Trinity Metropolitan Community Church of Gainesville (Trinity MCC)

Filled With Spirit; Filled With Purpose

May 31, 2009

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC, Gainesville

Introduction:

Good morning Trinity MCC in Gainesville. I am once again reminded of our beloved sister Minnie Pearl. Do you all remember the way she would walk on stage with the price tag still attached to her hat and yell at the top of her lungs, “HOW-DY, I’M JUST SO PROUD TO BE HERE!”? Well, I’m just so proud to be back here with you too. It feels right for me to be here with Rev. Vickie in a church called Trinity. And I bring you greetings from Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, our moderator, MY pastor. When she and I talked about you this week, yes, we did, she told me how much she loved you and how she enjoys coming here and so many wonderful things. She and I have many of the same opinions where you are concerned. Thank you again for your warm hospitality this weekend. You are always so good to me and I really appreciate that.

I.              Filled with Spirit

a.   When I was a little boy growing up in the First Baptist Church of Auburndale, Florida, most Pentecost Sunday’s our choir would sing beautifully,

                        “Come Holy Spirit, we need your power,

                        Come Holy Spirit, revive the church, today.”

Well, I’ve come to bring you some good news this morning, my sisters and brothers, the Holy Spirit has come today and every day. The Holy Spirit has come just like Jesus promised, and that same Spirit is present here in this place and in places like it all around the world at this very moment and in the moments that they will gather to worship today and yesterday and tomorrow.. That same Holy Spirit is present for two reasons. One, because we’ve invited the presence of the Spirit to be with us; and second, because that same sweet Holy Spirit is alive and well in the hearts of God’s people. That means the Holy Spirit is alive in you and me and in all of us and that when we come together the Holy Spirit is with us, in us, a part of us, a part of our very DNA because we are children of God, believers in Jesus, and that’s the way Jesus said it would be and that’s the way it is. And women, I want to make a point of including you. I want you to read back just a little ways in Acts chapter 1 when the Bible lists the people who gathered in the room. It includes a long list of male names and it also says “certain women, including Mary were there.” I still struggle that the patriarchal view of women was in full force at that point and with the fact that it’s a miracle that the women got mentioned at all. And I want to say to you that these were Powerful, Courageous, Prayerful, Committed women of God, just like you gathered here today and that when God calls, God includes you too. So happy Pentecost my brothers AND sisters. The Spirit of our living God is alive and well in all of us. We are filled with the Spirit

b.            Filled with the Spirit can have many meanings

a.    Signs and wonders

                                                  i.    Healing

                                                ii.    Prophesy/Preaching

                                               iii.    Speaking in Tongues

                                               iv.    Being slain in or resting in the Spirit

b.    Fruits of the Spirit

                                                  i.    Love

                                                ii.    Joy

                                               iii.    Peace

                                               iv.    Patience

                                                v.    Kindness

                                               vi.    Goodness

                                              vii.    Faithfulness

                                            viii.    Gentleness

                                               ix.    Self-Control

c.    Or that “Still small voice that whispers in our ear and communicates with our spirits when we need a word from God.

II.            Filled with Purpose

a.    I want us to refer back to the reading from Ezekiel now. God led the prophet Ezekiel out into a valley filled with dry bones and told Ezekiel to prophesy to them.

b.    Can you imagine how strange we would feel, if, for example, God led us out to the local cemetery and told us to prophesy or preach to the bodies buried there? And that’s pretty close to what Ezekiel told God to do.

c.    And Ezekiel did exactly what God asked him to do and I love the way the bible says he began to hear movement, a little speaking, a little clattering, and flesh came on those dry bones and then breath and they came to life. And hear what God said, “Oh my people, I am going to put Spirit into you and you shall not die but live and proclaim the works of the Lord.

d.    Do you hear it sisters and brothers, You shall not die but live and proclaim the works of the Lord, by the power of the spirit with you.

e.    That is our purpose

f.     You will live out this Gospel of Love by the power of the spirit that God has placed in you.

g.    We will be God’s presence in our homes, by the power of the spirit that God has placed in us.

h.    We will be God’s presence in our workplaces, by the power of the Spirit of God in us

i.      We will be God’s presence in our community, by the power of the Spirit God has placed in us.

j.      We will be God’s presence saying NO in places like California and Florida when legalized discrimination is placed into law by the power of the Spirit God has placed in us

k.    And our young men and women will dream dreams by the power of the Spirit that God has place in us.

l.      And our old women and men will see visions by the power of the Spirit that God has placed in us.

m.   And everyone who calls out to God will be saved!

n.    Hear that, EVERYONE, who calls out to God will be saved.

o.    This is God’s message to us this morning.

p.    We are called to live out the message of love by the power of the Spirit that God has given us

q.    We are called to be God’s people by the power of the Spirit that God has placed in us.

r.     You are called, we are called, Trinity MCC is called, to live out the message of the Gospel by the power of the Spirit that God has placed in us.

Conclusion:

Theologian Miguel De La Torre says, “We must put aside definitions of success that are measured by won elections or passed legislation. Liberation and salvation are more than simply material and temporal. The struggle for justice is also spiritual and eternal. Even in failure and death, God’s spirit breathes life.”



This is the message that we have heard; that God is love and in God is no darkness at all. God is love and we are called to live in that love. The time is now. Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn says, “We cannot wait until we die to live in the kingdom of God. We must live in it now. We have to be alive to experience the kingdom of God.” I agree with him. This is our time. This is our place. This is the time in the history of our church for us to live in the kin-dom, to prophesy, to dream dreams and see visions and to live them out in the name of Jesus. Do you remember the line from the movie Auntie Mame? “Oh what times we’re going to have…..” Sisters, brothers, “Oh what times we’re going to live as we live in the light of this Spirit, the Spirit of God, that God has placed in our hearts. God bless you today.

Amen.

Ezekiel 37: 1 - 14

37The hand of the Lord came upon me, and brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ²God led me all round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. ³He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ ⁴Then God said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath^* to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath^* in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ 7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath:^* Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath,^* and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ ¹⁰I prophesied as the Lord commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. 11 Then God said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” ¹²Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.’

Acts 2: 1 - 21

2When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ ¹³But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’ 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘People of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
¹⁷“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
     and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood,
     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Contact: gmail.com@trinitymcc
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