I Believe

Just a little poem that I scribbled out this morning.

I believe in the Holy Father

I believe in the Holy Son

I believe in the Holy Spirit

I believe in the Three in 0ne

God the Father rich in mercy

Jesus the Son rich in love

The Holy Spirit rich in power

I believe in the Three in One

I believe in a gracious Father

I believe in a resurrected Son

I believe in the gifts of the Spirit

I believe in the Three in One

Celebrate Pentecost, Celebrate!

When Pentecost, the Fiftieth day after Passover, came, all the believers were together in one place.  Suddenly, a sound like a violently blowing wind came from the sky and filled the whole house where they were staying.  Tongues that looked like fire appeared to them.  The tongues arranged themselves so that one came to rest on each believer.  All the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.  (Acts 2:1-4)

This Sunday marks the day on the calendar when Christians celebrate the Day of Pentecost.  We celebrate the Holy Spirit coming and filling believers.

Sometimes lost in that celebration is the history of Pentecost.  I believe we need that history to fully understand how significant this event truly is.

What was Pentecost?  It was a solemn festival of the Jews, so called because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day after the sixteenth of Nisan, (Mid March to Mid April) which was the second day of the Passover.  It was called the feast of weeks, because it was celebrated seven weeks after the Passover.  It was instituted to oblige the people to go to the temple of the Lord, there to acknowledge His absolute dominion over the country, and to offer Him the first fruits of the country.  In addition, they were to remember and give thanks to God for the law which had been given them at Sinai on the fiftieth day from their flight from Egypt!

A celebration of the law!

Imagine that celebration!

Woo-Hoo...the law!

Party!

Things have changed now though,.  Instead of celebrating the law, we celebrate the Holy Spirit filling each and every believer.

We went from celebrating law to celebrating life!

How do we get from law to life?

Jesus Christ!

Salvation!

At the end of Acts chapter 2, we see that when the Spirit came, thousands repented and were baptized!  The church grew by leaps and bounds and a genuine love for others was on display!

This summer, why not choose life? If you have already made that choice, then you really do have a reason to celebrate Pentecost!

On Tour With The HOLY SPIRIT

First let me say that I believe God still moves today. I KNOW for a fact Jesus still heals the sick! I believe the Holy Spirit comforts, counsels and convicts. (John 14:16; 16:7-11; 13)

What saddens me is when religion sucks the life out of something and the Holy Spirit is put into a box.

I first noticed this when I was living in TN. A friend invited me to his churches annual revival. Now I have no problem with an evangelistic event but lets just call it that. What I started noticing was that the revivals were all billed the same way.

Our (insert number here) annual Holy Spirit revival. It was something you could mark on the calender. I was once told I needed to come before the Revival ended. I also noticed no church held their revival at the same time. Each one was for a week and it then seemed to move to the next church.

I started feeling like the Holy Spirit was being put on tour and was curious how one goes about booking the Holy Spirit for an annual revival.

Now God's Word never returns void. (Isaiah 55:11) He uses these times and many have come to Christ. I praise Him for that. What makes me sad though is how many times it just felt like a, get your repenting done for the year, crusade. "Did you mess up brother, hang on revival is coming....in 2 months, don't miss it!"

Maybe it's just me but I think a real revival starts in our heart and it can't be booked in advance. It is something that breaks forth. It's not planned but comes after a season of repentance and prayer. It lasts as long as God wants it to.

So what's the point? The point is that God still moves. We should dig into the Word and seek Him with our whole hearts...and then revival will come.