pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Holy Spirit


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Come On In!

Pentecost was such a public thing – God came calling when they were all gathered together.  Outsiders also heard the ‘wind’ and came to investigate.  There was a definite presence of God.

Of course, God had visited before – Moses a few times, with Elijah in the still small voice, in calling Eli, walking as Jesus on the earth… And God continues to be a presence in our world.  His presence in worship is the example I think of first – those times you can ‘feel’ God there in the midst of his disciples.

On Pentecost God appeared in the wind, in the fire that came to rest on them, and in various ‘new’ voices that they spoke in.  Today the Holy Spirit functions much the same way for us.  It is the ‘push’ or ‘nudge’ that guides or pulls us.  It is the warmth we feel in our hearts as we are drawn to minister to someone.  It s in the words that the Spirit brings to our mouths as we minister to one in need.

But there is a slight difference too.  God simply ‘busted in’ on the disciples. The Holy Spirit is a different thing.  We can certainly feel the presence of the Spirit too, but it is up to us to accept the Holy Spirit’s action in our lives.  In our walk today, may we make the choice to ay to the Spirit, “Come on in!”


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Walking Boldly into the World

The period between the resurrection and the ascension was forty days.  This bridge between the three years that Jesus spent with the disciples and the ministry that was to come was so valuable to them.  They went from being sad, fearful, dejected, alone right after the crucifixion to feeling one of complete joy when the encountered the living Christ.  When the living Messiah ascended into heaven to be with God, their joy was made complete.

The risen Christ had taught them much in the time He walked the earth with them.  We are also blessed to be able to know His teachings and to learn to be like Christ through our study and reading of the scriptures.  As the risen Christ, He shows them (and us) the true meanings of the resurrection – that He has conquered sin and death AND that He can now send the Holy Spirit – to be with us all, every one of us, all the time.  This gift greatly expands His disciples and followers ability to minister to others.  It does the same for us.  The the presence of the Holy Spirit we are each empowered to proclaim the good news, to call for repentance, and to declare divine forgiveness for ourselves and for others.  Like the disciples, may we too walk boldly into the world, filled with the Holy Spirit, ministering in Jesus’ name.


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He Loves Us

Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commands.  Do you suppose He meant ALL the time?  Or just some of the time?  We know the answer to this question.  Hard as we might try, we cannot always obey.  Here is where vision runs smack into reality.  But we try.

God must have known this since the time of Adam and Eve’s sin – that mankind will always be a struggle.  Yet His love is so vast that He found a way to always allow us to renew our relationship with Him.  He first sent His Son so that we would know the way, the truth, and the life – as He intended us to live.  Then God allowed His Son to die as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Yes, He loves us.

Yet the story doesn’t end there, good as it is.  Because He remembered that we struggle.  So God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, to lead and guide us.  The advocate brings us back to that way, truth, and life and helps us to share the good news of Jess Christ with others.  Yes indeed!  He loves us.


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Breathe In, Breathe Out

As the disciples hid in the room following Jesus’ death, I wonder what the strongest emotion was – fear of the Jews, sorrow and grief over the loss of Jesus, confusion about what to do next, uncertainty about hearing Jesus is alive, shame for abandoning Him?  Each of the disciples was probably feeling a mix of at least a few of these emotions.

Then suddenly, Jesus is standing right there.  Speaking right into all of the emotions that the disciples must have been going through, He offers them His peace and shows them his nail-scarred hands and feet.  He first restores their friendship and then removes any doubt with a physical sign.  Jesus is saying, “It’s OK” and “See, it’s me!”

Jesus then breathes on the disciples the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  He shares with them His power.  The disciples are then charged to go out and offer forgiveness of sins to those who seek forgiveness.  The disciples can go forth and unbind others from the sins that hold them down.  Just as Jesus entered that room and offered the disciples peace and relief from all that was keeping them bound up, the disciples can now too offer that to others.  Like the disciples being able to walk from that room of hiding out into the open, with forgiveness others can walk from darkness into the light.

The Holy Spirit, through Jesus’ power, offers us that same gift.  We can breath in the Holy Spirit, receive forgiveness, and breathe out God’s love.  As His disciples today, we can help others to become unbound from what keeps them hiding in that small, dark room.  We may not be able to forgive their sins, but we can certainly share the One with them who can forgive their sins and restore them.  May we allow the Holy Spirit to be ever-present with us so that we can breath in and breathe out.


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Thanks Be to JC!!

