Living in the Hope and Power of the Risen Christ
Doctrine: Understanding Christ’s resurrection and exaltation, and the person and work of the Holy Spirit whom he gives to his people.
Devotion: Drawing near to the Father as his children and practicing active, prayerful dependence on the Spirit.
Discipling: Helping others find confidence in the risen Christ and take faithful steps with the Spirit’s help.
Main passages: ;
Supporting passages: ; ; ; ;
Memory verse: , using the NET2 Bible.
Our Purpose
By the end of this session, we should be better able to explain why Christ’s bodily resurrection and exaltation matter, recognize the Holy Spirit as God personally present with his people, and connect his work with assurance, holiness, prayer, and witness. We should also be better prepared to encourage another believer without implying that spiritual growth depends on unusual experiences or personal determination alone.
The aim is a life of confident dependence. The Savior who died for us is alive, and he has not left us to follow him in our own strength. Through his Spirit, we belong to him, approach the Father, and learn to live as his people while awaiting the completion of his saving work.
1. Beginning Together
In Session 4, we considered the heart of the good news: Christ gave himself for our sins, securing forgiveness, justification, and reconciliation. We now consider his resurrection, exaltation, and gift of the Spirit. These are not optional additions to the cross. The gospel announces the crucified and risen Lord, whose saving work brings us into a living relationship with God.
Sometimes people imagine the Christian life as gratitude for something Jesus did long ago, followed by an effort to live up to his example. Gratitude and imitation matter, but this picture is incomplete. Jesus is alive and reigning. The Holy Spirit dwells in his people, bringing them into union with Christ and forming his likeness in them. We do not follow an absent teacher whose memory we try to preserve.
D3DStart introduced the Spirit’s life-giving presence through Jesus’ promise of living water. Here we deepen that beginning. We will consider who the Spirit is, why his presence belongs to every Christian, and how dependence on him takes shape in ordinary life. Our attention remains on God himself, not on achieving a particular spiritual sensation.
Looking Back
What truth about Christ’s cross strengthened your confidence during the week? Did remembering his finished work help you confess honestly, approach God, or act with gratitude?
Discuss
- What difference does Jesus’ resurrection make to the way you understand life with him today?
- When you hear “depend on the Holy Spirit,” what do you understand that to mean? What would you like to understand better?
A Prayer to Begin
Father, thank you for raising Jesus from the dead and giving us your Spirit. Help us understand the hope and help you have provided. Teach us to approach you as your children, resist sin with your strength, and follow Christ with confidence and humility. Amen.
2. Read — The Risen Lord Gives His Spirit
Read in the NET2 Bible.
Peter speaks at Pentecost after the Holy Spirit has been poured out on Jesus’ followers. He explains this event by proclaiming Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation. The gift of the Spirit is connected to the identity and saving work of the risen Lord, not presented as an independent spiritual experience.
Look Closely
- What does Peter say God has done concerning the Jesus who was crucified?
- How does verse 33 connect Jesus’ exaltation with the gift of the Spirit?
- What conclusion does Peter draw about Jesus in verse 36?
- How are the hearers called to respond, and what promise is announced?
Now read in the NET2 Bible.
Paul writes to believers about the life they have through the indwelling Spirit. Notice how he connects belonging to Christ, the promise of bodily resurrection, putting sin to death, and knowing God as Father. The Spirit’s work embraces our standing, conduct, relationships, and hope.
Look Closely
- What does verse 9 tell us about the relationship between belonging to Christ and having his Spirit?
- What future promise appears in verse 11?
- What active response is described in verses 12–13?
- How do verses 14–17 describe our relationship with God, including the place of suffering?
3. Doctrine — Receiving God’s Truth
Jesus Was Raised Bodily from the Dead
The resurrection is not a way of saying that Jesus’ influence continued or that his followers found renewed courage. God raised the crucified Jesus bodily from death. His resurrection is a real event on which the Christian message depends.
Read . Paul refuses to treat the resurrection as a dispensable detail. If Christ has not been raised, faith is futile and believers remain in their sins. The gospel concerns what God has actually accomplished, not simply the comfort a belief might provide.
The risen Jesus has not returned to ordinary mortal life only to die again. His resurrection inaugurates the life of the age to come. Paul describes him as the firstfruits of those who have died: his resurrection is the beginning and pledge of the resurrection of those who belong to him. Christian hope therefore includes the renewal of our bodies, not escape from bodily existence.
This gives hope in the presence of death without requiring us to deny grief. We may mourn deeply while trusting that death will not have the final word. The one who died for us is alive, and our future rests with him.
The Risen Son Is Exalted as Lord
connects resurrection with exaltation. Jesus has been raised and seated at the Father’s right hand, the place of royal authority. The rejected and crucified Messiah reigns. His enemies have not overturned God’s purpose.
When Peter says that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ, he does not mean Jesus became divine at his resurrection. As we saw in Session 3, he is the eternal Son. Peter announces the vindication and exaltation of the incarnate Messiah, who now exercises his messianic reign as the crucified and risen Lord.
