Lessons from Pentecost

Jesus died and rose again on Easter Sunday. He spent 40 days on earth with His disciples.
 And He was taken up before their very eyes – that was His ascension. Jesus specifically asked them to “wait for a gift my Father promised” (Acts 1:5) and this gift is the Holy Spirit. Ten days later – the day of Pentecost, they received the gift as promised. 
Today is Pentecost sunday – 50 days after Easter. We remember the gift – the Holy Spirit – that God poured out upon the Church. 
This is important because on Pentecost day, the Church began. Pentecost day made the headlines. Pentecost was a once-in-history event, and we can learn a lot of lessons from this event. 
(1) THE CHURCH WAS ESTABLISHED BY GOD. 

The coming of the Holy Spirit, was an act of God and not man. Pentecost day was not an institution of man.
Simon Peter did not called a meeting of the apostles & said to them, “Now, we are here today to talk about whether or not we ought to start a Church.” They did not discuss it. Nor were they prepared for it. No one would actually dare to proposed it, especially in Jerusalem. Where the religious leaders were out to destroy those who preach about Jesus.
So what really happened that day? The Word said, “Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from…” (2:2). Where? “From heaven.” It was an act of God. He started the Church! God brought the Church into being, and it is His Church. And we saw that right after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 
Today we celebrate the many Christian groups learning tribal languages, translating the Bible, and training missionaries so that they can return to their own people to share the Gospel… so that all nations will receive the goodnews of salvation.  
The moment one becomes a Christian, He is commissioned by God with a mission to share the simple message with his/her little section of the world. If we all concentrate on our little area the message of the gospel will go far.

PENTECOST reminds us that the Church was established by God, and we need the power of the Holy Spirit in all our ministries. Zech 4:6 “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit”, says the LORD. 
The purpose of the Church is to communicate His story, and not the story of any pastor or priest, bishop or evangelist, but to simply tell an old story, with an old meaning that fits into every new story. To tell the story of Jesus and His unchanging love. To tell the story of the old rugged cross. If you are lonely and tired, not knowing the meaning and purpose of your life, you need to know the story of Jesus – He came looking for you. He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. All who place their trust in Him will be saved and will have eternal life. The Bible says “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

You can pray and invite Jesus into your life, by acknowledging your need of Him and accepting Him as your Saviour. He loves you, and He is waiting for you. Behold I stand at the door and knock. He is the Lord, the Giver of Life. 
2. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE HAVE A FAITHFUL GOD. When Jesus was about leaving he promised to send the Holy Spirit. Today, the promise was fulfilled. As a Christian, how often do we make promises and how often do we keep to our vows and promises. Many of us have many promises in church, at one function or another. Are we faithful enough to redeem them? 

3. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE HAVE A MISSION ON EARTH. Just like the apostles, the coming of the Holy Spirit revealed to them their mission; go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel. Today we are reminded to make every opportunity to speak about the gospel. The mission of speaking about the goodnews does not rest only with preachers. Everyone today should preach a little. Don’t ask me where because we have our schools, offices, market places etc. 

4. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE NOT ALONE (John 14: 18). The Holy Spirit is with us. We are not orphans. We have divine company and a spiritual companion. He will walk with us. Talk with us. 

5. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE HAVE AN INTERCESSOR. (Romans 8:26) One of the most encouraging and comforting aspects of the Holy Spirit is His ministry of intercession on behalf of those He inhabits. Because we often don’t know what or how to pray when we approach God, the Spirit intercedes and prays for us. He intercedes for us “with wordless groans,” so that when we are oppressed and overwhelmed by trials and the cares of life, He comes alongside to lend assistance as He sustains us before the throne of grace. 

6. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE HAVE A COMFORTER, COUNSELOR, AND ADVOCATE ( Is 11:2, John 14:16, 15:26, 16:7) All three words are translations of the Greek parakletos, from which we get “Paraclete,” another name for the Spirit. When Jesus went away, His disciples were greatly distressed because they had lost His comforting presence. But He promised to send the Spirit to comfort, console, and guide those who belong to Christ. The Spirit also “bears witness” with our spirits that we belong to Him and thereby assures us of salvation. 

7. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE HAVE BEEN SEALED BY GOD. (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5; Eph 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit is God’s seal on His people, His claim on us as His very own. The gift of the Spirit to believers is a down payment on our heavenly inheritance, which Christ has promised us and secured for us at the cross. It is because the Spirit has sealed us that we are assured of our salvation. No one can break the seal of God.

8. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE HAVE A GUIDE ( John 16:13) Just as the Spirit guided the writers of Scripture to record truth, so does He promise to guide believers to know and understand that truth. God’s truth is “foolishness” to the world, because it is “spiritually discerned” (1 Corinth 2:14) Those who belong to Christ have the indwelling Spirit who guides us into all we need to know in regard to spiritual matters. Those who do not belong to Christ have no “interpreter” to guide them to know and understand God’s Word.

9. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE HAVE A GUIDE the Holy Spirit is God with the divine attributes of mercy, compassion, liberation, healing, forgiveness, so we too should be merciful, compassionate, forgiving, always be a hand of healing and not hurting, and we shouldn’t be the stumbling blocks on the path of others. 

10. PENTECOST REMINDS US TO BE ONE. In the Holy Spirit, everyone finds the right language, the right words and expressions to praise God. In the Holy Spirit, the cultural, religious, social and economic boundaries of peoples and nations are overcome and broken down. Do not think you are better because of the office you occupy today. Do not think you are better than the other person because you are favoured. Remember no body knows tomorrow. Pentecost tells us to brea down the walls of tribalism, to break down the boundaries of “bigmanism”. We are to tear down the walls cultural sentiments, nepotism, bias, discrimination, and partiality. We are one. We are all one.

11. PENTECOST REMINDS US WE NEED GOD TO SUCCEED. 

12. PENTECOST REMINDS US GOD HAS GIVEN EACH ONE OF US A GIFT and in discovering our giftings we are directed towards our purpose.  Besides, your gifts will make way for you before the high and mighty. 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Amen 

Love and blessings

Accused

Have you been wrongly accused of something you know nothing about? Or being punished for a crime you did not commit? How did you feel? Terrible I guess, especially when no one would listen to you. How long did the accusation last? A whole week, a month or a year. 
Well, this man who was blind was accused of being a sinner. The accusation was not for a month or a year. The accusation was for as long as he lived. His first pain was not just the fact that he couldn’t see, but that in his condition he was ostracized by the society because he was branded a sinner. He was accused of something he knew nothing about. Blindness 2,000 years ago could not be compared to what we see today. There has been advancement in technology. Today we have teaching aid, Braille and moon, text to speech scanners, SmartCane with ultrasound to guide the blind, we have clocks and watches including tactile face or spoken output, even computer equipment for the blind. 
Today too, people will not easily conclude a man is blind as punishment for sin. It was a common belief among the Jews that a man suffered because of sin, either his own sin or his parents’ sin. Hence the question in John 9:2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 
Sometimes people accuse us of things we know nothing about. A lot of other times, we accused and condemn ourselves because of the hardship we face. I have heard and seen people say they are suffering because of a sin they committed. Well if that is the case, then it is only appropriate to stop sinning. But our focus this morning is accusation. Do you make it your duty to accuse people even when you are not sure they are guilty? Do you pride in bearing false witness? 

Let our prayer today be Lord forgive me for the many times I wrongly accused people. Help me not to condemn and judge people because I too when condemned will not be happy. Amen

Trapped by hope

This is a story of nine miners who spent about three days trapped 240 feet underground in Pennsylvania. They had accidentally breached the wall of an old abandoned mineshaft filled with millions of gallons of water, and we thought they were thinking they would never again see the light of day. But we were wrong because these men never gave up on hope. They weren’t trapped in the ground. They were trapped by hope.

An editorial in a Mississippi newspaper put it this way: “teamwork and hope helped to save the nine trapped miners in Pennsylvania”. At one point, the CNN reporter on the scene remarked, “There’s a lot of hope here.” And the pastor of two of the families who had relatives trapped in the mine, Reverend Glenn Sadler, said they were living “totally in hope”. 

Hope is what brought them through, and that same Hope will see you through. Hope is what kept them together. Hope is the face of very long odds. Hope is ugly made beautiful. When you HOPE you know you are not alone.

