Emphasis Preaching Journal

Acts 2:1-21
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Without the Spirit of God, we can do nothing. We are as ships without the wind, branches without sap, and like coals without fire, we are useless.” 

Paul Chappell tells this story. “A young missionary, Herbert Jackson, was given a car to help him in his work. The car was a major asset, but it had one problem. It would not start without a push or a jump-start. Jackson devised a system to cope with the car’s inability to start. When he was ready to leave his home, he went to a nearby school and asked permission to bring some of the children out of class to help him push-start his car.

Throughout the day, he was careful to always park on a hill or to leave his engine running when he stopped for short visits. For two years the young missionary used what he believed was an ingenious method to enable him to use the car.

When poor health forced the Jackson family to leave the field, a new missionary arrived to lead the mission. When Jackson explained to the new missionary his methods for starting the car, the young man opened the hood and began inspecting. ‘Dr. Jackson,” he interrupted,‘I believe the only trouble is the loose cable.’ He gave the cable a twist, pushed the switch, and the engine roared to life.

For two years, Dr. Jackson had used his own devices and endured needless trouble. The power to start the car was there all the time—it only needed to be connected.

Our text today celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The Spirit enabled the apostles and he can enable us, too, if we are connected.
Bill T.

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Acts 2:1-21
As you travel across the United States you're likely to hear the same abusive jokes directed at the state next door, or another part of the state, or even at the people across town -- those are the ignorant people, they're the ones who don't measure up. The jokes are unfair, but they reveal what is an evidently underlying need on the part of some people to draw lines to create insiders and outsiders, evidently so they can feel better about themselves.

Judeans and Galileans shared many things in common -- a single faith and a common ancestry for instance, but they were very different culturally. Deep down inside both groups seemed to feel they were the true believers, while the others did not quite measure up.

With the miracle of Pentecost the Holy Spirit wipes away the barriers of language -- everyone hears the believers "speaking in the native language of each (Acts 2:6)." And the Apostle Peter will quote from the prophet Joel to demonstrate the universality of the salvation that is being offered -- "'Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21).'"

But even here the inter-sectional prejudice rears its ugly head. Individuals from many regions in the Empire have come to Jerusalem to observe the Passover, and their response to the miracle is to ask, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans (Acts 2:7)?" as if such an accomplishment was not possible from a people they considered uncouth and ignorant.
Frank R.

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Acts 2:1-21
Arthur Rubinstein, one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the twentieth century, once said, “It’s all a miracle. I have adopted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle.” Living in the promise that all begins and ends with Jesus does allow us to live life from miracle to miracle, knowing we are secure in God’s act of creation.
Ron L.

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Romans 8:14-17
Martin Luther taught us how badly we need the Holy Spirit.  As he once put it: “For all men are slaves of sin, because all commit sin, if not in outward works, yet in their concupiscence and inclination.” (Luther’s Works, Vol.25, p.357).  John Wesley made a similar point as he claimed, “All men that are or have, yes, in their highest accomplishments, are but like the grass of the field, weak and vanishing, soon snipped and brought to nothing.”  (Commentary On the Bible, p.331) The Spirit overcomes this bondage.  Martin Luther compares the Spirit to the Divine Pilate of the Ship of Faith:

Without the Holy Spirit hearts are either hardened in sins or they despair...  By the Holy Spirit the godly navigate between this satanic Scylla and Charybdis and cast themselves upon the superabundant and infinite mercy of God.  They confess their sins, but at the same time they also confess the immeasurable mercy of God (What Luther Says, p.662)

Elsewhere the first Reformer compared the Spirit to a nurturing hen who hatches Christians out of our sinful egg:

As a hen broods her eggs, keeping them warm in order to hatch her chicks, and, as it were, to bring them to life through her, so Scripture says that the Holy Spirit brooded, as it were, on the waters to bring life to those substances which were quickened and adorned.  For it is the office of the Holy Spirit to make alive.  (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.9)
Mark E.    

