22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to [a]Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by [b]Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”
25 And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “[c]Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and [d]any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he [e]is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27 If I by [f]Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
The Unpardonable Sin30 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.32 Whoever [g]speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever [h]speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
Look at verse 24 -- Shannon said, "What a hard-hearted statement."
People don't understand so they condemn.
If you aren't gathering you're scattering.
Second passage was John 14:16-17. It says:
16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [a]Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
The Greek word used for the Spirit here is Paraclete which means counselor, comforter, a witness for you, a defender for you, your advocate! The world will not accept the Holy Spirit.
Conviction leads to repentance. The Pharisees believed two things about the Spirit: the Holy Spirit revealed truth and the Holy Spirit allowed them to speak truth.
If you ignore the Holy Spirit there is no way you can repent -- it is the hardening of the heart!
Use it or lose it..If we don't use the Holy Spirit, if we don't listen to Him we will eventually not be able to hear him. What we are attuned to is what we hear. If we have our hearts attuned to God's voice we will hear Him for He is speaking all the time. We just must listen.
When we ignore the Holy Spirit we are hardening our hearts.
Excuses and justifications harden our hearts.
The more I listen the better I get at it. Am I letting the world's white noise get in the way of hearing God?
What am I hoping to hear?
What am I attuned to hear?
What am I anticipating I'll hear?
Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God.
This is a learned behavior -- learning to be still.
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That ends my notes from today. I'll do better next week!