'THE HELPER'
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Bobbie and Kenney McCaughey had 8 children, four years ago, seven came at once and I was reading about them this week. They are four years old now. Can you imagine having seven four year olds, same mama and daddy? I like this little scene: Bobbi McCaughey is at a standoff in her kitchen with son, Joel. "Candy", he cries, the fourth septuplet in a matter of minutes to make the same plea. "Not until you stop asking for it," chastises Bobbi. To teach her children patience, that's her new rule. But when seven 4-year olds know there's candy, patience is a tough concept. Disappointed, Joel stalks off. Meanwhile, in the family room, little Kenny, wrapped in his favorite quilt, sucks his thumb, while Brandon jumps on the couch and Natalie sings along with Big Bird on Sesame Street. The only septuplets missing: Alexis and Nathan, who both suffer from cerebral palsy and attend a special-ed preschool. Just then Brandon spies Bobbi opening a cabinet above the sink. "Candy!" he screams. The children instantly swarm her. Out maneuvered, Bobbi gives in. Candy in hand, the children run off, and Bobbi, 34, rests on a kitchen stool. "We've had a big year," she says. "Things have really changed." This couple in Carlisle, Iowa, articles talk about their Christian faith and how God has been helping them. Really, at times, they have felt overwhelmed, understandably, but the father says that it seems all we do is discipline them but then they are not all that different from any other four years old, there's just so many of them. The mother sighs, "they just seem to be growing up so quickly". I would think they can't grow up quick enough but I guess if I were doing an interview for a major magazine, I'd say that too. This was written by a young mother, "Signs of Advanced Motherhood", by Liane Kupferberg Carter. Maybe it starts when you realize rock concerts give you a headache or that you are offering to cut up other people's food or that you catch yourself ending a discussion, "because I'm the mother, that's why". You've reached a new level of mother hood - all the warnings signs are there and you know you've crossed the threshold. You count the sprinkles on each cupcake to make sure they are equal. You want to take out a contract out on the kid that broke your son's favorite toy car and made him cry. You hid in the bathroom to be alone. You're child throws up and you catch it. Someone else's kid throws up at a party and you keep eating. You hope ketchup is a vegetable because it's the only one your child eats. You can't bear the though of your son's first girlfriend. You hate the thought of his wife even more. You find yourself cutting your husband's sandwiches into unusual shapes. Your obsess when your child clings to you upon parting during his first month at school, then obsess when he skips in without looking back the second time. You hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth when you says, "Not in your good clothes." You hire a sitter because you haven't been out with your husband in ages, and then spend half the night checking on the kids. Then last, you say at least once a day, "I'm not cut out for this job," but you know you wouldn't trade it for anything. I want to share a message with you... .a message that I hope is encouraging to mothers of all ages but is also encouraging to all people. We all need the help of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we become very frustrated that we read about the idea, we hear about the idea about how we are suppose to live, how loving we are suppose to be, how good Christian people we are suppose to be but we realize that the ideal and what we are actually living are sometimes pretty far apart. We were never intended to live the Christian life without help. Help is promised - the spiritual help of the Holy Spirit. I want to share with you for a few moments about that helper. Who is the helper? The helper is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus went to the cross, he was sharing with the disciples that last night. In two passages, he tells us a great deal about who is the Helper. In John, chapter 14, He says it this way: "If you love me, you will obey what I command and I will ask the Father and he will give you another counsel to be with you forever, the spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it can neither see him or know him but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you". That is the faith in Christ, the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit comes to live in us and give us the power to live the Christian life. In verse 25: "All this I have spoken while still with you but the counsel, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and remind you of everything I have said to you." That is, he will remind us of Christ and all his teachings. In the 16th Chapter of John, He talks more not only of the promise of the Holy Spirit but of what he actually does of the work of the Spirit. It says, "I am going to Him who sent me, let none of you ask me where I am going because I have said these things. You are filled with me but I tell you the truth, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the counsel will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you and when he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. In regard to sin, men do not believe in me. In regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer. In regard to judgment, because