Well, it's time for us to begin. If you would please be finding your seat. So grateful for your presence here tonight and so excited about the things that we're gonna be studying together. If you would like to take out your bible and turn to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, the first passage at which we will look together is Acts chapter 10.

We'll refer to some others but we'll turn to Acts chapter 10 here in just a second and start reading there in verse 19. Acts chapter 10 and verse 19 here in just a second. We are continuing our study of the Holy Spirit and, as promised, it's time to get to the nitty gritty, time to get down to it. We've laid some foundation and hopefully now we can start to apply some of the things that we have thought about and talked about. And before we get started tonight, let's, go to our heavenly father in prayer.

Bow with me, please. Dear God, our father, we are so blessed that though you are God of the universe, you have this close and intimate relationship with us. We know that just as people, through you we live and move and have our very being, that all creation, can say that. But we can also say that you're our father and that we have a different level of fellowship and closeness with you and your son and the Holy Spirit. I pray father that you'd be with us as we study about the Holy Spirit, who he is and what he has done and what he is doing.

Help us to know what is true as far as it has been revealed to us. Help us to be certain about those things that are revealed and not go beyond what we know on these things. We're so grateful that you have revealed the things that we need to know that pertain to life and godliness. And we pray that if there's anything that separates us and you, any sins that we need to have forgiven, that you would forgive us of those things as we enter into this study, and it's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Alright. So very quickly, let's go over what we know so far. The spirit is deity, the spirit is person, the spirit is distinct from the father and the son and yet God is one probably in a couple of different ways as we think about that. We know that the New Testament uses spirit in several different ways and so we must rely on the context and harmony with other passages to determine which sense is being used and mixing up these usages can cause us to draw incorrect conclusions and make incorrect applications. Was talking with me before class, he was studying, he was over at the loop at their meeting studying from first John, he's like, man, I really saw it was switching back and forth between little s and big s.

I hope we're all looking for those things and thinking about how that applies to the way we understand passages. Now, I'm gonna just very quickly here address one of the questions that's been submitted and the question was, does the translation of words for the Holy Spirit have any bearing on the meaning of Holy Spirit? And if so, more or less than just the context. My answer to that is, well, as we think about spirit, that's pneuma, right? So spirit, although it can be translated in other ways, in Greek it's just the one word.

And so it really is dependent on the context. Now translation bears if there's a modifying word, holy spirit tells us something, spirit of God or spirit of Christ or spirit of the devil, all of those things would tell us something different. Right? A spirit of fear, if it's modified in that way, but context is really the key. Can I look at this passage and see what's around it and determine which usage of spirit is being used?

I wanna thank Mark for filling in for me last week, very ably. I really enjoyed our conversation at his kitchen table. I almost wish that we could have like recorded that and played that for you. That was enjoyable as well, but he did a good job. And so I just remind you, there's clearly a difference in what was promised and received by the apostles, and what was promised and received by other Christians.

And so in the same way, we must use context and harmony to determine who is receiving what promise and mixing up those promises can cause us to draw incorrect conclusions and make incorrect applications, so we gotta be careful about that. And I think we can say with it was the apostles who received the promises of Jesus regarding the Holy Spirit in John 13 through 17 and Acts one and two. We spent most of the class dealing with that and it's not that there aren't applications to all Christians in those chapters of course, when we think about those specific promises and that'll tie in as we think about baptism of the Holy Spirit in a coming class, that was really promised to the apostles. So, as you studied last week while I was in Odessa, the old testament uses spirit in several different ways as well and there's a pattern seemingly in the old testament of people with the right kind of spirit themselves being given the spirit of God to a greater degree, and so there's this kind of building. It's not just, you know, I'm gonna pick a farmer off the street in order to make the clothes of Aaron, no, it's a gifted craftsman who has that spirit already who is then given the spirit of God to a greater degree in order to accomplish what it is God intends for him to accomplish.

And the old testament informs us about God's dwelling with man, really a summation of what Paul says in the book of Acts, through him we live and move and have our very being. God does not dwell in the sense that he cannot be contained by any physical structure and Solomon makes that clear at the temple. But God does dwell with his people in some sort of representative way at the very least. We see the fire, we see the cloud, we see these images of God dwelling with his people seen especially in the tabernacle and the temple. And the reality is that God is not far from each one of us because through him we live and move and have our very being.

