The Paraclete

Good morning everybody. Hope everyone's having a good weekend so far. Well, I know that I am really excited to be preaching in this series. The Holy Spirit is one of my favorite things to preach about.

And I hope you all feel the very same way. But unfortunately, one of the things that bothers me about this series is that this series is appropriately named the Forgotten God. And that's because there's not enough teachings about him. And people who do know about him don't know enough about him.

But I can tell you, there is something that makes me feel better about it, is that he won't be the Forgotten God in this house, amen? He won't be the Forgotten God in any GMI church. Is that right? Yes.

I love preaching about the Holy Spirit. And I've actually tried to work him into almost every sermon I've ever taught. And I'm really excited about this. And I just realized that there's a bunch of men who just get back from CRTC.

Come on. So I'm really expecting the way I know God is that we're going to get a lot more responses today. You're going to receive from this and lead your families the way you've been taught to, amen? Are you ready, men?

Are you ready everyone in this house? Let's go. We're going to start with the title of the message being the periclete. We've learned a lot of great things about the Holy Spirit leading up to this.

And today, what we're going to talk about is the Holy Spirit as the periclete. And we're going to start by reading in God's Word in the book of John, which should be all too familiar to you now. John chapter 14 verses 15 through 16. And it reads, this is Jesus talking, if you love me, keep my commands.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. Boy, doesn't that sound great? Man, Jesus is good. So what we're looking at here is the Word advocate out of the scripture.

The New American Standard and the New King James Version use the word helper. And the new international version uses the word advocate. But you know, when we want to learn more about something where we see different words being used in the scriptures, what we want to do is go back to the original text, the way it was written when God inspired it to be written in the first place, right? Amen.

So doing our homework, we find the actual Greek word there is the word periclesitos. And what we're going to call it today, more commonly, what you might hear it as, is periclesit. So the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is our periclesit. That's what we're going to be talking about today.

And when I think of the Holy Spirit myself, this is what I most commonly think of him as, is my periclesit. You see, this is a very, very interesting word. And although it was only used five times the New Testament, four of those times being in the Gospel of John, one of those times being in first John, it's still a very powerful word. And we're going to unpack that today.

And there are three distinct meanings that we're going to find in this word when we dig into the Greek culture and the Greek life, the way that it was used. Are we all ready? We're going to look at all three of these today as they teach us the wonderful, powerful things about the Holy Spirit, how he works in our lives, how he ministers in our lives, and the way he ministers in the lives of others through us. So the first meaning of the word pericles is one who pleads another's cause, one who pleads another's cause, as in before a judge.

Think of a counsel for your defense, or your criminal defense attorney, your pleater, your advocate. Sound good so far? Some of you might be thinking, well, that sounds kind of like a lawyer. And I've only heard jokes about lawyers.

Well, that may be true. There's a lot of funny ones out there. But can I tell you very seriously, if you're in trouble with the law, you want to have a good lawyer by your side. Do you not?

And that's no joke. You want to have the best lawyer that your money can buy. You might want to have the best lawyer that someone else's money can buy, right? You want to have a good lawyer on your side, because can I tell you, we desperately need legal representation in the spirit world.

Because who are we going up against? The accuser. Satan, his name literally means the accuser. He is constantly coming against us to accuse us.

We need the best lawyer we can get, and that's the Holy Spirit, amen? No matter how good of a lack you lead. None of us are perfect. We're standing on a daily, weekly, hopefully as little as possible basis.

But we need the Holy Spirit there to intercede for us, to help us. And one great and powerful truth that we get to know as believers, as born and Christian, is that we all have two paracletes, actually, two advocates. The first one being the Holy Spirit that we've already talked about, and the second one being, and the whole church said, Jesus, you can confidently say Jesus in church. It's OK.

All right. And to read about that, we're going to read in the scripture in the book of 1 John, chapter 2, verses 1. 1 John, chapter 2, verse 1, it says, if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And that is really good.

The word advocate that is used there is the same word pericletos, or as we're going to use paraclete, that was earlier used to describe the Holy Spirit. It's the same word there. And the question is, is there a difference between Jesus as our paraclete and the Holy Spirit as our paraclete? And the answer is yes.

There is a difference. And the reason why is because Jesus is obediently before the Father. You see, God said, come sit at my right hand while I make a footstool out of your enemies for you. Doesn't that sound like a powerful word picture of our God?

Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, sit at my right hand. Well, I crush your enemies and make a footstool for you. That's a picture of our powerful God, isn't it good? That's the God we serve.

That's the God who loves us. See, Jesus is up there. And he's not just, as you might sometimes hear, resting on his laurels. No, he is up there at work, working for who?

Us. He's interceding for us, to the Father. He is saying, Father, forgive him. He knows not what he does.

Father, see her the way you saw me when I was on earth. Father God, forgive him. Lord God, forgive her. Look at them and see that they have changed, Lord God.

See how hard they're trying. Act on her behalf. The same way you acted on mine, Father God. He is interceding for us.

And you see the Holy Spirit is doing the same thing. But you see the Holy Spirit is it before the Father. He is here with us. The Holy Spirit left all the goodness and perfection of heaven.

He left paradise, obediently, because God told him to, and he is here in the sin, the mind, the grind, this battlefield, with us, advocating for us, seeing every time we sin. But it's still staying with us. Isn't he good? Yes, he is.

And you see, when we sin, when we do miss the mark, he gives us that gentle nudge. Maybe that little more aggressive push, or sometimes that we need to get back in the line. Am I right? Am I the only one?

No, no. The Holy Spirit is there for us whenever we sin, when we miss the mark. And the reason why is because the enemy comes in, and he begins to accuse us. He begins to tell us, you've messed up.

I saw it. You saw it. You know you did it. And that's who you are.

The word Satan, the name Satan, literally means the accuser. And he comes in and he says, you remember this about your past? Yeah, well, that's who you are. You remember when you did that?

Yeah, that's because that's who you are. He twists what God says about us. And we listen to it for some reason. He says, you can't be loved by people.

You're too much of this sin. Or you've done too much of that in your life. And you certainly can't be loved or accepted by God because he doesn't like sin and you've had too much in your life. Are you hearing what he's saying?

If this is familiar to anyone, I'm sorry, but guess what? You're going to learn some good truth today. He comes in and he says, you haven't really changed from whenever you did that because you still think about it. You still remember it.

That's still who you are. But the truth is, yes, you did that. But you're past it. He's the one who's reminding you of it.

He's the one who's bringing it up. It's not who you are anymore. Let it go. Reject his voice.

Reject what he's saying to you, amen? He might even say, you fooled people, but you haven't fooled me. And you haven't fooled yourself. We both know who you are.

Come on, Church, recognize his voice and reject it, amen? Woo, and see, this is where the Holy Spirit comes in and says, no, I object. You're a liar. He is bought and paid for.

She was paid for by the blood of Jesus. They've been cleansed. They are no longer that. We are a new creation in Christ.

And this, that is what the Holy Spirit will remind us. See what Satan does. This is what the Bible is talking about in the book of 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8. It says, Satan walks around like a roaring lion, seeking those he made of power.

And that's true. That's a scary picture, huh? Walking around like a roaring lion. I don't want to come face to face with a lion.

But can I tell you something about Satan? He doesn't have any teeth, y'all. Come on, Jesus took those away. He took those away on Saturday.

They're gone. But the Scripture says, seeking those who he made of power. Yeah, he devours you with his depression. He devours you with his anger.

Anybody struggle with anger? He devours you with his insecurities, his anxiety, the lies that he tells you about you so that you won't be the person God has called you to be. The person God has designed you to be. The person God wants you to be if you listen to God.

And his voice is the Holy Spirit, amen? The Holy Spirit is our advocate. And if we will allow him, if we will listen to him, he is constantly speaking the truth to us constantly. And he'll declare within you within our hearts and within our minds, our minds is the battlefield.

This is where he's speaking to us. It says, therefore, there is no more condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. There's no more condemnation. Yes, the Holy Spirit will bring us some conviction.

But that's that nudge, that reminder. He's not bringing condemnation for us who are new creations in Christ. But mind you, you better say in Christ, okay? Repent if your sins get them off you.

Soon as you sin, just repent. Be right just again, okay? Don't live in that walk around with it on you. Forgive.

Don't hold on to grudges. Get those things taken care of and walk in the righteousness the Holy Spirit is bringing you to, amen? Let's talk about another difference between Jesus as our advocate and the Holy Spirit as our advocate. You see, when Jesus is our advocate, we are the accused.

But God is the judge. And yes, this is an okay thing. We all love God, he's good. And God is loving, but he's a just God, and a righteous God, and he has no tolerance for sin.

But you see, when the Holy Spirit is our advocate, we stand as the accused, but the difference is, we are the judge. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not comparing us to God and saying we're the same. But there's a different situation here.

Now, bear with me. Do you think the Holy Spirit has to convince God who we are? No, God knows who we are. He wishes we would listen to him more.

Do you think the devil is trying to convince God who we are when he's accusing us? No, God doesn't have time for him. He doesn't listen to him. The devil's not even trying.

So who's the devil talking to? Us. So who is the Holy Spirit advocating to? Us.

So you see, we become the judge. We get to choose who we listen to. We choose are we gonna listen to the accuser or we gonna listen to the voice of God or we gonna listen to the created or the creator. We have the choice.

We don't have to be who Satan says we are anymore. We're a new creation in Christ. And that's what the Holy Spirit's trying to remind us. You see, we tend to judge ourselves.

There it is, judge ourselves again, based on the lies that we believe about ourselves. Why would we want to believe those anymore? We don't have to. Just let them go.

Read what the word of God says. It declares the truth that we are who we are in Christ. God's word is true. His promises are true for us.

They will happen. He calls us sons and daughters of heaven. That is the truth in all the rest of his lives. So church, how often do we do this?

How often do we or our loved ones? How often do we let our friends and family allow compromise into our lives or their lives? Where we allow our truth to be twisted? Do we allow ourselves or loved ones to believe that who they are in God is what Satan is saying.

We need to not only believe his truth, but speak his truth. Speaking of truth, how many of y'all remember the old TV sitcom, Matlock? Man, he was a good lawyer, wasn't he? Man, that guy would come into the courtroom and the other lawyer would just go, man, I know I'm not gonna win this one.

Matlock's here. He's just gonna tear everything apart. Or maybe you don't remember Matlock, but how many of y'all heard about the detective Sherlock Holmes? You know, he's been to some more movies about his character more recently, but man, he's an incredible detective.

That guy just digs in and he goes out and he's uncovering lies and showing him for what they are and he's pulling out the truth and he's bringing it to the courtroom and it's like, man, case closed. Well, they got nothing on the Holy Spirit. I'm serious. He had the Holy Spirit's like them on steroids times 10.

I mean, he is perfect. The best lawyer, the best detective that can be. He's the voice of God, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of excellence. And that's what we have on our side.

As born again, believers and as Christians, he is working for us. That should bring us confidence, that should bring us peace. The Holy Spirit, he presents his case in a courtroom, the courtroom of the world, the spiritual world, the courtroom where our hearts are, our feelings, our minds and our thoughts, that battleground. He lays out the facts one after another after another and you can't argue with it.

But you see, the accuser comes in and he says, look at his sin, look at her sin, look at the sin, look at the sin, we're hearing that, we're going, oh no. But the Holy Spirit comes in and he's really only got to bring one powerful truth and he says, but the blood, but the blood, but his blood, the blood of Jesus has washed the clean. It doesn't matter, case closed. And you see if we allow him, if we allow the Holy Spirit to build up the case, long before closing arguments are done, everyone's gonna know the verdict, including us.

And the verdict is not guilty, not guilty. Yes, we could have committed a sin before, but we were pint. That's what makes what Jesus did so powerful. Jesus, God washes us clean of sin and all righteousness.

We're no longer that person. Is this really sitting with you all today? A new creation in Christ. You see, righteousness is a gift.

It's not something we earn. We need to open our hearts and accept it. Some of us need to battle more with forgiving ourselves. Jesus forgave you, so should you.

We need to stop hanging on to guilt. The price was already paid on Calvary. By Jesus, he went through a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, a lot of rejection, a lot of betrayal, more than any of us could do. And are we telling him what we did wasn't enough?

We need to forgive ourselves and get up out of the mud of sin that we hold ourselves in, just like the word we heard today, the chains are already broken. Get up and get going, amen? Righteousness is a gift. Our advocate is telling us this.

We just need to accept it and let the Holy Spirit be our advocate, amen? Are you all ready? Good. So that's the first meaning of parakeleid, one who pleads another's cause.

So let's look today at the second meaning. The second meaning of the word parakeleid is called to one side, one who is called to one side to help and assist. The Holy Spirit helps us in life, different situations and difficulties, not just whenever we stand in judgment or are being judged or accused, but in everyday things, especially in prayer, something that should be an everyday thing, amen? The Holy Spirit as a parakeleid assist us in our praying.

Let's turn to the book of Romans, chapter 8, verses 26 through 27, Romans 8. And it reads, in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness, the things we're not strong at, the things we're not great at. It says, we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he, God, who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Man, that's so reassuring. So the first thing we're going to look at from the Scripture is helps us. Our parakeleid, our advocate, the Holy Spirit helps us. And in the Greek, this is three compound words, three Greek words put together.

And the first one is the word son, and that means partnership. That's a good one to start with. The next one is the word anti. We all know that one.

The third one is lambano. If you've been coming here for a while, you've probably heard that word. You know what it means? It means to reach out and take hold of violently, to seize aggressively, to lambano.

This is how the Holy Spirit works. He's not dainty, he's strong, he's lambano. And so what we need to understand about this passage is the Holy Spirit, our parakeleid, he joins with us, the word son here. He partners with us in life.

You see? The second one is he hates when the enemy comes to taxes. He hates when the enemy accuses against us. Therefore, he joins up with us against the enemy.

That's the word anti. That's when he's lambano. He reaches out and he violently takes hold of the enemy's works. He lambanoes them and he casts them off of us.

He brings it under his power that comes from God's power and he turns it for good for our lives. Man, what the devil meant for bad, God turns it for good. This is what the Holy Spirit does. This is what our parakeleid does when he's called to our side.

He turns it around. And see, there are other times in prayer, just like in Romans 8 where our advocate, the Holy Spirit helps us. Where the Holy Spirit begins to stir something deep within us. In Romans 8, 26 it says, the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Now let me tell you what I'm not talking about here. When you're going to work and praying, Lord God, I don't want to go work with my coworkers anymore. You have them transferred. I don't want to go to work with those guys again.

That's not what I'm talking about. You see, scripture says, as we open our mouth, we begin to pray in tongues. What I am talking about here is when you begin to pray and you're baptized in the Holy Spirit and you feel the urgency well up within you, the Holy Spirit within you is bursting out of you and the language is spoken that you don't understand. It sounds something along the lines of, your mind doesn't understand what's going on, but it's not called Christ's language, it's not called Col's language or Frank's language, it's called your spirit language.

It's the Holy Spirit speaking directly to God. You know what's incredible about it? We don't understand it, but neither does the devil. That's one of the things that makes it so powerful.

We open our mouth, we begin to pray in tongues. You know, many of you might have been raised to not know about this. Some of you might have been told we don't do that. That's not going to be done anymore.

And many of you have not been taught anything about this. Well, you know what? Welcome to class because you're going to learn. Okay?

It's in the New Testament. How many of you believe in Jesus? Hopefully that's every hand in the church. Where is Jesus?