In Romans 5 we find many of the great cornerstones of our faith.  Paul had quite a way with words!  In the first part of Romans 5 Paul reviews the basics of the faith – Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead.  Jesus made the choice to die for our sins.  He chose to take upon himself the sin of the world and to shed His own blood for us.  Through Jesus, God restored every person’s connection to Himself.  Up to this point there was a lack of personal connection.  The priests played the role of intermediary between God and the Jewish people.  Sacrifices were made on behalf of the people to atone for their sins.  Reconciliation came through these ritual sacrifices.

As Paul writes, at just the right time Christ died for us.  While we were still sinners, He died for us.  Jesus was and is our sacrifice.  He opened to us and to all mankind that conduit to God.  We come ourselves before God seeking forgiveness so that we can be reconciled to Him.  We do not need a human intermediary.  Nor do we need a ritual sacrifice.  For us that was and is Jesus on the cross.  Because Jesus defeated death and rose to live eternally, He will always be there to intercede on our behalf.  He will always be with us, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to guide and lead us in this life.  Through Him we grow to be more and more ike the Father.  Through him we are continually reconciled.  Through Him we repent, are washed clean, and are restored to the righteous relationship with God.  Thanks be to Jesus Christ!!


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May It Blow Strong

Nicodemus visits Jesus with a purpose.  Yet he never gets to ask his question.  Jesus decides the topic and tenor of the conversation before his “guest” can initiate it.  Like so many other times in the Gospels, it seems that Jesus knows just what this person standing in front of him needs to hear.  We do not know for sure which Jesus speaks of – baptism of being reborn spiritually.  Maybe it is both.  In Jewish tradition baptism was for proselytes.  We too view baptism as an initiation into the faith.  For some churches it is akin to confirmation or in others to a believer’s baptism.  In both cases it is roughly equal to a confession of faith.

The “pnuema” or wind that Jesus speaks of is fascinating.  Also challenging!  We cannot see when or where or why the wind begins.  Scientifically we can explain ‘how’ the wind is created.

In our faith we cannot explain when or where or why the Holy Spirit enters into our lives. We do have Biblical explanations and examples of how the Holy Spirit came to enter the world and how it functions in our lives.  But for most of us, just like the wind, the Spirit comes and goes from our lives.  There is no question in our minds, hearts, or souls, that the presence is with us.  The Holy Spirit is there as surely as the wind rustling the leaves outside.  The strong power guides us and leads us.  It calls us to action at times and to repentance at others.  It draws us closer to God.  And like the wind that blows away the dust and the leaves, the Holy Spirit clears away the chaff so that we are left standing on the rock, on Jesus Christ.  May the Spirit blow strongly in your life this day!!


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Gettin’ Fish in the Boat!

Our Lord and Savior calls us to love and serve Him. We are called to take up our cross, to deny self, and to follow Him. We are called to share the good news of Christ with all we meet – to take the message global – to the ends of the earth. In this week’s gospel lesson we see the calling of the first disciples. Jesus calls Andrew, Simon, James, and John to be “fishers of men.” (John 4)

As I thought and journaled about this passage this morning, I came to realize how limited our call is. We are called to simply be fishers, to help get people into the boat. In the devotional I read this morning it called it the ‘boat of shalom’. It referred to this as a place where everyone is known, loved, served, and celebrated. Terrell McDaniel went on to say that this place of shalom is a place of healing, restoration, and fulfillment of our potential. What a wonderful image of the church!!

Our role as disciples is again to get people into the boat. Although we can (and should) have a role after this point, it is truly the work of the Holy Spirit to go from there. We are not called to land, clean, cook, and serve the fish. We are just to get them into the boat.

It is the Holy Spirit that enters in and begins the work of washing away the old self so that a person may be born anew. Then the Spirit continues to work on this newby to bring God’s word into their hearts and minds. As the Word stews and churns inside it takes root through the action of the Holy Spirit. And lastly the new disciple comes to see those seeds grow and to spring up into new life. As the Spirit continues to work, the disciple begins to bear fruit in the world as they too become a fisher of men.

Do we have a role after they are in the boat? CERTAINLY!! Our role as a fellow member of the boat is to know, love, serve, and celebrate their journey of faith. Our role is to help them as we can – to find healing, to understand the scriptures, to lift them up when they stumble, to help guide them to being all they can be for Christ. And as we do these things, we too grow in our relationship with Christ. What a wonderful place the church is!!