Sermon May 24,2026
Happy Birthday!
Pentecost
Birthday of the Church!
Doxology.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below...
Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host...
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Holy Ghost?
Where did that come from?
Bible - Odd.
Alpha.
Who is?
What does He do?
How can l?
We don't think much about this.
Supernatural in a materialist, naturalist culture.
lf I can't see, feel and touch it it doesn't exist.
Most people live this way.
We have a supernatural God.
An omnipotent spirit being, who is everywhere.
Changes the thought process.
lf God is Spirit, is supernatural, then we exist in a world
of the supernatural, whether we admit it or not. One
necessarily follows the other.
So, of course there is a Holy Spirit. We think of this as a recent
development, a New Testament happening, but He was there in the
beginning.
n the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth
was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and
the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:1-2
He was there throughout history. The Bible has examples of His
involvement.
After Sinai with the lsraelites. Making all the things necessary for the
tabernacle and worship.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have chosen Bezalel..,, and I have
filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with
knowledge and with all kinds of skills- to make artistic designs for work in
gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set sfones, to work in wood, and to
engage in all kinds of crafts. Exodus 31:1-5
On their way into the Promised Land,
Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdam because
Moses had laid his hands on him. So fhe lsraelites listened to him and did
what the Lord had commanded Moses. Deut 34:9
Defending the Land,
Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces
and erossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel, Then the
Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the
Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling
them to arms, and also into Ashen Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too
went up to meet them. Judges 6:33-35
The Holy Spirit empowered the lsraelites to carry out God's plan to build a
nation of His very own. A nation that would eventually be a blessing to all
humanity.
And at the very end of everything. The very end of the Bible. The Holy
Spirit calls the church together at the end of time to be with the Lord.
2The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let the one who hears say,
"Come!" Let the one who is thirsty came; and let the one who wishes take
the free gift of the water of life. Rev 22;17
This is a reference to Jesus' staterrrent the He will give the living water, and
St. John's identification that this is a reference to the Spirit, and lhat, "up
to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been
glorified." John 7:39b
John the Baptist - filled from birth
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of
the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was
gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah;
your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and
you are to call him John. He ... will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before
he is born. He will bring back many of the people of lsrael to the Lord their
God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to
turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the righteous-to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
Luke 1:11-13, 15b-17.
Jesus filled at baptism.
Then John gave this tesfimony: "l saw the Spirit come down from heaven
as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one
who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see
the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy
Spirit.' I have seen and ltestify thatthisis God's Chosen One." John
1:32-34
Acrs oT tne Apostles
Acts of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor mentioned this last week.
Throughout the whole of the book, the Holy Spirit is at work.
He works in, through and around those whom God has sent to do His
work.
Context of today's reading.
Jesus' disciples are together.
3It was their habit.
Jesus told them:
"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which
you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few
days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit," Acts 1:4b-5.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will
be my wifnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judeaand Samaria, and tothe
ends of the earth." Acts 1:8.
They all joined together constantly in prayer; along with the women and
Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Acts 1:14.
lnterestingly, the brothers, who originally did not believe in him, fio'ff gathei'
with the other believers. I'm sure that they saw the resurrected Jesus, and
then believed all the things that He had told them and others during his
ministry.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one
place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from
heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what
seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of
them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in
other tongues " as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every
nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together
in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being
spoken.
Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this
mean?"
Those hearing the speech cry out, "we hear them declaring the wonders of
God in our own tongues!"
Then Peter sfood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed fhe
crowd: "Fellow Jervs and all of you who live in Jerusalem, Iet me explain
this to you; listen carefully ta what I say.
4Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times, among those who
abandoned Jesus, now steps fonruard, ot"u"rv, spirit filred, to speak.
He quotes from the Book of Joer, crearry rinking the phenomena they just
saw with ancient scripture.
Fu?f on my seruants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
yd they will prophesy.
I will show wonders ii tne heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
'smoke.
blood and fire and bittows of
The sun wilt be turned to darkness
and the moon to btood
before the comin.g of the great and grorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord witt be saved.,
The crowd recognizes the disciples as Galileans, not priests, scribes or
teachers of the raw. Regurar Joes. yet they spot<e with the spirit and
offered praises to God.
God loves to work lfrrough regular people. He is glorified when He
exhibits His power through regular iolks. lt's obvious that it,s Him, and not
them, not us.
lJotice that the c-rowd hears praise and worship in the myriad languages of
the world' This foreshadows the spread of in" Gospel to all the world, and
praise and worship of the Lord. from every place. peter grot"= Joel, noting
!"1, "Everyone, who calls on the name of in" Lord will be saved.,,
Everyone. All people, from all nations.
I wondered how i! w.as that a pastor could delirrer a se!'!-non every r,veek.
whqrg do you get what to say? How
week?
""n you make stuff up week after
when I started s^eminary I asked Pastor Don to let me preach to see how
that would go. courd r frap my gums at you every week?
5There's a scripture plan which is this thing called the lectionary. Pastor
Don does it different, he makes series of sermons with scriptures as the
basis. Always based on the Bible.
But, no matter how it's done, l, (we), rely on the Holy Spirit to tell us what
He wants us to say. Not like we are robots, but He guides ns, and we
preach.
That's how I can come here and do this. I know that l'm saying what he
wants me to talk about, and I trust that He will make sense of my speech
to you by the Holy Spirit in you. lt's just like what the crowd experienced
that day at Pentecost, in a way.
He provides the content.
He facilitates communication.
So again, the Holy Spirit has been there throughout history. He has been
moving throughout all time, and moves today.
I have probably been through forty or so Alpha retreats, where we invite
the Holy Spirit to come. He always comes.
Sometimes there is heaiing. Physical healing, y€s, but most especially
inner healing. People are often released from guilt and shame that they
hold. God's love shown to them by the Holy Spirit frees them. St. Paul
writes to the church in Corinth, (2 Corinthians 3:17) saying, "The Lord is
the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" as we heard
toda-v, and so we call and they are not only saved from sin, death and the
devil, but saved from the lies that infest the mind.
While the events may be different for different people, since God meets
people where they are, and ministers to them as He sees fit, there are
some things that I see that always happen.
St. Paul talks about the fruit of the spirit; love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians
5:22). I always witness a sense of love throughout the room where we are
bThere's always a sense of peace. I think that there's a great need for these
:'.vo "fruits" in our restless and hurried times.
There always seems to be a kind of certainty among those who have
experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit, a certainty that they belong to
Jesus, and that God loves them. They believe because they have
experienced it.
Also, the Holy Spirit points to Jesus. Jesus points to the Father. They
send the Holy Spirit. C.S. Lewis described the Trinity as a "dance" saying,
"God is not a static thing...but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life,
almost...a kind of dance" (Mere Ghristianity, p 136).
They invite us to be a part of that heavenly dance. To be filled with the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus. To connect with Him.
All of us who believe have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, all the time. Like
the disciples on that Pentecost day, we can be tilled with the Holy $pirit.
Let us call on him now to come fill us.