Luke 24:45-49
Holy Spirit Impact
There are moments on this journey of faith when heaven seems to lean in close—moments when God reveals not only what God has done, but what God intends to do through God’s people.
Our Gospel Lesson for this morning from Luke is one of these moments.
Jesus, standing with his disciples after the Resurrection opens their minds to understand the Scriptures.
He shows them how the entire story of God—the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms—points toward liberation, forgiveness and a mission that stretches to all nations, and we are called to carry out that mission.
But how do we go about it and what kind of mission is it?
There are so many problems in this world and in our community.
What exactly is God calling us, as a church, to focus on?
Just when the disciples are ready to get moving Jesus gives them a command that would shape the entire future of the church: “Stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
What does he mean by that?
If you spend any time around scientists, engineers or academics—and I know you do—you’ll hear a familiar phrase: “Look at the data.”
Humans love data.
We love evidence.
We love things we can measure, test, replicate and peer-review.
And honestly, I am so thankful for that.
Faith communities are stronger in my opinion, not weaker, when we welcome curiosity, critical thinking, and the courage to ask hard questions.
So when Jesus gathers the disciples and says basically: “Stay here. Wait. Pray. Don’t move until you are clothed with power from on high,” it’s almost jarring.
There’s no timeline.
No measurable outcomes.
No Powerpoint.
Just prayer.
If Jesus said this to us today, we would be prone to ask: “Is there a grant proposal for this? A workflow? A Gantt chart?”
But Jesus is inviting them and us into a different kind of knowing.
Not the kind that replaces data, but the kind that complements it.
Not the kind that rejects evidence, but the kind that expands our understanding of what it means to be fully human.
Prayer is the spiritual equivalent of mindfulness, grounding, and deep listening—but with the added dimension of relationship.
Today, we who are part of First Church have been invited to begin a 28-day prayer experience.
For those who choose to participate, every day for 28 days, we will be praying a breakthrough prayer, asking God for God’s power to break through and transform our lives as we seek to know the mission focus God has in mind for First Church.
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Breakthrough Prayer is asking God for new possibilities to break through.
Part of this exercise includes what is called a “prayer hold.”
A prayer hold is a short phrase or Scripture verse we can use for frequent prayer throughout the day.
I have found them to be especially helpful when I get distracted, feel down or burnt out or tempted to move away from God’s Way.
A Prayer Hold helps me refocus and realign my spiritual eyes back on discerning and following the Spirit’s activity and guidance.
We live in a world where our phones buzz more than bees in the summer, and I don’t need to tell you that trying to pray with a distracted mind can be like trying to meditate in the middle of a Target Store on Black Friday.
Trying to understand God’s direction without prayer is like driving with a fogged-up windshield.
We can see shapes, but not meaning.
Prayer can be compared to a defroster that clears the view.
(pause)
Jesus “opened” the disciples “minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”
The Greek word used here for “opened” means more than “explained.”
It means to unlock, to reveal, to make possible what was previously impossible to see.
Prayer is the posture that says: “Lord, I cannot understand without you.”
We often approach the mission of the church with our own assumptions, our own agendas, and thus our own limitations.
But prayer invites God to do only
what God can do—open our minds, soften our hearts and illuminate the path ahead.
A few years ago, an engineer joined his church’s mission committee.
He wanted to know which new direction the church should take.
He approached it like a design problem.
He built spread sheets.
He analyzed census data.
He mapped needs.
But nothing clicked.
One evening, feeling frustrated, he sat alone in the sanctuary.
He had no agenda, no analysis…
…just silence.
He prayed, “God, what do YOU see here?”
He said that “In that moment, I realized I had never actually met the people I was trying to help.”
Prayer opened his mind, shifted his perspective and revealed what data alone could not reveal.
He started walking the neighborhood surrounding the church, listening to stories and praying with people on porches and in parking lots.
And the ministry that emerged wasn’t the one that he engineered—it was the one God had revealed.
If the disciples had just run out and started doing what they “thought” God wanted them to do, without praying and waiting for the Spirit to come and lead them we would probably have no Christian Church.
