Salem Confirmation Class

Session Three - The Holy Spirit

Spirit of the Living God

As Christians, we believe the Holy Spirit is the part of God that guides us, leads us to faith in Jesus, and gives us the strength and self-control to lead a Christian life. The Holy Spirit is like “unseen hands” that guide and direct us in God’s way. The Spirit is active not only in our lives but also in the church and in the world.

We also believe that the Holy Spirit is God living with us.  That's not just a metaphor.  Scripture repeatedly tells us that the Holy Spirit lives with us and in us.  We receive gifts from the Holy Spirit, we receive strength and power, and filling our lives with the Spirit produces the fruits of a happy and abundant life.

The Breath of God

The Greek word from which we get “Spirit” is the word pneuma. Another translation for pneuma is the word “breath”. So the New Testament you can literally translate the Holy Spirit as “the breath of God”.  Now, remember YHWH from Session One? The breath of God?  That is a wonderful way to think of the Holy Spirit.  The breath of God, perhaps whispering into your ear, perhaps gently blowing you down the path of his purpose for you.

 The Holy Spirit of the Old Testament

In class we looked through the Bible at different passages about the Holy Spirit to get a better idea of just what this form of God is, what the Holy Spirit does, and how we can receive it. First, look at a few stories from the Old Testament where the Spirit is active in the world.

Genesis 1:1-2 The Spirit is with God at the very beginning of the Bible, present at the creation.

Numbers 11:25-26 The Lord came down to Moses and the 70 elders and “took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on them” and “when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied.” So this Spirit is part of God, and God places it onto people. And upon receiving it, they perform actions guided by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is mentioned many times by Old Testament prophets as something that will be fulfilled. The prophets keep connecting the Holy Spirit with the coming Messiah.

Joel 2:28 God says “…I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy…” Just like in the Moses story. This was quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17-21)

Ezekiel 36:26-27 Prophesy that God will “give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you… and I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.  This adds to what we read in Joel, telling us the Spirit will be in us and move us. 

Isaiah 42:1 God says “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.”  Yet another new idea, that the Spirit will be upon the Messiah.

The Holy Spirit of the Gospels

The Holy Spirit first shows up in the New Testament before even Jesus. In the first chapter of Luke, the Holy Spirit is mentioned several times. Verse 15 has the angel of the Lord declaring that John the Baptist will be “filled with the Holy Spirit from birth”. Verse 35 has Gabriel telling Mary that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of God will overshadow you” to conceive Jesus. In Verse 41 Elizabeth is “filled with the Holy Spirit” as her unborn son John the Baptist “leaped for joy” when Mary entered the room!

Luke 3:21-22 When Jesus is baptized the Holy Spirit descends upon him in bodily form like a dove” Fulfilling the Isaiah 42:1 prophesy that Jesus is the one in which God delights and puts the Spirit on him. And what happens next, in Luke 4:1 the Spirit leads him into the desert. So we have the Spirit dwelling in Jesus, and leading him, guiding him, or if you read Mark 1:12 NKJV, driving him.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus mentions this Spirit that has been put upon him (again, from Isaiah) and promises that the Spirit will be a Counselor sent to the disciples from God on Jesus’ behalf.  Note the different qualities of the Holy Spirit that Jesus describes:

John 14:15-17 Jesus will ask the Father to send another Counselor, the Spirit of truth. The Spirit will live with you and be in you.

John 14:25-26 Jesus says the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and remind us of everything Jesus said.

John 15:26 Jesus says the Holy Spirit will testify about him.

John 16:12-15 The Spirit will guide you into all truth. Will tell you of what is yet to come, will bring glory to Jesus by making Christ known to us. The Sprit will make known to us all that belongs to the Father.

In Acts, (which we called “Acts of the Holy Spirit” in Sunday school) Jesus delivers on his promise at Pentecost. Then we see ways in which the Holy Spirit guides the early church. The Holy Spirit is mentioned in Acts 57 times.

Acts 2:1-4 Tongues of fire separated and came to rest on each person, filling them with the Holy Spirit. Peter preaches from Joel 2:28-32 that this is the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised. (v. 33)

 The Holy Spirit keeps falling on each new group of believers that joins the church: Jews (4:31), Samaritans (8:17), Gentiles (10:44) and John the Baptist’s disciples (19:6).

It is what Jesus promised in John 16:7 – that God actually became present in each one of them, making His activity in the world more widespread than ever before. Jesus was one man. But through the Holy Spirit, he could spread to and dwell within many.

Paul's Teachings on The Holy Spirit 

Paul’s letters discuss the Holy Spirit in detail, describing both the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Gifts are things given. Fruits are the qualities that the gifts produce in people who receive the Holy Spirit.

