John 14:15-31 “Never Alone: The Promise of God’s Presence”

[0:00] You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.

[0:12] Y'all, that was beautiful. What a beautiful song. I hope that you hear in that song, you're not alone, okay? You are not alone.

[0:24] In Christ, you are whole. You are made whole and you are set apart as holy. And that's what we get to talk about this morning and I'm excited about it.

[0:37] Because a lot of us are lonely. A lot of us are asking that question, is there anyone out there that understands?

[0:49] In a bigger level, that question, is there anyone out there? It's captivated humanity for centuries. It's not just only one of my favorite topics to discuss with anyone.

[1:00] It's the subject of many television programs, books, podcasts. And it's actually the foundation of SETI. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

[1:15] That's an organization that is fully dedicated to answering the question, are we alone? You ever thought about that?

[1:29] You ever wonder about loneliness just on an earthly level? Deep down, our souls harbor this lingering fascination, yet also this fear of loneliness.

[1:43] Loneliness. In May 2023, the Surgeon General at the time called loneliness a public health epidemic. Okay, I asked one of our local counselors, what's a good working definition of loneliness?

[1:59] And this was suggested. An unmet desire to be known, accepted, wanted, and loved by another person or other people.

[2:13] When Americans feel lonely, studies show that they report easing their feelings of loneliness in various ways. So, one study, a very big study, 50% showed that 50% turned to distractions like TV, podcasts, social media, the doom scroll.

[2:31] 41% just go take a walk. 38% reach out to friends or family. 31% spend time with their pets or exercise.

[2:44] 26% eat more food. 13% turn to drugs or alcohol. 9% go to a therapist or a counselor.

[2:57] And 6% volunteer. But some may do any combination of all of those things. But what about Dave?

[3:09] Dave was tired of dating apps. So Dave bought a billboard. In July 2024, 28-year-old data manager from Pennsylvania, Dave, was going to do something about that loneliness.

[3:28] So he made a billboard. It says, Dave can cook well. Dave has normal hobbies. Dave owns a cat, pictured.

[3:42] Dave bought a billboard. Dave became a worldwide sensation. And he received thousands of messages from people all over the world.

[3:53] He's been interviewed and all kinds of funny things. But that's a funny way to deal with loneliness. But, you know, what do you do with loneliness? Loneliness is an epidemic.

[4:04] I, um, actually, let's go back to Dave. Let's leave. Let's leave that there. That's why. I will never forget the time that I was in the fourth grade.

[4:16] And I was involved in a car wreck. And I was riding in the back of a station wagon. And I had to get out of the car and was all mangled. And I had to get in the ambulance and they took me by myself and before my parents could get there.

[4:31] And I remember feeling so lonely. And my mom got to the wreck site and all she saw was my beach towel with my blood all over it. And she felt lonely.

[4:42] Just imagine that, that feeling of separation. Fast forward, though, to my sophomore year. And I'm riding my 1978 Celica, which has six horns.

[4:53] No one believed me. They're six horns. Okay? In case you ran out of one, you got five more. And I'm in high school.

[5:04] It's spring break. And all of my friends were out of town. And I wasn't invited anywhere. And I was, we didn't have social media then. But you could still hear what was going on.

[5:15] Like people would call and stuff like that. And I remember riding around with Pearl Jam's epic song, Black, playing in the background. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. And I'm like, I'm so alone.

[5:26] I was like, why? Why me? Right? In that 78 Celica. Maybe, maybe you have experienced loneliness in a new school.

[5:40] I remember I changed schools in the seventh grade, eighth grade, sorry. And walking into that lunchroom the first day. I could still remember it. And I knew friends from the neighborhood.

[5:51] But when I walked in there, they looked at me a lot differently. Where do I sit? I remember the first week walking down the hall, somebody just goes, you need to go to the store. And I was like, ooh.

[6:02] And that's when I started wondering about self-image and what I looked like. And I felt lonely. Maybe you've been, you're in a new class this year and you don't have any of your friends in it.

[6:16] And you're like, I don't like any of my teachers. Right? That's a hard place to be. You can feel lonely. Or maybe you've been in a waiting room at a hospital or to receive the results from a test.

[6:28] You can feel that moment of what if I'm alone. Now, when I'm talking about loneliness, I don't mean solitude. I want to separate it from solitude.

[6:40] Okay? Solitude is more of a choice to be alone. And content. And solitude is a good thing. Right? A place where you find peace. And you can find pleasure.

[6:52] But loneliness is kind of a state of sadness. Right? A state of feeling that isolation. And it just keeps piling up and you feel like no one else understands. And the reality is we all experience loneliness.

[7:06] It is a universal human experience. But here's what's important. It was never part of God's original design. Okay? God himself is the opposite of loneliness in his being.

[7:21] In fact, God is community. He is Father. He is Son. He is Holy Spirit. Our catechism, which question 65, by the way, said what is forbidden in the fifth commandment?

[7:35] And it just basically said the first one and it said the opposite of that thing. So that's why I left it out. So, but the catechism also says in questions four through six, it tells us who God is.

[7:50] Okay? Okay? And it says this. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

[8:02] There is only one living and true God. There are three persons in the Godhead. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance, and equal in power and glory.

[8:15] Okay? Okay? So God in his being is never alone and never has been alone. And loneliness was never meant for us originally either.

[8:26] And when God created us, he said, it's not good for man to be. See, the fear of loneliness began then after he asked that question, after sin entered the world, where he said, where are you?

[8:46] And where were we? We were hiding. We were getting away isolated. We started to pull away. That's when loneliness came into the world. And it's been a problem ever since.

[8:59] Maybe you experience it. And I've expressed to you all before, I've had a lot of church hurt. Maybe you have too from somewhere. That can make you feel isolated where you just run away from God's people and away from God.

[9:15] Maybe you experience some moment where you're like, I don't know who I can talk to about this. That's when I feel most isolated. It's something I need to talk about, but I can't talk to someone about it without affecting the thing and making it worse.

[9:31] Maybe you've been in a situation like that in your life or at work. Well, today God is going to show us a little bit more about how to deal with loneliness. Listen to what he says to start.

[9:44] Okay. If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

[10:01] You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. Okay. Okay. We all experience loneliness. And here, if you remember from last week's passage, the disciples, they're scared.

[10:16] Okay. Because Jesus has just said he's going away. And he says, you don't know the way to where I'm going. And then he said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. And they're scared.

[10:27] Okay. Because they don't want him to leave. They're confused about where he's going. And how does Jesus comfort them? He says in this passage, he promises that he's going to send a helper.

[10:40] Okay. And here's why this is important. If you could do it, if we could do it on our own, then we wouldn't need a helper. Okay.

[10:52] Now let's talk about that word helper just for a minute. In this passage, it's translated helper. You'll look in your Bible. Some of them may say counselor. Some may say advocate.

[11:05] Okay. The Greek word, it's like that word love. There's a bunch of, like we say love, but there's a bunch of different Greek words. Well, this word is paraclete. And we don't, we've got a bunch of different English words that don't really capture all of it.

[11:16] So you'll notice it different in different Bibles. So let's talk about that for a minute. It can mean advocate. It can mean counselor. Think about a best friend. It can mean that.

[11:27] And so it's hard to just express in one word. But if you could combine your best friend, somebody who was always there to help you all the time perfectly, somebody who always protected you, who always told you the truth, and whenever you had a problem, they could help you work it all out and sort it out right all the time perfectly, that's paraclete.

[11:46] If you could put all that into one person, that's the paraclete. That's the helper. Okay. So who is the helper? Spoiler alert, the Holy Spirit.

[11:59] Verse 26 is going to tell us that. It's the Holy Spirit. It's God himself. The third person in the Godhead who's going to be with those who look to Jesus Christ in faith.

[12:14] Faith is putting your trust in someone. It's being sure that what they say is true and trusting that that thing that they say is true. The assurance of things hoped for, the certainty of things not seen, as the scriptures say.

