Sermon Tone Analysis

Legacy

Bob Gass

Bob was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

His father died when he was 12 and Bob’s mother raised Bob and his two siblings, as a single parent.

Bob always described his mother as a formative influence in his life, encouraging him to attend church as often as possible.

'She came into the Kingdom at a hundred miles an hour,' Bob once wrote, 'and never slowed down.

She took her family in one hand and her faith in the other, and said, ‘we are going to serve the Lord.’

Bob was his mothers legacy

Bob’s legacy sees 400,000 uk people lived

Bob himself, actually planned for his death several years ago.

His potential legacy was always at the front of his mind.

He began a long writing project, which would mean his legacy continues long after he passed away.

A strange legacy

In 1926, a wealthy Toronto lawyer named Charles Vance Millar died, leaving behind him a will that amused and electrified the citizens of his Canadian province.

Millar, a bachelor with a wicked sense of humour, stated clearly that he intended his last will and testament to be an “uncommon and capricious” document.

Because he had no close heirs to inherit his fortune, he divided his money and properties in a way that amused him and aggravated his newly chosen heirs.

Here are just a few examples of his strange bequests:

He left shares in the Ontario Jockey Club to two prominent men who were well known for their opposition to racetrack betting.

He bequeathed shares in the O’Keefe Brewery Company (a Catholic beer manufacturer) to every Protestant minister in Toronto.

But his most famous bequest was that he would leave the bulk of his fortune to the Toronto woman who gave birth to the most children in the ten years after his death.

This clause in his will caught the public imagination.

The country was entering the Great Depression.

As people struggled to meet even their most basic economic responsibilities, the prospect of an enormous windfall was naturally quite alluring.

Newspaper reporters scoured the public records to find likely contenders for what became known as The Great Stork Derby.

Nationwide excitement over the Stork Derby built quickly.

In 1936, four mothers, proud producers of nine children apiece in a ten year time span, divided up the Charles Millar’s bequest, each receiving what was a staggering sum in those days -$125,000.

Charles Millar caused much mischief with his will.

This was his final legacy to humanity.

Pentecosts

When Jesus of Nazareth left this earth, he promised a different kind of legacy to his followers.

He promised the Holy Spirit - to comfort, to guide, to empower them to be all that God had called them to be.

Today we celebrate Pentecost - the coming of the Holy Spirit on the church.

After the crucifixion the disciples had been afraid for their lives and locked the door of the upper room when they met together.

Now they were afraid no longer.

The coming of the Holy Spirit transformed the disciples from fear to confidence.

The Holy Spirit gave them the courage to go out into Jerusalem and to declare the resurrection of Jesus to a city whose people had so recently called for his death.

The Holy Spirit can make all the difference.

The coming of the Holy Spirit was a tangible and dramatic event.

Sounds of rushing wind.

-

Tongues of fire resting over the heads of the disciples -

Strange languages being spoken - that could be understood by people from all over both Jew and not.

This Holy Spirit event changed things.

It turned the disciples from being scared and locked in a room with no plan - to bold, driven ambassadors for Christ.

That is the first thing I want us to take away today.

When we have the Holy Spirit working in power on us, it changes the situation and it changes us.

The Holy Spirit changes the Game.

The Peter we read about Acts seems very different from the Peter of the Gospels.

The Holy Spirit has refined and honed his good qualities and pared away the bad.

The courage to speak out, remained, - we remember what a ‘hot head’ he was in the Gospels, but his words are no longer impetuous and without thought.

Now they are considered, wise and carry the power of the Holy Spirit

But he was still Peter.

The Holy Spirit had not destroyed his essential self and replaced it with something new and alien.

His basic personality remained the same, but had been refined and strengthened, so that he became closer not only to what God wanted him to be, but closer also to what he himself wanted to be.

Peter’s undoubted courage was demonstrated on several occasions in the Gospels, but while Peter trusted in his own strength, it inevitably let him down at the crucial time and led him to deny Jesus.

This same courage, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, became infinitely dependable and sure.

It became the key to building a Kingdom legacy.

The Holy Spirit is God.

The power of the Holy Spirit is an amazing thing and is directly God.

The Holy Spirit is God, not a lesser part of God or a representative of God - but is God.

Part of God from before the beginning of time,

Notice the spirit of God - The Ruach of God, the breath of God - this wind hovering - trembling over the water, and see how the Wind rushed through Jerusalem that day - identifying this phenomena as God.

It is important to recognise that the Holy Spirit is as much God as Jesus and the Father because it gives us two important pieces of understanding.

Firstly - The power that the Holy Spirt can bring is the whole power of God.

I get freaked out by the that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you.

but it is greater than that, the Power that created the universe is within the the Holy Spirit.

No wonder Jesus confidently declared

Jesus knew that the Holy Spirit would come and change the game

Jesus knew thae

Not every one will understand what is happening.

Not everyone will understand what is happening.

After the crucifixion the disciples had been afraid for their lives and locked the door of the upper room when they met together.

Now they were afraid no longer.

The coming of the Holy Spirit transformed the disciples from fear to confidence.

The Holy Spirit gave them the courage to go out into Jerusalem and to declare the resurrection of Jesus to a city whose people had so recently called for his death.

The second thing the understanding the Holy Spirit is God brings to us is that not everyone will understand what is happening.

We see the people in Jerusalem accusing the disciples of being drunk and Peter pointing to the truth, in Joels prophecy.

The same is true today culturally, people do not expect to see God move and when it does they are confused and sometimes suspicious - but I tell you people are intrigued and seeking it out.

In the church we seem to be concerned that if the spirit moves too much it will mess up our order and our organisation - we may not get the last song in.

Or we’ll be late for lunch.

Personally, I don’t understand what is happening when God moves, when the power of the Holy Spirit moves on people, why my legs buckled as I walked away from praying for someone, why I find my self promising things in peoples lives that I would be stupid to do in the Natural.

I can’t understand why Shirley can have a picture of a bithday cake that she delivers to the one person in the room who is a cake maker, considering what to do with their life and talents.

I don’t understand why when we pray for people God heals or moves in their lives, bringing healing and restoration Or why so many ‘coincidences’ happen when the Spirit moves - I don’t understand any of it, other than it is God, it is the Holy Spirit.

Freely Available - but not forced.

In Acts we heard how Peter quoted the prophet Joel who said that God’s Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all who believe.

We see how Peter was empowered by the Holy Spirit - from hot headed fisherman to a leading fisher of men ( that calling Jesus put on him on day one)

But he was still Peter.

The Holy Spirit had not destroyed his essential self and replaced it with something new and alien.

His personality remained the same, but had been refined and strengthened, so that he became closer not only to what God wanted him to be, but closer also to what he himself wanted to be.

The Holy Spirit does not invade us unasked but, if we truly wish to receive it, it is there for each one of us for the asking.

And if we truly want the Holy Spirit to enter our lives, it will be because we want to change and will welcome the changes that the Spirit will bring.

It will also mean that we have recognised our inability to bring these changes about on our own and have realised our need for God’s grace.

Legacies have an impact.

We started talking about legacies.

Legacies have an impact.

The acts and artefacts that we leave behind affect the people that follow us.

The things we do no matter their significance at the time have the potential to have significant impact in peoples live.

The legacy of God - The Holy Spirit has the potential to change our live and those we meet but we have to ask and we have to act.

When Jesus of Nazareth left this earth, he promised a different kind of legacy to his followers.