“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me ; 27. And you shall bear witness (testify), because you have been with me from the beginning.”
In these verses, Jesus was preparing His disciples for His ascension. This is His promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit. The word “comforter” is the translation of the Greek word Paraclete. There are three applications of this word that can describe the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. First, it can be translated “Counselor.” The Holy Spirit is our counselor, which means He is our source of wisdom. When we serve the Lord, we do not serve in the wisdom of the flesh; rather we serve in the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not innately have the wisdom that we will need in our service, but He will furnish us with the wisdom of God. Also, as our counselor, He will give us our direction. This means directions of how we should serve Him, based on the gifts that the Spirit gives. He also gives us the direction of where we should serve. There are many different ways, and many different places to serve the Lord. Seek His counsel for your life so that you will do the right thing in the right place in your service for the Lord. Second, it can be translated “Intercessor.” This is our source of comfort in our service for the Lord. Here is what Paul told us this intercessory ministry in Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: But the Spirit makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. 27. And He searches the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints (all believers) according to the will of God.” Again, we are reminded that we are not in this service alone, for we have been given the wisdom, power and accompaniment of the Holy Spirit. Third, it can be translated “Helper.” This is our source of victory. Just before He ascended back to the Father, Jesus gave them this promise in Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." He told them in John 15:27 that they would testify for Him under the power of the Holy Spirit. This did not end with Jesus’ original followers. It is also a promise to us. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is your counselor, your intercessor and your helper. Rejoice! And pause now and thank Jesus for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Bro. Joe
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“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all….”
I am assuming that you know something about the afflictions of Job. Job had a good life. He had a good family, a lot of cattle, and a lot of money – whatever that meant in that day. He was also a man who pleased God. He pleased God so much that when Satan said that Job was so good because his life was so comfortable, God took him up on it and allowed him to put Job to the test. (He’s God! He knows what He’s doing, so don’t question His perfect wisdom here.) Three of Job’s good friends heard about the misfortunes that had happened to Job and came to visit him. Their names were Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. This is where we come to “miserable comforters.” In the beginning, they were not miserable comforters. In Job 2, we note that when they heard about Job’s troubles, they packed up and went to visit him. When they arrived at Job’s place, they wept and mourned with him when they saw how bad the situation really was. In Job 2:13 we read: “So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was great.” At first, they did the right thing. They sat with him for seven days and seven nights. This means that they were really good friends. They were also wise in that they sat with Job and did not say a word. To use my own vernacular, they kept their mouths shut. If you don’t want to be a miserable comforter, when you are with grieving friends, don’t say a word, because usually at those times you will say the wrong thing. I discovered in my own grief ministry, that my being there was enough. At most I learned to say, “I have come to grieve with you.” There are other good things to say, but if in doubt keep your mouth shut. After seven days of friendly ministry, they decided to try to find the cause of Job’s problem. To make a long story short, they blamed God for Job’s problems. To be sure, God allowed Satan to do what he was doing, but it was Satan’s dirty work that caused Job’s misfortunes. One preacher, whose name escapes my mind, wrote a quote that has stuck with me over the years: “Why do we blame God for all of our troubles? Why would we make Him our enemy, when we need Him most as our friend?” Even if God caused the problem, we should not blame Him, because whatever he allows to happen in our lives happens for a good purpose. Instead of blaming God, we should praise Him, for He is always worthy of praise. Blaming God is never the answer for the misfortunes of our friends, or for the answer to our own misfortunes. In the process of blaming God, they judged that the reason Job was in his dire straits was because of his own behavior. They figured that God was punishing Job for some bad thing that he had done. Space doesn’t allow me to quote everything that these three friends said; suffice it to say that they did not really help Job by putting the blame on his behavior. Remember, Job was being tried by Satan’s acts because he was living the right kind of life. Job’s three friends just assumed that they knew what God was doing. We don’t help people when we judge them for what is happening