It's Pentecost

Dear Brothers and SistersLast Sunday’s passage (Luke 12:1-7) brought us some real challenges. The truth that ‘every word spoken in the dark’ will be made known (and is known by our Lord) serves as a great corrective to gossip. Our Lord’s words about fearing God who is able to ‘to throw us into hell’ are not only sobering but a healthy corrective to the sentimentality (nourished by pluralism, universalism and wishful thinking) that seeks to do away with the clear biblical (and Anglican) teaching about judgment and hell for the unrepentant.Coupled with this we are reminded that God knows about and values each of His children.Scripture is ‘double-edged’ (Hebrews 4:12) delivering to us necessary correction and comfort even in the same passage. So, for example, we are to ‘fear God’ (12:5) yet ‘not be afraid’ (12:7). Today is Pentecost Sunday and our passage (12:8-12) speaks to us about the comforting promise for all who acknowledge Jesus before others being owned by Jesus before God (12:8) and the strong warning to all who would disown Jesus before others (12:9).The Holy Spirit who guided Dr Luke to  write his gospel (2 Peter 1:20,21) is the one who will draw people to Jesus (John 3:5-7) and give us a heart to acknowledge Jesus as Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3 & Romans 8:9-11) can be relied upon to teach us what to say even in response to the most pressured opposition(12:11,12).We rejoice in His presence and remain humbled by God’s gracious plan and purpose in deigning to dwell within us (Isaiah 57:15 & 1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and are wise to keep our hearts open to His leading through reading the Bible (Ephesians 6:17), praying (Ephesians 6:18) and the fellowship of fellow Christians (Ephesians 2:22 and 5:18).As we do this (which the apostle describes variously as keeping in step with the Spirit, being led and controlled by the Spirit, sowing to the Spirit, being filled by the Spirit, not grieving or quenching the Spirit [Galatians 5:25, Romans 8:6 &14, Galatians 6:8, Ephesians 5:18, 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 5:19,20]), we will never fall into the unforgiveable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (12:10).One of the Holy Spirit’s great and consistent works is to convict us of our sin. True to His loving purpose He adds this so that we will neither dishonor our Heavenly Father nor see sin taking a stranglehold in our life. His purpose in convicting us is to drive us back to Christ for pardon and to Himself for strength in replacing the sinful with the Godly alternative.An example of this pattern is seen in Ephesians 4:29-32 where the unwholesome practice of thoughtless words is replaced with thoughtful words designed to build each other up.What a great opportunity we have every time we meet, to be led by the Spirit in the way we firstly listen and then thoughtfully speak to one another.Greetings in ChristPeter