So we think about God dwelling with man, indwelling man, those sorts of ideas. There's a sense in which all people have this nearness and closeness with God because we're breathing his air, right? Ruach. We have this breath of life in us that he gave to us, Ruach. We have our own Ruach as we think about in the old testament, our own spirit inside us.

And then there is the holy spirit as well to direct us as he did with the prophets of old. Okay. That's good. We know a lot, don't we? Let's see if we can learn a little bit more.

So, I want us to talk for a few minutes tonight about the working of the spirit and we're gonna this will bleed over into the next class as well. But I wanna talk about the working of the spirit. Did everybody get a handout for tonight? If you did not get a handout, raise your hand and so we got a few over here. Caleb, would you mind grabbing some handouts off of the stand in the foyer, lectern in the foyer and we'll bring those to you.

I guess I can work this direction just a little bit. Thank you, Jesse. Okay. So here are the questions that we're gonna try and answer over the next couple of class periods. What has the holy spirit done in days past?

How did he do it and why did he do it? So the working of the Holy Spirit in days past, what does the Holy Spirit do today? How does he do it and why does he do it? And we don't have all of the answers to those things. I'm gonna tell you that right off the bat, but I hope maybe we can go down this road to a certain degree to where we can see what the scriptures do say, about these things and then leave the rest in the hands of God.

So, as we think about the working or operation or activity of the spirit, we have the direct operation of the Holy Spirit. We see where the Holy Spirit is directly acting on someone in some way, in someone in some way. We're gonna have some examples of that. And then we have what we might call the indirect operation of the Holy Spirit through other means. Now, here's a passage that, we probably all know pretty well.

We've already read, a little bit from this. We merely have to read the text to see all that the Holy Spirit did and or does. We're gonna list all of those things that we see in the text next week. Before we look at those instances, I want us to think seriously about for each of those ways the Holy Spirit works, we should ask the question, how, when, and why. Okay?

So I'm not giving you that list of all of the ways, I mean you can look it up for yourself, you have all the references, but I'm not giving you my list of that yet because I want us to think about how he works, when he works, and why he works and then apply it to the list that we're going to have, in our next class. So thinking about direct operation and indirect operation. Direct operation, the spirit is directly acting. There's no intermediary, there's no tool, there's no means. So think about the day of Pentecost.

On whom did the spirit operate directly? The apostles. Right? So the spirit descends on them. There's rushing wind, tongues of fire on their head and they begin speaking as who gave them utterance?

As the spirit gives them utterance. So there's this direct operation of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. And so if the Holy Spirit operated or acted directly on the apostles on Pentecost, on whom did he act indirectly? That is by other means instead of just directly on them. The hearers.

The Jews who were gathered there. And how did he act indirectly on them? Word that came Yeah. The word that came from Peter and we assume the other 11 who were standing proclaiming the mighty works of God. So we've got direct operation and indirect operation, but it's that indirect operation that those people off a lot of times.

But I think we understand that concept in common speech. So thinking about those two concepts, let's imagine that I say, I cut down some trees on my property. Okay? What does that mean that I cut down some trees on my property? Imagine what that means.

Stephanie did it. No, that's not what happened but Steve might have done it, right? So, okay, I could say I cut down some trees on my property and that means that I went out there with an axe or a chainsaw and I cut it down myself. Even then, I'm acting with a tool, right? I'm not out there with my hands trying to chop it down this way.

No, I've got a tool, an axe or a chainsaw preferably that I'm using in order to cut the tree down. Could I say accurately that the chainsaw cut the tree down? I could, that sounds a little weird because I'm the one who's the intelligent being using the tool, but there's a sense in which that tool was actually the one, actually the thing that cut it down. Now, to Moody's point, could I say, I cut down some trees on my property. Maybe you're over and it's the it's the big fall party and they're like, oh look, everything looks so nice back there.

