Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Come, Holy Spirit!

Pastor Sherry’s message for Pentecost Sunday—May 23, 2021

Scriptures: Acts 2:1-21; Ps 104:24-35; 1 Jn 3:1-7; Jn 1526; 16:5-15

In 1995, Mark Batterson and a small team planted the National Community Church in a movie theatre on the Metro line (subway) in Washington, DC. It has since grown, through prayer and sovereign moves of the Holy Spirit, to 7 locations in and around DC, and ministers to around 3,000 members. This week, I reread 2 books Batterson has written: In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase.

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is based on 2 Samuel 23:20-21 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab’s best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

Benaiah, a mighty Hebrew warrior, chases a lion into a pit on a snowy day and kills it. Why would anyone do such a thing? Adult lions weigh about 500 pounds. Let’s guess that Benaiah weighed about 180. Clearly he was out-weighed by about 320 pounds. Add to that the fact that a lion’s paws, claws, and teeth were better suited to combat in a slippery environment than a man with no rifle or semi-automatic (but perhaps Benaiah had a spear or club). Whatever his weaponry, Benaiah slays the lion. Now I believe the Holy Spirit must have both led Benaiah to the pit, and empowered him with the courage and the skill to overcome the lion. This feat becomes the most prominent feature of his impressive resume. He is subsequently hired by King David to lead his body guard. Later, he rises to become the commander of the king’s armies.

Essentially, Batterson encourages us, in this book, to become “Lion Chasers,” pursuing the divine appointments, the God-given opportunities our Lord provides of us. He also points out how often “lion Chasers” are rewarded by the Lord.

In his book, Wild Goose Chase, Batterson distinguishes between a wild goose chase and chasing a wild goose. We tend to think of a wild goose chase as a fruitless endeavor, a waste of our time.

But the Celtic Christian name for the Holy Spirit is An Geadh-Glas, or the Wild Goose. Please understand that the Celts meant no disrespect. (The Lakota Sioux thought of the Holy Spirit as a buffalo, upon whom their plains existence depended entirely.) Like a wild goose (or a buffalo), the Holy Spirit is unpredictable, and out of our control—and sometimes even scary. But if we chase after Him, if we follow His nudges and urges, the Lord leads us into some amazing adventures.

Given this background, let’s look at our 1st reading, Acts 2:1-21: the empowerment of the HS at Pentecost. The context of this passage is that the 120 disciples, men and women, are praying in the Temple. Jesus had told them (Acts 1:4)àDo not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So they are being obedientàthey waited, they prayed. On Pentecost, 10 days after Jesus’ ascension, the Holy Spirit shows up! This is a theophany! A God-sighting! And He arrives with significant supernatural fanfare, or signs and wonders.

(1) 1st sign (which was heard)àSuddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind. This was no gentle breeze! Like tornados, it probably sounded like dozens of freight trains. God had done this beforeàEzekiel 37:9àGod sends the wind to raise the dry bones of Israel to life. When I was baptized by the Holy Spirit, I was at the beach with a group of friends who were praying for me. A moaning wind came up in my face. It was so strong that I could hardly breathe. Afterward, my friends denied having heard or felt it!

(2) 2nd sign (which was seen)àThey saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. Imagine if you had been there! Fire over your head, fire over the heads of your friends, no one burning up! Wow! But God had done this before, tooàExodus 3:2-5àMoses and the burning bush. The bush was on fire, but it did not burn up. God used that bush to light a fire in Moses. In Isaiah 6àIsaiah’s callàIsaiah realizes he is a sinful man called to serve as the Lord’s prophet. An angel brings a burning coal and applies it to hislips and tongue. He is purified without being burned. He did, however, get fired up to serve the Lord!

​(3) 3rd sign (which was again heard)àAll of them were filled with the HS and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  They were all supernaturally empowered to do something they had never done before, speak ​in a foreign language.  Parthians, Medes, and folks from other nationalities visiting Jerusalem heard them praising God in their native tongues—and according to scholars, with the correct accents!  These foreign visitors realized something extraordinary was happening as they recognized the 120 as simple folk from Judea.  Now God had done this before as wellàIsaiah 50:4àThe Sovereign Lord gave me [Jesus and the prophet Isaiah] an instructed ​tongue; i.e., inspired speech.   I have heard of a number of incidents, especially from missionaries serving abroad, when they suddenly either spoke or understood a language they had never been taught.  Peter quotes the prophet Joel,(Acts 2:28)à[The Lord, speaking thru the prophet Joel, promises],…I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

The Holy Spirit did show up, big time, on the Day of Pentecost! But why would God go to all this trouble? (wind, fire, inspired speech?)