The rescue team made use of the best equipment available. They brought in the most experienced and knowledgeable people. But from the very beginning, the likelihood of bringing up all nine miners, alive and healthy, was very small. Many things could have gone wrong, and did go wrong. At one point the drill bit being used to create the rescue shaft broke; it took eighteen hours to bring out the pieces and start again. The system for pumping in pressurized air, which proved key to their survival, had never been tried before. The miners were at risk of developing hypothermia (a condition of having very low body temperature) from the cold water; they were also at risk of getting the “bends” from breathing the pressurized air. But most seriously, the rescuers had no certain knowledge of where the men even were. They had no way of communicating with them, no way of determining exactly where in the maze of underground tunnels they had gone to escape the rising waters. And so the location of the air pocket where they had gathered was a matter of informed guesswork.  David Hess, the state secretary of environmental protection, called it a “one in a million shot” that the six-inch airshaft they drilled would hit the precise spot where the men were located. God will locate you.

I mention this incident because there are many people today who feel like those miners. Trapped, isolated, lost, suffering, and fearful of the future. I know I write to some people who feel abandoned by God, who wonder if God  really cares, or even sees, what they are going through. I write to people who are on the verge of giving up. Many people today feel trapped in a marriage that seems hopelessly unfulfilling. Tied to a marriage partner who seems incapable of positive change; a husband or wife who is completely self-absorbed and unwilling to make even the smallest effort to meet their needs. In their mind, they face, not death by drowning, but a living death of emotional suffocation. Or perhaps they feel trapped in a dead-end job or an unrewarding career.

You may be going through a season of suffering, as did those miners, not knowing if you will ever experience relief, peace and happiness. Perhaps it is physical pain, from arthritis, or migraine headaches, or cancer, or malaria and typhoid, or a thousand other ailments. Or perhaps it is an emotional pain, from an abusive childhood or destructive life experiences. Painful memories. Missed opportunities. Mistakes. Regrets. Things said and done, which cannot be unsaid and undone. Fears. Anxieties. Worries. Suffering that no one else can truly understand. And through it all you sit still wondering where God is and if He sees what life is doing to you? If He does, why then has He refused to act? 

If any of that is you, there is good news. God does see (Heb 4: 13). He does care (1 Pet 5: 7) and He will see you through (Is 58: 11). He will lift the cloud of despair and will give you His peace. He is a God that never fails and our Hope in Him will not disappoint us (Ps 146) because He can never ever forsake those that are His (Ps 37: 25). Just like the miners never gave up and were rescued, don’t give up too. Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning (Ps 30: 5). I know God is busy sorting you out. Remember when you hope, you are not alone. He is with you.

Three words

Words! Words! Words! Words are powerful idioms of expression. Words are real and can unleash something. Words can mar, words can make. Words can kill. Words can give life. (Proverbs 18:21).

The power to speak was granted to man in the Garden of Eden. Scripture writes; God created them, but Adam and Eve named them, and till today, the man, animals and plants still bare the names given by Adam and Eve.

A word from God is so potent. A word from God will turn mourning into dancing, weeping into laughter, darkness in today, failure into success, demotion into promotion, weakness into strength. A word from God can change everything. Matt 24:35 says heaven and earth shall pass away, but Gods word will stay forever. Like the Roman centurion in Matt 8:8, JUST SPEAK THE WORD, my servant will be healed. Ps 107: 20, He sent his words and it healed and saved. It transformed and blessed. It forgave sins and gave a new start.

To Peter the Lord spoke just a word COME and he walked on water.
To the paralytic, he said STAND UP AND WALK and immediately his legs were healed. To the woman he said GO YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN.
To Lazarus he said COME OUT, then further said UNTIE HIM. To the apostles, he said GO DEEPER. The Lord always spoke and like he did, He today says three words, words that will change our destiny. Words that will change everything; three words; IT IS FINISHED.

Thank you Lord for speaking over troubled me. Thank you lord.

It is finished. Redemption is finished. My work is finished. I have completed the assignment. It is now time for you to reap the fruits of my labour. Christ knew the significance of his death for our salvation so he said “I came that they might have life and have life to the full” “the son of man came to give his life as a ransom for many”.
It is finished. The sufferings and agonies in redeeming man are over. The work long contemplated, long promised, long expected by prophets and saints, is done. The toils in the ministry, the persecutions and mockeries, and the pangs of the garden and the cross, are ended, and MAN IS REDEEMED, for by his strips we are healed. Receive your healing today.