Acts 2:1-21 – When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs– in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘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. 18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
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Psalm 104:24-35
24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. 25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. 26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. 27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season; 28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground. 31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works– 32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke. 33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
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1 Corinthians 12:3-13
[The apostle Paul writes]…no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body– Jews or Greeks, slaves or free– and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
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Happy Pentecost everyone! As you know, today is Pentecost day, the fiftieth day after Jesus’ resurrection. This was the day, all those years ago, when the Holy Spirit Jesus promised was poured out on the disciples who were waiting in Jerusalem. When the Spirit was poured out, the disciples began to speak in different languages; and they began to prophesy; and they were overheard by a crowd of people from all over the known world at that time who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish Pentecost. Over 3000 people heard the good news about Jesus and his resurrection in their own languages and they joined the ‘Jesus movement’ on Pentecost day.
This day is remembered as the birthday of the Christian Church.
This year, we also have an unusual coming together of days: we have Pentecost, and we have Memorial Day, back-to-back. If ever there were a temptation to mix religion and politics, this is it! But the question needs to be asked: do these two special days have anything in common?
My first reaction to that thought was ‘no’. Pentecost is about birth – the birth of the church – and Memorial Day is about remembering with honor those who have died.
But then I came across an article that disagreed with me. And after thinking it over, I decided the author had a point. So I wanted to share part of that article with you today, because I think he expresses the thoughts better than I could.
The article was written by a pastor by the name of Richard Ritenbaugh, who pastors a church in North Carolina, but he was born in Pittsburgh. I’ve edited the article heavily for length and clarity – if you’d like to read the whole thing it can be found here: https://www.sabbath.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.CGGWeekly/ID/330/Pentecost-Memorial-Day.htm
Pastor Ritenbaugh writes this:
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“Every now and then, the Feast of Pentecost and Memorial Day fall back-to-back on the calendar, as they do this year. At first glance they seem to have little in common: one is religious, and the other secular; one focuses on the harvest of firstfruits, the other on the patriotic sacrifices of loved ones; one has a farming background, the other has its roots in war… They seem to be… far removed from each other…
“But we should not be too hasty in saying they have nothing in common… they occur in the same season of the year, as spring is ending and summer is on the horizon. In this way, they both mark time: especially for children, [this time of year] represents the end of the school year…
“On a more serious note, Memorial Day brings a different kind of end and beginning to those who have lost loved ones in the nation’s wars. For these families, Memorial Day closes one year and begins another without that soldier, sailor, airman, marine, or guardsman or -woman who gave his or her life in the defense of American freedom. This day is for them not so much a holiday as a solemn day of remembrance and pride in the patriotism of their fallen service member.
“For its part, Pentecost, being celebrated in Jerusalem, was the end of the seven-week stretch from the Days of Unleavened Bread, when thoughts of overcoming sin and putting on righteousness were thick in the air. It is also the day of the Jewish Pentecost – fifty days after Passover, fifty days since the first planting. This is the time of harvesting the first fruits. It is a time of reaping or gathering – which tells us something of what Pentecost is about in God’s eyes.
“Pentecost marks a beginning also. Acts chapter 2 tells us that the Christian church began… fifty days after Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead. On this day, God sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in those believers who were waiting in Jerusalem as Jesus had commanded, providing them with the understanding, power, and skills to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world.
“Because Pentecost focuses so much on the church and its work, it is not too much of a stretch to think of it as a day of remembrance of those who have gone before us spiritually. From that first Christian Day of Pentecost to our own time, thousands of men and women have given themselves in sacrifice – both in dying and in living – to carry the… gospel to us…
“The Day of Pentecost pictures the spiritual harvest of firstfruits, including all the Christian faithful down through the centuries. So we can take a few moments this weekend to remember their sacrifices and thank God that He has called such heroes of faith into His Family in the worldwide Church.”
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So writes Pastor Ritenbaugh.
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So you can see that Memorial Day and Pentecost are both in some sense about remembering those who have given their lives in service: some to the country, others to the faith.
Meanwhile, here at the South Hills Partnership today, all of us are being asked to spend some time focusing on the Holy Spirit. In fact we’ve been asked – immediately following the sermon, as we are willing – to come forward and kneel (or stand as you are able) and pray either to receive the Holy Spirit or receive more of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Before we do that, I wanted to talk a little bit about why and how we do this, and answer a few questions people may have when we talk about the Holy Spirit.
As for why we’re doing this: we are doing it because we want God’s blessings on our churches, and on our neighborhoods, and on God’s people. Whatever we ask for in faith, God will answer. The times we are living through right now are difficult days: confusing and troubling.
