Crossing Week8

Week 8 Crossings Huddle Group The Power of the Holy Spirit Who is the Holy Spirit? The Bible is “God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:15) and gets its true, authoritative, powerful, holy character from God himself, who inspired human authors to write exactly what he wanted them to write. Scripture is both fully human and fully divine. “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20–21). Jesus viewed both the OT and his own teaching as the Word of God. The NT apostolic witness was a result of Jesus giving his disciples authority and power through the Holy Spirit to impart spiritual truths in writing (Mark 3:13–19; John 16:12–14; Acts 26:16–18; 1 Cor. 2:12–13). He is our Comforter and Helper The Holy Spirit is a fully and completely divine person who possesses all of the divine attributes. God the Spirit applies the work of God the Son. The Spirit's distinct role is to accomplish the unified will of the Father and the Son. The personal nature of the Holy Spirit is evident in his title “Comforter” or “Helper” found in John 12:26; 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7. Jesus says he will send the Comforter, who will take his place as his disciples' helper: “Nevertheless, 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” (John 16:7). An impersonal force could never provide as good a comfort as Jesus. The Holy Spirit: The Spirit comforts - John 12:26; 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7 The Spirit teaches - John 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:13 The Spirit speaks - Acts 8:29; 13:2 The Spirit makes decisions - Acts 15:28 The Spirit grieves over sin - Eph. 4:30 The Spirit overrules human actions Acts - 16:6–7 The Spirit searches the deep things of God and knows the thoughts of God - 1 Cor. 2:10–11 The Spirit determines the distribution of spiritual gifts - 1 Cor. 12:11 The Spirit interprets and brings human prayer before the throne of the Father - Rom. 8:26–27 The Spirit assures believers of their adoption - Rom. 8:16 The Spirit bears witness to and glorifies Christ - John 15:26; 16:14 Humans become like what they adore. The Spirit works to foster adoration of Christ so that people will become like him. Thus, sanctification flows from adoration, and both are accomplished by the Spirit in the believer's life. “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate”. Romans 7:15 Paul had been a follower of Christ for 25 years when he wrote Romans. We face challenges and temptations every day in our life, just as Paul some 2,000 year ago. In Galatians 5:17 Paul said our choices are never free of the conflict between our sinful nature and our desire to walk with Christ. How does the Holy Spirit help us navigate these struggles? Why should we call upon the Holy Spirit? Daily Bible Readings Luke 11: 9- 13 Acts 1: 8

1 John 1: 9 Ephesians 4: 29 - 32

Ephesians 5: 15 - 18