Wind & Fire

Wind - a : a destructive force or influence

Air - a light breeze : empty space

Read Acts 2

Pentecost, meaning fiftieth, is the Greek word for the feast of seven weeks
celebrating the end of the harvest season. It was held, appropriately 50 days
after the Passover celebration. Jews from all over the known world would make a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration, and many of them
would stay on to visit family, or to do business until the Pentecost festival.

Sign of a battle

It’s interesting tomorrow we celebrate Memorial Day, a day of remembrance for

those who have died in our nation's service. The holiday was first proclaimed on
the fifth of May, 1868 by General John Logan in his General Order No. 11, and
was first observed on the thirtieth of May 1868, when flowers were placed on the
graves of Union and Confederate soldiers. This is our remembrance of the
sacrifice that was made for us.

Pentecost honors a sacrifice as well. It is the result of the sacrifice of Jesus

Christ. In John 14, Jesus told his disciples, 15 If ye love me, keep my
commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be
in you.

Wind : 569 times in the bible (wind/spirit)

Now, my guess is that most of us are not wind experts. After all, how many
intelligent things can someone say about wind?

For that matter, have you ever tried to define wind? How would you complete
this sentence, “Wind is ____?” A sixth grader has offered this definition for wind:
“The wind is like air, only pushier!” And, what a great way to put it!

In the Hebrew scriptures “wind” and “spirit” are identical.

John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou
doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Wind also generate power for homes and business’

Largest wind storm - The most monstrous tornado Super outbreak of the 20th
century was the Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974. During a 16-hour period, 148
tornadoes churned through Illinois and Indiana into Michigan and Ohio southward
through the Tennessee Valley into Mississippi and Alabama with speeds topping
260 mph. This outbreak produced the largest number of tornadoes, with 30
causing F4 damage or worse. On one occasion, as many as five large tornadoes
were on the ground at one time. The outbreak killed 315 people and resulted in
6,142 injuries.

Fire (Spirit) Fire 506 fire and the lord186 in the bible

In Acts 1 Jesus commanded his disciples 4 And, being assembled together with
them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for
the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly
baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days
hence..''
They knew there was reason to wait, but certainly it was not clear to them just
what it meant. They huddled in a locked room, fearful of the Pharisees. Suddenly
there was the sound of a mighty wind sweeping through the house; a cleansing
wind, a powerful wind. Much to everyone's amazement, tongues of fire appeared
on the heads of those in the house. As they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they
were not necessarily afraid, but we can imagine there might have been a little
concern at the situation. They left the house, and emboldened by the power of
the Spirit they began to preach, casting aside any immediate fears of arrest.

Power.

Peter, the same man who fifty days before had denied Jesus three times, now
spoke with clarity, , Peter quoted three passages, all designed to point to the role
of Jesus Christ as the Messiah..

What is the crowds' reaction to the miracle of Pentecost? ''Hey, these guys are
drunk!'' This reaction is probably not too much different from the way people
would react were this particular miracle repeated today. ''Hey look at these guys!
What are they up to anyway?'' The public has a tough time with miracles in
general, and even more so with this ''speaking in tongues'' miracle. But it was
time for miracles, for a very visible miracle to demonstrate the power that the
Holy Spirit brought into the lives of these apostles.

Fire had always been, for the Jews, a symbol of God’s presence. John the
Baptist prophesied that the Messiah would bring a baptism of fire. Fire
symbolized God’s purifying presence, which burnt away the undesirable
elements of human lives and sets hearts aflame to ignite the lives of others.

Fire, another potential danger. Every year, we worry about fires blazing out of
control in Arizona, California, even in Texas, causing people to flee their homes.
Nevertheless, fire can also be a very useful tool. We use it in various ways.
Cooking, heating, in industry. It is hard to imagine where we would be without
fire.

largest fire –
October 26, 2003

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Untamed flames stoked by powerful winds raced

through parts of Southern California, torching more than 208,000 acres,
destroying 500 homes and causing at least 11 deaths in lest than 3 hours.

Closing
Pentecost means the Spirit is available. The violent rushing wind, the burning
blaze - not for destruction, not for obliteration but for change, for transformation.

Like precious metals in a fire, where the dross and impurities are melted away,
like the burning bush where only the dead wood is consumed until we are as we
were intended to be: pure and completely holy.

One windy day a four year old girl asked her mother, “Mom, may I go out and
play with the wind?” “Sure,” her mother replied, “Go have lots of fun.” And then
out on the deck, the little girl twirled and swirled. She swung her arms and
twisted dizzily.

And friends, that is our task. The task of the Church is to breathe together at the
Spirit’s command. But, let’s not forget to dance in the wind, too. After all, the
wind is like air, only pushier! Amen.