Pentecost Sunday

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday and Mother’s Day all wrapped up into one. My mom passed away from cancer about a year ago so she is not around for me to celebrate that day. Sadly enough I have not celebrated mothers day with my mom in quite some time. My mom lived in Point Texas and with my being in Goose Creek SC I was not able to make the long trip back home to see her. The long and short of this is that if your mom is still alive and able to enjoy your company do your part to go hang out with her very soon.

Our moms all received a red candle because the color red is significant during Pentecost. The oldest mom, youngest mom and the mom with the most children all received a red rose. Every year our church celebrates Mother’s day and Father’s day and the church always does a little something to show their appreciation. The dads usually wind up getting some sort of manly gag gift like WD40 or duct tape or a cheap pocket knife.

The church service was very good yesterday and we had a good time singing praise songs and listening to the sermon that our pastor had prepared for Pentecost Sunday. Several years ago I had a pastor say something that made a lot of sense and really stuck with me. He said that if what he preached on Sunday could not be used by his congregation when they were at the office on Monday then he was not doing his job effectively. With that in mind when I am listening to the sermon I try to ignore the messenger as much as possible and listen to the small quiet voice of the holy spirit in my heart and listen for the parts of the message that I can take with me the following week.

For some of you the question might be this. What is Pentecost Sunday?
I did a quick search on Google and this is what I found.

“While baptizing with water, John the Baptist prophesied of the first Pentecost where Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11). Jesus confirmed this prophesy with the promise of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in John 14:26. He showed Himself to these men after His death on the Cross and His Resurrection, giving convincing proofs that He was alive. Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the gift from the Father, the Holy Spirit, from whom they would receive power to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:3-8). After Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, the men returned to Jerusalem and joined together in prayer in an upper room. On the Day of Pentecost, just as promised, the violent wind filled the house and tongues of fire came to rest on each of them and all were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were given the power of communication which Peter used to begin the ministry that Jesus had prepared him for. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples did not stay in the room basking in God’s glory but burst out to tell the world. This was the beginning of the Church as we know it.”

What does it mean to be a christian and how does this happen? Quite simply you must confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and repent of your sins and be baptized. Being baptized means that you make a public profession of faith and in most protestant churches that includes some sort of water immersion which signifies being dunked under water and dying to the old self and rising up out of the water signifying the newness of life through Christ. The second part of being baptized has an important spiritual significance because the Holy Spirit indwells the heart of the believer and gives them the ability to live a life of righteousness and obedience to Gods word.

Now that I have established what Pentecost Sunday is and the significance in the life of a believer in Christ now we can examine why it is important for a christian to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. As a christian there is always a constant battle between the worldly nature within us known as “the flesh” and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which does several things. The Holy Spirit gives us guidance and direction which lines us up with the will of God in our life as well as gives us power to live for God.

The following three things were outlined as things that happen when people are filled with the Holy Spirit.

A. We will be witnesses. If the power of God lives in our hearts we will be motivated to share who Jesus Christ is with others. We will want to share our testimony or life story of how God has entered into our life and changed us from the inside out. There will be a definite change in how we lived our life in the past and how we live it now.

B. The power of God will make us want to work for God. We are not saved by our works but rather through the Grace of God. Our salvation is not works oriented and there is nothing we can do to earn or keep our salvation. However we should be thankful for all that God has done for us and want to serve him through love and appreciation.

C. The power of the Holy Spirit will make us worshippers. We go to church on Sunday because we want to join others and worship Christ the King through singing of praise songs to Him. Our singing is not a performance but rather praise FOR Him who saved us from sin and death. We should want to worship him in truth and in spirit. We should want to be in an attitude of praise and prayer all the time.

In summary it is important that we be reminded as Christians that the power of God indwells us through the power of the Holy Spirit and that this power is available to be tapped into 24 hours a day 7 days per week. The power of the Holy spirit is only empowering if we engage it in our lives. If we chose to ignore that power and never tap into it then it would be like having a powerful sports car sitting in your driveway full of gas but never use the key to start the ignition. How powerful would the sports car be if you could never get it out of the driveway?