Holy Spirit Series: Week 1- Pentecost Power

Today at our church we celebrated "Pentecost". Associate Pastor Daniel Thueson gave the message today and these are my notes of which alot of the content came directly from Daniel.

Pentecost means "50". 50 was a special number to the Jewish people. Every 50 years they celebrated "the year of jubilee". This was a year that they gave their first fruits, their first born livestock to God, and cancelled debts to those who owed them. 50 was also significant of the 50 days after the passover. This was when the Hebrews celebrated Pentecost. Christians celebrate Pentecost 50 days after Easter.

Let's start with Luke 24:49. The scene here is Jesus talking with His disciples right before leaving them and ascending to heaven. "I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). OK, let's backtrack a bit.... Jesus changed the world when He came to earth. He began His ministry, recruited His disciples, began to heal the sick, the blind, the deaf, and gave hope to the poor in spirit. His disciples thought that He would be the One to defeat Rome, and bring the Jewish people into their rightful place on earth in God's kingdom. So what happened? Jesus was arrested, beaten, and then crucified on a cross- crushing the hopes of the twelve who obediently followed Him.... but then, He removed the stone from His grave, after 3 days, and was alive with them once again! Oh, what a relief they must have felt! To have Him back with them just like before.

Little did they know that He was leaving.... leaving? He told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the gift that the Father had promised them. The gift that Jesus spoke to them about. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit. All that He had said before about His death, resurrection, and all of the other things that had come to pass at His word, they decided to stay as they were asked to receive this "gift".

When the day arrived they were all in one place, in a house. A roaring sound filled the house- Daniel described it as a fierce wind, but "inside" not outside the house. It was so loud that people that were nearby heard it and came to see what it was. As the Holy Spirit came on each of the followers, they began to speak "in their own language". To further explain this, they spoke and whoever was listening was hearing 'their" language so they understood what was being said! This was miraculous in that there were many different people in Jerusalem during this time from all over the land, yet they heard the gospel proclaimed in their language, and understood it. 

When this happened, of course there were some people that did NOT believe it. They said that the disciples were drunk. As we have people today that simply don't "want" to understand. Peter then got up and to those people said "hey, they aren't drunk! It's 9:00 in the morning! This is what the prophet Joel spoke about when he said: 

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, and blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved". (Joel 2:28-32)

Daniel told a story about a friend of his that grew up in church, but never made his faith his own. When he left for college, he decided to leave that part of his upbringing behind, and find his own way. While in college, some friends asked him to join them at a campus ministry, so he thought "why not, I already am familiar with church stuff". Later on, he was asked to go to Mexico on a trip with the ministry for the summer. That summer trip lasted 3 years. His friend didn't know it, but when he got to Mexico, he picked up the language so quickly, and fluently that he later became a Spanish teacher. 

When God calls us, it may not be what we think it should be. We are all  called to proclaim the gospel by whatever means and purpose God has planned for us. We are not called to an easy life. Being a Christian is NOT an easy life. 

For those of us that grew up in church, we learned what NOT to do. 

For those who did not grow up in church, you also learned from people that went to church what NOT to do....... 

It is NOW about what you CAN do.

Acts 1:8 says "But you will receive POWER..." - Power here in the Hebrew means "dynamis" which means "dynamite"!! 

Guess what my friends? This means when we receive God's Holy Spirit, we have POWER that changes and commands us!! We have POWER that is a healing presence in other people's lives!!

Are we living and allowing the POWER of His Holy Spirit to move in us and through us, and to move others? 

Or are we living defeated lives? Living Sunday to Sunday unaware that by calling upon the name of Jesus, we are saved and can receive His power. 

Dynamite can only be effective by actively lighting the wick...

Only then will it go into action. 

Lighting your wick is nothing more than calling upon His name, and asking Him for the power inside of you to change your life- forever....

Are You For REAL?

I have been blogging now going on 3 years. I recently told the story to a few friends of how I started my blog, and it has stuck in my brain ever since I had that conversation.... kind of like an echo of an old friend talking to me, reminding me of what God placed in my heart then. 


My mission when I started this blog was to tell others about Christ. I didn't know who the "others" consisted of, but God told me to start in my own backyard. I began to share the sermons that I heard at church to a small group of friends that believed in God, but did not go to church or attend a church regularly. Most of them had experienced the "legalistic" side of church, and it was not "kind" to them. Understandably so, they made no plans to darken the doors where they did not feel welcomed. I felt it important that the Word of God cover my blog from corner to corner, praying to pierce the hearts of those who would read it. If my friends would not come to church to hear the Word of God, I would bring His light to them. And if only ONE who by reading it made a difference in their life, I knew it was all worth it. Jesus left the flock of 99 sheep to go and find the lost ONE. 


