Let’s try a word-association exercise. I’ll mention a concept, you make note of the first thing that comes to mind.
Ready?
Dependence on God.
What came to mind?
OK, one more …
Holy Spirit.
What came to mind this time?
So, here’s my question — did either of those concepts immediately connect with the other? Did Dependence on God naturally make you think of the Holy Spirit? Or, vice versa?
Yeah, me neither.
Yet, our study of our dependence on God has brought us to the Holy Spirit. As we move into that discussion, it might be helpful to capture our current assumptions about Him. Here’s some questions to help with that.
What benefits do you associate with the Holy Spirit?
What practical role has He had in your life in the past week? How have you depended on Him?
What were His primary roles in the church of the New Testament? (If you want to explore this topic a bit, here is a list of every mention of the Spirit in the book of Acts–1:2, 5, 8, 16; 2:4, 17–18, 33, 38; 4:8, 25, 31; 5:3, 9, 32; 6:3, 5, 10; 7:51, 55; 8:15, 17–19, 29, 39; 9:17, 31; 10:19, 38, 44–45, 47; 11:12, 15–16, 24, 28; 13:2, 4, 9, 52; 15:8, 28; 19:2, 6; 20:22–23, 28; 21:4, 11; 28:25)
What was/is the primary evidence that a person has the Spirit?
Our goal in all of this is to understand what it will look like for us to be living in dependence on God.