The Holy Spirit

 Yesterday, I had the privilege of preaching the Pentecost message at my church. Here is a brief summary of what the Holy Spirit laid on my heart to say (about the Holy Spirit):

 

At the beginning of Luke, when Elizabeth hears Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. “How could Elizabeth be filled with the Holy Spirit,” you might wonder, “when Jesus hadn’t yet sent the Spirit to the church?”

 

First, it must be recognized, that the Holy Spirit is pre-Pentecostal. In the Old Testament alone, the Holy Spirit is mentioned over 350 times as Creator and Sustainer of Life, Constant Presence, Counselor and Teacher, Source of Art and Craftmanship, Victory Over Fear, and more. So clearly, the Holy Spirit has been alive and active since before the dawn of creation.

 

What makes the post-Pentecostal Spirit so important is that Jesus Himself sent the Spirit to ALL people—not just the Israelites—to carry on His work in the world.

 

In yesterday’s Gospel reading from John 14, Jesus says: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

 

How, though, can anyone do greater things than Jesus? How can anyone surpass walking on water, calming storms with a word, multiplying food for thousands, raising people from the dead, healing the multitudes, welcoming women, children, and outcasts?

 

Jesus goes on to say: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth…[and] the Advocate, the Holy Spirit…will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

 

That’s it, friends: It’s precisely because Jesus went back to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to be with us in his physical absence that we are able to do even greater works than Jesus did during his earthly ministry—maybe not in scope and sensationalism but in breadth and magnitude.

 

Jesus commanded his followers to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations—something that he, in his thirty-three years of ministry was physically limited in doing. To help them do this, Jesus sent the Spirit. And it is the Spirit that helped the disciples remember, learn, follow, emulate, copy, and share the good news of Jesus— and it is the Spirit that does the same for us today.

 

Because Jesus died and was resurrected—

Because Jesus made the way for ALL people to come to the Father—

Because Jesus was God incarnate—living, breathing, and teaching his disciples on this earth—

Because Jesus promised his disciples that they would know the Spirit—that the Spirit would live with and in them—just as Jesus had lived with and in them—

Because Jesus fulfilled His promise and sent the Holy Spirit to ALL believers in a mighty and powerful way on the day of Pentecost—

We have the Holy Spirit with us today.

We have infinitely more power than we need to enable us, the church, to take the light of the gospel of Christ—the gospel of Love—to EVERY tongue and tribe and nation—

 

Amen.