PENTECOST – the day HOPE came to stay!
Hope in a world of tension,
Hope in a world broken,
Hope where relationships are shattered,
Hope where there is isolation,
Hope where there are riots and looting,
Hope where domestic violence happens all too often,
Hope where there is bushfire, drought, and Corona Virus,
Hope where financial crisis crouches at the door,
Hope where refugees flee political unrest,
Hope where poverty and famine cause malnutrition,
Hope where a drunken driver takes three children and their mother?
What hope is there in such a world?
Where do we find it?
Why do we even look for it?
Why do we bother?
Is there a future for us ahead of today?
Is it worth investing in tomorrow?
Is there anything that we can commit to with certainty?
Who or what is there left to place our trust?
We cannot even be sure those we love will be with us in the future!
Where can we centre our expectations?
We must hope in something or someone!
Without hope we have no dreams,
Without hope we have no meaning, no pleasure in life!
Is there no good news?
There is!
Jesus rose and changed the world on that very day!
50 days later the Holy Spirit came as He had promised the disciples,
Jesus mission to win victory over death and the devil was authenticated,
The Holy Spirit came with power to fire up hearts and minds to believe and follow Jesus!
Heaven is real! The Father is real! The Spirit is real and powerful!
The coming of the Holy Spirit was impressive,
A violent wind came, a crowd formed, and the disciples preached powerfully!
The crowd was from all over the ancient world and heard their message in their own language,
That day three thousand people became believers in Jesus!
From that day on the kingdom of God grew throughout the world.
The power of the Holy Spirit is still at work throughout the nations today!
Hope in Jesus has transformed lives across the centuries,
The power of the Spirit has worked mightily in the lives of men and women,
Providing help, care, compassion, and love to people everywhere,
The hungry receive food, refugees are given a home, the sick are given care,
And the gift of forgiveness of sin is made known to every nation under heaven,
The Kingdom of God continues to be added to in every generation,
No government or organisation has been able to stamp out believers from gathering,
Persecution, imprisonment, or slaughter has not been able to stop the power of the Holy Spirit to give hope in the victory won by Jesus!
The kingdom values are lived, and the fruit of the Spirit is shared in abundance by God’s kingdom people!
Neil P. Schiller
03.06.20
