Gary Gleans

John 15:26-16:4 26  “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,  that is  the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,  27  and you  will  testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning. 1  “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.  2  “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.  3  “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.  4  “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. Jesus is letting His disciples know that He is going to be leaving but that the Spirit will be coming and that will be what is best for them in the long run.   The fo...

John 15:18-25 18  “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before  it hated  you.  19  “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.  20  “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  21  “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.  22  “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  23  “He who hates Me hates My Father also.  24  “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.  25  “But  they have done t...

John 15:12-17 12  “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.  13  “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  14  “You are My friends if you do what I command you.  15  “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.  16  “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and  that  your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.  17  “This I command you, that you love one another. It is important to understand who Jesus is and what He has done for us.   This passage tells us many things about Jesus and His actions.   He presents Himself as the Son of God because He calls God My Father.   He presents H...

John 15:1-11 1  “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  2  “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every  branch  that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.  3  “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  4  “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither  can  you unless you abide in Me.  5  “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.  6  “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.  7  “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  8  “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and...

John 14:25-31 25  “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.  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 that I said to you.  27  “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.  28  “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.  29  “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.  30  “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;  31  but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here. As Jesus concludes His remarks to His...

John 14:18-24 18  “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  19  “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you  will  see Me; because I live, you will live also.  20  “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  21  “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”  22  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?”  23  Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.  24  “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. It is an amazing thing to think about bein...

John 14:16-17 16  “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;  17   that is  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him,  but  you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. The Lord is preparing His disciples for His crucifixion as well as His ascension.   Jesus knows that things are going to be very different for the disciples in the days and years ahead.   His death and resurrection will be followed by His leaving of the earth and their presence for a very long time.   They will face persecution as the follow the commands of Jesus.   They will be responsible to spread the Gospel to all nations.   However, Jesus wants to assure them that they will not be alone.   Jesus provides all that is necessary for His followers to accomplish the mission He gives.   As we seek to follow the commands and mission of ...