Good Morning
All,
John
3:8; “The wind blows where it wishes,
and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it
goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Do
you remember that old ballad from “Paint Your Wagon?” “A way out here they got a name for wind and
rain and fire, the rain is Tess, the fire Joe and they call the wind Mariah.” A lot of people recorded this, The Kingston
Trio, Jim Ed Brown, Ed Ames, even Clint Eastwood took a turn at singing it. It was a song that spoke of a lost love and
hoping that the wind would blow my gal back to me.
It is interesting how different cultures
have names for different natural phenomenon.
Different winds at different times have different effects. Most of the plains dwellers know that a
northwest wind usually blows cold while a southeast wind blows wet. You never see the wind but you sure can see
and feel it. Much like our verse, we
feel it, we experience it, we see the results, and we see the power that the
wind can have. That is why one of the
descriptions of the Holy Spirit is wind.
Today, most of the Christian Church
observes Pentecost. This was the day
when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to lead the Church. So in essence, today is the birthday of the
Church. It is the day that God placed
his wonderful message of forgiveness and salvation, the message of hope and
eternal life into the hands of his followers here on earth. We take the message out and the Spirit goes
to work and blows as the Word is preached.
Sometimes the Word falls upon deaf ears but sometimes it is heard by the
heart that is broken. It is heard by the
heart that has been crushed by the cares of the world. When this heart hears it and clings to the
promise, this heart receives the wonderful promised mercy of God’s forgiveness
and the hope for life eternal.
We have the power of God’s Spirit coursing
through us. It moves like the wind; we
don’t really see it but we know it moves and we experience its effects. Yet we have God’s Spirit dwelling in us and we
are new creations because of it. We can
rely on this Spirit to give us comfort when we need it, to give us direction
when we need it, to bring to mind all that Jesus spoke to us, remembering the
wonderful news of forgiveness that he gives to us, remembering the wonderful news
of our redemption and being adopted as his sons. This wind has a name and it is God’s Spirit
and it works salvation for you.
Wondrous
Spirit, you bring me to faith and you keep me in faith. Continue to guard and protect me and all
believers from the attacks of the devil.
Bring your beautiful words of salvation to all those who are broken and
hurt. Give to them the comforting words
of hope in you. Protect them and walk
with them to the blessed hope and mercy that you give. We ask that those families that are under
attack may be given relief from the world’s onslaught. Give them peace and bring them together whole
and reconciled. All this we ask in the
precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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