The Trinity

2. The Trinity

3. The Trinity • One God and One Only • Exists in three Persons • Equal and Eternal • Worthy of equal praise and worship • Distinct yet acting in unity • Constituting the one true God of the Bible

4. Encountering the Holy SpiritThe person, the work, the fruit and the gifts • Who is the Holy Spirit? • The book of Acts – the Spirit builds the church • The work of the Holy Spirit in salvation • Bearing spiritual fruit • The gifts of the Holy Spirit • The Spirit helps us in our weakness • But the greatest of these is love

5. What is a person? • Intelligence • Reason • Morality • Choice • Consciousness • Self-Consciousness

6. What is a person? • We are told to ‘love God with all of who we are-our ‘heart, soul and mind’ (inspired by Matt 22v37) • With our mind we think • With our heart we are motivated • With our will we act

7. Getting to know the Holy Spirit

8. The Holy Spirit has thoughts and knowledge. 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10 - 11

9. The Holy Spirit feels sorrow and grief. 30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30

10. The Holy Spirit can make intercession for believers. 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. Romans 8:26-27

11. The Holy Spirit has a will and makes decisions. 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

12. The Holy Spirit is intimately involved in our salvation, along with the Father and the Son. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Romans 8:11

13. The Holy Spirit has a mind • And he (God) who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. • Romans 8.27 • The Holy Spirit is the constraining force for love (heart) • And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. • Romans 5.5

14. The Holy Spirit possesses life • The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. • Galatians 6.8 • The Holy Spirit speaks • The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” • Acts 8.29

15. The Holy Spirit possesses individuality • 7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: • John 16.7-8 • The Holy Spirit prays • 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. Romans 8.26-27

16. The Holy Spirit teaches • He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. • John 16.14 • The Holy Spirit curses • The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. • Isaiah 40.7

17. The Holy Spirit guides • But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. • John 16.13 • The Holy Spirit hinders • Paul and his companions travelled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. • Acts 16.6

18. John 14:16: “And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another (Advocate, Helper, Comforter) that He may be with you forever.” (mix of versions) Another: ἄλλοςallos Same phrase used to describe the brothers James and John a few chapters prior.

19. (Selah)

20. How we work through this series together: • The Bible is our primary authority. • Don’t confine the mysteries of God and the universe to only those things you can understand? Embrace the mystery. • Listen to those around you, especially those that think differently to you. • Ask God for wisdom and truth.

21. Some of the Big Questions • What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit • What is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit/The Holy spirit falling on people (Acts 10) • Understanding the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12)

22. Some of the Big Questions “It is quite right that you should feel that ‘something terrific’ has happened to you (it has) and be ‘all glowy.’ Accept these sensations with thankfulness as birthday cards from God, but remember that they are only greetings, not the real gift. I mean, it is not the sensations that are the real thing. The real thing is the gift of the Holy Spirit which can’t usually be—perhaps not ever—experienced as a sensation or emotion. The sensations are merely the response of your nervous system. Don’t depend on them. Otherwise when they go and you are once more emotionally flat (as you certainly will be quite soon), you might think that the real thing had gone too. But it won’t. It will be there when you can’t feel it. May even be most operative when you can feel it least.” (C.S. Lewis) From ‘The collected letters of C.S. Lewis’

23. Further Reading • Romans 8 • 1 Corinthians 2 • 1 Corinthians 12

24. 12 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.