Morning Noon & Night: A Responsive Life

Holy Spirit is revealed with and symbolized through as the very presence of God.

• The fire of the Holy Spirit serves as a sign of His PRESENCE. 

• In the Old Testament, His presence brings judgment and purifies.
  • Exodus – Moses and the burning bush
  • Leviticus – God is the one who started the fire on the alter
  • I Kings 18 – Elijah and the prophets of Baal

• In the NT, the Holy Spirit is described as one who will us the power to do what Jesus called us to do.

Acts 1

8 But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Matthew 3

 11 I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and FIRE.

Acts 2

3 Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.4 And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

John 20

21[Jesus] said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any it is withheld.”

Hebrews 12

1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.

29 For our God is a consuming fire.

We are instructed on what not to do:

• or the Holy Spirit, by stopping or restraining the fire.

1 Thessalonians 5

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 DON’T STIFLE (or QUENCH) the SPIRIT. 20 Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

is an evidence of the Holy Spirit alive within us.  

• Without the POWER of the Holy Spirit we can not live as a follower of Jesus.

We are further instructed not to the Holy Spirit.  

• character breaks the heart of God.

Ephesians 4 (The Message)

29 Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

30 Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.

31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

Without the SUBMISSION to the Holy Spirit we can not live as a follower of Jesus.

Do not REJECT the Holy Spirit (or Blasphemy)

Matthew 12

31-32 “There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you deliberately persist in your slanders against God’s Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives. If you reject the Son of Man out of some misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit can forgive you, but when you reject the Holy Spirit, you’re sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.

Holy Spirit is our connection to God.  This is how we can have the of Christ.  

Romans 8

5 For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. 6 Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. 

26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us[j] with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

28 We know that all things work together[k] for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.