Theological Status: ORTHODOX (Cold)
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Ephesus
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Compromised Parallel
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
Why strictly "Mark & Avoid"?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Theological Verdict & Summary
Sermon Summary: A call to move beyond passive comfort to active love and justice, framed through the dual nature of the Holy Spirit as both Advocate and Agitator.
Pastoral Analysis: The sermon offers a compelling call to social action and spiritual agitation, effectively challenging the congregation to move beyond self-centered comfort. However, the theological foundation is compromised by a failure to anchor these duties in the Gospel of grace. By relying on moralistic exhortation and human effort, the sermon risks producing spiritual exhaustion rather than the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Ephesus — The sermon maintains orthodox boundaries and avoids active heresy, but the Gospel Engine is compromised by a structural omission of the core Gospel message. The teaching relies on moralistic exhortation and human effort rather than the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, resulting in a 'formal' orthodoxy that lacks the life-giving power of the Gospel.
Big Idea: The Holy Spirit acts as both a comforting advocate and a fiery agitator, calling believers to move beyond personal comfort to practice love and justice in the world. 00:32:35 ▶️ 📄
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: Acts 2:1-21
- Usage Classification: Thematic
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: High
- Pulpit Decorum: ✅ PASS - No coarse language or pejoratives detected.
✝️ Christological Focus: Moralistic/Imitative
"The sermon focuses on imitating the Spirit's work through human effort and moral duty, rather than connecting the call to action to the redemptive work of Christ."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 19 | Referenced: 4 | Alluded: 0
📖 View 2 Passages Read Aloud
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Acts 2:1-13
00:15:39 ▶️ 📄
"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place and suddenly from heaven there came a sound like a rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues of fire appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at the sound, this sound, the crowd gathered and was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. amazed and astonished they ask are not all of these who are speaking Galileans and how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language Parthians, Medes, Elamites the residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes and Cretans and arabs in our own languages we hear them speaking about god's deeds of power all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another what does this mean but others sneered and said they are filled with new wine but peter standing with the 11 raised his voice and addressed them men of judea and all in jerusalem let this be known to you and listen to what i say indeed these are not drunk as you suppose where it's only nine o'clock in the morning no this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel in the last days it will be God declares that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions and old men shall dream dreams even upon my slaves both men and women in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire, smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
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John 15:26-16:4
00:18:36 ▶️ 📄
"When the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who comes from the father, he will testify on my behalf. And you also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. But I have said these things to you so that when the hour comes, you may remember that I told you about them. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment about sin, because they do not believe in me about righteousness, because I am going to the father and you will see me no longer about judgment because the ruler of this world has been condemned. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears and he will declare to you the things that are to come he will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you all that the father has is mine and for this reason i said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you"
Key References: Joel 2:28-32, John 14:14-17, John 15:1-16:4, John 16:7-15
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 2,434 words
📌 View 6 Key Topics Addressed
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Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
00:23:27 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor describes the event of Pentecost as the 'birthday of the church' where the Holy Spirit arrived dramatically with fire and wind, enabling the disciples to speak in foreign languages. -
Glossolalia vs. Actual Languages
00:24:47 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor clarifies that the tongues spoken in Acts 2 were actual known languages (German, Italian, etc.) heard by people from those lands, distinguishing this from the practice of glossolalia found in some modern Pentecostal traditions. -
Cultural Differences in Worship
00:22:05 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor uses an analogy comparing preaching in a Black church to tennis (call and response) and in a white church to golf (long drive with uncertain outcome) to illustrate different congregational dynamics. -
The Paraclete (Holy Spirit)
00:30:11 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor defines the Greek word 'paraclete' as both comforter and advocate, explaining that the Spirit's role is to guide into truth and advocate for love, not just personal comfort. -
Spiritual Advocacy and Agitation
00:32:35 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor argues that the Spirit acts as an 'agitator' to move believers beyond self-centered comfort to practice love for others, using the analogy of a sailor harnessing the wind. -
Resistance to the Spirit's Call
00:37:02 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor notes that while the church longs for the drama of Pentecost, it often resists the Spirit's call to action, turning aside from the mission to love others.
🖼️ View 4 Illustrations & Stories
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Sermon Illustration
00:20:53 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor recounts a story about his former assistant pastor, Ron Perry, an African-American man who prayed loudly into the microphone, leading to jokes that he thought God was hard of hearing. The pastor also shares an anecdote about sending Ron to preach at a different church where the congregation was quiet, prompting Ron to joke that the Holy Spirit showed up but the people stood still. -
Sermon Illustration
00:26:18 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor recounts a story from author Robert Johnson about his mentor, Carl Jung, who spoke to Johnson in his own 'language' as a scholar, illustrating how God speaks to individuals in their specific context. -
Sermon Illustration
00:33:36 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor uses the analogy of a sailor putting up sails to harness the wind, comparing it to the 'mighty rushing wind of God' that drives believers toward love. -
Sermon Illustration
00:35:47 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor references the common saying that Jesus came to 'comfort those that were disturbed and to disturb those that were comfortable' to illustrate the dual nature of the Spirit's work.
🚀 View 1 Calls to Action
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Pastoral Charge
00:37:38 ▶️ 📄
> Pray for the Holy Spirit to set the congregation on fire to reach out to others in love and to train them to hear God's voice and love others.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Compromised / Weak
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Framework | ❌ FAIL | The Gospel Framework is compromised. The sermon relies on moralistic exhortation and human effort rather than the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, failing to anchor the call to action in the Gospel of grace. |
| Soteriology | ⚠️ WEAK | The sermon omits the core Gospel message of justification by faith alone, relying instead on moralistic exhortation and human effort. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | Scripture is read and referenced, though the application is skewed toward moralism. |
| Hermeneutic | ⚠️ WEAK | The hermeneutic leans heavily toward moralistic application, neglecting the redemptive-historical context of the Holy Spirit's work. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is affirmed, though its role is misapplied as a source of moral willpower rather than supernatural enablement. |
| Sacramentology | ✅ PASS | No sacramental errors detected. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ SHALLOW | The sermon lacks depth in explaining the theological basis for the call to action, relying on emotional appeal and moral duty rather than doctrinal grounding. |
⚙️ The Core Gospel Framework ⚠️ Incomplete / Compromised
What is the Gospel Framework? This section audits whether the sermon proclaims the essential foundation of the Gospel: Christ's substitutionary sacrifice, humanity's spiritual need, and salvation by sovereign grace alone.
How this is evaluated:
How this is evaluated:
- Essential Gospel Pillars: The framework is verified intact when the sermon substantively preaches Christ's atonement, declares human inability (articulated through either Total Depravity or the Law's condemnation), and guards salvation by grace alone against works-righteousness.