But they waited.
They prayed deeply.
Jesus said to the disciples and to us: “repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in [my] name to all nations beginning in Jerusalem.”
This is the only remedy for the spiritual sickness that is spreading across our country and our world.
Jesus roots the mission of the church in turning toward life and releasing what binds us—what infects us and distances us from God.
And that kind of healing requires more than medical training.
It requires spiritual discernment.
A doctor once told me about a patient whose health never improved despite every medical intervention.
The doctor adjusted medications, ordered tests and refined treatment plans but nothing changed.
Then, one day, before entering the exam room, she whispered a simple prayer: “God help me see what I am missing.”
Inside the room, instead of starting with symptoms, she asked her patient: “How are you doing—really?”
The woman broke down.
She had lost her job.
She was caring for a parent with dementia, and was skipping her own medications in order to pay for her mother’s.
The doctor told me, “I realized I had been treating numbers, not a person.”
Prayer didn’t give her a new diagnosis.
Prayer gave her discernment.
It opened her to compassion and helped her see the deeper story.
Jesus promises the disciples they will be “clothed with power.”
Not dominion.
Not control.
Not superiority.
But Spirit power—the power to heal, to reconcile, to uplift and transform.
Think of the people who show up to school board meetings advocating for marginalized youth or volunteers who spend their weekends stocking food pantries.
That’s Spirit power.
It’s not flashy, it’s not loud, but it’s deeply transformative.
It’s been said that sometimes seeking God’s guidance feels like trying to assemble furniture from IKEA without closely following the directions.
You’re staring at the pieces thinking, “This cannot possibly be right.”
Prayer doesn’t magically build the bookshelf, but it helps us breath long enough to find the missing screw.
On our own, we humans will fall short.
We need God’s power, God’s wisdom, God’s guidance.
And we need to get that BEFORE we go and do.
When NASA prepares to launch a rocket, there is a moment built into the countdown called a “hold.”
Everything is almost ready—the rocket is fueled, the crew is strapped in, the mission has been planned for years.
There is a world watching, a destination waiting, and a mission to accomplish.
And then…they stop.
All activity ceases.
The screens freeze on the words: T-minus 10 minutes…HOLD.
After all the preparation, why hit pause?
Why wait?
For NASA the hold is non-negotiable.
It’s the moment when engineers run deep systems checks, confirm weather conditions, and wait for the final “go.”
A launch without a hold isn’t bold—it’s reckless.
No astronaut complains about the hold.
No engineer argues that they’ve trained long enough and know what they are doing.
Instead everyone leans into that moment of stillness because they understand something essential: The mission may be theirs, but the power is not.
The success of everything that comes next depends on staying put long enough to receive what they can’t generate on their own.
This is the place where Jesus leaves the disciples in our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
They have walked with him for three years.
They have been taught, trained, and commissioned.
And yet Jesus’ final instruction is not “Go,” but “Stay. Wait. Pray. Don’t move until the power comes.”
This is where the text meets our moment.
If we want to know where God is leading First Church—what ministries to strengthen, what ministries may have run their course, what unmet needs is God calling us to fill in our community, what partnerships to build, what risks to take, what dreams to fulfill—we will discover it the same way the disciples did:
Through prayer.
Through listening.
Through waiting.
Through an openness to God’s Spirit.
Will you join me in this 28-day prayer experiment?
Will you pray for First Church?
Will you pray for our community?
Will you seek to make new relationships with people to find out how they are really doing, what they really need?
Together, let’s make the decision to believe that God still guides, speaks and leads communities to new life.
And as we pray, let’s listen—not for the loudest voice, not for the most convenient path, but for the direction that bears the marks of God’s Spirit: love, justice, compassion, courage, humility and hope for all people.
This is how we will know the way forward.
Will you pray this break-through prayer with me?
God, break through our urgency to do or speak our way, and instead may we surrender, pray and wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to open doors, provide, direct, guide and empower us.
Come Holy Spirit, Come…
In Jesus’ name and for the sake of the mission of this church and the needs of this community we pray.
Amen.
