WhitSunday, more commonly recognized as Pentecost Sunday, was celebrated as the second-most important Christian holiday from around medieval times all the way until 1972. Christmas was celebrated as the birthday of Jesus; Pentecost Sunday was celebrated as the birthday of the church. What has happened to all of the joy and festivity surrounding this second most joyful day of the year in the Christian life? Since WhitSunday was a moveable holiday, you didn’t know when it would come each year. By 1972, people had grown tired of the uncertainty and unpredictability of when their day of rest would come each year. So in 1972, after 600 years of celebration, WhitSunday was renamed the Spring Bank Holiday and placed on the last Monday of May. And to this day it has been largely forgotten. Ironically, no one forgets the birthday of Jesus. But no one remembers the birthday of the church. No one forgets the resurrection of Jesus. But no one remembers the resurrection of each and every follower of Jesus into new life that the Holy Spirit brings. As we are in a series on the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we come to Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit was poured out in a new way on a small band of disciples, huddled upstairs in a home 50 days after Jesus rose from the grave. What happened on that first WhitSunday, the first Pentecost? Join us this morning in Acts 2.

Our God is a faithful God, but we as His people often forget His past faithfulness, fail to listen to His voice, and fall in love with the false gods and idols this world has to offer. Let us hear God’s response to our unfaithfulness with His own steadfast and unfailing love: “If My people would only listen to Me, if Israel would only follow My ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes! Those who hate the Lord would cringe before Him, and their punishment would last forever. But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” - Psalm 81:13-16 (ft. Chad Donohoe, Pastor of Community Life at Deer Creek Church).

We are in a series looking at the person and work of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture. This morning, we will be looking at John 14-16 where Jesus describes how He and His Father want to dwell again with humanity. And we will also come to know how we come to receive all the benefits that the Son has come to offer us: through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

These days in our modern world we are able to constantly know what’s going on all over our city, all over the world, at all times. It can be frightening and exhausting. It can seem like our world is just an endless cycle of people and things getting worse. People are more and more divided that ever before; war seems to be building everywhere. More and more ethical and moral compromise are demanded of Americans every day. The Bible says that all of this was put in motion the moment that the first man Adam responded to the invitation “You can be just like God.” But what if we could have a do-over, a second chance to go back to the garden and win this time? The Bible says we can. We are in a series looking at the person and work of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible. Last week we looked at the unique coming of the Holy Spirit to Jesus at His baptism, and this week we will look at the Spirit leading Jesus into the wilderness to make a new way for humanity.

There is something shocking and seemingly unjust in the universe when the gift that the birthday kid gives is greater than the gifts that the party goers are able to bring to the party. But that is exactly what happened at Jesus’ first birthday party. I know it’s shocking to talk about the first two chapters of the Gospels outside of the month of December, but at His birth Jesus was given gifts by kings, but the real reason that He came was to give us a gift. He stepped into our darkness and our exhaustion and our hopelessness to bring us the greatest gift beyond anything our frail humanity had experienced up to that point. And Jesus’ gift to us that was set in motion long before He was born that December night would make the gold, frankincense and myrrh He received look like trinkets in a goody bag. That gift is the gift of Himself, given to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. How did it come to be that He could pour out the gift of the personal presence of the Holy Spirit so freely to us? That is what we will look at this morning as we continue our exciting journey looking at the goal of our salvation—the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Think about all the ways you have changed as a person, sometimes for the good and sometimes not. What about if I see you again after thousands of years, would you have changed? That is how we think of the work of the Holy Spirit sometimes. When we think about the Holy Spirit, it can seem like He was silent or different all throughout the Old Testament, and then suddenly shows up with personality and power only after Pentecost. But, if we look at the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, we see clearly that He was doing much of the same work as He is in the New. Like a room that was dark but is illuminated, where suddenly you can see all that it contains, the coming of Jesus simply brought into clearer view what was already true about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. This morning I want to share some amazing and encouraging things about the Spirit’s person and work in the Old Testament. Not just for information, but to get to know the Holy Spirit as a friend; to know Him personally enough to begin to ask for, look for and to expect His work in prayer and in your life. So let’s start at the first place we see the Holy Spirit’s work in our Bible: at creation.