- Historic Confessional Depth: Deeper theological distinctives (such as the Active Obedience of Christ) enrich theological depth when expounded, but their absence in a focused topical or expository message is not an error and does not compromise the Gospel Framework.
🏛️ Essential Gospel Pillars
❌ The Cross & Atonement (Penal Substitution): Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Human Inability & Need: Not observed (neither human inability nor divine judgment was contextually proclaimed).
❌ Sola Gratia (Salvation by Grace Alone): Compromised
Soteriological errors detected regarding salvation by grace alone.
📜 Historic Confessional Depth
⚪ Active Obedience of Christ: Not explicitly expounded in this sermon.
Assessed under Confessional Depth diagnostic (SHALLOW). Its absence does not compromise the Gospel Framework.
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🟠 Major Assumed Gospel (Thematic/Moralistic)
Root Cause: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
The Belief/Behavior: The pastor commands the congregation to 'practice love actively and passionately' and 'resist social media algorithms' without anchoring these duties in the Gospel of grace.
Why It's Dangerous: This creates unanchored moralism, leading to spiritual exhaustion and despair when human effort inevitably fails.
Biblical Correction: Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
✅ Commendations
Pastoral Application | Call to Active Love
The sermon effectively challenges the congregation to move beyond passive comfort to active love and justice, using relatable illustrations and personal anecdotes.
Illustrative Power | Ron Perry Anecdote
The story of Ron Perry praying loudly into the microphone is a vivid and memorable illustration of the Spirit's power to stir the heart.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Those of you that don't know me, I've been around for a while. Hi, Dawn.
[00:00:04] Good morning, and happy Pentecost.
[00:00:07] We call Pentecost the birthday of the church. Let me put my eyes on so I can see.
[00:00:12] We call Pentecost the birthday of the church.
[00:00:15] So yes, we have cupcakes for our celebration.
[00:00:20] You can grab one on your way out.
[00:00:24] Kelly doesn't want you to have them during the service.
[00:00:29] That's right, that's right.
[00:00:30] And for tomorrow, let me wish everyone a happy Memorial Day.
[00:00:35] We give thanks and honor those who served our country in uniform, and I'm sure we have some folks in here that have done that, and we thank you very much.
[00:00:44] We welcome all of you to this service of worship today.
[00:00:47] If you're visiting in person today, thank you for coming.
[00:00:50] In the pews, we have a visitor card, and it's easy to fill out, and if you want, you can even fill them out online by following the QR code that's in your bulletins.
[00:01:00] We would love to know you were here and perhaps be in touch with you.
[00:01:04] There are many people joining our service via live stream.
[00:01:07] Hello.
[00:01:09] And we hope this service is meaningful to all of you at home.
[00:01:13] This Tuesday, I need three hands for this part.
[00:01:18] This Tuesday will be the last Young at Heart gathering until the fall.
[00:01:23] This week we will have a presentation from our very own J.R. Snyder.
[00:01:28] Now, I know all of you know J.R.
[00:01:30] He'll be presenting some vintage postcards, and they're the visuals of the 1900s.
[00:01:36] If you're planning to attend, please let Mary Jo know.
[00:01:41] Please read the announcement about Project Agape shoeboxes in your bulletins, but also mark your calendars for our guest speaker, Nara Melkonian, who will be with us on Wednesday, July 1st at 630.
[00:01:55] And please, please, please come to that.
[00:01:57] You will definitely gain something from it.
[00:02:00] That's my pet project, Project Agape.
[00:02:04] So please come out and hear what is going on in that part of the world right now.
[00:02:09] Don't forget your cupcake.
[00:02:11] And we hope everyone has a great Memorial Day tomorrow.
[00:02:15] And Pastor Kelly will now come and lead us in a time of prayer.
[00:02:19] Thank you, ma'am.
[00:02:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:02:20] I got one.
[00:02:21] Thank you.
[00:02:22] Yeah.
[00:02:24] Thanks, Sandy.
[00:02:26] I have a question for the sound booth.
[00:02:29] if folks stand up and turn towards a camera, can you get a picture of everybody for Vivian Berklio? Which one? Should we go that way? All right, everybody face that way, if you would.
[00:02:44] You can wave to Vivian. She's in rehab at Salem Town. Hi, Vivian. We love you.
[00:02:53] David's trying to wake her up right now so that she can see. Yeah, just wanted to do that before I forgot. So Vivian had a fall on Tuesday, and she went to the hospital, was there for a few days,
[00:03:08] and is now over at rehab at Salem Town. She is very, very tired and, you know, struggling to eat, and we're just really thinking about her and hope she gets some strength back. And anyway,
[00:03:21] our prayers are with her, and I know that David is there. So friends, it's great to see all of you.
[00:03:26] Good to see all of you.
[00:03:28] I thought we had a great time last week outside.
[00:03:32] And some of you have said, can we do it again?
[00:03:34] And the answer is, next year.
[00:03:39] I think Matthew was a little tired of hauling the bells out there, but it was really a really nice celebration.
[00:03:48] We sat around and said, what did we do right on that as a staff?
[00:03:51] And Jessica goes, the weather.
[00:03:54] Yeah, so it was really perfect.
[00:03:56] It was really, really nice.
[00:03:58] so it's good to see all of you and i would love if you would tell me some prayer concerns that you might have today we meant uh uh mentioned vivian berkeley oh um how about others what
[00:04:20] susan brawley's niece was one of the lawyers in raleigh that was shot somebody unhappy with verdict and wow shot three times oh my gosh yeah gosh very scary yeah yeah so let's pray for all
[00:05:09] of them that's really really sad um Susan Brawley's niece all right um I wanted to mention Eddie Drawn um I got word from someone at the 10 o'clock service that he's not doing very well
[00:05:25] right now. And, you know, he's in treatment for cancer in his throat and tongue. And so he's, anyway, he's doing some radiation treatment, I know. And so we just want to hold him in our
[00:05:37] prayer. Yeah. Others? Yeah. Sandy? All right. So Crystal, who's been struggling for cancer and has many treatments. She's been in and out of the hospital. That's a friend of Sandy's. Okay.
[00:06:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:06:05] others yeah yeah ashley yeah so ashley was on the transplant list was unable to get the transplant
[00:06:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:06:44] needs to get some other numbers up so yeah yeah jeff she didn't tell me that aha okay so all right um so sarah's mom and um is uh having a procedure this week okay all right thank you for letting me
[00:07:06] You know, safe travels for everybody.
[00:07:21] Yeah.
[00:07:23] Yeah, isn't that nice?
[00:07:25] Yeah.
[00:07:28] It was blessed rain for sure.
[00:07:32] All right, any others?
[00:07:38] Well, friends, I hope that, you know, we do want to remember service people that have died in the act of service and those that, you know, we're remembering in our families this weekend and kind of keep them in our prayers as well.
