Easter Christians Are Filled With The Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1-21 In Luther’s explanation to the Third Article of the Creed that deals with the person and work of the Holy Spirit, he says that:  “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.  In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christians church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.  In this Christian church he daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.”

If you wanted to make it even simpler you could say that we are called and equipped by the Spirit to know Jesus and make him known to others. 

On this Pentecost festival, we will see that Easter Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior and so that we can take our place in making him known to the world.  The Bible says that: 

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were…filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance…And at this sound the multitude came together…And they were amazed and astonished, saying…how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 

When we think about the day of Pentecost, we think about the gift of the Spirit upon the church-- and of course that it true.  But it was a Jewish harvest festival long before it was a Christian holy day. 

In fact, that is why the disciples and Jews from all over the world were there in Jerusalem in the first place—to celebrate the harvest and give thanks to God for the fruits of the earth.  And so then…

It was no accident that the gift of God’s Spirit came upon the church on the Jewish harvest feast of Pentecost so that something much more valuable than crops could be harvested—human souls. 

It was no accident that Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims so that at just the right time the Gospel of forgiveness could be proclaimed to as many people as possible. 

It was no accident that people from all over the world were there so that the message of Christ’s peace could be taken to every place as they returned home. 

The God of creation doesn’t do accidents—then or now.  Jesus promised his disciples that believing in him, their hearts would be filled with the Living Water of the Holy Spirit.  And so it has been down to this day and the disciples sitting in this place.

We exist at this place and time and with the gifts and abilities that we have been given so that by the power of that same Holy Spirit WEcan join in this Pentecost harvest miracle of sharing Christ with the world for the salvation of souls.

Much too often, we have a tendency to look at what we don’t have when it comes to the mission of Christ-- instead of believing that the same Spirit is still present among us--equipping us perfectly for our part in his mission. 

We are where we are- and we know what we know- and we have what we have- so that we too can proclaim Jesus as Savior and Lord to our part of the world —a message that is for all people. 

Assembled there in Jerusalem on that Pentecost festival there were people from all over the world who heard about Jesus in their own language.  The Bible says that:  All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 

            What does this mean?  That is a question that people are still asking about Christians—maybe not the meaning of rushing winds and tongues of fire—but the meaning of our Christian lives and our faith and our message. 

What does it mean that Christians teach there is only one way to God when the world believes that there are many?  What does it mean that Christians will lay down their lives in martyrdom rather than deny Christ?  What does it mean that Christians think very differently about moral issues than the rest of the world which says that we should live and let live?  What does it mean that Christians care for and love not just their friends and family but also their enemies when there is so much hatred in the world?

These questions that the world has about the meaning of our lives and our faith and our message are our God-given opportunities—our Pentecost moments-- to share Jesus Christ with those around us. 

The apostles had an opportunity to proclaim him to the people of the surrounding nations—but not to folks from South Texas—that’s our job for this time—and the gift of God’s Spirit is given to us for that very purpose—to proclaim Jesus Christ with clarity and courage where we are even-- though people will ridicule our faith just like that day.  The Bible says that:

Others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine." But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea…these men are not drunk…But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

            “This isn’t from God—they’re just drunk”.  Scorn and ridicule.  It is always going to be that way to one degree or the other when we call people to turn from their sins and trust in Jesus. 

The Bible says that the message of Christ is ridiculous to the unbelieving world.  It’s the height of foolishness to those who are perishing in their sins to believe that their salvation is found in a humble man who lived two thousands years ago.

Only God can change hearts like that!  That is why God’s gift of the Spirit is so important—both to those who speak and to those who hear!

The Holy Spirit empowers those who speak the Gospel and fills their proclamation with the power of God himself so that hearts that are dead in sin and trespasses are made alive by the power of the Holy Spirit-- and what they once regarded as the height of foolishness (Jesus) becomes instead their life—and those believers who once shrunk back in fear-- step forward to boldly bear witness to Christ.

The Good News for us is that the power and presence of the Holy Spirit was not just for the twelve disciples-- but is promised to all of God’s people.  God promised through the prophet Joel:

In the last days…I will pour out my Spirit on 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 on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

Here we have the answer to Moses’ heartfelt prayer that the Lord would put his Spirit on all his people so that all would speak his Word.