We have this machine, this system of living, that we call the Christian Life. We have church, we have our Bible reading, we have our praying; and those things are good. But our Christian life, which was meant to be a life-giving relationship with the Divine, often feels dry and powerless, devoid of both refreshment and power. We have substituted the machine itself as the source of life and power. We have tried to get Jesus from things outside of us, when the offer of Jesus is this: “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”You see, without the coming of the Holy Spirit to bring us that living water within us, to unite us to the source of that living water, Jesus, our Christian life becomes dry, powerless and distant. It remains only something that happened to us in the past rather than an ongoing river of new life and new strength for today.

How do we retain our identity in God’s Kingdom? In a world where there seems to be a million different answers to the question 'what is a Christian?', what is the thing that we hold on to? Identity in the Kingdom of God is not proven by showing an ID; identity in the Kingdom of God is shown by living out His story. By this I mean the story of what it means to God’s people. If you interested in truly being formed more like Christ, it is done by learning to live the story of God’s people and God's Kingdom on earth (ft. Ryan Beerwinkle, Deacon at Elevate Hope Centennial).

"Exodus 1-18 are copyright 2016 by BibleProject and are available for viewing at www.bibleproject.com"

Do you have a problem with idol worship? Most of us do in some way. But what about idle worship? If you are like most Americans you probably don’t know how to rest well. Maybe resting is all you think about all day, but when it comes time to rest, resting just becomes mindless scrolling on your phone and just leaves you more tired and unsatisfied. Maybe resting and leisure are taking precedence over other important things in your life. Or maybe it’s that feeling that you always busy but don’t have much to show for it. We are a culture who has tried to replace real rest with just idleness. So how do we know the difference? 2 Thessalonians 3, the final chapter in our series, helps us understand the problem we can have with idleness. Let’s see what God’s Word has to say to us this morning.

In 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul talks about what will happen when Jesus returns. Evil will be judged once and for all, and all those with faith in Jesus will be in His presence for eternity. Paul now must go back to what will come before Jesus returns. And he needs to write because there was confusion about that, even after his last letter. Someone, and Paul doesn’t know exactly who or how, is disturbing the church by taking his teaching in his first letter and misapplying it by saying that the entire church has missed the return of Jesus. Paul says, whether by a false prophecy, by a word or by a letter, someone is disturbing you and alarming you with false information. And so in chapter two, Paul writes back saying, "It is impossible for you to miss Jesus coming back for you because something has to take place first that you will not miss!" The good news is that you won’t miss it; the bad news is that things will get pretty bad and pretty desperate before they get better. So Paul aims to tell the Thessalonians about the 'Man of Lawlessness' and the rebellion he will launch against Christ and His church, while also encouraging them with the comforting power and love of God for His fearful sheep.

If you look up the word “judgement” you get almost exclusively positive results. The ability to decide between two things; the ability to make a good decision after considering all the facts. But if you add two small letters onto the end of the word judgement, things go the other way. If you look up the word “judgmental,” it is all negative. We should exercise good judgement, but somehow not be judgmental. If you ask the typical American what they think of Christians, it is often that they are judgmental. Judgment is good if it comes from our financial advisor, a judge or a referee, but never good when it comes from God or His people. And yet, over and over again, the Bible celebrates God’s judgement as a blessing, as part of his goodness. We are in a series going through the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. And today we begin looking at Paul, Silas and Timothy’s 2nd letter to the church in Thessalonica—the book of 2nd Thessalonians.