Just as an example, this past week our next-door neighbor was interviewed on TV because there was a shooting (I think it was) two doors down from where he works. The interviewer asked him a lot of the same questions that our pastor’s wife was asked after a shooting not long ago. You can’t help but ask, what kind of world is this, when your next door neighbor (or your pastor’s wife) witnesses a shooting? It happens way too often these days.
The gifts God gives to God’s people through the Holy Spirit are the best answer to the troubles in the world. The Holy Spirit brings us together, and molds us together into the Body of Christ for the good of our communities, and for the good of the world, and to the glory of God.
Here are some of the questions people sometimes ask about the Holy Spirit:
Who is the Holy Spirit?
We know from the Apostles Creed that the Holy Spirit is the ‘third person of the Trinity’ and therefore is God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. The Spirit is that part of God who lives with and in anyone who loves Jesus and has committed to being his disciple.
How does a person receive the Holy Spirit?
First off, there are some ways in which we do NOT receive the Spirit. We do not receive the Spirit by going to church. We do not receive the Spirit by reading Christian books or by watching Christian TV or even by going to Bible studies.
We receive the Spirit when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose again from the dead, and we accept his invitation to “change course and believe the good news”. As scripture says, “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ apart from the Holy Spirit.” Because we trust Jesus with our lives, we live our lives in a way that reflects God’s justice and God’s love. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to be faithful to God and to be led by God as we live our lives.
If we have done this, and if we are following in Jesus’ footsteps to the best of our abilities – and after all that, we’re still not sure we’ve ever received the Holy Spirit – that’s not unusual in today’s world. I felt the same way for a long time because people around me never talked about the Spirit much and I’d never really thought about it much. I wondered sometimes if this was something important we need to do?
Two answers to this: (1) if you’ve been a Christian all your life, you do have the Holy Spirit… you just might not be fully aware of it; and (2) if you’re a new Christian you may not have been taught about the Spirit yet.
Either way, when you come forward today, if you’re not sure the Holy Spirit is in your life, ask God. Say something like: “Lord I’m not sure if I have the Holy Spirit in my life – if I’m missing something please show me.” And then wait for God to answer.
What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
The first and greatest gift is membership in the Body of Christ. In the Holy Spirit, every believer is a member of God’s family.
In addition to this, without preaching another whole sermon, the apostle Paul frequently talks about spiritual gifts in his letters. Paul gives us lists of gifts which include but are not limited to: Word of Wisdom (or Word of Knowledge), Faith, Healing, Miracles, Prophecy, Discernment of Spirits, Speaking in Tongues, Interpreting Tongues, Wisdom, Teaching, Giving, Encouraging, and many more.
Who is able to receive these gifts?
Anyone who has committed their life and their heart to Jesus. You don’t need to be a certain age, or have a certain level of education, or anything like that. One theologian writes: “The early Christian community [was] strikingly diverse, inclusive, and egalitarian. The Jews who Peter addresses [on Pentecost, and who become believers on that first Pentecost day] were Jewish immigrants from all over the known world… and the movement would also soon include… Gentiles as well (Acts 10) …” (quoting SALT)
So the spiritual gifts are available to everyone; and in the history of the church over the past 2000 years, some of the greatest gifts have been given to those most in need of them: children, minorities, foreigners, the poor, the sick and the injured.
Fifth and final question: Which spiritual gifts do *I* have?
I can’t tell you that. The spiritual gifts you’ve been given is between you and God.
But I can tell you how to find out, and how I went through the process of finding out:
- Pray and ask God what your gifts are.
- Read through and pray over the lists of spiritual gifts in the Bible. There are a number of lists of gifts in scripture. Try starting with I Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and I Peter 4. Which of these gifts touches your heart as you’re reading the lists?
- After you’ve done this, if you’re still not sure which spiritual gifts you have – and I will tell you I wasn’t sure at first – try taking a Spiritual Gifts Inventory. There are a number of Spiritual Gifts Inventories available online (just Google “spiritual gifts inventory”)
- OR there is a free spiritual gifts inventory available on the United Methodist Church website. You can find it here: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/spiritual-gifts-inventory/en
For today, as Pastor Dylan and I wrap up our sermons, we are asking all who are willing, to come forward, and kneel (or stand) as you are able – and we will have some background music – and while you are here, pray silently to God. Ask God to give you the Holy Spirit or to show you what your spiritual gifts are. Ask God to show you how God would like you to use them. Any answers you get are between you and God.
But today, on this Pentecost, invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to you, and help you use, the gifts God has created you to have. I will pray silently along with you… come on down…
Prayer Over Those Who Have Prayed
Holy God, Giver of every good and perfect gift
It is your great grace that offers us salvation
It is grace upon grace that gives us the chance to join you in your saving work
Reveal our spiritual gifts
Reveal our calling in this time and place
for the common good
so we may honor you and one another
Holy God, use us for your glory, now and forever. Amen.
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