The gift of the Spirit is for young and old.  It is for men and women.  It is for people in every station in life no matter how humble-a promise that the power and presence of God himself dwells in our lives regardless of age, or gender, or status. 

That promise was fulfilled on Pentecost and the privilege to speak about Jesus on behalf of God—to prophesy—is given to all Christians.

All Christians need to be about the Lord’s work because the events of our Lord’s death and resurrection—his ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit-- ushered in the Last Days—this time of grace in which the church has lived for the last two thousand years, calling the world to come to Christ and be saved while there is still time. 

The saving mission of Jesus Christ is why we exist as individuals and as a congregation at this moment—it is why all of God’s people are gifted with the Holy Spirit—so that we might be the Noah’s of our day, warning people of the wrath of God’s judgment to come, but also, and especially, inviting them to trust in Jesus and be saved before it is too late.  St. Luke writes of that day when the time of grace will come to an end—a time when there will be:

wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below…before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

            God wants everyone be saved-- but for that to happen people must call upon Jesus in faith.  That is why God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit—so that the saving Name of Jesus would be proclaimed to the ends of the earth-- so that people can know him and believe in him and call upon him and be saved.

For thousands of years, it was sufficient for salvation to believe in the Messiah to come.  But when Jesus took on flesh it became necessary to believe in a particular person who was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth and preached in Galilee and died and rose again in Jerusalem. 

To be saved it is necessary for people to call upon the name of Jesus in faith-- and the Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost so that Jesus could be proclaimed for the salvation of the world.  The same is still true today--salvation comes only by faith in Jesus. 

As the day of our Lord’s return in glory grows ever closer and the day of grace draws to an end--we thank God for his gift of the Holy Spirit—a gift that is given to all believers so that Jesus can be proclaimed for the salvation of the world and a rich, abundant harvest of souls be gathered in.  God grant that we would all do our part in his mission.  Amen. 

Pentecost General Prayer (adapted from "The Lutheran Liturgy")

Almighty God, we give You thanks that on this day You poured out Your Spirit on the sons of men and we praise You for the gracious assurance that he will remain with Your people always, even to the end of days.

Without His mighty working we can do nothing that is pleasing unto You.  We do not know what to pray for as we should unless He makes intercession for us.  We cannot say Jesus is Lord except by His aid.  We need His inspiration to think those things that are good and require His guidance to perform the same. 

Let not our past abuse of Your mercies provoke You to cast us away from Your presence or take Your Spirit from us but instead give us true repentance and greater diligence in the use of the means of grace and salvation.

Pour out Your Spirit on all flesh.  Arise in the greatness of Your strength and awaken to a life of righteousness those who are dead in trespasses and sins.  Send out Your light and truth to the people who do not know Your name.  Bestow spiritual blessings on the churches of Your people.  May they be edified by the truth that it is in Christ Jesus; and walking in Your fear and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, may Your people be multiplied exceedingly.

Bless all ministers of Your Word; endue them with Your holy Spirit, enrich them with Your heavenly grace, and let the words which they speak in Your name be applied to the hearts of men in demonstration of the same Spirit and of power.

Bless our nation and its leaders and all our fellow citizens.  Watch over and protect our military.  Grant Your wisdom to all of those who make and administer our laws so that the weak would be protected and justice done.

Remember the righteous in their afflictions, especially Liam, Debbie, Sally, Shirley, LaNell, Teresa, Don, Lisa, David, and Madeline who need Your healing. 

We give You thanks for every earthly gift, especially for the gift of life You have granted to Your servant Amanda.  Continue to bless her in body and soul all her days. 

Help us in every time of need, and at the last grant us Your everlasting peace, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.

Easter Christians are Devoted to Prayer

Acts 1:12-26 On the night that Jesus was betrayed, after he and the disciples left the upper room, they journeyed to the Garden of Gethsemane.  It was there that Jesus fell to his knees in prayer, asking for his Father’s help in the hours to come and inviting his disciples to pray with him.  But in his hour of need, prayer was the very thing the disciples could not do. 

How different is the picture of the disciples that we find in our text today.  Less than six weeks after they failed so miserably in the garden to be men of prayer, the Bible says that they were devoted to prayer.  What accounts for this dramatic change in their prayer life in just a few short weeks?  The resurrection! 

