Upper Room Discourse

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These verses talk about intimacy with God and how that intimacy is related to revelation.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These There are two types of revelation. One type of revelation is where God shows you things that He wants you to do. That includes things like words of knowledge, prophecy, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Most of those revelatory gifts are to help somebody else and they comprise one category of revelation -- knowing things you can't know in the natural. That's fun, but there is another level of revelation that I think is even better.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These That is where He just reveals Himself to you. That undoes you, it is better. Revelation of God Himself is the greater of the two types of revelation. This greatness is not based on what happens during the revelation itself, but by what it produces in you.. Revelation of God produces something in you that will produce much fruit later on. It is life-changing.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These Let's look at this passage, John 14:15-21: "If you love Me you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor and He will be with you forever."

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These The word in the Greek for "counselor" is parakletos {par-ak'-lay-tos}. It means He "comes along side you for whatever you need." If you need a counselor, He will be your counselor. If you need a comforter, He is your comforter. If you need a guide, He will be that guide for you. If you need a helper, He will be your helper. That is why the word is translated so many different ways. We don't have one English word that can begin to comprehend the meaning of the word parakletos.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These The passage continues, "He will be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him or knows Him. But you know Him for He lives with you and will be in you." Now, this is really neat! The passage continues, "He lives with you. As I and the Father are one, so am I and the Holy Spirit are one."

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These There is a unity within the Trinity: one substance, three persons. If you experience one member of the Trinity, then you also experience the other two because they carry the heart of each other. That is why Jesus said, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. I and the Father are One." He also said that "The Spirit, the Comforter is going to be in you, but right now He is with you." Well who was with them at that time? He was. And He said, "As I am with you now, I will be with you." As a matter of fact He said, "The Father and I are going to be in you." How? When the Holy Spirit comes in you, then you experience both Jesus and the Father.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These So there is this great promise that He is going to be in you in verse 17: "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Before long the world will not see me anymore. But you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me and I am in you."

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These There are no big words there, and no hard-to-understand phrases. But that is hard to get from here. So when we read that we say "Whew! I am in the Father and you're in Me and I'm in you." Well if Jesus is in the Father and we're in Him, where does that put us? It puts us in the Father. In Him, we have boldness of access, understanding who we are. "So whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father and I too will love him and..." (I have this part circled -- this is the part that really got me): "I will show Myself to him." This is a promise of the revelation of Jesus to us, not just of the gifts, but of God Himself.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These My mother got to go up to heaven and the scene transformed her life forever. And she walked around in a trance for days my dad said that was why he got saved. Once Mom went to heaven and came back, she walked around in a trance and saying, "Oh it is so beautiful!" I was six years old at the time, my brother was four and my sister was three. My dad wasn't a Christian then, but what happened to my mother impacted his so strongly that he got saved. I can still remember her words, "Oh it's so beautiful, SO BEAUTIFUL! I don't want to stay here, I want to go back."

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These She walked about in a trance-like state for days because she'd just spent a few minutes in heaven. And she kept saying, "I don't want to stay here. I want to go back. It is so beautiful, so peaceful, so glorious!" And she'd talk about it for years. And forty years later, she still could not talk about it without crying any time that I asked her about it.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These When God reveals Himself to us, it is not always just by seeing something. Sometimes it is by feeling, sensing, knowing, or just being overwhelmed.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These I am going to tell you another intern story to illustrate my point. I don't encourage the interns to do a long fast, but most of them are so hungry for God that they decide to do it at some point. I don't even know they're doing it until I realize they're not eating and I say, "So what day are you on?" In just this last year, half of my interns have gone on a 40 day fast-and-prayer to seek God. One of them, Hoffa, just finished her 40-day fast in Brazil on her birthday a few weeks ago. The night she concluded it the Lord came into the room and revealed Himself to her. And she was undone -- just undone. She found herself crying and His presence was so precious. It was a deep and wonderful experience for her.

We are in John chapter 14 and we are going to look at verses 15-21. These So what was the fruit of that encounter with God? The next time she went and prayed for people, seventy percent of the people in that church got healed. Seventy percent! All that healing happened because her encounter with God left such an anointing on her life. She is young, she just turned 22 on the day that God met her. But she encountered God and as a result, she is moving in a very strong anointing.