As I was reflecting on our big Pentecost service of consecration and ordination, I kept coming back to Jesus’s promise to the apostles in Acts 1:8:

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit has been given to us to empower our ministry.

I think my problem with the Holy Spirit is that I have rarely put myself in the position to *need * that power.

What would it look like for us to put ourselves in the place where we desperately needed the Holy Spirit?

Asbury Church will enter a new season this Pentecost.

Joshua 1:1-9 and 3:5 offer a powerful example of a new beginning in the Bible.

John Wesley and Francis Asbury also offer models for strength and courage in the midst of changing circumstances.

This sermon is a call to prepare and get ready for Pentecost.

In 1 Samuel 1 we meet one of the very few wholly positive characters in the Bible: Hannah, the mother of Samuel.

Hannah is a model for the spiritual life. She brings her pain and sorrow to God, and then, when she receives the gift she has been desperately praying for, she puts that gift in God’s hands.

As a boy, I thought of Samson as a biblical He-Man. But when I went back and read the Samson account (Judges 13-16) as an adult, I realized what a complete disaster his life is. The tragedy is that the Lord gives him a purpose, and Samson just wastes his life and strength.

The Lord has given us a purpose, too, and for us to be faithful to it, we will need to raise up pastors to lead us on.

It’s like that jungle man and the spider monkey….

Last week I went to Washington, D.C., to participate in a public reading of scripture. I was assigned what I think is the hardest passage in the entire Bible: Ezra chapters 1-3, and especially chapter 2!

Sure, Ezra chapter 2 is no one’s favorite passage and it doesn’t appear on any bumper stickers or license plates.

But, I’ve come to believe that what at first seems like the most boring passage of scripture is actually really beautiful and encouraging.

One of the wildest parables Jesus tells involves a dishonest manager who is *praised* for his dishonesty!

The point of the parable: God’s people need to be more streetsmart, but not according to the world’s values, but streetsmart according to the values of the kingdom.

It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “You folks need to think like a kingdom mafia.”

There’s this great encounter we read about in Joshua chapter 5:

Joshua is about to lead the people into battle when he sees a strange figure with a drawn sword.

Joshua asks “Are you on our side, or on the side of our adversaries?”

The strange man’s response: “No.”

The question, it seems, is not “Is God on our side?”

The better question is, “Am I on God’s side?”

Why does the resurrected Jesus have scars?

The answer: because the scars are part of his glory!

The scars tell us that God is working all things together for the good of those who love him.

Life has many hard, difficult moments, but the scars are proof that if God can use something as evil as the Crucifixion as part of the glory of the Resurrection, there is nothing and no situation that is without hope.

Jesus fulfilled the ancient prophecy of a victorious and humble king, but he did so in a way no one expected. We often want Jesus to push our agendas, stand for our causes, and represent our values. We want Jesus to be like us, but he wants us to become like him. Salvation means becoming more like Jesus.

Deuteronomy is Moses’s farewell speech. The Israelites are gathered on Mount Nebo, ready to go into the Promised Land, and Moses tells them what they need to do to live well in the land:

Listen.