Facing The Giants

June 24, 2012

1 Samuel 17:32-49
Mark 4:35-41

Who are the “giants” who challenge you? What “giants” do you face? Let me tell you a story about a man who faced the giants in his life and came out on top.

His name is Grant Taylor. Grant Taylor is the head football coach for a private Christian high School called Shiloh Christian Academy in the 2006 movie entitled, “Facing the Giants”. The Shiloh Eagles have not had a winning season in the six years he's been coaching the team.

A new season has started and with it a renewed hope that the Shiloh Eagles will finally end their losing ways. Unfortunately, at first, the new season is not any better than the previous ones. Coach Taylor is a losing coach with a losing record.

The coach is discouraged and depressed for many reasons. He drives and old car that keeps breaking down and he and his wife can't afford a new one. He's discouraged because he can't provide his family a decent home to live in. There's a leak in back room, the dryer only works half the time, the stove is broken, and there is a foul smell that comes from somewhere under the house; it's exact source is unknown. He's discouraged because he and his wife have been trying for four years to have a baby, but can't.

The situation with the football team is so bad that many parents complain to the school administration that they want a new coach. The parents say that Coach Taylor is dead weight and is not capable of winning. Coach hears this and is crushed by their lack of confidence in him. Sitting with his wife, he cries out, "What's God doin'? Why is this so hard? Why can’t I win?" The chaos and stress are crushing his spirit.

The giants of fear and failure are staring down at Coach Taylor. The storms of life are raging against him and he needs hope and faith in someone greater and more powerful than himself. He needs someone to give him the eyes to see and know the truth of who he was created to be.

Our scripture readings today offer us two dramatic stories depicting God’s powerful intrusion into human time to overcome the forces of injustice and chaos in the world. The 1 Samuel text reveals to us that lurking behind the encounter between David and Goliath is the God who refuses to tolerate continued oppression, and whose unconventional weapons of warfare (that is, a boy too small for the appropriate outfit for battle, who uses stones and a sling) signify the odd ways by which God wars against and overcomes injustice. Our Mark text reveals the in-breaking of God’s reign into human time in the life and actions of Jesus. The story recognizes those times in the life of the church when it is threatened by the forces of chaos and confusion, forces that turn out to be no match for the reign of God present in the person of Jesus.

The story of David and Goliath is a story about Yahweh and his moral commitments. The giant will be defeated, not because David is stronger or cleverer than Goliath, but because Yahweh is both more clever and stronger than either Goliath or David. Our God is a God of justice committed to the preservation of all faithful people and to the defense of those who cannot defend themselves. David, the anointed one, is thus set apart to put into practice Yahweh’s will in regard to the crucial matters of justice and equity.

When you get down to it, the point of the whole narrative is that Goliath is a predator, and as God’s agent of justice, David will deal with him as such. The battle has been decided even before it happened. The death of Goliath is no accident. It signals that Israel’s new king, this shepherd like no other, will defend his people against their oppressors. But more than that, it reaffirms that God will never permit injustice to prevail.

When Jesus calms the storm, it is not merely a brute demonstration of power over nature, but a redemptive act, in which the chaotic forces of the sea are “rebuked” (Mark 4:39). The miracle has a purpose in the rescue of the disciples from fear and disorder. In fact, it is safe to say that Jesus' demonstration of his own trust in God brings him a remarkable peace, even in the face of the storm. It draws quite a dramatic contrast with the panic of the disciples at the chaos of the sea.

I am impressed by David's bravery in the face of the threat from the giant Goliath. Goliath was literally a giant, over 9 feet tall. Not one of the Israelite soldiers was brave enough to accept the challenge. And when David killed him with a stone from his slingshot, it not only won the day for Israel, but also started David on the road to fame, and he eventually became Israel's king.

Unless you've read the rest of the story, you may assume Goliath was the only giant David ever faced. But not so. 2 Samuel 21:15-22 reports that in David's later years, he had to deal with some other gigantic opponents. One incident took place when David was king, and Israel and the Philistines were again at war. A Philistine giant named Ishbi-benob, whose spear tip alone weighed more than 12 pounds, sought to kill David. But Abishai, one of David's soldiers, stepped in and slew that giant. After this, David's men began to worry about their king's safety, telling him, "You shall not go out with us to battle any longer, so that you do not quench the lamp of Israel" (2 Samuel 21:17).