Was like, yeah, I cut down some trees on my property. Could I say that when it was actually Steve who came and helped me and cut down some trees on my property? I think I certainly could. And I could say, Steve cut down some trees for me and it would be just as true because that's me working indirectly. Let's put it this way.

Maybe I hire some people to come out and cut some trees down on my property. Could I say, I cut some trees down on my property. Sure. But I could also say some guys came out and cut some trees down on my property. That's this idea of indirect operation.

I'm the source of that. It's happening because of me but it's other means are being used in order to bring that about. Give me a thumbs up if you're following me so far. Okay. Well, let's think about that in terms of the Holy Spirit.

I want you to turn there to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10 and verse 19. Acts chapter 10 and verse 19. Holy Spirit does this all the time and I think if we start thinking about it, looking at it in this way, I think it'll be helpful to us as we think about how the holy spirit works in us and through us and around us today as well. So, Acts chapter 10 and verse 19.

So Peter's had this vision, remember the sheep coming down out of heaven that's filled with unclean animals, rise Peter, kill and eat. Never done that, Lord. Well, what the Lord is called cleansed, you must not call common. And so then in verse 19, while Peter thought about the vision, the spirit said to him, what spirit? The Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit said to Peter, behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them doubting nothing for I have sent them. Who sent them? The Holy Spirit. So here's my question.

Did the Holy Spirit send these men directly? That is, did he miraculously transport them to Peter's door or did he speak in their ear and tell them that they had to go and speak to this man Peter? Is that what happened? Or did he send them indirectly by other means? Well, let's look in the context.

Acts chapter 10 beginning in verse three. This is Cornelius and his house, that's where Peter's gonna end up going and this devout man Cornelius who gives alms and praise, it's the ninth hour of the day and he sees a vision of God coming and saying to him, Cornelius. So let's read beginning there in verse four, and when he observed him, he was afraid and said, what is it Lord? So he said to him, your prayers and your alms have come up from come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa and send for Simon whose surname is Peter.

He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. And when the angel who spoke to him departed Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually and when he explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. Who sent the men to Joppa? Cornelius did.

Is that true? Did Cornelius? But who told Peter that he sent the men to Joppa? The Holy Spirit. Did the Holy Spirit send the men to Joppa?

How? By telling Cornelius and Cornelius followed the instructions and sent them in. You drop down to chapter 11 and verse 13. This is recounting these events, and he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house who said to him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter. The spirit can work in whatever way he wills.

The spirit has chosen throughout history to work directly in the minds and hearts of people. He's done that. But he is also, and I might say, at least as often, if not more often, the spirit has worked indirectly by other means. And it is still the spirit working, it is still the spirit's power, it's still coming from the holy spirit, but is using other means or tools in order to do his work. So, we've got an activity for us all to do together to maybe see this.

I want you to turn to Acts chapter eight. Acts chapter eight, just a couple of pages back, we're gonna start reading in verse 26. This is a rather lengthy reading, but as we read, here are the questions that I want you to answer. They're there on your handout if you have that. If not, look on the screen behind me.

How do we see the spirit working with Philip? In what ways and is he working directly or indirectly with Philip? How do we see the spirit working with the Ethiopian eunuch? In what ways and is he working directly or indirectly with the Ethiopian eunuch? And then the third question, how do we not see the spirit working in this passage?

And obviously that could be a super long list, but I just want you to kind of be thinking about that as we read through. Okay. Let's read together. Acts chapter eight beginning in verse 26. Now, an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, arise and go toward the South along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is desert. So he arose and went, behold a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians who had charge of all her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. And the spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. Who said that to Philip?

The spirit. So Philip ran with him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I unless someone guides me? He asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the scripture which he read was, how much more perfect of a place could it have been than this?

He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice was taken away and who will declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, see, here is water.

What hinders me from being baptized? 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. So he commanded the chariot to stand still and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him. And when they had come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing.

And then Philip's gonna be found in these other cities where he will eventually settle down. Okay. So answer these questions, write that out, I'm gonna give you just a couple of minutes to work on that. How do we see the spirit working with Philip? How do we see the spirit working with the Ethiopian?

And how do we not see the spirit working, at least not explicitly? Okay. If you wanna talk through this with your neighbor, you can do that now. See if you got the same answers. Okay.