Romans 12:6-8 We have different gifts: prophesy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership, compassion. 

1 Corinthians 12:4-11 Different gifts of the spirit: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophesy, discernment, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues. 

Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Paul is preaching that if you allow yourself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, receive it’s gifts, then you will produce these fruits and not give in to acts of the sinful nature.

The Holy Spirit in Our Lives Today

My own life changed when I considered the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and I decided that I needed those in my life.  I prayed, and I spoke to God and told Him to take my life and use it to His purpose.  I prayed that prayer many times, to receive His Holy Spirit and be guided to His purpose.  And eventually I learned to hear the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  I learned what gifts I had been given and felt led to opportunities to use those gifts.

I believe we can all do the same thing.  Give our lives to God, receive His Holy Spirit, and feel His guidance.  But we have to ask for it in prayer.  Repeatedly.

John Wesley wrote that “God hardly gives the Spirit even to those he has established in grace if they do not pray for it on all occasions, not only once, but many times.”

Do you typically pray for guidance before you make a decision? Or do you pray for help after poor decisions have been made?

Do you think going to God first and asking for the Holy Spirit’s guidance could help you make better decisions?

Do you think that God could use you, guiding you by the Holy Spirit to help others in ways you might not understand, or in ways you could not have thought of yourself?

Consider this:  God does not need you.  After all, He is God.  But He wants you.  He wants to use you to help others, to do His will on earth.  It is what we pray for every time we say the Lord's Prayer: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  Receiving the Holy Spirit is how we become instruments of God's will, how we become partners in doing the work of our Lord.

Steve Jacobs     sjacobs01@earthlink.net

Assignment

Students wrote a prayer to the Holy Spirit in class Thursday night (see the "assignment" file below) and were asked to place the prayer in their room and repeat the prayer each morning or evening, from now until we return for our next class.  Students should prayerfully consider the questions at the bottom of the assignment sheet and have answers ready to share in small group on March 2nd.

Download session_03_assignment.doc

Download session_03_scripture_handout.doc

Session Two - Jesus

We call ourselves Christians

Look at the name we claim for our faith: Christian. Our religion is named after a person, Jesus Christ.

When we say we are Christians, we are saying that we follow the teachings of a man who was born and walked on the earth some 2000 years ago. We also believe that this man was the Son of God. That is like saying that Jesus is actually part of God. In fact, we claim that this man was GOD. If that is confusing, its okay - we human beings are not meant to fully understand it. But we need to understand this: God cared about us so much that he became one of us, to be with us, to show us how to live and how to be with God.

At the opening retreat we talked about how John 1:14 tells us that “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. John is telling us that Torah, which is the Word from God about the BEST way for human beings to live, and the ONLY way for human beings to be in relationship with God, all those things became ALIVE in Jesus Christ.

When we say we are Christians, we are saying that we “follow” Jesus Christ. That means we claim that Christ’s way is the BEST way, and that is the way we want to live.  We believe other things too -- that Jesus forgave our sins, saved us, and offers us eternal life -- but we will cover those ideas in a future lesson.  Jesus said he came to give us life "to the full" now (John 10:10), not only in heaven.

Deeper Thinking About the Life of Jesus Christ

In class Thursday night, we began looking at who Jesus was by considering what he did on earth. These stories should not be new to the confirmands - they have heard them all in Sunday school.  As we transition our faith into that of an adult Christian, we took a deeper look at what the life of Christ was supposed to teach us.

Jesus’ Miraculous Birth  (Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20)

When God chose to enter into the world, he did so humbly. He did not come in as a mighty king but as a tiny baby of peasants during the difficult Roman occupation of Judea.  God could have used His power to make life a lot easier on His son.  But God played by the same rules He had set for humans.

There is almost no point in Jesus' life where we can point to his circumstances and say, "My own life is harder than that."  Jesus leads us from a position of disadvantage and humility, not from power and superiority.

Jesus’ Baptism (Luke 3:15-22)

When Jesus visited John and was baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Those around John the Baptist were already looking for the Messiah, the Son of God whom the Old Testament  prophets said would save God’s people from slavery and opression. Since Roman armies ruled over God's chosen people and their land, most thought the Messiah would come as a mighty warrior with armies ready to overthrow the Romans. Obviously Jesus was not that kind of Messiah at all.

Question: If Jesus had come only to save the Jews from the Romans, would he still mean anything to people today?

Temptations (Luke 4:1-13)

After the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, it led him into the dessert to be tempted by the devil. Got that – Jesus Christ was tempted, just like we all are. Again, God is playing by the rules. I picture Satan thinking testing God, knowing that God is really a man and therefore weak. Jesus used the Bible, the Word of God to defeat temptation. That is the idea here – following Jesus, becoming like him, does not mean the end of temptation. But it does mean we have the power to overcome temptation.

