Change Your World | Chapter 3 | "Comforter"

Around 2005, I lived in Charlotte North Carolina with my wife, Anna, and my three young children: Laura, Audrey, and Timothy. I was 30 years old and launching into a brand new decade of life. By this time, I had already received a call to ministry and had served for fours years on the staff of Destiny Church in San Antonio, Texas as a worship leader and the youth pastor. The Lord had used me to build some great relationships with young people and parents and to advance his kingdom. However, being that I was still young and had some spiritual maturing to do, I was wrestling with my calling. It was difficult seeing people come and go from church, come and go from Christ, and deal with the behind the scenes challenges of pastoring people. You see, I’m naturally an administrative, organizing, and motivating type of a leader. But I realized real quick that ministry is not exactly like the businesses my family was successful at. Business is typically an exchange of a product or service for a fee. If you add value, you’ll get an immediate return. As you can imagine, some people follow Christ but many don’t, some serve but many don’t, some give but many don’t. Ministry is largely about sowing seeds of the Word of God and love that take time to take root and produce fruit. Sometimes we may never know until heaven the results of the seeds of the gospel that we’ve shared. Life as a Christian and especially as a Christian Leader takes an incredible daily focus on the eternal over the temporal.

With that being said, I felt like I needed a break after four years of ministry and some more training or maybe some fresh perspective. So, I’ll never forget the long walk to Pastor Dave Bell’s office to share with him my plans to move to North Carolina to spend some time with my elderly grandfather, Theodore Pete Thevaos, and to be a part of a church planting movement with one of their locations in Charlotte called, Crossway Church. I could barely get the words out of my mouth without tears and stammering lips. I realized in that moment how much I loved that man and Destiny Church for believing in me. He was the first person to give me an opportunity to lead worship, sing the songs God gave me, and believe that I was called to be a pastor. Dave was like a good patient father when he said, “I understand Ted.” He even called me a couple of days later to reassure me and to let me know he’d put in a good word for me with my new pastors. Wow! Now I know how gracious that kind of leadership is realizing that many leaders tend to be much more heavy handed.

This major move put us in a beautiful part of the country and working for my Uncle and Aunt, William and Lane Thevaos, in Charlotte. I was now back working in a secular job and trying to keep growing spiritually. So one morning I did what I was taught to do. I began studying my Bible as I started my day. Interestingly, I began reading in 2 Peter 1 where I had spent some considerable time studying the scriptures when I first began youth ministry only five years before. And what I found fascinating was, that new exciting revelations were coming to me that I had never seen before. This is what I read in 2 Peter 1:1-15

1 This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.

I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.

2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. 11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught. 13 And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live. 14 For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life, 15 so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone.

I only had enough time to read this passage and, in effect, reset my mind. Beyond that, I had to get moving and off to work. On my way into the office, I received a call and was told to head up to Morganton, North Carolina, which is a beautiful little town in the mountains. They needed me to repair a machine. I was actually thrilled because it was an invigorating drive and it would take half of the day to make that happen. Not a bad start to my day. When I arrived at the rickety old gas station, I quickly repaired the printer jam in the machine and got back in my truck to return to Charlotte. Instantly, I realized I needed to use the restroom before a long drive back. When I entered the single person restroom, I was shocked to see a black with gold letter anniversary edition Playboy magazine on the counter top free for the browsing. As you can imagine, being a human being just like every other human being created with a sex drive, I was tempted to do what I may have done in the past. To do what a majority of men would have done. Taken a look and enjoyed what I saw. But let me tell you. Something different happened to me in that moment. It was like everything I had read from 2 Peter 1:1-15 came up within my heart and I began saying out loud, “Ted, you can have that or you can have me.” I said that statement three times, as if I was speaking for God to me. It was what I was taught growing up to be a prophetic utterance. I guess I was prophesying to myself. And then, like never before, I was able to do what the prophetic word said. I was able to choose God over a temporary self-centered experience with a pornographic magazine. I went to the restroom as quick as possible and never even touched the magazine. As I was leaving the store, I passed the owner who was a middle aged woman. Again, God spoke to me through the Holy Spirit, “Doesn’t it feel good to walk past the owner of this establishment and know you didn’t compromise in that restroom.” And immediately I thought, “It sure does!” When I got back into my truck, before leaving, I reopened my Bible to 2 Peter 1:1-15 and reread that passage again. This time when I did, I couldn’t stop weeping. I felt the glorious presence of God so strong and I felt like I had just lived what the passage was saying. The next thing I felt led to do was call my wife and let her know of my success story and she celebrated with me. I then called a friend in town, Vince Coakley, and shared what God had just done for me. He too was very supportive and thankful that I trusted him enough to share this victory story. But that’s not all! As I began driving back, I received a call from the assistant small group leader of the group we were a part of. He mentioned that he wanted to share something with all the guys in the group the next week at his house before he left for the pastors college and I kindly agreed to be there.