Let's see let's see what we come up with. How do we see the spirit working with Philip? If you got verses, that's even better. Go and overtake the Go and overtake the chariot. And how did Philip know that?

The spirit told him that. The spirit spoke. Is that direct or indirect? You can't get more direct than the spirit literally speaking and telling you exactly what it is you are supposed to do. So directly, the spirit said to Philip, Go and overtake the chariot.

Okay? How else do we see the spirit working with Philip? Okay, so at the end of the account, is that direct or indirect? I can't get much more direct than the spirit somehow grabs him up and carries him away to a different location, so that's very direct. The spirit of the Lord caught Philip away and sent him off to these other places.

Okay? Do we see any other ways the spirit was working with Philip? Maybe indirectly. Yeah. Angel of the lord.

Well, we've already seen that with Cornelius, right? Who's who is this angel of the lord speaking on behalf of? On whom? From whom? You know what I'm asking.

Who's telling this angel what to say? Well, I would say the Holy Spirit. Maybe you put God the Father in there as well. Maybe Jesus has something to do with that, but the Holy Spirit is certainly part of this angel who comes and speaks to Philip at the beginning of the story. But that's indirect, right?

It's not the holy spirit directly, but it's through an angel. Okay? Any other ways with Philip? I'm sorry? Yeah.

So now Philip is using the scriptures inspired by the holy spirit in order to speak to what it is that the Ethiopian has questions about. So through the scripture, through the Ethiopian's question, the spirit is working because Philip is answering those questions. And I put indirectly up there, maybe maybe Philip is using, he got the holy spirit, and maybe he's using some miraculous part of prophecy or knowledge or whatever in order to do this. We don't know for certain, but certainly it's indirect at least as it relates to the Ethiopian, it's coming through Philip and coming to him, but the Ethiopian's question, the scripture here, that would all be indirect as well. Okay.

So what about the Ethiopian? How do we see the spirit working with the Ethiopian? The spirit sent Philip to him. Okay. So he's got somebody sent to him.

Philip was sent to him. So there's a preacher that was sent to him. I'm not gonna do that because that's why I got second on my list. Okay? So there's a preacher that comes and through his preaching, through him being sent, the Holy Spirit was working.

Is that direct or indirect? Indirect. It's indirect for the Ethiopian, right, because there's somebody else coming and bringing this message and perhaps this is the Holy Spirit acting directly through Philip, but it's indirect with the Ethiopian. How else is the Holy Spirit working? He's in Isaiah.

Holy Spirit's in Isaiah. Right? Who who inspired Isaiah to write those things down? The Holy Spirit. Who gave Isaiah the power to prophesy about the Christ?

He is writing of some other man. He is writing of Jesus. Who gave him that power? The Holy Spirit did. So Holy Spirit is working indirectly through the scriptures there with Isaiah.

He's working indirectly through Philip's question and then his preaching that he was sent there to preach to him. Any other ways? That's very good. That's very good. So here we find guidance coming from the Holy Spirit, but through Philip for this Ethiopian nun.

And I might even put baptism up on that list, right? That he's working indirectly through baptism in order to bring his salvation. He's not reaching into the Ethiopian's heart and mind and saying, boom, now you're saved, but through baptism the Holy Spirit is working so that he might be saved on this occasion. Alright. So this is kind of an unfair question but I'm interested to see your responses.

How do we not see the spirit working? He did not tell the eunuch what he needed to do. Yeah. Who did the Holy Spirit tell the eunuch what he needed to do? Not directly, right?

He sent somebody else, a preacher, and this is the pattern all the way through Acts. If you can find an account, let me know but there's always a preacher that is sent in order to give the message and by that somebody is saved. It's never the holy spirit directly speaking without some sort of mediator if it's gonna bring about somebody's salvation. Okay? What else?

How else do we see him not working? How do we not see the spirit working, not not working? He didn't carry him into the water. Yeah. He didn't carry him into the water.

Right? He had to go say, here is water. They had to go down into it and baptize him. How else? It doesn't seem like spirit might be their person or their agency.

