Ignite to Invite

Pentecost Sunday: Holy Spirit//Significance of this day.

Pentecost: The word “Pentecost” means “fifty days.” Pentecost is a significant religious festival with roots in both Jewish and Christian traditions. The old covenant was given to Moses on the 50th day after the original Passover in Egypt. The new covenant was also given on the 50th day after the Passover when Jesus was given as the Passover Lamb for the sins of the whole world. The new covenant was proclaimed by OT prophets. Jeremiah promised that the law of God would be written on the hearts of believers.

In Christian tradition, Pentecost commemorates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus' followers in Jerusalem, as described in the New Testament book of Acts 2.

The significance of this day is that it is the day the Holy Spirit came…making it possible for God’s law to be written on our hearts instead of on stone tablets. For our hearts to be changed from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. For all of us enabled by the Spirit of God to be God’s prophets and witnesses. Old men, Young men. Old women, young women.

Acts 2:38 ESV

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Oh, if we would receive the Holy Spirit and let the power of God’s spirit lead us…

I do not believe in a repetition of Pentecost, but I do believe in a perpetuation of Pentecost—and there is a vast difference between the two.

A. W. Tozer

We don’t need to chase after what happened on that Pentecost. We do need to live lives filled with God’s Holy Spirit.

(Pause)

The text we are reading today are Jesus’ words to his disciples about the Holy Spirit. Jesus was about to go and be with the Father. He had spent time with them, but knew it was about to end. He wanted them to absorb everything He had taught and begins to start talking about what is going to happen after He leaves.

Read Entire Text John 14:12-26

John 14:12–26 ESV

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

(Pray)

John 14:16–18 (ESV) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

The Holy Spirit is a Gift.

These words are often disconnected from the feelings of the one leaving someone behind. Jesus cared about the disciples. And since He knew He wasn’t going to be there with them forever physically, He wanted them to know He wasn’t leaving them all alone. There is a great gift coming. A gift that needs to be viewed as a GIFT!

It is a great gift because THE HOLY SPIRIT will be with you forever! Jesus was able to be with people one at a time, or one group at a time. The great gift of the spirit is time AND presence! The Holy Spirit can be with all who believe all the time.

STORY: Family gatherings at grandparents…White elephant gifts for kids. ($5 and under) It always looks cool. But breaks after trying to play with it for a few minutes.

Not only is it forever present, but it is a forever help. It doesn’t lose its effectiveness. (Box of Cables)

[A couple of verses later we read the following]

John 14:25–26 (ESV) “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The disciples were about to get the Spirit which is a gift of help. But it is so much more than help.

The Holy Spirit is more than a helper.

The Greek word translated as Helper in English (parakletos) is one of those words that cannot simply be translated into one English word. Really, this word can be translated in at least four ways.

Advocate: ‘One who pleads another’s cause before a judge.” The Holy Spirit pleads our case before the Father. He represents us like a lawyer would and defends us as “a pleader.” When you and I fail, the Holy Spirit is our Advocate who comes to our defense to plead our case! Isn’t it amazing to think that God chose to provide his presence in this way, knowing you and I would desperately need him?

Counselor—He gives us counsel, good advice, and guidance. He is our teacher when we don’t know what to do. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will “teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” When you and I don’t know what to say or what to do, we can call on our Counselor to advise us! Praise God for our Counselor!

Helper—“Someone summoned, called to one’s side, especially called to one’s aid.” The Helper comes to our side and gives us aid when we are in need. Whenever we are in trouble, we can simply call out, “Help,” and the Helper will come assist us! That is God’s desire! Praise God for our Helper!

Intercessor—“One who pleads another’s cause with one, an intercessor.” This name indicates how the Holy Spirit prays for us and with us to the Father. Sometimes when we pray, we don’t know what to ask for or what to say. Paul explains this further,

Romans 8:26 ESV

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

The Holy Spirit is MORE THAN A HELPER.

John 16:7 (ESV) Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

The Holy Spirit is for your advantage.

God’s will is always to our advantage. Again, often times these words are often disconnected from the one doing the leaving, Jesus. Jesus loved His disciples. And wanted to go where God wanted Him, but also cared so much for them that He didn’t want to leave. But He did because God’s will is always best.

But he wanted them to know something. It is better for them and US that Jesus went left. While it would have been great to walk and talk with Jesus and see His miracles while He healed and taught. Jesus Himself says, it is better than you have the HOLY SPIRIT.

This is where I want to talk about you and me for a second. It is BETTER FOR US.

Whenever God called me to another church. I would always remind our church that God has someone coming after.

Jesus said, “You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit on you, and you will be my witnesses.”

One of the things I want to remind you of today is that God has given you the power to be His witnesses. Be HIS WITNESSES. The Holy Spirit gives us everything we need to know and love JEsus and help others do the same. We like the safety and security of learning about knowing and loving Jesus, but we forget that knowing and loving Jesus is doing what Jesus did. (See the passage of today)

Our self worth, insecurities, anxieties, and the enemy wants us to worry about what people think, what might happen to us, or how much it will inconvenience us. I want to remind you that what have you really got to lose? Someone might laugh at you? Compared to the chance of them spending forever with God? The conversation might be uncomfortable. Compared to being part of the person being healed and forgiven forever! The Holy Spirit is with you! And if you go and do what you are led to do and it doesn’t succeed like you thought, you haven’t failed, you obeyed which is the success. Not everyone Jesus spoke to received Him. Someone just resisted the Spirit.

Conclusion/Significance of this day.

