Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

Receive the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 5:15-21  The Message

^11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!

So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!

¹⁷ Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
^18-20 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.

Relationships

²¹ Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.

 

For Reflection 

It might be interesting to think about what is meant by "the barren pursuits of darkness."  These days, pursuits of darkness seem to be done in the light of day and re-named to elevate the sham to a lie.  Can you name the shams which are done in the name of Christianity, which are defended with scriptural citations and which are at their core destructive?

Read John.  As Christianity grew from its infancy, clashes between culturally established rules or norms and religion grew.  The early church had just as difficult a time differentiating between culturally based and Christian based proscriptions regarding living our lives.  Can you separate the two?

Pray

that you will be able to differentiate common culture from Christian culture. Pray for those who misrepresent common culture as Christian.  Pray for wisdom.  Pray that the love of God trumps proscriptions.

Joy in the Holy Spirit

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

Receive the Holy Spirit

Romans 14:13-21The Message

^13-14 Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.
^15-16 If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don’t eat, you’re no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!
^17-18 God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.
^19-21 So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.

 

For Reflection

 We are plagued with correctness.  Being right sometimes seems more important than leading others to the Christian life.  The Christian life is not about being correct.  The Christian life is about the free exchange of love.  Love moderates rules.

Every era has a culture that needs interpretation.  The Christ event and Jesus have shown us how to love unconditionally and how to divide the cultural rules from faith in God.  How are you doing?

Pray

for forgiveness when your faith sets you squarely in a dilemma.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving that God does not demand perfection, just our very best tries.  Pray for the grace of God to guide you.

Full of the Spirit and Faith

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

Receive the Holy Spirit

Acts 11:19-26  The Message

^19-21 Those who had been scattered by the persecution triggered by Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, but they were still only speaking and dealing with their fellow Jews. Then some of the men from Cyprus and Cyrene who had come to Antioch started talking to Greeks, giving them the Message of the Master Jesus. God was pleased with what they were doing and put his stamp of approval on it—quite a number of the Greeks believed and turned to the Master.
^22-24 When the church in Jerusalem got wind of this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to check on things. As soon as he arrived, he saw that God was behind and in it all. He threw himself in with them, got behind them, urging them to stay with it the rest of their lives. He was a good man that way, enthusiastic and confident in the Holy Spirit’s ways. The community grew large and strong in the Master.
^25-26 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. He found him and brought him back to Antioch. They were there a whole year, meeting with the church and teaching a lot of people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were for the first time called Christians.

 

For Reflection

 And so it begins.  Christianity has a name.  It is more than a novel idea.  Christianity is growing institutional substance.  Such substance, however, brings identity.  Identity breeds personal investment.  Personal investment limits growth.  Change becomes challenge.

The good news is that God's challenge is what has kept Christianity alive for thousands of years. God has seen to it that Conflict yields growth toward God's Kingdom.  Conflict yields a somewhat messy but always steady growth toward reconciliation.

Pray

so that your fear of change will not inhibit your growth.  Pray that you will listen to the rhetoric of Christians as they struggle with changing circumstances of contemporary cultures.  Pray for resolutions to conflict that will result in the glorification of God.

Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

Receive the Holy Spirit

Acts 10:39-48  The Message

^39-43 “And we saw it, saw it all, everything he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem where they killed him, hung him from a cross. But in three days God had him up, alive, and out where he could be seen. Not everyone saw him—he wasn’t put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand—us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with him after he came back from the dead. He commissioned us to announce this in public, to bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead. But we’re not alone in this. Our witness that he is the means to forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of all the prophets.”
^44-46 No sooner were these words out of Peter’s mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners. The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on “outsider” non-Jews, but there it was—they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God.
^46-48 Then Peter said, “Do I hear any objections to baptizing these friends with water? They’ve received the Holy Spirit exactly as we did.” Hearing no objections, he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Then they asked Peter to stay on for a few days.

For Reflection

 Who are today's outsiders?  Who among us wants to be a Christian, but is inhibited by some Christian's demeanor or inauthentic rules.  How many are truly turned away by their perceptions of Christian hypocrisy? How consistent with your faith are your behaviors? 

