Holy Spirit Lesson 3

Why do we want the Holy Spirit?

John 14:15-27, 15:26-16:15

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. ¹⁶ Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. ²⁰ You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. ²¹ The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

²² “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ²⁴ The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

²⁵ “I have spoken these things while staying with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.

²⁷ “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage.

Acts 1:8

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

⁶ Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. ⁷ Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined,are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” ¹⁰ God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. ¹³ And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. ¹⁴ The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood by no one. ¹⁶ For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him?But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:1-14

With regard to spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans you were often led astray by speechless idols, however you were led. ³ So I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶ And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. ⁷ To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all. ⁸ For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another performance of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another discernment of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.

¹² For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body—though many—are one body, so too is Christ. ¹³ For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. ¹⁴ For in fact the body is not a single member, but many.

1 Corinthians 14:1-18

Pursue love and be eager for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. ² For the one speaking in a tongue does not speak to people but to God, for no one understands; he is speaking mysteries by the Spirit.³ But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening,encouragement, and consolation. ⁴ The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. ⁵ I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be strengthened.

⁶ Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I help you unless I speak to you with a revelation or with knowledge or prophecy or teaching? ⁷ It is similar for lifeless things that make a sound, like a flute or harp. Unless they make a distinction in the notes, how can what is played on the flute or harp be understood? ⁸ If, for example, the trumpet makes an unclear sound, who will get ready for battle? ⁹ It is the same for you. If you do not speak clearly with your tongue, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air. ¹⁰ There are probably many kinds of languages in the world, and none is without meaning. ¹¹ If then I do not know the meaning of a language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. ¹² It is the same with you. Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, seek to abound in order to strengthen the church.

¹³ So then, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴ If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive. ¹⁵ What should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing praises with my spirit, but I will also sing praises with my mind. ¹⁶ Otherwise, if you are praising God with your spirit, how can someone without the gift say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷ For you are certainly giving thanks well, but the other person is not strengthened. ¹⁸ I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you,

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, ³ revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴ Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. ⁵ Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, ⁶ who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷ But if the ministry that produced death—carved in letters on stone tablets—came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), ⁸ how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? ⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation,how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! ¹⁰ For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. ¹¹ For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory! ¹² Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, ¹³ and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective. ¹⁴ But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵ But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, ¹⁶ but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Galatians 5:13-6:6

¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”¹⁵ However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. ¹⁶ But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, ²¹ envying, murder,drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.

6 :1 Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attentionto yourselves, so that you are not tempted too. ² Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ³ For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴ Let each one examine his own work. Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else. ⁵ For each one will carry his own load.

⁶ Now the one who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with the one who teaches it.