in their lives. What grieving friends need, no matter what the cause of their grief, is a word of encouragement. If they really need to make changes in their lives, we should do it in a loving way and not in a judgmental, self-righteous way. We preachers are always reminded that when we point a finger at the congregation, there are three fingers, and a thumb, pointing back at us. That does not apply only to preachers. Think of your own reactions to people. They are not usually seeking our advice, but our friendship and our comfort. Remember that Job’s three friends did the best thing when they sat with him and kept their mouths shut. When they opened their mouths the whole thing fell apart. We would do well to remember that in all of our dealings with the world. Bro. Joe "Jesus said to them, of 'My food is to do the will of Him
Who sent Me, and to finish His work.'" Jesus said this to His disciples after they encouraged Him to eat after His conversation with the sinful woman at the well in Sychar. Jesus told them in verse 32, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Verse 34 is Jesus' explanation of His witnessing to the woman at the well, and is a great explanation to us of why Jesus came. First, Jesus said that He came "to do the will of Him Who sent me." Jesus came to earth and dwelt among men that He might carry out the will of the Father. Jesus did not come to the earth accidentally, nor did He come without purpose. When Jesus talked to the woman at the well, and told her that He was the Messiah, He was doing the will of the Father. It is just so interesting to me that in doing the Father's will, Jesus was talking to a woman who was of no real importance to the world at large, to tell her who and what He was. He saw a woman who needed Him, and needed His salvation, and explicitly told her who He was. The will of the Father was that Jesus save the rich and poor, the worldly successful and the worldly poor. The will of the Father is always that "whosoever will may come..." The "food" that Jesus spoke of here was, and is, to save people from their sins....(Aren't we all glad of that!) Jesus also said that His "food" was to finish the work that the Father sent Him to do. Little did the disciples know that to "finish the Father's work" would mean that He would have to die on the cross. In witnessing to the sinful woman at the well in Sychar, Jesus was doing what He came to earth to do. in a larger sense, part of the work that Jesus needed to finish was to also confront us with His gospel. People did not consider this sinful woman important, but to Jesus she was not just important, she was precious to the Father. You might not consider yourself important to the world, but you are precious in the Heavenly Father's sight. Jesus Finished the work of the Father on the cross at Calvary so that all who would come to Him by faith could be saved. This means that you need Jesus, and every rich and poor person in the world needs Jesus. He died on the cross to finish the work that would save you. Let's praise God that we are precious enough in His sight to be saved for all eternity. (Go ahead! Praise Him!) Bro. Joe "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." My God is real! I am talking of the God, that I know through Jesus Christ, and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in my heart. God is real! How do I know that? First, I believe in God because I believe what the Bible tells me about Him. There is no better source on this subject than the Holy Bible. The account of His dealings with humanity tells a story that really happened, and it would not have happened except that God is real. The Bible tells me that God loved all people enough to send His Son as the sacrifice for our sins. I believe that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus took place, and that because of His shed blood I can be saved, and that I am saved. Second, I believe in God because of His work in my life. God began His work in me early in my life, and called me to preach His word. I wrestled with that call because of my doubt about His existence, but He "took me to the wood shed" and made Himself real in my life. Nothing else could have turned me around at that stage in my life. After that "wrestling match" with Him, I went and knocked the dust off of my Bible and began to read it, and to actually understand it! Third, I believe in God because of the people that He has placed in my life. He led me to a godly woman who was always an example to me of the difference that God can make in our lives. Mary Alice Ezell Beauchamp was a true believer in Jesus Christ, and nothing could shake her belief in God. God sent her into my life because He knew that I needed her, and that, for some reason, she loved and needed me. She has gone on to Heaven now, but her influence is still at work in my life. I could go on an on here about God's activity in my life, but this is a short article and not a book. I do not have room to tell about all of the great people that God sent into my life. (If you are one of those people, THANK YOU!) Suffice it to say, that God has been at work in my life, and continues to do so. There are many other reasons that I believe in God, but the three in this article have been the most decisive in my life. You can believe in the God that we read about in the Bible, because He is real and wants to work in your life. Bro. Joe “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. 20. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.”