Yeah. So he's not they're not possessed. Right? This is not spirit possession in that sense. They're still them and even though the spirit is all over this story, right, all over this story, they still have their agency, their free will.

They're still the Ethiopian eunuch in Philip. K? Anything else? He did not interpret the scripture for him. He had somebody else do it.

That that's interesting. Yeah. He's praying fervently, no doubt, to try and know what the scripture means and yet, he has all these things and surprise, there's a preacher there to explain it for you. Okay? Instead of the holy spirit just giving him that knowledge miraculously.

What about that he just so happens to be in Jerusalem working and he just so happens to be going down the road and he just so happens to be reading from Isaiah in a place that's talking about Jesus so he can preach Jesus to him. Is the holy spirit working in all those things? Probably. Right? Probably.

But do we know from the text? We don't know for certainty because it's not revealed to us. And so if I were to if I were to put up I'm gonna go ahead and skip through that so you can see this. So I were to put up my boxes, I've got a long list of the ways I know the spirit is working. I think spirit's working providentially.

I mean, I look at this passage, it sure seems like that he is he is putting all these events together and certainly he is with Philip and sending him here at this time, so there's providence at work in the background. I think I know that but it's not revealed so I can't say it with absolute certainty and then there's some things that I don't know. Could the spirit be working in other ways that are not revealed? The spirit can do whatever the spirit wants to do, whatever he wants to do, certainly, but it would be supposition that we have to leave in the hands of the spirit. That is unrevealed to us and thus we can draw no conclusions from that speculation.

I would point out a couple of other things. He's not working through the feelings of Philip. Did did Philip have this feeling, oh, I need to go to this road and wait for this man. Is that the way it worked? How did it work?

He spoke to him and told him, go overtake this chariot. He didn't work directly on the Ethiopian to change his heart or to save him. He sent him a preacher so that that might happen. And could the spirit be working in other ways we cannot see? I suppose he could, but what is revealed to us is the way that he is working here in this passage.

And I think that's a good place to talk about the direct operation of the holy spirit when it comes to leading us. What I know, what I think I know, and what I don't know in regard to those. Who in here has ever heard or read, maybe even said the phrase, I feel led by the spirit to do this or I felt led by the spirit to do this. Who's ever heard that before? I mean that's super common.

Right? Lots of people say that and I don't think they mean anything bad by that. I think they probably do feel that way. And it's not something where now, okay, Reagan, are you saying that they don't feel that, they can't feel that? Well, I don't know what they are or not or are not feeling.

What I do know is what the scriptures say about that. The Holy Spirit in the scriptures never directs or leads someone that I know of in the New Testament by giving them a feeling. In other words, I don't know what to do but I feel led by the spirit to do such and such. We never see that in the scriptures. So I'm just gonna go through the book of Acts.

How did the spirit lead directly in Acts? If you've got your hand out, you can turn it over to the backside. Here's what I wanna do. We're gonna go through these a little more quickly. Gonna put the scriptures up on the screen.

We're gonna read the scripture. You're gonna write in there how the spirit leads and the first one to see it and say it gets a gold star at the end of class. Okay. So Acts chapter eight and verse 29. Then the spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot.

How did the spirit lead Philip there? He said something. He speaks to him. Acts chapter eight and verse 39, we just read, now they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more. How did the spirit lead him there?

I'd say transports. I don't know of a better word than that. Transports him. Go near or the spirit catches him away. Alright.

Acts chapter 10 and verse 17. Acts chapter 10 and verse 17. Now, while Peter wondered within himself with this vision which he had seen meant, behold the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon at for Simon's house and stood before the gate. And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. While Peter thought about the vision, the spirit said to him, behold, these three men are seeking you.

Arise therefore, go down and go with them doubting nothing for I have sent them. How did the spirit lead Peter? He spoke to him. He speaks to him. Acts chapter 13 and verse one.

Acts chapter 13 and verse one. Now, the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon who is called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away.

So the Holy Spirit leads by, again speaking maybe through prophets, he's specific about prophets, maybe one of them spoke or several of them spoke, we don't know that but it's clear, the Holy Spirit said something to them so that they might know what it is they're supposed to do. Turn to Acts chapter 16, Acts chapter 16 and verse six. And when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the holy spirit to preach the word in Asia. So how did the spirit, in this case, not lead, I guess? Just says forbids and we don't know how the spirit did that.

