Holy Advantage
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Holy Advantage | Pastor Dean Deguara
John 16:5-7
5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”Many of us live our spiritual lives as though we are living from a deficit, a lack or shortage; a disadvantage.
John 15:18
If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.John 15:20
If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.John 15:25
‘They hated Me without a cause.’Jesus is equipping his disciples for the hard stuff in life.
You can avoid and hide from the hard stuff in life or you can allow the person of the Holy Spirit to use the hard stuff for heaven’s purposes.
John 16:1 NLT
“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.”Being prepared doesn’t mean surprises wont come, but when I’m prepared I won’t be shaken, shocked or in shambles because of them.
When the heat gets turned up you have a Helper who will show up.
John 14:16
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you Forever—Another:
Another of the same kind. One besides Me and in addition to Me but one just like Me. He will do in My absence what I would do If I were physically present with you.”John 14:18
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”John 15:26-27
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.He will do in My absence what I would do If I were physically present with you
John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”Advantage:
To bear together
To help bring about
To be better
To be profitableThe person of the Holy Spirit abiding in you, is more powerful than the hard stuff that is telling you to abandon Him.
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(00:19) if you're a notetaker you can go to the YouVersion app go to events find Real Life Church Sacramento click on that and all the notes and scriptures are right there where you can take notes and we're launching a new series today and over
(01:22) the next few weeks we're going to be bouncing around in John 14 15 and 16 as the court passages in our study and topic of the Holy Spirit some theologians believe that John 14 15 and 16 believe that this conversation is happening the last 12 hours of Jesus's life so presumably there are these are the last things Jesus is saying to his disciples before he is crucified I want to begin by starting starting with our theme scripture for the series and where I got the title of the message by turning to John
(02:07) 16: 5 and seven it says this but now I go away to him who sent me and none of you ask me where are you going but because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart nevertheless I tell you the truth how are you thankful when people tell you the truth it is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you but if I depart I will send him to you this morning I want to talk to you about living with a holy Advantage living with a holy Advantage if you've ever been in
(02:55) financial debt or are currently in financial debt you know what a struggle it can be to live life constantly from a financial deficit how many you know what I'm talking about a majority of us know what I'm talking about the burden of death can lead to a lot of sleepless nights how many of you agree a lot of unnecessary Stress and Anxiety it leads to a limited freedom and a lack of flexibility that can impact your overall quality of life it could lead to disagreements about money and the stress of debt can lead to
(03:39) conflicts and tension and have a negative impact on your relationships and if you're married your marriage accumulating debt can negatively limit your ability to secure favorable and future opportunities the door can close in your face and then it can also cause constant worry and pressure associated with financial debt and it can take a toll on your mental health now you're probably saying pastor Dean I thought we were talking about holy Advantage not money well the Bible talks a lot about money as it relates to the kingdom in other
(04:23) words Jesus says listen if you will take time to understand how money Works listen you will have a revelation of how the kingdom works you see many of us do the same thing all the things that I mentioned with our spiritual lives when we try to live out our Christian walk in our own strength in our own power we live as though we're living from a deficit from a lack or a shortage that somehow puts us at a disadvantage instead of Walking In The Inheritance that is accessible through the person of the Holy Spirit everybody say person we
(05:05) talk a lot about the power come on we talk a lot about the purpose but the holy spirit is a person the holy spirit is not a force come on it's not a force be with you type of thing he is a person that you can have a personal relationship with I love what Paul prays in Ephesians 1:18 and 19 and this is not on the screen this is a early morning download he says this I pray that the eyes of your heart the very center and core of your being may be enlightened and flooded with light by the Holy Spirit how many want to walk in a new
(05:49) revelation in 2024 and here is Paul praying listen don't live in a deficit don't live at a disadvantage he's praying for them them that the Holy Spirit would reveal to to them who the person of the holy spirit is inside of them he goes on to pray so that you will know and cherish the hope the Divine guarantee The Confident expectation to which he has called you the riches The Riches of his glorious inheritance in the Saints so that you will begin to know what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness
(06:32) of his the holy spirit's active spiritual power is in us who Believe come on how you know the person of the Holy Spirit if you've accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior the holy spirit is taking residence up in you he's living on the inside of you he's not up there the holy spirit is not out there somewhere no he resides Ides in the temple we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit the Bible says sometimes If we're honest we live as though we're going to lose the game yet there is still time on the
(07:17) clock I want to give some context to the verses I began with in John 16 because Jesus is telling his disciples for the first time this is this is the the the moment in time where they actually can handle Jesus telling them this heavy truth are you guys ready for it tell your neighbor are you ready Jesus is telling his disciples for the first time things are going to get harder not easier in fact Jesus tells them people are going to hate you because they hated me John 15:18 if you just back up a little bit if the world hates you you
(08:02) know that it hated me before it hated you they're going to persecute you because they persecuted me John 15:20 if they persecuted me guess what they will also persecute you I can imagine the disciples right now saying Hallelujah Lord we just thank you for the persecution right now he goes on to say if the world hated me for no reason the world is going to hate you for no reason John 15:25 they hated me without a cause you know a lot of times we Champion the phrase in the church we want to change the world but did you know that doesn't come
(08:47) without a huge price tag changing the world can be a very unpopular road to travel on especially if you're worried about being rejected by others in fact as much as we celebrate the life of Dr Martin Luther King today and his impact on society did you know he died with a public disapproval rating of nearly 75% so listen in light of the celebration let's not forget the arrests come on let's not forget the violence let's not forget the intimidation and the CR criticism MLK had to endure in order for us us to be celebrating the
(09:30) change that his life brought about today and the reason why I tell you this is because some of us need help with people not liking us we need help with being rejected and hated for standing up for what is right you see it's important to know at this juncture in Jesus's Ministry Jesus is equipping his disciples for the hard stuff in life anybody been through some hard stuff some difficult stuff anybody been through a really really hard 2023 and you're just praying something's going to shift in
(10:16) 2024 and he's letting them know you are not going to be able to do it by yourself you're going to need some holy help come on some Sanctified assistance some Supernatural Aid how many could use some Sanctified help this morning but he says as long as I'm with you Jesus says I can't s the one who's going to reside in you and John 16:6 says this sorrow but because I've said these things these hard things everybody say hard things because I've said these things to you sorrow has filled your
(11:06) heart you see what happened here is the disciples started feeling sorry for themselves because they thought Jesus was the Messiah who was going to overcome all the hard stuff they were facing in their life and now he says hey well they think he says hey I'm leaving I'm going byebye see you later have you ever felt sorry for yourself thrown a pity party by yourself you see a lot of times we are sorrowful because we can't see life on the other side of what we are losing or who we are losing we are sad because we can't see
(11:48) life on the other side of what we think is going to be a disadvantage after something is taken away we can't see what's coming listen because we don't know where Jesus is going and if we knew where Jesus was going we wouldn't be worried about disapproval like MLK we'd be expecting an arrival how many you know in the Kingdom there has to be a departure come on before there's an arrival this goes against so much of what is taught in the western church today and it is this that somehow if we
(12:26) believe in Jesus everything's going to be smooth sailing I don't know about you but I've experienced some rough Seas I've experienced a few storms I've seen a few people jump ship I've seen a few boats sink I've had to throw out a few lifelines to rescue people from drowning in their mess you see Jesus didn't guarantee us a trouble-free life he guarantee he'd send us a helper in in the midst of the trouble and this morning I came to encourage us today that we can live with a holy
(13:11) Advantage even when things seem to be stacked against us when everything that seems to be Unholy is coming against you and you feel as though you are at a disadvantage when life isn't fair and you feel like you've been dealt a bad hand when people falsely accuse you and you get blamed for something you didn't do listen you can play the victim or you can call on the helper and live with a holy Advantage you can feel sorry for yourself or you can step into a relationship with the Holy Spirit the person of the Holy Spirit who was sent
