Pentecost Welcome

[This is the welcome included in this past Sunday's bulletin to all worshipers as we celebrated Pentecost.]

Welcome to worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church! We’re happy that you’ve come to worship God with us this morning.

Today we celebrate one of the three great festivals of the Christian year, Pentecost! (The other two are Christmas and Easter.) On this day, we remember that fifty days after Jesus rose from the grave and ten days after He ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to His praying disciples. The Spirit made it possible (and makes it possible today) for sinners forgiven and given new life by grace through faith in Christ, to...

...know God’s presence in their lives
...be renewed and to grow in their faith in Christ
...to make disciples of all nations
...to become children of God in the first place

As Christians, we believe in “the Trinity.” That word never appears in Scripture, but it describes the God to Whom witness is given there, One God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The third article of the Apostles’ Creed, that summation of Christian faith which we invite worshippers to confess each Sunday, tells us some of what the Holy Spirit does. It says that He is:.

..the Creator of the Church
...the One Who creates fellowship among the saints, the forgiven sinners who are part of Christ’s Church on earth and in heaven
...the One Who imparts Christ’s forgiveness to those who repent and believe
...the One Who will raise up believers when Christ returns
...the very Breath of life Who will allow believers in Jesus to live eternally with God.

Someone has called the Holy Spirit, “the shy member of the Trinity.” He never calls attention to Himself. Yet, in John 3:3, Jesus says we can only be born into the Kingdom of God He died and rose to bring through “water and the Spirit.” And 1 Corinthians 12:3, we’re assured that trust in God is so foreign to our inborn human nature that it’s only by the power of the Holy Spirit working within us that we can confess, “Jesus is Lord.”

If you would like to know more about the Holy Spirit, a very good basic yet thorough explanation can be found in the book, The Holy Spirit by Billy Graham.

Pray that each day can be a Pentecost for you, a day when the Holy Spirit fills you again and again with the new and everlasting life that Jesus died and rose to give to all who believe. Happy Pentecost!