The Holy Spirit And The Church/

There is a Snoopy cartoon where charlie Browns baseball game is rained off - the frames show him going to the telephone and having a chat.

When he comes outside his friend Schroeder says -

"The rain has stopped Charlie Brown . What did you do, call the weatherman?"

His answer

No, dial a prayer.

How often have you heard the statement in a movie or in life.

"There is a God."

That is the great catchcry of Pentecost.

There is a God - what is more God is with us.

The disciples of Jesus after his ascension to heaven must have felt utterly deserted and cut off.

Edith Schaeffer speaks of her feelings on the death of her Mother.

I read the paper, with its message that had been phoned from the telegraph office in Lausanne and written down in Liselotte’s handwriting: "Wilmington - 2nd - 9.17 p.m, - Mother fell asleep in Jesus about six - funeral Dr. Laird - love - Father."

The tears flowed suddenly, and my cry was, "Oh, but I wanted to tell her about ... I wanted to write her tomorrow and . . . ."

There it was, the wall of seperation that death puts up against communication! That enemy death. I remembered her face as she waved at the dock in New York. I hadn’t seen her since. It had been six years. But we had had communication, plenty of it, and had been close to our thinking.

It’s the separation that is so hard - the separation of friend from friend in such a "total" way, no way to get through, separation of body from soul. Suddenly the personality has gone.

I had the same feeling yesterday on the Marine Reach ship when I farewelled many young people we had spent the last four months with - you know as you say goodbye that you will never see some of them again.

When Jesus ascended to heaven - I guess the disciples looked at each other and had that after the funeral feeling - now there was this chasm between them and God that, at least in Jesus’ case, could be bridged through prayer but none the less Jesus was in heaven and here they were with their feet placed firmly on the soil of Palestine.

What could they do?

Fortunately for them Jesus had given them some precise instructions.

We can read about that in Acts chapter 1.:4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

AC 1:6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

AC 1:7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Some illustrations Sermon Central.

some masterial I believe in the Church David Watson.

AC 1:9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

Jesus instructed his disciples very clearly to wait of the Gift that God the Father had promised - the gift of the Holy spirit in whom they would be baptised in.

This morning I would like to explore what the scriptures say and demonstrate about why the Holy Spirit is so important to the church and then to ask How we can avail ourselves of this gift ourselves personally.

You might hear of some person who has come into some incredible circumstance where they have inherited a vast fortune - and if you are a gracious kind of person but the truth is if there is nothing in it for you then there is little long term effect on your life

The scriptures make it quite clear that the gift of the Holy Spirit is for believers.

Jesus once said:- JN 16:5 "Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

In Matthew 29 verse 20 he instructs his followers to baptise those who believe in the name of the Holy Spirit.