with a term we

370
00:23:15,760 –> 00:23:19,080
we sometimes use of God’s
omnipresence, if you like, with

371
00:23:19,080 –> 00:23:22,320
the Holy Spirit and God’s
presence, his relational

372
00:23:22,320 –> 00:23:27,000
presence with his people.
And to try and try and explain

373
00:23:27,000 –> 00:23:29,000
that in some way, I’ve put
together this little diagram.

374
00:23:30,400 –> 00:23:35,280
Of course God’s God’s spirit, if
you like, fills heaven and earth

375
00:23:35,320 –> 00:23:37,480
and God is aware of every little
thing that happens.

376
00:23:37,480 –> 00:23:42,440
He’s aware of a Sparrow that
falls and dies in some

377
00:23:42,920 –> 00:23:46,520
marketplace in the Middle East.
God gets feedback and he’s aware

378
00:23:46,520 –> 00:23:48,040
of that.
And the life force of that

379
00:23:48,040 –> 00:23:51,160
Sparrow is somehow connected to
the very, very spirit of God.

380
00:23:51,160 –> 00:23:53,880
So he he pervades all, of
course.

381
00:23:54,400 –> 00:23:56,480
And so all he’s aware of
everything.

382
00:23:56,480 –> 00:23:59,960
He’s aware of all human activity
and all events that take place

383
00:23:59,960 –> 00:24:03,960
in our planet.
And we saw Paul’s words in Acts

384
00:24:03,960 –> 00:24:06,640
17.
In him, we, me and the

385
00:24:07,560 –> 00:24:10,080
philosophers in Athens, live and
move and have our being.

386
00:24:10,080 –> 00:24:15,800
That applies to everybody.
However, there are certain

387
00:24:15,800 –> 00:24:18,120
people that are in a
relationship with God.

388
00:24:18,560 –> 00:24:20,640
They have a covenant
relationship, as we’ve looked at

389
00:24:20,640 –> 00:24:26,640
already, and they are also in
God’s presence, but in another

390
00:24:26,640 –> 00:24:28,920
way.
They are in His relational

391
00:24:28,920 –> 00:24:34,240
presence or his Holy Spirit.
And so His Holy Spirit is what

392
00:24:34,520 –> 00:24:38,480
connects them to God in a very
unique way, different than

393
00:24:38,480 –> 00:24:41,760
everyone else and every other
animal and every other human and

394
00:24:41,760 –> 00:24:44,360
the rest of creation, something
called the Holy Spirit.

395
00:24:45,880 –> 00:24:49,320
The covenant relationship brings
that into effect, and God

396
00:24:49,320 –> 00:24:53,440
himself is now near them and in
proximity to them and in their

397
00:24:53,440 –> 00:24:56,320
life in a in a very real and
tangible way.

398
00:24:57,160 –> 00:25:01,600
We may not be aware of that
reality, sorry, but it doesn’t

399
00:25:01,600 –> 00:25:04,480
change the the facts of the
case.

400
00:25:04,480 –> 00:25:07,200
God’s presence is there, whether
we’re have a heightened

401
00:25:07,200 –> 00:25:08,800
awareness of it or whether we
don’t.

402
00:25:09,320 –> 00:25:12,400
Once we are in relationship with
Him, His Holy Spirit is in our

403
00:25:12,400 –> 00:25:14,760
life.
I’ll give you an example.

404
00:25:15,080 –> 00:25:17,360
Again, my examples are not
perfect, of course, but I’m

405
00:25:17,360 –> 00:25:20,920
trying just to make it
understandable.

406
00:25:22,240 –> 00:25:25,040
When Patrick was younger, he was
used to play soccer and he was

407
00:25:25,520 –> 00:25:28,800
very good, and occasionally I
used to go and watch him play.

408
00:25:29,560 –> 00:25:33,360
I wish I could go back in time
and watch him play more, but dad

409
00:25:33,360 –> 00:25:36,080
was always busy, so I would only
do it on a very infrequent

410
00:25:36,080 –> 00:25:37,880
occasions.
But I would go and watch him

411
00:25:37,880 –> 00:25:42,000
play soccer and I would stand on
the sideline and of course I

412
00:25:42,000 –> 00:25:43,480
would watch him as he played
that game.

413
00:25:43,480 –> 00:25:46,400
There was all the other boys
playing with him, two teams of

414
00:25:46,400 –> 00:25:49,600
boys running around.
And of course, because I’m his

415
00:25:49,600 –> 00:25:52,160
father, he’s my son.
There’s a relational connection

416
00:25:52,600 –> 00:25:57,040
and my presence was with him as
events unfolded on the field.

417
00:25:58,000 –> 00:26:00,840
Patrick was busy, Of course.
He’s trying to play a game.

418
00:26:00,840 –> 00:26:03,360
He’s got a strategy, he’s got a
coach yelling at him, he’s got

419
00:26:03,880 –> 00:26:06,480
other players that are wanting
to pass the ball to him and set

420
00:26:06,480 –> 00:26:10,000
plays, etcetera.
He he most of the time didn’t

421
00:26:10,000 –> 00:26:12,480
even notice I was there.
So I’m on the sideline watching.

422
00:26:13,760 –> 00:26:17,160
He’s focused on the game and
he’s most of the time

423
00:26:17,160 –> 00:26:19,160
unconscious of my of my actual
presence.

424
00:26:19,160 –> 00:26:22,440
He would know if I’d gone off to
get a sausage sandwich or or or

425
00:26:22,440 –> 00:26:25,320
whatever.
He he was not aware, but when I

426
00:26:25,320 –> 00:26:28,640
was there he was not aware.
And he’s unconscious of my

427
00:26:28,640 –> 00:26:31,640
presence.
And in a sense we are like that

428
00:26:31,640 –> 00:26:32,680
in our life.
We’re busy.

429
00:26:32,680 –> 00:26:36,960
We’ve got jobs, we’ve got
bosses, we’ve got businesses,

430
00:26:36,960 –> 00:26:40,240
we’ve got families, we’ve got
responsibilities and we are

431
00:26:40,240 –> 00:26:42,960
often busy in our life.
Just because we’re not aware and

432
00:26:42,960 –> 00:26:46,840
not not conscious of God’s
presence doesn’t mean it’s not

433
00:26:46,840 –> 00:26:49,360
there.
Occasionally in the game,

434
00:26:50,520 –> 00:26:53,160
particularly if Patrick had done
something well, he kicked the

435
00:26:53,640 –> 00:26:57,240
striker for most of his career
and he would sometimes kick a

436
00:26:57,240 –> 00:27:00,760
goal and he would look for me
and scan the crowd and he’d

437
00:27:00,760 –> 00:27:03,520
smile and I’d excellent and
there was a moment we’d have a

438
00:27:03,520 –> 00:27:06,080
nice moment where he would smile
at me.

439
00:27:06,080 –> 00:27:09,280
That made him feel good and I’d
feel good that he’d look back at

440
00:27:09,280 –> 00:27:12,600
me and he’d done well and there
was a connection there that

441
00:27:12,760 –> 00:27:16,360
worked for both of us.
We’ll both pleased by that.

442
00:27:16,360 –> 00:27:19,440
That connection that happened
when the presence was made.

443
00:27:19,480 –> 00:27:22,080
He was aware of the presence and
that we connected in that in

444
00:27:22,080 –> 00:27:26,280
that way and he’s encouraged by
my presence.

445
00:27:26,680 –> 00:27:32,840
In fact there’s there’s academic
studies on the the the home team

446
00:27:32,840 –> 00:27:36,080
advantage if you like or where
where a team plays in front of

447
00:27:36,080 –> 00:27:39,680
their their home crowd with
their relatives and their

448
00:27:39,680 –> 00:27:43,360
friends and supporters that
their performance is is enhanced

449
00:27:43,360 –> 00:27:46,400
dramatically.
It’s a phenomenon and and and no

450
00:27:46,400 –> 00:27:50,360
doubt it’s it’s linked to this
this concept of being aware of

451
00:27:50,640 –> 00:27:54,040
of our presence.
So I the father and watched him

452
00:27:54,040 –> 00:27:56,440
throughout the game.
He’s in my presence, in my

453
00:27:57,160 –> 00:27:59,200
concerning my care.
I love him.

454
00:27:59,200 –> 00:28:01,720
He’s my son.
We have this relationship, but

455
00:28:01,760 –> 00:28:03,880
often he’s not even aware that
I’m even there.

456
00:28:05,000 –> 00:28:10,080
So my presence constant, even if
he doesn’t notice it and when he

457
00:28:10,080 –> 00:28:12,560
does look back at me, there’s
this connection that makes us

458
00:28:12,560 –> 00:28:15,160
both happy.
Now making us both happy is what

459
00:28:15,160 –> 00:28:16,680
we’re going to look at in our in
our next study.