His reign is real even though we do not yet see every enemy removed. First Corinthians 15 directs us toward the final defeat of death. We live between Christ’s decisive victory and the full public completion of its consequences. We can trust his authority without assuming that faithfulness will immediately remove opposition or suffering.
The Holy Spirit Is God, Not an Impersonal Power
The Holy Spirit is not a spiritual substance, a mood, or a resource we learn to control. He is the divine person who, with the Father and the Son, is the one God. Scripture describes him teaching, guiding, bearing witness, and interceding. We depend on him personally rather than treating him as a technique for becoming effective.
Read and 16:12–15. Jesus promises his disciples the Spirit, who will remain with them and glorify him. These promises have a particular setting in Jesus’ preparation of his apostles, including their reception and testimony to his teaching. They are not a promise that every private impression a Christian has is a revelation from God.
The Spirit directs us toward Christ and the truth. His work is not in competition with the Son’s glory or the Father’s love. The Father gives the Spirit through the exalted Son, and through the Spirit we enjoy fellowship with the Father and the Son.
Every Believer Belongs to Christ through the Spirit
is decisive: having the Spirit belongs to being Christ’s. We should not divide Christians into those who belong to Jesus without his Spirit and a spiritual elite who possess him. The Spirit’s indwelling is God’s gracious gift to his people, not a reward for advanced achievement.
This does not mean every believer is equally mature, equally obedient, or equally aware of God’s presence. We need continuing growth and renewal. Yet the starting point is what God has given, not an anxious attempt to qualify for his presence.
The Spirit unites us to Christ and brings his saving benefits into our lives. Forgiveness, reconciliation, adoption, and new life are gifts we receive in the Savior; they are not separate achievements we assemble through effort. The Spirit who gives life also sustains our communion with God and enables our response to his Word.
The Spirit Forms God’s Children in Holiness
joins assurance and responsibility. Those led by the Spirit are God’s children, and by the Spirit they put sinful deeds to death. Dependence is active: we refuse what is wrong and pursue what pleases our Father, relying on the help he supplies.
Read . Paul describes a real conflict and the character the Spirit produces, including love, joy, patience, gentleness, and self-control. Walking by the Spirit does not mean waiting passively until obedience becomes effortless. It means responding to God in faith as the Spirit works through his truth and enables us to act.
We must also avoid reducing the Spirit’s work to visible excitement or unusual experiences. His fruit may appear in a restrained reply, a truthful admission, persistent love, or quiet faithfulness under strain. These are not insignificant achievements. They are expressions of Christlike life in ordinary people.
The Spirit Gives Assurance and Sustains Hope
describes the freedom of approaching God as our Father. We have received adoption, not a return to slavery and fear. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children. Our confidence is grounded in God’s saving action and promise, not in our ability to maintain an intense feeling.
Read . The same chapter includes suffering, groaning, waiting, and weakness in prayer. These experiences do not prove that the Spirit is absent. Believers possess the firstfruits of the Spirit while awaiting the redemption of their bodies, and he helps them when they do not know what to pray.
Christian hope is therefore neither despair nor denial. We acknowledge what is painful while trusting what God has promised. His presence gives us reason to persevere before every question is answered or every burden removed.
4. Devotion — Living as the Father’s Children
Dependence Begins with Belonging
We can turn spiritual growth into a project of proving ourselves. changes the starting point: through Christ, we belong to the Father, and his Spirit dwells in us. We obey as loved children, not applicants trying to secure a place in the household.
This assurance does not make us careless. It frees us to come honestly, receive correction, and ask for help. We need not choose between confidence in grace and seriousness about holiness. The Spirit teaches us both to cry to the Father and to resist the sin that contradicts our life with him.
A Guided Practice: Come, Offer, and Walk
Allow approximately ten minutes. Keep open, and let the passage give direction to your prayer. There is no need to seek a particular sensation or wait for a private message.
1. Come to the Father through Christ.
Read verses 15–16 slowly. Thank God that you may approach him as his child through Jesus. If calling him Father feels difficult, bring that difficulty honestly. Human parents do not define the limits of his goodness; the Son reveals the Father we are learning to trust.
2. Name one need for the Spirit’s help.
Consider an ordinary situation in which you tend toward fear, impatience, resentment, or self-reliance. Describe it to God without excuses or self-condemnation. Ask for the help that fits the situation: courage to speak truthfully, patience to listen, strength to refuse temptation, or love to serve.
3. Offer yourself in willing obedience.
Read verses 12–13 again. Identify one action consistent with God’s Word. You might prepare an honest apology, remove an opportunity for sin, or decide how to respond graciously in a difficult conversation. Consecration means offering our actual lives to God in response to grace, not merely expressing a general feeling of surrender.
4. Entrust the outcome to him.
Ask the Spirit to help you take that step, remembering that you cannot control another person’s response or produce instant maturity. You might pray, Father, I belong to you through Jesus. By your Spirit, help me do what is faithful here. Give me patience with what I cannot resolve today.