We don't know. It's not specific. But we know that some way the holy spirit communicated to them, you can't do this. And then just one verse later, verse seven, after they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the spirit did not permit them. So how did the spirit lead?

Well, it did not permit. And again, we're not told exactly. The spirit does not permit them to enter Bethenia. So turn to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20 and verse 22.

Acts chapter 20 verse 22. And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing the things that will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city saying that chains and tribulations await me. So, what does the spirit How does the spirit lead in those verses? Testifies by saying chains and tribulations await me. So Acts 21 and verse four, I think are examples of what he's talking about there.

And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days, they told Paul through the spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. So how did the spirit lead Paul? Yeah. We're telling through these disciples and then acts 21 and verses 10 through 12. And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea and when he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet and said, thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

So how did the spirit lead? Says through the prophet Agabus. The Holy Spirit is directly operating in these passages, maybe some more directly than others, but it is not a feeling or an intuition, it is a clear message derived in comprehensible words. And we've got a couple of examples where we don't know exactly how the spirit communicated, but in all the ones where we do know how the spirit communicated, it was with clear words with no confusion or uncertainty about what the holy spirit was communicating. And so one of the questions that's been asked is, why do we get scared to attribute more in our life to the work of the spirit?

I've meditated and thought and prayed about that question a lot and I don't know if scared is the right word. Maybe the word is hesitant. Why are we hesitant to attribute more in our life to the work of the spirit? I think this is one of the reasons because many attribute, associate their feelings, their intuition, the things that they think, maybe from their conscience and conflate that with some message from the Holy Spirit. That happens.

At best, that's unknown. Has the spirit spoken or is it some other spirit? But feelings and intuition have never been how the spirit works even when he was working directly on people in the book of acts. No one ever said, I just feel led by the spirit to do this unless the spirit has spoken to them about those things. And again, what about providence?

Well, God is working behind the scenes for us and around us. Is the Holy Spirit involved in that work? I would assume so. And certainly both the Holy Spirit and Jesus are one with the father and purpose and action and so they are by necessity involved in that way. But even with providence, I think Philemon verses fifteen and sixteen, it creates the attitude I believe we should all have as Christians.

Paul says, for this perhaps is why he parted from you for a while that you might have him back forever. No longer as a bond servant but more than bond servant as a beloved brother. Now, want you to think about that. You looked at that passage there with Philip and we say, that's gotta be the Holy Spirit working providentially. And yet the Apostle Paul who did have the direct operation of the Holy Spirit on this occasion says, perhaps, maybe that's why Onesimus wronged you, maybe that's why I ran into Onesimus, maybe all of these things were orchestrated in such a way that Onesimus might have obeyed the gospel and come back to you as a brother, not just a slave.

We look at that and we say, of course, that was providence. Paul says, perhaps. And perhaps it was God or time, or chance, or even Satan. But whether God actively did it or not, I'm gonna take full advantage of the spiritual opportunity and give God the glory, but I am going to be hesitant to attribute it to the work of the spirit if that has not been revealed to us. But the spirit has and is working indirectly by or through other ways and means, And we know this.

And the most obvious of those other ways by which the spirit works is what? Through the word of God. And we know that's how he works and we know that it is the spirit that works in those ways. Well, we're out of time for tonight. So what I'd like for you to do, think about the working of the spirit by the word.

You've got one more activity to do. Psalm ninety five seven through 11 is quoted three times in Hebrews chapters three and four in fullness or in part, but that that particular scripture, who wrote that scripture? Well, who put pen to paper with that scripture? It was David. But that scripture in Hebrews three and four is attributed to three different sources, three different people.

So what I'd like for you to do is just look there in those verses and say, okay, here's your activity, looking at that. To whom are the scriptures cited in the following verses attributed? In Hebrews three seven through 11, Hebrews four three and four, and Hebrews four seven, and I think that gives us a really good framework for understanding how the spirit is working in this way. Alright. Thank you for your good attention tonight.