460
00:28:16,680 –> 00:28:19,400
But today we’ll just focus on on
the connection.

461
00:28:20,680 –> 00:28:24,000
So what have we seen so far?
We’ve talked about the spirit of

462
00:28:24,000 –> 00:28:29,240
God actually being God.
God doesn’t have some inanimate

463
00:28:29,240 –> 00:28:32,400
power that he sends out like
electricity to do his work.

464
00:28:32,520 –> 00:28:35,280
He is the one.
It is him when the Spirit does

465
00:28:35,280 –> 00:28:37,520
something or or he’s acting or
involved.

466
00:28:37,520 –> 00:28:44,960
So it is God himself.
Look at the way the Spirit is

467
00:28:44,960 –> 00:28:46,600
talked about.
Particularly in the Old

468
00:28:46,600 –> 00:28:49,200
Testament, we start to get a
picture of the Spirit and and

469
00:28:49,240 –> 00:28:51,600
and what God is doing.
Remember when you read Spirit,

470
00:28:51,600 –> 00:28:53,720
you can read God if you like, if
that, if that helps.

471
00:28:55,120 –> 00:28:57,440
In Genesis one, verse two, we’re
told the earth was without form

472
00:28:57,440 –> 00:28:59,400
and void.
Darkness was on the face of the

473
00:28:59,400 –> 00:29:03,360
deep and the spirit of God was
hovering.

474
00:29:04,400 –> 00:29:07,840
The spirit of God, in a sense.
The the word pictures it sort of

475
00:29:07,840 –> 00:29:11,680
comes down and hovers and the
Hebrew word there is like a bird

476
00:29:12,240 –> 00:29:13,960
fluttering.
In fact, Young’s literal has

477
00:29:13,960 –> 00:29:16,200
fluttering the spirit of God
fluttered like a bird.

478
00:29:16,200 –> 00:29:23,120
And God’s spirit is described
there as as coming down and and

479
00:29:23,120 –> 00:29:26,960
being concerned and overwatching
this, this new planet that would

480
00:29:26,960 –> 00:29:32,080
start to take form before him
and right through the New

481
00:29:32,080 –> 00:29:33,840
Testament.
This idea of God’s Spirit is

482
00:29:33,840 –> 00:29:37,720
connected to the to the
overshadowing aspect of a bird.

483
00:29:37,720 –> 00:29:41,160
So I quickly rattle off some of
these verses.

484
00:29:41,160 –> 00:29:44,440
You’ll know them very well or
have heard heard of them before.

485
00:29:44,440 –> 00:29:47,280
I should say Jeremy 32 as an
eagle stirs up its nest and

486
00:29:47,280 –> 00:29:51,120
hovers over its young.
That’s how God cared for Israel.

487
00:29:52,160 –> 00:29:55,200
Exodus 19 You’ve seen what I did
to the Egyptians, how I bore you

488
00:29:55,200 –> 00:29:57,280
on eagle’s wings, and bought you
to myself.

489
00:29:57,640 –> 00:30:01,280
Psalm 91 He who dwells in the
secret place of the Most High

490
00:30:01,280 –> 00:30:03,200
shall abide under the shadow of
the Almighty.

491
00:30:03,440 –> 00:30:05,920
He shall cover you with his
feathers, and under his wings

492
00:30:06,200 –> 00:30:08,920
you shall take refuge.
See some of the words that are

493
00:30:08,920 –> 00:30:12,040
coming through.
Refuge and and comfort and and

494
00:30:12,280 –> 00:30:15,080
and protection.
Psalm 17.

495
00:30:15,080 –> 00:30:16,280
Keep me as the apple of your
eye.

496
00:30:16,280 –> 00:30:18,240
Hide me under the shadow of your
wings.

497
00:30:18,240 –> 00:30:21,040
Same idea there.
How excellent is your loving

498
00:30:21,040 –> 00:30:24,320
kindness, your your chess head,
your covenant connection.

499
00:30:24,760 –> 00:30:26,280
Oh God.
Therefore the children of men

500
00:30:26,280 –> 00:30:28,120
put their trust.
So there’s trust, you know,

501
00:30:28,320 –> 00:30:31,120
which is the underlying idea of
faith, isn’t it?

502
00:30:31,120 –> 00:30:33,160
Put their trust under the shadow
of your wings.

503
00:30:33,440 –> 00:30:35,840
Be merciful to me, oh God, be
merciful to me, for my soul

504
00:30:35,840 –> 00:30:38,640
takes refuge.
My soul, my my emotions.

505
00:30:38,640 –> 00:30:41,600
My inner heart takes refuge in
the shadow of your wings.

506
00:30:41,920 –> 00:30:44,440
I’ll take refuge till the storms
of destruction pass by.

507
00:30:44,640 –> 00:30:45,760
Let me dwell in your tent
forever.

508
00:30:45,760 –> 00:30:48,360
Let me take refuge in the
shelter of your wings.

509
00:30:48,600 –> 00:30:51,160
For you have been my help.
You see these these ideas that

510
00:30:51,160 –> 00:30:54,360
have been just cascading through
these verses Here you’re my

511
00:30:54,360 –> 00:30:56,040
help.
And in the shadow of your wings

512
00:30:56,320 –> 00:30:58,480
I sing for joy.
And then we’ve got a motion

513
00:30:58,720 –> 00:31:02,680
attached here to the to the
overshadowing protection from

514
00:31:02,680 –> 00:31:07,600
from God and God’s spirit.
Now we come to the second

515
00:31:08,280 –> 00:31:13,000
occurrence of the the term Holy
Spirit in the Old Testament and

516
00:31:13,000 –> 00:31:17,680
it’s in Isaiah 63 and it’s a
it’s recounting the experience

517
00:31:17,680 –> 00:31:22,640
of Israel in the wilderness and
I’ll quickly read what’s on the

518
00:31:22,640 –> 00:31:25,560
screen there.
He remembered the days of old

519
00:31:25,560 –> 00:31:29,200
Moses and his people saying
where is he who brought them out

520
00:31:29,200 –> 00:31:31,120
of the sea with the shepherd of
his flock?

521
00:31:31,640 –> 00:31:35,240
Where is he who put his Holy
Spirit within them?

522
00:31:36,640 –> 00:31:39,920
Now what’s this talking about?
The Holy Spirit was put within

523
00:31:39,920 –> 00:31:41,680
them.
Is that talking about

524
00:31:41,680 –> 00:31:46,160
individuals in Israel that had
the Holy Spirit put within them?

525
00:31:47,040 –> 00:31:50,640
It’s not necessarily talking
about that under the Old

526
00:31:50,640 –> 00:31:54,160
covenant.
Most of the language and the

527
00:31:54,160 –> 00:31:58,000
terms are corporate.
They’re referring to Israel as a

528
00:31:58,040 –> 00:32:01,760
as a corporate son.
And when God put His Holy Spirit

529
00:32:01,760 –> 00:32:05,640
in them, it was His very
presence, the Shekinah presence

530
00:32:05,640 –> 00:32:10,800
of God that was in their midst,
which was in the Tabernacle that

531
00:32:10,800 –> 00:32:12,760
was in their midst.
But not the court or the Holy

532
00:32:12,760 –> 00:32:14,720
Place, not just the Most Holy
Place.

533
00:32:15,040 –> 00:32:18,360
It was in the actual Ark within
the Most Holy Place, in the in

534
00:32:18,360 –> 00:32:21,760
the mercy seat.
God’s presence was in their

535
00:32:21,760 –> 00:32:24,040
midst, was in them.
In that sense.

536
00:32:26,320 –> 00:32:30,040
So God put his Holy Spirit
within them, and he also

537
00:32:30,040 –> 00:32:32,000
overshadowed them with His
Spirit.

538
00:32:32,360 –> 00:32:35,480
And we have the pillar of cloud
and the pillar of fire that

539
00:32:35,480 –> 00:32:37,520
overshadowed the camp of Israel
as well.

540
00:32:37,520 –> 00:32:41,480
So God is in their midst and
He’s over them.

541
00:32:41,640 –> 00:32:44,640
There’s this picture of
protection like we saw in the

542
00:32:45,800 –> 00:32:49,680
verses that referred to the
overshadowing nature of God,

543
00:32:49,680 –> 00:32:53,320
like a bird over it’s young and
God being in their midst.

544
00:32:53,440 –> 00:32:58,680
As Isaiah 63 says, Brother
Nichols says God was present by

545
00:32:58,680 –> 00:33:00,480
putting his Holy Spirit in their
midst.

546
00:33:00,480 –> 00:33:02,360
He was present.
That was his presence.

