Holy Spirit: Teacher and Reminder
John 14:23-27
Alzheimer is a degenerative and
terminal disease. It destroys brain
cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior. I have seen people who have this problem and
surrounding loved ones suffer even more than the person who has it.
My grandmother lived with us in the later days of her
life. She had Alzheimer’s and she started
having trouble remembering simple things.
Everyday she asked me who I was, what my name
was, and what I was doing in her room.
We had to lock the door of
the house because she wanted to go out to find her home. We lived in
Memory is a great function in
our brains. Scientists have a difficult
time explaining how human memory works. God
invented memory so it can help us recall, organize our thoughts and function in
our daily life.
Bay Area scientists spend
hours inventing electronic memory chips. Without memory chips, our digital data would
be lost. Imagine that your computer does not have memory. You have to start all over again. Scientists
work hard to store huge amounts of memory like mega or gigabits of data in smaller
chips.
Last Sunday was Mothers day,
but also it was the Day of Pentecost. Remember
Pentecost happened ten days after Ascension Day. Pentecost is very essential for the life of
the Church. In fact, it is the birthday
of the Church. The Holy Spirit came down
in a powerful way to transform the disciples and the 120 followers of Christ.
If you remember, I mentioned the role of the Holy Spirit several weeks ago. After the resurrection, Jesus gave the Spirit
to the disciples. According to John, Jesus
breathed the Spirit on his disciples. He gave them new life. (John 20:22) What was
that experience?
-It gave them life to
see a new future.
-It gave them courage
to be prepared for the coming days.
-It gave them vision
to continue the mission.
-It prepared them for the
Upper Room experience. Here we are. The day arrived when Holy Spirit came like
fire and shook the place. Peter was
not the same. The disciples were not
the same. They spoke in new and different
languages, in languages that people could understand. At the time, Jews who spoke many different
languages from many countries were visiting
While we read this
fascinating experience in the book of Acts, I like to
go to our passage in the book of John. Our
verse is from John 14:26.
“But the Counselor, 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.”
Besides seeing the Spirit
turning the disciples into fired up preachers, the Holy Spirit will help us remember
the teachings of Jesus.
These days, people have
become very forgetful. There is a lot of
scientific research about memory. I am not going to
that direction. But
we use new instruments, “reminders.” I
use my calendar and I write down things to remember. Some use the iPhone or organizers; others have “mothers” to remind them.
We need reminders.
Jesus knew that we would
forget. The Holy Spirit will remind us. What?
- When we are in pain and
stress, the Holy Spirit reminds us that GOD WAS and IS WITH US.
“Has his unfailing love
vanished forever? Has his promise failed
for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"
Then I thought,
"To this I will appeal: the years
of the right hand of the Most High." I will remember the
deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider
all your mighty deeds.” (Psalm 77:8-12)
There are days when you see
everything dark. Satan wants us to
forget God’s blessings and His works. According
to Jesus, you need the Holy Spirit to come and remind you that God would not
neglect you or leave you. Holy Spirit
would remind you of the miracles that happened in your life. The Spirit would remind you of the wonderful
deeds that God has done in your life. We
need a reminder. People celebrate milestones. They like to remember important events that
shaped their lives.
Holy Spirit, come and
remind us…
We will continue in English.