It is such a fascinating time to be alive. All of the mysteries in the world are now solvable. We have a guide in our pocket who can help us navigate any situation we find ourselves in. It gives us the knowledge we need. It helps us make the right decisions about our health, our career, our relationships, and where we should go for brunch this weekend. I even met a first time guest on Easter who got here because Chat GPT told him that this was the church for him. I have no idea what we paid for that, but way to go marketing team.

Aren’t you so grateful to be alive in the age of AI? Just imagine if you had been born a century ago. There would have been so much that you just wouldn’t have had access to. Can you imagine having to make decisions without consulting AI? How would you have ever made it in this world? Without it, how would you have ever known what you were meant to do with your life?

Just so we’re clear, I’m not against AI. But I’m convinced we’ve been given access to something greater than Artificial Intelligence. This is what I want to talk about today in a message I’m calling, “Real Time Guide”.

Who or what are you most depending on to guide you in your everyday life?

As we continue our series on the Holy Spirit we’re calling I’m Still With You, we want to bring into focus one significant aspect of the Spirit and it’s this:

The Holy Spirit is a communicator.

If this is true, then I think we should be doing everything we can to understand how He communicates, what He wants to communicate, and whether or not He’s interested in communicating specifically with us.

John 14:25-27 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

John 16:12-15 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

We learned last week that this word “Advocate” is from the Greek word paraclete.

paraclete – the one called alongside to help

What the Holy Spirit does as a Communicator:

-Teaches us all things.

-Reminds us of what Jesus has said to us.

-Leaves us with peace, not fear.

-Guides us into all truth.

-Tells us what is yet to come.

-Glorifies Jesus when He makes truths known to us.

The Holy Spirit as our Teacher. God gives us the Spirit so that He can teach us. Teach us about who God is, who we are, and how God wants us to live. The Spirit of God is sent by God the Father in the name of Jesus to teach us all things. Here are some ways we prepare ourselves to be taught by the Holy Spirit: paying attention, teachability, humility, and willingness to obey what the Spirit teaches us.

“Why should God speak to me? What am I doing in life that would make speaking to me a reasonable thing for him to do? Are we in business together in life? Or am I in business just for myself, trying to ‘use a little God’ to advance my projects?” -Dallas Willard, Hearing God

But Jesus says here’s one of the main things the Spirit will do in His communication with us – He will REMIND us of what Jesus has said. This is such a major point I want to emphasize to all of us today as we learn how the Spirit communicates with us.

“According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is a particular kind of teacher: one who helps you remember, to put it plainly, the Holy Spirit has no original content.” -Tyler Staton, The Familiar Stranger

The only way you can ever be re-minded of something is if you have ever minded it in the first place…if you have ever learned it before. This is why we just keep talking around here about the importance of Scripture engagement. If one of the Spirit’s jobs is to remind you of Scripture, the Spirit will not be able to do that part of His job if you aren’t familiar with the Word of God. If you were to ask me about my personal time in Scripture and the benefits that come with that, there are many. But the thing that helps me the most is that I have it in me so that in the real life moment where I need it illuminated, the Spirit surfaces it in my heart and mind. That might happen while I’m preaching this sermon. It might happen when I get into a conflict with someone. It certainly happens in countless pastoral conversations.

Just imagine you are facing a difficult situation with your spouse or your boss or your kids. How helpful would it be for the Spirit of God to bring the exact Scripture to your mind with power at the very moment you needed it?! We’ll continue talking about how the Holy Spirit can guide us into all the specifics God has for our lives, but please understand this principle.

The people who will most hear the Holy Spirit speak outside of Scripture will be those most familiar with Scripture.

Jesus says that when it’s the Spirit, you’ll be left with peace rather than fear. This was important for His disciples to hear because Jesus was about to depart and they would continue living in a highly contested world. You and I live in a highly contested world. And yet Jesus says that the Spirit will produce peace in us, regardless of what surrounds us.

The peace the Spirit gives us really stands out when He leads us to something that doesn’t make sense from a worldly perspective. If we would have followed the wisdom of this world, Epic Church would have never existed. And we would not have the staff team we do today. Or this building. Or so much of what God has provided. When you aren’t sure if what you’re hearing is from the Holy Spirit or some other voice, ask this question: As I receive this insight, does it leave me with more peace or anxiety?

In John 16:13, Jesus says, “the Spirit of truth will GUIDE you.” In life, we all constantly find ourselves in unknown territory. We desperately need a guide who can lead us from here to wherever God intends to take us. By the way if God knows the right path for us and He provides a guide for that path, perhaps it’s possible for us to be exactly where this God wants us to be.

Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

How is God going to instruct and teach us? By the Spirit He will guide us in the way we should go. God wants to aid you in walking the path He’s created you for. His loving eye is on us and He wants to be involved in all of the details of our lives. Sometimes I can believe that the Holy Spirit only wants to guide me in the major moments of my life. But that’s not the case. I remember one morning during my time with God, the Spirit spoke to me about something that was so practical…but I knew it was God.

Since moving to San Francisco in 2010, we had always been a one-car family. It was now the spring of 2022. We were getting ready to purchase a new car and I had just assumed we’d trade in our minivan. But on that otherwise ordinary morning in my quiet time with God, He made such a clear impression on me that we should keep the van. He cares about all of the little details of our lives.

The role of the Holy Spirit will always be to magnify Jesus, not you.

John 16:14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

What a gift to know the Spirit will receive truths from Jesus and make them known to us. But He will never do this to glorify us. He’s only interested in glorifying Jesus. The Spirit always brings more of Jesus, resulting in less of our flesh.

The Spirit is a person, not a force. This means the Spirit of God can be known. We can become more and more familiar with the Spirit. And the more familiar we become, the more we’ll recognize what He’s saying to us and where He’s guiding us. Let me show you the difference familiarity makes in a relationship.

Pastor Will and I are SO familiar to each other. If you come and tell me that Will did this or Will said that, I’ll know whether that seems like the Will I know. We have worked together for 15 years. We know each other’s personalities. We know each other’s coffee orders, regardless of which coffee shop we walk into. We’ve been in hundreds of meetings together. We’ve gone on so many double dates with our wives. We’ve traveled out of the country together. We’ve experienced so many celebratory moments together. We have walked through really difficult things together.

In a similar way, you can be this familiar with the Holy Spirit. You begin where you are and you start some practices. Right now, the Holy Spirit is here in this room and He’s guiding us into truth. And He’s glorifying Jesus. He’s encouraging you to put your faith in Jesus – because your whole life is meant to be all about Jesus. And then there’s Scripture. Discernment. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us about something beyond what we could know due to our human capacity.

Here we go: Come, Holy Spirit. Wait. Listen. Share.