(1) Pentecost marks the birth of the Christian Church (Big C, all Christians despite denominational differences) and inaugurates “the Church Age” (which begins with Pentecost and will continue until the Rapture).

(2) The Holy Spirit empowers us to tell others about Jesus. The disciples were waiting, praying, in the Temple, when the Wild Goose manifested in these very surprising ways. Jesus had given them the Great Commission, Matt 28:18àGo and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Now, filled with the HS, the disciples began telling anyone who would listen about Jesus. Like Benaiah jumping into the pit, they rushed out, with great urgency, to share with others what God had done for them. Like Benaiah jumping into the pit, we need supernatural help to share our faith with others. We need God-given opportunites, divine appointments so we know with whom we are to share the Good News. We need instructed tongues, so we know what to say when we do share.

(3) Empowerment to do the kinds of things Jesus did for the building up of God’s Kingdom. Through our prayers and faith, God can use us to heal others. My friend and seminary buddy, Hazel, had a healing ministry in Charleston, SC. Through her prayers and those whom she trained, one person grew back a kidney; another had their gall bladder healed. A third was healed of Bi-polar Disorder; a 4th had a brain tumor shrink to nothing.

Similarly, Agnes Sanford, the wife of a clergyman, also had the gift of healing. Her parents were missionaries to China in the 1930’s and 40’s. Agnes laid hands on a crippled Chinese man when she was 3YO and he was healed. Her parents did not understand her gift (their theology taught that all the gifts of healing ended with the Apostles), and told her not to do it again. Later, as an adult during WW2, she suffered from depression until a pastor friend released her to work in her gifting. She laid hands on injured GI’s, prayed for them, and they were healed of either their physical or emotional problems.

Graham Cooke, a present-day British Christian healer has a gift of “prophetic healing.” In other words, in the healing conferences he leads, God tells him what is wrong with a person as they are coming forward to him for prayer. He relates the story of a man who came forward suffering from a long-standing porn addiction. As the man approached him, the Holy Spirit told Graham that God intended to heal him of his addiction. Indeed,Graham prayed and the guy was set free.

Through our faith and our obedience, we can be equipped by God to do things we would never have thought possible. The 120 were waiting in anticipation, but I bet when they awoke on Pentecost, they never thought they would be evangelizing in foreign languages later that morning. I doubt Benaiah anticipated slaying a lion with only a spear or a club that day. I grew up wanting to be a mother and a teacher, then later—when my high school students kept coming to me with their problems–a psychologist. God has given me gifts of teaching and wisdom to impart to those I counseled. Yet, here I am now serving Him and you as your pastor. The Holy Spirit also gifts us for specific ministries at different times of our lives.

Moving at the nudge/inspiration of the HS is like chasing a Wild Goose (the Celtic An Geadh-Glas). It is an adventure! We wore red in honor of Pentecost today. Red reminds us of the tongues of fire. Red reminds us of one of the ways God chooses to show up. This week, be sure to be aware of how God might show up in your life. Savor your divine appointments. Write them down so you remember them. Share them with others, as God directs you.

Let’s remember this week—and always—that our God empowers us through His Holy Spirit to both tell others about Jesus and to operate in the gifts He has given us. Even if it seems as scary as jumping in a pit with a lion on a snowy day, let’s look for God-given opportunities and divine appointments. And let’s ask Him for the courage of a Benaiah—and of a Mark Batterson–the courage to do what the Lord has given us to do.

©️2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

 

Thanks to the Geiger family for Pentecost altar flowers.

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

COME, HOLY SPIRIT

Pastor Sherry’s Message for May 31, 2020

Scriptures: Acts 2:1-21; Ps 104:24-35b; 1 Cor:12:3b-13; John 7:37-39

In 2016, this true story of Charlotte Heffelmire of Vienna, Virginia took place:  Charlotte was home from the Air Force Academy visiting her family for Thanksgiving break.  Her dad, Eric, was working on his GMC truck in the family’s garage.  He later recalled, “I was on my back, face up, and I was trying to get at some corroded brake lines when apparently the jack slipped and the truck fell down on me.  The minute the jack slipped, there was an almost instantaneous, real strong smell of gasoline, and then I heard, Whoosh!”  Afterward, he would say he was sure someone would be pulling a dead body out from under the vehicle.  Instead, his 19YO daughter heard the noise and came flying into the garage, barefoot.  She was about 5’4” and weighed 120#.  She says she cannot explain what happened next, but…She lifted that truck off her dad and got him out; then she jumped into the vehicle—which was on fire—threw it into 4 wheel drive, backed it out of the garage on three wheels and closed the garage door to contain the fire.