I can only imagine what the disciples felt as they huddled in a closed room, quaking in fear because of what the Jewish leaders might do to them. Then like a burst of light from heaven, Jesus appears in the room and gives them the usual Jewish greeting: “Peace be unto you.” When Jesus showed them His hands and His side, the disciples were glad (overjoyed) when they saw the Lord.” At that moment, the reality of who Jesus really was/is came home to them and they were overjoyed. It makes all the difference when Jesus is real to us. When I was a youngster of about nineteen years of age, I was filled with doubts about the reality of all that I had been taught in Sunday School, etc. I remember that I was alone in the sleeping area of the USS Hornet when I had what I will call an epiphany. I was about at rock bottom in my doubts as I lay there on my bunk, when His reality hit me right in my heart. I don’t know what He did. To this day, I can’t really describe what the Lord did to my mind and heart that day, but He made Himself real to me at that moment, and like the disciples, I was overjoyed when that reality hit me. I knocked the dust off of my Bible and began to listen to His call on my heart. Notice what happened when the reality of Jesus hit His disciples. First, that they were no longer afraid. They had gathered in that room and shut the door in the first place because they were afraid of what the Jews were going to do to them. They were hiding out, afraid to be seen. When Jesus becomes real to a person, one of the first things that happens is that fear is banished. This doesn’t mean that we will never be afraid again. It means that we will no longer fear that Jesus has forsaken us, for He is real every moment of our lives. Second, they experienced overwhelming joy: “Then were the disciples glad (overjoyed) when they saw the Lord.” In John 16:20, Jesus had predicted that this would happen: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy.” Can you imagine the relief that these men felt when they were confronted with the fact that all that Jesus said to them about Himself was true? They heard what he said then, but it didn’t really register until this moment. All of them had forsaken their livelihoods to follow Jesus. If He was dead, it meant that they had lost everything. But now they knew that He was alive. When Jesus is real to us, we experience joy as well. When we go through the troubles and trials of life, it is great to know that we are not alone, but that Jesus is real and that He has not forsaken us. Third, in verse 21 they were given a challenge and a new task: “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father has sent me, even so send I you.” They were to go into the world and share the reality of Jesus with other people – which they did. We believe in Jesus today, and He is real to us today, because these disciples obeyed Jesus and went out and spread the word of His reality until the word spread all over the world. Jesus has given us the challenge and task to tell others as well. Let’s go in great joy and do it. Bro. Joe "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord."
First, we must answer the question, what is a "good" man or woman? It is certainly not a perfect person. Only one person who walked this earth has been perfect, and that was Jesus Christ. Romans 3:23 tells us that: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." A "good" person is one who has surrendered his or her to Christ and is living by faith in Him. Unlike the Pharisees in the New Testament, this person does not flaunt his or her own religiosity, rather, he or she humbly serves the Lord in a spirit of humility and love. This does not mean that he or she approves everything that the world tries to convince us of. It does mean that he or she lives his or her life based on faith in Christ and on belief in the tenets of the Bible as set forth by Jesus. This doesn't leave room for self-righteousness, nor does it leave room for self-denigration. Second, what does it mean to have one's steps "ordered by the Lord"? How can a person know what it is that God wants him or her to do? One thing that this person does is pray. For example, as I have tried to have my steps ordered by the Lord, I have prayed for His guidance, and in His wisdom, God has helped me make right decisions for my life. I would be lying if I tried to convince you that I have done this perfectly, but it has sure worked well for me. I can also relate to you that when I have not prayed and have not listened in my mind and heart for the Lord's guidance, I have made big messes. Another thing that this person does is to try to live his or her life in line with the Bible. I have read where people who make fun of the Bible, take horrible examples of people in the Bible to prove that the Bible has a mixed message. These horrible examples are there to remind us that when we get away from God's guidance in our lives, we make a mess. There are a lot of people out there whose lives are big messes. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know right from wrong. Just a cursory glance at the Ten Commandments will offer great guidance on how to live a good life. Third, what are the advantages of having one's steps "ordered by the Lord"? It will give direction to our lives. The best modern example that I can think of is my own life. When I turned the direction of my life over to God in 1959, things began to fall into place in my mixed-up life. I wish that I could tell you that I have done it perfectly, but you would know that I was lying. Following His direction, however, I knew where I needed to go and went that way. Looking back on my life, now, it is amazing to me how God has ordered my steps. The best Biblical example that I can think of is the great apostle Paul. His life was headed in a direction of destruction. He was following his anger and his prejudices, and trying to destroy God's work in the world through Jesus. When he met Jesus on the Damascus Road, his life took a dramatic turn and he went in a new, more constructive direction. He ended up writing a third of the New Testament. Having our steps ordered by the Lord will give us guidance that we really, really need. You need divine guidance in your life. You can fight it, but if you will seek it, your life will be better. Take the psalmists' word for it: "A good (persons) steps are ordered by the Lord." Watch your step. Bro. Joe “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away?”