Jesus Calls the Disciples (Luke 5:1-11; 6:12-16)

Jesus chose 12 faithful Jewish men to be his disciples. Jewish rabbis chose disciples, but typically from the best of the best Hebrew students. They had Torah and much of the rest of the Old Test. memorized. Memorized!!!  They were well on their way to becoming the best and brightest of their religion. But these are not the guys that Jesus chose to change the world.

Jesus chose the outsiders instead of the religious leaders of the time. As if to show us all that our own potential to do God’s work is not limited by our position on earth.

Jesus the Great Teacher (Luke 6:17-49; 18:15-17)

Taught those who had “ears to hear”. Used parables to engage people to think for themselves and make commitments to faith. He had special regard for children. He also had challenging teaching battles with religious leaders of the time.

Also, what he taught was not quite what was expected (see Messiah, above). Instead of hatred for Israel’s oppressors, the Romans, Jesus said, “Love you enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28). “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Luke 6:31)

Jesus taught in ways that called us to him. And he taught that sin and separation from God was the real enemy, not the Romans.

His Miracles (Luke 8:26-39)

Jesus performed miracles that realized the fullness of God’s power. They were usually small and personal, caring for people (feeding the 5000), reconciling them to what God intended them to be (healing the sick).

In the gospels, Jesus performs about three dozen miracles. But the Gospels downplay the miracles frequently – many times only his closest disciples are permitted to watch (transfiguration) or Jesus asks people to say nothing. Satan tempts Jesus to perform miracles, but Jesus refuses. It is as if Jesus knows that the miracles distract from the message, and don’t produce long-term faith anyway.

Take-away: God cares for us and can make changes in all controls – nature, the course of events, etc. Jesus responded to displays of great faith.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve (Luke 9:1-6)

Jesus gave authority to his disciples to heal and to preach the Kingdom of God.

Think about the way we pray.  We often end our prayer saying “in the name of Jesus Christ.”  Christians today claim the authority granted to Christ's disciples - the authority to speak to God through Jesus.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple (Luke 19:45-46)

In Jerusalem, Jesus saw that sins were being committed in the Temple of Jerusalem, which was supposed to be God’s house. Selling animals for sacrifice, changing money, actions that are not respectful of God. Jesus drove out these dishonest people out of the Temple: “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”

Question: Is it okay for a Christian to be angry? What does Jesus’ example teach us about how and why a Christian can be angry?

I remember one day in Sunday school a student offered, “Jesus was never angry.”  Not true.  Jesus gets angry many times in the gospels. And we can be assured that he became angry at the things that made God angry. His greatest anger was reserved for those that did should have known God’s ways or pretended to, but lived and acted differently.

The Last Supper, Betrayal, and Trial (Luke 22:7-25)

Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples. We will talk more about what that meant in a few weeks. One of the disciples betrayed him into the hands of the Romans, who had him tried and condemned to die. The disciples, afraid for their lives, deserted him. Jesus explained to his disciples that the Old Testament prophets had foretold that this would happen, but the disciples did not yet understand.

Jesus is Alive! (Luke 24:1-49)

Jesus was buried in a cave-like tomb on a Friday. On Sunday morning, the third day, several women came to perform a ritual called “anointing the body”, but the cave was empty. Jesus appears to the women and later to the disciples, gathers them back together, re-interprets the OT scriptures for them to finally understand what has happened, and sets things in motion. The 11 men that ran and hid when Jesus was arrested now had the understanding and the inspiration necessary to change the whole world.

Jesus Ascends Into Heaven and Promises to Return (Acts 1:1-11)

Jesus appeared to his disciples on earth for 40 days, convincing them that he was alive.

He told the disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

When Jesus is lifted into heaven to be with his Father, Two angles promise that Jesus will return one day in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Peter Confesses the Truth (Matthew 16:13-20)

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"  ¹⁴They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  ¹⁵"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"  ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

I saved this for last because the question that Jesus asked Peter is the question that he asks all Christians to this day.  Jesus challenges each and every one of us to decide who he is to us.  What about you?  Who do you say he is?

Steve Jacobs    sjacobs01@earthlink.net

 

Assignment

All students are to spend at least 45 minutes considering the questions in Following Jesus - Side 2.  The question sheet may be downloaded and printed below.  Side 1 was completed and discussed in class and is also available for download below.  Responses are due Feb. 16th for small group discussion with mentors.

Download following_jesus_side_one.jpg

Download following_jesus_side_two.jpg