[00:07:53] so as Jerry comes and gives us a little music we'll prepare our hearts for some prayer gracious God we pray for the blessing of your spirit today on this day of Pentecost when we remember the birth of the church
[00:09:03] we ask that you fill us with that spirit today and may that spirit extend our reach especially to those who are unable to be with us today and those that we have mentioned.
[00:09:21] We pray oh God that you will remind us that your blessings come as rain and as sun and it shines on the good and the bad alike and all are in your eyes receive that blessing.
[00:09:38] Remind us of that as we let the rain fall and nourish a very thirsty ground.
[00:09:50] God, we pray for the spirit of new creation, the way in which you are bringing life out of darkness and out of sickness.
[00:10:00] We pray for your healing touch for Eddie and Vivian, for Susan Brawley's niece, Crystal, Susan's mom, for Ashley as she faces ongoing struggle on dialysis.
[00:10:23] We pray, oh God, for ourselves We need a double dosing of your love today.
[00:10:32] We ask that you prepare our hearts and minds to receive your spirit so that it may be effective and we may become part of your mighty acts in this world.
[00:10:46] Bless us in this service so that we may sense your presence among us and that we may know the way of love and trust in your guiding nudges and follow it out into the world
[00:11:00] to prepare the world as a place where love can be known.
[00:11:06] And so God is our prayer and we make all of this in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord who taught disciples to pray together.
[00:11:14] Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:11:19] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:11:25] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom
[00:11:40] and the power and the glory forever.
[00:11:44] Amen.
[00:12:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:12:43] for your heart till I am a soul on fire longing for your ways I'm waiting for
[00:12:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:12:54] the day when I am a soul on fire till I am a soul on fire Lord restore the joy I had in that wonder this darkness lead me through until all i see is you god i'm running for your heart i'm running for
[00:13:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:13:27] your heart till i am a soul i'm longing for your ways i'm waiting for the day when i am a soul on
[00:13:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:13:40] fire till i am a soul on fire lord let me burn for you again let me return to you again again your heart i'm running for your heart till i am a soul on fire for your ways i'm waiting for
[00:14:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:14:34] the day. When I am a soul on fire, I'm running for your heart. I'm running for your heart.
[00:14:45] Till I am a soul on fire. Till I am a soul on fire. Till I am a soul on fire.
[00:15:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:15:13] That was very Pentecostal of you guys. I appreciate that. I have two scripture passages to read to you today. One is, they're both from the New Testament. One is from the Acts of the Apostles
[00:15:26] and, you know, they call it the Acts of the Apostles, but it should be the Acts of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit working through the apostles. And so this one comes from Acts 2 and
[00:15:39] I'll read to you the story of the day of Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place and suddenly from heaven there came a sound like a rush of a violent wind
[00:15:52] and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues of fire appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them.
[00:16:01] All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability.
[00:16:09] Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
[00:16:12] And at the sound, this sound, the crowd gathered and was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
[00:16:22] amazed and astonished they ask are not all of these who are speaking Galileans and how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language Parthians, Medes, Elamites the residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia
[00:16:38] Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes and Cretans and arabs in our own languages we hear them speaking about god's deeds of power all were
[00:16:58] amazed and perplexed saying to one another what does this mean but others sneered and said they are filled with new wine but peter standing with the 11 raised his voice and addressed them men of
[00:17:12] judea and all in jerusalem let this be known to you and listen to what i say indeed these are not drunk as you suppose where it's only nine o'clock in the morning no this is what was spoken through
[00:17:25] the prophet Joel in the last days it will be God declares that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions and
[00:17:38] old men shall dream dreams even upon my slaves both men and women in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on
[00:17:50] the earth below, blood and fire, smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. And then everyone who calls on the
[00:18:04] name of the Lord shall be saved. The word of God for the people of God. Thanks. Another one. This is some verses from John's gospel. We have been reading a lot from chapters 14, 15, and
[00:18:23] this is from 15 and 16. And this is Jesus' words to the disciples. It goes back a little bit. Words to the disciples about what the Holy Spirit is and who this Holy Spirit is
[00:18:36] and what the Holy Spirit is about. When the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who comes from the father, he will testify on my behalf. And you
[00:18:51] also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. But I have said these things to you so that when the hour comes, you may remember that I told you about them. It is to
[00:19:05] your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and
[00:19:16] righteousness and judgment about sin, because they do not believe in me about righteousness, because I am going to the father and you will see me no longer about judgment because the ruler of this world has been condemned. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them
[00:19:34] now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears and he will declare to you the things that are to come
[00:19:46] he will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you all that the father has is mine and for this reason i said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you
[00:20:01] the word of god for the people of god i got a song for you if you all know this song won't you sing
[00:20:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:20:09] it with me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
[00:20:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:53] Years ago, I had an assistant pastor by the name of Ron Perry.
[00:21:01] Some of you may know Ron. He's a pastor in our conference.
[00:21:05] Ron is an African-American pastor who stands six foot four.
[00:21:10] He is a big, strong man.
[00:21:13] And when he came to work at the church, each Sunday I asked him to lead us in the pastoral prayer.
[00:21:18] And for the first couple of weeks, he would take the handheld microphone and he put it right up on his mouth.
[00:21:26] and the sound people couldn't keep up because it is no exaggeration to say that he would scream his prayer into the microphone.
[00:21:38] You would not need the hearing loop to hear him.
[00:21:41] Some suggested that he thought maybe God was hard of hearing.
[00:21:46] I asked him to pull the microphone away.
[00:21:49] We didn't have anybody in the booth back then at give it a little distance, which he did.
[00:21:55] But boy, he continued to pray in the way that his black church tradition had taught him.
[00:22:00] He was full tilt, filled with spirit.
[00:22:05] A friend of mine once described the difference about preaching at a predominantly white church like ours and the African American church.
[00:22:12] She said, you know, preaching in the black church is a little bit like playing tennis.
[00:22:16] You serve up a phrase and the congregation returns it with an amen or a yes sir.
[00:22:23] A little call and response.
[00:22:24] But preaching in the white church is more like golf.
[00:22:29] You preach your sermon with a long drive off the tee, and you're not sure where it goes.
[00:22:39] When I was at that church one week, I had double-booked myself.
[00:22:42] I was scheduled to go and preach in the afternoon over at Arbor Acres.
[00:22:47] But I couldn't go, so I sent Ron, Ron Perry.
[00:22:51] Yeah, some of you are like, um, uh-huh, yeah, okay.
[00:22:55] I saw him later that night, and I asked him, so how did it go?
[00:22:58] and he laughed and he shook his head at me and he goes, not a lively crowd.
[00:23:05] I said, no, you mean the Holy Spirit didn't show up?
[00:23:08] And he goes, oh, the Spirit showed up, but the people, they all stood like this.
[00:23:15] Makes me wonder, is it possible to ignore, to resist the movement of the Holy Spirit?