Then she ran into the house to get the family out, starting with her sister’s baby.

The news reported her saying, “I just did what I had to do. So I don’t feel like a big hero or anything.”  She was later recognized with a Citizen Lifesaving Award by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, and given a check for $10,000 on a TV talk show.

         Every once in a while we hear of some similar feat of superhuman strength after which folks say they had no idea how they accomplished it.  You and I know that no smallish young woman would have the upper body strength to lift a truck off her dad.  That kind of empowerment had to have come from the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is our power source for those times when God wants to do something impossible thru us.

 

We have looked the last few Sundays at the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives:  We have noted that Jesus promised the HS would…

1.) Remind us of everything Jesus said;

2.) Help us to rightly discern people, spirits, & situations;

3.) Empower us for service to Jesus and His Church;

4.) He also convicts us—like our conscience–of our sins.

This story of Charlotte Heffelmire is an example of HS empowerment.   It is

Superhuman and miraculous.

 

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birth of the Christian Church (of all denominations) & the impartation of the HS to each of us believers.  Our Scriptures include the narrative from Acts 2, in which the Holy Spirit dramatically materializes.  The context is that the 120 disciples, men & women, are praying in the Temple.  Jesus had told them (Acts 1:4) Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  So they are being obedient, waiting, praying.

 

Finally, on the day of Pentecost, the HS shows up!  This is a theophany, an appearance or manifestation (signs & wonders) of God!

1st sign Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind [Ruach—wind, breath, spirit].  This was no gentle breeze!  It came with the sound of a freight train, like a tornado.  Now, God had done this beforeàEze 37:9 God sends the wind to raise the dry bones of Israel to life.

 2nd sign They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  Imagine if you had been there!  Fire over your head, fire over the heads of your friends, but no one burning up!  Wow!  God had done this before tooàEx 3:2-5àMoses & the

burning bush.  The bush was on fire, but Moses saw that it did not burn up; instead, God used the bush to light a fire in Moses.  Also, in Isaiah 6àIsaiah’s call to be a prophet, àGod had an angel bring a burning coal to cleanse the prophet’s tongue.  Isaiah did not get burned; but he did get fired up to serve the Lord! 

3rd sign All of them were filled with the HS and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  They were all supernaturally empowered—like Charlotte– to do something they had never done before, in this case, speak in languages they had never been taught.  Parthians, Medes, and other folks visiting Jerusalem heard them praising God in their native tongues.  These foreign visitors realized something extraordinary was happening as these were simple folk from Galilee, or we might say from some small town in Florida.

 Now God had done this before tooàIsa 50:4 The Sovereign Lord gave me an instructed tongue;  this means inspired speech.  Similarly, the Lord, (2:28), speaking thru the prophet Joel, promises, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.  I can truthfully testify of times when I have preached and known the words I spoke were not my own—I had prepared something else–but God had other ideas about what He wanted me to say to His people.  What came out of my mouth was truly Holy Spirit inspired speech.

So, back to our passage.  The Holy Spirit showed up, big time!  But why would God go to this trouble?  (using wind, fire, inspired speech?)  I think He did for two reasons:

  1. Empowerment to tell others about Jesus.

Some denominations call this witnessing ( a word makes some of us uncomfortable).  Witnessing, or sharing your testimony—your experience with Jesus—is actually how we go about living out the Great Commission, Matt 28:18àGo and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  The disciples flowed out from where they had been teaching and praying in the Temple and began praising God and telling anyone who would listen about Jesus.  Witnessing means sharing with others what God has done in our lives and in the lives of our friends.  We do not do this in our own strength, but—like the disciples–thru the power of the Holy Spirit.  We don’t have to stand on street corners and wave our Bibles at people.  On the contrary.  Ask God to show you both who to share with and what to sayàask for an instructed tongue.

  1. Empowerment to do miraculous things for the building up of

God’s Kingdom:  a.) Praying for healing (and watching it happen); b.) Supernatural strength like Charlotte had; c.) Abilities to teach or preach, paint, make music, write, grow orchids, or to help those in need.  Paul describes 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit in our New Testament lesson today, 1 Cor12:3-13à

1.) Wisdom;

2.) Words of knowledge;

3.) Faith;

4.) Healing;

5.) Miraculous powers (Charlotte);

6.) Prophesy;

7.) Discernment of spirits;

8.) Tongues;

9.) Interpretation of tongues.

As our Gospel (John 7:37-39) describes it, the Holy Spirit is the source of the streams of living water Jesus promises to believers.

