• Side topic: What did Jesus mean when He prayed, “not my will by thine be done?”
  • Hebrews 5:7
  • Jesus was praying that His time on the cross would be short. We know that prayer was answered because Pilate marveled that He died so quickly.
• Ephesians 5:15-29
• Ephesians 5:20 – The word “all” is used as it often is in the Bible: all of the class or category under consideration. We are to give thanks for all the blessings we have in God.
• Ephesians 5:22 – This guidance goes back to Genesis 3. A wife in subjection is not a lesser person. We are all in subjection to someone. We are all equal in God’s eyes.
• Ephesians 5:26 – Compare I Peter 3:21.
• Ephesians 5:29 – This is the great love men should have for their wives. Their love should be patterned after Jesus’ love for the church in how He gave Himself for the church.

• Jesus made promises about the Holy Spirit to His apostles.
  • John 13-17 – Jesus and the apostles. Compare Matthew 26:20; Mark 14:17; Luke 22:14
  • Jesus’ words were specifically directed to His apostles – not all Christians in general.
  • John 14:16-17, 25-26; 15:26-27; 16:7-13; 17:20
  • Luke 24:48-53 – apostles were witnesses, would be clothed with power from on high
  • Acts 1:1-5, 8 – apostles would be baptized in the Holy Spirit (i.e., in the power of the Holy Spirit)
• The day of Pentecost
  • Acts 1:26-2:4
  • Where We Stand, Fundamental Truth 8 – all believes should expect to speak in tongues
  • Acts 2:7 – The men speaking in tongues were Galileans – the apostles.
  • Acts 2:15-18 – Peter quotes Joel’s prophecy.
  • Does this pouring forth of the Holy Spirit mean all people? Not it just means that God would pour forth His Spirit on a variety of people, including the apostles.
  • Acts 2:21, 37-39 – What does “gift of the Holy Spirit” mean? The grammar in both English and Greek could mean either the gift is the Holy Spirit or the gift is from the Holy Spirit. The gift is salvation (Acts 2:21)!
• Take-aways:
  • Use context and harmony.
  • Examine modern evidence.
  • Only the apostles received the Holy Spirit in a miraculous way on the day of Pentecost.
  • All people should seek the true Pentecost experience!

• I John 5:16-21; II John 1:1-7
• I John 5:16 – The sin “leading to death” is the sin that one will not repent of. We can pray that a person will repent and turn from their sin, but it makes no sense to pray that God will forgive someone for a sin they have not repented of.
• II John 1:1
  • Introduction
    • The author of the book is the Holy Spirit. The writer is John, brother of James, son of Zebedee. It is thought that this book was written about AD 90, close to the time of writing of I John.
    • Purpose: To rejoice with the elect lady because her children walked in truth and to encourage her.
  • Truth is a state one can be in when he is living righteously before God – he is walking in truth.
• II John 1:6 – See John 13:35. The command here is what he just mentioned in II John 1:5 – loving one another.

[Sorry, no audio recording available due to technical difficulties. -MRW]

• Elijah, continued:
  • It’s good to be sincere, but I also need to know the TRUTH.
    • I Kings 18:20-40 – Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal and Asherah.
    • The prophets of Baal were deluded into thinking their idol could actually do what Elijah proposed.
  • I will sometimes have to battle discouragement.
    • I Kings 19:1-10 – Elijah flees after his great victory against the false prophets.
    • I Kings 19:11-21 – God encourages Elijah.
• Daniel
  • I will not defile my conscience.
    • Daniel 1:5, 8, 12-16 – Daniel refused to go against his conscience.
    • Daniel refused to go against his conscience even though:
      • Society’s conscience was seared.
      • Daniel was in exile.
      • Daniel was young.
    • Titus 2:11-12

• Matthew 3:16-17
• Introduction
  • The Holy Spirit is not a mysterious force.
  • John 16:13; I Corinthians 12:11; Acts 5:3
• The Holy Spirit revealed truth by inspiring people to speak and write it.
  • I Corinthians 2:10-13
  • II Peter 1:20-21
  • II Samuel 23:1-2
  • Acts 1:15-16, 20
  • Ephesians 3:1-7
  • Hebrews 3:7-11
  • Hebrews 4:7
  • Hebrews 10:15
  • Revelation 1:10-11
• In Bible study, it’s important to harmonize all information (such as what happened and how it happened).
  • II Corinthians 7:6
  • John 4:1-2
  • Acts 10:19-20
  • Luke 16:29-31 (John 1:45; Acts 15:21; 26:22; 28:23)
  • Acts 21:20-21
  • Acts 7:51-53
  • Ephesians 6:17
• Many of the passages about the Holy Spirit are simply referring to His actions through the Word.
  • John 16:7-11 (Acts 2:4-37; II Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:9; James 2:8-9)
  • John 3:5-8 (I Peter 1:22-25)
  • Acts 9:31 (Acts 15:31; Romans 15:4)
• Take-aways:
  • Always ask the key question: How?
  • Because of the Holy Spirit, we can have faith in the words of the Bible (Luke 12:11-12).
  • We need to study, teach, and preach God’s word (Hebrews 2:1-4).