Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Gift of the Holy Spirit | The Gospels | John 16:1-15

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

Why did Jesus say his departure was for our good? What does the Holy Spirit actually do? And how does God's Spirit transform our lives today? In today's episode, Jensen unpacks John 16:1-15 and shows why Jesus's departure made way for the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit living in every believer. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: John 16:1-15

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. In my early 20s, I went through a period of existential dread, mostly about death and fear and anxiety about our existence and what the new heaven and earth will be like, just like really casual, normal stuff. But I remember one thought in particular that I kept getting hung up on. If Jesus is still in his human body, and he is, when I live in the new creation, will I really get to see him all that much? Like, when he was on earth, he wasn't able to be everything to everyone all the time. So why would that change in the new creation? And that thought really freaked me out. Wasn't that the whole point that one day I would get to be with Jesus all the time?

But doesn't everyone want that? And that can't be real for all of us, can it? So I texted Patrick, and I made him meet up with me to chat about my questions. And when I dumped all these rambling thoughts and fears on him, he said something that I haven't forgotten. He said, why is that a bad thing? I was truly shocked. Why was it a bad thing that I wouldn't get to be with Jesus all the time? I thought he was crazy. And I wonder if the disciples thought Jesus was a little crazy when he was talking to them in John 16,

specifically in verse 7. See, Jesus has been hinting for a while now that he's going away. He's not really hinting at this point. He has been explicitly telling the disciples that his time has come. He will be leaving them soon. And in the middle of Jesus telling them to expect persecution when he leaves, he says this, but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you ask 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. It is for your good. Other translations say, it is for your benefit, it is best, it is profitable for you, it is to your advantage. My guess is the disciples are feeling a lot like I felt when Patrick asked me his question.

How can it be good to not have Jesus? physically before me all the time. What could be better than direct access to Jesus? Our minds scream surely nothing. But Jesus doesn't say there's nothing better than me. He says it is better for you that I go away. How? Why? Well, let's go back and finish what Jesus says. 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. So only in Jesus's departure will he send the advocate. And Jesus seems to believe that the disciples having direct access to the advocate is good to their advantage, profitable, best, better than having direct physical access to him.

So who is this advocate, the one that is so good for us to have? Well, Jesus tells us, 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 the truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me, because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. And all that belong, to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. The Holy Spirit. The Advocate is the Holy Spirit. Jesus leaves so that he can send the Spirit. Let's start right here to learn about why having the Spirit is so good for us. What does Jesus

say in this passage that the Spirit will do for us that is so good, so advantageous for us? Okay, he will guide us into all the truth. He will tell us what is yet to come. He will glorify Jesus because what he speaks to us makes known to us he has received from Jesus. Jesus reminds them that all that the Father has is His and all that the Spirit speaks is from Him. See, this is a reminder of the triune nature of God. The Father sends a son, the Son sends a Spirit, the three interconnected yet distinct. See, Jesus knew that having access to the Holy Spirit means having direct access to Him to God. He knows that as long as he is in human form, He Jesus is limited physically by his body. And he also knows the power of the Spirit. See, in the Old Testament, we see the Spirit

empower God's people to do all kinds of things, to interpret dreams, design the tabernacle creatively, flee and speak in prophecy. In Luke 4-1, we're told that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit when he leaves his baptism and is led by the Holy Spirit to go out into the wilderness to be tempted and to resist the devil. See, Jesus is able to do the ministry that he does because he is filled with a spirit. He heals, brings life, breathes life on to people around him in his ministry. Through the power of the Spirit, Jesus does the work that the Father has sent him to do to spread his kingdom. He, Jesus, is the first image of a human fully and perfectly filled with the presence of God, the Holy Spirit. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are told Jesus is raised from the dead, transformed

from death into the first of the resurrected humanity. It is the Holy Spirit that brings life, that renews, that keeps us alive. And we're told that it is by the Holy Spirit that each and every believer is being renewed, brought alive, transformed into who we were made to be. To become new creations as Christ is a new creation. See, it is by the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul tells us in Romans, that we are able to live obedient to God, to live in the way that we were created to live by the Spirit. So today, the Spirit, it transforms and empowers broken, sinful humans to become, like Jesus. Without the Spirit, we would not be able to spread the kingdom to live like we're called to break free from the chains of sin. New creation is only possible through the Spirit. Transforming,

empowering, and renewing all that is broken. The picture that we are given of new humanity on a renewed earth is one of people fully transformed, fully filled as Jesus was with the Holy Spirit, living fully in God's presence each and every day because they're filled with his spirit always. You see, Patrick wasn't denying that seeing Jesus face to face isn't something that we should long for, isn't something amazing and incredible and beautiful. He wasn't saying that it's bad to long to walk and to talk with Jesus, but he was hitting on a misplace understanding that I had of what is best for me. He was pointing out that I had completely ignored, glossed over, the incredible gift that I have

already been given in the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, you can read the story of Pentecost, the day that Jesus sends the spirit on his disciples. They are filled with his spirit, they become temples and dwelt with the spirit of God, and we see the early church go out and do incredible things through His power. Do you believe that you are filled with the same spirit, the same trans, formative power that the early followers of Jesus had. Do you know that you have direct access to the presence of God just like the early disciples did? Do you know that you are the home for God's presence here on earth? All of that is true because of the Spirit, because Jesus went away and sent us the advocate. See, Jesus wasn't wrong. His departure made way for all people everywhere at all times to have access.

to the same power, life, and presence that he himself had access to in his life on earth. That is the gift that we are offered. That is already true of us. When I got this, when I studied the Holy Spirit and understood who he was and what it meant for him to be with me always, it changed me. Yes, I am broken. Apart from the Spirit, I will remain in sin, but with the Spirit, I am strong. I am made new, I am empowered to do hard things, to love hard people, to fight sin, to teach with conviction. In my sin, I am far from God, but with the spirit I am cleansed.

God draws me near, he loves me, he comforts me, he brings me peace and assurance. If you hear Patrick's question, if you read the words of Jesus and still find them disheartening like the disciples did, like I did, I would encourage you just to learn about the Spirit. Talk to the Holy Spirit. He's a person. Get to know him. He is God. He is sent from Jesus, a gift. He speaks the truth of Jesus. He shares the love of Jesus. And he brings the presence of God intimately close to you and to me. Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for filling us. We ask that the Spirit would continue his work in us. transforming us, empowering us to become more like you. We long for the day that he would fully renew and resurrect our bodies so that we can live in the new creation, fully reliant on

and filled by your power to be the good, loving, just, compassionate, and generous creations that you made us to be. Amen.