Our Advocate

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth." - from John 14:8-17; 25-27

This is a sermon preview for the first week of our series on the Holy Spirit as Our Advocate, preached on and After Pentecost 2025.  

Visit FBCM’s Church Center Channel to view video live stream (live) or audio version of sermon (published week after).

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"If only I had been there, and saw Jesus in the flesh myself, then it would be easy to trust him."

Maybe you've had a thought like this before. If so, the Gospels may surprise you on reading how those who knew Jesus received him. Those who saw him, lived with him, followed him in the flesh often seemed bewildered. They struggle with trust and faith as much as any of us living two-thousand years later.

At the end of the Gospel of John, Jesus gives his famous "farewell discourse." His disciples do not understand what is happening, where Jesus is going, or why. But make no mistake, Jesus is not abandoning him.

Just as they see the Father by seeing Jesus, so they are being given another Advocate: the Spirit of Truth. Or, as Paul refers to Spirit, "the Spirit of the Son" (Gal. 4:6). That means that Jesus is still with his disciples, and not just the disciples Jesus is speaking to in this passage of the Gospel. The Spirit of truth is given to followers today, as well as the disciples then.

One biblical scholar put it this way: "What Jesus is to the faith of the true Christian believer, He was in the flesh." - Edwyn Hoskyns

The Jesus we believe in, the Jesus we follow, the Jesus we, as Christians, trust and obey is the same Jesus who walked, ate, spent time with, taught, and died for the sins of his disciples who walked on earth with him.

The Spirit of Christ is active. Jesus is not only an example, but he is present to us. Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Spirit and the birth of the church. We will join in worship this Sunday, and every Sunday in June, with a special focus on our active Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends to be Christ's spiritual presence with us, and our truthful Advocate.

 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, 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. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:25-27