I want to share with you this humorous story of a miraculous dog (please know, in advance, that I mean no disrespect to either Baptists or Pentecostals).   A Baptist preacher and his wife decided they wanted a dog.  Given the scrutiny/oversight from their congregation, they knew it needed to be a well-behaved Baptist dog.  So they went to an exclusive kennel and expressed their needs and reservations to the owner.  He assured them he had just the right dog for them.  When the dog was produced, the kennel owner began giving it commands:  Fetch the Bible.  The dog bounced over to the bookshelves, looked them over, located the Bible, and obediently brought it to the man.  Then he said, Find the 23rd Psalm.  The dog, demonstrating amazing dexterity with his paws, leafed thru the Bible, found the correct passage, and pointed to it with his nose.

The preacher and his wife were so impressed that they immediately purchased the dog.  Later, they began to show off to members of their congregation what the dog could do, having him locate several Bible verses.  Folks were amazed, but one skeptic asked, Can he do any normal dog tricks?  “Let’s see,” said the preacher and commanded him to “heel!”

The dog immediately jumped up on a chair, laid his paw on a parishioner’s head and began to howl!  The preacher was shocked and turned to his wife and complained, “Honey, we’ve been swindled!  The kennel owner sold us a Pentecostal dog!”

This Pentecostal dog had the Holy Spirit gift of healing!

 

As we were reminded last week, just before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He gave us all a job:  Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are to go and do.  We are to go witness to those God places before us…

Tell people who are interested the difference knowing God has made in your life; tell them of the wonderful ways that God has blessed you and might bless them.  Then use the gifts with which the Holy Spirit has entrusted you to build up God’s Kingdom here on earth.  Come, Holy Spirit!  Empower us to witness and to serve, we pray in Jesus’ name!

        

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Are We Done Yet?

Pastor Sherry’s Message for May 17, 2020

Scriptures: Acts 17:22-31; Ps 66:8-20; 1 Pet 3:13-22; Jn 14:15-21

As parents, we are all used to hearing from the backseat, “Are we there yet?”  But there’s another frequently asked question that you hear, especially when you assign your kids/grandkids (or students) a task–“Are we done yet?”  Husbands and wives also ask this of each other.  It indicates boredom and impatience, doesn’t it?  It indicates a desire to get on with the next, hopefully, more fun, entertaining, or exciting activity.

The following story illustratrates this issue:

It seems that one day a kindergarten teacher was helping one of her students put on his cowboy boots.  He asked for help and she could see why.  Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on. Finally, when the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat.  So she almost cried when the little boy said, “Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet.” She looked down and sure enough, they were.

It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it had been putting them on. But she managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on – this time on the right feet. And it was only then that he announced, “These aren’t my boots.”

She bit her tongue rather than scream, “Why didn’t you say so?” like she wanted to.  And, once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off then he said, “They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear ’em….”

I’m sure this teacher wanted to know when she might be done getting this child into somebody’s boots.

 

Our Gospel lesson today is a continuation of Jesus’ final words of wisdom and reassurance to his disciples, prior to His death on the Cross (John 14:15-21).  Jesus knows His hour has come, but the disciples don’t really get it.  He is trying to encourage them in advance of His arrest and execution.  He doesn’t want them or us to lose heart in the face of overwhelming disappointment, fear, or grief.

One of His final teachings is on the role the Holy Spirit will play in their (and our) lives once He has gone to heaven.  Jesus knows He will have 40 more days with them after His Resurrection and prior to His Ascension;

He wants them to know that, despite His coming death, they are not yet done with Him or with their own spiritual growth.  Actually, this side of heaven, none of us is done yet!

 

Let’s look more carefully at what Jesus says the Holy Spirit will do for and with us.  In verse 15, Jesus states, If you love Me, you will obey my commands.  As I stressed in my blog message last Sunday, out of Jesus’ love for us—and ours for Him—we obey His commands.  Now this does not mean we abide by the 10 Commandments, then dust our hands off and consider we’ve got it.  No, remember Jesus told the attorney that the first and greatest commandment was to love God, with our entire person and above all things; then the next to the greatest was to love others as we love ourselves.  This admonition implies that obeying Jesus goes beyond

simply adhering to the 10.  Just as we learn from Him, in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), that Thou shalt not kill also means we are not to get so angry that we sin, cuss someone out, or hold a grudge.  Love for neighbors requires that we value those with whom we have interpersonal relationships and we tend to them with care.  In fact, our LORD would probably like us to demonstrate love daily.  So, out of our love and devotion to Christ, we conform to or obey His expectations for or commands to us.

