Pentecost Sunday 5/15/05 Title: Celebrate Text: Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost Sunday
5/15/2005
Title: Celebrate
Text: Acts 2: 1-21
My fellow missionaries please join me in prayer. Eternal God, just as you poured out the Holy Spirit on your disciples, pour out your Spirit upon us who have gathered here this morning in celebration, so that we too may have hearts of love and tongues on fire to share God’s Word. Amen.
There was once a notice in the lost-and-found section of the newspaper that read as follows. “Lost dog, $50.00 reward. Black-and-tan dog of poodle and German shepherd descent. He is flea bitten, left hind leg missing, torn ear, and is blind in one eye. Answers to the name Lucky.
At times some of us probably feel like Lucky. But we, as did Lucky, have someone who cares enough about us to look for us, to pursue us, to desire us, and to pay to get us back. The difference between us and the dog Lucky is that our someone, is our loving God who paid with his life to get us back.
The disciples were not feeling very lucky on that first Easter morning. They were spiritually lost, torn between two religious beliefs. Not only had their Messiah been killed, but his body was missing. It was true that some of the women had told them that Jesus was alive and would meet them later, but they had not laid eyes on him. Things were to say the least pretty hopeless that day.
It appeared the best thing a follower of Jesus could do was to either hide behind locked doors or leave the city. We catch up with two of them who decided to leave Jerusalem for Emmaus. They were deep in discussion as Jesus walks up to them, asking what they were so upset about. He kept them from recognizing him as he taught them what the prophets had said about him, and then just before disappearing from their sight, he reveals that he is the resurrected Jesus. All they could say to each other was, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?"
Following the example of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, we too started on a 50 day walk with Jesus, a walk that started Easter Sunday and ends today. It was a fulfilling walk as we listened to Jesus speaking through his Holy Scriptures. We learned what learning, prayer, giving, telling, sending, going, and celebration each had to do with doing God’s mission. It was great for we all grew in our faith, as we learned that everything that God has ever done, is doing, and will do, is motivated by his love for his people.
Just look at some of the things that God has done because of his love. First of all he lovingly made Adam and Eve, forming them in his image. Even after they sinned against him, he did not abandon them as they deserved, but promised them a Savior. He saved the human race through Noah and the ark. It was God’s love that led him to promise to Abraham that his descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He showed his love through Moses when Moses lifted up his arms and the Red Sea parted. Jesus was born of a woman because of God’s love, for he knew that his creation would never be able to meet his perfect commands. He had to come to us, to save us from ourselves.
There are so many forces among us today that try to pull us away from God. They want to strip the love of Jesus right out of our lives. Some are external, like money, health, prestige, and the like. Others are internal like, “Does God really love me? Am I really doing the right thing? I must have to do something.” The devil loves to use those thoughts as he tries to tear us away from God.
But we have a secret weapon, one that strikes terror in the heart of the devil. That secret weapon is the Holy Spirit who pulls us out of the devil’s grasp by pointing us back to God’s Word, where we read in Romans 8:32 that Jesus Christ died for us and that God loves us so much that he gives all we need in this life and the next. Also in 1 John 4:10, “This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be punished, to be killed in our place.”
That is why we are celebrating the work of the Holy Spirit today, for it is the Holy Spirit who brings us to faith, who keeps us in the faith, and who enables us to lead a godly live. The Holy Spirit does all those things, but he does even more, for you see it was the Holy Spirit who enabled Peter to stand before that crowd on Pentecost day and say what needed to be said. He could never have done it on his own, for remember he is the same Peter who denied Jesus three times.
We are no different for we do not have the courage to tell others about Jesus either. Not without the Holy Spirit that is. No we do not have it in us to love our neighbor as ourselves, why if you get right down to it we really do not have it in us to love ourselves as God would have us to.
That is why today we are celebrating Pentecost, for on this day we need to remember our baptism, for when we remember our baptism we then can remember that the Holy Spirit says, “I am here with you. Let me help you, let’s see what we can do together.
Let me help you love yourself, your family, your neighbors, your God, for you cannot do it by yourself, I know you keep trying, but you cannot, so let me help you to be the type of Christian God wants you to be.”
