Last week we started a series about the Holy Spirit,
exploring how the Spirit of God works in and through us to Bless, Love, Refresh
and Empower us to do the work of God. The Holy Spirit, though illusive to
define, is nonetheless an active part of the Trinity, as we saw last week. As we saw, Jesus promised his disciples, “I
will ask the Father, and he will give
you another Advocate, to be with you
forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you,
and he will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
On the very first Day of Pentecost, when the apostles and
other followers were hiding in the Upper Room still fearful of Jewish or Roman
reprisal, the Spirit came to them “suddenly from heaven”. This
was no calm feeling of the presence of God. Instead, “there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the
entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared
among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” This explosion of the Spirit spilled out into the street, where “there were devout Jews from every nation
under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was
bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of
each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking
Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native
language...we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed
and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’” (Acts 2:2-8,
11-12)
Peter then begins to explain to the crowd that this is what was
promised. “In
the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves,
both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall
prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth
below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and
the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”…Therefore let the
entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and
Messiah, this
Jesus whom you crucified.’” Pretty brave words from a Galilean fisherman who
only a short time before had been shaking in his sandals. The highly unusual
events cause those present to rethink their ideas of life and faith and God. “Now when they heard this, they were cut to
the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’” Peter responds that
they should “‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit. For
the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away,
everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ (Acts 2:17-21. 36-39) Peter tells
the gathered multitude that they too can receive the power of the Holy Spirit
which they see visibly manifested in front of them. No wonder “about 3000”
joined the movement that day!
Sometimes we can think that such things only happen in the Bible.
We might shrug and say the Spirit doesn’t act that way any longer. That is not
true. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and
forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) Probably we don’t see the mighty
works because we aren’t looking for them. When a hardened sinner repents, that
is the Holy Spirit. When healing happens, the Holy Spirit is at work. When
there is a glorious sunrise or sunset, the Holy Spirit is manifesting God’s
glory. When good comes from something that is evil, it is the Holy Spirit at
work. When a heart is touched by a song, a story, a kind word, the Holy Spirit
is there.
In the First
Letter of John, we are reminded, “As for
you, the anointing that you received from [the Spirit of God] abides in you,
and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not
a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.” 1 John 2: 27 Jeremy Camp (Same Power) reminds us
“The Same Power that rose Jesus from the Grave…lives in us.”
We can look to the Holy Spirit to help us discern how God
is acting and working in our lives and in the world around us. Then we can ask,
“How can I abide in the Spirit and be part of the work of God?”
The
Jeremy Camp songs says “greater is He that is living in me…” What difference
does that make to your life?