Well the next week came and he confessed to all of us guys that he struggled with pornography for many years and wanted to make a change in his life before going to the pastor’s college. I was shocked, as all the guys were that someone would have the courage to just put it out there like he did. However, I knew in that instant that I was to share my victory story from the previous week. Things worked out that I was the final person to share and affirm our friend for confessing and asking for our accountability. So after every man in the circle shared their sad story of failure with purity, although they were in the battle and resting in God’s grace, I had an opportunity to turn the tables with a story of hope. So I did just that! I let them know of my struggle growing up and how I was exposed to that garbage at only 10 years old, but that something supernatural had happened to me the previous week. They were all eyes and all ears curious to hear the good news of my freedom from impurity. And what I’ve discovered since then is that the more I share of how Jesus set me free, the stronger I get and the more men Jesus sends to me that need to hear my story.

I shared this transformational part of my Jesus Story because I wanted to give you a sense of what it’s like to have God, the Holy Spirit, comforting you through the life He’s given you. The companion song to this chapter is none other than, “Comforter.” The words go like this:

The Comforter has come, the Comforter has come, the Comforter has come, and the Accusers been cast down, cast down. The Comforter has come, the Comforter has come, the Comforter has come, and Your presence shines through us, through us. So arise in faith, in the strength of His power. Arise in faith, in the blood of the Lamb. Arise in faith, in the strength of His power. For the Comforter, has come. The Comforter has come, the Comforter has come, the Comforter has come, and the victory’s been won, been won. So arise in faith, in the strength of His power. Arise in faith, in the blood of the Lamb. Arise in faith, in the strength of His power. For the Comforter, has come.

You see, this song declares, so well, the progression of the Accuser, the devil, fleeing before you, the presence of God shining through you, and the victory coming to you. Actually, I grew up singing this song along with the song writer, Pastor Dave Bell. This song must have been written sometime in the 1980’s and has been sung hundreds of times. In fact, I’ve sung “Comforter” plenty of times a cappella visiting friends sick in the hospital, people on the verge of death, in counseling sessions trying to bring a ray of hope into someone’s day, and definitely leading people in congregational worship. It’s an amazing song that the Holy Spirit breathed through Dave Bell and makes me feel like God is so close in life’s most difficult moments. But what I love more than the warmth of God’s presence that I feel, is the strength and courage that always follows when we sing out, “So arise in faith, in the strength of His power. Arise in faith, in the blood of the Lamb. Arise in faith, in the strength of His power. For the Comforter, has come.” The song doesn’t leave you at a low point of despair, but raises you up and out into the forgiveness of God, the strength of God, and the power of God. It reminds you that you’re, “more than a conquerer in Christ”, “you can do all things through Christ”, “you’re seated with Christ in heavenly places”, "greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world”, and every other promise of God, in the Bible, for those that are in Christ.

So what does it mean to be found “in Christ.” Fasten your seat belt because this gospel truth is going to light the rocket ship of your faith. You see, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, like we discussed in chapter 2, they lost the benefit of being perpetually in the presence of God. God put a Cherubim, a mighty angel with a flaming sword, at the entry to the Garden and banished them for life. You need to know that the Garden of Eden is synonymous with Heaven in the Bible. Everything that Adam and Eve lost in that perfect Garden will be regained, one day, by those who are found in Christ. You, my friend, can regain everything that was lost in a new form called “the New Heaven and New Earth” that God will create in the last days, as described in Revelation 20.

But even better than that, you don’t have to wait for a heavenly experience until you die and go to heaven. You can begin to experience what Jesus asked his Heavenly Father for, “let your kingdom come now even as it is in heaven.” So the Heavenly Father did exactly what Jesus asked him to do. He sent the Holy Spirit to rest powerfully upon Jesus during his earthly ministry. Scripture says in Acts 8:34-48

34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. 38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

39 “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

44 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God.

Then Peter asked, 47 “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” 48 So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.

