Teaching notes based upon Foundations of Christian living by Bob Gordon

1. THE PERSON AND WORK OF
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Lesson #11

6. MEMORY VERSE:
John 14:15-17
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask
the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help
you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.The
world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor
knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will
be in you.

7. A) KEY SCRIPTURES
John 14:12, 15–27
12Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the
works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things
than these, because I am going to the Father.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and
be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.The world cannot
accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But
you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.

8. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19
Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will
see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you
will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I
am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and keeps them is
the one who loves me.The one who loves me will be loved by
my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said,“But, Lord, why do you
intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

9. 23 Jesus replied,“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.
My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make
our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not
obey my teaching.These words you hear are not my own; they
belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the
Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you all things and will remind you of
everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my
peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do
not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

10. Acts 1:4–8
4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them
this command:“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my
Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For
John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be
baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”
6Then they gathered around him and asked him,“Lord, are you at
this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them:“It is not for you to know the times or dates
the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But 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.”

11. John 16:5–15
5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks
me,‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief
because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is
for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the
Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to
you. 8When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the
wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin,
because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness,
because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no
longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this
world now stands condemned.

12. 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now
bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide
you into all the 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. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will
receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to
the Father is mine.That is why I said the Spirit will receive
from me what he will make known to you.”

13. 1 Corinthians 2:9–16
9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[a]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11
For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit
within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of
God except the Spirit of God.

14. 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has
freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us
by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining
spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[b] 14The person
without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the
Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot
understand them because they are discerned only through the
Spirit. 15The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all
things, but such a person is not subject to merely human
judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”[c]
But we have the mind of Christ.

15. B) INTRODUCTION
The Holy Spirit is not a vague influence
or mystic idea, He is a person.
He can communicate and make Himself
real to us.We cannot necessarily see
Him, but He can make a great
impression on our lives through our
inner being.

16. He is the third member of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit
is
eternal (Hebrews 9:14)
omnipresent – present everywhere (Psalm 139:7),
omniscient – all knowing (1 Corinthians 2:10),
omnipotent – all powerful (Luke 1:35).

17. He shows personality attributes;
intellect (Romans 8:27),
will (1 Corinthians 12:11),
sensitivity (Ephesians 4:30).
He is right inside our life situations,
communicating with us, opening
Himself up to us and looking for us to
open ourselves to Him in response. He
is a person and He speaks to us
personally.

18. Every believer should know the reality and power of
the Holy Spirit, bringing life right into the centre of
their being and strength into their lives (John 7:38–39).
Without the Holy Spirit we could never live in the
power of God, or know God’s strength in our daily
lives. For full enjoyment and fulfilment in our human
existence we need this great gift of the Holy Spirit
from God our Father.

19. C)THE BIBLE DESCRIBESTHE HOLY
SPIRIT IN DIFFERENT WAYS
(i) Through different names; e.g.:
What does each name reveal to you
about the Holy Spirit, what he does,
what his personality is like etc.?
– The Good Spirit (Nehemiah 9:20).
– The Spirit of God (Matthew 3:16).

20. – The Counsellor ( John 14:16,26).
– The Spirit of Truth ( John 16:13).
– The Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9).
– The Spirit of sonship (Romans 8:15).
– The Spirit of Grace (Hebrews
10:29).

21. (ii) Through symbols:
What does each of these tell you
about the Holy Spirit, what he
does, what his personality is like?
Perhaps think of other words that
might describe the word used e.g.
wind - disturb, refresh, cool etc.
– Dove (Matthew 3:16).
– Voice (1 Kings 19:12).

22. – Seal (Ephesians 1:13).
– Water and living water (Isaiah
44:3; John 7:37 – 39).
– Wind (Acts 2:2).
– Oil (1 Samuel 16:13).
– Fire (Acts 2:3).

23. D)THE WORK OFTHE HOLY
SPIRIT IN YOU
He enables us to drive out demons (Matthew 12:28).
He enables us to speak as God would have us speak
(Mark 13:11).
He enables us to be born again (John 3:5–8).
He will be our Counsellor for ever (John 14:16).
He lives in us (John 14:17).

24. He teaches us (John 14:26; John
16:13–14).
He convicts (John 16:8–11).
He gives us the power to be God’s
witnesses (Acts 1:8).
He enables God’s love to be
poured into our hearts (Romans
5:5).
He testifies with our spirit that we
are God’s children (Romans 8:16).
He helps us in our weakness
(Romans 8:26).

25. He enables righteousness and peace in us (Romans
14:17).
He enables us to overflow with hope (Romans 15:13).
He sanctifies us (Romans 15:16).
He gives various gifts as He determines (1 Corinthians
12:4–11).
He enables the fruit of the Spirit in us (Galatians 5:22–
23).
He enables joy in us (1 Thessalonians 1:6).

26. E) FOUR IMPORTANT REASONS WHY YOU NEED
THE POWER OFTHE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOUR LIFE
(i) He gives you…Power to become
We only recognise the Father by the power of the HS
- and become his sons.
The Holy Spirit awakens our spiritual need and points
us to Jesus, and therefore back to God (John 1:12–13).
With the Holy Spirit working in us, we can accomplish
what in our own strength we could never do.

