It’s Christmas Eve day – tonight we will celebrate the birth of Christ. In UPWORD together we’re in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost and the birth of the Church. Every birthday would be incomplete without gifts; this one is no different. And God in his goodness gives the church the greatest gift he could give us. Once again, he gives us HIMSELF – this time in the person of the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Christ). In Acts 1:4, Jesus told the disciples to, “wait in Jerusalem for the gift my Father promised.” He also told them in the Great Commission, “I will be with you always, to the very end of the age,” (Mt 28:30). We heard him say in John, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you,” (John 14:16-17). Notice the promises: I will not leave you. He will be another counselor (one just like Jesus). He will focus on truth and reality (thus the world will not accept him). An unseen presence (and again the people of the world will not accept him — sadly, sometimes this applies to some people in the church too!). You will not be orphans (parentless, unloved, unguided and unprotected). HE WILL LIVE IN YOU. You see, the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence in our hearts and lives. The New Covenant blessing is beginning. God’s great restoration takes it’s next huge step. Having dealt with our sin and separation from God through the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, God can now take up residence within us to make us vessels of his message to others. And now in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, the promise is beginning to be fulfilled (it continues emerging in people’s lives to this day).
Notice that they were ALL filled with the Holy Spirit (with God’s life and presence) (verse 4). And the filling was not to the “top” of their beings as though they were simply containers of God (like a dam), but instead they were filled to overflow like a river (they spoke in tongues and declared the wonders of God and people took notice)! The giving of the Holy Spirit is for us and for others to encounter God through us (You will be my witnesses and you will receive God-given spiritual power – Acts 1:8). Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from WITHIN him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not been glorified,” (John 7:37-39). With the giving of the Spirit, the church was born because Jesus had assumed the throne at the right hand of God in heaven (glorification). Now, we are his presence in the world by the power of the Holy Spirit within us to teach us and lead us into all truth and to help us lead others into the wonderful Kingdom of God through belief in Jesus Christ!
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