the friends of this world now stands condemned." The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is the promised Helper and he is the one who will work in our lives especially to cleanse us, empower us to live this life of discipleship. Why do we not know more about who the Helper is? I believe often times, it is just plain ole fear. Sometimes when we hear about the Holy Spirit, we get real emotional. We hear about some churches where there are emotionalisms but it doesn't mean that God is using their actions. We are afraid of fanaticisms and emotionalisms and that we might get excited by God. We are afraid of that. But I think often times we are more afraid of admitting to the Lord that we really need to depend on you. We really don't know how to handle this. Lord, this is a parent's prayer isn't it? Lord, I don't know what to do. Well, that's when he really can work. Who is the Helper? He is the third person of the Trinity. He is the Holy Spirit. Why do I need Him? According to the Bible it says first of all that he gives us gifts. When Paul was writing to the church of Corinth in his first letter, he said it this way in the 12th chapter: "Now to each one, the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good. And to one, there is given through the spirit the message of wisdom, to know the message of knowledge. That means to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit. To know the gifts of healing by that Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another to distinguish between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues and to interpret the tongues. In verse 11: All of these are the work of the same Spirit and he gives them to each one just as he determines. I remember reading in a church book recently that it said that some 80% of Christians say they don't what their gift of the spirit is. We need to do better than that. We need it in our church and in our Bible studies and Sunday School and to really read what the scripture says about the gifts of the spirit because it is truly from the gifts that our strength will come to serve the Lord. The Holy Spirit - why do we need Him? He gives us gifts to serve him. Then he gives us the power to live the Christian life. He gives us the fruit of the spirit. As we seek to do God's will and we obey him, the fruit comes forward. According to Galatians, the 5th chapter, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience and kindness and goodness and faith and gentleness and self-control against those things that there is no law. It gives us the gifts and then we have the fruit of the Spirit. It was Theo Moody who was a great evangelist of the 19th century that I remember reading about one of his meetings early in his ministry. There were two Methodist sitting on the front row and they were praying and this annoyed him because it was obvious they were not listening to his sermon. They had their eyes shut and were praying and he finally asked them why are you praying during the sermon? Preachers really shouldn't ask that because if they are praying during the sermon that should be obvious. They said, we were praying for you. He asked why they were praying for him and they told him he needed the power of the Spirit. Well, it kinda took him aback, it offended him, really. This big hot shot evangelist and you're praying for me to have the Spirit? But then he was convicted that they were on to something. He asked to speak to them a couple days later to share with him their understanding of the Spirit. They shared. They shared right out of the Bible about the Holy Spirit, who He is and what he can do and the difference he can make. The evangelist thought he had this power but wanted to know more. As they shared with him, he prayed that He would pour out that power upon him and sure enough, the power came upon him. It wasn't that he wasn't being used before but he realized he was doing so much of his preaching under his own strength. When the Spirit came upon him, it was incredible joy to him. In his own account, he said it's not that the sermons changed so much but there was a power there, there was a joy that had not been there before. Why do I need Him? He gives us gifts. He empowers us with the fruit of the spirit and Jesus says it's a powerful witness. In today's secular society, if we are going to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, we really need the power of the Holy Spirit., It was William Booth of the Salvation Army that said the greatest tool of evangelism is a holy life. When we allow Him to come into our lives and change us, people around us will be changed. How do I receive Him? Let's look to the book of Acts, what did Jesus tell them to do? He said to wait and to pray and he didn't say be busy and get going, He said to wait and to pray. We know the example of his mother Mary in the 14th verse of chapter 1, it says "They all joined together constantly in prayer along with the women, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. I wonder what it was like for Mary to be in that prayer meeting? I wonder if she thought back to 34 years ago when she heard the news from Gabriel that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah. Then all the worry she went through about whether Joseph would really believe this? He finally did and the child came and they had to flee to Egypt. I can't imagine what it would be like to raise Jesus. She had other children too. She actually lost Him and that actually makes me