547
00:33:02,800 –> 00:33:05,960
But notice how highly mediated
that presence was and how

548
00:33:05,960 –> 00:33:09,960
restricted it was.
The presence of God was was

549
00:33:10,240 –> 00:33:15,920
limited in its access and and it
was locked away and and not very

550
00:33:15,920 –> 00:33:19,320
rarely was it accessed in in
that in that direct way under

551
00:33:19,320 –> 00:33:22,080
the old covenant.
And he says we’ve already seen

552
00:33:22,080 –> 00:33:24,480
that the Holy Spirit is the
equivalent to the presence of

553
00:33:24,480 –> 00:33:27,480
God.
So when Isaiah 63 is talking

554
00:33:27,480 –> 00:33:30,440
about God putting his Holy
Spirit in their in their midst,

555
00:33:30,440 –> 00:33:32,040
it’s God’s presence that was
there.

556
00:33:33,080 –> 00:33:37,760
But in a sense that presence was
there, but they did not have

557
00:33:38,360 –> 00:33:41,320
immediate access to it in that
in that absolute sense there was

558
00:33:41,320 –> 00:33:44,200
barriers to access to and
restrictions and conditions on

559
00:33:44,200 –> 00:33:47,680
that.
On the presence, as we said on

560
00:33:47,680 –> 00:33:51,040
the old covenant, we’re talking
about a corporate son, we’re

561
00:33:51,040 –> 00:33:54,960
talking the promises of Israel
are aggregated into a into a

562
00:33:54,960 –> 00:33:58,680
group.
In the new covenant, there is an

563
00:33:58,680 –> 00:34:02,520
individual aspect to it.
Remember we looked at the New

564
00:34:02,520 –> 00:34:06,200
Covenant terminology.
Jeremiah 31 quoted Hebrews 8,

565
00:34:06,200 –> 00:34:09,320
etcetera.
There’s this idea that under the

566
00:34:09,320 –> 00:34:12,600
New Covenant no one needs to say
to their neighbour, know the

567
00:34:12,600 –> 00:34:15,760
Lord.
For everyone in that Covenant

568
00:34:15,800 –> 00:34:19,080
relationship knows the Lord from
the least to the greatest.

569
00:34:19,199 –> 00:34:21,400
Everyone has direct access to
the Lord.

570
00:34:22,560 –> 00:34:27,480
It it it’s a this, the the, the
Spirit of God now is

571
00:34:27,800 –> 00:34:31,199
individualized in a sense, not
just put into a a box in the

572
00:34:31,199 –> 00:34:34,000
midst of the camp.
And so as individuals under the

573
00:34:34,000 –> 00:34:38,199
New Covenant, we are still
overshadowed, but individually

574
00:34:38,199 –> 00:34:42,120
overshadowed by the presence of
God and by the Spirit of God.

575
00:34:42,360 –> 00:34:47,920
And his Spirit is in us as well.
And so God’s Spirit is all

576
00:34:47,920 –> 00:34:50,880
around us and and and his
presence is with us in a in a

577
00:34:50,920 –> 00:34:53,840
dimensional way, in a spatial
way that we we find hard to

578
00:34:54,280 –> 00:34:56,520
articulate.
But it’s it’s true, it’s real.

579
00:34:57,560 –> 00:35:00,960
We can sing about it and talk
about it in our in music and

580
00:35:00,960 –> 00:35:04,040
worship, but it’s hard to sort
of put into straightforward

581
00:35:04,040 –> 00:35:06,440
words.
Here’s some well known words.

582
00:35:06,440 –> 00:35:09,720
Hymn one, O 1.
Within thy circling power, so

583
00:35:09,720 –> 00:35:15,080
that circling power above and
around on every side we find thy

584
00:35:15,080 –> 00:35:19,000
hand awake, asleep at home
abroad, I am surrounded still

585
00:35:19,000 –> 00:35:22,640
with with God.
And then there’s some other

586
00:35:23,040 –> 00:35:25,840
words from that hymn.
Lord, thou has searched and seen

587
00:35:25,840 –> 00:35:28,480
us through.
So God’s spirit is right through

588
00:35:28,760 –> 00:35:31,880
thine eye commands with piercing
view our thoughts before they

589
00:35:31,880 –> 00:35:34,840
are our own or to the distinctly
known.

590
00:35:34,840 –> 00:35:40,880
And so God’s Spirit when it
comes to the natural world,

591
00:35:40,880 –> 00:35:44,400
God’s Spirit is everywhere but
for his people that are in

592
00:35:44,400 –> 00:35:47,160
covenant with Him.
It’s His Holy Spirit that is in

593
00:35:47,160 –> 00:35:51,160
our life, through our life, over
our life and over and above all

594
00:35:51,160 –> 00:35:54,920
things.
Just want to finish up with some

595
00:35:54,920 –> 00:36:00,120
thoughts from the reading that
Jeremy read for us tonight from

596
00:36:00,800 –> 00:36:04,440
John chapter 14.
These words of Jesus are are

597
00:36:05,080 –> 00:36:10,080
profound and and deep and when
you think about the the

598
00:36:10,080 –> 00:36:13,840
juxtaposition of these words how
how important and vital they are

599
00:36:13,840 –> 00:36:17,720
when you think about where they
stand in the history of of God’s

600
00:36:17,720 –> 00:36:20,680
redemption and his and his work
with his son.

601
00:36:21,400 –> 00:36:28,520
So chapter 13 of John is the
Last Supper and it also contains

602
00:36:28,680 –> 00:36:32,160
Jesus washing the disciples feet
but it’s the Last Supper

603
00:36:32,160 –> 00:36:34,960
chapter.
And then chapter 18 the

604
00:36:34,960 –> 00:36:38,480
narrative takes up again with
Jesus arrest in the garden.

605
00:36:39,080 –> 00:36:43,360
So the narrative’s interrupted
from the Last Supper to Jesus

606
00:36:43,360 –> 00:36:48,400
arrest with these four chapters.
What like what?

607
00:36:48,440 –> 00:36:51,480
What vital position they have
don’t they in the.

608
00:36:51,480 –> 00:36:55,920
In the whole Bible stories
inserted here in this incredible

609
00:36:55,920 –> 00:37:01,600
narrative where the the universe
was, was focused on this, this,

610
00:37:01,600 –> 00:37:04,360
this moment in history and we
now have this incredible

611
00:37:04,360 –> 00:37:06,600
narrative, the last words of
Jesus.

612
00:37:07,560 –> 00:37:09,480
Chapter 14 starts with those
famous words.

613
00:37:09,480 –> 00:37:11,560
I go to prepare a place for you
and we’ll talk about that in a

614
00:37:11,560 –> 00:37:14,240
minute.
Chapter 15’s got the discourse

615
00:37:14,240 –> 00:37:16,320
on the vine.
Jesus saying I am the vine, you

616
00:37:16,320 –> 00:37:19,080
are the branches.
And this abide with me, abide

617
00:37:19,080 –> 00:37:20,560
with me, abide with me, abide
with me.

618
00:37:20,560 –> 00:37:22,040
That runs all the way through
that chapter.

619
00:37:22,760 –> 00:37:28,120
Chapter 16 takes up more
references and information about

620
00:37:28,120 –> 00:37:29,920
something called the Comforter,
which we’ll talk about in a

621
00:37:29,920 –> 00:37:32,000
minute.
And then chapter 17 is a

622
00:37:32,000 –> 00:37:35,600
basically a prayer that Jesus
makes on behalf of both his

623
00:37:35,600 –> 00:37:39,400
immediate followers but all his
believers throughout all time,

624
00:37:39,920 –> 00:37:42,360
that God would be in them and
they would be in him and he

625
00:37:42,360 –> 00:37:47,520
would be in them.
So this is phenomenal scripture,

626
00:37:47,520 –> 00:37:50,200
isn’t it?
This is a lot of what you might

627
00:37:50,200 –> 00:37:54,280
call inspired real estate.
Here you’ve got 4 chapters,

628
00:37:54,800 –> 00:37:57,840
relatively long, 30 There’s more
than 100 verses here.

629
00:37:57,840 –> 00:38:01,360
This is a bigger section of
inspired scripture than some of

630
00:38:01,360 –> 00:38:04,640
the New Testament epistles and
books just inserted here in the

631
00:38:04,640 –> 00:38:09,560
Gospel of John.
But the difficulty has been, and

632
00:38:09,560 –> 00:38:13,760
I found this in my life as well.
How relevant are any of those

633
00:38:13,800 –> 00:38:16,840
words to us?
It’s Jesus talking to his

634
00:38:16,840 –> 00:38:19,520
immediate disciples or apostles
directly.

635
00:38:20,880 –> 00:38:24,040
I sometimes over the years felt
a bit uncomfortable when words

636
00:38:24,040 –> 00:38:25,960
are taken from that section of
scripture and there’s some

637
00:38:25,960 –> 00:38:28,880
beautiful songs about peace I
give you.