(13:50) directly to you from Heaven to help you let me just lift this to its Biblical context just for a moment you can avoid and hide from the hard stuff in life or you can allow the person of the Holy Spirit to use the hard stuff for heaven's purposes in fact John 161 I love this verse he tells them plainly why he's telling them telling them this hard stuff these hard things 16:1 I have told you these things what things the hard things the difficult things the things you're going to have to endure I have told you these
(14:39) things so that you won't abandon your faith in other words Jesus told his disciples to be prepared for the hard stuff so they wouldn't be surprised by it and allow it to shipwreck their faith I think a lot of Christ Christians live their lives being surprised all the time shocked can't believe that's happening what in the world is going on we're surprised when our plans get interrupted we're surprised when problems crop up come on how you know wherever there's people there's going to
(15:24) be problems and somehow we've got it backwards in the church we feel like like wherever there's people gathered in the church there should be Perfection how many know you got to get on the other side of problems come on to experience God perfecting your life we're not going to be perfect till we get to heaven y'all I I hate to break it to you we are surprised when unexpected things happen we're surprised when something goes wrong we're surprised when someone talks about us I you know what like I'mma Be Honest
(16:06) like before I became a lead Pastor everybody used to like me nobody ever talked bad about me became a lead Pastor man man lot of lot of things said we're surprised when someone falsely accuses us listen if we're going to stand for truth in our day there's going to be false accusations we're surprised by the personal attacks we're surprised by the attack of the enemy and far too often our lack of preparedness our lack of understanding of why Jesus sent us the holy helper causes us to live in a state of shock
(16:56) that paralyze us when Pro problems arise so that we are constantly living in the deficit of a Unholy disadvantage it's Unholy and we live as a victim rather than a Victorious believer and the enemy wants you to be stuck in victim mode not Victorious living mode and I and I just appreciate this passage so much in John 15 because Jesus is shooting it to them straight the disciples and he's telling them you're going to have haters not everybody's going to love you come on you're going to experience
(17:42) hostility people are actually going to persecute you he lets them know they're going to get blamed for things come on they had nothing to do it have you ever been blamed by like your brother or your my sister used to blame me for stuff I never did I hated it you know I've been in Ministry and pastoring this year now for 30 years but when I became the pastor of this church I knew it wasn't going to come without a challenge without challenges so I reached out to other pastors and asked questions about what I should expect I
(18:20) read books on uh transitional leadership and taking over churches um the best practices I should put into place I started exercising in because in one book I read said that trans the the downfall of transitional leaders if they weren't in physical shape to handle the demands of the transition but most importantly can I tell you this I asked the holy spirit for help and he gave me the best insight about the church that no one else could have gave me and here what was so cool he didn't show me what was wrong with
(18:55) the church he showed me where he was going and where he wanted to to help me take it healthy staff healthy finances healthy Church you know what we're still pursuing s years later come on healthy staff healthy finances healthy Church you see being prepared doesn't mean surprises won't come but when I'm prepared I Won't Be Shaken shocked or in shambles because of them I don't know if you guys are here during the um edify conference but almost all of the speakers are like your pastor he's so
(19:33) calm he's so at peace he's so quiet can I just let you know that's my new nature that has nothing to do with me that's the holy spirit in me that's me crucifying my flesh so I'm not overreacting I'm not running around in chaos that's my new nature because my old nature can I get just tell you some of the things that happen I'd be freaking out I'd be stressed I'd be anxious I'd be Sleepless all of these things you see when the heat gets turned up this is what I know we can expect the helper to
(20:24) show up when the heat gets turned up help is on the way everybody say help is on the way come on touch your neighbor and say help is on the way now turn to your other neighbor and say help is on the way and you go to John 14 verse 16 and he says and I will pray simply that word prayer there means I will ask the father I will ask I will pray I will ask the father and he will give you another helper everybody say another that he may abide with you forever the word another there means another of the same kind in
