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Sermon illustrations for Day of Pentecost (2022)

Illustration
Acts 2:1-21
In his book, The Dangerous Act of Worship, pastor and president of Fuller Seminary Mark Labberton, shares a powerful story of how the Holy Spirit transforms people. Labberton wrote:

Ben was a very successful man. His professional life flourished. His family life was challenging, as a parent of several teenagers. For him, Christian faith was a distant and disconnected reality. But he began to have conversations about it with his wife and later with me.

 One Sunday I was surprised but pleased to see him in the worship service. As he approached me at the door afterward, his eyes began to fill with tears. He explained that while visiting Washington, D.C, for a professional conference, he had gone to visit the National Cathedral. He slipped into an empty side chapel and sat down for some quiet time and reflection. There, unexpected and unsought, God’s Spirit simply came upon him. Ben became a new person. The awe and wonder of grace and truth beyond his own mind, his own questions, his own needs, simply met him and changed him. It was as though his life was utterly redefined, and it has been ever since.

On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to transform people. On that day, thousands of people heard the life-changing message of Jesus in their own language! The Holy Spirit changes lives. How? I think Michael Haykin may have the answer. Haykin writes in his book, The God Who Draw Near: An Introduction to Biblical Spirituality, “The work and ministry of the Holy Spirit has this one indispensable genuine mark then: it is Christ-centered—it is designed to exalt Christ and glorify him in the minds and hearts of men and women and boys and girls.”

By directing people to Jesus, the Holy Spirit changes lives. He did it then and he does it today.
Bill T.

* * *

Genesis 11:1-9
I don’t know if you have access to The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary produced by Robert Alter, but both his translation and notes provide plenty of food for thought. With regards to the story of the Tower of Babel, he suggests that building “a tower with its top in the heavens” is hyperbole, the kind of boast made about many tall buildings in the ancient world. Instead, the real targets of this story were the growth of cities and the misuse of technology.

The sundering of languages which is the end result of the pride that led humanity to put its trust in the creation of its hands is undone with Pentecost, where the pilgrims from across the Roman Empire who have come to Jerusalem each hear the apostle Peter speaking in their own language. If the Tower of Babel is a warning against the building of cities, then the irony is that the early Christian faith was an urban religion. The early inroads occurred in cities. The apostles visited cities. Indeed, the word pagan seems to have derived from the Latin term paison, which meant country yokel.
Frank R.

* * *

Romans 8:14-17
John Calvin offers a thoughtful way of describing the Trinity as like a fountain, like an eternal Old Faithful which is always gushing. He claims that the Father is the fountain, the son is wisdom always gushing from the fountain (the divine fountain gushes wisdom, not water), and the Spirit is the power (the force with which the water/wisdom gushes from the fountain) (Institutes of the Christian Religion, I.XIII.18,26). The Spirit is the power of God! In all the activities God calls us to undertake (in faith and in acts of love), we have the power of God to do them. For the Holy Spirit gives you and me the power to do good and to have faith. We need this power, as Martin Luther wrote:  

I believe that by my own strength or reason I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith. (The Book of Concord [Tappert, ed.], p.345)
Mark E.

* * *

Acts 2:1-21
Martin Luther once elaborated on the benefits of the Pentecost message:

The Pentecost message should remove all terror of sin and death. The more joyful you are and the more certain and surer the faith in your heart is, the nearer the Holy Spirit is to you and the more you benefit from the new Pentecost. (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p.160)

St. Augustine also nicely offers thoughtful insights on why miracles like the experience of tongues no longer transpires among most Christians. They have not continued, he contends, lest the mind seek visible signs and the human race grow cold by becoming accustomed to these faith-kindling experiences (The Library of Christian Classics, Vol. 6, p.248).
Mark E.

* * *

John 14:8-17 (25-27)
J.I. Packer, in his book Your Father Loves You, uses an interesting metaphor for the work of the Holy Spirit. Packer wrote:

I remember walking to church one winter evening to preach… and seeing the building floodlit as I turned a corner and realizing that this was exactly the illustration my message needed. When floodlighting is well done, the floodlights are placed so that you do not see them; in fact, you are not supposed to see where the light is coming from; what you are meant to see is just the building on which the floodlights are trained. The intended effect is to make it visible when otherwise it would not be seen for the darkness, and to maximize its dignity by throwing all its details into relief so that you can see it properly. This perfectly illustrated the Spirit's new covenant role. He is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the Savior.

Jesus told the disciples, “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.” The Holy Spirit will point the disciples back to Jesus, to what he said and what he did. He will shine the light on Jesus.
Bill T.