During his earthly ministry Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.  He promised that God would hear them when they prayed in his name.  But still they struggled to be men of prayer.  It was only after the resurrection that they become devoted to prayer.  Why?  It’s because…

1. After the resurrection they knew that Jesus was powerful beyond anything they had seen before!  They could be confident that he was more than capable of meeting their needs.  2. They knew that they had an advocate in heaven, a great high priest at the right hand of God who would intercede on their behalf.  3. And they knew that the One who kept his promise to go to the cross and die and rise again would keep all of his promises to help and care for his people. 

As we consider the prayer life of these early Christians may we come to know the same and like them become people devoted to prayer!  The Bible says that the disciples:

returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying…devoting themselves to prayer.

            The words of our text follow immediately upon the events we heard about Thursday evening, how forty days after his resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven to take his place at his Father’s right hand.  With the ascension of Jesus, the disciples knew that they had a powerful advocate in the highest heavenly places and this confidence made them devoted to prayer. 

So it is for us.  Our prayers are not offered up to some impersonal force of the universe, who rules with cold, uncaring calculation. 

Instead, our prayers are offered up to the throne of God’s grace where Jesus stands at the Father’s right hand.  The same Jesus who calmed the seas and healed the sick and cared for the outcast and fed the hungry, that is who hears our prayers—that man of compassion and mercy and power who cares for us and changes things for us and meets our needs!

The resurrection and ascension of Jesus is what changed the disciples into men of prayer:  they knew who it was that opened the way for them to come into the presence of God.  They knew who it was that was listening.  They knew who it was that would answer.  They could talk to him in prayer just like they always talked to him on earth.  And so can we!

There is no more sin barrier that keeps us away from God because Jesus has dealt with that once and for all at the cross.  The Bible says that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sin, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  How important this forgiveness is to our life of prayer!

When a child has gotten in trouble with mom and dad—when things aren’t right in the relationship—when there are hard feelings--it’s difficult for them to come and ask for some favor or even some need.  But when things are right in the parent/child relationship —when there is forgiveness and a restored relationship--then they are willing to ask for what they need.

So it is in our prayer life.  When we are living in sin, when there is something that is not right in our life with God and it cannot help but impact our prayer life.  We wonder to ourselves, “why would God listen to me when I am disobeying him?”

But look at who it was that was devoted to prayer:  disciples who had denied Jesus and abandoned him and his own brothers who had never believed in him.  They could be devoted to prayer because they knew that Jesus had forgiven them and made things right between them and God.  So it is for us.

When we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus we can be confident that every sin that stands between us and God has been removed, that we are God’s children, and that he stands ready to hear and answer us when we pray because he wants good things for us and will be faithful to his promises just as he has always been.  The Bible says that: 

Peter stood up and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David” and then Peter went on to tell the story of Judas, a story that had been prophesied in the Bible many hundreds of years before. 

It was a terrible story, a heartbreaking story, but it did not come as a surprise to the disciples because God had told them about it in his Word and as these events unfolded they knew that the voice of God in his Word was real—that he speaks to men.

Prayer is talking to God with our thoughts and words and the other half of that divine dialogue is God talking to us in his Word.  The early church was absolutely confident that God communicated in his Word (they saw it come to pass) and knew that God continued to speak to his people in his Word and this confidence made them people devoted to prayer.

Not only did they trust that God was listening and Jesus was interceding, they knew that the Holy Spirit was speaking to them as they opened the pages of Holy Scripture and heard it read and preached. 

Too often our prayer life is not what it should be because our connection to God’s Word is not what it should be.  We all know how frustrating it is when we talk and talk and the person we talk to never responds.  Sometimes it seems that way with prayer.  But the fault lies with us not with God.  We expect some answer written in the sky when God has promised to speak to us in his Word.  The early Christians knew that the Holy Spirit was speaking to them through the Scriptures and that encouraged them to keep on talking to God in prayer. 

So it is for us if we will only listen to God’s Word as it is preached and read in church and read it for ourselves at home and then be prepared listen to God and do what he says. 

The Bible says that when Peter finished speaking to the followers of Jesus he told them that one of them would have to take Judas’ apostolic office and become a witness to the resurrection of Jesus in their mission to make Jesus known throughout the world.

