Pentecost! Gifts and fruit and tongues, oh my

Well today (and by “today” I mean the day I preached the sermons below) is the birthday of the church: Pentecost. It seems strange that we have such an unequivocal beginning. The strange thing is that the direction I took with the Lectionary texts was to address an old, old fight that isn’t even on the radar in most Presbyterian churches and especially not in the Presbyterian churches I preach in, namely the “evidential doctrine” as it is sometimes called.

There is a group in Christendom – make no mistake they are every bit as much members of the larger, universal, church as anyone – who are convinced that the only acceptable evidence that a person is filled with the Holy Spirit is that the person in question speaks in tongues . . . at least once. With great respect to that group this is hogwash.

I spent some small time talking about this and why it is incorrect, not least of which because it beggars description to suggest that Jesus was not filled with the Holy Spirit, but what I was more after was a discussion of the other evidences. And there are many other evidences of being filled with the Holy Spirit not least of which are spiritual gifts and the growing fruit of the spirit. So, if you are so inclined, give these a listen and let me know if you think I made a sufficiently compelling argument.

Oh, the Knox sermon is noticeably shorter that the St. Mark’s sermon as this was the Sunday we celebrated the conclusion of Sunday School and as such started a bit later and had some of the Sunday School kids participate in the service.

Knox Presbyterian 130519_Knox

St. Mark’s Presbyterian 130519_StMarks

Thanks as always for giving this a read and/or a listen. I hope one, the other or both are a blessing to you.