Eight Things The Holy Spirit Does

Pentecost

----------------

Today is Pentecost, the day when we celebrate the birth of the church.

Pentecost means 50th day, this is the seventh Sunday after Easter

Sunday, and the 50th day of Easter.

We didn’t hear that story today, so it’s worth a quick re-cap.

Re-Cap of Pentecost

---------------------------------

The Apostles were all together in the upper room, scared to make any

sort of move at all for fear of the authorities, but knowing that

something very special had happened. Then the Holy Spirit arrived. “a

sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the

whole house” and “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that

separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with

the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled

them.”

It caused a commotion, as all the foreigners present heard there own

language and wondered what was happening. So Peter got up and told

them. As a result the church was born.

That day about 3000 were added to the church, and each of them was

baptised. All of them were Jews, so at this point, a new Jewish sect is

formed. As all those travellers returned home they took the Holy Spirit

with them and the good news – the gospel- of Jesus, His death and

resurrection were spread into Jewish communities across the Empire.

Readings

---------------

That’s what we are remembering today, but our readings are from an

earlier time, when the Holy Spirit is just a distant promise. So I thought

it would be a good idea to look at just what is promised with the coming

of the Holy Spirit.

Lost Jesus

------------------

In the reading we had from John, the disciples must have known that

something was afoot, because of the way Jesus was speaking to them.

In the Acts reading his death and resurrection have already occurred and

the disciples are in shock and barely understanding what is going on.

In both reading we get the sense of impending loss, but the promise of

better times ahead.

8 Things

--------------

So I have taken 8 things that are promised in these two passages, so

that we can get a feel for what living in the world with the Holy Spirit is

like.

1 Provides Instruction

-----------------------------------

The first is that the Holy Spirit provides instruction. We read in Acts

verse 1 that even Jesus gets his instructions from the Holy Spirit. Luke

says

“I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he

was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit

to the apostles he had chosen.”

Instructions can come in many forms. Another example of this is in Acts

8 where Philip is told to approach the chariot of the Ethiopian Eunuch.

The instructions are simple and clear “Go to that chariot and stay near”.

The Holy Spirit knew what was happening in the chariot, and when Philip

obeys he finds that it is easy to engage the Ethiopian in conversation,

which then results in his baptism.

Have you ever had a sudden sense that you should go and talk to

someone, or phone someone – that’s probably the Holy Spirit, and you

might have a profitable conversation – or you might just help set the

scene for someone else’s conversation later. If we are to play our part

it’s important to take notice of these promptings and not push them

aside.

2 Baptism (in the Spirit)

--------------------------------------

The second thing that is promised is baptism in or with the Holy Spirit.

This can be a controversial topic, with people claiming different

meanings but if you listen carefully to them you will find their views are

not really that far apart.

One episode of Baptism in the Holy Spirit is undoubtedly seen at

Pentecost itself, when the wind and the tongues of fire brought the

disciple out of their fear and made them bold enough to speak out in

languages they had no knowledge of. There are plenty of instances in

both the Old and New Testaments when the Spirit comes on someone

and they do or say something truly remarkable. It always leads people

towards God, not always 3000 at a time though.

The Spirit can do this any time that someone is open to allowing it to

happen. He will never descend on someone who is unwilling, or who has

decided they do not want that sort of experience.

When Paul speaks of Baptism in the spirit, in 1 Corinthians 12 as he is

talking about the Body of Christ he says:

“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body … and we were all