For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord:
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
H E B R E W S 8 : 1 0
P e n t e c o s t S u n d a y
+ J u n e 8 , 2 0 1 4
GOOD MORNING FRIENDS OF FCC!
Trust this letter finds
you resting in the love of Christ. He
certainly loves you.
This Sunday is
PENTECOST. The Jews celebrate Pentecost as the day that Moses received the 10
Commandments, written by the finger of God on tablets of stone at Mt. Sinai.
(See Exodus 20)
The Christians celebrate
Pentecost as the day that God baptized the disciples in the Holy Ghost and
wrote His Commandments on their hearts as they prayed in the Upper Room. (See Acts 2).
Filled with the Holy
Ghost, the first Christians testified, “God
purified our hearts,” (Acts 15:9), and with great grace and great power
(Acts 4:33) they went everywhere speaking the Word of God with boldness, to
everyone both Jews and Gentiles.
Pentecost changed them. Pentecost
created the Church. And Pentecost
changed the world.
Pentecost changed the
disciples inside and out. Human
hearts—or human wills—are incomplete, incapable, and impure without the Spirit
of God.
Without the Spirit we
cannot clearly see or understand God’s will.
Without the Spirit we tend
to resist God’s will—even though we know we shouldn’t.
Without the Spirit our
love is self-centered.
Without the Spirit our
judgments are biased.
Without the Spirit our
lives are intemperate and sense driven.
But when the Spirit of
Holiness is welcome into our hearts we are altogether different. We sing, “I once was blind but now I
see.” We gladly testify, “Not my will,
but Thine be done.” We love selflessly,
judge lovingly, and walk in the Spirit joyfully.
Those who are filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit,
and sanctified by the Spirit are truly free to do what they
please
—and what they please is to please the Lord.
Without constraint,
demand, mandates, or rules—the Spirit filled, Spirit-loving people of God,
hunger for holiness, crave Christ-likeness, and live prayerful and careful
lives without regard to what the world is doing or saying. They are, “Filled with His goodness, lost in
in His love!
Surely this is the need
of our day—people who will do what they ought to do and love doing it.
We ought to forgive—and
we love forgiving.
We ought to give—and we
love giving.
We ought to obey God—and
we love obeying God.
We ought to love
everyone, our friends and enemies—and we love loving our friends and enemies.
We ought to live holy
and separate from the world—
and we love living holy and separate from the world.
We ought to be
teachable—and we love being taught.
We ought to be
disciplined—and we love being disciplined.
We ought to be led by
the Spirit—and we love being led by the Spirit.
We ought to live as
citizens of heaven—and we love living as citizens of heaven. This world is not
our home. With reckless abandon we
reject the expectations and demands of this world’s culture and we joyfully
embrace Christian culture.
But how can this
be? How can we who are born with a
self-centered, prideful, sensual, and sin-loving nature be so changed that we
not only know what we ought to be, but can truly be what we ought to be?
THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO THE
UPPER ROOM.
I have often wondered
why so many years passed from Adam’s fall to Abraham’s call. Why was it that so many generations passed before Moses walked down Sinai with
the Commandments? And why did God wait
more than a thousand years after King David before sending that notable “Son of
David”— “His only begotten Son into the world,” paying the price so that
whosover will could be “born of the Spirit?”
The answer must lie in
our Creator’s omniscient understanding of human nature. God knows
people. He knows our abilities and our
capabilities. He knows that we are
spiritual beings, created in His image, having a physical experience.
When Adam and Eve
disobeyed God’s law1 they died.
They didn’t die physically, but the Spirit of God which brings life to
the spirits of men was withdrawn. They
died spiritually.
Before the Spirit of God
could be fully restored to the sons and daughters of Adam they would have to
know the wage of sin. Tragically, their
sin metastasized immediately. By the 4th
chapter of Genesis we have the first murder.
We need to experience and understand the depravity of life outside
the garden.
Before the Spirit of God
could fill the hearts of God’s people they would have to recognize the voice of
God. Certainly Noah recognized God’s
voice. Abraham recognized God’s voice. These notable examples were exceptional in
their day. We need to recognize God’s
voice.
