All right, well, you're turning with me to John, chapter 15. The Gospel of John, chapter 15. And when you've reached chapter 15, if you would stand with me for the reading of our gospel today. And if you would stick another finger there or just be ready to turn the page into chapter 16. Because we only have two verses here that are coming from chapter 15.
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And as you may remember, we have been in the Gospel of John for a little while. That's been the. Even though this year is Mark, we've been reading John. And so here we are once again, reading John. And notice these words from holy scripture as found in John 15.
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And then verse 26 and 27 and then 16. And we'll go to four. Jesus said to his disciples, when the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the father. The spirit of truth, who comes from the father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
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Go ahead and turn the page. 16, verse four, b. We'll pick up halfway through. I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me.
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Yet none of you asked me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the advocate will not come to you.
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But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin. Sin and righteousness and judgment about sin, because they do not believe in me about righteousness. Because I am going to the father. And you will no longer see me about judgment because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
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I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears. And he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
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All that the Father has is mine. For this reason, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Lord Jesus, thank you for your holy word. We pray now that the same holy spirit who inspired these words would now inspire, enlighten, enliven our own hearts and minds this morning so that we can be a flame of love for you. We pray in your name.
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Amen. And you can be seated.
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Well, Christmas and Easter are often celebrated with gusto. You know, in fact, Christmas, we start preparing for Christmas, and, you know, oftentimes you can kind of look at Walmart or target or these other places, and they will let you know which holiday is coming up next, won't they? Because they're ready to sell the things, right? You know, if it's. I don't even know what.
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July 4. I assume there's probably already. July 4. I'm getting a yes, there's July 4 stuff on the shelf right now. We're what, a month and a half something out from that.
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Okay, but get it. They want to sell you these things, so they prep you for it. They're preparing for it. And of course, we, too, you know, in the church, we have four Sundays of preparation for the Christmas season, which is twelve days. And so we, too, are, hey, we prep for Christmas.
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And Christmas is a big deal. You know, even the secular world, have you noticed, recognizes that something unique is going on. And even before all of the marketing stuff, even pagans would have worshiped because of the winter solstice, which coincides with roughly the time of Christmas. And, of course, again, Easter, we get something similar, don't we? Even