Born Again

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Send forth Thy Spirit and the faithful shall be created.
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

In Numbers 21, while the people of Israel were in the desert after escaping from their slavery in Egypt, a large number of them started to complain about the lack of bread and water in the desert. So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among them, which bit the people and many died. So the people came to Moses, apologized for complaining and asked Moses to pray that the LORD would take the snakes from them.

The LORD told Moses to make a snake and put it on a pole; anyone who was bitten could look at it and live. Moses made a bronze snake as instructed. The people who were bitten went to the snake, looked up to it, and lived. It was an instructive lesson about teaching faith to people, for to go to the snake was an act of faith in the LORD. If a person did not have faith in the LORD, he wouldn’t bother to go to the snake. Faith, you see, is trusting that someone will do something that has been promised. And this episode was recalled by Jesus many years later.

After Jesus began His ministry, he soon traveled to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festival. This festival happened every spring in March or April, at a time governed by the phases of the moon. A hundred thousand or more people came to Jerusalem at this time, and swelled the population of the city. It was a common festival shared by three of the four major groups of Jews.

The Sadducees loved the festivals, for they controlled the Temple. Thousands of sacrifices were made at the Temple, not just lambs, but full-grown sheep, goats, cattle, pigeons, as well as much fruit and grain. The Temple priests lived off these sacrifices. The Sadducees were concerned with properly following the laws of worship that Moses had brought down from God – and they were concerned with not upsetting the Romans, for they understood the Romans could destroy the Temple at any time.

A second group were the Zealots, who desperately wanted the Romans to leave. They were more concerned with the country of Israel than with the worship of God. Their main concern was that Jerusalem was for the Jews – and they wanted the foreigners out. A smaller group of the Zealots, the Sicari, were called this after the thin knife they used on the Romans in the back alleys of Jerusalem.

The third group, who avoided the festivals, were the Essenes. They stayed down in the Jordan Valley at their training center of Qumran, and practiced getting close to God. They wrote most of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And the fourth group are the Pharisees, the group who eventually evolved into the Orthodox Jews of today. The Pharisees were focused mostly upon the study of Scripture and the interpretation of the Law given to Moses to determine how a person should live and act. They were concerned with rules for living they found in the Law. They created entire encyclopedias from their discussions of the Law and how it should be applied. Today, these encyclopedias are called the Talmud. Every little detail of the Law is discussed and looked at from three or four different ways.

It was one of these Pharisees, a leader named Nicodemus, who came to visit Jesus one night after sunset. The man’s name means “Victory of the People”. His actions would tell us why he carried that name. For Nicodemus was not content to just listen to what other people said about Jesus. Nick wasn’t content to hear the sound bites and read the posters. No, the Victory of the People decided to find out what Jesus was teaching directly from Jesus.

So “Victory of the People” comes to find Jesus, but sneaks over after dark because he has his reputation to consider – he doesn’t want to be seen speaking with a possible revolutionary. But his first words explain why he had to go visit:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Like many people, Nicodemus knows there is something special about Jesus. So he has to meet Jesus to see just what is going on. He’s heard about the healings, the curing of the blind, the making of wine from water. He knows there is something really special, so he throws caution to the wind and sneaks over to Jesus’ place that evening. He pays Jesus a complement:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

But Jesus does one of those things where He just completely flips the conversation around. It’s like we are talking about the weather and then suddenly Jesus is talking about the price of software.

“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

Apparently Jesus accepts the compliment from Nicodemus without comment, determines that the Victory of the People is worthy of further discussion, even an advanced concept. So Jesus tells Nick that no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. But the Greek is a bit vague. It could be translated as “unless they are born from above”. Even today, people struggle with the idea. Nick tries to follow along, but this is a new idea, an odd concept.

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Nick is taking Jesus’ response literally and is confused. Now to understand Jesus’ next answer, we must remember that the Greeks used the same word, pneuma, to mean wind or breath or spirit. So let’s look at Jesus’ response in some detail:

“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” This could also be translated as “born of water and the breath”, which makes more sense to our 21st Century ears, for we realize people must be born of water through natural birth, and begin to breath, but this isn’t where Jesus is headed. “born of water and the Spirit” has been interpreted as water baptism and the receipt of the Holy Spirit. In other words, “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are baptized by water and receive the Holy Spirit.”

But Who is the Holy Spirit? The answer lies in the original Greek words. Pneuma to Hagion , literally wind/spirit/breath set apart. A way to think of the Holy Spirit – in older versions, the Holy Ghost, is that this is the breath of God which flows through the Universe, the third person of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus explains further:

"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

This makes sense. The body gives birth to another body, but it is the spirit (or wind) that gives birth to spirit (or wind).

"You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

The Greek actually translates as “Ya’ll must be born again.”

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Now our translators assume the meaning of pneuma is “wind”. And this makes sense. The wind cannot be controlled. It blows wherever it wants to. We can hear it, but we can’t tell where it is coming from or going to other than “East to West” or “North to South”. And then Jesus says that everyone who is born of the Spirit is equally unpredictable and uncontrollable.

Natural people, people who have not received the Holy Spirit are fairly predictable. First and foremost, they follow selfish desires, just as cattle and sheep do. Food, sleep, water, sex, safety guide natural people. The desire for money and power are simply the modern version of desires for food and safety, for the more money and power you have, the more control you have over supplying your basic needs.

But those who listen to the Holy Spirit will do things that aren’t so predictable. Why should a Christian policeman defend a group of people he doesn’t know against an active shooter? Why should a Christian pastor travel into a disease-filled hospital to pray with someone there? Why should a Christian Sunday school teacher sacrifice time and money to teach a group of children unrelated to her? Why should a Christian couple donate thousands of dollars for mission work? It is only because they are listening to the Holy Spirit that they do these things.

I once had a graduate student from China ask me, “Why do Americans adopt Chinese girl babies, even those with disabilities?” It made no sense to him that people would do this because of compassion. It was culturally foreign to him. But that's what people with the Holy Spirit do. “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Now Nicodemus is really confused. “How can this be?”

Jesus rebukes The Victory of the People. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?” You can almost hear the disgust the Son of God feels for the poor teaching in Israel.

Throughout the Old Testament, a handful of people from time to time were possessed by the Holy Spirit – Samson, King Saul, King David – or listened to the Holy Spirit – Samuel, the various prophets, the elders of Israel once in the wilderness. But only a few, and never a large percentage of people. And so, it was assumed by the wisest of Israel that the Spirit just randomly talked to people or took possession of them. They did not know how the Spirit related to life or salvation or anything. Some people just “had it” and most people didn’t. But Jesus was telling Nicodemus that the Spirit was vital, life-giving, and necessary to see the kingdom of heaven.

And we are the same way today. We either assume that the Holy Spirit “just speaks” to some people and not to most people – or we make the other assumption that the Holy Spirit MUST come in extreme power, demonstrated by miracles and speaking in tongues in order for us to be saved, as in the Full Gospel churches. But Jesus is saying that the Spirit is necessary for salvation – but Jesus is using the imagery of a gentle breath or a wind blowing, not a gale, not a hurricane of the Spirit. Just a gentle whisper of the Spirit is enough. But you must be born of water AND the spirit.

Jesus continues talking to Nicodemus, the Victory of the People:

“Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.” (here Jesus is referring to Himself). “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Here Jesus is referring to the episode in Numbers 21, where Moses was ordered to put the bronze snake on the pole. But now Jesus says that it is He who must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life. It is the faith in Jesus now that will grant eternal life just as the faith in the bronze snake would health the snakebite.

