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Pentecost and Your Soul

This Sunday we will celebrate Pentecost. Why does that matter? Because in the history of the church, this day, Pentecost, became the day when God fulfilled the promise Jesus left his disciples with.

On the day when Jesus ascended to Heaven, he said this to his disciples. (Acts 1:8)
But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
On the day of Pentecost, we see this: (Acts 2:1-4)
When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were gathered together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.  
As we have been discovering the truths of God in relationship to our Soul (Mind, Will, Emotions) we are becoming aware of the need for God to sanctify each one of these areas in our life. Our mind is full of "false stories". Our will is twisted by years of living in a fallen world, and our emotions are affected by the false stories and tend to lead us away from God instead of toward Him.

Pentecost is the opportunity to look again at what it means to be "filled with the Holy Spirit". For some Christians, this is a foreign or "spooky" thing that only the "crazy" Christians embrace. In reality, the baptism, or filling, of the Holy Spirit is meant to be experienced and embraced by all of God's family.

When we open our lives to this, we are inviting the Spirit of God to come into our Soul. To every part of who we are in that area. Our mind, full of God's Spirit. Our will, (desires) full of God's Spirit. Our emotions, full of God's Spirit.

On Sunday, we'll delve into what difference this makes in the life of a Christian. We'll look at how this experience and reality (by the way - the Bible also tells us in Ephesians 5:8 that we are meant to be filled - and then to CONTINUE being filled with God's Spirit) we will see old patterns exposed and we will walk in the power to overcome and begin to walk in new patterns, truly being transformed so that we live the full LIFE in Jesus.

I hope you'll take some time to prepare your heart for our time together. You can do so by meditating on the following passages before Sunday.

  1. Acts 1:1-10
  2. Acts 2
  3. Ephesians 5:1-18
We'll be meeting at the DoubleTree hotel again this weekend, and I look forward to seeing you there. Invite a friend to join us as we continue our journey to a genuine transformation of every area of our lives.

Pastor Kevin Strite

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