O Breath of God 04/12/2026

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today

It is so difficult
To understand
To make sense of
To make real
That we share
Your resurrection
In some meaningful
And tangible way
In our lives.

Fill our hearts and minds
Teaching us what is life giving
And what is soul destroying
Clarifying
In real time
How to love others
While loving ourselves
So all who are loved by you
Are also loved by us

But this life
of resurrection and
Restoration
doesn’t come all at once
Only bit by bit
Over lifetimes
So grant us forgiveness
For ourselves and each other
Because we will need it
To give space and try again
And try again
And try again
Learning the way

And grant us courage
And hope
And perseverance
To keep at it
To stay the path
Being born
And born again
And raised from the dead
And let transformation,
Your victory over
Sin and death,
Do it’s work
In each of us
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” John 14:15-19, 21

Intro: I am going to take a risk this morning

Aside from whatever ways I’m supposed to help others,
– my own life in God has been driven by one passion
• that is, to experience everything Jesus promised his disciples
• my primary rationale is to take Jesus at his word
◦ to be more specific:
– what is on the table for me is not that I work miracles
• at least, not extraordinary miracles, I’m okay with ordinary miracles
◦ like bringing a smile to a baby’s face
• I know I’m not called to “signs and wonders”
◦ what I’ve longed for is personal, and has been my longing from childhood

In the scripture I read, Jesus is telling his disciples goodbye

In this entire section of John, from chapter 13 through 16, Jesus is downloading his final revelations and instructions
– the way John introduces these chapters says it all:
“. . . when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn. 13:1)
• to the disciples, this message was confusing and disturbing
◦ that’s why, when we come to ch. 14 he needs to tell them,
“Let not your hearts be troubled” (Jn. 14:1)
• I think the disciples’ reaction is predictable,
“How can you expect our hearts to not be troubled? You’re going, we don’t know where, and you say we cannot go with you. But our whole lives depend on you!”
◦ Thomas and Philip ask nervous, desperate questions
– Jesus gives them reassurance that they’ll be okay
• they now know God for themselves, because they’ve seen and encountered God in Jesus
• so now he begins to unlock their future
◦ he makes a few conditional statements – “if-then”
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments”

It’s critical that we remember his commandments

They all stem from one core commandment in the previous chapter
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (Jn. 13:34)
– this is the most important requirement for being a disciple
• if we’re going to move forward and further with Jesus,
◦ love must be the underlying dynamic and motive
• otherwise, the human ego gets in the way and ruins everything
– then what? What door is opened for us if we love others?
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth . . .”
• there are two points I want to make here:
First, “Helper” is a weak word when referring to the Holy Spirit
◦ other possible translations include:
“Advocate” – is the role an attorney plays in assisting in court
“Counselor” and “Comforter”
◦ besides the role Jesus describes, the Spirit will also empower the followers of Jesus
Second, the word “another” – two Greek words could be used for another:
heteros means “another of a different kind”
allos means “another of the same kind” — this is the word used here
◦ the Spirit is another Counselor of the same kind as Jesus
Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians have sometimes made the Spirit seem scary; e.g., the “Holy Ghost”
– but as Jesus was with the disciples, so is God’s Spirit is with us
• there is one Spirit of God, who is also the Spirit of Jesus

I need to explain that I’m not trying to do theology right now

I’m hoping to show you that we can have a deeper, stronger connection with God than what most Christians experience
– Jesus is telling his disciples that he’s going away;
• and he did go away, BUT he did not leave them “as orphans”
• we were never meant to live at a distance from God
◦ never meant to lose touch, to not feel his presence, or hear his voice
– Jesus began speaking very directly to me when I was 18
• I did not hear a voice, but in my mind I heard thoughts that were not my own
• at that time, the Lord was preparing me for, and steering me toward ministry

That went on for a couple of years
– it wasn’t something I experienced every day,
• but occurred at critical moments of transition
• and then it stopped
– the Lord continued to work on me, guide me, teach me,
• but not with the same direct and forceful impression
◦ I think there was a lot I needed to learn–and to unlearn
◦ so I became a student, a disciple – and that went on for years
• then, in my late twenties, I wanted to hear Jesus again like I had before
◦ the path I took was to study whatever I could to understand how God speaks to his people

Of course, most of my research was biblical
– but I also wanted to understand the nature of our human consciousness
• my question was: Have we been given a mental capability to tune into God’s voice?
◦ and if so, is it possible to strengthen and increase this ability?
• around that time cognitive science became very big
◦ partly because of the rapid growth of computer technology
◦ we had new tools for understanding how the brain organizes and processes information
• soon after the cognitive sciences expanded, neuroscience began to make rapid process
◦ that was also advanced by new brain-imaging technology,
◦ and new surgical devices for working with a live brain
– most scientists in these fields are not interested in religion
• but some are, and some of those participate in an important institution
◦ The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences
◦ they have published papers from a conference in 1998, Neuroscience and the Person
• one chapter was written by biochemist, Arthur Peacocke
◦ he titled his paper, “The Sound of Sheer Silence” – referring to when God spoke to Elijah on Mount Horeb
◦ Peacocke asks questions about receiving messages directly into the brain and not through the five senses
– in his paper he asks exactly the same question I had been asking (but not as intelligently)
Peacocke, “In such instances, is it necessary to postulate some action of God whereby there is a direct communication from God to the human consciousness that is not mediated by any known natural means, that is, by any of the constituents of the world. Is there, as it were, a distinctive layer or level within the totality of human personhood that has a unique way of coming into direct contact with God?”

Eventually, I realized, even if I had answers to such questions, they wouldn’t help me at all
– the only way to develop a greater receptivity to God’s Spirit would be through practice
• the spiritual discipline of listening
• this is the essence of contemplative prayer

Listen again to Jesus’ promise:
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, [they are those who love] me. And [those who love] me will beloved by my Father, and I will love [them] and manifest myself to [them]”

Here are some of my recommendations for improving our reception of the Spirit’s communication:
Flood your mind with Jesus — do this and he will become more real to you
– read and reread the gospels – choose a favorite and return to it frequently
• take specific scenes and find yourself in them

In quietness, relax your body, surrendering yourself to Jesus
• you don’t have to try to feel anything other than to sense his nearness
• whisper his name and fall into his presence
– you’ll see that you control your thoughts, they won’t control you

The Spirit is a bridge – our connection with God is Spirit to spirit
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Ro. 8:16)
– remind yourself that the Spirit surrounds you, and quietly say “You”
• he’s the only one there, and that will help you realize he’s there and he hears you
• allow yourself to sense him here and now

Conclusion: If you’ve ever rappelled, you know,

when you stand at the edge of the cliff preparing to descend, you must lean back
At first, it feels wrong – until you do it – and then it feels right
Because now you feel secure, steady, and in control
Your weight isn’t working against you, but for you,
holding you snug against the cliff

Practice leaning back into God’s Spirit
One day you will certainly wake up to him
You’ll know this is right, that he is with you,
because you will be at peace