We usually think of Jesus’ twelve disciples as the only people who followed Him. They were appointed as apostles, but He had more followers than "the Twelve." A lot of people followed Jesus because of His miracles, and because they were fascinated with His teaching. But when it became clear that following Him would call for complete devotion, many turned away from Him and went on about their mundane lives. There are many people today who are fascinated with Jesus, but when it becomes clear to them that Jesus will make demands on their lives, they turn away without being saved. I want to explore reasons why I think people turn away from Jesus before they give their lives to Him. People today turn away from Jesus for much the same reason that the people in the text turned back, i.e., Jesus was not what they wanted Him to be. Jesus is who the Bible says He is. I hear and read many things about Jesus today that are not true. There is some idea afloat out there that Jesus does not really care how people live, or what people believe. These people have divorced Jesus from the rest of the Bible. People want to accept Jesus and do away with Paul. Jesus teaches us to be humble and to love all people, but He does not expect us to agree with people who have rejected Him and His calling on their lives. When it became clear to these people in the text that Jesus was not just a miracle worker, and that He would make some demands on their lives, they turned back from following Him. Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for our sins. He came to call out people to serve Him and , if need be, at some cost to themselves. Jesus is who and what He is, and we can’t make Him be what we want Him to be. People turn away from Jesus because He does not always do what they tell Him to do. Some people seem to think that praying in the name of Jesus is simply a formula for success. It is true that we have abundant and victorious life because of Jesus, but our every wish is not His command. It is thought today that all Jesus wants is for us to be happy. I’m not going to say that Jesus is against our being happy, but He wants to make a difference in what makes us happy. Let’s turn to the “beatitudes” in Matthew 5 for an example. In verse 10, Jesus said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed” also means “happy.” This does not tell us that if we follow Jesus, we will not have any problems. It is not just that Jesus is happy when we are happy, but that we should also be happy when He is happy. Jesus will answer all of our prayers, but at times He will tell us what He told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 after Paul asked for healing from his thorn in the flesh: “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” People turn away from Jesus because He is not popular with the world. The name of Jesus is almost a lightning rod in some places today. It is like people want to remove His name from the public conscience. Jesus told His disciples in John 15:18-19: “If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. 19. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” The Jesus of people’s imagination might be popular, but the Jesus who makes demands on people’s lives is not popular, and we will not be popular in the world at large if we follow Him. I don’t mean to turn you away from following Jesus, but to remind you that if you follow Jesus, it must be for the right reasons. Bro. Joe “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away?”
