PENTECOST SUNDAY This is the day the LORD hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.! Joel 2:28,29 Acts 2:1-21 John 16:5-11 Psalm 104:24-34 & 143
Today we celebrate the birth of the New Testament church. It was not something spontaneous, it was an event which had been planned by God from eternity. We celebrate the work of the third person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit. Preceding from the Father, He is sent by the Son as the promised presence of God with us after the Ascension. Now the Spirit is at work within us to create and sustain faith in the redemptive work of our LORD, Jesus Christ.
Today through the Word the Spirit takes us from Babel to Pentecost by way of the night in which Jesus was betrayed. The Spirit confronts us with our prideful arrogance and our struggle with the absence of God in our daily lives. The Spirit produces in us heartfelt cries for God's mercy and assures us that God is still at work within us and in our world.
God the Holy Spirit is to be an integral part of the believer's life. The role of the Spirit in us is to reveal Jesus in such a personal way that we are daily related to Christ. By the Holy Spirit we are brought into the family of God, power for greater works, reassurance of relationship with God, and prophetic power are among the Spirit's gifts to us.
Christian friends, let us recall the blessing which our LORD has brought to the human family through His church as we say, "All praise and glory, honor and power, might and dominion be unto Him who is LORD of Lords, King of Kings, and the Head of the church!" O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us, Revive Thy church with life and power; O Breath of Live, come, cleanse, renew us, And fit Thy church to meet this hour.
PRAY WITH ME, O God, on this day You once taught the hearts of Your faithful people by sending them the light of Your Holy Spirit. Grant us in our day by the same Spirit to have a right understanding in all things and evermore to rejoice in His holy consolation: through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our LORD, who lives and reigns with You in communion with the same Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen