On Saturday, our church hosted a party for the neighborhood.
Saturday was also the day before Pentecost Sunday.
I arrived at the party a bit early and several members of my church family were already there.
I greeted everyone and joined a group of my friends.
Our discussion turned to Pentecost Sunday.
A friend shared an observation that churches, generally speaking, have their largest attendance on Christmas and Easter.
He added that Pentecost Sunday is also an important day in the church calendar, but attendance is not as large when compared to attendance on Christmas and Easter.
Of course, the next logical question to ask is, "Why?"
"Why?" is one of those questions whose answers are typically subjective.
They are often based on people’s observations.
That said, I offered my response, but before I share it, let’s take a look at the other two days first.
On Christmas and Easter, we celebrate the birth and resurrection of Jesus, respectively.
I once heard a minister refer to these days as the "annual Christian pilgrimages" simply because church attendance is higher then.
Pentecost Sunday, however, celebrates the Holy Spirit.
I personally believe that He is the least understood Person of the Trinity.
Generally speaking, when you ask people about God, the first Person of the Trinity, they can usually tell you about several of His attributes,
Similarly, when you ask them, about Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, they can usually tell you about a few of His attributes as well.
Ask them about the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, and the results are noticeably different.
A majority of the time they can tell you very little in comparison.
So, who is the Holy Spirit and what is Pentecost?
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and other followers (Acts 2) and some remarkable things happened.
There came a sound from heaven like a violent wind that filled the entire house.
Next tongues spread out like a fire that came to rest upon each one of them.
Then each was filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in different human languages.
This was the beginning of the Church.
Devout men from every nation were nearby.
They came and were amazed because each heard them speak in his language.
Even then, just as today, there were many who misunderstood the Holy Spirit and what He did among the believers.
Acts 2:7-8 (NET) - Completely baffled, they said, "Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that each of us hears them in our own native language?"
Today, many still are unfamiliar with the attributes of the Holy Spirit.
What are some of His attributes?
The Holy Spirit helps us to recognize both our sinful nature and our need for salvation.
The Holy Spirit then leads us to Jesus for that salvation.
The Holy Spirit helps us accept Jesus as our savior.
The Holy Spirit then assures us of our salvation and transforms our lives.
The Holy Spirit helps us lead fruitful lives and also helps us witness to others.
The Holy Spirit helps us comprehend the truth and also provides us with a combination of comfort and strength.
These are but some of the ways that the Holy Spirit influences our lives.
The Holy Spirit, like the Father and the Son, cannot be completely understood by human minds.
We should, however, be receptive and responsive to His leading.
This will not only enrich our lives, it will help us to enrich the lives of others.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, June 7, 2013.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, June 14, 2013.
Schedule subject to change.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Green with Envy
Matthew 6:19 (NET) - Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
Exodus 20:17 (NET) - You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Scripture warns us about both worldliness and covetousness.
In reflecting on these conditions I realized that both the world and desire of another’s possessions often go hand in hand.
The world begins to influence us very early in life. It makes us desire the things others have which we do not.
I asked myself when did worldliness and covetousness first enter my life and the answer came both quickly and easily.
It happened when I started the first grade and involved, of all things, crayons!
Yes, even something as seemingly benign and innocent looking as a box of crayons can be used by the world in a negative way on young minds.
Before I started first grade, my mother took me to the store to get the supplies I would need according to the local school system.
One of the items on the list they provided was a box of eight crayons.
One day, shortly after school began, the teacher asked us to get out our crayons as she passed out a worksheet we were supposed to color.
As we got out our crayons, I quickly realized that not everyone was limited to eight crayons.
Many had sixteen, some had twenty four, a few had forty eight and two actually had sixty four.
Notice that I still remember that exactly two had sixty four crayons.
How I envied those two when I compared their boxes of sixty four to my paltry box of eight.
In the world of adults, this would be comparable to someone living in a modest home envying someone of their mansion.
For weeks, I remember pleading with my parents to get me a box of sixty four crayons but to no avail.
Eventually, they gave in and bought me a box of twenty four.
In our little world, that of first graders, it was the number of crayons one had that determined our social standing.
As a Christian adult and In hindsight, this was a silly thing. To a small child’s mind, it seemed like one of the most important things of all.
Yet, that is exactly the kind of hold the world can have on us throughout our lives.
If we permit it.
Without Jesus, the only thing that really changes is the price of our toys.
Jesus overcomes the grip the world has on our lives.
By the way, there is an additional lesson I have learned from all of this.
Back then, when a child with few crayons, like me, would ask to borrow a particular color from someone who had more the response was usually the same.
"My father (or mother) told me not to let anybody use them."
We are each blessed by our Heavenly Father in many ways.
Our Heavenly Father expects us to share our blessings with others and not keep them for ourselves.
He even gave us the greatest example of all when He shared His Only Son with us in order that we be saved.
We may have outgrown crayons, but we dare not let material wealth in the adult world have the same kind of hold.
Everyone needs to grow up sometime.
We do that when we mature as believers.
1 Corinthians 13:11 (NET) - When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, May 17, 2013.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, May 24, 2013.
Schedule subject to change.
Exodus 20:17 (NET) - You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Scripture warns us about both worldliness and covetousness.
In reflecting on these conditions I realized that both the world and desire of another’s possessions often go hand in hand.
The world begins to influence us very early in life. It makes us desire the things others have which we do not.
I asked myself when did worldliness and covetousness first enter my life and the answer came both quickly and easily.
It happened when I started the first grade and involved, of all things, crayons!
Yes, even something as seemingly benign and innocent looking as a box of crayons can be used by the world in a negative way on young minds.
Before I started first grade, my mother took me to the store to get the supplies I would need according to the local school system.
One of the items on the list they provided was a box of eight crayons.
One day, shortly after school began, the teacher asked us to get out our crayons as she passed out a worksheet we were supposed to color.
As we got out our crayons, I quickly realized that not everyone was limited to eight crayons.
Many had sixteen, some had twenty four, a few had forty eight and two actually had sixty four.
Notice that I still remember that exactly two had sixty four crayons.
How I envied those two when I compared their boxes of sixty four to my paltry box of eight.
In the world of adults, this would be comparable to someone living in a modest home envying someone of their mansion.
For weeks, I remember pleading with my parents to get me a box of sixty four crayons but to no avail.
Eventually, they gave in and bought me a box of twenty four.
In our little world, that of first graders, it was the number of crayons one had that determined our social standing.
As a Christian adult and In hindsight, this was a silly thing. To a small child’s mind, it seemed like one of the most important things of all.
Yet, that is exactly the kind of hold the world can have on us throughout our lives.
If we permit it.
Without Jesus, the only thing that really changes is the price of our toys.
Jesus overcomes the grip the world has on our lives.
By the way, there is an additional lesson I have learned from all of this.
Back then, when a child with few crayons, like me, would ask to borrow a particular color from someone who had more the response was usually the same.
"My father (or mother) told me not to let anybody use them."
We are each blessed by our Heavenly Father in many ways.
Our Heavenly Father expects us to share our blessings with others and not keep them for ourselves.
He even gave us the greatest example of all when He shared His Only Son with us in order that we be saved.
We may have outgrown crayons, but we dare not let material wealth in the adult world have the same kind of hold.
Everyone needs to grow up sometime.
We do that when we mature as believers.
1 Corinthians 13:11 (NET) - When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, May 17, 2013.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, May 24, 2013.
Schedule subject to change.
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