“The Spirit Today”  Joel 2:28-32; I Thess 1:4-8

This creed describes the work of the Holy Spirit in more detail than any other creed.

            Sometime ago the Associated Press had this small article.  Glasgow, Ky.--Leslie Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had stolen the motor.” The exterior looked good.  The wheels were in place.  The steering wheel was there.  The car was all there, except for what was under the hood. 

            Today, we need the Holy Spirit.  We can have the church building; the heating and air; the bulletin nicely typed; we can have the church robes; we can even have our good works all lined up;  for that matter we can pass the litmus test of salvation; for that matter we can sing praise songs and speak in tongues.  But if we are not full of the Holy Spirit our motor is gone.  At the very least we can say we’re out of gas. 

The Spirit gives and renews life.

            In the Bible when God takes all of the chemicals of human beings, he then breathes on them, and they are given life.  In fact the word for spirit is the word for soul is the word for breath is the word for wind in the Hebrew- spirit, soul, breath and wind are all the same. When you stop breathing your spirit has departed.  In the New Testament when Jesus wanted to inspire and empower his disciples what did he do?  He breathed on them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  

            The images of the Holy Spirit are images of refreshment.  Wind that blows on a hot summers day; Oil that loosens what is dry and heals; Water that cleanses and gives life; The Holy Spirit is God at work in our lives today- intersecting us in our loneliness, unraveling our stress-induced knots, reminding our fogged up memories, convicting us when we are numb to sin, making us alive to the things of God- like the Bible, prayer and church.  Have you ever seen someone who thinks something is totally boring and then all of a sudden something clicks- turns on and the boring becomes the exciting?  I remember seeing that once in a boy who just couldn’t stand to read, and then he had an exciting English teacher who inspired him and it was so exciting to watch the lights turn on for that boy in terms of reading.  The Spirit is like that English teacher- inspiring us- the old English and King James word is “quickening.”  We were dead to God and the Spirit quickens us.

The Spirit gives grace.

            The Spirit gives us salvation.  We were dead in our sins, and God made us alive to Him through the grace of the Holy Spirit. 

            One of the signs of this grace is acceptance.  One of the great things, I think about being a Christian is you know who you are because you know whose you are.  You are accepted and loved by God Himself.  There is a tremendous pressure in our world to be accepted by others.  People can be quite frankly mean to someone who is a bit unusual.  In middle school they will make fun of your zit, or your braces, or your weight- too thin or too fat, or your hair, or having too much money or not enough money.  There is a danger, a real danger to think that you are unlovable and unacceptable.  The funny thing is that in middle school people are a bit awkward- bones are growing, hormones are kicking in.  Some people are a foot taller than others, while others haven’t had that growth spurt.  There is this invisible person who fits in perfectly.  This person is just a bit above average in everything- but not too far above.  I like Garrison Keiller’s sign off on “A Prairie Home Companion” Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.  Being a Christian means you have some confidence in who you are.  God made you that way.  In the 70’s people would leave home or graduate from college and go out to “find” themselves.  People still do, but not quite in as large a number.  There’s a great book about this called, “A Walk West” by Peter Jenkins.  He found out who he was at an African American Christian worship service.  He realized he was accepted for who he was by God.  God made him that way- gave him the talents, abilities, the place that he had.  There was no sense rebelling against it, instead he could learn to embrace and accept who he was because God did it.  We are made in the image of God.  As someone said, “God don’t make no junk.”  We are loved by God enough to send his son to die on the cross for us.  Don’t live as if you were inferior to everyone—that’s the devil’s trap- not God’s. 

The Spirit engages us

            The Spirit is God with us. The presence of the Spirit is a little bit like oxygen.  It is everywhere but can be concentrated for special use.  This is why Jesus said "when two or three are gathered there I am."  The Spirit is present when God's people are gathered.  Jesus said he was about to go to heaven but he wouldn’t leave us as orphans- he’d send his Spirit to us. The verbs in this confession are pretty strong verbs: inspires, rules, engages, claims, feeds, and calls.  In other words, God will not leave you alone.  If you want God too, then forget about it.  The hound of heaven will lead, convict, console, mold, break and use others to draw you to Himself.  Don’t try to fight God, rather surrender to Him. 

The Spirit gives us courage and empowers us.

            Bruce Larson wrote, When I was a small boy, I attended church every Sunday at a big Gothic Presbyterian bastion in Chicago. The preaching was powerful and the music was great. But for me, the most awesome moment in the morning service was the offertory, when twelve solemn, frock-coated ushers marched in lock-step down the main aisle to receive the brass plates for collecting the offering. These men, so serious about their business of serving the Lord in this magnificent house of worship, were the business and professional leaders of Chicago. One of the twelve ushers was a man named Frank Loesch. He was not a very imposing looking man, but in Chicago he was a living legend, for he was the man who had stood up to Al Capone. In the prohibition years, Capone's rule was absolute. The local and state police and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation were afraid to oppose him. But singlehandedly, Frank Loesch, as a Christina layman and without any government support, organized the Chicago Crime Commission, a group of citizens who were determined to take Mr. Capone to court and put him away. During the months that the Crime Commission met, Frank Loesch's life was in constant danger. There were threats on the lives of his family and friends. But he never wavered. Ultimately he won the case against Capone and was the instrument for removing this blight from the city of Chicago. Frank Loesch had risked his life to live out his faith. Each Sunday at this point of the service, my father, a Chicago businessman himself, never failed to poke me and silently point to Frank Loesch with pride. Sometime I'd catch a tear in my father's eye. For my dad and for all of us this was and is what authentic living is all about. 

            The Spirit gives us the power to witness among people and work for justice.  I was a very shy person.  I was so shy that when I talked to my wife, Kay in college about going into the ministry and speaking before hundreds of people each week she laughed at me.  She knew how very shy I was. But the Holy Spirit helps me to speak up.

            One of the Cub Scout core values is courage.  One of our own scouts from troop 411, Brian Connelly (now at the Citadel), was awarded the heroism award- not once but twice.  He once saved his sister from drowning in a pool- jumping in to get her.  Another time when he was a senior at Chapin High he saw his fellow football player/friend get in an accident on Amick's Ferry.  He administered CPR until the ambulance came.  The EMR personnel said that he saved that friend's life.  How do you motivate people to get involved in dangerous situations?  I believe the Holy Spirit prompts us.  Nate Morgan lives on the other side of the lake.  He received a lot of attention last June in his pursuit of his eagle award for boy scouts. He overcame a heat stroke, health problems, teasing from others, the people who said he couldn't do it.  Nate received his eagle award this past June.  But the amazing thing is Nate has Down's Syndrome, but he also has something else- a gift... courage.  Courage to persevere, to not give up.  Today I invite you to not give up, to keep on, to persevere, and not forget your motor- the Holy Spirit. 

            The Spirit gives us courage to do the right thing, to speak up for what is right, and as our creed says, “to serve Christ in our daily tasks.”