But that did not put an end to the wars with the Philistines, and over the course of the next battles, David's men faced and killed Goliath's giant brother (2 Samuel 21:19, cf. 1 Chronicles 20:5), and two other super-sized men.

With David, the giants kept coming.

And so it is with us. No matter how massive or vicious or powerful the giants we faced in our past proved to be, and no matter how soundly we defeated them, nobody goes through life with just one giant to face.

If, early on, we battle a giant called temptation, we may, in midlife, battle one called discouragement, and later on, one called bitterness or loneliness. Or, we may face the soul-crushing depression that follows a marital breakup or the death of a loved one or the self-destructive behavior of one of our children. We may face the terror of life-threatening illness, or, as is certainly possible in today's economy, the loss of our job and the evaporation of the resources we expected to carry us through our later years.

We may not realize it at first, but words like circumstances, sickness, accident, abuse, misfortune, setback, trouble, problems and hurt are often family names for giants. What's more, giants often come against us when we are least able to resist them. The other giants came after David later in life as an old man, when his days of military prowess were over.

If there is one thing both David's story and the disciples’ story teach us, it is that the giants and the storms in our lives do NOT have the last word on our lives. Sometimes all it takes is the right stone from the right slingshot. In some cases, that stone may come from the brook of medicine or counseling or friendship or courage or hard work or prayer.

Sometimes we don't possess the right stone ourselves. David took care of Goliath by himself, but he needed the help of his troops with subsequent ones. Our troops include friends and family who stand by us, professionals whose services and skill can help us, our church family whose thoughts, prayers and actions strengthen and comfort our spirits.

There are also times when the right stone is our work helping somebody else fight their giant and face their storm. One example is "survivor therapy," where the survivors of extreme trauma -- sexual assault, terrorist hijackings, torture, abuse, etc. – find help for themselves by helping others who have experienced similar tragedies. The afflicted person can neither absorb nor get rid of the trauma, but some find they can redirect the horrible memory of it by helping others. Sometimes it proves to be the right stone from the right slingshot.

Another thing that may help us in dealing with giants and storms is to remember that as frightening though they are, our giants and our storms can shape us for the better. Bible scholar Christina Bucher tells how as a child, one of the hardest things from the Bible for her to understand was how it was that even after David was anointed to be king, had defeated Goliath and was wildly popular with the Israelites, it still took decades for him to actually become king. During that time, he had to fight many battles with powerful opponents, including the "friendly fire" from King Saul. Bucher concludes, "It took years of maturing for King David, shaped by the giants and storms he faced, to prepare him to be ready to step into kingship. I don't know what kind of king the young David, fresh from slaying his giant would have become -- but I am certain he would have been a very different ruler."

The next day Coach Taylor prays asking God to take away his fear because he is tired of being afraid. He confesses his struggles praying for God to reveal himself. What emerges is a new philosophy for living, one that calls him to shift his focus off himself and turn it toward Christ. For his football team, it addresses the question, “what is the purpose of this team?” Football is one way his team can honor God. It is one way to give God their very best effort, to play to their full potential, and not worry about the results. God will decide the outcome. Win or lose, they are to praise and honor God.

Coach Taylor and his team begin to live according to their new team philosophy. Not only do they begin to be successful on the field winning games for a change, but it also has a positive, lasting effect on all areas of their lives: their studies, their friendships, the relationship with their parents and more. In the end, they win enough games to make the playoffs. They go all the way to the state championship game where they face the Richland Giants, a team that is bigger and stronger than Shiloh. In the end, it was the undersized, inexperienced, back-up kicker, a former soccer player named David, who kicked the winning field goal fifty-one yards into the wind in the closing seconds of the game. They faced the giants and won!

The giants and storms we face are not bigger than God's power and might. They do not have the last word on our lives. The last word belongs to God. And God wants to use each of us to fulfill his kingdom on earth.

