Thankful for the Holy Spirit – Just What I Need!

Last Sunday, May 24, 2026, was the 7th Sunday AFTER Easter, and celebrated by most liturgical Christian congregations as Pentecost Sunday, the day God poured out the Holy Spirit. (See Acts 2) Some call the Holy Spirit “The Forgotten Person of the Trinity.” Christians speak of the Father, our Creator. They praise God for Jesus, our Savior. However, we seem to speak less about the Holy Spirit. Yet, we need the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. Let me share with you some thoughts I shared last Sunday at Anchorage Lutheran.

First, we need the Holy Spirit to help us in our faith, in our Christian lives. The Lord created us in power and wisdom and love. However, our parents rebelled against the Creator and Ruler of all, through acts of pride and selfishness, and they ‘did their own thing.’ Unfortunately, we continue their sin. Just look at the world around us. Our world, our country, in many ways our own lives are full of problems we struggle to overcome. Our world and our lives are full of hatred, and greed, and violence. And the result of all this rebellion is death. President Geore W. Bush used to ask, “How’s that working for you?” How is the selfishness, the rebellion, the sin working? We need help!

Surprisingly, in spite of our sin, in love beyond reason, God sent Jesus. In sacrificial love that continues to amaze, the Father sent His Son, His SON! Jesus left the safety and glory of heaven to come to this world of sin, and rebellion, and death. Amazingly, the sinless, all powerful, Son of God took on what our sin deserved. He faced opposition for speaking the truth. He endured a sham trial, was tortured and crucified like a criminal. Because Jesus was sinless, His suffering and death paid for our sin, for the sin of the whole world. And then, Jesus did what is impossible . . . for us. After dying Jesus rose, defeating the sin which causes all our problems, defeating our enemy the devil, and defeating death. All who believe in Jesus are forgiven and saved for eternal life in heaven. We need faith in Jesus for this life, and for eternity. But, we often trust ourselves instead of the saving love of God. Sinful people struggle to believe.

Jesus disciples also struggled with faith, even after His resurrection. But as they gathered in fear and anticipation, God sent his Spirit. On Pentecost Day the disciples heard the sound of the rushing wind and saw tongues of fire rest above their heads, as God did what He had promised in Joel and poured out the Holy Spirit. Now, these timid, failing, sinful men spoke boldly about Jesus. Amazing! The Holy Spirit was God’s help and strength to them.

The Holy Spirit creates and strengthens faith in us. God promised through Joel, “17 I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, ' and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18) God has given us His Spirit when we were baptized, through His Word, in the Lord’s Supper, in worship. We need the Spirit to create in us faith so that we receive God’s blessings through Jesus.

However, God not only desires to save us. He desires for disciples of Jesus to reach the whole world. Peter quotes the prophet Joel, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21.) This is God’s Old Testament Plan, since Adam and Abraham, and expressed in Joel that everyone who believes in the promised Messiah will be saved. This is the plan Jesus shared with Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) Reaching the whole world is the plan God shares through the apostles. Paul shares in 1 Timothy 2:3-4, “God our Savior, 4 . . . desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” We not only need the powerful, forgiving, saving love of God ourselves. We are here for another reason, to share God’s saving love in Jesus with the whole world.

Thankfully, God also promised through Joel, I will pour out my Spirit on ALL FLESH, The Holy Spirit has been poured out on all the hard hearts of this world. In a broken world of hatred, violence, selfishness, the Holy Spirit is opening hearts of those who need Jesus, so that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Is your faith strong? Are you up to the task of sharing Jesus with others? I know my weaknesses and sometimes wonder what I can do. Nevertheless, God promises, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, He strengthens and empowers me, AND YOU, so that we may trust God’s love in Jesus. The Spirit strengthen us so that we share that good news of Jesus with others. The Spirit is poured out on all flesh so that people respond, so that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'