27. (ii) The Holy Spirit gives us…Power to be
He gives us power for our daily living - so that we can
live a life of faith, and become examples of what it
means to live a new life in Jesus day by day.
Our flesh is weak so God has opened to us the
channel of divine power. God Himself dwells in our
hearts (Ephesians 3:16 –17).

28. (iii) The Holy Spirit gives us… Power to
overcome
Every Christian believer lives in a
war zone. Before we became
Christians we were on Satan’s side,
but when we chose to follow Jesus
we were put on the winning side,
God’s side (Ephesians 2:1–5).
The warfare we experience is far
tougher after we believe, as satan is
attempting to stop us following Jesus.

29. God makes His power available within us, so that we
have the strength and the know-how to defeat the
devil, 1 John 4:4,
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them,
because the one who is in you is greater than the one who
is in the world.

30. (iv) The Holy Spirit gives us…
Power to share
‘‘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.’’ (Acts 1:8)
The word for ‘power’ here is
‘dunamis’ which is the word from
which we get our English word
‘dynamite’.

31. God wants us to be filled with power
so we can witness to the life of Jesus;
so that we become like Jesus to other
men and women; so that, when we
speak, pray and touch men and women
in the power of the Holy Spirit, it will
be as if Jesus was with them, John 14:12,
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me
will do the works I have been doing, and
they will do even greater things than these,
because I am going to the Father.

32. F ) GIFTS AND FRUIT
God wants to do great things through us, and to give
us great things also.
(i) The gifts of the Spirit
These are supernatural abilities given by God.
Even natural talents need to be surrendered to God
before He can use them fully to His glory.

33. The Holy Spirit is the one who
equips us in order to be able to do
God’s will and to worship and to
serve Him (1 Corinthians 12:7).
The lists of gifts in 1 Corinthians
12:7–11 and Romans 12:6–8 help us
to understand the range of gifts
available to us.
The Father has ensured that His
children will lack nothing they need
to fulfil His will and purpose, and to
be able to witness to the power of
Jesus here on earth.

34. (ii) The fruit of the Spirit
These are the evidence in
our lives of the work of the
Holy Spirit in changing us
into the likeness and nature
of Jesus.
They are listed in Galatians
5:22–23, and together are the
character of Jesus.

35. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
The Holy Spirit plants the seeds of His
fruit in our lives. It is up to us to
respond to Him and open ourselves
more and more to His holy influence, so
that we become more and more like
Jesus in our actions and attitudes.

36. WHAT ARETHE EFFECTS OF BEING
FILLED WITHTHE HOLY SPIRIT?
(i) Towards Jesus
You will know as never before
that Jesus is alive as Lord with
power and authority today (Acts
2:32 – 36).

37. (ii) Towards God
You will experience the depth of God’s love for you
(Romans 5:5) and will come into a new assurance of His
Fatherhood (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6); you will be set
free to love Him and praise Him with joy and confidence
(Ephesians 5:18–20).

38. (iii) Towards God’s Word
You will gain a new appetite
for the Bible and a greater
ability to use it and to hear
God speak to you through it
(John 16:13–15; Ephesians
6:17).

39. (iv) Towards the Spirit
You will become very
sensitive to His presence
and guidance (Ephesians
4:30; Romans 8:14); you will
become open to receiving
the many and varied gifts of
the Spirit.

40. (iv) Towards the Spirit
You will become very
sensitive to His presence
and guidance (Ephesians
4:30; Romans 8:14); you will
become open to receiving
the many and varied gifts of
the Spirit.

41. (v) Towards others
You will become more open to
other people, more loving
towards them, and more eager to
be an active part of the church
which is Christ’s Body (1
Corinthians 12:12–13).
(vi) Towards the world
You will grow bolder in witnessing
for Jesus (Acts 1:8;Acts 4:31).

42. (vii) Towards spiritual warfare
You will become more aware of
your authority in Christ Jesus
over the enemy, so you can stand
and see God’s Kingdom extended
(Ephesians 6:10–18; Ephesians
1:17–23).

43. H) WHAT ABOUT TONGUES?
You can expect to receive
this gift when the Father fills
you or baptises you in the
Holy Spirit. It is an aid to
following Jesus.
– It is one of the gifts
promised by Jesus (Mark
16:17; 1 Corinthians 12:10).

44. H) WHAT ABOUT TONGUES?
You can expect to receive
this gift when the Father fills
you or baptises you in the
Holy Spirit. It is an aid to
following Jesus.
– It is one of the gifts
promised by Jesus (Mark
16:17; 1 Corinthians 12:10).

45. – It is the ability to
communicate with God, spirit to
Spirit, which edifies you, i.e. builds
you up and strengthens your
own spirit (1 Corinthians
14:2,4,& 14).
– It is the gift of a language that
is personally yours which you
have never learned (Acts 2:4,7 &
8).
– It is an aid to praying in line
with the will of God (Romans
8:26–27).

46. J) SUMMARY & APPLICATION
1. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the triune
Godhead, who wants to be our Counsellor and lead us
to Jesus and to God the Father.
2. The Holy Spirit is the source of power available to a
believer, to enable him to do God’s will and be what God
wants him to be.
3. Through the Holy Spirit we can have the power and
character of Jesus.