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Romans 8:14-17
How wonderful it is to be called a child of God! As we come together in our following of Jesus, we are seen as heirs of God, beloved of God, and children of God! Imagine what this means to people who are marginalized, disenfranchised, unwanted and segregated. To be included in family is a wonderful feeling. To be included in the family of God is an amazing feeling. But do we feel that way? Or do we come afraid, fearful of our unworthiness, that the things we have done will exclude us? Paul reminds us that we are not slaves to our past, to our sins, to our previous feelings of separation. We are freed, included, and loved. I say, “Amen” to that!
Bonnie B.

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Romans 8:14-17
We must know that we are all children of god, but do we share in God’s suffering?  How do we know?  Because the Spirit leads us.

We are God’s children by adoption at our baptism. Yes, we have the power to reject our adoption at a great cost.

A child who rejects an adoption will lose all the benefits of his or her parent’s will.  Rejecting God is the worst disaster we can  bring upon ourselves. 

Before pastors are ordained they stand before a committee of God’s people and must convince them that we are  led by the Spirit and are God’s special children.  It is God’s Spirit that makes us children and pastors and missionaries.

Jesus had twelve disciples but many more believers were his children.  That is number one! Being a child of God is the foundation stone and makes us eligible for the inheritance He gives us of eternal life.
Bob O.

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John 14:8-17 (25-27)
In October 1963, Willie Nelson, while walking in his Ridgetop, Tennessee farm decided to write the Christmas song Pretty Paper. Nelson was inspired to write the song as he pondered an incident that he witnessed the previous Christmas season in Fort Worth, Texas. As he was walking the streets of the city, he saw a vendor hawking his wares in front of Leonard's Department Store.

The man, who was later identified as Frankie Brierton, had both legs amputated above the knees. Brierton chose not to use a wheelchair, but instead moved by rollers which imitated crawling, which is how he learned to move while growing up after his legs were affected by a spinal disorder. Brierton was trying to sell colorful papers, pencils and ribbons. To attract the attention of potential customers Brierton called out, “Pretty papers! Pretty ribbons!” Nelson was disturbed that no one stopped before the amputee to make a Christmas purchase.

Recalling this scene and its resounding message, Nelson wrote Pretty Paper:

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue

Crowded street, busy feet hustle by him
Downtown shoppers, Christmas is nigh
There he sits all alone on the sidewalk
Hoping that you won't pass him by

Should you stop? better not, much too busy
You're in a hurry, my how time does fly
In the distance the ringing of laughter
And in the midst of the laughter he cries

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Ron L.

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John 14:8-17 (25-27)
Billy Graham once said, ““The Holy Spirit illuminates the minds of people, makes us yearn for God, and takes spiritual truth and makes it understandable to us.” In today’s text Jesus promises the disciples that the advocate, the Holy Spirit would come to them to teach them and to remind them of all that he’d told them. The key, of course, is to listen.

James Hamilton shares this story. “Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.

One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked but didn’t fit it either.  A boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.

‘I closed the door,” the boy replied, ‘lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.’”

The Holy Spirit speaks to us, too, if we will only hear him.
Bill T.

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John 14:8-17 (25-27)
Ask questions! We often say there's no such thing as a stupid question. Now the answer might be challenging, but learning can lead to acting. This chapter of John includes the familiar language "I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6)." as Jesus equates himself and the Father as one. This leads Philip to ask a question: "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." And this in turn leads Jesus to ramble on for several verses with a more detailed exposition about the relationship between the two, how believing is doing, and finally the assertion that the Father will be sending them the Spirit when it is time, a Comforter or Advocate who will make it possible for them to do many things.

I don't know if Philip squirmed at all during Jesus' answer, but the answer Jesus gave made miracles possible -- Philip was later part of the practical solution to the problem of food distribution to the needy widows, the sharing of the gospel with the Samaritans, as well as with the Ethiopian eunuch.
Frank R.