So many things that Jesus said in the scriptures to do were very much against the grain in His day and ours. They actually sound quite ridiculous.

"Love your enemies" 
"Pray for those who persecute you" 
"If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also" 
"If someone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well" 


All of these actions that Jesus speaks of here go against the selfish nature that we were born into which is sin. Selfishness begins in infancy, but self-LESS-ness begins in Christ. 


"He must become greater, I must become less." (John 3:30 NIV)


How many people do you know that will do missionary work and give up the comforts and freedom that you live in right now? Those that will live out their lives helping and caring for others because no one else will.
OK... so God does not call everyone to overseas missions, or experience life-threatening conditions to help others.... 


....but if Jesus IS REAL, what are we doing with Him? 


We say that we have Him in our heart.... we sing that He is our "King of Kings that reigns forever and ever"....


... but if Jesus is REAL, and we say that He is IN us, then-WE-must-be-REAL!


"By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, IF you love one another." (John 13:35 NIV) Loving the way Jesus loved/loves is "the" hardest thing anyone will ever do. It is totally putting yourself out there- sometimes in the most vulnerable state you could ever be in... but He commands us to do so. It isn't about US!! Once we give our lives over to Him- it's about "others". I heard Joyce Meyer say once that if God just wanted US to be happy, He would have beamed us up right after we were saved! But He left us here on earth so that OTHERS could hear "the good news" and come to know Him.


Are you for REAL? Or do you need REAL in your life?
REAL love, REAL kindness, REAL forgiveness, REAL gentleness, REAL peace.


Jesus is REAL. He is the most REAL you will ever know.


I pray that this blog will continue to minister to the hearts that are in need of REAL. I never want to lose sight of my initial mission to bring "good news" to those who want and need to hear. God has given me so much that on days like today when it feels like the bottom is falling out of my little world, He reaches for me, pours out His unconditional love and grace until I see that my problems are ever so small compared to so many others. 


You can't live in a bubble or in isolation with your faith: Love is a verb! Be REAL. You may be the only Jesus some people will ever see.....

Authentic People Series: Week 3- Our Mission As Messengers

I first want to apologize to Pastor Shante' for the title of this post, as I KNOW it is not the correct title of her sermon. For some reason I did not write down the title in my notes, and unfortunately I did not see the audio sermon on the website yet, so I had to go with a title that I felt went with my notes. This posting is from the message given on May 6, 2012. These notes are what I received in my heart and most of the writing is credited to Pastor Shante' Buckley who gave the message.


"Evangelism".... ok, don't run away. I know that term has somewhat of a bad reputation.  One of the reasons why I did not put the word in the title of this post, however, it is something essential in an authentic faith walk. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is an evangelistic commandment. Jesus said  to go and make disciples, baptizing, and teaching them to obey all the commands He had given us. The word go is a verb- it conveys "action". Jesus didn't give a stipulation in this commandment, it was matter of fact. That doesn't mean that we have to go across the continent, maybe it is just across the apartment complex, or over to your brother's house. It "should" be our mission to help someone get in to a relationship with Jesus: not just the Pastor's mission, the missionary's mission, or the Deacon's mission- it should be every believer's mission.


Romans 10:13-15 says this "for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe them? And how can they believe in Him if they have not heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say 'How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!'" Good news as opposed to the sensationalized "bad news" that we hear daily on television or on the radio- bad news "sells" and gets ratings.... or so we are told. 


In Jesus' day, there were "messengers" that brought news to the towns and to the community on foot. Even to individuals. They were "sent out". People need to hear how Jesus has changed your life. Here are some things to think about concerning telling others your story:


1. How can others receive without us being sent? 
2. If we are going to "talk the talk" we have to "walk the walk".
3. Our feet determines our direction.  
4. We have to go where our feet go.


The Pastor told a story about a Preacher and a drug dealer. The drug dealer told this Preacher that Little Johnny trusts Him. He trusts him, and believes him because he is there when he gets out of school to walk him home. Because he loans him cash when he needs to eat. Because he listens to him when he is upset and needs someone to talk to..... Friends, Christ is calling us to make it personal. We need to be present with people who need Jesus. Jesus won over the prostitutes and the tax collectors. He took the good news to everyone who would listen.


Lord, God, give us the desire to be your messengers. To tell people "our" story, of just how You have made the difference in our lives. That we are changed because of Your saving grace. Set our feet upon a path to bring us opportunities to tell the good news- that You came and died to take all of the sins of the world to the grave, but that the grave could not hold You- and You removed the stone from the tomb and rose again to defeat death and sin forever. Help us to love people into a relationship with You by meeting their needs physically and emotionally first, so they may see the light in us that is You, in us. Thank you for continuing to remove the stones in our life.
Amen.