[12:27] So Jesus here is addressing the problem of loneliness by promising the Holy Spirit. He's ensuring that we are never left alone because he promises to fill the space of loneliness with his presence, with God's presence.

[12:46] The problem is we are really busy trying to fill that space with our own things, with our own, like those lists of things I read earlier.

[12:58] They're not bad things. But are we taking our loneliness to God himself? A lot of times we fill it with busyness, with distraction, with performance, with addictions.

[13:12] I don't know when it hits you most, but for me, loneliness will hit me sometimes when I'm riding in my car and it's quiet and I've got a lot of time to think. And remember, studies show that when you have a lot of time to think, your thoughts are going to go negative first.

[13:28] So if you go there, you're probably human, okay? But that's when loneliness hits me. Well, I'm the only one. And social media, it always cures it for me because it gives me no reason to compare.

[13:40] And I go on there and it all goes away. So I don't know what Jesus is talking about needing a helper. That's got social media. Joke. It makes it way, way worse, right? But Jesus continues.

[13:54] And see, he's with us all the time. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more.

[14:04] But you will see me because I live. You also will live. In that day, you will know that I'm in my Father. And you in me. And I in you.

[14:14] Whoever has my commandments and keeps them. He it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father. And I will love him and manifest myself to him.

[14:27] Okay, so here Jesus is addressing our greatest fears of loneliness. He's promising that he's not going to abandon us as orphans. He's saying, you always have a place to belong if you are mine.

[14:44] His presence will always be with us. The intertwining of our spirit with God's spirit via the Holy Spirit. It's known as union with Christ.

[14:56] And as my late seminary professor, Dr. Howard Griffith, a wonderful man, said, union with Christ is everything. The intertwining of our spirit with God's spirit.

[15:12] I'm in the Father. You in me. I in you. Let's think about this from a practical level. Feeling and understanding.

[15:23] Okay. God understands us on a level that we cannot even begin to understand. Just feeling.

[15:35] The Father feels what Jesus feels. Jesus feels what the Father feels. This means that God feels what you feel. And that you can experience and feel a measure of what God himself feels when he looks at human beings.

[15:56] Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. We talked about that a few weeks ago. It starts by letting his presence in. And then love your neighbor. Neighbor meant human beings as yourself.

[16:10] So God's love in us then allows us to look and feel about other human beings the way that he does. With that agape love, that sacrificial give my life for the sake of other humans love.

[16:24] It notices. It's a love that cares. It's a love that provides. Now earlier in verse 12, Jesus said, Whoever believes in him will do the works that he does and even greater works, All because he's going to the Father.

[16:44] And what's going to happen? He's going to send the helper, the advocate, the best friend, the counselor. What he's saying is, I'm going to be there helping you all the time.

[17:00] Now think about this. If some of you in here, maybe you've worked out before. If you have a good workout trainer, you, periods of time, you don't like them. Because they ask you to do things that you dislike.

[17:12] And then you're in a moment and you're like, I can't do any more. Like, yeah, do ten more of those. And they always lie about the clock. They're like, one more minute and it's two more minutes. They're perpetually pushing you further. Okay?

[17:23] But they're doing it because they help you. And when you get down, they help you back up. Think about a bodyguard. You've seen people walking around with their entourages.

[17:35] And then something happens and they jump in. They take over immediately. They shield with their own bodies. Or space people.

[17:45] This is space town. Think about astronauts. When astronauts are floating in space, they always have communication with Houston. Right? Houston, we have a problem.

[17:57] That's okay. We're going to solve your problem. Right? They're always there in their ear. So, in the same way, but a much greater way, Jesus is always with us, providing protection, guidance, encouragement, and constant communication via his Holy Spirit, his presence inside you.

[18:23] That's why he says he will manifest. He will show his love to who, though? Everybody? Everybody? Well, the whole world will see Jesus by the people that really follow Jesus.

[18:33] But he's saying here, by those who keep my commandments, which you're going to get into. Who call him Lord. Who call him teacher. Who call him their rabbi. Who give their lives and they form their lives around the things that he asks them to form their lives around.