638
00:38:28,920 –> 00:38:32,280
Not not peace that the world
gives you, but peace I give you

639
00:38:32,280 –> 00:38:35,160
and and and other references
abide that him, abide with me,

640
00:38:35,480 –> 00:38:37,640
that are no doubt taken from
this part of scripture.

641
00:38:37,640 –> 00:38:41,080
And we think is this scripture
for us really?

642
00:38:41,080 –> 00:38:43,640
Is it?
Is it just historical, divine,

643
00:38:43,640 –> 00:38:47,520
historical information about
what Christ did for his

644
00:38:47,520 –> 00:38:50,000
followers, immediate followers,
or is this relevant for us?

645
00:38:50,160 –> 00:38:52,440
And that’s a that’s an
interesting question.

646
00:38:53,960 –> 00:38:58,120
There are hints in this section
that the words in this

647
00:38:59,200 –> 00:39:02,760
particular discourse in the in
the final prayer of chapter 17

648
00:39:03,800 –> 00:39:06,960
are applicable to all believers
at some level.

649
00:39:08,320 –> 00:39:13,880
In the very first chapter in
John 14 and verse 23, Jesus

650
00:39:13,880 –> 00:39:18,240
makes his statement, says, and
the King James says, If a man

651
00:39:18,240 –> 00:39:23,280
love me and keeps my words, my
father will love him and we will

652
00:39:23,280 –> 00:39:28,280
come unto him and make our abode
or dwelling with him.

653
00:39:28,800 –> 00:39:32,960
Now most other translations have
any man or anyone.

654
00:39:33,840 –> 00:39:39,240
So here the application of these
words takes a wider scope,

655
00:39:39,240 –> 00:39:41,120
doesn’t it?
All of a sudden we’re not just

656
00:39:41,120 –> 00:39:44,480
talking to the 12 apostles and
the immediate followers of

657
00:39:44,480 –> 00:39:46,800
Jesus.
Jesus is now referring to any

658
00:39:46,800 –> 00:39:50,680
man God, and Jesus can dwell
with them.

659
00:39:51,200 –> 00:39:53,760
And then at the end of the
discourse in the final prayer in

660
00:39:53,760 –> 00:39:56,560
John 17, Jesus makes this
beautiful statement.

661
00:39:56,560 –> 00:40:00,080
He says he’s praying for his
followers and he says neither

662
00:40:00,080 –> 00:40:05,160
pray I for these alone, but for
them also, which shall believe

663
00:40:05,160 –> 00:40:11,720
on me through their word that
they all these and those who

664
00:40:11,720 –> 00:40:13,080
believe later on.
That’s.

665
00:40:13,520 –> 00:40:15,720
That’s you and me, isn’t it?
Thousands of years later, we’ve

666
00:40:15,920 –> 00:40:19,040
we’ve believed because of the
apostles word that they all may

667
00:40:19,040 –> 00:40:23,680
be one as thou father art in me
and I in thee that they also may

668
00:40:23,680 –> 00:40:26,600
be one in US.
So we start to see there’s

669
00:40:28,120 –> 00:40:30,520
there’s words here that are
universal in the sense of

670
00:40:30,520 –> 00:40:32,840
universal to believers of all
time.

671
00:40:34,440 –> 00:40:36,640
And yet there’s some other words
in this discourse that are

672
00:40:36,640 –> 00:40:41,520
definitely only relevant, in a
sense, to the immediate

673
00:40:41,520 –> 00:40:44,680
apostles.
So what we have as we read

674
00:40:44,680 –> 00:40:49,080
through this section is
intertwined in this section of

675
00:40:49,080 –> 00:40:53,080
scripture is these these two
concepts that come over time and

676
00:40:53,080 –> 00:40:57,640
time, and they sort of
intertwines with each other.

677
00:40:57,640 –> 00:41:00,520
And that one one will become
prominent, then fade away, and

678
00:41:00,520 –> 00:41:02,960
another one will take its place.
And there’s these two concepts.

679
00:41:02,960 –> 00:41:07,240
One is the abiding presence of
God in the life of a believer

680
00:41:08,080 –> 00:41:11,600
and something called the
Comforter that would come and be

681
00:41:11,600 –> 00:41:15,040
sent by God.
What do we make of these two

682
00:41:15,040 –> 00:41:19,000
things and and which ones, if
any, or either or both, or one

683
00:41:19,000 –> 00:41:22,600
or the other, can we take to our
own hearts as a promise from

684
00:41:22,600 –> 00:41:25,960
God?
Now, one of the best books I’ve

685
00:41:25,960 –> 00:41:30,080
found if you really want to, if
I often realize I prattle on a

686
00:41:30,080 –> 00:41:32,400
bit and it might be not that
easy to understand what I’m

687
00:41:32,400 –> 00:41:34,200
saying.
So if you want to look this up

688
00:41:34,200 –> 00:41:38,080
in more detail, it’s an awesome
book written by Brother Edward

689
00:41:38,080 –> 00:41:42,880
Whitaker and Reg Carr that I
think explains this phenomena

690
00:41:42,880 –> 00:41:47,120
really well.
The reason I think they did so

691
00:41:47,120 –> 00:41:52,400
well is because these articles
were originally serialized in

692
00:41:52,400 –> 00:41:56,600
the Testimony magazine and they
also interacted with feedback

693
00:41:56,600 –> 00:41:59,240
from correspondence.
Like people would write in as

694
00:41:59,240 –> 00:42:02,480
these articles were being
written and as they’re writing

695
00:42:02,480 –> 00:42:06,560
about these chapters, of course
they’re getting they’re saying

696
00:42:07,520 –> 00:42:10,320
the comforter in these chapters
is the apostles and this relates

697
00:42:10,320 –> 00:42:12,360
to the apostles and it’s not
relevant to us today.

698
00:42:12,720 –> 00:42:15,240
And then the correspondence, the
people are coming back at them

699
00:42:15,240 –> 00:42:19,120
and pushing back saying but but,
but, but there’s too much

700
00:42:19,440 –> 00:42:24,200
grandeur and power and and
profound language here to just

701
00:42:24,560 –> 00:42:28,440
to to ignore this.
And so they’ve done a stellar

702
00:42:28,440 –> 00:42:31,240
job in in working their way
through these things.

703
00:42:31,240 –> 00:42:33,640
And so I’ve just given you a
summary here.

704
00:42:35,840 –> 00:42:39,440
They say once it is recognized
that the abiding, which we’ll

705
00:42:39,440 –> 00:42:42,560
talk about in a minute in the
comforter are separate

706
00:42:42,560 –> 00:42:47,000
phenomena.
And the latter was miraculous,

707
00:42:47,000 –> 00:42:50,920
that’s the comforter.
The entire teaching of John 14

708
00:42:50,920 –> 00:42:53,440
to 16 becomes clearly
harmonious.

709
00:42:53,800 –> 00:42:55,920
So we can see these two themes
interweaving.

710
00:42:56,440 –> 00:43:00,160
Once we we identify the two, we
can make sense of what’s going

711
00:43:00,160 –> 00:43:02,720
on.
So how can we tell which one is

712
00:43:02,720 –> 00:43:04,120
related to us and which one
isn’t?

713
00:43:04,720 –> 00:43:08,360
Well, they suggest this
mechanism, which is which really

714
00:43:08,360 –> 00:43:11,880
works.
And I’ve I’ve test, tested it

715
00:43:11,880 –> 00:43:14,720
and ran it through the run it
through the computer and it and

716
00:43:14,720 –> 00:43:17,640
this is it actually works.
So they say the Lord

717
00:43:17,640 –> 00:43:22,160
consistently throughout this
section uses two different verbs

718
00:43:22,160 –> 00:43:26,040
in connection to these two
distinct phenomena.

719
00:43:26,800 –> 00:43:31,440
Whenever Jesus is talking about
the abiding presence that God

720
00:43:31,440 –> 00:43:36,520
dwelling in with His people or
being in his people, he uses the

721
00:43:36,520 –> 00:43:43,000
verb I or God or God and I or we
will come into your life, we

722
00:43:43,000 –> 00:43:46,320
will come to you.
When the Lord is talking about

723
00:43:46,320 –> 00:43:52,560
the Comforter, he says I will
send so and you can follow it

724
00:43:52,560 –> 00:43:54,560
through and it definitely works.
It definitely works all the way

725
00:43:54,560 –> 00:43:59,400
through.
So you can read through John

726
00:43:59,400 –> 00:44:04,880
14/15/16 and 17 and see the way
the comforter is referred to.

