Pentecost Sunday

Good Morning and welcome to another week of Church here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we are able to gather together this morning and celebrate Pentecost Sunday. This is the day of the year that we recognize the coming of the Holy Spirit upon The Disciples. Let us begin by reading that Passage.

Acts 2:1–21 NIV

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

The Holy Spirit

For many people the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of God is one of the unique things that we don’t always want to talk about. I have talked about this before because we have a love affair with Jesus. Rightfully so. Think about that for a minute we talk about Jesus so much that we forget the gift he sent us in the Spirit. that The Spirit is a unique part of the trinity that is presently with us right now. Jesus had to go so that the church could be born and that he could reign over all. He had to be exalted. Yet, Jesus didn’t abandon us. He didn’t just leave us with now help. No he sent the Holy Spirit to us. This makes me think about what is the role of the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do? What is the work of the Holy Spirit? Lets begin with that very question and turn to

John 16:4–15 NIV

4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Jesus had to Go and The Spirit had to Come

I talked a little bit ago about this love we have for Jesus. In fact we so often may even say things like this.

If Only i lived in the times of Jesus.

or

If Jesus was still here it would be so much easier.

Jesus had to Go and the Spirit had to Come

The reality is that this isn’t even a strange concept for the disciples. They were in fact complaining to Jesus about the fact that he had to Go. They didn’t understand why that was what was going to happen.

A good way to think about it is Jesus is a Dad who gets a call from work to go to an emergency meeting and he has to cancel or delay a fishing trip with his Child. The Son doesn’t udnerstand the responsibilities that are placed upon the Dad he just wants to know why the Dad is Leaving him.

I thought about another example that i thought was quite humorous.

The Movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Is an older Rom com but it still has its moments that are absolutely hilarious. This story of Tula the youngest daughter looking to find a life of her own and the challenges she faces within her own family and their overbearing nature. At one point in the movie Tula asks if her dad if she can take some classes at the local community college and this prompts her dad to have the response.

Why do you want to leave me?

Now, i can understand this as any self respecting father who cant imagine the thought of losing his little girl but it really is a moment that stands out because it is a moment of honesty about how the disciples probably were feeling with the idea of Jesus.

Why do you want to leave us?

The truth is the Kingdom of God had been promised with the coming of the Spirit and this is important for our understanding of the plan of God. Well at least the best we can try to understand the plan of God.

The Kingdom that is to come needed the coming of the Holy Spirit and Jesus need to be exalted to the highest of places. These are the promises of the Scriptures.

Ezekiel 11:19–20 NIV

19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Joel 2:28–32 NIV

28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.

These are just two examples of scriptures that draw us to this promise of the Spirit. We mistake the departure of Jesus as the absence of his presence. Instead we have the Spirit who is the very manifestation and presence of both God the Father and Jesus the Son. The Spirit connect us back to God and to Jesus and this is the hope that we have in the Spirit and the joy we can take in knowing the Spirit and how it impacts us.

The Spirit Convicts

I thought long and hard about the choice of the words that i wanted to use on this slide. The problem is that when we think of the a word like convict it has a negative connotation. It is a word that sparks thoughts of guilt and hardship. This is true. It is a harsh reality that we have to deal with as Christians. Conviction forces us to a place that we have to recognize our short comings not only as individuals but also as humanity. When we are faced with the reality of the Spirit we realize that we have fallen woefully short of the will of God and that we are not what we a meant to be as his creation. This is not an easy thing to deal with. In fact many people will out right deny it and don’t want anything to do with it. Some may not have yet had the opportunity to hear the message of the Spirit or are blinded to the Spirits work in their lives.

This negativity was something that i thought was burdensome. Yet, We can’t only view it in a negative light. Because we too often look at the life living by the Spirit is the life of denial. The life that looses things for the sake of God. Yet, we don’t ever want to talk about all the things that we gain by living by the Spirit. We don’t talk about the freedoms that are gained by living a life that is trying to be instep with the Spirit.

This is more real for me today. Today i turned one year older. It is my Birthday and I suppose as you get older you start to reflect more and more about the world around you and the life you live. I realize that the things that the Spirit is working on me in my life right now while they at times make me feel guilty they also provide me with a source of great joy. I think of how God challenges me to be a better Father, a Better husband, a better pastor, a better man and I don’t just see these things are heavy burdens that hold me back from doing what i really want but they are opportunites to be better to grow and to see how life can be better when i am trying to be in step with God. This is such an important distinction that has to be made becuase it is only in the realization that we have freedom In the Spirit to live a life that brings Glory to God and that he will take care of us no matter what, good or Bad God is with us.

John 16:13 NIV

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

That is why I love verses like this more and more. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth. He will guide us to the truth. He will guide us to a better relationship with God. We have to trust him, we have to look to him and we have to know that he has our best interest at heart until the day that Jesus returns. The Kingdom of God is both preseent and coming and that is the beauty of the promise of the Spirit. He is our guide and we must follow.

Let us pray.