May you allow God to use you; to use your life to slay the giants, so you may know God's justice and mercy; and calm the storms, so you may know God's true peace and freedom. Amen.

What God Values

A sermon written and preached by the Reverend Scott D. Nowack on June 17, 2012

at First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas.

What God Values

1 Samuel 15:34 – 16:13

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17

Those who run for political office expose themselves to extreme scrutiny, not the least of which is harsh judgments about their physical appearance. Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich know all about this, as political commentators have speculated about their weight. At times, the analysis of Presidential debates has sounded a lot like the Red Carpet commentary at the Academy Awards. Perhaps it's just the influence of television -- and memories of Richard Nixon's shiny nose and five-o'clock shadow during his debate with John F. Kennedy -- but it's hard to imagine a candidate running for President today without a veritable army of style and grooming consultants.

This is even more remarkable, considering what some of our greatest Presidents have looked like. George Washington was physically strong and at over six feet tall had an imposing presence, but he wore a set of wooden false teeth that gave him tremendous pain and led him to adopt a grim, tight-lipped expression. Abraham Lincoln was well-known as being one of the homeliest men around. He had a huge mole on one cheek, and was so extremely tall and awkward that some historians think he might have had a mild case of the pathological condition known as giantism. As for Franklin D. Roosevelt, it's well-known today that he spent much of his time in a wheelchair, due to polio. Yet, in those pre-television days, FDR's political handlers did a pretty good job of keeping the newspaper photographers away from his wheelchair, crutches and leg braces. Most Americans knew little of his disability. In the age of television, that would be unthinkable. 

Where would we be today, as a nation, without Washington, Lincoln or FDR? Yet, the simple truth is, if today's obsessive interest in physical appearance had prevailed back then, none of these three men would have made it to the presidency.

Our scripture reading from First Samuel warns about judging on the basis of outward appearances and declares that the people of God are given eyes that enable them to discriminate in new and different ways.
We could argue that the ancient Israelites were as image-obsessed as we are.  As the Israelites conquered the land promised to them by God and settled down, they couldn't help but notice the glitzy, celebrity kings of the Canaanites.  They were mesmerized by their fancy clothes and their wealth.  To put it in modern day terms, these kings had a lot of bling.  Then they made the comparisons between the blingy kings and their own rulers, the judges.  Like the old prophet Samuel and his sons, they looked so plain and scruffy by comparison (1 Samuel 8:1-5).  So, they pushed Samuel for a king to govern them -- a tall, dark and handsome hero to go out and fight their battles for them (8:19-20).  Despite Samuel's warning, they wanted the image of a king who would make them "like other nations".

God punished the Israelites by giving them exactly what they wanted: a tall, dark and handsome soap opera-idol ruler. King Saul, however, was the Snooki of his time.  He was like so many celebrities today whose shiny outward appearance hides a dark and broken inner life. Saul's reign quickly started to look like a bad reality TV show. He acts impulsively (1 Samuel 13:1-15), swears (14:24-35), disobeys God (15:1-9), kills priests (22:6-19), chucks spears at musicians (18:10-11), consults a witch (28:3-25) and has a poor relationship with his son (20:30-34), among other things. The Israelites, however, seemed to be pleased with the image their king was projecting and knew that they could get Saul to play to the crowd. They badgered Saul into keeping spoils of war that God had strictly commanded them to destroy (15:1-9, 24).

God is fed up with the “bling king”.  It’s God’s turn to choose a king for the Israelites. 

Our society is growing ever more preoccupied by physical appearance: what it says about us and how to enhance it. Professor Joan Brumberg of Cornell University has documented this growing obsession, through a comparative study of diaries written by teenage girls.

She first consulted surviving diaries from the nineteenth century. She analyzed their entries, arranging them by topic. What Professor Brumberg found is that nineteenth-century teenagers spent a great deal of time writing about their aspirations to be good, useful, caring, positive contributors to society. They had a sense of personal mission, something that caused them to reach beyond themselves. 