And now Jesus gives us the two most beautiful verses in the Bible, the two verses that explain God’s love and why Jesus came to earth.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

So many people have taken away the wrong message from their younger years in church. So many people have the wrong message that is wrongly shared in movies and television shows. So many people believe that Christianity is all about a series of rules about what to do and what not to do and that God will “get cha!” if you don’t walk the narrow line. And that is simply the wrong message. That message is almost exactly the opposite of the true message from Christ:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was part of the group of Jews who believed that God insisted on 100% obedience to the law given to Moses. Nicodemus was a leader in the Pharisees. That meant he was careful in his sacrifices, he was careful how he spoke, what he ate, how he dressed, how he prayed. Nicodemus was very careful, for he was afraid that God was just looking for Nick to trip up in the minefield that was the law given to Moses.

But Jesus spoke directly to Nicodemus, the Victory of the People, the man who cared enough about the people to go to Jesus that night in Jerusalem. And he told Nick that accepting baptism and the Holy Spirit were necessary to see the kingdom of God. Jesus never mentions following the Law. Jesus tells Nick that Jesus must be lifted up and believed in – not the Law. And Jesus also never insists that speaking in tongues or performing miracles is necessary. Just receiving the water and the Spirit. And Jesus speaks to the Victory of the People, not the king, not the wealthiest man, not the Trampled of the People. Jesus tells the Victory of the People:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Here was the word of God for the Victory of the People. We didn’t need to be successful to be loved and saved by God. We weren’t condemned by God for our sins. You see, there are enough people who are condemning the world and everyone in it. People condemn each other and themselves for their words, their actions, even for their friendships. Even today, people condemn people for using the wrong words, saying the wrong things – even for not saying certain things. People condemn people for how they dress, who they vote for, the songs they listen to, the food they eat, the cars they drive, the friends they have. People hate other people for all sorts of reasons. We are like a group of crabs in a bucket that are trying to climb out, but we pull each other back down into the bucket.

But God and Jesus are different. They lift us out of the bucket and expect Jesus’ followers to practice being different also. This is what the Victory of the People heard that night because he came to listen to Jesus instead of just listening to what other people said about Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.“

Jesus spent the three years of His adult ministry teaching people about God’s love, God’s second chances, God’s desire that people be lifted up rather than pushed down. Why?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.“

Jesus trained up a group of men and women who would go into the world and spread this different way of thinking about God. His disciple Paul spoke in Romans, Chapter 8 of how following the Spirit would lead to great freedom:

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”

Our Father God loves us. But few people listen to this, preferring, for some strange reason, to believe that God hates them. Are you one of those people? Or will you listen to what Jesus told the Victory of the People?

800 years before Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, God spoke to the prophet Isaiah.

God gave Isaiah a vision of God’s throne room, surrounded by flying angels with deep booming voices.

“Woe to me!” Isaiah cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

"Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

"And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

God took Isaiah, “a man of unclean lips”, a man who spoke poorly of God – purified Isaiah from his guilt, and gave him a second chance. God asked “Whom shall I send” and Isaiah said “Here am I. Send me!”

and God sent him forth to speak the truth of God. God took a man who spoke poorly of God and used Him to speak of His own Son.

Perhaps God will do the same for you, child of God! God has always preferred to send the willing more than God has worried about education or speaking ability or anything else except for a willingness to listen to the Holy Spirit and what God wants.

This morning, the Lord is still saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” God is awaiting your answer, child of the creator of the Universe. What do you say? God says, “Whom shall I send?” What do you say?!

Turn to the God who loves you. If you here in person, you might want to come to the altar rail to pray and ask forgiveness for what you’ve done wrong. You might want to come to the altar rail to pray for a friend, a neighbor, a relative. You might want to pray for all those people who have been frightened of God. You might pray that they would come to know God’s love. You may need baptized – let me know.

If you are listening on the radio or on Facebook, take this time to pray for yourself, your friends, family, and neighbors, for all the people you can see in the world. Pray that they will all come to know God’s love. You might also want to come and join us for this morning’s service at 10:30 at our building on Rt 47 just beyond WVU-Parkersburg, for what you are listening to is a delayed broadcast, delayed one week on the radio. Come and join us at Cedar Grove United Methodist.

While you pray, we’ll sing:

Closing Song: Here I Am, Lord 593

Benediction: May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit fill you and guide you this week, that you may do the will of God. Be blessed!

Closing Song – Victory in Jesus 370

Go and Praise God all week long!

The Spirit Arrives

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Send forth Thy Spirit and the faithful shall be created.
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Acts 2

Jesus left us a week-and-half ago. This morning was the Festival of First Fruits, the day when everyone brought the first part of the spring harvest to the Temple in Jerusalem and gave those first fruits to God. It was also the day that Noah had stepped out of the Ark onto dry ground. It was king David’s birthday – and his death day. This was the day known as Pentecost – Fifty days – for it was fifty days after the Passover. It was, for us, fifty days since Jesus had come back alive. Exactly 7 weeks and one day. And it was ten days since Jesus left us and ascended to His Father – and our Father – in Heaven.

We were sitting around the upper room that early morning, praying and reading scripture for guidance. We really couldn’t do much else – Jesus had told us to stay in the city until we received power from God.

We had replaced Judas with Matthias, so we now were back up to the full Twelve witnesses. Another larger group of men and women brought us up to a grand total of about 120 people who believed that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior. We were sitting around, reading scripture and praying, smelling the sweet smells of breakfast cooking, listening to the sounds of the city, when it happened.

Suddenly, the house was filled with a sound like a violent wind – but there was no wind. Instead, we saw tongues of fire that separated and settled on each of us. And we received the Holy Spirit and began to speak the praises of God to each other.

We spoke in different languages, languages we did not know, languages new to each of us – but there were people in the house and near the house who understood what we were saying! I grew up in Galilee, but I shouted “Mirabilis Deus” to a Roman standing outside the window. He looked to the sky and smiled. I turned to the Greek man next to the Romans and shouted “O Theós eínai ypérochos”, and the man waved back with a smile. And a crowd formed as more and more people heard us.

Then a woman who lived down the street asked “what is happening?”. A guy who ran a market stall across from her shouted back, “They’ve had too much wine!” and a group of men laughed with him.

But then Peter stood up on the edge of room, overlooking the street below, and the other Eleven of us stood up in a line behind him. Peter, that boat captain, shouted out in that huge bellow that only a ship captain caught in a gale can shout,

“Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

And the crowd shut up and listened to Peter. For a half an hour Peter preached to them. He told them of Jesus, how he did miracles, as they knew. He told them that God handed Jesus over to them to be killed on the cross and then God raised Jesus from the dead. He spoke of David’s prophecies, and he told the crowd that God has raised this Jesus to life and we are all witnesses of it – and the Eleven of us shouted our support of Peter’s testimony, Twelve men standing before the people of Jerusalem testifiying that Jesus had done miracles and signs through God’s power, that Jesus had been killed, and that Jesus had been raised by God to be our Lord and Messiah. And the crowd gasped, cut to their hearts, aware of their guilt, the mistake they had made in demanding Jesus’ death, and they asked us, “Brothers,

What shall we do?”

And Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Peter continued to speak and warned them and pleaded with them to “Save themselves from this corrupt generation. And we baptized, we baptized for hours and hours, about three thousand people that day, I lost count of my own baptisms around 250, and I probably continued for another half hour after that.