* * *

John 14:8-17 (25-27)
In his extremely influential translation of the New Testament, William Tyndale chose the word “comforter” to translate the Greek parakletos in John 14:26, which the even more influential King James followed. The word, however, seems to have a multitude of meanings and this has led to a number of different translations: “companion” (Common English Bible), “helper” (Good News Translation), “…the one who is coming to stand by you…” (Phillips), “counselor” (Revised Standard Version), “friend” (The Message), “Holy Spirit” (Contemporary English Version), and in one case, the Douay-Rheims, no translation was attempted. The word was transliterated “paraclete.”

While there is something to be said about all these attempts, I think both the New Revised Standard Version and the New International Version made a good choice when they chose “advocate.” When you sit down and study the word, it’s obvious that this translation is helpful because in common usage at the time it referred to someone who is qualified to stand up as a reference for someone else in court. The advocate’s testimony could save someone from underserved punishment. (Taken from my StoryShare for this week).
Frank R.

 
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John Jamison
Object: You may present this message as a simple story, or have the children act it out as a role-play. I will show the role-play version, but you can ignore the acting pieces and just tell the story if you prefer.

Note: For the role-play version, you will need to select two girls and one boy to play the roles. You might also have a broom and a dust rag if you want to.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Let’s get started.

The Immediate Word

Mary Austin
Dean Feldmeyer
Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
George Reed
Katy Stenta
For July 20, 2025:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Bonnie Bates
Amos 8:1-12, Psalm 52
Amos proclaims the word from God that punishes the people. The people are to be punished for their lack of faith, for their focus on practicing deceit, betraying honesty to their neighbors, and being impatient for the time after the Sabbath when they can focus on profit and selling their crops and wares. Oh, my! What a terrible message for people. You have been unfaithful so I will punish you. And then in the psalm, God is proclaimed to be the olive tree, that which brings blessing.
David Kalas
I have tried to find different ways of saying it so that my children don’t tire of hearing it. But the basic principle remains the same, and my kids have heard it a ton. “First things first.” They ask if they can do this or they start to do that, and I will endeavor to redirect them, saying, “Why don’t we make sure we’re doing first things first!”

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. (v. 24)

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
One of Martha's earliest memories was of her little sister Mary singing and dancing in the middle of an admiring crowd of friends. Mary had always been a dancer, from the time she could walk. Privately, Martha thought she'd always been something of a show-off and ought to go on the stage, for Mary loved an audience.

SermonStudio

John E. Sumwalt
Jeanne Jones
Several years ago, before we moved to Wisconsin, I was an honorary nanny for our pastor's son, Jonathan. I took care of him from the time he was able to walk until our pastor moved, when Jonathan was about five. We had wonderful times together. One time, when I was at their house, and we had been doing some spiritual direction together, Pastor Michael asked me if I knew the name of my guardian angel.
James Evans
We are not surprised when we learn about crooks and robbers boasting about "mischief done against the godly" or "plotting destruction" all day long. The image we have in our minds about who "bad" people are, and how they conduct themselves, make such accusations completely plausible. We are less inclined to believe such things about leaders, especially respected leaders among us. We have difficulty believing someone with wealth and power would deliberately plot to do someone else harm.
Arley K. Fadness
Today's gospel from Luke 10 follows the parable of the good Samaritan. Luke positions the good Samaritan and the Mary-Martha story back to back for good reason. The parable and the story are examples of the Great Commandment "to love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself." The good Samaritan parable illustrates "love to neighbor," whereas the Mary-Martha story illustrates "love to God."
Kirk R. Webster
In the early 1990s, Wesley Nunley of Dallas completed a project he had dreamed of for decades. "I tell you, this could be a big thing," he explained. Wes then walked out to a concrete octagon in the middle of his backyard. With a beaming smile, arms raised up in excitement, the energetic retiree said, "This welcomes the UFO to land, which has never been done before."
John W. Wurster
It was the best of times. A time of prosperity and confidence, a time of relative peace, a time when most everything looked pretty good, a time when most everyone felt pretty good. It was a time maybe not unlike our own time.
H. Burnham Kirkland
Words Of Assurance
Our God is both wise and caring: afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted.

Pastoral Prayer
God, we bow before you this morning, knowing that you hear every prayer. We know that in all of Creation, you are the source of life. You are the one who set the light swirling between the galaxies. The breath of your Spirit pulses through all life. You have even become flesh among us. We praise you, Lord, that in all your wonder, you have not forgotten us.

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