But the Holy Spirit gives dreams and visions June 3, 2023

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

Acts 2:4, 17-19 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit … Then Peter stepped forward … “‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy.

Galatians 5:17 The Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.

With his permission, before this Pentecost week escapes us, I want to quote enough for you of Pastor Kevin Antlitz’s sermon last Sunday to interest you in listening to the whole thing:

“In 1968, Patriarch Ignatius, one of the leaders of the Eastern Orthodox Church, spoke at a gathering of Christians leaders from around the world and across denominations and traditions. While he had everyone in the room, he asked a very important question. It’s a question that the church should always be asking:

How can the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus matter today? Put slightly differently: How can the message of the gospel matter for our world, in our time?

Patriarch Ignatius answered: the Holy Spirit. The only way Jesus can matter today is the Holy Spirit. Everything hinges on the Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit, God is distant, Christ is in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter.

Without the Holy Spirit the Church is simply another organization. Without the Holy Spirit, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is nostalgia.

Without the Holy Spirit, Jesus is just a historical figure, and the church is a museum or a social club. At its worst, it is an institution of manipulation and control.

But with the Holy Spirit, the Risen Christ is present. God’s life-giving, life-transforming power is unleashed.  With the Holy Spirit, the church becomes a community where people can encounter the love of God, recognize their sins and brokenness, and be healed and empowered to extend God’s grace to others.”

Pastor Kevin showed us how Pentecost redeems Babel. The Holy Spirit speaks every language of the world. He knits the frayed fabric of humanity back together, harmonizing rather than fracturing. Rather than a physical tower, the Holy Spirit builds Christ’s Kingdom with living stones, all who honor Christ as their Lord. We’re each responsible for maintaining Body unity, honoring the Holy Spirit’s work.

As Kevin spoke, I thought of Jesus telling Pilate, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight …” (John 18:36). “My Kingdom is not of this world”—one of Jesus’s last statements. How often do you—how often do I—get this mixed up, reverting to the confusion and division of Babel, when Jesus calls us into an entirely new and different loyalty, to a Heavenly Kingdom where joy, harmony, generosity, kindness, and all the fruits of the Spirit are the recognized currency?

I hope you’ll take fifteen minutes to listen to Kevin’s whole sermon and with me, take his challenge to heart.