Then, the professor turned to diaries written by teenage girls of our own time. She found their aspirations to be focused mostly on becoming slim, pretty, well-dressed and popular.[1]  It is easy to forget that God is more concerned with what’s in your heart.

The experience of Samuel as he searches for a successor to Saul indicates how easily looks can be deceiving (1 Sam. 15:34–16:13).  Jesse’s eldest son, Eliab, seems the perfect prospect, until Samuel is advised that God does not judge according to outward appearances, but according to the heart.

What matters to God is not the image we create, but his own image in us. God cuts through all the walls, appearances and masks we love to wear for each other, and looks deep into our real selves; the part of us often hidden under all those layers of makeup, material things and make-believe roles we play. In the case of the new king, God was looking for a man after God’s own heart -- not the oldest, wisest, strongest or handsomest. David was that man, even though he was only the youngest boy -- so young that he was not even considered by his father as being worthy to stand with the rest of his sons on the runway (16:11). 

The various ways in which men and women in our and every age are tempted to do just the opposite can be documented in our racism, our sexism, and our various forms of idolatry (love of money, clothing, glitzy automobiles, and the like). It is only when we learn to see beyond that which is most visible that we begin to assess people in terms of their character and their commitments.

As with the Israelites, the believers in the church in Corinth struggled with the same “image is everything” issues the Israelites did and we do today.  The Apostle Paul, in writing to an overconfident Corinthian community, instructs them to walk by faith and not by sight. And walking by faith means that “worldly standards have ceased to count in our estimate of anyone” (2 Cor. 5:16, REB). Their prosperity and blessings are not to be flaunted before others.  Their willingness to follow Jesus Christ as his disciple doesn’t make them better people than anyone else.  Because believers are deeply connected to the death of Christ, they are called to follow a new standard of judgment.

Beginning in 1 Corinthians 5:14, Paul gets to the heart of the matter, identifying why it is that this conflict exists between what the world sees and what Christians know to be real.  Because of what Jesus did on the cross, Christians see things differently. When the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence in our hearts we simply do not think, perceive, assess, or judge in the way we did before.  We no longer regard anyone from a human point of view.  If we say we are in Christ and Christ lives in us, then there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  We begin to see the world through different eyes, God’s eyes.

There's an African folk tale about a tribe whose men traditionally obtained wives by purchasing them from their fathers with livestock. Were a woman especially beautiful, a man might offer her father five goats. Were she were plain, only one or two.

One year, as the tribe met at the oasis for their annual gathering, one young man set his eye upon one rather ordinary-looking maiden. To the astonishment of all his friends, he went up to her father and bid for her the princely sum of ten goats. The girl's father was surprised and delighted with his good fortune. He accepted the young man's offer instantly, and the two of them were married straightaway.

A year went by, and the tribe gathered at the oasis once again. The young men laughed and pointed their fingers at their friend, newly arrived from the hills. "And how is your ten-goat bride?" they asked, snickering.

At that very moment, into their presence walked the most lovely woman any of them had ever seen. "What's the matter?" their friend asked. "Don't you recognize the woman I married?" 

Truly, they hadn't. She had changed. What had changed about her was the knowledge that her husband loved her so much, he had paid 10 goats for her. It was this knowledge, this inner awareness that made her truly beautiful.

God does not judge according to outward appearances but according to the heart and God commands us to do the same.

---

[1] Joan Jacobs Brumberg, The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (Vintage, 1998).

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

A sermon written and preached by the Reverend Scott Dennis Nowack on June 10, 2012

at First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas.

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

1 Samuel 8:4-20

The world mirrored to us in the Bible is often a world in which things are not what they seem.  Abraham and Sarah, although apparently much too old to become the parents of a child, become the parents of an entire nation.  Jesus, who seems to be defeated by his execution as a troublemaker, is proclaimed as resurrected and vindicated by God.  A group at the margins of a marginal religion takes its new faith to the heart of the Roman Empire. 

As we read our text this morning, things are not what they seem.  The people of Israel come to Samuel and demand a king, one who would "govern us like other nations"(8:4); one who would "govern us and go out before us and fight our battles"(8:20). 