What took place on Pentecost that day, what in fact continues to take place, is the fulfillment of the promise he gave his followers just before he ascended into heaven. You see he had told them at his ascension, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
“You will receive power.” And boy did they receive power. You could not stop them. Why just in one day the Holy Spirit brought 3000 people to know Jesus as their Savior. The Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection was turned loose. It spread through out the known world. Thousands upon thousands of people became followers of Jesus as their hearts were filled with love and tongues were set ablaze for the Lord.
I am sure that there were people there that Pentecost Sunday who did not become Christians. Why wouldn’t there be, for many had not accepted Jesus as he lived among them. I am also sure there were those who got excited by what happened, who were turned on by what they saw and heard, but by the time they had gotten back home, had lost their burning desire for the Lord.
It is not any different today, for people are still the same. We can just look at our own attendance record. Remember how packed the church was on Easter Sunday? Quite a difference, between then and now I would say.
You know what that means don’t you? It means that our mission is not just telling those far away about Jesus, a big part of our mission is right here in our own congregation. It seems like a pretty insurmountable task does it not? We not only are to be missionaries to those far away, but also to those in our own congregation. Impossible you say, I would agree, if it were left up to ourselves, if we had to do it on our own.
But we are not left to do it on our own, for Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry read a wonderful, life giving strengthening quote from the prophet Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” Then he closed with, “Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” That same Holy Spirit that empowered him throughout his work, is the same Holy Spirit that empowered the disciples, and is the same Holy Spirit that empowers us today if we just let him.
We continue to see God’s love when Jesus promises in John 6:44 that, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me leads him to me, and I will raise him up at the last day.” You see God leads us to himself through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is his love that picks up poor, blind, broken people like us. It is through his love that we know we are his chosen people, for he promises to keep us safe even to eternal life.
Is not that wonderful good news? Doesn’t that excite you, for you who were lost are now found? God loves you. It is my prayer that since each one of you is a missionary that you will through the power of the Holy Spirit share the Good News of Jesus Christ with someone that does not know of his love. Amen
5/15/2005
Title: Celebrate
Text: Acts 2: 1-21
My fellow missionaries please join me in prayer. Eternal God, just as you poured out the Holy Spirit on your disciples, pour out your Spirit upon us who have gathered here this morning in celebration, so that we too may have hearts of love and tongues on fire to share God’s Word. Amen.
There was once a notice in the lost-and-found section of the newspaper that read as follows. “Lost dog, $50.00 reward. Black-and-tan dog of poodle and German shepherd descent. He is flea bitten, left hind leg missing, torn ear, and is blind in one eye. Answers to the name Lucky.
At times some of us probably feel like Lucky. But we, as did Lucky, have someone who cares enough about us to look for us, to pursue us, to desire us, and to pay to get us back. The difference between us and the dog Lucky is that our someone, is our loving God who paid with his life to get us back.
The disciples were not feeling very lucky on that first Easter morning. They were spiritually lost, torn between two religious beliefs. Not only had their Messiah been killed, but his body was missing. It was true that some of the women had told them that Jesus was alive and would meet them later, but they had not laid eyes on him. Things were to say the least pretty hopeless that day.
It appeared the best thing a follower of Jesus could do was to either hide behind locked doors or leave the city. We catch up with two of them who decided to leave Jerusalem for Emmaus. They were deep in discussion as Jesus walks up to them, asking what they were so upset about. He kept them from recognizing him as he taught them what the prophets had said about him, and then just before disappearing from their sight, he reveals that he is the resurrected Jesus. All they could say to each other was, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?"
Following the example of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, we too started on a 50 day walk with Jesus, a walk that started Easter Sunday and ends today. It was a fulfilling walk as we listened to Jesus speaking through his Holy Scriptures. We learned what learning, prayer, giving, telling, sending, going, and celebration each had to do with doing God’s mission. It was great for we all grew in our faith, as we learned that everything that God has ever done, is doing, and will do, is motivated by his love for his people.