[00:23:27] The story of Pentecost in Acts 2, this is called the birthday of the church, which is why we're having cupcakes, by the way.
[00:23:34] Thank you, Jessica.
[00:23:37] The disciples had gathered for worship and they prayed and they sang and the Spirit showed up in dramatic fashion.
[00:23:45] And we didn't do it in here, but I'm telling you, you might want to go take a look in the sanctuary or look on the video of it because it's very dramatic.
[00:23:53] The disciples, the dramatic fashion involved fire and the noise of wind.
[00:23:59] And then the disciples spoke in foreign languages, some languages they didn't even know.
[00:24:04] That's right.
[00:24:05] On Pentecost, the tongues that they spoke were other languages.
[00:24:10] Who knows?
[00:24:11] German, Italian, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Swahili.
[00:24:14] And the people walking through the streets of Jerusalem who came from those lands where the tongues were spoken, they heard the gospel.
[00:24:21] They heard the good news in their own native language.
[00:24:24] The power of the Spirit, therefore, breaks past those things that divide us, even language itself this is one of the messages of pentecost now just to be clear for some of you who may have gone through a pentecostal phase in your life what is described in the book of acts
[00:24:47] is not speaking in tongues that you may hear uh that you might hear somewhere today glossolalia we as the greek word for it it was practiced in the pentecostal traditions and it's mentioned in other places of scripture but in acts it's really speaking actual languages that people
[00:25:06] know and hear when the people who heard them on the day of pentecost they thought the disciples were drunk peter says we're not drunk it's only nine o'clock some things even the holy spirit can't change like the fact that peter after speaking in another language still never opens
[00:25:25] his mouth unless he's changing feet, right? Spirit showed up. Flames of fire came down and danced on each of their heads, burned inside of them, enlivened these apostles, and then drove them out into the world. The Spirit did a miracle. It made Peter eloquent, okay? Students became
[00:25:53] the teachers at Pentecost. Those who had been preached to so often by Jesus became preachers themselves. The spirit of the living God melted and molded and filled and used the apostles in a way that nobody saw coming. This was the power of what happened on the day of Pentecost.
[00:26:18] Robert Johnson is an author I love because he writes very thin books. He once told a story of his first encounter with his mentor and his teacher, the famed psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.
[00:26:33] Jung, that's J-U-N-G.
[00:26:35] They had written many letters to one another.
[00:26:37] Dr. Jung was impressed with Johnson's work.
[00:26:41] And when they finally met at where Jung lived, he walked them around the lake and into the woods.
[00:26:49] The two of them went together for hours in the afternoon, just walking and talking.
[00:26:55] And Johnson said, Jung told me so many things.
[00:26:59] And the way he told them to me was as if he had known me all of his life.
[00:27:06] He was not this domineering, stern man that everybody said that he was.
[00:27:12] Interestingly, I think it was later that night, he attended a lecture that Jung gave with all the people gathering.
[00:27:20] And when the man came in, he sort of was a different person, a different personality.
[00:27:25] he was so different from the person that had talked to him he was gruff and loud and harsh but the man that he had met was kind and soft and gentle and quiet and Johnson was thrown off
[00:27:38] he couldn't hear what was being said because the contrast of this one person with his personalities Johnson says it took him many years to figure it out but he realized that Jung had been speaking to him
[00:27:51] in his own language as a scholar who developed a theory of different personality types jung understood that there were some things that a person could only hear and understand if it was spoken to them in those
[00:28:09] types in their particular language the story of pentecost tells us that god is multilingual but i would also say that god can speak your particular language as well but that may not mean that you are going to hear the message in the gospel. Let's do you, you know, from Jesus's
[00:28:38] words takes place actually 50 days prior to Pentecost. It was at the Passover feast of Monday, Thursday, Jesus preaching this long final sermon all through John 14, 15, 16, and 17.
[00:28:51] Sometimes Jesus is preaching and then he starts to pray. Jesus' words are tender and they are loving. They sound a little like a parent launching their child out into adulthood. They sound like a teacher speaking to the students that she loves at graduation. He says, don't worry. I know you're
[00:29:17] scared. You're not ready, but I'm not leaving you alone. I'm not leaving you as an orphan.
[00:29:25] I'm sending help. Tender, loving words. They were probably forgotten when the disciples heard them, but they were remembered during the resurrection, remembered 50 days later, and then they were passed on for centuries up until today. As Jesus was anticipating the grief that the
[00:29:48] disciples would experience in his absence, he tries to comfort them. I'm sending you help. A spiritual presence is coming in my place. It will comfort you in your grief, and it will drive you out of the world with passion. The spirit of love is coming. This spirit, says Jesus, it is going to
[00:30:11] take care of you. At one point, Jesus says, you know, it's an advantage that I go away for if I don't, the paraclete, that's his word for it, the paraclete will not come to you. I still have many
[00:30:24] things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when the spirit of truth comes, that paraclete will guide you into the truth and prove the world wrong about sin. Jesus knew his disciples
[00:30:38] inside and out, their strengths, their weaknesses. And just as Jesus spoke, you know, as they spoke in different languages, Jesus is speaking to the particular language of their heart. Now, what is a paraclete. It's not two pairs of shoes that you wear on the football field. A paraclete is the
[00:31:01] Greek word that Jesus uses as a nickname for the Holy Spirit. In giving it the nickname paraclete, he's telling us about what the Holy Spirit is about. Now, some of your Bibles at home might
[00:31:17] translate these words as comforter. It sounds like a word in blanket, doesn't it? But the Spirit is comforting. That is true. Jesus is caring for these soon-to-be broken-hearted disciples. But paraclete means more than that. It also means advocate. Advocate. The Spirit is comfort, healing,
[00:31:41] yes, but it is also an advocate that someone is on your side. Not just, but not just your side alone.
[00:31:52] The advocate is actually on the side of love, which is what we all need.
[00:32:00] The spirit, if it is to be understood as whole and holy, is not just your personal spirit.
[00:32:06] It is the spirit of advocacy, advocacy for love.
[00:32:10] It just doesn't want your healing, and it does want your healing.
[00:32:13] Don't get me wrong here, but it wants the healing of the world itself.
[00:32:20] When you find comfort, your own healing, then the spirit comes to advocate for love, to nudge you beyond the comfort of your own ego, to be and to do love beyond yourself.
[00:32:35] Spiritual advocacy means that we allow ourselves to, well, to be agitated to do the right thing.
