Today we're talking about our Helper.

I used to work at a movie theater, it was a highlight of my life for sure! When I worked there, I was trained as a projectionist. Now being a projectionist was hard. It wasn't your simple turn on a movie by pushing play like some of the movie theaters are today. No, it was the old-fashioned film projectors where I had to take an old strip of film and thread it through an entire projector. The movie came in about six to eight reels and I had to splice or tape these giant film reels together and thread it through this machine. I'd be meticulous about it because if I didn’t, I would melt a film or scratch the film and it would be ruined forever.

I remember training for days and days, testing and practicing for weeks on end. My training time concluded, and I had become a full-on projectionist at a movie theater.

What many people didn't see was the owner of the movie theater, who happened to also be my dad, yeah, my dad owns a movie theater, he trained me hour after hour night after night on how to thread a movie projector.

My dad, the owner, helped me be become good at what I do. My day, an expert in the field, was the person who knew how to thread a projector most efficiently. He helped me become what I was.

Wouldn't it be nice if that's how it was when we followed Jesus? Like wouldn't it be awesome if Jesus himself could train you could help you and could teach you how to live into your new identity as loved?

You might be thinking that following Jesus is pretty hard. I mean even as a child we play follow the leader and it was easy to see the person in front of you and walk and talk and do the things that they did. Jesus isn't physically here so how am I supposed to follow him well?

Check out what Jesus says in John 16:5-7.

“but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” 

Jesus says it's better for him to go away than it is for Jesus to stay and the reason according to Jesus is what He calls an advocate or in other words a helper

This helper is known as the Holy Spirit.

Let's back up just a second, Jesus is literally saying the Holy Spirit will help you with your walk with Christ.

For those of you who have never heard or learned about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is part of what Christians call the Trinity and is literally God himself.  You have God the Father, the one who created all things. You have God the Son the one who died for our sins. And you have God the Holy Spirit the one who advocates or helps us.

Jesus said it's better for Him to die and for the Holy Spirit to come because Jesus can only be at one spot at a time. The Spirit of God lives in us, which is to say the creator God, an expert in the field, lives in you and helps you navigate this crazy thing that we called life.

In your walk as a Christian, you have the owner, your Father who is here to help. If you're new to the faith you may have a friend or a mentor or a pastor or a church community or a book to help you navigate through life as a Christian. Did you know you also have God himself through the Holy Spirit to help you?

Where books and friends and mentors and pastors are good, there's no better helper than the one who lives in you called the Holy Spirit.

Today as you navigate through life, maybe a simple prayer you could do would be to pray to the Holy Spirit and think about the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit questions, rest in the Holy Spirit and simply acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is right there with you helping you along the way

We’ll see you tomorrow for more in our series “I said “Yes!” to Jesus, now what?!”