240519 Sermon for Pentecost, May 19, 2024 Rev. Michael Holmen's Sermons

    • Christendom

 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord with all your graces now outpoured. Amen. Christians celebrate three major festivals. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’s birth. Easter is the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection. Today’s festival is Pentecost. It doesn’t get the hype that the other two get. Christians usually have a good grasp of the importance of Christmas and Easter; less so with Pentecost. So today we will speak about the importance of Pentecost, but before that we should speak about what happened. We will begin with Good Friday and Easter. Jesus’s death on Good Friday and his Resurrection on Easter changed everything. Jesus died for sin and was raised with power. The Gospels describe how things were with Jesus after the resurrection, and things were a bit strange. Oftentimes people did not immediately recognize who Jesus was. Mary Magdalene didn’t immediately recognize Jesus on Easter morning at the tomb. On Easter evening the disciples who were traveling to the village of Emmaus didn’t immediately recognize him. In addition to Jesus not being immediately recognized, he would do things with his body that he hadn’t done before. He suddenly disappeared from the Emmaus disciples after they recognized him. He suddenly appeared to the disciples in the upper room, even though the doors were locked. Jesus made these different appearances, speaking somewhat briefly—it seems—to his disciples, but the things he would say during these appearances were extremely important. In Matthew 28 he appeared to his disciples and told them to make disciples of all nations. Christians should baptize, teach what Jesus taught, and Jesus would be with them until the end of the age. In John chapter 20, in that upper room, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosoever’s sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whosoever’s sins you retain, they are retained.” With those words Jesus commanded his Christians to forgive the sins of all who repent, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant so long as they do not repent. These are extremely important instructions that continue to be carried out in the Christian Church. Jesus appeared and spoke with his disciples, here and there, over the course of 40 days. Then Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. We had a church service to commemorate that ten days ago, on a Thursday evening. Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father to reign and rule over all things. The way that he reigns and rules in his spiritual kingdom is through his Christian disciples. Jesus’s disciples continue to do what Jesus commanded them before he ascended into heaven. Christians baptize, forgive and retain sins, teach, have the Lord’s Supper together and so on. Through these things sinners who otherwise believe in false gods are turned to the true God, which is our Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing more important than believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is where Pentecost comes in with its great importance. About 50 days after Easter and 10 days after Jesus’s Ascension, the Jews were gathered together for one of their Old Testament harvest festivals. While they were gathered together there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind, tongues of flame appeared over the disciples, and the disciples spoke with their fellow Jews about the mighty works of God. Some of these Jews came from far flung places and spoke different languages. Our reading from Acts gives us the first part of Peter’s speaking to those who were gathered. He speaks with courage and enthusiasm about Jesus Christ being Lord. He vigorously argues that Jesus is the fulfillment of what was prophesied in the Old Testament. Jesus is God’s Son, and they had crucified him! But he concluded his message in this inclusive way: “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,

 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord with all your graces now outpoured. Amen. Christians celebrate three major festivals. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’s birth. Easter is the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection. Today’s festival is Pentecost. It doesn’t get the hype that the other two get. Christians usually have a good grasp of the importance of Christmas and Easter; less so with Pentecost. So today we will speak about the importance of Pentecost, but before that we should speak about what happened. We will begin with Good Friday and Easter. Jesus’s death on Good Friday and his Resurrection on Easter changed everything. Jesus died for sin and was raised with power. The Gospels describe how things were with Jesus after the resurrection, and things were a bit strange. Oftentimes people did not immediately recognize who Jesus was. Mary Magdalene didn’t immediately recognize Jesus on Easter morning at the tomb. On Easter evening the disciples who were traveling to the village of Emmaus didn’t immediately recognize him. In addition to Jesus not being immediately recognized, he would do things with his body that he hadn’t done before. He suddenly disappeared from the Emmaus disciples after they recognized him. He suddenly appeared to the disciples in the upper room, even though the doors were locked. Jesus made these different appearances, speaking somewhat briefly—it seems—to his disciples, but the things he would say during these appearances were extremely important. In Matthew 28 he appeared to his disciples and told them to make disciples of all nations. Christians should baptize, teach what Jesus taught, and Jesus would be with them until the end of the age. In John chapter 20, in that upper room, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosoever’s sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whosoever’s sins you retain, they are retained.” With those words Jesus commanded his Christians to forgive the sins of all who repent, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant so long as they do not repent. These are extremely important instructions that continue to be carried out in the Christian Church. Jesus appeared and spoke with his disciples, here and there, over the course of 40 days. Then Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. We had a church service to commemorate that ten days ago, on a Thursday evening. Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father to reign and rule over all things. The way that he reigns and rules in his spiritual kingdom is through his Christian disciples. Jesus’s disciples continue to do what Jesus commanded them before he ascended into heaven. Christians baptize, forgive and retain sins, teach, have the Lord’s Supper together and so on. Through these things sinners who otherwise believe in false gods are turned to the true God, which is our Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing more important than believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is where Pentecost comes in with its great importance. About 50 days after Easter and 10 days after Jesus’s Ascension, the Jews were gathered together for one of their Old Testament harvest festivals. While they were gathered together there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind, tongues of flame appeared over the disciples, and the disciples spoke with their fellow Jews about the mighty works of God. Some of these Jews came from far flung places and spoke different languages. Our reading from Acts gives us the first part of Peter’s speaking to those who were gathered. He speaks with courage and enthusiasm about Jesus Christ being Lord. He vigorously argues that Jesus is the fulfillment of what was prophesied in the Old Testament. Jesus is God’s Son, and they had crucified him! But he concluded his message in this inclusive way: “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,