We usually think of Jesus’ twelve disciples as the only people who followed Him. They were appointed as apostles, but He had more followers than "the Twelve." A lot of people followed Jesus because of His miracles, and because they were fascinated with His teaching. But when it became clear that following Him would call for complete devotion, many turned away from Him and went on about their mundane lives. People today turn away from Jesus for much the same reason that the people in the text turned back, i.e., Jesus was not what they wanted Him to be. Jesus is who the Bible says He is. I hear and read many things about Jesus today that are not true. There is some idea afloat out there that Jesus does not really care how people live, or what people believe. These people have divorced Jesus from the rest of the Bible. People want to accept Jesus and do away with Paul. Jesus teaches us to be humble and to love all people, but He does not expect us to agree with people who have rejected Him and His calling on their lives. When it became clear to these people in the text that Jesus was not just a miracle worker, and that He would make some demands on their lives, they turned back from following Him. Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for our sins. He came to call out people to serve Him and , if need be, at some cost to themselves. Jesus is who and what He is, and we can’t make Him be what we want Him to be. People turn away from Jesus because He does not always do what they tell Him to do. Some people seem to think that praying in the name of Jesus is simply a formula for success. It is true that we have abundant and victorious life because of Jesus, but our every wish is not His command. It is thought today that all Jesus wants is for us to be happy. I’m not going to say that Jesus is against our being happy, but He wants to make a difference in what makes us happy. Let’s turn to the “beatitudes” in Matthew 5 for an example. In verse 10, Jesus said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed” also means “happy.” This does not tell us that if we follow Jesus, we will not have any problems. It is not just that Jesus is happy when we are happy, but that we should also be happy when He is happy. Jesus will answer all of our prayers, but at times He will tell us what He told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 after Paul asked for healing from his thorn in the flesh: “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” People turn away from Jesus because He is not popular with the world. The name of Jesus is almost a lightning rod in some places today. It is like people want to remove His name from the public conscience. Jesus told His disciples in John 15:18-19: “If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. 19. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” The Jesus of people’s imagination might be popular, but the Jesus who makes demands on people’s lives is not seek popularity, and we will not be popular in the world at large if we follow Him. I don’t mean to turn you away from following Jesus, but to remind you that if you follow Jesus, it must be for the right reasons. Bro. Joe “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. 5. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”
The last two verses of Psalm 100 tell us a lot about thanksgiving. For a Christian, being thankful is not just a nice gesture; rather, it is a Christian necessity. We should “be thankful unto Him." We should be thankful because of God’s eternal goodness towards us: “For the Lord is good.” In what ways do we see His goodness? He is good to us. When Jesus walked on the earth, He revealed God’s goodness to us. Everywhere He went, Jesus did good to people. Those who were blind were enabled to see. Those who were deaf were enabled to hear. Those who were lame were enabled to walk. The Lord has been good to me, and I imagine that you can, or should, say the same. This brings us to Isaiah 53:6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.” We should be thankful because of God’s everlasting mercy. A good definition of mercy is “loving kindness.” This means that God’s mercy toward us has no limit. God’s wrath is seen when we have shoved His mercy aside, and have chosen to go our own (or the devil’s) way. God has mercy on us in spite of our sins. 1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively (living) hope.” Romans 5:8: “But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God’s mercy should be contagious. That means that since God has been so merciful toward us, we should show that mercy to other people. (This is easy to write, but it takes real faith to accomplish it in our daily dealings with people.) We should be thankful because of God’s enduring, and eternal, truth: “and His truth endures to all generations.” God’s truth is everlasting and ever present. We cannot deny the Ten Commandments, because they are God’s truth. We cannot deny the truth’s given in the Lord’s Prayer because they are eternal. We cannot deny the validity of the “Golden Rule,” which tells us “to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” We cannot deny the truth given in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We cannot deny that if we will sincerely accept Jesus Christ by faith, He will forgive us in spite of our sins. Are you a thankful person? You have every reason to be thankful! Praise God and thank Him. Bro. Joe "Know ye that the Lord He is God: It is He that made us, and not ourselves, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture."
To really know God is to know that He is GOD! He loves us, and through His Son, He has saved us, but in the final analysis He is God.....and we are not! I sometimes look into the sky and think about the immensity of God. Pardon the grammar, but there is never a place where God is not. We need to let the "Godness of God" take over our hearts and minds. It is true "that the Lord He is God." We should remember that God is our creator: "It is He that hath made us and not we ourselves." There is no such thing as a "self-made" Christian. We did not save ourselves, and it was by God's grace that we are saved. Think of it, the God who rules the universe, and is everywhere all at one time, and who created us, loved us enough to give His Son to die as a sacrifice for our sins. There is no way that we could do that for ourselves. Our salvation is a "God-size job." Our relationship with Him is a "God-size job." God has the whole earth in His hand: and He loves us! He takes us personally. Be Glad! We should remember that "we are His people and the sheep of His pasture." If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, rejoice that you are one of His people, and that He allows you, by grace, to be a "sheep of His pasture." Take a moment here and thank God that by His grace, you belong to Him, and think of the incredibility of that! Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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