TheHelper

A Study of the Holy Spiritby

Catherine Marshall

Part 2.6How do I receive the Helper?

Repentance and Baptism: Rising to New LifePage 74

How do I receive the Helper?

Repentance and Baptism – Rising to NEW Life page 74

Acts 2:37-3837 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “[Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

God chose ordinary men (and women) to do extraordinary things!It is not us, but the Spirit in Us -

Ephesians 2:8-108 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Peter does great things• At Pentecost, Peter is confident, articulate, impassioned and fearless.• He is filled with the Holy Spirit

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

• His old self was a big rough fisherman – who habitually said and did the wrong thing, was cowardly but at time violent– John 18:10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high

priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)– Luke 22:54-62 : Peter Denies Jesus

54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”

Peter Preaches at PentecostActs 2

17 “‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 And I will perform wonders in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke. 20 The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 21 And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Acts 2:17-21).

28 After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; your young men will see prophetic visions. 29 Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth— blood, fire, and columns of smoke. 31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness and the moon to the color of blood, before the day of the Lord comes— that great and terrible day! 32 It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive, just as the Lord has promised; the remnant will be those whom the Lord will call (Joel 2:28-32).

The Upper Room17 “‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 And I will perform wonders in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke. 20 The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 21 And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Acts 2:17-21).

28 After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; your young men will see prophetic visions. 29 Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth— blood, fire, and columns of smoke. 31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness and the moon to the color of blood, before the day of the Lord comes— that great and terrible day! 32 It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive, just as the Lord has promised; the remnant will be those whom the Lord will call (Joel 2:28-32).

The Comforter gave them courage and hope; the Spirit of Truth opened their minds to understand Scripture and Jesus pronounced them his witnesses. Now the women and men who had followed Jesus wait in the Upper Room to be “clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

Some Old Testament Scripture• Isaiah 30:15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

• Isaiah 59:20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord.

• Ezekiel 14:6 “Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!

• Ezekiel 18:32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

• Zechariah 1:6 But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors? “Then they repented and said, ‘The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.

Some New Testament Scripture• Matthew 3:2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come

near.”• Matthew 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me

comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

• Mark 1:4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

• Mark 6:12 They went out and preached that people should repent.• Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”• Luke 17:4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times

come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”• Luke 24:47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in

his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.• Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the

name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit will allow you to do things you might not have been able to do before

Your ABILITIES are not the same as your GIFTS

1 Corinthians 6:19-2019 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Luke 13:33 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

The penalty of sin has been paid• My Secret room – What am I holding on to?• Don’t judge others by your standards.• What do YOU need to change?

Romans 6:66 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

Romans 8:18 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 8:1212 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

John 19:3030 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

God gave us the promise of lifepage 78

Galatians 2:2020 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.Colossians 3:33 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.2 Timothy 2:1111 It is a trustworthy statement:For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

John 14:1-6Jesus Comforts His Disciples

• “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.

• 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

• 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

• 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”• Jesus the Way to the Father• 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are

going, so how can we know the way?”• 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No

one comes to the Father except through me.

John 3:13-16

• 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

• 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

• 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

• 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Ephesians 2:5-6 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Colossians 2:1010 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

NicodemusJohn 3:9-21

9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Acts 8:25-40An Ethiopian Receives Christ

25 So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:“HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER;AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.33 “IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY;WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION?FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.”34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 [And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip [i]found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

Page 79 Catherine Marshall• Perhaps you have wondered about the meaning of

those adult “Believers-Baptisms in backyard swimming pools or at the edge of the ocean. Many of those participating are Christians who were christened as babies. Now that the Helper has revealed to them what being baptized into Jesus’s death really means, they long to experience leaving their old self under water with the joy of rising to a new life in the Spirit

Colossians 2:1212 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.