Let us remember for a moment that the Israelites live in a covenant relationship with God as their king.  Judges were appointed by God to be his representatives to the Israelites.  The people lived in their localized tribal states as a confederation.  They were very different from neighboring countries.  Their neighbors had an earthly king with vast wealth and military power.  The Israelites don’t.  They were seen as weak and defenseless by their neighbors; an easy target.  The Israelites were accustomed to invaders and enemies, and their success or failure in battle against them depended upon the state of their relationship with Yahweh.

With the Philistines fighting them on their door step, the Israelites were trying to find their own way to defeat them.  They thought that if the Ark of the Covenant was carried into battle, they would prevail.  It did not, and --to their horror -- the Ark was captured by the Philistines, an outcome that was so shocking, old judge Eli keeled over and died. But the Ark brought bad luck to the Philistines, so they promptly sent it back to the Israelites, and we read in 1 Samuel 7 that Samuel urges the people to turn from foreign idols and worship Yahweh. They did, and they went out to defeat the Philistines. With this renewed evidence linking fidelity in their worship to success on the battlefield fresh on their minds, they come to Samuel, now an old man, asking for a king.  It’s a sign that the times were a changin’. 

The Israelites are less concerned about their relationship with God and more concerned with their reputation among their earthly neighbors.  They wanted to control their own life; take matters into their own hands; and expect God to take care of the tough issues of life.  Pro-monarchy sentiment was running high.  The old world order of a decentralized confederation of twelve tribes ruled by God and managed by the Judges is out of vogue.  New questions have arisen, including the questions of kingship and of monarchy; questions of faith and power; questions of God's leadership; and questions concerning the crisis of their social institutions. 

The Israelites were experiencing large changes that affected every dimension of life in Israel.  With great change comes great anxiety.  They are living in desperate times, anxious times where what’s real and true can no longer guard against illusion, and then even the most basic, learned ideas begin to function as superstitions.  New patterns were emerging of power, wealth and land control.  There was a growing desire toward constructing a centralized system of kingship to defend and maintain the economic and political interests of the Israelites.

            What is significant is that this request would prove to be a game-changer in the history of Israel.  We are essentially in the middle of a big, tense dispute concerning the character and identity of their community: moving from a life based on the Torah and God’s love to living by earthly rules and influences.  This is a major shift in Israel’s foundational beliefs.  In other words, Israel is not willing to have Yahweh as their source and rule of life. 

            Samuel is hurt and upset by the people’s request for a king.  The Israelites don’t understand what they are asking for.  Life under the rule of a king is no bed of roses, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be.  Samuel follows God’s instruction to set the record straight with the Israelites about what living under the rule of an earthly king would be like.  There is a price to be paid for a monarchy: a redistribution and concentration of wealth through a system of taxation, a monopoly on land control, a military draft, and the oppression of the people. A monarchy is a system of rule that “takes”: through taxation, military draft and confiscation.  Such practices enable a monarchy to exist.  It lives for the sake of such a concentration.  It generates destructive inequality and the stratification of society.  Such a request takes us back to the days before the Exodus living under Pharoah.  God had freed the people from their oppression and created a new people who crossed the desert to the Promised Land.  Now they want to undo the work of the Exodus.

            Like the Israelites in Samuel’s time, we in 2012 are living in a season of anxiety, fear and uncertainty; of theological disputes and daring reinterpretation of social realities.  We are experiencing in our current day a floundering housing market and banking system that perpetuates economic injustice and inequality.  Today we witness the negative power of polarizing political rhetoric in election campaigns and debates in our legislatures.  Today as we read the writing on the wall we discover the deconstruction of the social norms and obligations that most of us took for granted.  We live in a choice-based society, one driven by preference and desire instead of custom and obligation.   

            We must not rush to judgment.  We must take the time to reflect upon the very nature of the faith community, the very nature of the church in relationship to power, influence, security and fidelity.  Is the church permitted to devise modes of power that secure its own life?  Or is the church destined to NOT build its power “like the nations”?

