Dear Fellow Believers,

Our work as the body of Christ is to speak the will of God. Jesus gave us this command just before he ascended into heaven. "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (Mk 16:15) God then sent his Holy Spirit to help us carry out his command.

Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the gift his Father promised to send, the Holy Spirit. Ten days later, the day of Pentecost, the disciples were in Jerusalem, waiting. Suddenly they heard the sound of rushing wind. Everyone came to see what was happening. The disciples had tongues that looked like fire on their heads and they were speaking all different kinds of languages. The Holy Spirit had indeed come as promised. From that day forward, the disciples devoted themselves to speaking the will of God to every person they met.

God has also poured out his Holy Spirit onto us so that we may speak his will to everyone that we meet. When we received the Spirit, we didn’t hear any wind, didn’t have any tongues on our heads, and didn’t speak other languages. For most of us, we simply had water poured over our heads as a pastor said, "I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." The signs were different, the people are different, but the purpose is still the same: "to preach the good news to all creation." You received the Holy Spirit in order to speak God’s will.

When the disciples first received the Spirit, the people around them didn’t understand what was happening. We don’t always understand how the Spirit is working in us either. In order to help us understand Peter reminds us through the words of the prophet Joel, why God pours his Spirit onto us. "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy." To prophesy means nothing more than to speak the will of God.

This prophecy of Joel has been fulfilled among you. In the Old Testament God revealed his will to his spokesmen through dreams and visions. Today God pours out his Spirit and reveals his will to all people through his Word. The older men and women of St. Matthew’s can certainly remember how this congregation has heard the will of God in days gone by. You can think of the many sons and daughters who first learned the will of God here at St. Matthew’s. How precious many of them first received the Spirit here! Now they continue to serve God and speak his will in other places. How many sons and daughters of St. Matthew’s continue to prophesy in full time service as pastors and teachers! Through the Spirit God has spoken his will to you in the past.

Now, Refresh Your Spirit, so that he will continue to speak his will through you in the future. Refresh Your Spirit so that your young men and women will also learn the will of God. Pray that many of them will also speak the will of the Lord full time as pastors or teachers. This past week I attended Graduation and Call Day at our Seminary. 44 vicars were requested; only 28 were sent out. About 100 congregations are currently without pastors. Only about 40 were sent out. Last weekend at MLC, our synod’s college, many more teachers were requested than are available. Continue to Refresh the Spirit in our young people so that they may learn to speak the will of God.

Of course, we don’t need pastors and teachers, if we won’t continue speaking the will of God to all around us. What visions can the young people see for St. Matthew’s? Can they look ahead and see St. Matthew’s prophesying fifty years from now? Only if you Refresh Your Spirit now and speak God’s will to this neighborhood.

Have you ever taken a close look at the group of people Peter and the other disciples prophesied to on Pentecost? "Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs" What a diverse group of people! Is it so much to ask that we prophesy, that we speak God’s will, to our neighborhood, regardless of who lives there?

Refresh Your Spirit so that you can speak God’s will. Refresh Your Spirit so that you can carry out your Lord’s command to go into all creation and preach the good news. How do you refresh your Spirit? Look at what the Holy Spirit has given you. What gifts do you already have? Most of you know Bible stories. That is one of the best gifts we can use to speak God’s will. Some of you are good with people; you know how to make others feel comfortable. Some of you have ideas to offer, some experience, and some time. What gifts can you find? Make a conscious effort this week to discover the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you so that you can speak the will of God.

Refresh Your Spirit to speak the will of God. Why? so that others may call on the name of the LORD.

Through the prophet Joel, whom Peter quoted on Pentecost, God said, "I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord." Refresh Your Spirit so that others may call on the name of the LORD before the day of the Lord comes.

The coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord has been long expected. To the early disciples that day seemed very close. Read the third chapter of Peter’s second letter. The people were expecting the day of the Lord to come in their lifetime. From Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians it is also evident that they were expecting Jesus to return very soon. The early disciples saw the urgency to spread God’s will to as many as possible so that they could call on the Lord’s name before he returned.

To us, however, doesn’t Judgment day seem so far away? After all, Christians have been waiting for two thousand years now. What are the chances that Judgment day will come in our lifetime? It seems so far away. Do not be deceived. Peter said in his second letter, "the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (3:9)

The great and glorious day of the Lord is coming shortly. Our patient God has graciously given us time to keep preaching the good news so that everyone may call on his name. Refresh your Spirit to do this work. You don’t know when your neighbor’s time will come. Your cousin may die tomorrow. Will you have given her the opportunity to call on the name of the Lord? We don’t know when death will come; we don’t know when the day of the Lord will come. It could be today. The signs are here. We see blood and fire and billows of smoke daily. One day it’s the Persian Gulf war, the next day there’s bombing in Kosovo, tomorrow blood and fire and smoke will rise in another place.

Refresh Your Spirit. Prophesy. Speak the will of God so that others may call on the name of the Lord for salvation. Listen to the final verse Peter quoted from Joel, "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Salvation comes only in the Lord. The rest of Peter’s sermon that day of Pentecost focused on our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Jews believed in God – the same God who promised to send a Savior, the same God Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed in. However, the Jews did not believe in Jesus as the Lord. Peter had to remind them that Jesus proved himself as Lord by miracles, wonders, and signs. More than that, after the Jews crucified Jesus, he showed his power by rising from the dead.

Through the resurrection God himself also showed that Jesus is Lord. By raising his son from the dead God gave his approval of Jesus perfect life and innocent death. God showed the world that salvation comes only through his Son, our Lord.

As Joel and Peter then said, God poured out his Holy Spirit on us so that we might believe in Jesus for salvation. The very first gift the Holy Spirit gave us is faith. As we heard earlier, God poured his Spirit onto us through water and his Word. The Holy Spirit entered our hearts and gave us the power to believe in Jesus. In addition to faith, the Spirit has given us many other gifts.

All of these other gifts have one use, to prophesy, to speak the will of God. God has given us time on this earth to proclaim his word. Each day is another chance to preach the good news. He has given us jobs and other income so that we might use his generous gifts to support the work we do in his name. Through the Spirit God has also given each one of us individual talents and abilities to use to further his kingdom.

Refresh Your Spirit because God uses you and your gifts to pour out his Spirit onto others so that they too may call on the name of the Lord. On Pentecost God filled his disciples with the Spirit. They declared the wonders of God and through them God poured his Spirit onto three thousand others. Onto how many thousands will God pour his Spirit through you?

Refresh Your Spirit. If the Spirit first came to you through the Word of God, it makes sense that he will continue to refresh you through his Word. If you don’t know what to say, come to find out what the will of God is. If you know what to say but don’t know how to speak the will of God, come to learn how the Spirit instructs us. If you know what to say and even how to say it but are simply afraid to speak the will of God, come to hear how the Spirit empowers us weak sinners. As much as you need that vacation, you need the Word even more. As refreshing as a cold drink is after a hard day’s work, the Word will refresh you even more. Refresh Your Spirit in order to speak the will of God so that others may call on the name of the LORD.