[18:46] Ultimately, himself. Offering themselves as living sacrifices, as Romans 12 says. Holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. You offer your life to Jesus, who is the truth.

[19:00] Who is God himself. So, the Holy Spirit, we all experience loneliness, but the Holy Spirit also gives us guidance in our loneliness.

[19:15] Okay? We can't do it on our own, so God sends us a helper. But now, he also sends us some guidance. All right, let's read these next verses here.

[19:25] Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he'll keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

[19:43] Whoever does not love me, whoever does not love me, whoever does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. These things I've spoken to you while I'm still with you.

[19:56] But the helper, spoiler alert, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

[20:07] Okay, so naturally, these statements here that Jesus has said, they're confusing. And so Judas says, not Iscariot, this is the son of James. He asked Jesus, what do you mean?

[20:20] And Jesus responds by talking about the correlation between loving God, keeping his commandments, and then he highlights our need for a constant helper, a constant teacher.

[20:32] And he starts talking about coming and making his home in us. Okay, so the Holy Spirit gives us guidance, and if we could do it on our own, we wouldn't need a teacher.

[20:44] We wouldn't need a helper. We wouldn't need a teacher. So is Jesus saying in these verses, here, I'll go back to the verses. Is he saying, if you've ever broken a commandment, you don't love me.

[20:59] Because you could read that into this. Do you think he's saying that? You shout it out. This is an open discussion at this point. No.

[21:10] Now, why would he not be saying that? Because why? Because God loves us.

[21:21] Okay, yes. That is, I can't argue with that at all. I wouldn't want to argue with it, especially such a sweet voice. My goodness. He's not saying that if you've ever messed up, that you're not a Christian and that God doesn't love you.

[21:37] Okay, that would be inconsistent with the rest of Scripture. Right? It wouldn't be consistent. None of us keeps the commandments perfectly. But if we love Jesus and God loves us, part of that is expressed in the way of living the way that he taught.

[21:56] Okay? Through the Holy Spirit's work, we can spend time with Jesus. We can become near Jesus. And we can actually become like Jesus. And start to do some of those crazy love things that we read about in the Bible.

[22:12] But Jesus says in Matthew 5, 17 through 19, he didn't come to abolish the law. Didn't come to abolish the commandments. Does anyone know what he said he came to do with those?

[22:25] To fulfill them. Okay? Jesus is the only one who keeps all the commandments. But he expects us, in that verse he says too, to do them and to teach them as well.

[22:40] What's even more amazing is that he says he's going to go back to the Father. And they're going to come make a home within us. Now, in the verses last week, he said, In my Father's house are many rooms.

[22:54] Okay? This is the same language when he says we're going to make a home in you. So think about that for a second. God's got a home in heaven for us. And while we're on earth, we've got a home in us for God.

[23:06] There's this constant, again, connection. This union with Christ. So, when he makes our home inside us, he continues to teach us and to remind us of the things that he says.

[23:19] And that's the work of the Holy Spirit. The one who changes us and forms us into the image of God. Okay? And there's a cooperation with our spirit and the Holy Spirit.

[23:29] My friend Butch Hardman, he always used to say, It's possible for the Holy Spirit to be resident and not president. Right? Is he president? And you might, it's an election year.

[23:42] Let's re-elect the Holy Spirit. Okay? So, through that gift of the Spirit, Jesus is saying, If you love me, I'm going to help you keep my commandments.

[23:56] I'm the one who kept them fully, but I'm going to help you live out where I call you to be now. I'm going to help you become like me. I'm going to help you treat human beings the way that I've created you to treat them. And I'm using you as a vessel of my love and my mercy to those people in your life that I'm calling you to love.

[24:12] I'm always there. I'm always providing strength. I'm always providing encouragement. I'm holding you in my arms in every moment. But what might that look like for us to hold him close to us and call out to him in every moment?

[24:29] I'll tell you, it's not easy. For me, there's this phrase that my friend Bill Nash has been saying a lot lately to me over the past few years. It's called, palms up.