Depending throughout the Day
Bring this practice into the Scripture and prayer rhythm you already have. Before a demanding task, ask for wisdom. When temptation arises, remember the truth and take a practical step away from sin. When you notice kindness or growth, give thanks. If you fail, confess promptly and return to Christ rather than treating the day as lost.
Praise, Thanksgiving, Confession, Intercession, and Petition can give breadth to these prayers. Praise the risen Lord, thank the Father for adoption, confess resistance, intercede for someone who is struggling, and ask for help to love. These are ways of responding to God, not a formula for activating his power.
Discernment without Anxiety
Depending on the Spirit does not require interpreting every impression as a command from God. We test our judgments by Scripture, seek wise counsel, consider our responsibilities, and remain willing to be corrected. An intense feeling cannot authorize what contradicts God’s revealed character and commands.
Often the next faithful step is already clear: forgive, tell the truth, care for someone, complete a responsibility, or ask for help. We can act prayerfully without claiming certainty about matters God has not explicitly revealed. Humility and thoughtful action belong together.
Hope in Weakness
Some days prayer is difficult and obedience feels costly. does not shame us for weakness. The Spirit helps us in it. A few honest words, or a request that a trusted believer pray with us, may be the appropriate response.
We should not measure God’s presence by how energetic or emotionally settled we feel. His promise of resurrection allows us to face suffering without pretending it is good in itself. We ask for relief, receive practical care, and wait with hope for the renewal Christ will bring.
5. Discipling — Encouraging Spirit-Dependent Faithfulness
Share: Direct Attention to Christ and His Promise
When someone asks about the Spirit, begin with what Scripture makes clear. Jesus is risen, the Spirit belongs to those who are Christ’s, and God calls his children to a life of dependence and obedience. Do not make another person’s experience the standard they must reproduce.
You might say, “ connects the Spirit with belonging to Christ, approaching the Father, and learning to resist sin. Let’s look at those promises together.” This directs attention to God’s provision rather than comparison with supposedly more impressive Christians.
Model: Dependence without Pretending
Let others see that you pray, seek counsel, receive correction, and take responsibility. Share a modest example of how God’s Word helped you respond differently. Do not imply that every decision came through a special leading or that dependence eliminates uncertainty.
Also let them see patient gratitude. A small step toward honesty or reconciliation is worth thanking God for. We can recognize the Spirit’s fruit without exaggerating progress or overlooking an ongoing struggle.
Guide: Pray and Take a Step Together
Ask what the person understands from the passage and where they need help applying it. Pray with them in clear, ordinary words. Then help them identify one fitting response and arrange a natural opportunity to follow up. We accompany people; we do not become controllers of their decisions or substitutes for their own relationship with God.
- What does this passage say God has given you in Christ?
- Where do you need to ask for the Spirit’s help?
- What response is consistent with the passage?
- How could I encourage you as you take that step?
Practice Together
Consider this fictional statement: “Other Christians seem so confident. I still struggle with temptation, and sometimes I cannot find words to pray. Perhaps I do not have the Holy Spirit.”
In pairs, read and 26–27. Practice asking a gentle clarifying question, explaining what the passages promise, and praying briefly with the person. Avoid offering a verdict about their spiritual condition based on a single feeling or statement. Help them look to Christ, understand his promise, and identify appropriate support and a faithful next step.
6. Living This Session During the Week
With Christ
Continue your existing Scripture and prayer rhythm. Return to , , and during the week. Notice how the passages connect what God has done with the response he enables. Begin memorizing in NET2, reading it with the surrounding verses so that adoption, holiness, and hope remain together.
With Others
Ask one fellow believer how you can pray for them, then take time to pray rather than only promising to do so. If appropriate, share a short passage from this session. Listen for what encourages them and what remains difficult; you do not need to resolve every question in one meeting.
In Everyday Life
Choose one situation in which to practice active dependence. Begin with prayer, take the responsible action available, and entrust what you cannot control to the Father. At the end of the day, give thanks for help received and bring any failure honestly to him. The aim is growing fellowship and faithfulness, not a flawless record.
When We Meet Again
Come ready to share one truth that strengthened your hope or one way you sought the Spirit’s help. An unresolved difficulty is welcome too. In the next session, we will explore more fully how union with Christ shapes our identity, desires, and everyday choices.
7. Closing — Alive in Christ, Helped by His Spirit
Jesus Christ is risen and reigning. The Savior who secured our forgiveness has given his Spirit to his people, bringing us into life with God and assuring us of the resurrection still to come. We belong to the Father, and we are not left to grow by ourselves.
This confidence leads to active faith: we pray, resist sin, love, serve, and speak of Christ with the help God supplies. Our weakness is real, but it is not the whole story. The Spirit sustains us as we wait for the day when the risen Lord completes our renewal.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you that Jesus is alive and that we belong to you through him. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, who gives life, helps us pray, and forms Christ’s likeness in us. Keep us from self-reliance and from passivity. Teach us to trust your promises, take faithful steps, and encourage one another with humility and hope. Sustain us in weakness as we await the resurrection and the fullness of life with you. Amen.