John 7:37-39

New International Version

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink.

38 Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive .Until then,e the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

NLH Church Message 11-17-24: Living Empowered: The Work of the Holy Spirit by Narthia Holmes by NLH

The Heavenly Father is God over us; Jesus Christ is God who walks alongside us, and the Holy Spirit is God who comes and dwells inside us.

The Holy Spirit is God’s and Jesus’s Spirit. How unfortunate that He is a stranger to most Christians. We need to take the time to get to know Him. He is a wonderful person who desires to know us intimately, but He will come into our lives only upon invitation.

"We are supposed to be infatuated with the Holy Spirit because He makes us infatuated with the Father and with Jesus Christ."

- William Gordon

We begin the third part of the Creed by affirming: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” The Spirit is called “holy” because He proceeds from the Father and is a source of sanctification in the faithful. The title “Lord” affirms divinity, since its application derives from the use of “Yahweh” in the Old Testament. Thus, when the Church applies the title “Lord” to the Holy Spirit, she says that the Holy Spirit is truly God, co-equal with the Father and the Son.

We also profess that the Holy Spirit is the “giver of life”. For the ancients, breath in the body (which is what “spirit” literally means) was the sign of life. Then it came to mean the source or principle of life. God’s Spirit was involved in the production of all life in the world as we read in Genesis (1:2): “the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” It is the Spirit that gives life, both physical and spiritual. To have eternal life a man must be born “of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3:5). According to St. Paul, “the Spirit brings life” (2 Cor 3:6). Since it is the Holy Spirit who pours out charity in the hearts of the faithful (Gal 5:5), he is the source of all true life in God. So in the Creed, we proclaim our belief that the Holy Spirit is “the giver of life”.

Mark 4:35-41

New International Version

Jesus Calms the Storm

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”

36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.

37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

“Lord, if it is You,” Peter replied, “command me to come to You on the water.” “Come”, said Jesus. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”…

We believe Jesus allowed this to happen so that it could be written in the Gospels because He knew it perfectly describes what we go through when we want to trust Him, but our fears and doubts consume us.

Faith is the willingness to walk on the water or to persevere in the face of a terrible situation that seemingly has no end in sight, and which we have no idea how we’ll handle on our own. That’s what Peter walking on the water represents. Trust is the actual walking on the water. It’s proving that our faith is real by putting it into action.

Matthew 16:13-20

New International Version

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

The Wise and Foolish Builders

46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.

48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well-built.

49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, He suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one being with the Father;

through Him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

He came down from heaven:

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,

and became truly human.