[00:32:43] We use that word in community organizing, you know, and agitating is what your washer does, right? It just moves stuff around. It moves stuff around. It enlivens it. But it's about putting pressure, reminding those who are leaders in the world of why they are leaders and what the
[00:33:02] needs of the community are. So advocate is to say, we need more love in this area. It's not just to receive love, but to practice it. Not to be bathed in comfort, but to actually move and to burn with
[00:33:18] passion for love to spread and expand. I had a professor who, uh, had been writing a book for about 30 years. I think he published it after I'd left, um, divinity school, but he, his image of
[00:33:36] God that he wanted to write about was, uh, uh, well, he was, he was a sailor, so he had a sailboat and would sail a lot and that's where he did most of his reflection his spirituality i think he left
[00:33:50] the church to go and sail most of the time but what he talked about in his book was that our task as human beings is to try to put up our sails and harness the wind where the wind is going
[00:34:06] that image of the mighty rushing wind of god that came god is going somewhere and god is constantly going in the direction of love. And God is speaking to us constantly in our own language
[00:34:22] about love. There's a lot of reasons that we can't hear it. Maybe we've never known that kind of love. Maybe we haven't experienced it for ourselves. Another reason might be that we have a lot of competition. There are algorithms all across social media that are designed to go into
[00:34:46] your heart and to pull out the darkest parts of your humanity and the people that you don't like and to see them being punished in videos and constant messages. This is what social media does. It feeds on it and it gives it to you again and again and again. I dare say the algorithm is
[00:35:13] not tuned to the Holy Spirit of love. You are going to have to train it to do that. You're going to have to be disciplined yourself in being able to say, no, we are not just creatures that are
[00:35:28] bent on making enemies. We are bent on a sense of love that will not be thrown aside even when someone rejects it. Even when someone is an enemy to us, we love because we were loved.
[00:35:47] You know, prophets and preachers have a saying, you know, about prophets and about Jesus often, that Jesus came to comfort those that were disturbed and to disturb those that were comfortable. This spirit that we're talking about, this advocate that deeply cares for us
[00:36:10] and comforts us, also is disturbing us and ought to, maybe should be constantly asking us the question, where is the love that I am giving you? How will you take it to those who need it?
[00:36:29] It's a gentle, intimate presence, yes, but it is also a fiery, dramatic agitator reminding us that we have a mission beyond ourselves.
[00:36:44] So this day, we remember how the community of Jesus' disciples became a spirit-possessed church.
[00:36:54] And while we long for the drama of Pentecost, the reality is that we resist it.
[00:37:02] We turn aside from it.
[00:37:03] No matter how loud the preacher is yelling into the microphone or how many gentle nudges we get to go to find those who need love and to share with them.
[00:37:20] It's time for us to open our heart up because I have a feeling that the mighty wind of Pentecost and the fire that is burning is still going on all the time.
[00:37:32] So maybe this year we can renew the church once again.
[00:37:38] Would you pray with me?
[00:37:44] Gracious God, on this day, when you set the church on fire with your love, and they were able to do more than they ever thought they could.
[00:37:56] We ask that you set us on fire to reach out to others in love so that they may know your grace and know your spirit.
[00:38:08] Train us to hear your voice, to pay attention, to open our heart so that we may find our way not only to comfort ourselves with your love, but to love others in need of such comfort.
[00:38:25] We pray this in your holy name.
[00:38:27] Amen.
[00:38:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:38:31] Y'all stand and sing one more.
[00:38:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:38:32] Let hearts awaken.
[00:38:43] Our God is moving.
[00:38:46] Forever changing love.
[00:38:51] There is a trembling.
[00:38:53] There is revival.
[00:38:56] The sound of worship.
[00:38:59] So great and glorious.
[00:39:02] Holy fire lays with your spirit.
[00:39:22] forever changing marching with your voice and sing he is holy lift up your hands and shout the lord is with us now lift up your voice and sing and shout he is whole like a rock
[00:41:46] that's yeah it is almost cupcake time all right but remember that uh part of being inspired and
[00:42:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:42:58] being, receiving the comfort of the Spirit, but really also about knowing that comfort enough so that you can go out and share it, is to open up your heart.
[00:43:08] So let's go from this place and open our hearts and be the church that God is still hoping will come about and make a change in the world.
[00:43:17] We go with God who goes with us in the name of our Creator, our Sustainer, and our Redeemer.
[00:43:22] Amen.
[00:43:23] Cupcakes!
[00:43:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:43:23] With your precious wings and your Spirit
[00:00:00] Those of you that don't know me, I've been around for a while. Hi, Dawn.
[00:00:04] Good morning, and happy Pentecost.
[00:00:07] We call Pentecost the birthday of the church. Let me put my eyes on so I can see.
[00:00:12] We call Pentecost the birthday of the church.
[00:00:15] So yes, we have cupcakes for our celebration.
[00:00:20] You can grab one on your way out.
[00:00:24] Kelly doesn't want you to have them during the service.
[00:00:29] That's right, that's right.
[00:00:30] And for tomorrow, let me wish everyone a happy Memorial Day.
[00:00:35] We give thanks and honor those who served our country in uniform, and I'm sure we have some folks in here that have done that, and we thank you very much.
[00:00:44] We welcome all of you to this service of worship today.
[00:00:47] If you're visiting in person today, thank you for coming.
[00:00:50] In the pews, we have a visitor card, and it's easy to fill out, and if you want, you can even fill them out online by following the QR code that's in your bulletins.
[00:01:00] We would love to know you were here and perhaps be in touch with you.
[00:01:04] There are many people joining our service via live stream.
[00:01:07] Hello.
[00:01:09] And we hope this service is meaningful to all of you at home.
[00:01:13] This Tuesday, I need three hands for this part.
[00:01:18] This Tuesday will be the last Young at Heart gathering until the fall.
[00:01:23] This week we will have a presentation from our very own J.R. Snyder.
[00:01:28] Now, I know all of you know J.R.
[00:01:30] He'll be presenting some vintage postcards, and they're the visuals of the 1900s.
[00:01:36] If you're planning to attend, please let Mary Jo know.
[00:01:41] Please read the announcement about Project Agape shoeboxes in your bulletins, but also mark your calendars for our guest speaker, Nara Melkonian, who will be with us on Wednesday, July 1st at 630.
[00:01:55] And please, please, please come to that.
[00:01:57] You will definitely gain something from it.
[00:02:00] That's my pet project, Project Agape.
[00:02:04] So please come out and hear what is going on in that part of the world right now.
[00:02:09] Don't forget your cupcake.
[00:02:11] And we hope everyone has a great Memorial Day tomorrow.
[00:02:15] And Pastor Kelly will now come and lead us in a time of prayer.
[00:02:19] Thank you, ma'am.
[00:02:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:02:20] I got one.
[00:02:21] Thank you.
[00:02:22] Yeah.
[00:02:24] Thanks, Sandy.
[00:02:26] I have a question for the sound booth.
[00:02:29] if folks stand up and turn towards a camera, can you get a picture of everybody for Vivian Berklio? Which one? Should we go that way? All right, everybody face that way, if you would.
[00:02:44] You can wave to Vivian. She's in rehab at Salem Town. Hi, Vivian. We love you.
