Contact us! Phone: 217-442-5675 Email: ilcd.churchsec@gmail.com
May 20, 2018 The Day of Pentecost
In
the Nicene Creed we confess, “And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and
giver of life.” This Third Person of the Trinity whom we celebrate today
“proceeds from the Father and the Son.” With the Father and the Son He is both
worshiped and glorified. This is God who has spoken by His prophets as today
through Ezekiel He declares, “You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open
your graves, and raise you from your graves, O My people. And I will put My
Spirit within you, and you shall live.” (Ezekiel 37:13–14) This He has done in
the hearts of everyone who has heard His saving Word, from Adam and Eve to you.
To emphasize the universality of God’s desire, today we recall that
post-resurrection Day of Pentecost, when no barriers of language could hinder
God’s work. Jesus tells us that this Spirit He sends is from the Father. The
Spirit comes to witness about Jesus and His work of salvation for all. That
witness consists of both the truth about sin and about the Savior, Law and
Gospel, to bring us to repentance and enliven our faith repeatedly, day by day
as we live in His presence and the grace of God.
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Acts 2:1-21 st John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
® All Rights Reserved Immanuel Lutheran Church 2013