727
00:44:04,880 –> 00:44:07,120
Just for those who don’t know
much about the comforter, it’s

728
00:44:07,240 –> 00:44:12,640
it’s the word comforter.
The word Paracletos is probably

729
00:44:12,640 –> 00:44:15,160
better translated as advocate.
It’s like a solicitor or a

730
00:44:15,160 –> 00:44:18,400
lawyer who would speak on your
behalf and that brings comfort

731
00:44:18,400 –> 00:44:20,600
to you when you’ve got, if
you’re in a pickle with the law

732
00:44:20,640 –> 00:44:24,000
and you’ve got a good lawyer,
then that does bring comfort and

733
00:44:24,000 –> 00:44:25,240
take some pressure off of
course.

734
00:44:25,240 –> 00:44:28,000
But it has the idea of someone
coming alongside you.

735
00:44:28,000 –> 00:44:30,840
That’s what para, as in
Paracletos means, coming along

736
00:44:30,840 –> 00:44:34,800
beside you and helping you out.
What it’s referring to, Jesus is

737
00:44:34,800 –> 00:44:38,840
saying you, you going to be
scattered, you’re going to be

738
00:44:38,840 –> 00:44:42,120
shocked, you’re going to be
totally dismayed, and you’re

739
00:44:42,360 –> 00:44:44,600
going to want to give it all
away.

740
00:44:45,400 –> 00:44:47,840
But I’m going to send you help.
I’m going to send you this

741
00:44:48,240 –> 00:44:52,000
Paracletus, this, this, this
Comforter or this Advocate

742
00:44:52,000 –> 00:44:54,520
that’s going to be with you and
help you carry out this mission

743
00:44:54,880 –> 00:44:58,480
to be those who are witness to
me throughout the world, these

744
00:44:58,480 –> 00:45:02,600
uneducated, mostly fishermen,
without any formal education,

745
00:45:02,600 –> 00:45:05,720
any resources, any ability.
You were going to change the

746
00:45:05,720 –> 00:45:06,720
world.
You’re going to turn the world

747
00:45:06,720 –> 00:45:09,560
upside down.
And I’m going to inspire you to

748
00:45:09,560 –> 00:45:12,320
do that through this comforter,
which is the Holy Spirit, gifts,

749
00:45:12,320 –> 00:45:14,120
the Holy Spirit, the power of
the Holy Spirit.

750
00:45:14,720 –> 00:45:17,760
And so when we read the
Comforter, as we work our way

751
00:45:17,760 –> 00:45:20,600
through that section of
Scripture, we’ll always see the

752
00:45:20,600 –> 00:45:23,280
word send or give.
It’s something, It’s direct, a

753
00:45:24,200 –> 00:45:27,800
direct power given to the
recipient, direct ability given

754
00:45:27,800 –> 00:45:32,200
to the 1st century believers to
be able to do certain things

755
00:45:32,200 –> 00:45:35,920
we’ll look at in a moment.
But when you read about the

756
00:45:35,920 –> 00:45:40,360
abiding presence, God abiding
with us, it’s I will come or God

757
00:45:40,360 –> 00:45:44,160
and I will come into your life.
And a good way to think of this

758
00:45:44,160 –> 00:45:47,920
is bifocal glasses.
I’ve got, I’ve got trifocals at

759
00:45:47,920 –> 00:45:51,000
the moment.
So bifocals mean you can have a

760
00:45:51,000 –> 00:45:55,200
a long distance portion of your
glasses or a shorter distance

761
00:45:55,400 –> 00:45:57,640
section of your glasses.
So as you’re reading this

762
00:45:57,640 –> 00:46:03,240
section for the historical
background to the work of the

763
00:46:03,240 –> 00:46:07,280
apostles, you can read about the
Comforter and read that is the

764
00:46:07,280 –> 00:46:11,200
primary interest as you read
through the passages.

765
00:46:12,120 –> 00:46:16,920
Or you can look for the abiding
presence of God and in a sense

766
00:46:16,920 –> 00:46:19,720
gloss over the Comforter
sections, knowing that they’re

767
00:46:20,000 –> 00:46:22,720
important, but they are
referring to the Apostles and

768
00:46:22,720 –> 00:46:28,080
see what power is in the other
parts of those chapters that

769
00:46:28,080 –> 00:46:31,240
refer to all believers.
So let’s quickly talk about the

770
00:46:31,240 –> 00:46:32,720
Comforter.
For those who may not have heard

771
00:46:32,720 –> 00:46:36,400
much about it, here’s the
references to the Comforter that

772
00:46:36,400 –> 00:46:42,240
run through 14/15/16 and 17 of
of John’s Gospel and you can see

773
00:46:42,240 –> 00:46:44,680
there it’s God sending the
Comforter to them.

774
00:46:44,920 –> 00:46:46,200
Haven’t got time to go through
all those.

775
00:46:46,200 –> 00:46:49,520
Now actually if you’ve got your
Bible there, just have a look at

776
00:46:49,720 –> 00:46:53,080
John 14 and you’ll see the
miraculous nature of what the

777
00:46:53,080 –> 00:46:59,000
Comforter would do and the very
practical benefits that the

778
00:46:59,000 –> 00:47:01,160
Comforter would bring to those
apostles.

779
00:47:01,160 –> 00:47:08,440
So chapter 14 and verse 26.
But the some translation of

780
00:47:08,440 –> 00:47:13,520
Helper or Advocate or Comforter
that the the the Comforter which

781
00:47:13,520 –> 00:47:17,200
is the Holy Spirit whom the
Father will send in my name.

782
00:47:17,720 –> 00:47:20,920
Look what he will do.
He will teach you all things, so

783
00:47:20,920 –> 00:47:25,000
you’ll have all this knowledge
supernaturally or miraculously

784
00:47:25,000 –> 00:47:26,720
inserted.
He will bring to your

785
00:47:26,720 –> 00:47:30,360
remembrance everything that I
said, so you can see there is a

786
00:47:30,360 –> 00:47:32,480
miraculous element to the work
of the Comforter.

787
00:47:33,160 –> 00:47:36,880
It would enable these uneducated
men to be able to bring to mind

788
00:47:36,880 –> 00:47:39,640
the words of Jesus, not just to
teach and preach, but also to

789
00:47:39,640 –> 00:47:43,440
write the gospel message that we
have preserved for us today.

790
00:47:44,640 –> 00:47:48,640
And so if you read everything
the Comforter would do, you can

791
00:47:48,640 –> 00:47:50,360
see the emphasis of the
Comforters.

792
00:47:51,120 –> 00:47:54,720
Work has to do with words.
It’s about bringing things to

793
00:47:54,720 –> 00:47:58,560
remembrance that Jesus did.
It’s about allowing them to

794
00:47:58,560 –> 00:48:00,760
speak.
It’s a source of truth that will

795
00:48:00,760 –> 00:48:05,880
enable them to to to make
statements about sin and and and

796
00:48:05,880 –> 00:48:08,720
righteousness and and condemn
the world for for for it’s sin

797
00:48:08,720 –> 00:48:11,600
and it would guide the disciples
in truth.

798
00:48:11,600 –> 00:48:14,480
And so it’s a source of truth.
It’s words, it’s the words of

799
00:48:14,560 –> 00:48:17,120
Jesus.
It’s divine words about about

800
00:48:17,120 –> 00:48:21,160
righteousness and sin and you
can see in the the swap out that

801
00:48:21,160 –> 00:48:23,680
we often do when we read about
the spirit.

802
00:48:24,080 –> 00:48:27,480
We swap out often those spirit
references and replace it with

803
00:48:27,480 –> 00:48:29,880
the Bible which we sometimes
refer to as a spirit word.

804
00:48:30,160 –> 00:48:33,040
And in this case the swap out is
quite legitimate.

805
00:48:33,520 –> 00:48:37,840
What the Comforter did for the
apostles we now have in the

806
00:48:37,840 –> 00:48:41,800
written word of God, the all the
teachings of Jesus, the words of

807
00:48:41,960 –> 00:48:46,880
Jesus, the power of the word.
It is all available for us in in

808
00:48:46,880 –> 00:48:50,120
God’s Word.
So the Comforter was a phenomena

809
00:48:50,120 –> 00:48:53,960
that was relevant to the early
believers would have died out

810
00:48:54,360 –> 00:48:57,160
towards the end of the 1st
century as the the apostles who

811
00:48:57,160 –> 00:49:01,600
had the power to pass it on
would die and it it led to the

812
00:49:01,600 –> 00:49:05,440
gospel going throughout the
world and also the word of God

813
00:49:05,440 –> 00:49:08,400
being written.
The Abiding presence, however,

814
00:49:08,440 –> 00:49:12,880
is something different.
The key verse for me that

815
00:49:12,880 –> 00:49:15,720
explains what the Abiding
Presence is all about is a

816
00:49:15,720 –> 00:49:17,280
little it’s it’s right at the
end.

817
00:49:17,800 –> 00:49:21,160
Towards the end, in chapter 16,
Jesus says these words.