I walked over to Matthias. He was just sitting there, weeping and crying and repeating, “To think I was part of this! To think I was part of this!” And we leaned on each other, we were so exhausted. Having the Spirit’s power flow through us like it did that day, I think I have an idea what it’s like for a tree to get struck by lightning.

It was a good day! It was such a good day! I slept until noon the next day!

….

Pentecost. The day the church suddenly grew from around 120 followers of Jesus to over 3000 people. And it never looked back, growing everyday from then to the billions who follow Jesus today. We are here because of the events of that day.



But this had long been predicted. A day when the Holy Spirit would enter people who were spiritually dead had been predicted 650 years earlier, around 622 BC, Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, a Levitical priest of Israel, encountered God. Ezekiel’s name means, “God Strengthens”. He lived at the same time as Jeremiah and Daniel, about 20 years older than Daniel. He had been exiled from Jerusalem for five years and met God’s messengers in Babylon. God spoke to Ezekiel many times over the next few years, and today, we go to Ezekiel’s prophecy in chapter 37 of his book.

"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. 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. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

Notice Ezekiel’s response. An ordinary man would have said, “There’s no way these bones can live.” Another man might have just laughed. But Ezekiel knew the power of God and so he said to God, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” God alone controls the life and death of people, the life and death of countries, the life and death of churches. God has the power – and is Sovereign. No one makes God do anything – or stops God from doing anything. So God spoke again to Ezekiel:

"Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 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.’”

"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. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them."

Can you imagine? Simply speaking what God had asked Ezekiel to speak, the bones assembled themselves and the tendons and the flesh and the skin came back onto the bones, and there were now lying a valley filled with unliving bodies. Ezekiel tells us more about what God said and did:

"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.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army."

Back from the dead, the people of Israel stood on their feet again. They had been destroyed by the Babylonians, but in this vision they lived again because God wanted them to live. And now God explained the vision to Ezekiel, to the people of Israel, and to us.

"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.’ 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. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 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.’”

God has the power to resurrect people – Jesus and Lazarus and Dorcas are the proof. God has the power to resurrect a country – Israel is the proof, resurrected in 1948 after centuries of occupation. And God has the power to resurrect a church – and this church is the proof – look at how many people are now here compared to during the darkness of the pandemic. You see, we are not dead until God says we are dead. Praise God!

For now, for our church, the only question is, “how quickly will we grow”? For that depends upon how many people are willing to speak to the dead bones around us and remind them that God wants them to live. How many people will you speak to yourself – some of you are very good at speaking to people, I’ve noticed!

You are now standing in the middle of a valley filled with dry bones, people who have spiritually died because they lost a job, people who have spiritually died because they lost a relationship, people who have spiritually died because they made a bad choice. All of these people are lying there, just waiting for someone to speak the word of God to them, to remind them that God is here, ready to bring them back to life, to give them purpose, to give them hope, to remind them that they are truly worth something. People of God, go prophesy to the dry bones around you and say, “God wants you to live and you shall live!”

For you were redeemed from the valley of dry bones yourself by God working through another person, a person following the Holy Spirit of God!

But you might be a collection of dry bones yourself. How do you know that your spiritual bones are dry? Let me ask some questions and you can answer.

Are most days a struggle? Are there so many things going wrong in your life that it is hard to think of what is going right? You may have dry spiritual bones.

Do you feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, every day the same, stuck in a routine where you want more, but you can’t break free from the pattern? Do you want something more, but you can’t find it? You may have dry spiritual bones.

Do you feel like a burden to those people around you? Or do you feel like you are carrying the load of five people? Would you like to drop your load? Would you like to be able to walk, standing tall once again? You may have dry spiritual bones.

Have hope! Even now, God is preparing someone to speak with you, God is giving someone words to put flesh and tendons and meat back onto your spiritual bones. Even now God is preparing someone who will speak God’s words to you. Even now, hope is on the way. But you may need to walk a short distance to meet that person. You may need to walk or drive to a church to hear from that person – or they may be ready to speak to you in just a few minutes. Be ready to listen, for God is calling all people back to life in the Spirit.

You see, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth. This man, both man and God on earth, walked around the Holy Land for three years, teaching and training His group of followers. He repeatedly said or did something to support His claim to be God on earth, God’s Son. He said “I and the Father are one.” He healed people and brought people back to life. And then He was arrested and executed for claiming to be close to God. Yet He choose to go to His death, so He could die instead of us for all the things we’ve done wrong, all the sins we’ve committed, all the evil deeds we’ve done and the evil things we’ve said. And then, He came back alive and was seen alive again by over 500 people, witnesses that often chose to die themselves rather than deny the truth of what they’d seen. And Jesus taught that those who follow Him will also be brought back to live with Him one day. Our dry bones will come back from the grave and we will live again! But first, we must spiritually live by choosing to follow Jesus Christ.

It is possible that even now, you are a collection of dry bones that is being brought back to life by the words of God. You might be listening on the radio. If so, rejoice and come to Cedar Grove United Methodist to meet us. We can help you to spiritually come alive! You can find us at the church on the hill just past the WVU-Parkersburg parking lot. Our live services and Facebook Live services are at 10:30 am every Sunday morning.

We don’t have magic answers here. No, we just love strangers. We are simply able to accept you and lead you to Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the words of God that bring spiritual life to dry bones. No magic. Just the wisdom that comes from God, the wisest Being in the entire Universe. Just the love that comes from Jesus Christ, the man who chose to die so we would not have to die. Just the power that flows through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that brought the dry bones back to life.

If you are fully vaccinated, you do not need to wear a mask because the vaccines are remarkably effective at stopping COVID. If you haven’t been vaccinated, we suggest that you wear a mask, because we do have children here who have also not been vaccinated, and, as we all know by now, children can have the COVID infection and not show symptoms. We want you to be safe. We want you to become alive again!

So be sensitive. Look around at the dry bones in this valley. Speak to the dry bones and tell them of God's power, Jesus' love, and the wonder of the Holy Spirit. And watch those bones come to life!

Let us sing,

Closing Song: Spirit of God, Descend Upon my Heart 500

Benediction: May words of God and the love of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit give you the boldness to bring dry bones back to life this week. Do what the Spirit asks and be blessed! 

Now listen to this song! – Pass It On 572

Go and Praise God all week long!

The Ascension

"Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Send forth Thy Spirit and the faithful shall be created.
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth."

It had been a wild and crazy six weeks. Our leader, Jesus of Nazareth brought us together for the Passover Meal on Thursday evening. He washed our feet like the lowliest slave, then shared the meal with us. He took the bread and said it was to be His body; He took the wine and said it was His blood. We passed both around, sharing the bread and sipping from the same cup. He spoke at length to us of his approaching death.

He continued talking as we walked toward the Mount of Olives. He stopped in front of a grapevine and told us we had to remain in Him as the vine’s branches remain in the vine, and that we were to bear fruit and love each other. We went into the Garden of Gethsemane where He prayed – and we fell asleep. And then Judas returned with soldiers and they arrested Jesus. We ran.

He was tried and convicted of claiming to be God. He was sentenced to death, and nailed to the cross, and there He died on Friday afternoon and was buried in a rock cave tomb.

And then, on Sunday we began to hear rumors that He was alive. First the women, then Peter and John, then Cleopas and another came back from Emmaus, and then He appeared to us, alive, miraculously alive! He spoke to us, allowed us to touch His body where the nail holes were, and ate some fish with us. And He continued to appear to us over the next few weeks, teaching us and pointing us to Hebrew scriptures that were written about Him. It was clear that He was God’s Son, part of God walking on the earth with us, and we had been privileged to be His students!