You see, when Jesus opened the scroll to read from the Prophet Isaiah in the very Nazareth Synagogue where he was brought up, he did it empowered by the “Comforter.” Jesus did everything empowered by the Comforter, also known as the Holy Spirit. He spoke with a new authority that even his relatives had never seen, he laid hands on sick people and they were healed, he cast out demons and they left trembling, and he even spoke to the winds and the waves and they obeyed him. Some of you reading this book may have thought that Jesus walked, talked and even chewed gum, at the same time, as a supernatural being from the time of his miraculous virgin birth, but that’s just not so. Philippians 2:6-11 makes this reality crystal clear:

6 Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

You need to know that Jesus became a human being, just like you and I, to show us how we can be filled and overflowing with the very presence and power of God. That was the crux of why he came. Jesus came to restore everything that was lost by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, namely walking and talking with them in the cool of the day. Think about it. What is the most important thing to you in life? Is it your house, your cars, your clothes, material possessions? If you have any wisdom at all, it has to be relationships with your family and friends. And we all know that we can’t take a Uhaul, with all of our worldly possessions, with us to heaven when we die. The only thing we can bring along is the people we’ve loved and influenced to have assurance of salvation and eternal life. That’s it!

So, if restoring the relationship of humanity to God is the reason why Jesus came to planet earth, then what obstacles were standing in his way. Firstly, it was the liar and the thief that stole Adam and Eve, God’s children, away from him in the first place. Scripture says in 1 John 3:8, “But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.” In addition to the devil, Jesus had to deal decisively at the Cross with a third of the angels that fell from grace and that work for the devil. Jesus also had to show us how to regain our rightful authority that Adam and Eve surrendered to the devil in the Garden. Remember, they were given authority by God to rule and reign over planet earth. They were given dominion to care for and name the animals. Friends, they were living a heaven on earth type of life and that’s what God wanted for his first kids. So let me ask you the obvious question. Do you want good things for your children? Of course you do! Do you want your parents to want good things for you? Absolutely! Now, do you want your Heavenly Father to want good things for you? Who doesn’t? This isn’t rocket science. God isn’t complicated, he’s very simple. Life is only complicated when we get involved with evil supernatural beings, like the devil, and evil people inspired by the devil.

Maybe your life seems complicated right now. Listen, I understand because I’ve been there. Maybe you can’t wrap your brain around why your marriage is still struggling after many years, why your children are distant from God and you, or why you can’t seem to get ahead in life. Listen, I never want you to forget what I am about to say to you. Never mistake those hard complicated situations in life as being God’s desire for you. God loves you, my friend, and he’s not the supernatural being behind your problems or your complicated life. All your problems from money, to health, to relationships come from the enemy, Satan himself. He is the father of lies and the thief that comes to steal, kill, and to destroy. But Jesus said that he came that you would have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). He didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world would have life through him (John 3:17). Listen, you’ve been fighting the wrong person. You need to stop blaming and fighting the God that made you and loves you and start fighting his enemy, the devil. You need to make his enemy, your enemy. Scriptures says, “If God be for you, who can be against you” (Romans 8:31). In fact, you need to believe, like the Apostle Paul, that you are more than a conqueror through Christ as written in Romans 8:31-39

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So let’s finish chapter 3 with the understanding that the God of the universes lives inside of you as a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. When you took that first step of faith and prayed that salvation prayer, you received the brand new Holy Spirit of the living God. You became a new born-again person, a new creation in Christ. Your identity is no longer that of a Sinner that is stuck in sin, but rather a Saint that is free to fully follow Jesus, victoriously. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit in John 14 as the advocate, helper, guide, teacher, along side one, Spirit of truth, and comforter. There is a lot to this God, the Holy Spirit, that you need to know. The Holy Spirit is the personality of the Godhead that many leaders, churches, and Christians have left out of their Jesus Story. In fact, Francis Chan wrote a book about the Holy Spirit and called it “The Forgotten God.” Listen, if the Holy Spirit can help you navigate temptations and troubles, like I expressed to you at the outset of this chapter, then you need Him without a doubt.

Take a moment now, to do what I do every morning on my way to get a cup of coffee. I’ll kneel down or walk around the house and say, “Good morning Holy Spirit. What adventures do you have for us today?” And then I hang on for the ride of my life, because I know it’s going to be good, it’s going to be fun, and it’s going to be fulfilling with no regrets. Continue reading chapter 4, “Holy Spirit”, as we dive deeper into the gifts that the “Comforter” will give you to powerfully and effectively share your Jesus Story with heart.