Peter and the disciples and Jesus’ brothers and mother were ready and willing to do exactly what Jesus said and the Spirit had commanded.  This attitude of obedience to God was critical to their life of prayer.  They could devote themselves to prayer because they were willing to accept God’s answers and do God’s will. 

Oftentimes our prayer life is not what it should be because—not because we do not think that God isn’t listening—not because he will not answer—but because we know that he is listening and he will answer and we know what that answer will be and so it is better to not say anything at all. 

We don’t pray about the bitterness in our hearts because we know God’s answer is to forgive.  We don’t pray about our finances because we know God wants us to put him first.  We don’t pray about what tempts us to sin because we have no intention of being done with it. 

Peter and the disciples knew that they had to fill Judas’ spot—they knew that they needed to get started on their mission to make Jesus known.  And what they needed from God—what they asked for- were the gifts they needed to do what God commanded. 

Imagine if we had that attitude, how it would change our life of prayer—to go from begging God to do some miracle-- to asking him for what we needed to do his will in every part of our lives—yielding ourselves to his wisdom and direction to accomplish it.  That’s what the disciples did.  They put forward two men who could fill Judas’ spot and bear witness to Jesus and then the Bible says that: 

They prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry…and they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

            This was the first decision that the apostles faced after the ascension of the Lord.  The man chosen would be counted with the apostles and charged with their mission.  There were several possible choices but they commended it to God in prayer and trusted that God would answer—and he did!. 

We have to be careful to not make too much of the casting of lots.  This was an Old Testament practice never repeated again in the history of the apostolic church.  What does endure for our instruction is the confident prayer of the disciples:  that God knew their need and would listen to their prayer and meet that need and they in turn would accept his will.  That example informs and shapes our own life of prayer. 

The early church was devoted to prayer because they knew that Jesus, their Lord and Master heard them and had the power to answer for their good.  They were devoted to prayer because they trusted that there was no sin that kept them from coming to God in their need.  They were devoted to prayer because they knew that God would tell his story through them and they were willing to accept God’s answer to their prayer no matter what it was.

So it can be, and must be, for us.  There is nothing particularly heroic or extraordinary in the disciples’ life of prayer.  The most important decision of the day was commended to the Lord by just a few words.  The secret to their prayer life was a resurrected Christ who promised to hear and answer just as he promises the same to us.  May we too be Easter Christians who are devoted to prayer!  Amen.

Easter 7a General Prayer

Lord God heavenly Father, we give You thanks that through faith in Your Son Jesus Christ we are Your people and the sheep of Your pasture.  Hear us as we come to You in prayer and answer us for our good:

We praise You for Your steadfast love that endures forever and Your faithfulness to all generations.  According to your wise, fatherly will meet the needs of those who suffer any want and grant healing to those who are ill, especially do we pray for David as he begins treatment for cancer and Melanie who is hospitalized.

Lord, we know that You are the God of steadfast love and justice.  Watch over, guide, inform, and protect all of those who are involved in the justice system of our nation.  Especially do we pray for the weakest members of our society, that You would be their Advocate and direct the affairs of the courts for their good.

We ask Your blessing upon all of those who are at a turning point in their earthly journeys, that you would guide their footsteps and directs their paths.  Especially do we remember our graduates, that You would give them success in the next stage of life and the Peterson family as they move to Kansas, that You would graciously meet their spiritual and physical needs in their new home.  We give You thanks for their presence among us over these last 17 years.

Help us to be people who are devoted to prayer, confident that we have an advocate in Jesus Christ who has forgiven our sins and made a way for us back to You.  When we are worried and afraid remind us to cast all our anxieties upon You for You care for us.  As we commit our plans and ways to You in prayer, make us willing to accept the answer You give, confident that You are ordering our lives for our good.

Grant us Your grace and the help of the Holy Spirit to remain steadfast in times of trial and temptation.  Uphold all of those who are suffering for the sake of Christ’s holy name.

We thank You for the lifetime of love that You have granted to Your servants Stanley and Sylvia as they celebrate a wedding anniversary.  Continue to bless them with a love for another and You that grows each day. 

God of all grace, You have called us to eternal glory in Christ:  restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us in our faith so that we would be sober-minded and watchful until that day You exalt us to Your eternal presence.  We ask it in Jesus name.  Amen.