The end result of living under a monarchy, Samuel says, is that the people will be slaves just like their ancestors in Egypt.  Under a monarchy, human power replaces God’s power.  The people of God, whether it’s the Israelites or us today, cannot resist the urge to take God’s matters into our own hands.  We are motivated by fear and a hunger for security in uncertain times.  Fear, anxiety and insecurity are powerful things.  They will turn your heart black and kill your God-filled soul.  We don’t know who we can trust anymore for the truth about our current reality. 

When we are fearful and insecure, we go into survival mode.  We only worry about ourselves and those things that matter to us.  When we are fearful and insecure, we are blind to the oppression and injustices in our world.  We are unable to see that it is unjust to place some people in bondage for the well-being of others.  We are unable to see the injustice of racial discrimination, of systemic poverty and oppression that is dominant in our nation’s minority communities.  We are unable to see that whatever affects me directly, affects everyone indirectly.  Fear and insecurity blind the hearts of men and women to the heavenly presence of the Kingdom of God in the world.

            Things are not always what they seem.  God is present and active in our world although we don’t always see it.  Through the Holy Spirit, God is working in us, around us and through us to make his Kingdom a reality even though sometimes it seems that God is far off.  We are called to be God’s people, to live our lives based on God’s Word and the teachings of Jesus.  There are many in our spheres of influence who are seeking, but not finding; yearning but not fulfilled.  We must show them that things are not what they seem.  If not us, who, and if not now, when.  Amen.

SPIRIT FILD TXT FRM GOD

A sermon preached by The Rev. Scott D. Nowack on May 27, 2012

at First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas.

SPIRIT FILD TXT FRM GOD

Acts 2:1-21

            Our spirit filled text from God this morning is from the Book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 1-21.  This is Luke's narrative on the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church during the Jewish festival of Pentecost.  Pentecost is the 50 days after the Passover and Easter.  In the Jewish tradition, it celebrates the new life the Israelites received through the giving of the Ten Commandments by God through Moses at Mt. Sinai.  It was celebrated each year in Jerusalem.  Jews from far and wide would descend upon Jerusalem for this very loud and large festival.

            And this is where we find Jesus' disciples and many other followers.          

When Peter and the others woke up that morning, I would be willing to wager they did not expect to experience such a life-altering, game-changing, history-making event with flames like tongues of fire over their heads and powerful winds blowing through their house.  Our narrator, Luke, captures our attention and imagination with an array of stunning images that take our breath away.

            Have you ever experienced a moment when you experienced the unexpected?  Perhaps you met up with a friend for dinner only to find all your good friends and family are there with streamers and noisemakers screaming "Surprise!  Happy Birthday".  Or perhaps it was the unexpected death of someone you love and cherish very much, or the discovery of your spouse's infidelity, or witnessing your baby's first steps or receiving an "A+" on an exam you thought you completely failed.  And these unexpected events are ones you never forget, although in some cases you wish you could.
            What happened on Pentecost in that room filled with Jesus' disciples is no ordinary event.  Something special is happening here.  The wind, speech and spirit are signs of new life.  New life is the subject here.  It is the Spirit of God that gives new life; new life that is abrupt, unmerited, and irresistible.  Pentecost is a wondrous explosion of unexpected and unprecedented new life.  In biological terms, it is the moment when the gestation period ceases and the birthing period occurs.  It is both an end and a beginning, the leaving behind of that which is past, the launching forth into that which is only now beginning to take shape.  The Spirit of God is moving us forward into new dimensions of being, whose basic forms are clear, but whose fulfillment has yet to be realized.

            To celebrate and remember Pentecost is to revive and renew our hope for new life: new life for the church, new life for us as individuals within the church and new life through the Spirit of God for all creation.

            The new life we need for the church begins in our time of worship.  Without the Spirit of God, the church ceases to be the church.  And with no church, there is no worship of the Living God.  Without the Spirit of God, the church is like any other institution or organization of kind-hearted, caring people who like to be together and socialize, engage in intellectual discussions, take trips and participate in fun activities, and help people in need.  Do you know any churches like that?