Have you ever experienced a dysfunctional relationship? According to recent statistics, more and more American families consider themselves dysfunctional, and around 80% of Americans agree that our country has long operated like a dysfunctional family. What about the church in America? Have you ever been in a difficult or dysfunctional church family? For better or for worse, family is one of the main metaphors the New Testament uses for the church. In fact, Paul addresses the church in Thessalonica as brothers and sisters over seventeen times in just his first letter. 1 Thessalonians 5 also happens to end with a series of seventeen short, rapid-fire commands that make the church a loving, functioning, welcoming and healthy family for those both inside and outside of it. We are related to our church family not legally as with our natural family but related through our union with Christ—as brothers and sisters. And so we are bound together not by a courtroom but by fellowship with one another in Christ. Let’s look at how the Bible says we should live out our identity as a church family, united in Christ and related to one another through our Father in Heaven.

If you have ever missed your stop on a train or bus, it can be a sinking feeling to think you missed your destination, that you will never get home. That is 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5. Scripture tells us that Jesus came to make a way for us to get home; to get back into the presence of our heavenly Father. And in order to do that, Jesus had to die and to rise again and return to heaven for a time. But Scripture also says that He will return for those who are His, and we will be with Him for eternity. Initially, with all the suffering they were going through, the Thessalonian Christians thought the return of Christ must be coming soon. But eventually they began to wonder, “what if He already came and we missed it?” Join us as we continue in 1 Thessalonians this morning.

Have you ever wondered what the will of God is for your life? Usually when we talk about God’s will, we are talking about God’s secret or unrevealed will for our life. But when Scripture speaks about the will of God, it most often talks about His already-revealed will. 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us that God’s revealed will for our lives is that we would be sanctified and made to be holy. Join us this morning as we discover our need to see what it means that God’s will for us is that we are to be sanctified—to be holy.

“Restore us, LORD God Almighty; make Your face shine on us, that we may be saved.” - Psalm 80:19 (ft. Chad Donohoe, Pastor of Community Life at Deer Creek Church).

Pain often makes us give up and give it the last word and authority in our life. That was Paul’s fear in 1 Thessalonians 3 as the Roman Empire and the Jewish leaders turned up the pain and suffering for the new believers in Thessalonica. Paul was eventually forced to leave the city and flee to Athens. He would have gladly gone back and suffered the consequences on behalf of the little church, but the unrest was actually centered around Paul himself so going back would not be the right thing to do. It seemed as if the Thessalonians’ church would have to go through their pain alone, which is the worst way to go through pain. How would they be able to endure amidst all the persecution and suffering inflicted against them? Join us this morning in 1 Thessalonians 3 as we examine their resolve in tribulation.

It’s hard to be the bearer of bad news. When Paul, Silas and Timothy went to Thessalonica, their hearts were broken over the lies people believed about idols and false god being able to save them. So they shared the good news about the living and true God sending His Son to save us, and the Thessalonians believed the message and were saved. But initially, the message of the gospel, the message that Christians have to tell to a world that worships all kinds of idols, the message that Christians have to tell if they love the world they live in, is that the wrath of God is coming on all who put their faith in something other than Jesus to save them. Christians have to tell the world that their greatest enemy is not poverty or sickness or a foreign power; their greatest enemy is not themselves or another person, but is God Himself. The bad news for those who have not put their hope in Jesus alone as their righteousness is that they are still enemies of God. You are in grave danger if you are not clinging to Jesus on whom the wrath of God was poured out in your place on the cross. The struggle for Christians is that we are called to bear witness to the warning that the wrath of God is coming to set everything right on the earth, and it’s hard to preach that message faithfully and still be liked. This morning in 1 Thessalonians 2, we see that Paul, Silas and Timothy faithfully delivered the bad news to the Thessalonians, and yet somehow remained in a relationship of love and friendship. How did they do it? How do we faithfully deliver the bad news to a world so loathe to hear that they are under the wrath of God unless they trust in Jesus?

The third commandment states that God will not hold him guiltless who takes the name of the LORD in vain. What does it mean to take the LORD’s name in vain? And what are the implications for those guilty of this transgression? Join us this Sunday as we dive into Exodus 20 (ft. Colin Campbell, Member at Elevate Hope Centennial).