Dear Friends,
It is an honour to serve as Pastor at Baginton Road URC. The Lord has called me here for a purpose, and I am committed wholeheartedly to fulfilling that purpose. I am full of joy, excitement and expectation for the future of this Church. It has been a blessing getting to know you over the last few weeks, and I am most grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ for placing strong and profound love for you in my heart so that I can serve you, work with you, and motivate you as we build God’s Kingdom together here in Coventry. I am confident that with your love, commitment and prayers, God will cause this ministry to bear much fruit in Jesus’ name.
On 7th and 14th April, I taught on “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit in the Church today”. We looked specifically at Jesus’ teaching about the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John. He introduced a new word to describe the Holy Spirit, Paraclete (the Greek word paraklētos), best rendered as ‘Advocate’. Thank you for your kind words and comments on how the teaching has been a blessing to you individually. The theme was timely as we look forward to celebrating Pentecost Sunday (the coming of the Holy Spirit) in a few weeks on 19th May. As we prepare for this celebration, I wish to remind you of Jesus’ words in John 16:12-13a: “ I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.” This promise wasn’t only for the disciples but was extended to the Church universally. The Holy Spirit guides believers into all truth. How does He do this? It is through scripture and personal revelations. Truth is the most precious thing we have.
We all desire to know the truth about the world around us, the people around us, the places we go. In our spiritual lives, we yearn to know and understand God’s word accurately, what is real and true about the God we love and serve. We are so blessed as believers! Why? Because we know Jesus, and Jesus is the truth! We are told in John 14:6 that He is “the way, the truth and the life”. Do you remember Jesus’ response to Pilate in John 18:37? He said, “The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Notice that just as Jesus is the truth, so is the Holy Spirit called the ‘Spirit of truth.’
We have all had wonderful teachers and educators throughout our lives who have impacted us in one way or another. The teacher is the giver of knowledge. Jesus
reveals that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and because He has all the knowledge, He is the best teacher we could ever have. In John 14:25-26, Jesus says: “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”The Holy Spirit inspired scripture, and He was the one who helped the disciples to remember so that they could accurately understand and interpret what Jesus had taught them. The question for us to reflect on today is: do we spend enough time in God’s word? It must be at the top of our priority list. The more we read and study the scriptures – the more we are taught and reminded through God-breathed words inspired by the Holy Spirit.
2 Timothy 3:16- 17 tells us that the scriptures are “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, opens our hearts and minds to its truths. We see a reference to this in Ephesians 1:17-18 where God gives His Church “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” so that “the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened.”
Be blessed as you continue to study and meditate on the word of God. I pray that as you do so, the Holy Spirit, our Paraclete (Advocate), the source and revealer of all truth, will continue to abide with you and guide you always.
Remember, I am here to serve you, as Jesus came to serve and to be served (Matthew 20:28).
Do reach out if you’d like to speak or meet with me. I am usually around Monday to Thursday at the Church if you’d like to pop in for a chat and have a cup of tea or for counsel, advice or prayer. My contact details are listed in the Church Contacts section on page 20.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)
Every blessing,
Pastor Sherry Owolabi