[00:02:53] David's trying to wake her up right now so that she can see. Yeah, just wanted to do that before I forgot. So Vivian had a fall on Tuesday, and she went to the hospital, was there for a few days,
[00:03:08] and is now over at rehab at Salem Town. She is very, very tired and, you know, struggling to eat, and we're just really thinking about her and hope she gets some strength back. And anyway,
[00:03:21] our prayers are with her, and I know that David is there. So friends, it's great to see all of you.
[00:03:26] Good to see all of you.
[00:03:28] I thought we had a great time last week outside.
[00:03:32] And some of you have said, can we do it again?
[00:03:34] And the answer is, next year.
[00:03:39] I think Matthew was a little tired of hauling the bells out there, but it was really a really nice celebration.
[00:03:48] We sat around and said, what did we do right on that as a staff?
[00:03:51] And Jessica goes, the weather.
[00:03:54] Yeah, so it was really perfect.
[00:03:56] It was really, really nice.
[00:03:58] so it's good to see all of you and i would love if you would tell me some prayer concerns that you might have today we meant uh uh mentioned vivian berkeley oh um how about others what
[00:04:20] susan brawley's niece was one of the lawyers in raleigh that was shot somebody unhappy with verdict and wow shot three times oh my gosh yeah gosh very scary yeah yeah so let's pray for all
[00:05:09] of them that's really really sad um Susan Brawley's niece all right um I wanted to mention Eddie Drawn um I got word from someone at the 10 o'clock service that he's not doing very well
[00:05:25] right now. And, you know, he's in treatment for cancer in his throat and tongue. And so he's, anyway, he's doing some radiation treatment, I know. And so we just want to hold him in our
[00:05:37] prayer. Yeah. Others? Yeah. Sandy? All right. So Crystal, who's been struggling for cancer and has many treatments. She's been in and out of the hospital. That's a friend of Sandy's. Okay.
[00:06:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:06:05] others yeah yeah ashley yeah so ashley was on the transplant list was unable to get the transplant
[00:06:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:06:44] needs to get some other numbers up so yeah yeah jeff she didn't tell me that aha okay so all right um so sarah's mom and um is uh having a procedure this week okay all right thank you for letting me
[00:07:06] You know, safe travels for everybody.
[00:07:21] Yeah.
[00:07:23] Yeah, isn't that nice?
[00:07:25] Yeah.
[00:07:28] It was blessed rain for sure.
[00:07:32] All right, any others?
[00:07:38] Well, friends, I hope that, you know, we do want to remember service people that have died in the act of service and those that, you know, we're remembering in our families this weekend and kind of keep them in our prayers as well.
[00:07:53] so as Jerry comes and gives us a little music we'll prepare our hearts for some prayer gracious God we pray for the blessing of your spirit today on this day of Pentecost when we remember the birth of the church
[00:09:03] we ask that you fill us with that spirit today and may that spirit extend our reach especially to those who are unable to be with us today and those that we have mentioned.
[00:09:21] We pray oh God that you will remind us that your blessings come as rain and as sun and it shines on the good and the bad alike and all are in your eyes receive that blessing.
[00:09:38] Remind us of that as we let the rain fall and nourish a very thirsty ground.
[00:09:50] God, we pray for the spirit of new creation, the way in which you are bringing life out of darkness and out of sickness.
[00:10:00] We pray for your healing touch for Eddie and Vivian, for Susan Brawley's niece, Crystal, Susan's mom, for Ashley as she faces ongoing struggle on dialysis.
[00:10:23] We pray, oh God, for ourselves We need a double dosing of your love today.
[00:10:32] We ask that you prepare our hearts and minds to receive your spirit so that it may be effective and we may become part of your mighty acts in this world.
[00:10:46] Bless us in this service so that we may sense your presence among us and that we may know the way of love and trust in your guiding nudges and follow it out into the world
[00:11:00] to prepare the world as a place where love can be known.
[00:11:06] And so God is our prayer and we make all of this in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord who taught disciples to pray together.
[00:11:14] Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:11:19] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:11:25] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom
[00:11:40] and the power and the glory forever.
[00:11:44] Amen.
[00:12:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:12:43] for your heart till I am a soul on fire longing for your ways I'm waiting for
[00:12:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:12:54] the day when I am a soul on fire till I am a soul on fire Lord restore the joy I had in that wonder this darkness lead me through until all i see is you god i'm running for your heart i'm running for
[00:13:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:13:27] your heart till i am a soul i'm longing for your ways i'm waiting for the day when i am a soul on
[00:13:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:13:40] fire till i am a soul on fire lord let me burn for you again let me return to you again again your heart i'm running for your heart till i am a soul on fire for your ways i'm waiting for
[00:14:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:14:34] the day. When I am a soul on fire, I'm running for your heart. I'm running for your heart.
[00:14:45] Till I am a soul on fire. Till I am a soul on fire. Till I am a soul on fire.
[00:15:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:15:13] That was very Pentecostal of you guys. I appreciate that. I have two scripture passages to read to you today. One is, they're both from the New Testament. One is from the Acts of the Apostles
[00:15:26] and, you know, they call it the Acts of the Apostles, but it should be the Acts of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit working through the apostles. And so this one comes from Acts 2 and
[00:15:39] I'll read to you the story of the day of Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place and suddenly from heaven there came a sound like a rush of a violent wind
[00:15:52] and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues of fire appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them.
[00:16:01] All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability.
[00:16:09] Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
[00:16:12] And at the sound, this sound, the crowd gathered and was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
[00:16:22] amazed and astonished they ask are not all of these who are speaking Galileans and how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language Parthians, Medes, Elamites the residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia
[00:16:38] Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes and Cretans and arabs in our own languages we hear them speaking about god's deeds of power all were
[00:16:58] amazed and perplexed saying to one another what does this mean but others sneered and said they are filled with new wine but peter standing with the 11 raised his voice and addressed them men of
[00:17:12] judea and all in jerusalem let this be known to you and listen to what i say indeed these are not drunk as you suppose where it's only nine o'clock in the morning no this is what was spoken through
[00:17:25] the prophet Joel in the last days it will be God declares that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions and
[00:17:38] old men shall dream dreams even upon my slaves both men and women in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on
[00:17:50] the earth below, blood and fire, smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. And then everyone who calls on the
[00:18:04] name of the Lord shall be saved. The word of God for the people of God. Thanks. Another one. This is some verses from John's gospel. We have been reading a lot from chapters 14, 15, and
[00:18:23] this is from 15 and 16. And this is Jesus' words to the disciples. It goes back a little bit. Words to the disciples about what the Holy Spirit is and who this Holy Spirit is
[00:18:36] and what the Holy Spirit is about. When the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who comes from the father, he will testify on my behalf. And you
[00:18:51] also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. But I have said these things to you so that when the hour comes, you may remember that I told you about them. It is to
[00:19:05] your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and
[00:19:16] righteousness and judgment about sin, because they do not believe in me about righteousness, because I am going to the father and you will see me no longer about judgment because the ruler of this world has been condemned. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them
[00:19:34] now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears and he will declare to you the things that are to come
[00:19:46] he will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you all that the father has is mine and for this reason i said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you
[00:20:01] the word of god for the people of god i got a song for you if you all know this song won't you sing
[00:20:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:20:09] it with me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
[00:20:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:53] Years ago, I had an assistant pastor by the name of Ron Perry.
