A young pilot had just passed the point of no return when the weather changed for the worse. Visibility dropped to a matter of feet as fog descended to the earth. Putting total trust in the cockpit instruments was a new experience to him, for the ink was still wet on the certificate verifying that he was qualified for instrument flying.

The landing worried him the most. His destination was a crowded metropolitan airport he wasn't familiar with. In few minutes he would be in radio contact with the tower. Until then, he was alone with his thoughts. His Instructor had practically forced him to memorize the rule book. He didn't care for it at the time, but now he was thankful.

Finally he heard the voice of the air traffic controller. "I'm going to put you on a holding pattern, " the controller radioed. Great! thought the pilot. However, he knew that his safe landing was in the hands of this person. He had to draw upon his previous instructions and training, and trust the voice of an air traffic controller he couldn't see. Aware that this was no time for pride, he informed the controller, "This is not a seasoned pro up here. I would appreciate any help you could give me."

"You've got it!" he heard back.

For the next 45 minutes, the controller gently guided the pilot through the blinding fog. As course and altitude corrections came periodically, the young pilot realized the controller was guiding him around obstacles and away from potential collisions. With the words of the rule book firmly placed in his mind, and with the gentle voice of the controller, he landed safely at last.

The Holy Spirit guides us through the maze of life much like that air traffic controller, The controller assumed that the young pilot understood the instructions of the flight manual. His guidance was based on that. Such is the case with the Holy Spirit: He can guide us if we have a knowledge of God's Word and His will established in our minds.

The fact that the Holy Spirit resides in us and that we can live according to His leading is an awesome but elusive concept to many. The problem is not new. Nicodemus was a learned man, but he couldn't comprehend life in the Spirit. so Jesus told Him, "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going: so is everyone who is born of the Spirit"

John 3:8

The wind blows (breathes) were it wills: and though you hear its sound, yet you neither know where it comes from nor where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Someone refecting on the mysteries of walking by the Sprirt said, "I think we need to pull in the oars and put up the sail!" I like that. When we walk by the Spirit, we stop striving. WE are no longer driiven: we are led. "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God"

Rom 8:1-4

(1) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death

When we come to the end of our resources, we discover His.

Holy Spirit in the Old testament was selective and temporary.

After King Saul disobeyed God, we're told "the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him. This is difficult passage for two reasons. First, it seems to imply that a person can lose the Holy Spirit by an act of disobedience. It must be understood that the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old testament was selective and temporary.This unique equipping is not the same as the personal relationship in the Spirit that we enjoy with God as His children today.

Beginning after the cross, the church is identified by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who forever unites the children of God with their heavenly Father

Eph 1:13,14

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

(14) who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of his glory.

Jn 10:28

Jesus Speaking "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand"

Paul assured that nothing-not even disobedience-can separate us from the love of God

Rom 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword (36) As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." (37) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (38) For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, (39) neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The second problem concerns the bothersome idea that an evil spirit could come from the Lord. But we must remember that God is supreme, and He can use Satan and his emissaries as a means to discipline His people as He did with Saul. It is not inconsistent with the nature or plan of God to use anything to accomplish His will. Even the church is permitted to turn a grossly immoral member over to Satan "for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Why? Allowing people to experience the natural consequences of their actions has always been effective means of discipline.

Do you want to do the devil's bidding? Go ahead, and maybe the painful consequences you suffer from your immorality will turn you back to God.

1 Cor 5:5

Hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

Holy Spirit

Psalm 51:11

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me

Isa 63:10-12

Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them. (11)Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Mosses and his people- where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them. (12) who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses' right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting reknown

Gen 6:3

Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

1 Sam 16:14

Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.

Pneumatology The theory of the nature of the Spirit

Original expectations of the spirit were heroic. later transferred to the religious sphere.

Coming of the Messiah (old testament)

Isa 11:1-10

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from the roots a Branch will bear fruit.

(2) The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him- the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD-

(3) and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;

(4) but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

(5) Righteousness will be his belt. and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

(6) The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat. the calf and the lion and the yearling together and the little child will lead them.

(7) The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

(8) The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

(9) They will neither harm nor destroy, on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

(10) In that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples: the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. (11) In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people.

Isa 32:15-18

Till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.

(16) Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field.

