Pentecost

Pentecost 2010
I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate who will be with you forever.
Faith plus obedience equals transformation.
We see this principle illustrated throughout the Bible. It is particularly evident in the story of Pentecost.
When Jesus ascended into heaven he instructed his apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles had a choice. Wait or act. The basis for their choice was their faith.
Christian faith focuses on a person, Jesus Christ. Christian faith is the product of a personal relationship. Belief involves ideas, laws, rituals, doctrines. Faith, Christian faith, is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The apostles walked with Jesus for three years. They witnessed his miracles. They heard his teaching. They observed his behavior. They knew he was different than all other religious teachers. However, it wasn’t until the resurrection that they finally came to accept the reality that Jesus was not only fully human but fully God. Only God has the power to transform death into life.
Jesus had told them that he and the Father are one. Yet, they did not understand just how that could be true until after the resurrection. Jesus had also promised to send them another Advocate.
An Advocate is one who speaks on your behalf. The Holy Spirit speaks on our behalf to God the Father. The Holy Spirit also speaks on our behalf to other people. And, the Holy Spirit speaks to us to lead us into Faith in Jesus Christ.
The Apostles received Jesus’ instruction to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit with no clear idea as to who the Holy Spirit is.
The Apostles knew that the Holy Spirit had spoken through the prophets. The apostles also knew that the Messiah would initiate a new age of grace that would involve an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The apostles struggled to understand that the kingdom of God was not about command and control but rather about love and holiness.
On the Day of Pentecost, Jesus fulfilled his promise. Jesus prayer to the Father was fulfilled ten days after the Ascension. We heard the description of that amazing event in the reading from the Book of Acts.
The Apostles expressed their faith in Jesus by obeying his last command. Wait. As they waited they gathered for prayer with Holy Mother Mary. They did not wait passively. They waited with expectation. They waited with trust.
The Day of Pentecost is the birth of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The agent of this birth is the Holy Spirit. The evidence of this birth manifests in the outward and visible signs of the wind and fire and in the Apostles preaching the message of salvation in languages they had never learned. The evidence of this birth comes from the inward and spiritual grace that led three thousand people to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and savior.
On the day of Pentecost the number of believers increased from 120 to 3, 120 in a matter of minutes. As wonderful as the miraculous signs of wind and fire were, still more wonderful was the response of faith from the crowds who heard the apostles preach.
It was the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who gave life and power to the apostolic preaching. It was the Holy Spirit who spoke to the souls of people who had only recently rejected Jesus and led them to proclaim their faith and trust in Jesus. And. It was the Holy Spirit who transformed fearful and confused men into the preachers who went into the world with the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit gave birth to the church in Jerusalem that day. He reveals the purpose for the church. The purpose of the church is to be the instrumentality of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit fills, directs and comforts the church to accomplish that task. He inhabits the soul of everyone who proclaims faith in Jesus Christ. He speaks in many and various ways to all people everywhere so that they would open their minds and hearts and wills to be found by God in Jesus Christ.
The work of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the continuation of the ministry of Jesus Christ. It is the proclamation of the Plan of Salvation, the invitation to Faith, and the very power of personal transformation into a new way of living.
Jesus not only promised to send the Holy Spirit, he promised that the Holy Spirit would be with us forever. The new life Jesus gives us through the Holy Spirit is forever. The new life is now. The new life is God with us in every moment of our lives and in every joy and every sorrow.
As we live into that new life, the Holy Spirit will enable us and equip us to accomplish amazing things for God. As we just heard read in the scriptures, the most amazing accomplishments will be in the re birth of a soul into the new life of eternal love in Jesus Christ.
Today, this moment, ask the Holy Spirit to release His divine power into your life. Ask him to be for you who Jesus wants him to be: the Presence of God in your soul now and forever. Amen.