[24:41] And I think the story goes, I may botch it, that there was this guy who was going to testify in a courtroom. And he would get really nervous. And the lawyer said to him, hey, just remember, put your palms up when you're sitting on that witness stand.

[24:57] And you can't control the outcomes. Just give it up to God. And he said, you know, I should probably do that in everything, not just when I'm on the witness stand. And so for me, this phrase for my wife and I has become one that we say often to each other.

[25:13] We can't control outcomes. So in those moments where I'm lonely or I'm fearful, I just try to say palms up. And sometimes I just say it over and over and over and over. I don't do it perfect.

[25:24] But that's one of the ways I try to invite the Holy Spirit into the loneliness of every moment. Palms up. Palms up right now, God. You've got this. I can't control this outcome. So when that hits me in my loneliness, that's one of the phrases that I go to.

[25:37] But the Holy Spirit, he, since we all experience loneliness, we can't do it alone. We need a helper, right? The Holy Spirit gives us guidance in our loneliness.

[25:48] If we could do it on our own, then we wouldn't need a teacher. But also, the Holy Spirit gives us transcendental peace in our loneliness. Let's read about that. Peace I leave with you.

[26:02] My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I'm going away, and I'll come to you.

[26:16] If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I'm going to the Father. For the Father is greater than I. And now I've told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe.

[26:29] I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

[26:42] Rise, let us go from here. So, Jesus here is now directly, I feel, addressing the fears and anxieties that all of us have that accompany the loneliness that we all experience at some point.

[27:00] The disciples are scared because Jesus is their life, and he says, I'm going away. I'm not going to talk to you for a while. You may have experienced this going away fear.

[27:11] I know this time of year, some of you have to drop your kids off at college. You're wondering, what's happening? I can't protect them. Well, they're thinking that way.

[27:24] He's going away. He's not going to protect us. You may have dropped your kids off at camp before. You know, for the first time, fears of what might happen.

[27:36] But you may have been fearful of being alone before, right? So, all of that's going on in their minds. And Jesus says, don't let your hearts be troubled, and don't be afraid.

[27:48] He even gives them like a gentle rebuke. If you really knew where I was going, you'd be excited. He says, if you really love me, right? Who loves me? You keep my commandments. If you're willing to keep my commandments, be excited about this, because this is actually going to turn out way better for you and for me in the long run.

[28:04] But you've got to have the end game in mind here. He tells them these things now, he says, so that later they will believe in him. And we know right now, looking back, what he's talking about is the cross, his death, and then the resurrection, okay?

[28:22] Jesus is talking about willingly giving up his life as the only one who's truly fully obedient, okay? To the Father. And he says he's not doing it because Satan, Satan has no claim on him.

[28:36] Why is he doing this? Because it's an expression of what it means to truly love the Father. He's giving his life for the sake of the other, being the true good Samaritan.

[28:50] And now he's our good shepherd, okay? And he's doing it for us. This is an expression of what it means.

[29:00] He gives up his life for us in our loneliness. And in verse 27, he goes on to promise us peace. He says, peace I give you, not like the world gives, because the world gives you peace that requires something of you.

[29:15] The world gives you peace that is going to end when you don't give that person what they want, okay? Jesus says, I don't give it like that.

[29:27] He gives a peace that transcends, that supersedes, that is outside of loneliness that we'll experience on earth. Why is that? Because Jesus is offering us an eternal peace, a peace that will never end.

[29:40] End. Our loneliness here might feel like eternity, but it's really just temporary. And that's what Jesus is kind of pointing out.

[29:51] Listen, don't be afraid. I'm going to send someone to be with you, but if you only knew eternity ahead, well, you'd be so excited right now. Because he's present with us, even in our darkest moments.

[30:05] He's present with you in your darkest moments. But I need to talk about dog voice for a minute before we end, okay? You all have a dog voice.

[30:18] I know it. It's how you talk to your animal when you need to comfort them. Okay, my dog voice, I'm willing to admit it up here, goes a little something like this.