[00:21:01] Some of you may know Ron. He's a pastor in our conference.
[00:21:05] Ron is an African-American pastor who stands six foot four.
[00:21:10] He is a big, strong man.
[00:21:13] And when he came to work at the church, each Sunday I asked him to lead us in the pastoral prayer.
[00:21:18] And for the first couple of weeks, he would take the handheld microphone and he put it right up on his mouth.
[00:21:26] and the sound people couldn't keep up because it is no exaggeration to say that he would scream his prayer into the microphone.
[00:21:38] You would not need the hearing loop to hear him.
[00:21:41] Some suggested that he thought maybe God was hard of hearing.
[00:21:46] I asked him to pull the microphone away.
[00:21:49] We didn't have anybody in the booth back then at give it a little distance, which he did.
[00:21:55] But boy, he continued to pray in the way that his black church tradition had taught him.
[00:22:00] He was full tilt, filled with spirit.
[00:22:05] A friend of mine once described the difference about preaching at a predominantly white church like ours and the African American church.
[00:22:12] She said, you know, preaching in the black church is a little bit like playing tennis.
[00:22:16] You serve up a phrase and the congregation returns it with an amen or a yes sir.
[00:22:23] A little call and response.
[00:22:24] But preaching in the white church is more like golf.
[00:22:29] You preach your sermon with a long drive off the tee, and you're not sure where it goes.
[00:22:39] When I was at that church one week, I had double-booked myself.
[00:22:42] I was scheduled to go and preach in the afternoon over at Arbor Acres.
[00:22:47] But I couldn't go, so I sent Ron, Ron Perry.
[00:22:51] Yeah, some of you are like, um, uh-huh, yeah, okay.
[00:22:55] I saw him later that night, and I asked him, so how did it go?
[00:22:58] and he laughed and he shook his head at me and he goes, not a lively crowd.
[00:23:05] I said, no, you mean the Holy Spirit didn't show up?
[00:23:08] And he goes, oh, the Spirit showed up, but the people, they all stood like this.
[00:23:15] Makes me wonder, is it possible to ignore, to resist the movement of the Holy Spirit?
[00:23:27] The story of Pentecost in Acts 2, this is called the birthday of the church, which is why we're having cupcakes, by the way.
[00:23:34] Thank you, Jessica.
[00:23:37] The disciples had gathered for worship and they prayed and they sang and the Spirit showed up in dramatic fashion.
[00:23:45] And we didn't do it in here, but I'm telling you, you might want to go take a look in the sanctuary or look on the video of it because it's very dramatic.
[00:23:53] The disciples, the dramatic fashion involved fire and the noise of wind.
[00:23:59] And then the disciples spoke in foreign languages, some languages they didn't even know.
[00:24:04] That's right.
[00:24:05] On Pentecost, the tongues that they spoke were other languages.
[00:24:10] Who knows?
[00:24:11] German, Italian, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Swahili.
[00:24:14] And the people walking through the streets of Jerusalem who came from those lands where the tongues were spoken, they heard the gospel.
[00:24:21] They heard the good news in their own native language.
[00:24:24] The power of the Spirit, therefore, breaks past those things that divide us, even language itself this is one of the messages of pentecost now just to be clear for some of you who may have gone through a pentecostal phase in your life what is described in the book of acts
[00:24:47] is not speaking in tongues that you may hear uh that you might hear somewhere today glossolalia we as the greek word for it it was practiced in the pentecostal traditions and it's mentioned in other places of scripture but in acts it's really speaking actual languages that people
[00:25:06] know and hear when the people who heard them on the day of pentecost they thought the disciples were drunk peter says we're not drunk it's only nine o'clock some things even the holy spirit can't change like the fact that peter after speaking in another language still never opens
[00:25:25] his mouth unless he's changing feet, right? Spirit showed up. Flames of fire came down and danced on each of their heads, burned inside of them, enlivened these apostles, and then drove them out into the world. The Spirit did a miracle. It made Peter eloquent, okay? Students became
[00:25:53] the teachers at Pentecost. Those who had been preached to so often by Jesus became preachers themselves. The spirit of the living God melted and molded and filled and used the apostles in a way that nobody saw coming. This was the power of what happened on the day of Pentecost.
[00:26:18] Robert Johnson is an author I love because he writes very thin books. He once told a story of his first encounter with his mentor and his teacher, the famed psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.
[00:26:33] Jung, that's J-U-N-G.
[00:26:35] They had written many letters to one another.
[00:26:37] Dr. Jung was impressed with Johnson's work.
[00:26:41] And when they finally met at where Jung lived, he walked them around the lake and into the woods.
[00:26:49] The two of them went together for hours in the afternoon, just walking and talking.
[00:26:55] And Johnson said, Jung told me so many things.
[00:26:59] And the way he told them to me was as if he had known me all of his life.
[00:27:06] He was not this domineering, stern man that everybody said that he was.
[00:27:12] Interestingly, I think it was later that night, he attended a lecture that Jung gave with all the people gathering.
[00:27:20] And when the man came in, he sort of was a different person, a different personality.
[00:27:25] he was so different from the person that had talked to him he was gruff and loud and harsh but the man that he had met was kind and soft and gentle and quiet and Johnson was thrown off
[00:27:38] he couldn't hear what was being said because the contrast of this one person with his personalities Johnson says it took him many years to figure it out but he realized that Jung had been speaking to him
[00:27:51] in his own language as a scholar who developed a theory of different personality types jung understood that there were some things that a person could only hear and understand if it was spoken to them in those
[00:28:09] types in their particular language the story of pentecost tells us that god is multilingual but i would also say that god can speak your particular language as well but that may not mean that you are going to hear the message in the gospel. Let's do you, you know, from Jesus's
[00:28:38] words takes place actually 50 days prior to Pentecost. It was at the Passover feast of Monday, Thursday, Jesus preaching this long final sermon all through John 14, 15, 16, and 17.
[00:28:51] Sometimes Jesus is preaching and then he starts to pray. Jesus' words are tender and they are loving. They sound a little like a parent launching their child out into adulthood. They sound like a teacher speaking to the students that she loves at graduation. He says, don't worry. I know you're
[00:29:17] scared. You're not ready, but I'm not leaving you alone. I'm not leaving you as an orphan.
