How often do we reflect on living our daily lives in peace and harmony? What assurances do we have every single day we wake up that what today brings, we will have the strength and courage to face them; especially when facing tremendous unknown trials and tribulations. And when we absolutely come nearer and nearer to the end of our rope, what anchor do we hold on to, that will keep us grounded and to Lead us day by day even in the midst of uncertainties?
Today friends, we celebrate Pentecost, what we would call the birth of our Church, but more so the entrance of a divine gift and person of the Holy Trinity, called the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is derived from a jewish festival celebrated at the end of the barley harvest. This was a joyous time of giving great thanks to God, and it also was the time when God bestowed upon us, his people, the full empowerment of is Spirit.
Pentecost gives us something I think is sometimes overlooked, and although known to Christians, we tend to, for lack of a better word, misbelieve or not understand just what the Holy Spirit does for us and continues to do for us each and every day. To help with the journey of understanding, lets read the scripture from the Gospel of John.
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.”
In reading the first few verses of Chapter 14, we see Jesus is giving his disciples, and us today, a clear picture that we, that is those that believe in Him, are indeed designed to be in Gods actual presence. It is absolutely the one thing God so desires; a relationship with each of us. And it is this relationship I want to emphasize today, just how important and significant the Holy Spirit is.
Just Listen to what Jesus said: I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper 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 remains with you and will be in you.
What we have here friends is Gods promise and everlasting hope, that we, that is those that believe in Him, are NOT WITHOUT! Even though the disciples of Jesus day was warned and eventually realized He would not physically be with them for much longer, there will however be a helper, comforter that will remain with them, and us today.
Jesus said “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you. The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”
Theres a lot of material here friends, but think soberly on it. It is Gods ultimate design that we not only believe, have hope and faith in Him, we are to live full lives of faith, hope and love, with full assurance that He indeed with is with us, in every aspect of the word. And notice Jesus is giving no excuses, for example if you feel bad, had a tragedy in your life, have circumstances that only God understands. All of these does not exempt us from living a full life. Jesus is giving assurance we will NOT BE ALONE. Jesus tells us again, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning."
But is it enough knowing we are not alone, or actually living our life with Christ in us? Do we believe because we have the faith knowing, or just because we heard it said in scripture, we should believe?
Who likes to be alone? In my sermon last Sunday, I mentioned how being One with God is important, and how One is NOT a lonely number, when it comes to God. But I wanted to really emphasize today just how important being One with God that leads us day by day is. Now, when we get down in the dumps, have a bad day, need someone to talk to, and then we feel distant and distracted, we tend to do things a little backwards. We go find ways to fill the voids to help satisfy our emotions, rather than directly praying to God. And it is this reason amongst many others that the Holy Spirit is with us, to help give us what we need. He is our intercessor, our provider, helper and comforter.
There was once a young man that lived a life that had turmoil almost always in his presence. It seemed where ever he went, there was always negativity and neglect around him. He had friends and close relatives that he confided in, but the void of this sinking feeling of being lost and separated just couldn’t be lifted. SO after years of living this way, he started to pray for Gods guidance. Almost instantly, God started to speak to the man with words like, “Trust in Me”, “It’s Ok, I’m here” and what really sealed his faith was when God told him, “Be proud of yourself.” These was words that he has heard from people on earth before, but ONLY when it came from God, did it truly make all the difference. And it was the Holy Spirit, that was giving him these comforting, encouraging and strength building words that aided him in his recovery to health.
The epistle of Colossians tells us this, “Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
You see friends, the Holy Spirit, isn’t just another name. Its God! It is sternly designed to indwell, strengthen, provide, comfort, help, impregnate us with HIS LOVING SPIRIT!
Now even though, we may think we know God well enough, we find in todays reading in the Gospel of John, a disciple called Philip that made a rather profound statement to Jesus, that sort of startled him with his question. Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
What a question! Show us the father, his own disciple asked. Is God enough! Is there something else that we can seek!
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
So basically Jesus is telling Philip, you have been with me all this time, and still have not grasped that if you want to know what God is like, you only have to look at me. For some people, Jesus was self evident to require proof of God. Jesus proclaimed, demonstrated and displayed time and time again His work of God, and to show what the world will know as truth. Listen to Jesus response to Phillip. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains in Me, does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.
Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper 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 remains with you and will be in you.
And so friends, it happened. In the book of Acts chapter 2, we find the account of what happened when Jesus‘s prayer was answered and the people of God received its blessing by way of the Holy Spirit. And its this Holy Spirit I wish to relay to you friends, it is our direct line to God, that ultimately leads us every single day! We should rest upon it, rely on it and expect it to work in us, when and only when we received and accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. Those who call upon the name of the Lord, will be saved!
Inclosing, I would like to give a few observations that comes to mind. First the Holy Spirit has given our world a prophetic community of people. The Spirit indwells those who believe and then those people look, speak and act differently than what the world does. And when we think of being filled with the Holy Spirit, we think prophets, but each of us that hold onto the truth, contain the same spirit that parted the red sea, raised Lazarus from the dead, made water into wine, healing of the sick and so much more. It’s the same spirit. Another observation is how God uses ordinary people, like those in Acts chapter 2, to receive the Holy Spirit and then started to speak in tongues and absolutely changed their lives. I have said this before, but in the bible, did you know there are a host of what the bible calls ‘unknown prophets!’ People just like you and me, that do Gods work, without fanfare, advertisement and never be seen? That’s the spirit of God friends! The same spirit that actually comes to our aid, when we call upon his name; even for guidance, strength and especially perseverance during harsh trials.
In 1942, French police demanded that a local Pastor tell them where local jews was being hidden. The pastor refused to tell them, so they did a search and only one jew could be found. When the jew was placed on a bus in destination to a death camp in nazi Germany, the son of the pastor broke through the ring of guards and placed a piece of precious chocolate in his hands. The rest of the village began passing their little gifts through the window as well, mostly food until the jew was surrounded with all these love gifts. Now what was impressive about this story is these people considered even the French police their neighbors. They resisted the police, used all their cunning at their disposal to keep from finding hidden jews, but the people did not kill or murder the French police. Why? Because their belief, study of scripture and work of the Holy Spirit, led them to do what they could to keep the police from becoming victimizers of the victims. Ordinary people, empowered by the Holy Spirit! This my friends is the witness we each could carry with us. Be the example of God, while living with Christ in us each and every day, knowing we are also being led day by day! Amen.