[30:31] You're the sweetest boy in the whole wide world. And no matter what has happened with my animals, if I use that dog voice, they're instantly happy.

[30:43] Okay? Well, on a far, far, far, far greater level, Jesus is looking at his disciples, and I want him to hear him saying it to you today.

[30:54] It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be all right. Don't be afraid. Okay? He's given us that.

[31:10] Why is it going to be okay, y'all? Because if we could do this on our own, we wouldn't need a savior. But he's saying it's going to be okay, right? He's given you this peace that conquers not only fear of loneliness, but the fear of death.

[31:27] Okay? And we know that the cross is going to end the battle, but it's going to be the beginning of a new life to come.

[31:39] All right? In every single moment. He's going back to the Father, and he's going to send his Holy Spirit, and that assures us that we're never, ever alone, even in times of trial.

[31:50] He understands our loneliness. It's all going to be okay. If we could do it on our own, then we wouldn't need a savior. But the reality is, we can't do it on our own.

[32:02] That's the slide I thought was up there the whole time I was saying that. And there was a dog behind my head. You've got to love that. So, I want you to now just reflect on loneliness as we come in to land the plane here.

[32:16] Think of loneliness on the cross now. Okay? Jesus on the cross. What did he say to God, the Father? Why have you saken me?

[32:28] Why have you left me alone here? Right? He was alone for a moment right there, and it was the worst lonely moment that we could ever think of.

[32:41] Okay? So that we don't have to be alone forever. The thief on the cross, thank you, God, for putting us next to you in this picture of loneliness.

[32:52] One of the thieves said, nope, not going to have it. The other thief says, will you please just remember me? And what did Jesus say?

[33:04] Yep. Today I will. But first you need to go get church membership and get baptized. And the thief didn't do it.

[33:14] And the story ended. No. That stuff is important. It's a privilege. Right? But what is really required for salvation is that we believe in Jesus and he remembers our name.

[33:30] And he gives us a new name and he gives us a new life. And it's the same for you wherever you are. It's not your works, your performances. It's not how good you forgive people. It's not how many efforts you put in to serving in your church.

[33:42] All important things. It's giving your life to him. And in that moment, you see that great exchange. And if you've had that great exchange, then the Holy Spirit is right with you where you are.

[33:54] Okay? But if you haven't, you need to. It's time. It's time to make that exchange. Go and give your life to Jesus. Because he's offering you an eternal peace that transcends the temporary loneliness here on this earth.

[34:11] The thief didn't want to be alone. Right? And the core of the thief's question was loneliness. And at the core of hell is loneliness. And y'all, that's what we're really all afraid of.

[34:23] Deep down inside, separation from God. And he's saying, do not fear. Do not fear. In Christ, we don't fear because God made him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

[34:39] It's not our righteousness. It's God's righteousness. It's Jesus's righteousness. And the Holy Spirit, you know what he does? He's always there helping you remember this. See, on the cross, Jesus met that greatest need.

[34:53] He died in our lonely place. On the cross, Jesus addressed our greatest fear, separation from God, by dying in our lonely place and offering us an eternal place with him.

[35:06] And on the cross, Jesus defeated Satan, the one who tries to hold us in slavery to what? The fear of death.

[35:17] Okay? Jesus conquered him by conquering death itself. The wages of sin is death. Jesus took care of it. It is paid. And he's now the final sacrifice for our sins once and forever.

[35:31] And there is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, those who have Christ Jesus presently in them via the Holy Spirit because they've given their lives to Christ.

[35:46] Because we have a helper, a counselor, a best friend, and an advocate, this is all possible. Now listen about advocates for a second. One of my friends says it this way, the Holy Spirit, in addition to pointing us to Jesus, is our emotional advocate.

[36:03] Okay? Satan's going to come at us as a prosecuting attorney, but the Spirit reminds us that there is no condemnation towards us because of Christ. We're free and we're clear, as we sang earlier, we are free in the eyes of the highest court.

[36:18] That means we can rest. The Holy Spirit is also a renewing advocate. Okay? He not only frees us from emotional weight of shame and condemnation.