Our text today really points out that Jesus wanted his disciples to know that the spirit was coming. And that he spirit was going to be to their/our advantage, helper, advocate, counselor, and intecessor. Also, to let us know that they are going to be okay without Him.

Some of you have been the one left behind. Kid moving away or off to college or to a new job. Some of you have been the one doing the leaving.

Some of you know, but some of you don’t. My life has been filled with moving. Growing up I was born in Charlotte, NC. Elementary School in Knoxville, TN and Bluefield, WV. Middle School in Asheville, NC and Harrisburg, PA. High School in Snellville, GA. Where I accepted Jesus on New Years Eve 2000.

As an adult, I went to TNU for my education, Hawaii and Lehigh Acres, FL as youth pastor. At 26 I was called to Senior Pastor. Which was always weird because I was never the oldest in age. I just turned 40 and though I don’t look young (as many of you reminded me of recently on social media) many people still view me as young and inexperienced. Sometimes even ignore my input because they don’t think my opinion matters. Internally and secretly I struggle because I want to be like, you ought to listen to me, because God has taught me a thing or two. But I have to stay humble. But I am tempted sometimes to want the recognition for the success in my life. And I need God’s help regularly to remember that my reward is in heaven AS IS YOURS! So thank God for the Holy Spirit who keeps me and you humble.

Let me tell you…being a 26 year old pastor. Thank God for the Holy Spirit!

Weed eating and discovering dog droppings-We Need the HOLY SPIRIT!

And some great mentors. I still remember one Sunday, I was playing guitar, singing, setting up the slides, advancing the slides with a food pedal, made the coffee, unlocked all the doors, made sure the chairs were set up, and pretty much all of it. And doing the preaching. In walks in Tamborine Lady. (Who I grew to love) but she loved the tamborine. But she had no rhythm. I tried everything to work with her on another type of instrument, something a little quieter, teach her, practice with her. It wasn’t taking. So I said, no more tamborine. I cannot play with you. I just can’t. One Sunday, she came and started playing again from the congregation. Off beat and loud as usual. I wish I could have said some old western saying like hit the trail tamborine lady. BUT I just started weeping. Uncontrollably. It was ridiculous. RIDICULOUS! Insane. Thank God for no live streaming. Thank God for those people who stood up and put their hands on me and prayed for me. While nobody ever talked about it…THANK GOD…I am mostly thankful for the Holy Spirit working all that out. God moved her to another church where they had much louder sound system to drown out the tamborine. God used us to grow that church from 6 people to about 60. Making disciples. A monthly income of around $4000. No money. No resources. No updates. No ordering signs. Thank God for the Holy Spirit.

I moved from there to Camas, WA. The church had shrunk from around 300 people to around 60 when I moved there. It took 25 years to do it, but it happens. Especially when no one speaks up to challenge the status quo. I was called to turn things around. Make tough and unpopular decisions. Lead strong. Be more of a CEO and preacher, than pastor. Not my favorite combo, but it definitely is in my wheelhouse of experience and skills. So I did. Nothing that I did made some of the people happy. To a certain group of this church, there was always some big problem that I was causing. I wanted to be like, I didn’t cause the church to shrink, God didn’t cause it, you did. But I didn’t say it. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit who kept my mouth closed. There were so many good folks there, so if any of them who are listening to my sermon, know I am not talking about you! If I am talking about you, you know who you are, REPENT! For the sake of God’s church and for the sake of your current pastor!

Maybe mention…Now God has me here. Sandersville, GA. Good things. Visiting? Covid? Unity! One of our major objectives that we are striving for is to make disciples from the cradle to the grave. WE want to disciple middle aged adults on how to prepare to be great older adults. There are things that aging brings that many of us aren’t always prepared for. I think we need to allow God to teach us these things. We want our babies and toddlers to be exposed to the message of Jesus. So in our nursery and young ages we are reading books, telling stories, at the same time constantly sending tools for parents and families to use. I heard a pastor say it like this once…We don’t have a student ministry, WE ARE a STUDENT MINISTRY! WE are all students learning along the way. I am thankful the HOly Spirit has led, guided, and shown us the right path each and every step of the way.

TODAY…I share because when the Holy Spirit is guiding, we have everything to gain. Anything else, we count as loss compared to knowing and doing the will of God!

I do not believe in a repetition of Pentecost, but I do believe in a perpetuation of Pentecost—and there is a vast difference between the two.

A. W. Tozer

…We need to NEVER FORGET THIS! Let’s perpetuate Pentecost by reminding people of the power of the Holy Spirit. It will work in spite of your failures and shortcomings. It will lead and guide in spite of your insecurities. It will give you everything you need to do the will of God!

Repent and Receive Forgiveness of your sins through Jesus as your Savior.

Be Baptized! Go Public with your decision to follow Jesus. Baptism testifies to others that you have decided to follow Jesus. Going under symbolizes your sins are washed away and do to old life. Coming up out of the water symbolizes that your sins are washed away and you are raised to new life in Christ.

Grow in your relationship with God and allow the HOLY SPIRIT to transform and perfect your heart and life. Sanctify you.

Share your journey with others. Don’t keep the good news to yourself. Invite others to join you on your journey. We invite people to hunt, fish, shop, travel, and eat. Why not invite people to on our journey with Jesus.

Head Bowed and Eyes Closed.

Does anybody need to repetn and receive forgivenss for your sins through Jesus as Savior?

Does anybody need to be baptized?

Does anybody know they want the Holy Spirit to transform your life/Sanctify You?

Does anybody need to share?