Welcome to each of you on this wonderful day of Pentecost. The birth of the Church. The coming of The Holy Spirit. I pray that God’s Holy Spirit will be poured out upon us as we celebrate and worship Him, our God eternal.
Let's sing; "Oh what a wonderful, wonderful day".
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Please turn with me to Acts Ch1:1-11 The Ascension Of Jesus
Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.” 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But 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.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
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As we go into a time of prayer we will sing: Spirit Of The Living God
In your personal prayer, pray over your Church, your community, town, family, friends. Let us pray over our country and the world. Pray that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon us and bring us peace.
Spirit of the living God
Let us pray
On our knees before you O God we offer all that we are to you Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You.
Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light,
and listen to Your voice and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness.
Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His wounds and trusting in His Precious blood and adoring His opened side and stricken heart I implore You, Adorable Spirit, helper of my infirmity, so to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere "Speak Lord for Your servant heareth." Pour out your spirit upon us, on this day of Pentecost. Amen
Please share with me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen. ================================
The Staff Band will now play; Thy Tend’rest Blessing
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Before we go to the message let us sing, Send the Fire (new version)
The Holy Spirit
As we know God is Spirit. We can’t actually see Him or touch Him here in the physical dimension where you and I live. Of course, at one time in history God did step into the physical dimension when Jesus came and dwelt among us, but that was two thousand years ago. And whilst we can read about who Jesus is, and what He has to say, and what He does, we can’t experience God in our physical dimension in the same way as the people of Israel did 2000 years ago. God lives in a dimension that is spiritual. You and I live in a dimension that’s physical. So, how do we communicate with God? How do we know not just about Him, but how do we know Him? Well, fortunately, that’s something God thought about as well. He sent us His Holy Spirit, one of the three person of the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
The disciples thought that was fine, but that wasn’t the most important thing on their minds. You see, Jesus was the Messiah, and to a Jew in the first century that meant something like a warrior king, like David of old, to boot out the Romans from occupying the land and to restore the king of Israel. The Disciples, despite three and a half years with Jesus, were more interested in what was going to happen in the physical dimension of their lives rather than the spiritual dimension.
Let’s look again at the conversation between the disciples and Jesus,
Acts chapter 1 beginning at verse 6:
So when they’d come together they asked him, ‘Lord is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?’ And he replied, ‘it’s not for you to know the times or the periods that the Father has set by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.’
When he said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Did you notice that? The disciples were only interested in the physical realm. “When is God finally going to restore the kingdom of Israel? And Jesus brushes them off because He didn’t come to restore the kingdom of Israel, He came to usher in the Kingdom of God and that’s spiritual not physical.
Listen to what Jesus said in Luke Ch17v20
Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisee’s when the Kingdom of God was coming and he answered,
‘The Kingdom of God isn’t coming with things that can be seen nor will they say, ‘Look here it is’ or ‘There it is’. For in fact the Kingdom of God is among you.
Jesus was not so much interested in the physical dimension, His priority for them and for us is that we receive spiritual power from above.
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. (Acts Ch 1:8)
Why is that? Why is this Jesus’ greatest concern? Because He knew that without the power of God, without the witness and communication and encouragement and guidance of the Holy Spirit these men simply wouldn’t be able to do the things that they were called to do. You read the Book of Acts of the Apostles and what you see is that these men came across horrendous opposition. They were called to do mighty things and many of those things were miraculous. They went way beyond the ability of eleven men and Jesus knew that if these men had power from on high, if they were filled with the Spirit of God, they could do whatever God needed them to do and then some.
And my friends, that is how it is with us. We think sometimes it’s all up to me; my gifts, my abilities, my hard work – and yes, they are great things to have – but even as I sit here and share these things of God with you, I know, beyond any shadow of any doubt, that I couldn’t do what I’ve done or what I’m doing if it wasn't for the power of the Holy Spirit within me.
Walking in the Spirit is being filled to over-flowing with the Holy Spirit so that we have the power to do what God has called us to do. The power to resist the evil one, the power to overcome temptation, the power to love those who abuse us, the power to die to self, the power to take up our cross every day and follow Jesus. Let me say this, to be able to do all those things, well, it takes power. Doing those things, well, it takes power that is way beyond any of us and it’s for that reason that God sent His Spirit to dwell in us.
Do you look around sometimes and think, I could not do what he or she is doing? I’m not equipped for that. I’m not gifted that way. And if you are thinking that, well, you would not be alone because from time to time, to tell you the honest truth, that’s how I feel too. You see, things happen in life and at times we think, Is God really in this place?” Well, the Holy Spirit knew exactly what you and I would be thinking right now in 2024 when He had Paul pen these words from Roman Chapter 8 beginning at verse 18. Please open your bibles with me, let the wonder of God’s Word melt into your heart, as if Paul was writing this for you, because you know what? He actually did.
… the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. … For in hope we were saved. And hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what they can see? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
So, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. The Holy Spirit even intercedes for us when we can’t pray. He intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And nothing can separate us from Him. So, If God is for us, who can possibly be against us?
… Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … I am convinced that neither death, or life, or angels, or rulers, anything in the present, anything in the future, no power, no height, no depth; nothing else in all creation, will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans Ch 8)
What is God saying? He is telling it just the way it is. There will be suffering and pain, but right here in the middle of this, the Holy Spirit is interceding for us; right here in the middle of this mess, God Himself is working things out together for good; working things out for His glory. And this Apostle Paul, who went through all of the things he lists here – all of them: hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword – has experienced the presence of God, right there with him in the middle of all that stuff. And, as a result, because of that experience, he is convinced absolutely nothing: not death, nor life, not angels, nor rulers, things in the present, things to come, powers, height, depth … nothing in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ. Halleluiah!!
My friends, this is what it means to be filled to overflowing in the wondrous Spirit of God. It’s what it means to be baptised in the Spirit, drenched in the Spirit, drowned and changed and transformed in the Spirit. To live life, all of life, all of the ups and downs – two steps forward, three steps back – in the certain knowledge that God is here in this place with us. God’s Spirit is at work in us, changing us, cleaning us, pruning us, growing us. Halleluiah!!
My friends, it takes power to live as Christ lived. It takes power to forgive as Christ forgave those who crucified Him. “Forgive them Father, they don’t know what they are doing,” as they gambled over the very clothes on His back. And it takes that very same power – the power of the cross; the power that raised Jesus from the dead – that same power that is alive and effective in you and me as we yield our lives to Jesus, as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus promised.
We need that power because there are so many people in need of Jesus. And it’s up to you, and it’s up to me, to live and proclaim the promises, the grace, the love and mercy of God to a hurting world. Amen. Let's proclaim it.
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Songster will now sing: They Need You. They Need Me. They Need Christ
Let us also acknowledge that we need Jesus and and ask the Holy Spirit to Reign Down on us.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
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