 

In verses 16-17, Jesus continues…And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth.  Jesus left this earth for Heaven, but did not abandon them and He has not abandoned us.  He asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to remain with us forever–without a time limit.  The word for Counselor in the original Greek is parakletos and it meant (1) Advocate, in the sense of a defense attorney who is on our side, arguing for our rights; (2) It also carries the sense of a helper; and (3) of a comforter…He is our Holy Comforter.  (4) Jesus also calls Him the Spirit of Truth.  This means He will never steer us wrong.  This means He will never give us incorrect advice. We don’t have to fear bias or distortion from Him—everything He tells us will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

 

The Holy Spirit’s chief jobs, among others, are to (1) remind us of the teachings of Jesus; (2) to help us rightly discern people, spirits, and situations; and (3) to empower us for service to Christ & His church–including gifting people to sing, play music, preach, or teach.  All of our talents and gifts come from the Holy Spirit.  Whenever we encounter persons who have been healed through prayer, we can credit the Holy Spirit for their healing anointing.  Early on, as I began my practice in 1990 as a licensed psychologist, I would listen to a client and despite having learned “standard of practice,” research-based interventions, I would realize that I didn’t know what to do to help some individuals.  I learned to get quiet, to silently pray, and to listen for the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.  I cannot adequately explain it, but an answer would “drop” into my head.  Often it was not in words I tended to use.  Occasionally it went against my training.  Always, however, it was exactly the right thing to do.  Those were “words of knowledge” and were provided to me by the Holy Spirit.  I was grateful and I believe my clients were too.

 

Jesus also warns His disciples (and us) that the world will recognize neither the Holy Spirit nor the work of the Holy Spirit.  Isn’t it ironic that the culture today seems to believe in ghosts, zombies, and werewolves–and even looks to the power of witches and consults mediums–but fails to appreciate the reality of the Holy Spirit?  In fact, the work of the Holy Spirit is often explained away as the efforts of humans, of science, or of nature (example: the Covid-19 virus).  Our God works through people, science and even nature but seldom gets the credit.  (On Good Friday, many Christians agreed to pray against the virus.  What if it is prayer that has decreased the expected number of deaths in American or flattened the curve?)  People will even credit an angel before they give credit to God, the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit really is the invisible and unsung hero of the Trinity.

 

Jesus goes on to declare in verses 19-20àBefore long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you also will live.  On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.  Jesus is affirming that He will indeed transition out of this world into the next.  Because of His Resurrection, His triumph over death, we will also leave this life to live forever with Him eternally.  What comfort!  We know there is life after death and since we love Jesus, we too will enjoy it with Him.  When we are reunited with Him in Heaven, we will see the Trinity in all of its glory.  We will then comprehend Their unity and Their oneness of purpose.  We will see that the Father and Son are truly united, and that—due to the Holy Spirit–we are in Christ and Christ has been and is in us.

 

Jesus concludes this discourse with the summary assertion that(v.21), Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.  He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him.  We demonstrate to Jesus that we believe Him and love Him by being obedient to Him.  We gain Jesus’ love (and the Father’s as well) by loving Christ.  It really is all about love, isn’t it?

Back in the 1960’s the Beatles sang, “All we need is love;” I’m not sure they were celebrating AGAPE or Godly love, but they were perhaps on the right track.  A pastor I know of has put John 14:15-21 into verse:

 

                                           If you love Me, keep My commands;

                                           I’ll pray that from the Father’s hands

                                           He’ll give you another Helper

                                           To abide with you forever.

                                           Spirit of Truth, the world can’t take

                                           To His presence it’s not awake.

                                           But you know Him, He dwells with you.

                                           What men can’t see will be in you.

 

I came across the story of a poor man who developed the habit of slipping into a certain church at a certain time of day, regularity, without fail.  Day after day, he would sit and apparently do nothing [my note:  Could he have been praying?]  The pastor of that church, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, asked the old man one day why he came to the church, alone, day in, day out.  What was the draw [My note:  Good grief!  Such a question from a pastor.  Yikes!] The old man looked at the pastor and, with a knowing twinkle in his eye, explained, “I look at Him.  He looks at me.  And we tell each other that we love each other.”  How beautiful!  How loving!

 

Are we done yet?  No, but becoming intentional about loving Jesus and God the Father puts us on the right road.  Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus has given us the means to love God and others more effectively. Two Sundays from now, we will celebrate Pentecost, the anniversary of the birth of the Christian Church.  It’s the day that the disciples all received the Holy Spirit.   Between now and then, let’s focus on loving God and others, and upon thanking God for the gift of His Holy Spirit.

 

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ–and by means of the power of the Holy Spirit.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

 

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams