There's no way one message can exhaust the different ways in which the Holy Spirit works in our lives. One of the ways that I didn't really cover in the message is found in the Gospel Lesson for today, John 15:26-27:
But when the Helper [the Paraclete] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning (ESV).
The work of the Holy Spirit is to "bear witness" about Jesus. He also notes that this is the work of the disciples, as well.
Think about it. If no one bore witness about Jesus, the Church would have died out in the first generation. The New Testament would not have been written, and most probably we would have never heard of a man named Jesus of Nazareth. I guess most of us would be pagans, and there might be a few Jews.
It is the continuing work of the Holy Spirit, through Christ's followers, to bear witness to people in the world about Jesus Christ. The Spirit bears witness through us about the life, the teaching, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, about how God, through Jesus, is reconciling all things in the world to himself, about how God's new age of redemption is changing everything and about how when Jesus returns, God will make all things right and enforce his ultimate rule and reign throughout the cosmos.
Witness entails both the personal and the universal. How God blesses me, and How God is blessing the world. We bear witness to the totality of God's work, but the most intimate knowledge of God's work is God's work in us. So, how has God been blessing you lately? Whom have you told? How can you share your faith through words and actions?
How does the Church, today, bear witness to the universal presence and influence of God? We must remember that God sent Jesus to save, not condemn the world. In our approach to bearing witness does the world feel condemned? Does the world feel loved? Hopefully the latter and not the former.
May the Paraclete, the Helper, the Advocate, the Comforter, the Counselor bless you with his presence and his power. May he enable you to bear witness to the love of God in the world.
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