New Testament. Oh, Chris is making a lot of sense here. Okay, you know what else is in the New Testament? That Jesus is the Son of God.

Amen? He died in rose for our sins, amen? New Testament. Okay?

We are to get water baptized after salvation. New Testament. We are to get Holy Spirit baptized after that. New Testament.

By that, the evidence of that is that we speak in a New Toms. New Testament. There are books in several books. Mark, John, Acts, 1 Corinthians, Romans.

It's all over the place. How many Scriptures do we need? It's there. You haven't been taught it before.

Well, you are today. See this? I'm going to read a quote by someone that I think you all know. And it comes out of Mark after 16 verse 17.

Let me turn to it here in God's Word. It says, these miraculous signs will accompany those who believe. They will speak in new languages. That's Jesus.

He said that. Can't argue with Jesus, can you? You do. You're going to have bigger problems.

Okay. So, we're going to talk about the Word. New languages. That means praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues.

Let's learn a little bit more about it. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, it says, in verses 14 through 15, it says, If I pray in a tongue, my Spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. And what I mean by that is you're praying in tongues. I've let out of my diocodio.

You don't know what's going on. So your mind could be sitting there going, what am I going to have to lunch? Your mind is unfruitful. It doesn't know what's being said.

And that's okay. Because it's your Spirit language, right? But let's read on the Scripture. It says, so what shall I do?

I will pray with my Spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. Now we're coming against the enemy with two weapons. I'm ex-military. I love talking about weapons.

Okay, our Spirit is praying and it's powerful. But at the same time, our mind could be going, Lord, I don't know what you're hearing from my Spirit right now, but I know who you put on my heart before I began praying. I know what nation you put on my heart. I know what situation you put on my heart.

So Lord, I don't know what to pray, but I pray that your will be done. I pray the enemy's plans are broken down. I pray provisions are made. Do you see what I'm saying?

Now we've got two weapons going out against the enemy. Our mind doesn't have to be unfruitful, amen? So now we've talked about what happens when we pray in the Spirit, or what praying the Spirit is. Let's talk about what happens when we pray in the Spirit.

What's going on? What else is happening? You see, when we allow the Holy Spirit to pray for us, he is praying and he is saying exactly what needs to be said for the work to get done. He knows what needs to happen.

He's within us, but he's in the whole world. He knows everything about every situation. He knows exactly what to say to make sure God's will happens the exact way God wants it to happen. Do we know that?

No. We don't know exactly what needs to be said to pray. And sometimes God won't let us see enough about what he wants us to pray about because he wants us to obediently pray in the Spirit. Do you see?

You see, we obey with our actions with God all the time. And some people might be thinking, I don't know about praying at times because I don't understand it. It's weird, it sounds funny. But the thing is, we live most of our life in obedience to God without understanding why we're doing certain things.

Lord, why do you want me to go to a church so far away? I don't understand it, but I'm going to do it. Okay. Lord, you don't want me to go to that college, but you want me to go to that one?

I don't understand why, but okay. Lord, you want me to go talk to that person and bring up this? Okay, I don't understand it, but okay, I'm going to go do it. We as good Christians do that with our lives all the time, but we won't do it with our mouth, with our words.

God says life and death is in the power of words. He created with words. And he wants to share his gospel with words. Words are powerful, they're important.

So submit your mouth and your words to God and continue your ministry. Continue advancing his kingdom and submission. You don't have to understand it, just keep doing what you've already been doing. Move an obedient submission, amen?

See another thing that's powerful about praying in tongues, I told you like weapons, right? Is it praying in tongues as a powerful weapon? And I'm not just talking about a 9-millimeter pistol or a good rifle or a great machine gun. No, this is more like, and y'all forgive me, but I'm serious, this is more like a rocket launcher.

I mean something really serious against the enemy. And it is powerful. But it sounds funny when I launch it. So what?

But how many times have we had this in our arsenal and a friend comes to us? A loved one who says, brother, I'm struggling, falling apart. I don't know what to do, I can't get right. I need some help.

