Video Sermons by Archbishop Foley Beach
Religion & Spirituality:Other
Covid-19 Pentecost: Be Filled with the Holy Spirit – Today, Covid-19 Issues Need an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
The Day of Pentecost – The Promise Fulfilled (All Saints Anglican Church; Peachtree City, GA)
In 1900, a Roman Catholic Nun obeyed the voice of the Lord, and she wrote to Pope Leo encouraging him to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This request began a chain of events: a nun wrote a letter; a Pope and his Cardinals prayed; and the world received a Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit through many Christian denominations during a great revival in the early twentieth century.
Today, the world, along with all of us, needs to be renewed with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, initially, was about: people being filled with the Holy Spirit; people received Spiritual gifts; and people witnessing for Jesus. On this initial day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and preached a sermon. Afterwards, he was asked: “What must we do to be saved?”. Peter responded in Acts 2:38-39: “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’". These events of the initial Pentecost and from the various revivals of the 20th Century relating to the Charismatic Movements are normal Christianity; this outpouring of the Holy Spirit is what God intends for His people. If we are going to have a growing relationship with Jesus, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit who enables us to know and commune with the Lord. The Holy Spirit will never lead followers of Jesus in any thing that contradicts the Bible, God’s Word. In recent times, there have been teachings, regarding the Holy Spirit, that do not conform to the Bible.
Too many of us are trying to live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. The question is asked: “When do we receive the Holy Spirit?”. We cannot put God in a box regarding a timing for the receipt of the Holy Spirit. However, a better question is: “Have we received the Holy Spirit?”. We are told in John 3:8: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.". Therefore, the real question should be: “Does the Holy Spirit have me?”. Until we surrender our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit cannot indwell our lives and lead us. The best answer to the timing our receipt of the Holy Spirit is: “We should receive the Holy Spirit every day.”. We should pray every day for the Holy Spirit to fill us.
We know that, if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are given the “fruit of the Spirit”, as described by Paul in Galatians 5:16-26: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will bear the fruits of the Spirit and not the flesh. However, if we sin, we are not in the Holy Spirit. Pentecost reminds us that if we yield our lives to the will of God through the Holy Spirit, we are filled with the Holy Spirit; and we are given Spiritual gifts to witness for Jesus. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit; others see Jesus in us – this countenance of Jesus, seen through our lives, is the most powerful tool a Christian can have for evangelism.
Are you grieving the Holy Spirit or are you filled with the Holy Spirit?
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Acts 1:5; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Acts 2:38-39; Galatians 5:16-26; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Philippians 4:13; John 3:8; Luke 11:13; Ephesians 5:18; Romans 12:9-31; Ephesians 4:30-32; Psalms 50b:13-23.
ARCHBISHOP BEACH’S “CHAIRMAN’S LETTER” TO ANGLICANS GLOBALLY:
Beloved in Christ Jesus: Greetings in the name of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
At Pentecost we rejoice that we are indeed ‘not left as orphans’ (John 14:18), but through the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us in fulfilment of God’s promise. It is by the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts that we are able to cry ‘Abba! Father! (Galatians 4:6) and even though many of us may not be able to able to sing the praises of God together in this time of pandemic, may our hearts nonetheless overflow with praise and adoration to God who so wonderfully restores us through his Son in the power of the Holy Spirit!
But this work of the Spirit in our hearts is part of a much bigger picture. When my brother Primate Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit addressed the Kenyan nation on 25th May he began with a reference to Romans 8:22,23:
“For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also, we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”
Much of his pastoral address is very practical, rightly directed to the pressing needs of those who are suffering, as are many in East Africa, not only from the impact of coronavirus, but also from locust plagues and flooding. But the biblical context he chose helpfully reminds us of the bigger picture of Pentecost.
Authentic life in the Spirit involves groaning as well as rejoicing. Disease is a sharp reminder of the pain, frustration and decay built into this present world order, but these things should not lead us to despair because the groaning of our hearts resonates with the whole creation in a deep sigh of longing that comes from the Spirit himself. And just as Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:23), likewise the first fruits of the Spirit anticipate all that is to come. So, we can face the brokenness of the present, but with hope.
We can see that hope in action through the Anglican Church of Kenya’s B2B (Balcony to Balcony) service initiative where people have joined in worship from their balconies while churches around the world are reaching beyond their regular congregations with online services, even pressing forward with planting new churches as the Anglican Mission in England is doing.
So, we see that biblical ‘waiting’ is not merely passive but leads to action because of what we hope for. This includes a special care for the vulnerable. In my previous letter I mentioned the work being done in North America and around the world to meet the needs of those who have lost livelihoods. But there are other challenges. For example, my brother Primate Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba has strongly warned against an increase in violence, especially towards women, during the coronavirus lockdown.
Underlying all the anxiety about the current pandemic is of course the fear of death. Some have been affluent enough to sustain lifestyles which seek to deny this reality, but the virulence of this disease has broken that illusion allowing the Christian hope, imprinted in our hearts by the presence of the Holy Spirit, to shine forth with new clarity. As Archbishop Emmanuel Egbunu, Bishop of Lokoja in Nigeria, has so rightly said “If death meets you now, your inheritance is already waiting for your arrival.”
What better time than Pentecost to ask the Father to fill you afresh and anew with the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). The promise of Pentecost is that ‘you shall receive power’ (Acts 1:8) to be Christ’s witnesses. As all of us witness to the saving truth of the gospel in this broken and suffering world, may Christ be enthroned anew in our hearts and lives, and may we be daily sustained by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit until that day when we see him face to face!
Your brother in the hope and faith of Christ,
The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach
Chairman, Gafcon Primates Council
THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Covid-19 Pentecost: Be Filled with the Holy Spirit – Today, Covid-19 Issues Need an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit": at our Website: www.AWFTL.org/listen/.
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