http://concordumcroxboro.com Worship, Follow, Serve and Witness Thu, 10 May 2012 01:30:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://concordumcroxboro.com/2012/04/08/the-pastor-corner/ http://concordumcroxboro.com/2012/04/08/the-pastor-corner/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2012 23:23:45 +0000 dbconcord http://concordumcroxboro.com/?p=120 He is risen! He is risen indeed! These are the exciting words we proclaim on Easter Sunday to remind ourselves that Jesus truly was the Son of God, the Messiah proclaimed by the prophets and that His ministry and resurrection changed everything and brought us salvation. Easter was indeed a great celebration for our church once again this year and we continue to enjoy the celebration as we go through the Easter Season of the Christian calendar. May 27 of this year is another significant celebration; it is the day we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the Christian church. Jesus knew His earthly ministry was almost over when He proclaimed to His disciples, “I will not leave you as orphans” as He promised to send them the Spirit of truth. (John 14:17) As He ascended to heaven, Jesus instructed them “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…” (Acts 1:4) and “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8) It was at Pentecost that everything changed! Certainly Jesus’ resurrection revealed the fullness of who Jesus was…the Christ, but it was the power of the Holy Spirit that truly transformed Jesus’ disciples. As we recently heard, when Peter stood before the high priest and elders and was questioned, by what name and by what authority had he healed the cripple “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead…” (Acts 4:8-10) This was the same Peter who stood in the courtyard of the high priest and denied Jesus three times only days previous. Peter’s boldness and passion for the Gospel came as a direct result of the Holy Spirit which empowered him and the other disciples to ultimately spread the story of God’s grace around the world. That same promise of the Holy Spirit’s power is offered to each of us and celebrated at our baptism. Our challenge is not to walk by our own strength, but to walk this faith journey empowered by this same Holy Spirit. As Francis Chan states in his book Forgotten God, “As we trust in the promises of the Holy Spirit, we will be led away from discouragement and into lives marked by confidence, power in the midst of our weakness, and the fruit of the Spirit.” May we willingly receive all that God desires for us and His church through the receiving of this power from on high! May we let it transform us and allow it to work through us for the transformation of the world.
Praise be to God! See you in worship!
Karl

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