Just look at some of the things that God has done because of his love. First of all he lovingly made Adam and Eve, forming them in his image. Even after they sinned against him, he did not abandon them as they deserved, but promised them a Savior. He saved the human race through Noah and the ark. It was God’s love that led him to promise to Abraham that his descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He showed his love through Moses when Moses lifted up his arms and the Red Sea parted. Jesus was born of a woman because of God’s love, for he knew that his creation would never be able to meet his perfect commands. He had to come to us, to save us from ourselves.
There are so many forces among us today that try to pull us away from God. They want to strip the love of Jesus right out of our lives. Some are external, like money, health, prestige, and the like. Others are internal like, “Does God really love me? Am I really doing the right thing? I must have to do something.” The devil loves to use those thoughts as he tries to tear us away from God.
But we have a secret weapon, one that strikes terror in the heart of the devil. That secret weapon is the Holy Spirit who pulls us out of the devil’s grasp by pointing us back to God’s Word, where we read in Romans 8:32 that Jesus Christ died for us and that God loves us so much that he gives all we need in this life and the next. Also in 1 John 4:10, “This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be punished, to be killed in our place.”
That is why we are celebrating the work of the Holy Spirit today, for it is the Holy Spirit who brings us to faith, who keeps us in the faith, and who enables us to lead a godly live. The Holy Spirit does all those things, but he does even more, for you see it was the Holy Spirit who enabled Peter to stand before that crowd on Pentecost day and say what needed to be said. He could never have done it on his own, for remember he is the same Peter who denied Jesus three times.
We are no different for we do not have the courage to tell others about Jesus either. Not without the Holy Spirit that is. No we do not have it in us to love our neighbor as ourselves, why if you get right down to it we really do not have it in us to love ourselves as God would have us to.
That is why today we are celebrating Pentecost, for on this day we need to remember our baptism, for when we remember our baptism we then can remember that the Holy Spirit says, “I am here with you. Let me help you, let’s see what we can do together.
Let me help you love yourself, your family, your neighbors, your God, for you cannot do it by yourself, I know you keep trying, but you cannot, so let me help you to be the type of Christian God wants you to be.”
What took place on Pentecost that day, what in fact continues to take place, is the fulfillment of the promise he gave his followers just before he ascended into heaven. You see he had told them at his ascension, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
“You will receive power.” And boy did they receive power. You could not stop them. Why just in one day the Holy Spirit brought 3000 people to know Jesus as their Savior. The Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection was turned loose. It spread through out the known world. Thousands upon thousands of people became followers of Jesus as their hearts were filled with love and tongues were set ablaze for the Lord.
I am sure that there were people there that Pentecost Sunday who did not become Christians. Why wouldn’t there be, for many had not accepted Jesus as he lived among them. I am also sure there were those who got excited by what happened, who were turned on by what they saw and heard, but by the time they had gotten back home, had lost their burning desire for the Lord.
It is not any different today, for people are still the same. We can just look at our own attendance record. Remember how packed the church was on Easter Sunday? Quite a difference, between then and now I would say.
You know what that means don’t you? It means that our mission is not just telling those far away about Jesus, a big part of our mission is right here in our own congregation. It seems like a pretty insurmountable task does it not? We not only are to be missionaries to those far away, but also to those in our own congregation. Impossible you say, I would agree, if it were left up to ourselves, if we had to do it on our own.
But we are not left to do it on our own, for Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry read a wonderful, life giving strengthening quote from the prophet Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” Then he closed with, “Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” That same Holy Spirit that empowered him throughout his work, is the same Holy Spirit that empowered the disciples, and is the same Holy Spirit that empowers us today if we just let him.
We continue to see God’s love when Jesus promises in John 6:44 that, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me leads him to me, and I will raise him up at the last day.” You see God leads us to himself through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is his love that picks up poor, blind, broken people like us. It is through his love that we know we are his chosen people, for he promises to keep us safe even to eternal life.
Is not that wonderful good news? Doesn’t that excite you, for you who were lost are now found? God loves you. It is my prayer that since each one of you is a missionary that you will through the power of the Holy Spirit share the Good News of Jesus Christ with someone that does not know of his love. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 2:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home