Change starts with Conviction

One of the areas that the Holy Spirit is most
active in is creating a broken heart within us
that is receptive to Jesus. Our testimony
would be in vain if it were not for the Holy
Spirit convicting mankind of their need for
Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit's convicting
work in the world we become aware of our
sins and our need for salvation that comes
from our most wonderful Savior Jesus Christ
and the love God the Father has for us.
The amazing love that was expressed to us
by Jesus dying for us on the cross for our
awful sins. John 16:5-11
How broken our we in our own eyes? Does
the world recognize they are broken? We
are much more broken then we might
realize.
John 8:23-24, John 1:10-13
We have to be severely broken if we do
not even recognize the one who made us!!
The only way we can fix ourselves is to
put our faith in Jesus and then only thru
the power of God the Father can we be
fixed. What is truly amazing is the love
the Father has for us to do everything in
his power to fix us even if it involves the
death of his son Jesus.
John 3:16-17
The Spirit convicts us of our sin, our lack
of righteousness, and our bad judgments.
So we will see how desperately we need
Jesus to save us.
John 6:38-40

Testify, Me?? How!!!

Perhaps one of the areas we need the most help
with is to testify about Jesus. We know that Jesus
is the light and we also know the love we have for
him. But we also know that some people actually
hate Jesus and anyone associated with him.
Jesus prepares us for this in John 15:18-20
How has this affected you?
It's this hatred that causes fear and hinders our
ability to testify. Jesus knows this and explains
to us the reason for this hatred in John 15:21-25.
The reason for this hatred according to Jesus is
that they do not know the Father who sent
Jesus. Jesus further states that because of what
he has done there is no longer any excuse for
their sin. Also this reaction is to fulfil what is
written in the Law "They hated me without
reason".
How does this help you understand the hatred?
This truly helps us to understand the hatred
however it is what Jesus says next to the
disciples and the fulfillment of this promise
that gives them true courage and strength
to do what they did.
In John 15:26-27 Jesus promises that the
Holy Spirit will testify with us and through
us. Knowing that God's Spirit is in our
world testifying about Jesus forever and no
one can silence him is amazing!! The Holy
Spirit being with us is both comforting and
reassuring knowing that we are not alone
when we testify.
Have you witnessed the Holy Spirit testifying?

Spirit Teach Me!!!

Imagine what it was like to have been taught
by Jesus himself. We know that the disciples
were taught by Jesus. But who was going to
teach them now that Jesus was going to return
to the Father? And what about us who is going
to teach us?

We are instructed in John 14:23-24 that if we
really love Jesus we will obey his teaching. He
further says that his teaching comes straight
from the Father.

How can we be sure that we have a proper
understanding of Jesus words recorded for
us in the bible? How do we go about teaching
Jesus words to our friends, family and those we
meet in our daily life's? How did the disciples
remember everything Jesus taught them?
We see how they were able to do this in John
14:25-26

The Holy Spirit helped them remember everything
that Jesus taught them. Today the Holy Spirit helps
us to remember everything we have read about
Jesus in the bible.

The Holy Spirit also helps us to come to the correct
understanding of his word. You might say that the
Holy Spirit helps bring the recorded words in the bible
to life for us as we began to see what God wanted us to
see all along. That God loves us way beyond what we
can comprehend and this love for us continues
to be expressed today to us thru his Spirit.

How could Peter and John speak so boldly in Acts 4:8-13?
We see the answer to this in John 14:27 Here Jesus says
that he will leave them his peace. This peace comes
from knowing God is with you actually within you. Just
like the Spirit was in Jesus. God's Spirit gives our hearts
the same peace and comfort and reassurance not to be
afraid because we know his Spirit is with us.

Start looking for God's Spirit in your life's - Loving you,
Living in you, Promising to be with you forever, The real
Truth, Teaching you, Giving your hearts peace and comfort
and reassuring you not to be afraid.

Jesus and the Spirit

One of the best ways to understand the relationship
between Jesus and the Holy Spirit is to look at the
relationship between the Father and the Son (Jesus)
found in John 14: 1 Here Jesus tells his Disciples "Do
not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; Trust
also in me. He further says in John 14:6-7 No one can
come to the Father except through me. Here Jesus
clearly states that in order to come to the Father you
have to come through him. Were Jesus goes next is
extremely important in understanding the relationship
not only between the Father and the Son but also between
the Spirit and the Son (Jesus). Jesus says in John 14:9-11
that if you truly know Jesus than you also know the Father
but not only this but also you have actually seen the Father.