feel better. She and Joseph had gone on a trip and "oh, he's not here" and they had to go back and find him. She was there in the good times and the bad times. She was there at the cross and she went through that suffering with her son. She saw him raised and now she is praying and waiting for the counselor. They gathered in the Upper Room and they prayed and they waited and Jesus said "wait, and you will be clothed from the power on high". It is still today that the Spirit will work in us if we wait and pray. Not only do we wait and pray but also we repent. Peter said it this way - on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit came and Peter was preaching they asked him, "what must we do to be saved" and he said, "repent and be baptized every one of you and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and forgiveness of your sins". He was holy. When He comes into our lives that which is unholy has to go. He comes and he changes us. Peter knew about the great forgiving power of the Lord and the Spirit. He knew he had denied his Lord three times and how Jesus wanted more than anything to restore him and for him to know that He loved him. Truly a sign of the Spirit is working in our lives as we have the assurance that God loves us and He's changing us and that we love Him. How do we receive Him? We pray and we repent. In Luke it says in you in knowing how to give good gifts to your children, how much more would the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? What difference would it make? Let me share with you four words that I have found that makes a difference in my life. The first letter of each word spells HELP. Sometimes I am directionally challenged. I've reached the point in my life to where I will admit it. I have to ask directions several times and I still get lost and I keep trying. Every once in awhile, or more than once in awhile, I go to a hospital and I have this look about me and they ask if they can help me. They know the look and they know you don't know where you are going. I usually say, "yes, I'll take some help". The first word H is Hope - when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. It gives us a hopeful outlook on life, especially if you look through the book of Acts. They had so many reasons to be discouraged. They not only faced persecution but they faced suffering. That's why Paul, when he wrote to the Romans, said "suffering produces endurance, endurance produces hope and hope does not disappoint us. Why, because God's love is important to our heart through the Holy Spirit. I have found when I am most discouraged, that's when I need to pray and He restores my hope that he will not leave me or forsake me - He is with me. E is Enthusiasm. Sometimes we get tired of being Christians, sometimes we get tired of doing what's right and sometimes it seems like the same old thing. When the Spirit comes once again he fills us with the power and the enthusiasm for what He's called us to do. He gives us new life, a new vitality, and no longer do we need to worry about being burned out. We're worried we're going to rust out because we are excited. We want to serve Him. E is in enthusiasm. L is Love. When the spirit works in your life, He will help you to love people that you've never fathomed....especially in the power of forgiveness. He pours His love into our hearts. P is Power. One thing that is evident, at least to early Christians. They did not have a great deal of education, they certainly didn't have power as far as prestige and places in society but boy, they had spiritual power which was evident. Do you need His help? Sometimes when it comes to the Helper, we need to be reminded that He will not force himself upon us. If we want to live this life on our own strength, we can do it. I got to see my mother yesterday and she's in the area of the Methodist Home called 'assisted living' and it brings back memories because when I go back now, I can see the old dorm which is where her mother use to live years ago. I can remember going to see her when I was in college and she was one of those who was so proud of her grandson, who was a Methodist preacher. She would take me around and say "this is my grandson, the Reverend John Fowler and introduce me. Mom is not quit like that yet but she's a little different personality but you can tell mom is learning the routine. She learned that when it came about 5:10 p.m., she wanted to go ahead and get to supper. I told her it wasn't until 5:30 and she said, "no, but if you want to get a real nice chair, you need to get on down there", so I said o.k. and sure enough, all those chairs were taken and you could tell she was disappointed. She's new but she is catching on. But you know, there you have to do some things for yourself. It is assisted living. If you live there you know you need some help. I may need some help taking a shower, I may need some help sometimes with medications and she realizes that but it works well. To often times we are like people in assisted living and we say, "no, I don't need anybody or anything, I'm fine", but we do need God. We need Him to help us. Jesus said "but you shall receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses". Let us pray: Father, we confess at times we've been proud and self-sufficient. We pray once again to allow you to work in our lives. Empower us once again to love and to live the faith that you called us too. Thank you for the great gift of the Helper. We pray this in Jesus name. AMEN. |