818
00:49:21,360 –> 00:49:23,840
Remember, this is before his
arrest, before.

819
00:49:24,360 –> 00:49:27,200
At this point, Peter thinks he’s
impregnable and he’s going to do

820
00:49:27,200 –> 00:49:29,320
all this stuff and stand up for
Jesus and give his life.

821
00:49:29,520 –> 00:49:32,400
So they’re yet to be scattered
and tested in this way, so they

822
00:49:32,400 –> 00:49:34,920
don’t really feel what’s about
to happen.

823
00:49:35,640 –> 00:49:40,480
So Jesus says the hour is coming
and now is that you will be

824
00:49:40,480 –> 00:49:44,880
scattered, each to his own, and
you will leave me alone.

825
00:49:45,680 –> 00:49:47,120
And that’s literally what
happened, isn’t it?

826
00:49:47,200 –> 00:49:48,760
The disciples ran for their
life.

827
00:49:49,080 –> 00:49:52,720
Peter hung around, but then
denied that he knew Jesus, but

828
00:49:52,720 –> 00:49:59,400
that would all desert him.
And Jesus says, yet I am not

829
00:49:59,400 –> 00:50:05,040
alone.
I’m not alone because my father

830
00:50:06,240 –> 00:50:13,960
is with me, he’s with me.
And Jesus went alone to the to

831
00:50:13,960 –> 00:50:18,440
Caiaphas, to the Sanhedrin, to
Herod, to Pilate.

832
00:50:18,720 –> 00:50:22,480
He stood there alone.
He was taken alone, thrashed and

833
00:50:22,560 –> 00:50:24,480
alone.
He had a crown of thorns thrust

834
00:50:24,480 –> 00:50:26,960
upon his head.
Alone he was he was beaten

835
00:50:26,960 –> 00:50:29,320
alone.
He was tortured on a on a on a

836
00:50:29,840 –> 00:50:32,000
excruciating in excruciating
agony.

837
00:50:32,000 –> 00:50:35,280
He was alone, but he wasn’t
really alone, He says.

838
00:50:35,280 –> 00:50:37,240
I’m not alone.
My father.

839
00:50:37,520 –> 00:50:39,160
My Father wasn’t just watching
from heaven.

840
00:50:39,800 –> 00:50:43,600
My Father was with me, and so we
start to get an idea of what

841
00:50:43,600 –> 00:50:46,560
Jesus is talking about, the
language of the abiding

842
00:50:46,560 –> 00:50:48,760
presence.
He’d he would experience it

843
00:50:48,760 –> 00:50:52,080
himself.
And so if you’ve got your balls,

844
00:50:52,080 –> 00:50:55,240
let’s go to John 14 and
remember, we’re talking about

845
00:50:55,240 –> 00:51:02,240
the spatial, the spatial
presence of God, he says in

846
00:51:02,240 –> 00:51:05,080
verse chapter 14, verse one, let
not your hearts be troubled

847
00:51:05,080 –> 00:51:06,480
because he knew what would come
upon them.

848
00:51:06,480 –> 00:51:09,280
He knew what was going to face
them.

849
00:51:10,040 –> 00:51:13,440
Let not your hearts be troubled.
Believing God and believing me

850
00:51:13,440 –> 00:51:17,720
also in my father’s house are
many mansions.

851
00:51:18,720 –> 00:51:20,200
If it were not so, I would have
told you.

852
00:51:21,000 –> 00:51:25,640
And I’m going.
So notice these spatial

853
00:51:25,640 –> 00:51:29,440
directional words.
I go to prepare a place for you.

854
00:51:30,920 –> 00:51:34,160
But I’m going to come back
again, and I’m going to receive

855
00:51:34,160 –> 00:51:38,760
you to myself.
That where I am, you may be with

856
00:51:38,760 –> 00:51:43,040
me also Now sometimes we can
read that without without

857
00:51:43,040 –> 00:51:45,680
Christadelphian lens.
It’s sort of easy to read that

858
00:51:45,680 –> 00:51:48,400
and think about he’s talking
about going away and then coming

859
00:51:48,400 –> 00:51:51,920
back at the second coming,
coming back in the Kingdom.

860
00:51:52,440 –> 00:51:55,680
It’s not if you read carefully
what’s taking place here.

861
00:51:55,680 –> 00:52:00,280
It’s all temple language, Jesus
is saying in my father’s house.

862
00:52:01,280 –> 00:52:05,320
The only other time he uses that
phrase, you remember he says my

863
00:52:05,320 –> 00:52:08,120
father’s, that you’ve made my
father’s house a den of thieves.

864
00:52:08,880 –> 00:52:12,280
And also at the age, age of 12,
he says I must be about my

865
00:52:12,280 –> 00:52:14,080
father’s house.
I know that King James has

866
00:52:14,080 –> 00:52:16,320
business, but it’s actually my
father’s house.

867
00:52:16,320 –> 00:52:21,840
So when Jesus talking about my
father’s house, he’s talking,

868
00:52:22,280 –> 00:52:24,680
he’s talking about something
that was the temple, but that

869
00:52:24,680 –> 00:52:28,400
would change.
Remember, he said destroy this

870
00:52:28,400 –> 00:52:31,360
temple in three days.
I’ll raise up a new temple.

871
00:52:32,000 –> 00:52:35,160
And the narrator says he was
talking about the temple of his

872
00:52:35,160 –> 00:52:37,200
body.
That body was not just his

873
00:52:37,800 –> 00:52:40,320
personal body.
The body of Christ is his

874
00:52:40,320 –> 00:52:44,240
people, his ecclesia.
So in my father’s house are many

875
00:52:44,520 –> 00:52:47,880
mansions or or that just means
dwelling places.

876
00:52:48,800 –> 00:52:51,240
It doesn’t spatially, it’s not
spatially coherent because

877
00:52:51,240 –> 00:52:53,640
mansions are bigger than houses.
And so you think what’s going on

878
00:52:53,640 –> 00:52:55,000
here?
But he’s saying there’s

879
00:52:55,000 –> 00:52:58,160
something called my father’s
house and there’s dwelling

880
00:52:58,160 –> 00:53:02,360
places within my father’s house.
And the way I think of it is

881
00:53:02,360 –> 00:53:04,320
there’s believers in different
parts of the world.

882
00:53:04,320 –> 00:53:06,400
There’s there’s a room here at
river.

883
00:53:06,400 –> 00:53:09,560
There’s a room at gospel.
These rooms have been prepared

884
00:53:09,560 –> 00:53:13,720
by by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I’ll come again and he says,

885
00:53:13,760 –> 00:53:16,720
and where I am, I’ll be there
with you.

886
00:53:17,520 –> 00:53:21,760
So His presence will be with us.
As I said, this is not the

887
00:53:21,760 –> 00:53:25,080
second coming.
This is Jesus coming back in us

888
00:53:25,080 –> 00:53:28,840
in some way, in His presence,
coming back in the Father’s

889
00:53:28,840 –> 00:53:31,320
house in the temple of God and
being with us.

890
00:53:31,720 –> 00:53:34,920
If you want to a good exposition
on that rest of scriptures does

891
00:53:34,920 –> 00:53:41,880
a good job explaining that
there’s other beautiful language

892
00:53:41,880 –> 00:53:45,240
here referring to the abiding
things like John 14 verse 18.

893
00:53:45,240 –> 00:53:48,520
I will not leave you as orphans.
I’m not going to leave you as

894
00:53:48,520 –> 00:53:50,760
orphans.
I’m not going to leave you as

895
00:53:51,560 –> 00:53:53,680
lost souls.
I’m going to abide with you.

896
00:53:53,680 –> 00:53:55,800
I’m going to come to you and I’m
going to dwell with you.

897
00:53:56,240 –> 00:54:00,000
And that’s relevant to all God’s
people throughout all time.

898
00:54:02,400 –> 00:54:04,440
Let me just make a comment.
I forgot to say that when Jesus

899
00:54:04,440 –> 00:54:09,720
said I’m not alone because my
father’s with me, The fact of

900
00:54:09,720 –> 00:54:13,640
his father’s presence and his
father’s company did not stop

901
00:54:14,480 –> 00:54:16,240
the negative things that
happened to him.

902
00:54:16,920 –> 00:54:19,760
He still believed his father was
with him and he was in the

903
00:54:19,760 –> 00:54:21,680
presence.
Literally his father was with

904
00:54:21,680 –> 00:54:26,320
him, and yet he still endured
negative and terrible things.

905
00:54:26,800 –> 00:54:30,240
So we’re not looking for some,
the spirit of some panacea

906
00:54:30,240 –> 00:54:33,080
that’s going to make everything
good happen in our life.

907
00:54:33,080 –> 00:54:35,440
But God’s Holy Spirit is with
us.