And then that day, 40 days after He had risen from the dead, He told us that He was going to send us power soon, but we were to remain in Jerusalem until we received that power from God the Father.

He led us up the Mount of Olives and just over the top to Bethany, the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. He told us to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and even Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Then, He lifted up His hands and blessed us – and began to rise into the heavens. He disappeared behind a cloud and suddenly we became aware of two men dressed in white who were standing with us. Nobody knew where they came from, but they spoke to us: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” And then they were gone, also.

And so we returned to Jerusalem that day, walking back into the city. We Eleven were there, along with Jesus’ brothers, the women, and Mary, His mother. We were soon joined by the other believers, so there were about 120 of us. And we continued in prayer and reading in scripture.

Peter stood up and told us that we must replace Judas. So we narrowed down the candidates to Barsabbas and Matthias, for both of them had traveled with us from John’s baptism until Jesus’ Ascension. And then, by drawing lots, God made the final selection of Matthias. And we continued to wait for the power Jesus had promised us. For ten long days we waited. We waited for the arrival of the Holy Spirit, even as we wait today.

…

After Jesus came back to life on that first Easter morning, after His Resurrection, the disciples began to report seeing Him alive, talking with Him, and even eating with Him. The four Gospels report different stories – but they are all in basic agreement. Jesus had died – of that they were sure. And Jesus came back to life. Of that they are also sure. Different groups of disciples and other followers had their own reports – and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John reported what they felt were the most relevant reports. Paul tells us that over 500 people saw Jesus alive after His execution.

Luke gives us the most detailed testimony of the story after the Resurrection. Perhaps that is because Luke was intentionally trying, more than the others, to give a summary of those eyewitness accounts because Luke was not present at the time. Instead, Luke had joined Paul during his journeys and become a convert, so Luke took advantage of a trip to Jerusalem to speak with Peter, John, and Mary, and other disciples who had followed Jesus around. And so Luke wrote almost half of the New Testament with his two books, the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

At the end of Luke’s Gospel account, he tells how the disciples were led by Jesus out to Bethany and then He ascended to Heaven. But in his sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, Luke gives more of Jesus’ speech before His Ascension.

Luke tells us that Jesus predicts that where John the Baptist baptized with water, there will soon be a baptism by the Holy Spirit. The disciples are excited. “Is this the time when the kingdom will be restored to Israel?” they ask.

Throughout history, men and women have looked toward religion to bring political power. It is telling that the disciples’ question at this time is a political question. They want to know if this is the time when Israel’s kingdom will be restored. For the disciples, like most Israelites, want the Romans kicked out of the country. They want Israel to become strong like it was at the time of David and Solomon, under the United Kingdom. They want a country they can be proud of, they are tired of being sneered at by Roman soldiers, they want to look at the Greeks and Egyptians and Arabs and say, “This is our country. Follow our laws!”

But Jesus doesn’t have these politics in mind. He knows that many people are looking to the Messiah as a great military leader. But Jesus has the long game in mind. He knows that winning a series of battles, even under His leadership, will not change the world for the better. Why not? Why wouldn’t a kingdom ruled by Jesus be vastly superior to a kingdom ruled by the Roman emperor?

Because the hearts and minds and souls of people would not have changed. And, as important as we consider this life, it is not as important to God as our souls.

Back in the Garden of Eden, two people had chosen to disobey God – and after thousands of years, even after a thousand years of being given the Law from God through Moses, people still were looking everyday for loopholes in the law, because down deep in their hearts, people didn’t want to obey God – Instead, they wanted to do things their own way. And so Jesus’ ministry was filled with people who were asking Him about loopholes in the Law, ways to do what they wanted rather than what God wanted. People even used the Law as a club to beat up people they didn’t like instead of a guide to keep themselves on the good side of God.

Jesus’ disciples were verbally attacked for eating grain in a field on the Sabbath because that was said to be “work”. Jesus was attacked for healing people on the Sabbath because that was “work”. BAM! Swing that club!

Jesus chewed out loophole-chasing men for declaring their inheritance to be sacred to God so they wouldn’t have to use it to support their parents. He chewed out others for insisting that people wear fancy robes that cost much money and claiming that those who did not wear those robes were not following God. He generally called religious leaders “hypocrites” for ordering others to do difficult things under the law but then finding sneaky ways around the law for themselves. Jesus knew that people’s hearts were no different than they had been in the Garden – people just wanted to do what they wanted to do rather than obey God. There was no love of God in the hearts of men and women.

And so when the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”, Jesus knew nothing had changed, even with His own disciples after three years of teaching - and so a restoration of the powerful Kingdom of David and Solomon would not make any difference in the world. Only the names of the leaders would change – people would still follow their own way and not God.

And so Jesus said to the disciples: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” Only God knows when the kingdom will be restored – not the disciples, not us.

Yet we still persist in predicting political things and the ends of everything and the return of Jesus. My son, who is 23 years old, points out that, according to the predictions and press coverage, the world has already ended five times in his lifetime alone. But we still want to know these things.

We want to know if the Romans will rule or the Messiah will rule. But our hearts haven’t changed. And we know this because most people are much more concerned with political fights than helping their neighbors. Most people listen or watch more political news each day than the time spent reading their Bibles. Most people would rather talk on Facebook about Trump or Biden’s policies than talk to a single friend or relative or neighbor about what Jesus can do for them. We want the Messiah who is the political leader who conquers our enemies rather than the quiet teacher that Jesus actually was, the God-man who spoke to people about treating enemies as well as we treat our friends.

Jesus knew that a major change was necessary to change people’s hearts, but changing the government of the territory of Israel was not going to make real change for ordinary people. Jesus saw that the Law given by Moses had not really changed the hearts of most people, but had only changed things so the law could be used as a club rather than everyone simply being beaten up by the biggest and strongest Goliath among them. And so, it was necessary to go to the hearts of people directly.

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus wasn’t going to give His people political power. Instead, Jesus was going to give His people the power of the Holy Spirit, which is much more powerful, for it proceeds directly from God the Father and God the Son. Here was the power to heal people. Here was the power to understand all languages. Here was the power to receive messages directly from God. Here was to the power to know God’s will. Here was the power to raise people from the dead!

But the power of the Holy Spirit is like one of those weapons you’ve heard of that is keyed to the fingerprint of the owner and can only be used by the owner. These weapons exist to keep immature children and criminals from abusing the powers of the weapon, from hurting themselves and from hurting others, ensuring that only responsible owners can use the weapon. Only responsible, mature owners.

The power of the Holy Spirit is like that. It cannot be used except by someone who is humble enough to bow to Jesus, someone who is obedient enough to be baptized and have their heart changed, someone who is willing to listen to the wisdom given by the Spirit and follow the Spirit’s leading, for God the Holy Spirit is God, and will not allow evil to be done through the power given, for the power of the Holy Spirit only flows through us and is not a power we have control over. And the only people who can use the power of the Holy Spirit are those people who understand that the Spirit has greater wisdom than they do, and so they are content to be an instrument of that power and not control that power.

The only control we have over the power given by the Holy Spirit is to accept what the Spirit wants to do – or to quench that power, like pouring gallons of water on a charcoal grill. The Spirit suggests and controls the power itself. If we want to see that power in action, we have to be humble enough to let the Spirit act through us.

And so, Jesus told the disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them – but it was not a power they could abuse, only a power that would allow itself to be used for good. They could only use the power if they had a humble heart, a good heart, a heart that wanted God’s will done. It is still that way today.