            The worship of God is the central, unifying act of the church and it is the Holy Spirit that makes it happen.  Worship takes center stage in our corporate life.  If worship is just one thing we do of many, then everything becomes mundane, stale and dull.  But if worship is the one central thing we do, with the help of the Spirit of God, everything takes on a holy, eternal significance.  The heart of worship for any church is empowered by the Holy Spirit and it enables the congregation to offer praise and thanksgiving to God.  The rejuvenation of any church can only come from a complete reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit.  No exceptions!

            The new life of the Spirit we need as believers in Jesus Christ within the church comes through obedience to the call God has on each of our lives. 

            Obedience to God does not take away our independence or our freedom.  Independence from God is separation from God.

            Minister and teacher Oswald Chambers describes it like this, "Whenever God touches sin it is independence that is touched, and that awakens resentment in the human heart.  Independence must be blasted clean out, there must be no such thing left, only freedom, which is very different.  Freedom is the ability not to insist on MY rights, but to see that God gets his."  The Bible says, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom".  It is the Spirit of God that frees us from ourselves and our own vain ambitions and desires.  Through the Spirit of God we are free to follow the call God has on our lives.  We must not stifle the Spirit...When it moves and stirs in you, be obedient; but do not go beyond, nor add to it, nor take from it.  The new life of the Spirit frees us to obey the call God has on our lives.

            We think we know what is best for us, but only God can see and know that.  We come up with our big plans and goals for our lives: make a lot of money, have a successful career, exercise daily, quit smoking, or drinking or abusing drugs, get married and have 2.6 children or owning your own home.  All these are worthy goals to set and work towards.  But we can't do any of these by ourselves.  We gotta have help!  That help is the Holy Spirit.

            A glove can do all sorts of things—pick up a book, keep a hand warm, wave good-bye, scratch my head and more.  However, this glove can do nothing if I take my hand out of it.  All it does is lie there. I can yell at it, get mad at it, try to teach it lessons, but to no avail. It can do nothing on its own. It could set big, audacious goals for itself, but without my hand inside, the glove is nothing more than ordinary material stitched together in the shape of a glove.  On my own I can do nothing. But with the Spirit of God within me, I can be who God calls me to be and can do what God wants me to do.  

            Remember who after the whole tongues of fire and wind incident speaks to the masses of people gathered outside.  It was Peter.  Simon-Peter: the former fisherman turned disciple who had no idea what was going on when Jesus was alive and three times denies knowing Jesus at all.  And here he is standing before thousands of people from all around the world speaking so that everyone could understand in their own language.  He spoke with a strength he had never seen and a courage he had never known.  With the Spirit of God within him, Peter could be who God was calling him to be and could do what God was calling him to do.   

            The life-giving power and presence of the Spirit is a gift— unsolicited, unexpected, undeserved.  And it's a gift available to everyone. 

            The Spirit of God gives life.  It transforms us into new people, new creations.  The old life is gone, a new life begins.  For Peter and the disciples, it happened in a upper room.  For someone here today, it may take place right here in a pew during worship, or on the drive home today, or working in your yard this afternoon or at your desk Monday morning.  For someone here, it may take place sitting alongside a hospital bed.  For someone here, it may take place at an AA meeting.  For someone here, it may take place at a soup kitchen, the food bank or some other mission project.  For someone here, it may take place at a graduation ceremony.  For someone here, it may take place in a cheap motel room when you realize that your marriage and your children and your reputation are too important to throw away for some illicit affair.  The life-giving power and presence of the Holy Spirit can change lives; transform us into new people, new creations.  The old life is gone, a new life can begin.

            I want to share with you a letter written by a young pastor in Zimbabwe sharing and proclaiming the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in his life.  He was later martyred for his faith.  He writes:

            "I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made—I’m a disciple of his. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

            I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on his presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power.

            My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

            I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must keep going until he comes, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until he stops me. And, when he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear."

            May the hope of new life given to us by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost two thousand years ago rest upon each of us and dwell within each of us right here, right now.  May you trust this same Spirit to lead you in the way you are called to go, so that when your time has come, God will have no problem recognizing you.  May your banner be clear.