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Holy Spirit- Week 1

“Who is the Holy Spirit”

• Misunderstanding can lead to disaster.

• “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain

• One of the most radically misunderstood elements of the Christian faith is the nature and role of the Holy Spirit.

1. Misunderstandings of the Holy Spirit

• The Holy Spirit is merely a power or a force of God
• Arianism - Jesus and the Holy Spirit are creations of God the Father.
• Modalism - One god in three forms. Appearing at different times in different forms. Each form is like a mask that god wears.
• Tritheism - There are actually three gods. Jesus is one, God the Father is one, and the Holy Spirit is another one.
• Partialism - God exists in three thirds: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And together they make up the whole of God. None is fully God.

• John 14:16-26
• “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” 22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?” 23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you."

2. The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son

• The Holy Spirit is not an “it” or a “thing.”
• John 14:17
• “He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him."
• John 14:26
• “...he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you."
• Matthew 28:19
• “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

3. The Holy Spirit is God

• 1 Corinthians 3:16
• “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”
• 1 Corinthians 2:10-11
• “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.”

4. The Role of the Holy Spirit

• He teaches us God’s ways
• John 14:17
• “He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth…”
• John 14:26
• “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”
• He is God with us
• John 14:16
• “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you."
• John 16:7
• “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.”
• Matthew 3:16-17
• “After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

• The Holy Spirit’s presence with us is God the Father’s expression of love to His children.