Clearly you can see that Jesus does not understand why
Philip can not see this. We really need to grasp that Jesus,
the Father, and the Spirit are so close in purpose and to
each other that we can see both the Father and the Spirit
in Jesus. But also in the Spirit you can see the Son and the
Father as well. You can clearly see this if you compare John
14: 6 to John 14: 17 In John 14:6 Jesus says that I am the way
and the truth and the Life. In John 14:17 Jesus calls the Spirit
the Spirit of truth. Please read John 14 very closely and you will
see that the Spirit is like having both the Father and the
Son (Jesus). Praise God the Spirit comes to us by the Father sent
by Jesus and will be with us forever. John 14: 18

Praise God again clearly in John 14:22-24 we can see that Judas
ask the question we are all thinking. Is the Spirit promised only
for the Apostles? The answer is no the Spirit is promised to anyone
who loves Jesus and obeys his teaching and these words come
straight from the Father!!!!

Come Rescue Us

The Apostle Paul uses the word Spirit (125 times).
More than any other New Testament writer.
Paul also understood the great need for God's Spirit
as we can see in Romans 7: 14-18
Paul understood firsthand what it was like to have a
very good knowledge of God's word and a strong desire
to do what was right but somehow ended up persecuting
the early christians and even Jesus himself.

Thank God who delivered both Paul and us from the law
of sin and death. Now through Jesus Christ we live by
the Spirit. Romans 8: 1-4
Paul knows that the Spirit must control our minds if
we are going to please God. Paul further knows that
the Spirit of Christ must be in us in order for us to
belong to Christ. He also states that it is only through
the Spirit that we can put to death the misdeeds of
the body. Praise God!!! Those who are led by the Spirit
of God are sons of God or children of God.
Romans 8: 6-16
Next week we will be looking at who is the Spirit?

I Long For Your Presence....

Check out this new song link:
The song link is the Newsboys song I long
for your Presence (This is my hearts desire).
This is what all christians should long for is God's
Presence. Especially when we consider the
love God expressed to us by allowing his Son
Jesus to endure the death of the cross to save us.
So we ask is it possible for us to recieve God's Spirit
In the below verses you will see that the answer is
a resounding yes!!
John 14: 15-18, Acts 2:38-39
You might be asking has the Holy Spirit been
promised for all believers even ones that believe
in Jesus 2000 years later. Again the answer
according to the verses below is yes!!!
Acts 2:39, Act 2:17-18
Now that Jesus has returned back to the Father
how can we feel the presence of God with us now?
We can feel God's presence thru his Spirit living in us
promised from the very words of Jesus himself
recorded by the apostle John and then reaffirmed
again by the apostle Paul.
John 14;17-20,23, Romans 8:11
Knowing that the Spirit lives in us should cause us to
long to know everything about God's Spirit. So lets
start the journey together looking to the writings of Paul
and John for insight!!!

Alone, Abandoned and Powerless

For way too long christians like myself have felt alone abandoned
and powerless. We believed that Jesus is the Christ the son of God.
However we also knew that Jesus went back to the father shortly
after his resurrection. Because he went back to the Father we at
times would feel like we where orphans that had been left behind
to carry on the work of God. This is exactly how Satan wants us to
feel. In the following passages both Paul and Jesus describe what
one is like if we listen to Satan and try to go at it alone.
2 Timothy 3:5, Matthew 5:13, Matthew 23:27-28

Satan deceives us with two powerful lies. The first lie he wants us to
believe is that the Bible is not the inspired word of God. However Paul
tells that this is not true in the following verse:
2 Timothy 3:16
The second lie Satan uses alot is that God does not love you and that
you really do not need God. Or you can do it yourself. Again we can
see examples of this in the following verses that Jesus confronts these
lies and also tells us what Satan is really like:
John 5:39-40,John 8:42-47
This is not what God intended and he never intended for us to go at
it alone or without his help. God intended that the Holy Spirit would
be our guide and counselor and we would work hand and hand with
God (His Spirit). This is clearly mentioned by Jesus in the following
verses: John 14:15-18!
We Need God's Spirit more then ever and it is time that we learned
all we can about his Spirit and quit denying our need for God's Spirit.
The next lessons will be focusing on how do we receive the Holy Spirit
and getting to actually know the Holy Spirit of God.

New class starts September 6th

Welcome to the new blog for John Gogocha's class.

Class topic: Discovering Power for Life (a study of the Holy Spirit)

This is a topic that I really get excited about. I hope all of you in the class will join in my excitement.

See ya Sunday!