ICEL God Sends His Spirit of Life Pentecost Sunday Sermon Michael Fletcher

ICEL The Jewish Feast of Weeks 50 Days After Passover Commemorating the Word of God (Torah) being delivered to the Jews

ICEL The Christian Pentecost 7 Weeks After Easter Celebrating the Word of God (Spirit of Christ) becoming alive in us.

ICEL Can you imagine what life would be like if God never sent us His Spirit?

ICEL Ezekiel’s Vision

ICEL Ezekiel’s Vision (Ezek ) The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

ICEL Ezekiel’s Vision (Ezek ) 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

ICEL Ezekiel’s Vision (Ezek ) 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

ICEL Ezekiel’s Vision (Ezek ) 11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

ICEL Already and Not yet

ICEL In Acts 2: The Spirit was poured out on Jewish believers from every nation

ICEL Did God intend to pour forth his Spirit on the Jews alone?

ICEL “In the last days, I will pour forth my Spirit on all people” (Joel 2.28, Acts 2.17)

ICEL 7 years after the initial Pentecost In Acts 10: The Spirit was poured out on Gentile believers

ICEL The Mystery of the Gospel Jewish & Gentile believers are reconciled in Christ as one body (Ephesians 3 is very clear on this)

ICEL Can you imagine what life would be like if God had never sent his Spirit?

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If God had never sent His Spirit, the Church would not exist.

ICEL The direct consequence of God sending His Spirit, as recorded in Acts, was the formation of the Church …a Church without Borders.

ICEL “He who serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.” (Romans 14.18)

ICEL We are a living Church! We are alive because we have died with Christ & God sends His Living Spirit

ICEL Romans 8.11, 16-18, If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you…. 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us….

ICEL Romans 8.11, 16-18, We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

ICEL Romans 8.11, 16-18, In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

ICEL God’s Spirit sustains us at all times, we, the Church, are nothing, nothing, without the Spirit

ICEL “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!” (2 Corinthians 3.17)

ICEL “You were called to freedom brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5.13)

ICEL “…He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5.19)

ICEL “Small Scale Reconciliation” Greatness is not one big thing, it is thousands of little things working well together.

ICEL We have been given the ministry of reconciliation because we ourselves have been reconciled with God. “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4.19)

ICEL If we can be reconciled to God, then we can also be reconciled with one another because of His Spirit living in us.

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The Spirit is the Spirit of Reconciliation for today and helps us heal our relationships with our wives, husbands, children, parents, co-workers, and even our enemies.

ICEL God sending His Spirit was not simply an historical event, it is a daily occurrence, and we are nothing but dust & dry bones without His Spirit.

ICEL Praise God that He sent, and continues to send, His Spirit of Life, that we may truly live and be reconciled.