As we move from Pentecost Sunday into the period in the liturgical calendar known as Ordinary Time, we see the Spirit guiding our daily lives, bringing to life Jesus’ teachings and ordinances as we love Him and obey Him even in the mundane.

Pentecost is a peak moment in redemptive history as the Spirit is made visible for the second time after Jesus’ baptism. But in the context of Acts 2, the Spirit guides and directs the birth of the church as Christ’s institution to bring His kingdom and His Gospel to the world.

This incredible time displays the literal pouring out of the Holy Spirit:

• Prophesied in the Old Testament by Ezekiel and Joel

• Promised by Jesus Himself as His replacement until His return.

Before Pentecost, early believers longed for a permanent dwelling place of God to be close to Him; through Pentecost, God gave Himself to all believers, making us His dwelling place.

This is both why and how we, those indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the local expression of the church in the upstate of South Carolina, make it our mission to give every man, woman, and child repeated opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the Gospel without them having to come or go anywhere.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 - “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

John 14:15-17- “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”