Good morning. But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and
none of you asks Me, where are You going? But because I have said these things
to you, sorrow has filled your heart. It’s kind of like a friend or relative
saying that they’re going to move far away from us. But I tell you the truth,
it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper
will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. It would not matter
if that friend or relative said that they were sending someone to you that you
would really love, and that he would help you when you needed him. We would
still want that friend or relative to stay. And He, when He comes, will convict
the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because
they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the
Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of
this world has been judged. Because Jesus was leaving the earth, people would
no longer have Him as the sinless example to show where they failed. They would
no longer have an external example of righteousness – they would need to see
the Holy Spirit helping the disciples to live the Christian life to convict
them. Since they had not believed in Jesus, judgment was sure to follow. I have
many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. If Jesus had
stayed, we would only have His glorious words to guide us. Mankind had failed
to follow the words of God through the law of Moses. They needed something
internal – the Holy Spirit – to help them live the Christian life pleasing to
God. Father thank You that You sent the Holy Spirit to guide us. Guide the
reader today and every day.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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