Do you know how to help me and you go? But it sounds funny. And I'll be embarrassed. What will they think of me?

And you say, I don't know, man, you need to have faith. You need to keep praying, you need to stay in God's word. I'm going to put that down and put the safety on because it sounds funny and it's embarrassing when it launches. It sounds funny when I speak in tongues.

We need to stop being uncomfortable with one of the greatest things God is telling us to do, amen? You're not familiar with it. Well, can I tell you what to do? Get familiar with it.

Do it every day. You want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit? Pray for it. God will give it to you.

You want to learn a lot about it? Great. We've got an event at Karis Canyon called BFW. We can learn all about it.

You can't wait that long. Come see me. Come see Pastor Matt. Come see one of your elders otherwise.

Come on. God wants to give you this gift. It doesn't have to be weird, strange or awkward anymore. It can be the powerful weapon.

God says it as amen. Here's another thing that happens when we pray in the Spirit. We build up and strengthen our spirit person. By praying obediently the way God tells us to.

Let's look at 1 Corinthians 14 verse 1. It reads anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves. What does edifies mean? It builds you up spiritually.

It strengthens you. Doesn't that sound good? Who feels like they could use them building up spiritually? Maybe you feel it run down.

Tired. You've just been burning both ends of the candle. You need more. You need to be refreshed.

You need strength. Here's where you get it. Praying in tongue. It's not weird.

It's your source. Johnny was talking about worship being like water. This is a lot like that. We need the same end.

A couple verses later in verse Corinthians 14 and verse 4. The new living translation reads, a person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally. Strengthened personally. Who in here wants to be stronger?

Come on. If you're not raising your hand, you're taking notes. I'm okay with it. All right.

So God's word translation of that same verse says when a person speaks in another language, he helps himself grow. And when I say speaking another language, I don't mean Italian, Mandarin or Georgian. I'm sorry, Johnny. It doesn't mean Spanish either.

Speaking in another language, that's the Spirit's language. It helps himself grow. Let's also look what it says in the book of Jude. Chapter 1 verse 20.

It says what you beloved. Beloved. He's talking to someone that he calls his beloved. He's serious.

This is important. He's about to impart something to them that he really wants them to have that will be really good for them. So we really want to hear what he has to say, right? Beloved.

Build yourselves up. Be founded on your most holy faith. Make progress. Rise like an edifice.

Higher and higher. How? By praying in the Holy Spirit. How many more verses do we need, Joel?

You weren't raised with it, but here it all is. Pepper it all through the New Testament. Jesus came along and changed everything. This is one of those things.

The Holy Spirit as our paraklete, he is called to our side. He builds us up through prayer and helps us become all that God has destined us to be. All that he's designed us to be. All that he wants us to be.

He says the Holy Spirit says, let me come beside you and I will fight for you. As a matter of fact, he says, I'm going to come beside you and you rest. Just pray. You rest.

I'll go fight. Doesn't that sound good? How many of you want some of that 23rd Psalm rest? The Holy Spirit says, just rest.

Pray. Pray in faith. Obediently pray in the Spirit. I'm going to go out and fight for you.

Boy, I want that. Man. That's the second meaning of the word paraklete. The first meaning is one who pleads another's cause.

The second one is one who is called to one's side. Let's look quickly at the third meaning of the word paraklete. That is a military pairing. A military pairing.

It gets good. This meaning of the word predates its use as a legal term as a defense lawyer or something along those lines. This comes from its use in the Greek military terminology. To be able to understand this, we need to first dig into and understand the Greek army.

The Greek army structure is broken down into groupings or subsets. They didn't have great warships and planes and great boats. It was more focused on how many boots do we have on the ground. This is what we need to talk about.

They had terminology to describe that. A grouping of 600 men was described as mora. A grouping of 300 men was described as lochos. A grouping of 40 men was described as enon motii.

