200510 Easter 5 Drive in Service (audio) 200510 Easter 5 Order of Service Sermon manuscript: Our Gospel reading this morning is one of the most important and relevant portions of Scripture for us as Christians. It speaks to what we are about as Christians and what we do. This is always a very important thing to understand for anybody. A farmer, for example, needs to know what he is about and what he is supposed to do. If he didn’t know what to do, how could the crops get planted, tended, or harvested? Or what if he planted his seed six feet deep, or planted it in the fall or planted it in a lake? Such a farmer who does not know what he is about or what he is supposed to do would be a very poor farmer indeed. Likewise, it is important for us to know what it is to be a Christian, and what the Christian Church is to be about. Our Gospel reading answers that very clearly for us this morning, for it speaks about the work of the Holy Spirit.We don’t speak as much about the Holy Spirit as we do about the other two persons of our Triune God, the Father and the Son. But that does not mean that the Holy Spirit is unimportant. In fact, the Holy Spirit is vital for us during this time. When Jesus ascended, ten days later the Holy Spirit descended, on Pentecost. By the power of the Holy Spirit Peter preached on Pentecost to the wicked men who had conspired to crucify Jesus. He did this in spite of much danger to himself, and he spoke surprisingly gracious words to them. He told them that although they had despised and hated Jesus, Jesus had loved them. By his death and resurrection he had worked forgiveness of all their sins. Therefore, even though they had killed Jesus, salvation was to be theirs in Jesus’s name. Many, by the power of the Holy Spirit, believed and were baptized, but there were also some who, by the power of their sinful flesh and the devil, maintained that the apostles were fools and quite possibly drunk. Regardless, the apostles continued to preach that Jesus Christ is the only saving hope of all people. Apart from him there is no forgiveness. Apart from faith in him people will get what they deserve for the sinful life they have led—namely, death and eternal punishment in hell. But through faith in Christ people are received as children of God, holy and blameless, because of the powerful blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all our sins. The apostles continued to preach this Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is always in this proclamation. When and where it pleases the Holy Spirit he creates faith in those who hear this message, just as it happened at Pentecost. And so it is to this very day and this very hour. The Holy Christian Church, made up of all believers in Christ, is a creation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in and with the Word of the Gospel that is preached. He is in and with the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. He is the Counselor who will teach and preach and bring about saving faith until he has converted the very last person whom God has chosen for salvation. Then the end will come. Jesus will return on the clouds with power and great glory. The dead shall be raised. All people will be judged. And the Holy Spirit will give eternal life to you and to all believers in Christ. Then you will live under Christ in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.And so we, as Christians, are all about the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit does not do his gracious work among us, then nothing truly good can happen. It is also very important and beneficial to know what the work of the Holy Spirit is—as Jesus teaches us in our Gospel reading today—for there are many false teachers who would like to teach you all kinds of things about the Holy Spirit. There are misguided Christians who crave spectacles and unusual signs, and they want the Holy Spirit to perform the