 
C.S. Lewis, the Oxford and Cambridge professor who wrote “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” and many essays on Christianity, once wrote: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”

Jesus, by offering the disciples – and us – the power of the Holy Spirit allowed them – and us – to make that choice. We can listen to the Spirit’s gentle whisper and do the Spirit’s bidding with great power – or we can choose our way, with power that is weak and decreases until the day we die and leave Jesus behind forever.

And so, over the centuries, the hearts of humans have been changed by this power. Merely desiring the power of the Holy Spirit means we must change our hearts so they align with God’s will. Successfully having the power of the Spirit flow through us pulls us much closer to God.

But not all who claim to be Christian have changed their hearts. Even today, there are people who insist that the most important things are the politics of the day. Even today, there are people who want a messiah to ride in and lead the nation. But even today, Jesus wants each of us to look first at ourselves, letting our hearts be changed so we can be humble enough to use the great power of the Holy Spirit to change ourselves and lead our neighbors to change.

I know that many of you would like to change the world. But when we try to change the world, it can lead us to forget to help the person who lives next door to us. When we try to change the big things of government, we justify forgetting about our neighbors because we have “more important” things on our agenda. When we strive to make a glorious change that the people of the world will remember for centuries, we are striving for our glory – but we have forgotten that God deserves the glory. And rather than change the world through winning a great battle by force of arms – or through an election, Jesus wants you to change your heart first, and then use that Holy Spirit power to change the people around you because they see you doing God’s will in the little things. To ascend to greatness, we must first stoop to changing the little things for the better. To ascend to greatness, we must first stoop to changing the little things for the better.

Do you bring your family and neighbors and grandchildren to church? Do you read and teach scripture to your children and grandchildren? Do you reach out to your neighbors and praise God in front of them? Do you listen to the Holy Spirit and say what the Spirit suggests to your co-workers – instead of what your flesh really wants to say? Do you show joy and peace to all who speak to you – or do you show hate and anger?

I have many friends on Facebook who post snarky, nasty things about other people and the other political party. Those who complain breed like rabbits, it seems. I don’t have many friends who are more consistently a source of joy and peace and who uplift others. They are like rare and beautiful gems lying in a land of burnt, blackened lava.

But it is very hard to listen to the Holy Spirit if you’ve spent years ignoring the Spirit. So how do we learn to listen to the Spirit?

First, we must be baptized. We must accept that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, God the Son walking upon the earth, and we must recognize that this means He has the wisdom of God and the love of God and this means He is worthy of being followed. As Christians, we are to be baptized. Speak to me and we’ll arrange it.

Second, we must learn to be humble – and quiet. We do this by finding a quiet place, a place without music, without distraction, a place where we can focus for a few minutes. Sometimes it helps to read some scripture to settle down. We have arranged our porch to have flowers and a quiet bubbling fountain. It is our quiet place.

Next when we are quiet and in our quiet place, we simply pray: “Holy Spirit, what would you have me do?” AND THEN LISTEN! You can speak back and forth, but listen to the Spirit. The true Spirit will never ask you to do anything that will harm you or another.

Finally, do what the Spirit has asked you to do. See what happens.

Jesus said that we are to be His “witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth”. Why these territories?

Jerusalem was where the disciples were. It was the place where they had all been brought to, it was where they were right now. They understood Jerusalem, they understood the people, they lived there with safe places. And so they were to begin by speaking to people there about Jesus. They were to speak to their neighbors and family and friends about Jesus.

Judea was the area near Jerusalem. It was about three times the area of Wood County, WV. You might think of it as a nearby area like the Mid-Ohio Valley. It is the nearby area. The disciples traveled through these towns regularly. They understood them. They were to speak to the people they met there about Jesus.

Samaria was north of Jerusalem, between Jerusalem and Galilee where a different sort of people lived, the Samarians, who weren’t quite Jewish. They had different customs. We might think of this as an area like the Clarksburg area or the Northern Panhandle, where people speak differently and have slightly different customs. After a persecution made most Christians flee from Jerusalem, several key followers of Christ began a ministry in Samaria, with great results. It was trickier, but the disciples found a way.

And then there is the ends of the earth, which is everywhere else. After a few years, the disciples drew lots and each one decided to visit various lands to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. Some went to Italy, some to Greece, others to Egypt and Iran and Turkey and Spain and even to India. They went as far as possible by boat, by camel, by donkey, by foot. And they told people everywhere about Jesus, and slowly churches were founded and people became followers of Jesus. We are in this church today because of those disciples that went to the ends of the earth. And we have people in this church who are doing this today.

And in this way, the hearts of people around the world began to change, because people spoke to other people about the love of Jesus and His sacrifice.

We live in a county where 2 out of 3 people cannot claim a home church. We live in a county where most people you talk with don’t really understand what it means to be a Christian. And we are called to be witnesses for Jesus.

Will you tell someone this week what God and Jesus has done in your life? Would you like to understand better how to do this? If so, come to the workshop Tuesday the 18th at 7 pm and Saturday the 22nd at 11 am here at the church. And we’ll learn together how to lead someone to understand the love of Christ for them. And if you don’t know that love, join us also at 7 pm on the 18th or 11 AM on the 22nd.

And in the meanwhile – be ready to do good things for your neighbors, friends, and family. Because that’s what Christians do. That’s what Christians have done ever since Jesus ascended to Heaven on that day late in May of the year 33. For while He ascended to Heaven, our hearts began to ascend from the muck and mire of the swamp of selfishness in which they lay, to the heights of self-sacrificing agape love to which Jesus calls us.

And one day, when He returns, we will ascend also and meet Him in the air. Hallelujah!

Amen!

Benediction: May the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ inspire you to be lifted up, to open yourself to the Holy Spirit, and to allow God’s will to be done in your life!

The Fruit of the Spirit

Happy Easter!

Easter isn’t a day; Easter is a season.

He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!

On the way from the Last Supper to Gethsemane, Jesus apparently stopped in front of a particularly fine grapevine to make some points, as I mentioned last week. The most important point He made was that we must stay connected to Jesus as the branches of a grapevine must stayed connected to the main vine if they – or we – are to produce fruit. No branch cut off from the vine will produce fruit. And so we find the danger of trying to live our lives cut off from Jesus, cut off from other believers, cut off from the church. For if we are cut off, we will wither and die, drying up, eventually only suitable to be burned in a fire.

In today’s reading, Jesus continues His talk using the grapevine as a metaphor. He says: 

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

It would be less than 24 hours before Jesus would lay down His life for His friends. For in an hour or so, Jesus would be arrested, taken in front of the ruling religious council, the Sanhedrin, tried by the High Priest, and be found guilty of blasphemy, in this case, claiming to be equal with God the Father. He had repeatedly claimed to have a close relationship with God the Father, and this time he was charged with blasphemy, a capital crime in Jerusalem at that time. He was then taken to the Roman Governor Pilate for sentencing, a death sentence pronounced, and then, after a severe beating, Jesus was taken outside the city and nailed to a cross, where he died of suffocation that Friday afternoon. Jesus was dead. His body was placed in a rock cave tomb, the tomb was sealed with a 2000 pound boulder, and a 16 man guard rotation was set up to watch over the tomb by the High Priest and Pilate.

But then on Sunday morning, some women found the guards were missing, the tomb was open, and Jesus body wasn’t there. They told Peter and John, two of the disciples, who checked it out. It was true. Then Jesus appeared alive to Mary Magdalene. Then later to Peter, then to two disciples on the road, then to ten disciples in a locked room, and a week later to all eleven surviving disciples. Jesus spoke with them, let them touch him, ate with them, and later cooked breakfast for a group of them. He was eventually seen by over 500 people in at least eleven different appearances. He had died, claiming to be carrying God’s words for all people, He had claimed to be God’s Son, God Himself walking on the earth and had been killed for these claims, yet here He was, alive again.

