PRAYER
Lord, I pray you would move the Spirit more boldly in my life. I know that any sin can grieve and diminish the voice of the Spirit, and I pray against the temptation to sin. Help me crave your presence more than I crave sin. Help me grow in the fruit of the Spirit and so walk closer with Yourself. I pray for guidance from your Spirit- let your will and promises always be a meditation of my heart. Amen.
SERMON
1st Journey: Meet God in unexpected places and people
2nd Journey: In him we live and move and have our being
Where did we experience presence this week?
3rd Journey: Acts 18-21
Acts 19:1–8 (NRSV)
Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 Then he said, “Into what, then, were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied, 7 altogether there were about twelve of them.
8 He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.
We appreciate the importance of the successful ministry of John the Baptist: beautiful picture of planting seeds and watering gardens.
POINT: God often
Importance of Holy Spirit: gift promised by Jesus
*John 14:15-21 *
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Acts 2:1-4 (NIV)
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 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.
*Acts 2:17 (NRSV) *
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
POINT: They just needed the eyes to see and the
“My starting point is that we’re already there. We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realize that God is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another it means that God is choosing us now and now and now.” —Father Richard Rohr from Everything Belongs
Psalm 139:7-8
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
POINT: We’re always
Our earlier faith selves didn’t necessarily have the mind to comprehend; the eyes to see. But when we move toward the living, moving, at work Spirit of God, we’re going to keep learning; we’re going to keep understanding anew; we’re going to keep changing. And isn’t that wonderful?
Questions: Are we willing to receive and listen to the Holy Spirit? Are we willing to learn something new?