Holy Spirit Lesson 4

Question 2

Psalm 42

42 As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God!
² I thirst for God,
for the living God.
I say, “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?”
³ I cannot eat; I weep day and night.
All day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
⁴ I will remember and weep.
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.
⁵ Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.
⁶ I am depressed,
so I will pray to you while in the region of the upper Jordan,
from Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
⁷ One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls;
all your billows and waves overwhelm me.
⁸ By day the Lord decrees his loyal love,
and by night he gives me a song,
a prayer to the God of my life.

Matthew 5:6

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Philippians 3:8-14

⁸ More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness. ¹⁰ My aim is to know him,to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already attained this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, ¹⁴ with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 4:6-16

⁶ By pointing out such things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, having nourished yourself on the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. ⁷ But reject those myths fit only for the godless and gullible, and train yourself for godliness. ⁸ For “physical exercise has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.” ⁹ This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. ¹⁰ In fact this is why we work hard and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of believers.

¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Let no one look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in your speech, conduct, love, faithfulness,and purity. ¹³ Until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the spiritual gift you have, given to you and confirmed by prophetic words when the elders laid hands on you. ¹⁵ Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that everyone will see your progress. ¹⁶ Be conscientious about how you live and what you teach. Persevere in this, because by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.

Question 3

Psalm 143

O Lord, hear my prayer.
Pay attention to my plea for help.
Because of your faithfulness and justice, answer me.
² Do not sit in judgment on your servant,
for no one alive is innocent before you.
³ Certainly my enemies chase me.
They smash me into the ground.
They force me to live in dark regions,
like those who have been dead for ages.
⁴ My strength leaves me;
I am absolutely shocked.
⁵ I recall the old days.
I meditate on all you have done;
I reflect on your accomplishments.
⁶ I spread my hands out to you in prayer;
my soul thirsts for you in a parched land. (Selah)
⁷ Answer me quickly, Lord.
My strength is fading.
Do not reject me,
or I will join those descending into the grave.
⁸ May I hear about your loyal love in the morning,
for I trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
because I long for you.
⁹ Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord.
I run to you for protection.
¹⁰ Teach me to do what pleases you,
for you are my God.
May your kind presence
lead me into a level land.
¹¹ O Lord, for the sake of your reputation, revive me.
Because of your justice, rescue me from trouble.
¹² As a demonstration of your loyal love, destroy my enemies.
Annihilate all who threaten my life,
for I am your servant.

Wisdom From Past Influential Believers

Dallas Willard 1935-2013

Henri Nouwen 1932-1996

St. Athanasius 296/298 – 373

Donald S. Whitney 1954-present

St. Francis of Assisi 1181 – 1226

The Studying of Scripture

Luke 2:41-52

⁴¹ Now Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. ⁴³ But when the feast was over, as they were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, ⁴⁴ but (because they assumed that he was in their group of travelers) they went a day’s journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard Jesus were astonished at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were overwhelmed. His mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” ⁴⁹ But he replied, “Why were you looking for me?Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ Yet his parents did not understand the remark he made to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.

Matthew 22:23-33

²³ The same day Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him and asked him, ²⁴ “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ The second did the same, and the third, down to the seventh. ²⁷ Last of all, the woman died. ²⁸ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹ Now as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living!” ³³ When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.

Matthew 21:16

¹⁶ and said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of children and nursing infants you have prepared praise for yourself’?”

Matthew 21:42

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Matthew 22:31

³¹ Now as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God,

Ezekiel 3:1-7

3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you—eat this scroll—and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

³ He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

⁴ He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. ⁵ For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel— ⁶ not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would listen to you! ⁷ But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hardhearted.

Hebrews 5:12

¹² For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food.

1 Corinthians 3:2

² I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,