And He told them that He had defeated Death – and with His help, they would also see Death defeated.

He spoke to His disciples, though, late that evening before His arrest:

14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Two commands here. Love each other – and go and bear fruit that will last.

And so, even today, we who are Christians know that love is a key command given to Christians. But what love? The Greek language that the Gospels were written in has four separate words for love. Eros, which is the physical love of a man and a woman. Philia, which is the love of two brothers for each other. Storge, or the affection children have for their kindly grandparents, and Agape, which is used here. Agape means a charitable love, love given without anything expected in return, a giving sort of love. This is the love that Jesus demonstrates with His death upon the cross and the love He asks of us when He says, “This is my command: Love each other.”

For when Jesus died upon the cross, He was fulfilling the ancient need for blood sacrifice to pay our debts to God for the sins, the crimes we had committed against God. And since Jesus was a human, His sacrifice was real on behalf of all humans. And since Jesus was also God’s Son, His value was infinite, valuable enough to pay all the sin debts of all the people every born before, during, and after Jesus’ time. Our sin was paid for by Jesus’ death upon the cross – and now we do not need to die the real death, but can simply sleep until Jesus awakens us. This gift was given to us by Jesus – all we have to do is accept the Gift by acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore has the power to do what He claimed. And, of course, this means we must begin to follow Jesus, for if Jesus is truly the Son of God, why wouldn’t you choose to listen to Him and follow Him, for He has the wisdom of the ages and has shown that He will die for you and me, He loves us so much?

Jesus said that we are to love (agape)each other. Yet this seems to be a difficult thing for Christians to consistently do. So today we’ll jump forward to the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which should explain why this is so difficult.

Paul has been talking about people being enslaved to their guilt under the law. Since everyone has disobeyed the moral law, everyone has guilt, and that guilt enslaves us. But Christ has set us free – His sacrifice paid the price for our disobedience – whether one great sin or many smaller sins.

Yet many people walk as though they are wanted men or women. We remember what we have done wrong – and do not fully believe that Jesus has actually paid the price. Although we are not in prison, we act like the wanted men or women who are expecting to be pulled over by the police at any moment, locked up and the key thrown away. We can’t seem to get it through our minds that we are free, even though we may have heard repeated sermons where we are told that if we pray to God and ask forgiveness, God will forgive us, because Jesus has paid the price for our sins, our wrongs, our crimes against God and others. And so we continue to act out of fear – and fear leads us to anger and anger to hate and from hate there are new sins, new wrongs done to others, new crimes against God.

You may say, “I know that God has forgiven me, but I can’t forgive myself because what I did was wrong.” 

Here’s the problem with this – you are making God smaller than the Law which God created. For without God, there would be no moral law worth anything. God created the moral law – and God can forgive you of breaking the moral law, for God is much greater than that law. God is more foundational than the law, for God created the law. If God has forgiven you – will you be so arrogant to tell God that your thoughts on the matter are so much more important than what God has said about your forgiveness?

Receive God’s forgiveness – you are free from the guilt of what you have done. And now Paul tells us our path forward. Paul says, we were called to be free. But we should not use our freedom to commit more sins, but instead to serve each other humbly in love, in agape love. “Love your neighbor as yourself”.

Paul says then that “we should walk by the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is given to each believer, normally at baptism, and the Spirit becomes a quiet whisper in our minds, guiding us in right action and speech IF we will listen to the Spirit’s voice.

Paul reminds us that our flesh, our natural body, desires what is contrary to the Spirit – and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other. How does that work in our lives?

Has anyone every tried to go on a diet or a fast? The Spirit tells you that you should only eat fruits and vegetables, but the flesh says, “Cheeseburger, French fries, and plenty of chocolate for dessert!” The Spirit wants you to live until you are 85, but the flesh says, “Another three slices of pizza would be good today!” The Spirit says you need to take a walk around the neighborhood, but the flesh says, “Let’s get a quart of ice cream out of the freezer, sit on the couch, and watch “Dancing with the Stars”.

Paul goes on to tell us that you can look at yourself and see what Paul calls the “acts of the flesh”. He says they’re obvious: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft;” (So far, we’re doing pretty good, eh? But now Paul gets personal with us) “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” Paul then says, “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

So we should look at this list as a list of warning signs for us as Christians. Let’s look at them one more time, the acts of the flesh: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”

But then Paul goes on to talk about “the fruit of the Spirit”: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Let’s look at those again: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Now I want to be very clear about something. These are the FRUIT of the Spirit. Fruit is what happens at the end of the branches. Don’t get things turned around – You won’t get this fruit by working very hard on your love, your joy, your peace, etc. You get this fruit by listening to the Spirit – and then the fruit will naturally blossom.

So you are going through a stressful situation, your response should clearly not be a fit of rage – that’s one of the acts of the flesh. But it should also not be “OK, body, lets work hard at self-control.” That’s trying to grab the fruit with out listening to the Spirit, and the only thing that will happen is that some other act of the flesh will pop out, like jealousy - while you’re trying to grab that fruit of self-control.

No, instead, the proper response when under stress is to pray under your breath, “Holy Spirit, what should I say or do?” And then LISTEN HARD for the response deep in your mind. It may be something as simple as “smile” or “go home” or “Say the Lord’s Prayer.” It may be something more complicated. But pray, listen, and do. Pray to the Spirit, listen to the Spirit, and do what the Spirit says.

And the amazing thing is that Paul’s prescription comes true. The fruit of the Spirit will pop out for you and you’ll show one or more of those fruit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

What do each of these fruit words mean?

Love is agape love. It is doing something for another without the need for a response. For example, your neighbor goes on vacation or is in the hospital. The flesh says, “Their yard is SOOOO messy. I’ll call the city on them.” But agape love fires up our lawn mower and mows the neighbor’s yard or weed’s her flower garden, especially if we don’t know him or her. And furthermore, it is doing all this even if we know that our neighbor is a crabby trouble-maker. We do it because we know that act makes us beloved by God and a better person – it has nothing to do with the person whose yard needs mowed.

Joy is not happiness. No, joy is that feeling of knowing that life – even death – is filled with hope, a feeling that all will turn out just fine, no, just WONDEFUL in the end. Turn to your neighbor and say, “If you follow Jesus, you will live forever”. And SMILE at them, for that idea is surely good to give you Joy. The Spirit has told me that you need to hear this song today:

SMILE

The Holy Spirit will remind you that you can always choose joy, even when you can't be happy.

Peace is knowing that all is well with our souls, that God loves us, and that nothing bad will happen because we have turned our life over to God completely.

Forbearance is sometimes known as “long-suffering”, which is the opposite of “short tempered”. Forbearance is when we look at the little dog next door who barks at us when we walk nearby with a feeling of “how cute” rather than “how irritating”. Forbearance is when we listen to the child cry and think, “Oh, she’s hungry!” rather than “Will someone shut that kid up!” Forbearance is when we see the homeless man walking through the neighborhood for the fifth time and offer him a bottle of water and friendly conversation instead of a very hard stare.

Kindness is simply being nice and polite when you don’t need to be.

Goodness is when you are known for doing good actions instead of being stern or harsh.

Faithfulness means trusting God completely, and also being completely trustworthy to other people. Do you follow through on your promises? Do you keep confidences secret?