(17) The fruit of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

(18) my people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.

Spirit will be a gift given to all

Ezek 11:19

And I will give them one heart(a new heart) and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony (unnaturally hardened) heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh (sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God)

Ezek 36:27

And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinance and do them.

Jer 33:8

And I will cleanse them from all the guilt and iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will forgive all their guilt and iniquities by which they have sinned and rebelled against Me.

Joel 2:28

And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Opposition of men to the Spirit is called by Christ the unpardonable sin

Luke 12:10

And everyone who makes a statement or speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blashhemes against the Holy Spirit (that is, whoever intentionally comes short of the reverence due the Holy Spirit), it will not be forgiven him ( for him there is no forgiveness

Mark 3:29

But whoever speaks abusively against or maliciously misrepresents the Holy Spirit can never get forgiveness, but is guilty of and is in the grasp of an everlasting trespass

The fundamental gift of the Spirit was given on the first of Pentecost.

Acts 2:1-11

And When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together in one place.

(2) When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting,

(3) And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them.

(4) And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues) and the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression {in each tongue in appropriate words}.

(5) Now there were then residing in Jerusalem Jews, devout and God-fearing men from every country under heaven. (6) And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together and they were astonished and bewildered, because each one heard them [particular] dialect. (7)And they were beside themselves with amazement, saying, Are not all these who are talking Galileans?

(8) Then how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own (particular) dialect to which we were born?

(9) Parthians and Medes and Elamites and inhabitants of Mespotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and (the province of} Asia.

(10) Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and the transient residents from Rome, both Jews and the proselytes [to Judaism from other religions].

Paul is chosen to preach the gospel to the heathens

Act 13:1-4

Now in the church (assembly) at antioch there were prophets (inspired interpreters of the will and purposes of God) and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger [black], Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

(2) While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, The Holy Spirit said, Separate now for Me Barabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

(3) Then after fasting and praying, they put their hands on them and sent them away.

(4) So then, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from [that port] they sailed away to Cyprus.

Redeemed community is lead by the Holy Spirit. The lie of Ananies and Saphira is an offence against the Holy Spirit and severly punished (acts 5:3, 9)

Paul teaches that the Spirit moves then to express their thanks and joy even in un-intelligible sounds.

Sin & forgiveness

Rom 11:16

If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy: if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Sinful Nature Fruit of the Spirit sexual immorality love impurity joy debauchery peace idolatry patience witchcraft kindness hatred, discord goodness jealousy, fits of rage faithfulness selfish ambitions gentleness dissensions, factions self-control envy, drunkenness orgies, a the like

Rom 8:9

The Holy Spirit visits many who are unregenerate, not re-born, but in all who are sanctified he dwells

Ethical criteria for the discernment of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:19-26

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and indecency,

(20)idolatry sorcery, enmity, strife, jealously, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies).

(21)and envy; drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

(22) But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, for-bearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness.

(23) Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].

(24) And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.

(25) If we live by the [Holy} Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit, [if by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]

(26) Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another.

All non-Jews are grafted in to the Kingdom of God

Rom 11:17

But if some of the branches were broken off, while you a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share the richness {of the root and sap] of the olive tree.

1 Cor 13:1-13

If I (can speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

(2) And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and I have [sufficient faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me I am nothing (a useless nobody)

(3) Even if I dole out all that I have {to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me). I gain nothing.

(4) Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

(5)It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on it's own rights or it's own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

(6) It does not rejoice at injustice and unrightousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

(7)Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under everything [without weakening].

(8) Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end} As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose) it will be fulfilled and pass away: as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge. it will pass away [it will lose it's value and be superseded by truth).

(10) But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void. and superseded).

(11) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.

(12) For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].

(13) And so faith, hope, love abide [faith-conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three: but the greatest of these is love.

Rom 8:6-11

Now the mind of the flesh {which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death {death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hear after]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].

(7) That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.

(8) So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.

(9)But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [realty] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God.

(10) But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the Spirit is alive because of {the} righteousness [that He imputes to you]

(11) And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, (then) He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you

1 Cor 6:9-11

Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, neither adulteress, nor those who participate in homosexuality.

(10) Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.

(11) And such some of you were[once]. But you were washed clean (purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin) and you were justified (pronounced righteous, by trusting] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God.