908
00:54:35,840 –> 00:54:41,920
It’s there, and it’s been
promised by the Lord here.

909
00:54:42,400 –> 00:54:45,280
So he says, I go and I’m going
to come again, that we might be

910
00:54:45,280 –> 00:54:47,080
together.
It’s interesting.

911
00:54:47,080 –> 00:54:49,320
Thomas says, where are you
going?

912
00:54:49,320 –> 00:54:54,320
And and Jesus says where I’m
going, the way you know, which

913
00:54:54,960 –> 00:54:59,000
is intriguing, intriguing words.
And Thomas says, how can we know

914
00:54:59,000 –> 00:55:02,920
the way?
And Jesus says, I am the way,

915
00:55:03,600 –> 00:55:05,600
the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father but

916
00:55:05,600 –> 00:55:07,480
by me.
So you can see he’s using

917
00:55:07,480 –> 00:55:09,320
spatial language of coming and
going.

918
00:55:09,320 –> 00:55:12,080
But it’s about a relationship
with God through Jesus, isn’t

919
00:55:12,080 –> 00:55:14,240
it?
He is the way in this, this

920
00:55:14,240 –> 00:55:16,520
spatial connection with with
God.

921
00:55:17,320 –> 00:55:18,880
And so we’re running out of
time.

922
00:55:18,880 –> 00:55:21,760
But all the way through these
chapters I and my father, my

923
00:55:21,760 –> 00:55:25,360
father in me, and then getting
to the point where it’s I and my

924
00:55:25,360 –> 00:55:28,640
father, my father in me and I in
you.

925
00:55:28,640 –> 00:55:34,000
And then 1423 we, my father and
I, will come and dwell with

926
00:55:34,440 –> 00:55:38,600
someone who believes and and
that is the dwelling promise of

927
00:55:38,680 –> 00:55:44,680
of God, relevant and and and
very powerful in the life of of

928
00:55:44,680 –> 00:55:46,840
all believers.
This, this presence and

929
00:55:46,840 –> 00:55:50,480
connection with God.
Jesus says we will come and

930
00:55:50,480 –> 00:55:52,000
dwell with him.
And there’s this oneness,

931
00:55:52,000 –> 00:55:54,520
there’s this connection that
that runs through all that.

932
00:55:54,920 –> 00:55:56,960
And as you read through that
section of scripture too there’s

933
00:55:56,960 –> 00:56:00,200
so much power and emotional
power.

934
00:56:00,200 –> 00:56:02,480
I mentioned the the little
prayer.

935
00:56:02,560 –> 00:56:06,280
Jesus says that the.
The peace I give you not as the

936
00:56:06,280 –> 00:56:08,560
world gives.
He’s talking about of course his

937
00:56:08,560 –> 00:56:10,600
world which was the old covenant
world.

938
00:56:11,040 –> 00:56:13,880
The old covenant world could not
give this peace that the new

939
00:56:13,880 –> 00:56:17,560
covenant would bring.
And the and the repetition of

940
00:56:17,560 –> 00:56:21,120
rejoicing and joy and peace and
fulfilment that runs through

941
00:56:21,720 –> 00:56:25,200
that section Talk is
highlighting the fact that if we

942
00:56:26,000 –> 00:56:29,520
appreciate and are aware of the
presence of God and believe it

943
00:56:29,520 –> 00:56:33,120
in faith, there is a power to it
that helps us immensely and

944
00:56:33,120 –> 00:56:36,880
incredibly in our life.
Just to finish up, here’s a

945
00:56:37,040 –> 00:56:39,920
beautiful little reference from
Melva Purkis in The Life of

946
00:56:40,440 –> 00:56:42,760
Jesus.
Of course, Melva does like to

947
00:56:42,760 –> 00:56:46,040
get to the emotional reality of
these stories and these

948
00:56:46,040 –> 00:56:51,520
narratives and he says he
comments on this, this discourse

949
00:56:51,520 –> 00:56:55,800
that runs from chapter 14 to 17.
He said Jesus told them of the

950
00:56:55,800 –> 00:57:00,240
reason for his going away.
It was to prepare abiding places

951
00:57:00,240 –> 00:57:03,120
in the House of God.
Then he spoke to them of the

952
00:57:03,120 –> 00:57:05,480
coming of the comfort of the
Holy Spirit that would dwell

953
00:57:05,480 –> 00:57:08,800
with them and bring to their
minds all that the Lord had done

954
00:57:09,160 –> 00:57:10,960
and said so.
That was back then.

955
00:57:12,280 –> 00:57:14,760
Then we got this intermediate
section here, Brother Perka

956
00:57:14,760 –> 00:57:16,160
says.
He promised that he would

957
00:57:16,160 –> 00:57:19,040
manifest himself to them in
words.

958
00:57:19,680 –> 00:57:22,920
These words have encouraged the
aspirations of disciples ever

959
00:57:22,920 –> 00:57:25,480
since.
As the Comforter we inspire

960
00:57:25,480 –> 00:57:28,160
these words, both preached and
written.

961
00:57:29,480 –> 00:57:33,880
And then He brings us to the
next paragraph and quotes. 1423

962
00:57:34,120 –> 00:57:38,560
If any man love me, He will keep
my words and the Father will

963
00:57:38,560 –> 00:57:43,120
love him and we will come and
make our abode or our dwelling

964
00:57:43,120 –> 00:57:47,240
with Him, probably each
disciple, in moments of supreme

965
00:57:47,240 –> 00:57:51,000
dedication, experience of
fulfillment of that promise.

966
00:57:51,320 –> 00:57:55,120
Nor is it beyond our reach with
sustained prayer and steady

967
00:57:55,120 –> 00:58:00,560
dedication that may come a rare
moment of spiritual ecstasy when

968
00:58:00,560 –> 00:58:03,480
we know the promise has been
fulfilled and life is

969
00:58:03,480 –> 00:58:06,040
transformed for us.
Pretty powerful words, aren’t

970
00:58:06,040 –> 00:58:09,800
they saying that these words are
relevant to all believers and

971
00:58:09,800 –> 00:58:14,480
they are incredible spiritual
power both both emotionally,

972
00:58:14,480 –> 00:58:17,960
spiritually and powerfully in in
the life of a believer.

973
00:58:18,840 –> 00:58:23,480
So just to finish up, probably 2
practical takeouts when it comes

974
00:58:23,480 –> 00:58:29,040
to becoming aware of the
presence of God in our life, one

975
00:58:29,040 –> 00:58:33,680
suggestion is when you pray to
God just to change the the

976
00:58:33,680 –> 00:58:35,560
mindset a little bit.
Instead of thinking of this

977
00:58:35,560 –> 00:58:40,520
prayer traveling to heaven
through billions of light years,

978
00:58:41,400 –> 00:58:45,200
think about the reality that God
is actually there in the room

979
00:58:45,200 –> 00:58:46,760
with you.
So if you’re in your room

980
00:58:46,760 –> 00:58:50,000
praying, you’re in your boat
praying, you’re on the sitting

981
00:58:50,000 –> 00:58:54,560
on the seashore praying, talked
as if God is actually there.

982
00:58:54,560 –> 00:58:56,560
He’s literally, he is literally
there.

983
00:58:56,560 –> 00:58:59,840
He is there.
And it’s not like you sending up

984
00:59:00,280 –> 00:59:03,200
packets of information billions
of miles away.

985
00:59:03,200 –> 00:59:05,880
It’s God is there present with
you.

986
00:59:05,880 –> 00:59:09,680
And and that helps, I think for
me to develop an intimacy with

987
00:59:09,680 –> 00:59:14,320
God in that way.
But also reading the Bible, you

988
00:59:14,320 –> 00:59:16,720
can read the Bible to learn
stuff and that’s good.

989
00:59:16,960 –> 00:59:19,680
It’s very wholesome and good and
powerful.

990
00:59:20,480 –> 00:59:23,640
But why don’t you try, as I’ve
been trying to do, reading the

991
00:59:23,640 –> 00:59:26,480
Bible in God’s presence, as if
I’m reading with him.

992
00:59:27,320 –> 00:59:31,120
It’s God’s word that he’s
provided, and God is in the room

993
00:59:31,120 –> 00:59:33,920
with me as I’m reading.
So I’m reading the word.

994
00:59:35,160 –> 00:59:38,440
It’s his thoughts, his ideas,
and he’s there as I’m reading.

995
00:59:39,120 –> 00:59:40,920
It’s not just an education
process.

996
00:59:40,920 –> 00:59:44,280
I’m not just taking in data and
information and trying to look

997
00:59:44,280 –> 00:59:47,680
for types and connections.
I’m reading with God at that

998
00:59:47,680 –> 00:59:51,040
time, and I think there’s a
power in becoming more aware of

999
00:59:51,040 –> 00:59:52,920
the the reality of the presence
of God.