[36:28] He frees us to live obediently to God in a happy way. That means we can live more beautifully. So, think of a spotlight. A spotlight is on the stage, right?

[36:40] All you can see is the actor on the stage. That's the Holy Spirit's job now. Who's he pointing us to? Jesus. Because he says, I will send you another helper.

[36:51] That means that there is a first helper. There's a first advocate. And the first advocate is Jesus Christ. Now, the problem is we trust in the wrong advocate a lot of times.

[37:05] Okay? The advocate that you trust in is that thing that if it's taken away right now, you're crushed. That's your advocate. Okay?

[37:16] We're supposed to be able to focus on Christ at all times. That's the hard thing. That's why we also need a helper. That's why we need each other. We need community to do that. Right?

[37:26] But Christ is to be our first advocate and then the job of the second advocate, the one on earth, is to point us to the advocate in heaven who is before the throne of God constantly interceding for us once and for all eternally.

[37:41] And if you have union with the Holy Spirit, you have someone constantly teaching you, pointing you, and that is your Savior. So Jesus has to be our advocate though.

[37:52] And when we ask him to be, he's going to give us that Holy Spirit to come and live inside us. So why does all this matter? Because we can't do it on our own.

[38:04] And Jesus endured the loneliness of the cross to end loneliness forever. His presence is our deepest answer or the answer to our deepest fears.

[38:14] So to conclude, what does this have to do with you right now? Take a stab at this. Well, today and tomorrow and the next day. Try starting your day by inviting the Holy Spirit into your thoughts.

[38:30] Before you get on your phone, into your prayers, into your actions, when you hit a moment of isolation or you feel bad or something like that, remind yourself, God is with me.

[38:44] You're going to hit a tough time this week. You might hit a tough time today. You can invite His peace in that moment. Come guard my heart and my mind right now, Spirit. Because He already understands where you are.

[38:56] And you're not alone. You're not abandoned. You're not unloved. You're taken care of. Palms up on those outcomes. During your conversations with other people, we're called to live out the things that God has put in us.

[39:12] Maybe this week, try to be intentional about reaching out to somebody who might be feeling lonely. It could be a phone call.

[39:23] It could be a visit. It could be just a kind word in a grocery store. You can be a vessel of God's enduring love and encouragement wherever you go.

[39:34] But you've got to be present in those moments. You've got to be intentional in those moments. And then, lastly, the unexpected. During the unexpected. I want to challenge you to invite this truth into your life.

[39:45] I want to challenge me to invite this truth into my life. That God's not going to leave us, right? But every time I feel fear or anxiety or you this week, take hold and speak this truth over yourself.

[39:58] Jesus is with me now and I will never be alone. Jesus is with me now and I will never be alone. And you just say that out loud.

[40:09] In that moment, even if you have to say it a hundred times a day, we all experience loneliness and he endured it so we don't have to forever. You're never alone, y'all.

[40:24] Is there anyone out there? Yes. All the time. Every single moment. His name is Jesus. Jesus is with you.

[40:34] He's for you. And he's in you by his Holy Spirit every step of the way and that changes every single thing. So if you don't know him, would you make that great exchange today of giving your life to him and accepting eternal peace?

[40:49] If you do, Jesus is with me now and every single moment I will never be alone. Let's pray. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for these people.

[41:00] Help us to live out, Father, the truths of your Spirit. Thank you that you're present with us right now and you're present with us in every moment and if anyone here doesn't know that peace that transcends understanding, I pray that they would give their lives to you and that you would change them forever the way that you've changed us.

[41:18] And those of us that have forgotten the power that we have at our fingertips in every single moment, may we start calling upon it and may Satan himself shudder because we do not care what he throws our way.

[41:30] He has no power over us because of you, Holy Spirit, because of you, Lord Jesus, because of you, God the Father. Thank you. We pray these things in Christ's holy name. Abba, Father.

[41:41] Amen. For more information, visit us online at southwood.org. and visit us tinyirsiniz.hub.com.

[41:53] Thank you.