(21:12) other words Jesus said listen I have to go away but none of you asked where I was going because you think I'm leaving but I'm I'm just I'm going away so I can send to you so I could go to my father and send to you someone just like me in addition to me but one just like me he will do in my absence what I would do if I were physically present with you you see God does not abandon us come on now he abides within us he was Emmanuel God was with him but listen he had to go to the father so the holy SP Spirit come on
(22:00) could live in us come on how you know in us come on is better than with us now he's with us and in us I can sense his presence I can sense his presence I can sense that he's with me but when things come against me I also know that I will not be shaken I will not be in shock I will not be in shambles because somebody's on the inside of me holding me up he doesn't abandon you he abides with you you will always have help everybody say always you are never without help now this is the Revelation that God
(22:46) wants us to walk in so when everything on the outside is chaotic and confusing and you feel alone in the fight there is one who is abiding in you that isn't moved by the circumstances around you and all you have to do listen is to S to die to your flesh come on allow the new nature in you come on to rule over the old nature this is a decision that you make come on when things when things go Haywire at work or when things go Haywire at home listen we have a choice listen is it is it going to be the Holy Spirit Ru the new nature ruling in me or
(23:24) am I going to fall back in the old nature come on how you familiar with the old nature that naughty nature right John 14:18 I will not leave you orphans I will come to you see we have to allow God to deal with our abandonment issues and live in the revelation of adoption which is the spiritual reality of being embraced and accepted as God's son and daughters with a holy Advantage everybody say Advantage the rights the Privileges and the responsibilities that come with being a part of God's families John
(24:10) 14:26 but the helper everybody say helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things how many things was is he going to teach you there's nothing that he doesn't know he's omniscient he is all knowing so even if you don't know come on you have something better than Google on the inside of you you've got something better than chat GPT on the inside of you the helper teaches you and helps you to remember all things everybody say all things I remember when I when I first
(24:53) got married I I didn't grow up in a Christian home so other than seeing a few Christian couples at my church I had no I had really no idea come on what a Christ centered home or a Christ centered marriage look like guess who taught me the Holy Spirit help me be the husband that God called me to be the Holy Spirit help me listen I never raised Christian kids I was a knucklehead growing up listen if you ask for insight how you know God will give you the Insight if you ask for Revelation how you know God will give you the
(25:41) Revelation the helper teaches you and helps you to remember all things John 15 26:27 it says but when the helper comes whom I shall send to you from the Father the spirit of Truth who proceeds from the father he will testify ify of me and you will you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning so Jesus is basically telling his disciples that the heat is going to get turned up but a helper is going to show up and your life is going to be evidence and a living testimony of what I can do in you
(26:21) and through you just like when I was with you and the Holy Spirit this is what he wants to do today the Holy Spirit In You church is going to testify of Jesus Through you listen you're the only Jesus that people are going to see in other words even though it looks like you are at a disadvantage it may look like you're losing with everything coming against you I'm Jesus says I'm going to send another one who is for you and he will do in my absence what I would do if I were physically present with
(27:04) you what Jesus was telling his disciples is the same thing he's telling us today you see up until this point in time the disciples are good when they are with Jesus but he tells them I'm going away so my father can send someone just like me not to just be with you but to reide in you to give you an advantage let's go back to John 16:7 nevertheless everybody say nevertheless I tell you the truth it is to your advantage I want you to get that in your spirit it is to your advantage I want you to just say that with me it is
(27:40) to your advantage say it again it is to your advantage one more time it is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you but if I depart I will send him to you the word advantage means this to bear together listen the person of the Holy Spirit wants to partner with you in whatever you're trying to carry all by yourself stop trying to do it all by yourself the idea this this idea of bearing together means the idea of sharing or jointly carrying a burden responsibility or hardship with others
(28:23) the concept of bearing together often emphasizes the importance of Community cooperation and mutual support in facing life's challenges listen some of us just have to learn to cooperate come on with what God is telling us with with what God has already told us to do stop fighting and start cooperating I love this definition to help bring it about I believe there's some things in your life that in 2024 come on the Holy Spirit wants to help bring about in your life I know listen through the edify conference God is