1000
00:59:52,920 –> 00:59:56,920
It’s it’s real.
And just to finish up, there’s a

1001
00:59:56,920 –> 01:00:01,280
there’s a contentment that comes
with being in God’s presence.

1002
01:00:01,280 –> 01:00:04,800
Remember, Jesus says I’m not
really alone, All these shocking

1003
01:00:04,800 –> 01:00:06,480
things are going to happen to
me, but I’m not alone.

1004
01:00:08,040 –> 01:00:10,480
And there are references like
this in Hebrews 13.

1005
01:00:12,280 –> 01:00:15,200
God has said I will never leave
you or forsake you.

1006
01:00:17,720 –> 01:00:20,360
That’s a power, brothers and
sisters and young people, that

1007
01:00:20,400 –> 01:00:25,200
you can live your life by now.
It doesn’t mean bad things won’t

1008
01:00:25,200 –> 01:00:26,560
happen.
It doesn’t mean God’s going to

1009
01:00:26,560 –> 01:00:29,360
step in and save you from
negative implications.

1010
01:00:29,360 –> 01:00:31,400
And literally this verse says
the opposite.

1011
01:00:31,400 –> 01:00:34,600
Actually, it says so that we
might boldly say the Lord is my

1012
01:00:34,600 –> 01:00:39,160
helper.
I will not fear what man shall

1013
01:00:39,440 –> 01:00:45,320
do to me, what men did to his
son, what men do to us today,

1014
01:00:46,560 –> 01:00:48,760
what men have done to our
brothers and sisters in times

1015
01:00:48,760 –> 01:00:52,400
past, and persecuted and abused
people and ridiculed them.

1016
01:00:54,800 –> 01:00:58,760
The effects of what men will do
is something we have to live

1017
01:00:58,760 –> 01:01:01,920
through.
The presence of God doesn’t wrap

1018
01:01:01,920 –> 01:01:03,880
us in cotton wool and remove
those things.

1019
01:01:04,280 –> 01:01:08,000
But it’s a power knowing that as
you go through those things, God

1020
01:01:08,040 –> 01:01:09,480
is with you.
He is there.

1021
01:01:09,480 –> 01:01:10,760
He will never leave and forsake
you.

1022
01:01:10,760 –> 01:01:13,440
And we had time to flesh out
that Hebrew studying quote

1023
01:01:13,440 –> 01:01:15,360
because it starts off with
covetousness.

1024
01:01:15,360 –> 01:01:19,600
He says come in with the exact
words, but don’t be covetous and

1025
01:01:19,600 –> 01:01:22,080
worry about possessions and
things like that, that nature.

1026
01:01:23,720 –> 01:01:26,840
And then it says, because I’ll
and and then he goes on to say

1027
01:01:27,200 –> 01:01:30,320
for I’ll never leave you or
forsake you, so don’t even worry

1028
01:01:30,320 –> 01:01:32,080
about physical things.
So I’m not going to leave you or

1029
01:01:32,080 –> 01:01:35,720
forsake you.
And even if men abuse you and

1030
01:01:35,720 –> 01:01:39,920
use you so it’s gone from
covetousness and possessions now

1031
01:01:39,920 –> 01:01:43,000
through to suffering, violence
and abuse.

1032
01:01:44,360 –> 01:01:46,760
Because all of them, all of them
can be endured.

1033
01:01:47,040 –> 01:01:51,080
All those things can be endured.
Lack of physical things right

1034
01:01:51,080 –> 01:01:54,560
through to physical abuse can be
endured with contentment.

1035
01:01:55,800 –> 01:01:58,560
If we remember that God will
never leave us or forsake us so

1036
01:01:58,560 –> 01:02:03,800
that we might boldly say, boldly
say you can say it as you’re

1037
01:02:03,800 –> 01:02:06,600
being burnt at the stake and the
flames are ripping through your

1038
01:02:06,600 –> 01:02:08,280
body.
And you can boldly say God will

1039
01:02:08,280 –> 01:02:10,880
never leave and forsake me.
That’s that’s the power of this.

1040
01:02:10,880 –> 01:02:14,040
This is the reality of this
regardless of what men will do

1041
01:02:14,040 –> 01:02:17,520
to you And Hebrews talks about
the the fact that a true a

1042
01:02:17,520 –> 01:02:20,880
believer when they appreciate
this, even the fear of death is

1043
01:02:20,880 –> 01:02:23,680
something that’s reduced and
they don’t feel the the power of

1044
01:02:23,680 –> 01:02:26,520
that and the bondage of that.
I think I’ve given you this

1045
01:02:26,520 –> 01:02:30,840
example of in previous sessions,
but I always am amazed by this

1046
01:02:31,120 –> 01:02:33,000
reality.
And I went to the Colosseum, I

1047
01:02:34,080 –> 01:02:36,960
think with some of the guys here
and just walk through those

1048
01:02:36,960 –> 01:02:40,800
little tunnels and those little
alleyways and thought about the

1049
01:02:40,800 –> 01:02:44,000
believers that were were were
taken in front of these crowds

1050
01:02:44,000 –> 01:02:47,000
and just ripped apart by lions.
And there’s this statement from

1051
01:02:47,000 –> 01:02:49,680
a historian that says the
Christians could not be

1052
01:02:49,680 –> 01:02:53,360
intimidated by the lions even
when they were given opportunity

1053
01:02:53,360 –> 01:02:55,440
to recant and save their lives.
They didn’t.

1054
01:02:55,880 –> 01:02:59,000
And they sang as they entered
the arena because of the words

1055
01:02:59,000 –> 01:03:03,000
fear not, I am with you.
The fact that Jesus was with

1056
01:03:03,000 –> 01:03:05,640
them, they believed with all
their hearts and they bet their

1057
01:03:05,640 –> 01:03:09,320
life on it.
But they still got eaten by the

1058
01:03:09,320 –> 01:03:11,320
lions.
They still got destroyed and

1059
01:03:11,320 –> 01:03:15,640
ripped apart, but they always
knew and believed the reality

1060
01:03:15,640 –> 01:03:22,120
that God was with them.
Imagine you’re on a plane and

1061
01:03:22,200 –> 01:03:26,280
all of a sudden the the captain
on the plane says we’re flying

1062
01:03:26,280 –> 01:03:28,720
over Ukraine.
We’ve just received news and

1063
01:03:28,720 –> 01:03:32,080
missiles being fired at us.
We have 3 minutes before we’re

1064
01:03:32,080 –> 01:03:36,720
all going to die.
Has God forsaken you in that

1065
01:03:36,720 –> 01:03:40,000
moment?
Or you scream to God to save you

1066
01:03:40,000 –> 01:03:42,600
from the rocket attack and
somehow miraculously get you out

1067
01:03:42,600 –> 01:03:44,680
of that?
Maybe that would that would be

1068
01:03:44,680 –> 01:03:48,040
quite OK.
But there could be a deeper

1069
01:03:48,040 –> 01:03:51,520
sense of serenity and surrender,
knowing that God is with you

1070
01:03:51,520 –> 01:03:53,600
regardless what happens, God is
with you.

1071
01:03:53,600 –> 01:03:56,440
If you die, you die.
God has not forsaken you.

1072
01:03:56,440 –> 01:03:58,040
He’s been with you all your
life.

1073
01:03:58,400 –> 01:04:00,280
His Holy Spirit has been with
you.

1074
01:04:01,720 –> 01:04:03,040
You’ve been.
You’re about to be wheeled in

1075
01:04:03,040 –> 01:04:07,440
for an operation and it could be
a life threatening 1 and you

1076
01:04:07,440 –> 01:04:10,280
pray and hope that you survive
it and that the doctors are

1077
01:04:10,280 –> 01:04:12,440
successful.
But as you’re wielding to the

1078
01:04:12,440 –> 01:04:15,360
operating theatre, you know God
is with you, literally with you

1079
01:04:15,440 –> 01:04:17,680
at that time.
And there’s an incredible power

1080
01:04:17,680 –> 01:04:22,880
to that reality that is
transcendent, isn’t it?

1081
01:04:22,880 –> 01:04:25,520
There’s this peace of God that
passes understanding.

1082
01:04:26,760 –> 01:04:28,880
So brothers and sisters, sorry
I’ve gone a little bit long.

1083
01:04:30,680 –> 01:04:34,760
We’ve touched on the presence of
God in two dimensions, the

1084
01:04:34,760 –> 01:04:37,840
relational presence of God seen
through the New Covenant, and

1085
01:04:37,840 –> 01:04:43,040
the fact that the Holy Spirit is
literally in US and above us and

1086
01:04:43,040 –> 01:04:47,440
through us and over us, and God
is with us in our life and

1087
01:04:47,440 –> 01:04:50,000
abides with us as well.
Thank you.