The Thursday Update

Lakeshore Friends—

On Sunday, I will be talking about the third person of the Trinity of God, the Holy Spirit, and how He is our comforter in all kinds of pain.  He is actually  called the Comforter in John 14:16 in many translations and he is known by many other amazing names like the Counselor, Advocate, Companion, Helper, and Paraclete.  We’ll learn a lot about the work of the Holy Spirit in helping us find peace in our pain.

Whenever it comes to the Holy Spirit being taught in churches, I find that there are often two extremes.

The first extreme is a constant, almost exclusive, discussion of the Holy Spirit that seems to drown out the other two members of the Trinity, God the Father and God the Son (Jesus).  It can sound really spiritual and personal at first, but in reality this extreme is incomplete because the entire Trinity shares the same glory as any of the other two members and it is out of balance to focus on just one.  People in this camp tend to focus more on the leadings, power, and miracles of the Holy Spirit over anything else.  And sometimes there is an abundance of focus on experiences alone.

The second extreme is the opposite, where the Holy Spirit is hardly talked about and, in effect, treated as somehow less than the other two members of the Trinity.  Talking about God and Jesus are absolutely essential but leaving the Holy Spirit on the sidelines of discussions and teaching is an injustice to the complete work of God.  People in this camp tend to downplay the leadings, power, and miracles of the Holy Spirit to their own detriment.  Sometimes there is an abundant focus on reason and logic, and a lack of focus on experiences.

I think at times I need to talk more about the amazing Holy Spirit than I do, and that’s what we’ll cover on Sunday.  We’ll study John 14, and show how the Holy Spirit comforted the disciples in their pain when they learned Jesus would be leaving them, and how He offers to do the same for us in our pain.  This message will be a little deeper than others in this series, but that’s a good thing.  Especially when you realize the Holy Spirit's role in the Trinity of God.

We need to know more about the Holy Spirit.

I hope to see you here on Sunday as together we learn more about the amazing person we call the Comforter!

Warmly,

Vince