Promise of Testimony Another Paraclete Series There are

Promise of Testimony Another Paraclete Series

There are times when telling the truth is easy There are times when telling the truth is hard There are times when telling the truth hurts

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me” (John 15: 18) Telling the Truth costs Jesus’ life by death on the cross The disciples were to speak the same words of Jesus to the same world “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15: 20)

“And I will pray the Father, and that He will give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14: 16)

The Problem with the World What’s not to like about Jesus? Certain people didn’t like Jesus. They hated Him The reason for their hatred was a problem with “knowing God” Revealing sin, brokenness, and shame can easily result to denial and hatred They hated Me “without cause” (John 15: 25) The world will hate you but don’t take it personally

The Promise of the Paraclete The world chooses what it believes Jesus made sure to inform the disciples that they were not alone when it came to bearing witness of Jesus He mentions the Paraclete a third time in regards to the matter of testimony The Paraclete is the “Spirit of Truth” and He would help them to testify of Jesus

“Testify” or “Testimony” is a central theme in John’s Gospel John brings to his gospel a number of “witnesses” who “testify” of Jesus John the baptizer (1: 7); Women at Jacob’s well (4: 39 -42); Signs (20: 30 -31); Scripture (5: 39); The Father (5: 37); Paraclete (15: 26) The Paraclete testifies that Jesus is the Son of God and to help remind the disciples of Jesus’ teaching

The Paraclete told Philip “Go near and overtake the chariot” (Acts 8: 29) The Paraclete told Peter about the three men seeking him (Acts 10: 19 -20) The presence of the Paraclete is to reassure the disciples they are not alone Telling the truth may be difficult but it was not done alone The disciples took the testimony of Jesus Christ

The Promise for us Are we not carrying the same message as those before us? Is the whole world receptive to the message? Like the apostles, we can feel inadequate to share about Jesus The Paraclete will abide forever (John 14: 16) I don’t believe God is sending us out alone and it’s all up to us to win people to Jesus

We have the power of God to encourage us for the task of evangelism