An Advocate with you Forever

Sunday, March 8, 2015
John 14:16-26 KJV

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being [yet] present with you. 26 But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) Our Lord has told His disciples that He will be returning to the Father. What will Jesus do after His ascension and how will the Father respond? (v.16)
2) Who will Jesus' disciples receive and why can't the people of the world receive Him? (v.17)
3) How does our Lord reassure His disciples? (v.18)
4) How and why did (does) Jesus manifest His presence to His disciples? (v.19-21)
5) What did the other Judas ask our Lord? (v.22)
6) What was Jesus' response to that disciple's question? (v.23-24)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
7) How do you know that the Holy Spirit abides in you and what do you do to maintain His presence within you?

LIFE LESSONS
8) The Holy Spirit has been given to every believer in the Lord Jesus, who asks for Him. 
9) The Holy Spirit comforts and leades us into all truth.
10) We sense the presence of the Holy Spirit, in our lives, as we memorize and/or meditate upon God's word and apply it in our lives through God's grace and the enabling power of His Spirit.