Holy Spirit

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ...

—Ephesians 1:13 NIV

Key Thought


When we first came to Jesus, he poured out the Holy Spirit upon us, to live in us as God's gift, presence, and power within us (Acts 2:38-39; Titus 3:3-7). The Holy Spirit is also our proof that we are children of God (Romans 8:9). In today's verse...

 

With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.

—Romans 9:1 NLT

Key Thought


As we have seen over the last several days, our assurance of the truth about the message of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. In his letter to the Roman Christians, Paul is sharing the most personal and convicting things in his heart about his love for the Jewish people, about the inclusion of Gentiles in the people of God, and about the message...

 

At this I [John] fell at [the angel's] feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Don't do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus."

—Revelation 19:10 NIV

Key Thought


The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, whether that truth was revealed through ancient prophecy, revealed through first century inspired writers, or...

 

When the unbelievers got cantankerous and started bickering with each other, Paul interrupted: "I have just one more thing to say to you. The Holy Spirit sure knew what he was talking about when he addressed our ancestors through Isaiah the prophet: 'Go to this people and tell them this: You're going to listen with your ears, but you won't hear a word; you're going to stare with your eyes, but you won't see a thing.'"

—Acts 28:25-26 MESSAGE

Key Thought


Paul had traveled...

 

[Jesus said,] "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future."

—John 16:13 NLT

Key Thought


Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work in harmony as the one, true, living God. Jesus sends the Spirit to us when we become his true followers (Titus 3:3-7). The Spirit guides us into the truth about the will of God and about Jesus — the truth about both Jesus'...

 

My dear friends, don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world. Here's how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ — the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person — comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God...

 

[Jesus said,] "But I will send you the Advocate — the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me."

—John 15:26 NLT

Key Thought


When someone suggests that things are "all about me," we are usually put off by the arrogance. Not so with Jesus. Jesus is the greatest message God has ever given about himself (John 1:14-18). Jesus is God's clearest way of speaking about himself (Hebrews 1:1-3). Faith in Jesus is the key to...

 

[Jesus said,] "If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth."

—John 14:15-17a NLT

Key Thought


Translators have tried to capture the essence of the Spirit's role as revealed in the word Jesus used here to describe the Holy Spirit. Different versions use Advocate, Comforter, Counselor, and Helper to translate the original Greek word...

 

Then the angel carried me [John] away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

—Revelation 17:3 NIV

Key Thought


The Spirit carries John away in a vision to see the ghastly, awful truth about Satan's work to destroy the people of God. The vision exposes the great evil that Satan does and reveals his allies who do his evil work and follow his bidding...

 

As [Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch] rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look! There's some water! Why can't I be baptized?" He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.
Note: The NLT translation has verse 37 only in a footnote.


—Acts 8:36-39 NLT

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