Daily Sabbath School

Friday: Further Thought – The Work of the Holy Spirit

23rd March 2017

Read selections of Ellen G. White, Ye Shall Receive Power, especially the October section “Ready for the Spirit.”

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

We can summarize the activity of the Holy Spirit by saying that the Holy Spirit works harmoniously together with God the Father and God the Son to accomplish our salvation. The Holy Spirit awakens us from our spiritual death. He leads us to an awareness of our sinfulness and opens our eyes to the fact that we are in and of ourselves lost. He kindles in us the desire for change and leads us to Jesus Christ, who alone can meet the needs of our innermost being. He gives us assurance of salvation because He always points us to Jesus and to what Jesus has done for us. He conforms us to be more like Jesus. He keeps us faithful in our walk with God. He enables us to fulfill God’s will and effectively engage in mission. He generates the Written Word of God as our safe guide and norm for our Christian life and doctrine. Where would we be without the Holy Spirit? What could we do without the Holy Spirit? We would be miserable and lost and could do nothing that would give God the glory and honor. Thanks be to Jesus for having promised and sent the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people.” – Ellen G. White, Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 13.

Discussion Questions:

Dwell more on the question of what is sin and what is righteousness. Why should we, as Christians who believe in the Bible as the Word of God, have a different understanding of what sin and righteousness are than do those who don’t believe in the Bible? What are those differences? What does the Bible teach us about sin and about righteousness that other sources do not?
Share with the members of your Sabbath school group what aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit has been most valuable to you. Why was it so important and how has this impacted your life?
In class, talk about the hope that we have in Jesus. What are the reasons for this hope? That is, if someone were to ask about the “reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15, NKJV), what answer would you give, and why? How convincing an argument could you make?
The lesson this week talked about the question of assurance of salvation. What is assurance of salvation? And if we have it, why do we have it? On what must it be based? And how does it differ from presumption?