[00:29:25] I'm sending help. Tender, loving words. They were probably forgotten when the disciples heard them, but they were remembered during the resurrection, remembered 50 days later, and then they were passed on for centuries up until today. As Jesus was anticipating the grief that the
[00:29:48] disciples would experience in his absence, he tries to comfort them. I'm sending you help. A spiritual presence is coming in my place. It will comfort you in your grief, and it will drive you out of the world with passion. The spirit of love is coming. This spirit, says Jesus, it is going to
[00:30:11] take care of you. At one point, Jesus says, you know, it's an advantage that I go away for if I don't, the paraclete, that's his word for it, the paraclete will not come to you. I still have many
[00:30:24] things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when the spirit of truth comes, that paraclete will guide you into the truth and prove the world wrong about sin. Jesus knew his disciples
[00:30:38] inside and out, their strengths, their weaknesses. And just as Jesus spoke, you know, as they spoke in different languages, Jesus is speaking to the particular language of their heart. Now, what is a paraclete. It's not two pairs of shoes that you wear on the football field. A paraclete is the
[00:31:01] Greek word that Jesus uses as a nickname for the Holy Spirit. In giving it the nickname paraclete, he's telling us about what the Holy Spirit is about. Now, some of your Bibles at home might
[00:31:17] translate these words as comforter. It sounds like a word in blanket, doesn't it? But the Spirit is comforting. That is true. Jesus is caring for these soon-to-be broken-hearted disciples. But paraclete means more than that. It also means advocate. Advocate. The Spirit is comfort, healing,
[00:31:41] yes, but it is also an advocate that someone is on your side. Not just, but not just your side alone.
[00:31:52] The advocate is actually on the side of love, which is what we all need.
[00:32:00] The spirit, if it is to be understood as whole and holy, is not just your personal spirit.
[00:32:06] It is the spirit of advocacy, advocacy for love.
[00:32:10] It just doesn't want your healing, and it does want your healing.
[00:32:13] Don't get me wrong here, but it wants the healing of the world itself.
[00:32:20] When you find comfort, your own healing, then the spirit comes to advocate for love, to nudge you beyond the comfort of your own ego, to be and to do love beyond yourself.
[00:32:35] Spiritual advocacy means that we allow ourselves to, well, to be agitated to do the right thing.
[00:32:43] We use that word in community organizing, you know, and agitating is what your washer does, right? It just moves stuff around. It moves stuff around. It enlivens it. But it's about putting pressure, reminding those who are leaders in the world of why they are leaders and what the
[00:33:02] needs of the community are. So advocate is to say, we need more love in this area. It's not just to receive love, but to practice it. Not to be bathed in comfort, but to actually move and to burn with
[00:33:18] passion for love to spread and expand. I had a professor who, uh, had been writing a book for about 30 years. I think he published it after I'd left, um, divinity school, but he, his image of
[00:33:36] God that he wanted to write about was, uh, uh, well, he was, he was a sailor, so he had a sailboat and would sail a lot and that's where he did most of his reflection his spirituality i think he left
[00:33:50] the church to go and sail most of the time but what he talked about in his book was that our task as human beings is to try to put up our sails and harness the wind where the wind is going
[00:34:06] that image of the mighty rushing wind of god that came god is going somewhere and god is constantly going in the direction of love. And God is speaking to us constantly in our own language
[00:34:22] about love. There's a lot of reasons that we can't hear it. Maybe we've never known that kind of love. Maybe we haven't experienced it for ourselves. Another reason might be that we have a lot of competition. There are algorithms all across social media that are designed to go into
[00:34:46] your heart and to pull out the darkest parts of your humanity and the people that you don't like and to see them being punished in videos and constant messages. This is what social media does. It feeds on it and it gives it to you again and again and again. I dare say the algorithm is
[00:35:13] not tuned to the Holy Spirit of love. You are going to have to train it to do that. You're going to have to be disciplined yourself in being able to say, no, we are not just creatures that are
[00:35:28] bent on making enemies. We are bent on a sense of love that will not be thrown aside even when someone rejects it. Even when someone is an enemy to us, we love because we were loved.
[00:35:47] You know, prophets and preachers have a saying, you know, about prophets and about Jesus often, that Jesus came to comfort those that were disturbed and to disturb those that were comfortable. This spirit that we're talking about, this advocate that deeply cares for us
[00:36:10] and comforts us, also is disturbing us and ought to, maybe should be constantly asking us the question, where is the love that I am giving you? How will you take it to those who need it?
[00:36:29] It's a gentle, intimate presence, yes, but it is also a fiery, dramatic agitator reminding us that we have a mission beyond ourselves.
[00:36:44] So this day, we remember how the community of Jesus' disciples became a spirit-possessed church.
[00:36:54] And while we long for the drama of Pentecost, the reality is that we resist it.
[00:37:02] We turn aside from it.
[00:37:03] No matter how loud the preacher is yelling into the microphone or how many gentle nudges we get to go to find those who need love and to share with them.
[00:37:20] It's time for us to open our heart up because I have a feeling that the mighty wind of Pentecost and the fire that is burning is still going on all the time.
[00:37:32] So maybe this year we can renew the church once again.
[00:37:38] Would you pray with me?
[00:37:44] Gracious God, on this day, when you set the church on fire with your love, and they were able to do more than they ever thought they could.
[00:37:56] We ask that you set us on fire to reach out to others in love so that they may know your grace and know your spirit.
[00:38:08] Train us to hear your voice, to pay attention, to open our heart so that we may find our way not only to comfort ourselves with your love, but to love others in need of such comfort.
[00:38:25] We pray this in your holy name.
[00:38:27] Amen.
[00:38:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:38:31] Y'all stand and sing one more.
[00:38:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:38:32] Let hearts awaken.
[00:38:43] Our God is moving.
[00:38:46] Forever changing love.
[00:38:51] There is a trembling.
[00:38:53] There is revival.
[00:38:56] The sound of worship.
[00:38:59] So great and glorious.
[00:39:02] Holy fire lays with your spirit.
[00:39:22] forever changing marching with your voice and sing he is holy lift up your hands and shout the lord is with us now lift up your voice and sing and shout he is whole like a rock
[00:41:46] that's yeah it is almost cupcake time all right but remember that uh part of being inspired and
[00:42:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:42:58] being, receiving the comfort of the Spirit, but really also about knowing that comfort enough so that you can go out and share it, is to open up your heart.
[00:43:08] So let's go from this place and open our hearts and be the church that God is still hoping will come about and make a change in the world.
[00:43:17] We go with God who goes with us in the name of our Creator, our Sustainer, and our Redeemer.
[00:43:22] Amen.
[00:43:23] Cupcakes!
[00:43:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:43:23] With your precious wings and your Spirit