Gentleness refers to the old sense of the word, which means to be a “gentleman” or a “gentle lady”, not rough, not crude, not loud, not given to fighting or arguing, but yet strong when goodness and the right are needed.

Self-control is that ability to control your actions and, perhaps more importantly, your tongue.

These are the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

So many people think the fruit of the Spirit are goals to work hard for, ideas to strive for. While they are goals, we cannot get the fruit of the Spirit through hard work. For example, we can’t work everyday for joy, we recognize that. But we will also find that we can’t really work hard to be kind or Good or faithful by ourselves. We only get the fruit by praying to the Holy Spirit, Listening for the response, and then doing what the Spirit asks us to do and say.

Why does it work this way?

When we strive for the fruit of the Spirit as our goals, we are saying, “I can do it! I am tough enough! I am good enough!” But that is is the same as the Buddhist who tries to meditate hard enough to relax – and gets frustrated because she can’t relax because she is working so hard to meditate.  It is the same as the Scientologist who tries to become strong enough to climb a skyscraper and is frustrated because he can only 150 lbs. It is the same as an atheist who plans to learn enough to defeat death and eventually decides to freeze himself in a tank of liquid nitrogen. Working hard is simply another way of saying, “Even though I have cut my branch off from Jesus, I will still succeed!” But Jesus told us that we are the branches and He is the vine, and we must remain connected to Him. We cannot succeed except in the very short term without Jesus.

The Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father and from Jesus, God’s Son. We must stay connected to Jesus, and two-way prayer with the Holy Spirit is the way to do this. We ask, the Spirit responds, we do – and the Spirit steps in with extra power to ensure that good happens.

And the reason this all happens is because we have recognized that we are just the instruments of God’s grace upon the earth. God works through us for good. If we try to do it alone, we will mess it up because we don’t have the power or the wisdom to accomplish great things by ourselves. We need the power of Jesus, God, and Holy Spirit. And so, pray to the Holy Spirit for help, listen to the response, and do what you are asked to do. And the Fruit of the Spirit will appear in your life: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” And that alone will be a great blessing in your life, for you will find that, while the Fruit of the Spirit are wonderful indeed, the closeness to God that you have found in watching the Fruit grow in your life is more wonderful still.

Amen!

Let us sing,

Closing Song: It is Well with my Soul

Benediction: May the Lord God, the Adonai, inhabit your praises. May you find “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Through listening to the Spirit.

Song: Soon and very Soon

Go and Praise God all week long!

A Stranger Helps

If a person were to randomly read the Four Gospels, the four books about Jesus’ life that were collected to become the beginning of the New Testament, the reader might be convinced that Jesus was a farmer. His examples are full of sheep and goats and cattle, as well as fig trees, olive trees, wheat and barley. And on several occasions, Jesus talks about mustard plants, thorns, and vines – the grape vine in particular.

Grapevines are long lived. A grapevine will live hundreds of years. In fact, it is a symbol of a prosperous and well-defended nation to see old, established vineyards, for in ancient times, when a foreign army wanted to raid a country, they would cut and burn the grapevines, for it took several years to recover. The vines lived – but they had to grow back up before they could produce good grapes again.

And grapes, you see, were a source of sweetness and a source of calories. Wine was a luxury, a maker of joy for the people around the Mediterranean. When fermented, the sugar turned to alcohol and that was a source of calories around the year. Just as many Americans get a large portion of our calories from soda and sweet tea, the ancients got a large portion of their calories from wine made from grapes.

Even today, if you travel to southern Europe or Israel, you’ll find that most homes have at least one or two very old grapevines growing beside the patio or in the backyard or even on an apartment terrace. They are everywhere, as common as lemon trees in Florida, or as common as apple trees used to be on American farms.

On the night of the Last Supper, after Jesus had sent Judas out to betray Him, after Jesus told the disciples that they should consider bread to be His body and wine to be His blood, after He had discussed that He was the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus led the disciples out of the city toward the Garden of Gethsemane. But on the way, he stopped in front of a particularly fine grapevine and used it to illustrate some truths about Himself and His relationship to the disciples.

In John Chapter 15, Jesus said: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Notice that Jesus is focusing upon fruit. When a grapevine grows, the gardener prunes off, he cuts off 90 percent of the branches during the winter. The Greek word translated as prunes also can be translated as cleans.

He’ll cut the vine back to a handful of 2 or 3 inch branches coming off the main vine. From this point, new growth will take off in the late spring, growing perhaps 4 to 8 feet. But it is on the old growth that fruiting buds will develop and it is from these buds that the clusters of grapes develop. They do not grow on the new green growth, but in a well tended vineyard, the fruit develops near the center of the vine, just off of last year’s growth. And so the good gardener the next winter cuts off all the new growth that has not borne fruit, and cuts back the old growth some, removing any diseased branches so the vine can put it’s energy into the fruit-bearing buds for the next year.

And this applies to churches as well as grapevines. Every once in a while, we need to prune off the programs that sap our energy, the programs that don’t bear fruit, the programs that harm the church. I remember at one church I knew, years ago, every fall the lady’s group got together to make vegetable soup for sale to the community, and more importantly, to gossip about the women who weren’t there. And every year, they would sell about $300 of soup, some people got sick from the soup, and a family left the church because of the gossip which poisoned the church. It was a program that needed to die, to be pruned. Traditions are good in the church – but not all traditions are good for the church. COVID has been a time of pruning for all churches – and so we have decided to focused upon the programs and activities that will bear fruit – deep learning, children and youth programs, and outreach to the college and the community.

Jesus continued: "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” Jesus points out that listening to His word and following Jesus has made the disciples – and us – clean, or pruned. But that is not enough. He said:

"Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Jesus says we can’t bear fruit, we can’t have a positive effect upon the world unless we continue to follow Jesus. He goes on:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."

So many times we have seen preaching which has little or nothing to do with Jesus – it has become just motivational speaking, speeches which could be created by any high school coach, without a shred of real spiritual value, exhortations to change the world for the sake of changing the world, talks to get us to win for the sake of winning, writings to ask us to get active so we can be activists. We have seen preaching that is focused upon generating outrage at the “other” political party from both political points of view. But political preaching and motivational speaking is not what Jesus asks us to do. Jesus says that if we do not remain in Him, doing what He asks, working through His power, we will wither and die and be thrown into the fire like a branch of a grapevine that has been cut loose from the main vine, who is Jesus.

And that is why so many churches wither and die – they are more concerned with psychology or politics or activism or generating outrage that they fail to do what Jesus asks – which is to find people with acts and words of love, to baptize them as they learn how much Jesus and God love them, teach them what Jesus has commanded so they will grow close to God and become Spirit-following disciples, and then send them into the field to find more people to whom to teach the Gospel. Everything we do must be centered on and supported by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – never by our own strength alone. For a branch that is not connected to the main vine will die.

Jesus concludes this section with: ”If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

The real power to have productive change in the world comes from following Jesus’ words, asking Jesus for something to be done, and then watching Jesus do it for us. And then, God is given the glory – and we have shown ourselves to be Jesus’ disciples.

A few years ago, my wife Saundra was pastoring a small church which needed a new $15,000 roof. The only problem was that their average weekly collection was about $350. They tried a couple of fundraisers, which collected about $1000 total. Saundra reminded them that God has plenty of money, even if this particular church was nearly broke.

