August 14, 2021 — Acts 1:15 – 2:13

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” Acts 2:1-13

Mother Teresa once told a story in which she had a dream about ministering to the sick and dying. When she expressed this dream to her superiors, they asked her, “How much money do you have?”  She responded, “Two pennies.” They responded, “With two pennies you can’t do anything.” She replied, “With two pennies I can’t do anything, but with G-d and two pennies, I can do anything.”

This is the whole point of considering ministry for Jesus Christ – that all ministry needs to be considered along with the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus will say to us that even with faith as small as a mustard seed, we can do great things. As such, we should never believe that we have too few resources or too little money to do effective ministry for Jesus Christ – because with the work and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the life of the church, we too can do great things. With the Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us, we seemingly can do anything. And, just for good measure, here is an Old Testament warning:

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1

Pastor Dave