(29:04) speaking big things over this church and big things over my leadership and guess what I'm going to need some help from the Holy One come on who lives inside of me to help me bring it about it's not just going to happen listen expansion and a new building and all those kinds of things are not just going to fall out of the sky come on I've got to cooperate with what's been spoken come on and the the one who's on the inside of me to lead me to the right people the right place at the right time it means to be
(29:36) better come on how many you know 2024 is going to get better and I love this because instead of living in a deficit the Holy Spirit resides in you so that you can be profitable in 2024 how many of you want to have a profitable 2024 you see in 2023 some of us experienced some losses in the natural that actually has positioned you for a spiritual upgrade in 2024 the spiritual upgrade is going to come when you say yes to the person of the Holy Spirit and you get a revelation of who he wants to be in your life that
(30:23) word helper can I just introduce I'm just going to introduce it this week I'll expand on it in the coming weeks that word helper means listen to this your intercessor your intercessor when you don't know what to pray listen you got an intercessor on the inside of you Josiah called me last night told me I did he told me some stuff I didn't know what to pray but listen the intercessor inside of me knew what to pray as I laid on my bed and prayed over the situation it means Counselor come on how you need a good
(31:03) counselor in 2024 come on good counselors are hard to find these days if you find one come on they're booked about three months it's too late by the time you get them that's just the facts but how many you know you have a counselor on the inside as well what would happen if we stopped running first to the counselors and we started come on first asking the counselor how about the comforter how about the encourager how about the advocate the one who wants to defend you you see God wants to help you will you let him the Holy Spirit
(31:51) help you will you let the counselor counsel you will you let the comforter comfort for you will you let the encourager encourage you will you let the advocate advocate for you will you allow God to help you live with a holy Advantage with every head bowed and every eye closed maybe you do not know Jesus and if you don't know Jesus listen your spirit hasn't come alive yet your spirit is dead you you have no connection with the Holy Spirit but you might be in here this morning just saying you know what I
(32:35) want to make a decision for Jesus to come Fully Alive in me so the Holy Spirit can take residence in my life with every head bowed every eye closed if you'd like to invite Jesus into your life and you'd like to start cultivating a relationship with him and the Holy Spirit would you just lift up your hands we just want to pray with you is there anybody in here this morning yes anybody else one person anybody else you just say I need to get my life right with Jesus is there anybody else in here hallelujah this is the saved Bunch
(33:13) the 8:30 saved and Sanctified Bunch hallelujah we're going to pray the prayer for this one person who raised their hand can we pray it together on the count of three 1 2 3 Jesus I believe you are the Son of God that you died on the cross to rescue me from sin and death and to restore me to the father I choose Now to turn from my sins my self- sinness and every part of my life that does not please you I choose you I give myself to you I receive your forgiveness and ask you to take your rightful place in my life as My Savior and Lord restore
(33:52) me live in me and through me in Jesus name I pray amen and amen can we give God praise listen if you prayed that prayer for the first time in the back Jeff is back there we'd love to put this next steps packets in your hand it has a new Believers uh New Testament in there as well as just some advice on what you can do to to what we can do or it'll show you what we can do to help you um take your first steps in your journey with Christ will you guys stand with me as the prayer ministers come I just felt like that question kept
(34:33) resonating in my spirit will you let him help you I just feel like there are some Believers come on that need some help some holy help some Sanctified help I believe there's some Believers listen that need some counsel from the counselor I believe there's some Believers that need some comfort from the comforter some encouragement from the en encourager and some advocacy from The Advocate if that's you this morning as our band begins to sing this is how we're going to to end I want to invite you to come
(35:08) forward as the worship team and let our team pray for you we want to grab your hands we want to encourage you listen that you don't have to live at a disadvantage listen you can live with a holy advantage in 2024 listen if you need prayer in any area of your life I want you to come as the band sings hope to see you tonight 5:30 Trinity Life Center Church I love you respond to him this morning why don't you come and let us pray for you hey everybody I want to take a moment again and say thank you for joining us
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