I don't understand that. The smaller the grouping, the longer the word. You'll forgive me if I said that wrong. If you do a casual study of the Greek military units, this is what we'll find.

If you do a much more extensive study, we'll find that there's another grouping of men. That's a unit of two men. Before I get into that, you've got to understand that in ancient battles, when the battlefield is first laid out, and the army's come together. You can clearly see you and your army and your enemy and their army.

You can see the battle lines and defenses. You can see the fronts. You know who is who. When that battle begins, man, it comes together.

It gets crazy. It gets confusing. It's hard to tell who's the enemy who's with you. You're covered in mud, blood, and sweat.

It's easy. I don't care who you are. It's easy to get stabbed in the back and kill. But you know the Greek, they had a solution for this.

You see when the battle lines broke down, Greek warriors were right into this pairing of two. They stand back to back, and they fight with each other, and they have commands for each other. On your left. On my left.

And they would communicate with each other and stay back to back. There was a safety there. There was a comfort there. You knew you weren't going to get taken out from the back.

And you see, your partner, this pairing, the person that is on your back, he is called your paraclete. Oh, isn't that good? Isn't that good? That's the Holy Spirit for us.

We don't have to worry about the enemy coming up behind us. The Holy Spirit's got that. And he's giving you commands. He's telling you where to go and what to do and what to watch out for.

Isn't that incredible? That's what we have in the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Holy Spirit is your paraclete.

And we hear people all the time saying, I've got your back. But do they really? Not like the Holy Spirit does. Not like the Holy Spirit does.

Listen, the Holy Spirit, your paraclete, when the battle of life is raging all around you. Maybe it's raging in your home, in your workplace, in your family, or just in your heart and your mind. The Holy Spirit has got your back. He comes to your side.

He fights for you. He watches your back. And remember what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit. I'll send you another paraclete.

And the word used there for another was a-loss. And that means another of the same kind. Another of the same like Jesus. So let's talk about Jesus for a minute.

Jesus is the mighty warrior. Not a mighty warrior. Not another warrior. He is the mightiest of all mighty warriors.

Have you read what it says in the end of his book? He's coming down with a great styling with a big horse and flames all around him. But does that sound like a mighty warrior? And when he swings that sword, nothing is fighting back.

Nothing is living. He's going to eliminate everything he swings the sword at. That's a great picture of Jesus, isn't it? That's who we serve.

That's who's coming back for us. And he said the Holy Spirit is A-loss just like me. The Holy Spirit is just like Jesus, a mighty warrior. He's our paraklete.

He fights at our backs, defending us, protecting us, advocating for us. That's the Holy Spirit, our parakletes. You're ready to live a life. Incept with your paraklete.

You're ready to live a life praying for baptism and the Holy Spirit. Walking out the way that we're supposed to according to the New Testament. Are you all ready for that? Yes.

Well, let's stand in prayer as we close. Father God, we love you. We thank you. We're so grateful for your word.

And Lord God, we are grateful for the paraklete that you have sent us in the Holy Spirit. We are grateful to you for all the aspects of the Holy Spirit. Being the Spirit of excellence. Our equipper.

Lord, everything about the Holy Spirit that you have made him to be for us. Because you love us so much. Thank you Lord. Lord, we open our hearts in our minds to continue to listen to you as we leave here today.

Lord, there are things that you were working out in some people who this might be the first time they've ever heard about the Holy Spirit. Or maybe this is the first time they've really heard enough about baptism in the Holy Spirit and they really want it. Lord God, speak your words into their hearts. I pray they bear fruit Lord God.

Lord God, for those who are going forward taking their next step and they're walking with you, I pray extra protection around them. I pray extra joy and peace in their hearts as they seek more of you, more of you Holy Spirit. Lord God, I pray that when they receive the gift of baptism in the Holy Spirit, it bear much fruit and they be surrounded by people who can help them walk through it. Lord God, thank you for what you've said to us here today.

In the mighty name of Jesus, we thank you and we pray. And everyone said amen and amen. Thank you. Have a blessed week.