Pentecost

Dear Brethren,

We are only a week away from the Feast of Pentecost.  Pentecost pictures us, God's spiritual community, as the firstfruits of God's harvest, who are being prepared for the Kingdom of God.  It also pictures the birth of the Church of God, the called out ones, empowered by God's Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the Life, Power, Love and Mind of God the Father and Jesus Christ.  Holy Spirit in Greek is Hagion Pneuma - holy breath.

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness."  (Luke 4:1)  By His Spirit, God imparts to us His mind, life, power and love.

God's Holy Spirit fills the entire universe.  "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:24)  "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee."  (1Kings 8:27)  "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:  if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there."  (Psalms 139:7-8)

It was by His Spirit that God created the heavens, the universe, and all creatures, both physical and spiritual.  "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."  (Genesis 1:1-2)  "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."  (Revelation 4:11).

It is through His Spirit that Christ maintains the universe.  "Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power."  (Hebrew 1:2-3)

God's Spirit is given to all who repent of their sins and are baptized.  "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."  (Acts 2:38-39)

Through the power of God's Spirit all believers will eventually be resurrected and changed from mortal to immortal beings. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."  (Romans 8:11)  "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." (1Corinthians 15:20)  "God is Spirit."  (John 4:24)   And we will be fully Spirit, also, in the resurrection.

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Sermon:

"Answered Prayer"