This past weekend I attended the Ordination Service of the Upper NY Conference of the UMC and I was reminded of the day I was ordained. It was a powerful and exciting moment to feel the Bishop lay hands on me and to ordain me into the service of minister to the Lord through the UMC.
As I have told you before, being called into ministry wasn’t something I expected to happen to me. I was a woman, I cried too much, and I was always talking too much or sticking my foot in my mouth…God couldn’t possibly want me or use me. During Bishop Webb’s sermon yesterday I was reminded my reaction wasn’t anything new.
I am not the first to find excuses to say “not me!” to the Lord. Many have found excuses not to speak for the Lord. Do you remember some these men?
Moses: Exodus 4:10-17
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” 13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. 16 He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him.
Jeremiah 1:4-9
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”
9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
Isaiah 6:1-7
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”
Moses thought he couldn’t speak well enough. Jeremiah claimed to be too young. Isaiah was too sinful. God didn’t agree and called each of them to a powerful work – using their faith and giving them the words needed.
We have celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit but do you remember that it was a promise from Jesus? In Matthew 10 we can see that the Holy Spirit had already worked through the Disciples before Jesus’ resurrection:
Matthew 10:4-7, 16-20:
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’
16 “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Later Jesus’ promise of the Spirit, the Advocate, is for after his resurrection:
John 14:25-26
“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
John 15:26-27
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
So when the day of Pentecost comes the Disciples are overcome with the Holy Spirit and spoke in many tongues. Acts 2:4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
Although Pentecost is the most well known and largest event of the Spirit giving speech there is another moment for Peter and John in
Acts 4:27-31:
For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
So what about us today? There are people who have been known to speak in tongues but not every Christian does. I do believe though that through the power of the Holy Spirit we can all speak the word of God and share a powerful message.
Are you feeling like Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah and I did? Maybe you don’t feel like you are capable but that is so not true. No matter who we are, if we open ourselves up to the power of the Holy Spirit, we too can be used. In Romans we reminded that it is in our weakness that the Spirit helps us the most!
Romans 8:26-27:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
When in our frustration and deep hurt we cannot even utter the prayers that are in the depths of our heart, it is the Spirit of God who intercedes for us “with groanings to deep for words”. When we get to the end of our strength, our thoughts and our words, we fill fall at the feet of Jesus and ask the Spirit to intercede and as the Lord’s Prayer states we pray “Thy will be done.” When we pray in the Spirit we no longer pray for our will to be done but we hand the prayer over to the perfect will of God.
One of my favorite lessons comes from 2 Timothy 1:6-14.
6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
8 Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12 and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. 13 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
We are not given a Spirit of fear BUT a Spirit of power! This isn’t a muscular power that the world so often thinks about but it is a power to speak up and to tell others about Jesus Christ and the saving grace He offers.
Are you open to the Holy Spirit? Will you allow the Spirit to work within you?
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