Before the Spirit of God
could be restored, God’s people would have to see that redemption would come at
the price of blood. Enslaved by Egypt,
deliverance would only come to the children of Israel when the blood of a
spotless lamb would be sprinkled on the posts and lintels of their doors. “When I see the blood, I will pass, I will
pass over you.” We need to sacrifice.
Before the Spirit of God
could write the law of God in the hearts of His people, they would have to know
and acknowledge God’s holy and righteous standard. “Thou shalt have no other Gods
before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy
God in vain. Remember the Sabbath Day
and keep it holy.” These are truths
that men would have never fully known or appreciated unless God himself wrote
them to us. We need Sinai—to know
God’s law.
Before the Spirit of God
could renew a right spirit within us, we needed to loathe the wrong spirit that
is within us. So the Prophets were sent
to expose sinful hearts and to exalt a day when God would, “…give them one
heart…put a new spirit within them…and take the stony heart out of their
flesh.” We need God’s perspective and we need God’s
promise.
Before the Spirit of God
could perfect our sin ridden souls, we needed a spotless Lamb who would not
only show us the face of God, but show us the heart of God. We needed a perfect Savior who would shed His
perfect blood and rise again in His perfect body. Then
Jesus came! Oh the glory of His
Presence, Oh the beauty of His face!
We need a Savior.
And then, we need an
upper room! In Acts 2 at that first
Christian Pentecost, the disciples were in one accord in one place—in the Upper
Room! We need a place where we resign to
do God’s will in God’s way. We need a
place where we are at one with Him—where we love Him without any reservation.
Then the day of our
personal Pentecost will come. A day when
“the Spirit answers to the blood and
tells me I am born of God!” A place
where “His Spirit bears witness with my
spirit that I am the child of God.” A
place where we “receive power after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon us.” A
place where our hearts are “purified by
faith.”
We need a personal
Pentecost. THIS IS OUR NEED. THIS IS OUR
PRAYER. AND THIS IS OUR EXPECTATION.
Pentecost can be repeated, Saints
of God can be victorious, Pentecostal
Fire is falling,
For the Lord is just the same, Over sin and death and hell, Praise
the Lord it fell on me
Yesterday, today, forever, Have
a full and free salvation, Pentecost
Fire is falling,
Glory to His precious name. And
the blessed story tell. Brother
let it fall on thee!
HOPE TO SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND AT FCC! If we can help
you in any way please let us know. We
love and appreciate you every one!
Onward!
Pastor Richard M. Jones
FAITH COMMUNITY CHURCH – A Crusaders Church of America
2969 North Lindbergh Blvd, St. Louis, Missouri 63074
Telephone (314) 298-5840; Cell (314) 607-1424
1 Eating the fruit off the forbidden tree was only wrong
because God said it was wrong. The fruit
was delightful in appearance, delicious in taste, and there is really nothing
wrong with desiring to be wise. But the
issue was really not the fruit itself.
The issue was obedience.
FINANCIAL UPDATE: Thank you
for giving to the Lord! I’m sorry to
say, that in what is traditionally our worst month for giving, we have $5000 of
bills that we have not been able to pay from last month. Over the last few months our giving has taken
a hit. Now we are facing $8000 of bills that we must cover this month in
addition to the $5000 from the previous months.
Our expenses included a $950.00 Elevator Inspection
(required by law), HVAC repair that totaled $850.00, plus the day to day
operation expenses including our Insurance ($450), Utilities ($1200), and Bus
Ministry Expenses ($400). We
need to raise $13,000 this month to clear the bills that are past due and to
meet this month’s obligations (Our mortgage is $2900 of that total).
Please join us in praying for a financial miracle
in the Month of June. We have seen God
work miracles in the past. We are sure that He is still able today!
You may give by bringing an offering, by mailing
your gifts (FCC, 2969 N Lindbergh, St Louis, MO 63074) or by logging onto our
web page at www.FCCStLouis.org. The online gifts are much appreciated and
immediately available. The downside is
that there is a fee that we must pay for each online gift. However you decide to give, or if you cannot
give but you can help us pray, be
assured of our sincere appreciation and deep gratitude.
CELL PHONE: (314) 607-1424
TEXTING: Pastor Rick at (314) 607-1424
TWITTER:
Onward7
EMAIL: rmjones58@aol.com or PastorRick@FCCStLouis.org
WEB: www.FCCStLouis.org
YOUTUBE: Pastor Rick Jones @ youtube.com
