Pentecost Sunday

Dear Friends:  We are all familiar with the Lord's Prayer.  And we should be!  When Jesus' first disciples asked the Master how they should pray, this is what He taught them.  It is said verbatim, and more importantly, it should become the pattern for how we prayer.  For example, have we ever noticed that the word "ME" is never used in the Lord's Prayer?!  Interested........!

 

But now when Jesus prayed to God, what did He pray for?  You might be interested to know that Jesus didn't pray the Lord's Prayer.  A portion of what He did pray, though, is our Scripture reading for this upcoming Sunday.

 

To fully grasp the meaning of this Sunday's passage of Scripture, it is really helpful to notice where we are in the Church calendar.  This upcoming Sunday is the last Sunday of the Easter season.  I am writing this note on Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter, commemorating the ascent of Jesus into Heaven.  This promise of this day is huge -- Christ has been given ultimate authority over the world, and over any force in our lives that resists His work in the world.

 

Next Sunday (May 31) is Pentecost Sunday, the day the Holy Spirit in all God's great power was given to believers.  Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, the day God's Kingdom begins to manifest itself here on earth in power.  And as we see in the Book of Acts, with the first preached sermon, 3,000 people are converted to Christ.

 

So this Sunday's passage of Scripture finds Jesus praying for the Church immediately prior to His death on the Cross.   He knows He is leaving them with His physical presence.  And so He prays for what is important for the baby believers that surrounded Him.  As we look at it, we see Jesus prays for 1) God to protect believers from the spiritual powers of evil that surround us, 2) that we may resist temptation, because we still live in a world that hates the Church in general and Christians in particular, simply because of what we believe.  And lastly, Jesus prays 3) for joy and purpose in our lives.

 

So what's the bottom line?  Well, come this Sunday and find out.  And since a lot of folks are traveling this weekend, please know that the message can be downloaded from our website.  Hope to see you Sunday!