Pray

that all people will turn to God.  Pray for those who are actively spreading the Gospel.  Pray for those who are maturing in their faith.  Pray that you will continue to grow into the grace which God has delivered to you.

The Holy Spirit Speaks

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

Receive the Holy Spirit

Mark 13:5-11  The Message

^5-8 Jesus began, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When you hear of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history, and no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. But these things are nothing compared to what’s coming.
^9-10 “And watch out! They’re going to drag you into court. And then it will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because you carry my name. You’re placed there as sentinels to truth. The Message has to be preached all across the world.
¹¹ “When they bring you, betrayed, into court, don’t worry about what you’ll say. When the time comes, say what’s on your heart—the Holy Spirit will make his witness in and through you.

 

For Reflection

 We are "sentinels to truth."  Whatever transpires in this world, we the people of God stand as the image of truth, compassion, righteousness and peace.  The affairs of humankind are no match to the affairs of God.  Despots will come and go.  Natural disasters will plague us.  But, we, the sentinels of truth, will be beacons of hope, the purveyor of of righteousness.  Out witness to God aided by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit will perfect God's witness in and through us.

Pray

to see beyond the present time.  Pray that you will take a cosmic view of God's creation.  Pray that you will wait in patience for the opportunity to witness to truth.  Pray that you will listen to the God whispers, through the Holy Spirit.

Worship in Spirit and Truth

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

The Spirit of Truth

John 4:21-26The Message

^21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
^23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
²⁵ The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.”
²⁶ “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”

For Reflection
What you are called or what church you attend matters very little.  What matters is that you have been called to the Spirit.  What matters is that you have been a faithful servant of God.  What matters is that you have worshiped the living God.  What matters is that you have sought peace, justice and the Kingdom of God.  What matters is that you are true to your creator.

Pray

so that you will not falter from you call to the Living Lord.  Pray for forgiveness.  Pray for strength.  Pray for the opportunities to serve God.

I Commit My Spirit

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

The Spirit of Truth

Psalm 31:1-13 The Message

A David Psalm

31 ^1-2 I run to you, God; I run for dear life.
    Don’t let me down!
    Take me seriously this time!
Get down on my level and listen,
    and please—no procrastination!
Your granite cave a hiding place,
    your high cliff aerie a place of safety.

^3-5 You’re my cave to hide in,
    my cliff to climb.
Be my safe leader,
    be my true mountain guide.
Free me from hidden traps;
    I want to hide in you.
I’ve put my life in your hands.
    You won’t drop me,
    you’ll never let me down.

^6-13 I hate all this silly religion,
    but you, God, I trust.
I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love;
    you saw my pain,
    you disarmed my tormentors,
You didn’t leave me in their clutches
    but gave me room to breathe.
Be kind to me, God—
    I’m in deep, deep trouble again.
I’ve cried my eyes out;
    I feel hollow inside.
My life leaks away, groan by groan;
    my years fade out in sighs.
My troubles have worn me out,
    turned my bones to powder.
To my enemies I’m a monster;
    I’m ridiculed by the neighbors.
My friends are horrified;
    they cross the street to avoid me.
They want to blot me from memory,
    forget me like a corpse in a grave,
    discard me like a broken dish in the trash.
The street-talk gossip has me
    “criminally insane”!
Behind locked doors they plot
    how to ruin me for good.

For Reflection

God's OK!  But, I'm not so sure about God's Church!

Have you hear others express this sentiment?  Perhaps, you feel the same way sometimes.  Especially when I see what some are passing off as Christian; when the theology is poor and the actions are retributive.  Where is the Joy?  Where the Mercy?  Where is Forgiveness.

The church as an organization is fallible.  The Church's weaknesses provide strong reason to understand but little reason to abandon.  As flawed as it may be, communion with the faithful supports the spirit.  Given a chance, God's work moves forward.


Pray

For the Church Universal.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving for the living God, found in Jesus Christ.   Pray so that you remain in an intimate relationship with Christ. Pray so that you will not be trapped by churchish squabbles.  Pray that you will emulate the living Christ.