So Saundra and the church prayed for God to help. Their next fundraiser collected another $1000. Yeah! Then, it was time for Saundra to go to Cedar Lakes for a United Methodist Women event with the women from my church. She didn’t want to go, because she was exhausted, but she felt the Spirit asking her to minister to my women’s group. At the camp, she ran into my 5th grade math teacher from St. Marys. Saundra’s church’s need came up in conversation – the woman said, “I think you need a grant.” Saundra asked, “how does one get a grant”. The woman said, “You talk to me and fill out the application. I’m in charge of the grants.”

They filled out the application with the trustees over the next 24 hours, did another small fundraiser, and they received the grant to finish the roof. Their prayers had come full circle, Saundra had been faithful to listen the Holy Spirit over a different issue altogether, and God had arranged everything her church needed. That church tripled in size during the three years Saundra was with them. God is trustworthy to help the people who trust in God.

I have personally grown grapevines – I had about 50 seedless grapevines on my property at Lowell, raising over 400 pounds of grapes a year. And I can testify that proper pruning of the extra branches and the diseased branches is absolutely necessary to get fruit – but I never got any fruit off a branch that had been cut off from the main vine. We have to stay connected to the main vine, Jesus Christ.

Our reading from Acts deals with a man named Philip. There were actually two men in the New Testament named Philip – one was a disciple who became an Apostle, but this Philip was one of seven deacons appointed when the Greek-speaking Christians complained that the Hebrew-speaking widows were getting preferences with the food charity giveaways. The Apostles appointed seven deacons, all of whom had Greek names, to handle the food distribution. Philip was one of these men, who also began to spread the Good News of Jesus, first in Samaria, the land between Jerusalem and Galilee, and then in this episode.

Philip is walking toward Gaza on the road from Jerusalem. A strange foreign man driving a chariot comes along the road, headed the same direction. The Holy Spirit told Philip to go to the chariot and stay near it.

The man is reading from the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 53, commonly known as the Song of the Suffering Servant. I sang it on Good Friday. It is about a man, who bore our suffering, pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Philip overhears and asks, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

“How can I unless someone explains it to me?”, the man answered, and invited Philip to come up into the chariot and sit with him, explaining the scripture.

Now it turned out the man was the treasurer of Ethiopia’s queen, and had gone to Jerusalem to worship. He had traveled across Egypt to worship God. Furthermore, the man was a eunuch, a man who had been surgically altered so he could not have children. By the Old Testament law in Leviticus 21 and Deuteronomy 23 he was banned from the Temple. Had he been turned away from the Temple at the gates? Did he have to settle for buying a few scrolls to read on his long way home, using his money to buy scrolls because his appearance and speech kept him from worshiping at the Temple of God? Did he feel the rejection that the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 felt?

Philip explained that the Isaiah passage referred to Jesus, and explained the entire Good News about Jesus. They came to water and the man asked to be baptized, so Philip baptized him. Then, the Spirit took Philip away to the town of Azotus, where Philip began preaching about Jesus along the coast.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian returned home, rejoicing. And I suspect he soon moved on from Isaiah chapter 53, to Isaiah 56, which says:

4 For this is what the Lord says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant—
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.
And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord
to minister to him,
to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.”

Through this man’s influence, Ethiopia became a Christian nation, and has remained one throughout the centuries until today. Indeed, legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant is now kept secure in a small church in Ethiopia. And it all happened because Philip listened to the Holy Spirit and did as the Spirit asked.

Now who are you? Are you Philip, confident in your knowledge of the good news that Jesus taught great things, claimed to be God on earth, died on the cross because of this claim, and then came back to life? Are you Philip, listening to the Holy Spirit and ready to do God’s will? Or are you the Ethiopian, wondering what the Bible teaches, possibly feeling a bit rejected by people you wanted to worship with? Do you, like the Ethiopian, feel like a stranger among the people of God?

For me, the most important aspect of this entire encounter is the fact that both Philip and the Ethiopian are strangers to each other. Philip began life as a Jew, speaking Greek, probably from some part of the Roman Empire other than Jerusalem. But Philip had become a strong believer in Jesus being the Son of God, capable of raising the dead, and granting forgiveness to all people.

The Ethiopian was looking to worship God, but the rules had been getting in the way. He was from hundreds of miles away in Africa, but was an intelligent man, with people who looked up to him. Yet, he had likely been turned away at the Temple because of who he was. And who he was, was not a choice he had made, but likely that choice had been made for him at a young age. Today, he wanted to find God.

And God put the two men together on a lonely desert road. This is an example of what we call God’s grace – where God does something good for us even when we don’t deserve it. In this case, God brought together two strangers – a man who understood Jesus – and a man who wanted to worship God.

If you are like Philip, take away the lesson that God does not always send you to speak to people who look or act or speak like you do. God often will nudge you to speak to an apparently random stranger about the things of God. The best way for people to ask you questions about God is to have a habit of praising God, thanking God for the weather, for the day, for something wonderful that has happened to you recently. And when you do this enough, someone will realize that they can ask you questions about God. That happens to a friend of mine who regularly praises God to her customers at the supermarket deli counter where she works – and that leads to prayer requests, and more detailed questions about God and her church.

Praise God. Praise Jesus. Praise the Holy Spirit. You might use the Hebrew names for God – Yahweh or Elohim. You might even praise the Lord, which in Hebrew is Adonai. Adonai means “Lord”. It doesn’t really matter, for God knows that you are praising God. And that praising creates a reality where God is glorified and great things happen. God seems to be attracted by the praises and shows up to be introduced.

If you are like the Ethiopian, you may have been wondering about the things of God for some time. You may be confused about something, or just looking for a place to find and worship God where you’ll be accepted, as Philip accepted the Ethiopian and explained to him about Jesus. If so, it is critical that you begin asking for help. That’s what we are all about here – helping anyone and everyone understand the good news of Jesus Christ. And now that COVID is going away, new people are beginning to come to join us here during our live services every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

Historically, most people have found Jesus by growing up in a church where their parents or grandparents took them. But today, there are many people around us who have never attended a church regularly. If you are listening or watching, let me explain a couple things about us.

First, everyone is welcome. We don’t care where or if you work, we don’t care who your parents were, we don’t care what your background is. Our dress code is – please wear something. You’ll find people here dressed in suits or dresses – and other people wearing blue jeans, and everything in-between.

When you arrive, just find a seat – please wear a mask. Most of us have already been vaccinated, but not everyone has been. If you forget your mask, don’t worry, we have some spares. You might want to arrive 10 to 15 minutes early to get the feel of the place. Feel free to speak to people – or not. Your children are especially welcome – most of us have raised children and we recognize they’ll take a few visits to settle down. And if you hear us giggling, it’s probably because your son or daughter reminds us of our children when they were that age. We remember those mornings!

We have a bulletin, but most everything is put on our screen so it’s easy to read for everyone. If the morning is cool, bring a jacket, since we open the sliding glass doors for good ventilation to clear out any COVID germs.

Most importantly, come expecting something good to happen. Philip and the Ethiopian both were expecting good out of their encounter – and God did not disappoint either of them. He won’t disappoint you. If you are listening on the radio, you still have time to get here by 10:20 AM.

Amen!

We all need to understand the basics ideas of our faith.

And so, as we will continue throughout the Easter season, let us remind each other of the core parts of our faith that we have kept over the centuries:

Let us join together in reciting what we believe, as expressed in the ancient Apostles Creed (UMH #881)

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic** church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

"quick" is an old word for "living".

"catholic" with a small c means "universal".

Let us sing,

Benediction: May the Lord God, the Adonai, inhabit your praises. May God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit be with you whenever you praise God’s name – and may you be blessed by the praising!

Song: Praise Adonai

Go and Praise God all week long!