When God’s Spirit is Poured Out
We’ve been moving through the Bible for six months now. Throughout the Bible we see how people have to keep on adjusting and adapting and being sensitive to and following the leading of the Spirit and living as God’s people in new circumstances.
This week we look at the Book of Joel that says that God’s Spirit will be poured out on all flesh and all kinds of people will prophesy, dream dreams, and see visions.
As people of faith, it helps to have the leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit guiding us and equipping us to have the vision to dream of new possibilities and to attempt things we may never have done before.
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When God’s Spirit is Poured Out
One of the things I’ve been thinking and praying about recently is how do we move as a people from “the big resignation” to a “big resurgence?”
Resignations can be seen negatively or positively.
On the one hand millions of people leaving their jobs can reflect deep dissatisfaction and frustration. On the other hand, it can be seen positively as people reassessing their options, desires, and choices, and how they want to spend their life.
There was an article in The Cape Cod Times on Wednesday about people moving to Cape Cod and starting a new life and a new job. Resurgence, renewal, a change in the direction of your life often takes imagination, aspiration, and optimism.
As people of faith, we’d say, it also helps to have the leading and empowerment of the Spirit guiding us and equipping us to have the vision to dream of new possibilities and to attempt things we may never have done before. This is true for you as an individual and for us as a community of faith.
In our journey through the Bible today we’re in the book of Joel. In Joel we learn what it means to lament: what it means to cry out to God in our times of sorrow and pain; what it means to turn from sin in genuine repentance. Then in Joel 2:28-32, we learn that God promises to pour out the Spirit on God’s people, even in the midst of chaos and calamity. Joel teaches that God’s Spirit is the great leveler of barriers that human beings set up. Listen to Joel 2:28-32 where the Lord says,
“Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. 30 I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.”
God’s Spirit is the great leveler of barriers that human beings set up.
Joel says that God’s Spirit will be poured out on all flesh and all kinds of people will prophesy, dream dreams, and see visions. Young and old, male and female, people of different social classes, even slaves. This was an incredibly radical statement in a patriarchal middle eastern culture with distinct roles for men and women and for those who were free or enslaved. It is still a radical statement today. For Joel, “all flesh” meant primarily the Jews (see Joel 3.2, 17, 19-21). Later in the Bible we’ll see God had something more in mind than perhaps even Joel realized.
Earlier in Joel 2:23, we see this same language of something being poured out where God promises to pour down abundant rain, the early and later rain, as before, upon the parched, dry land.
This same language of pouring helps us to understand the pouring out of God’s spirit. It tells us that God’s act of giving the Spirit to God’s people will be generous, widespread, and visible: like torrential rain pouring down. In a torrential rainstorm, everything gets wet, nothing is left dry or untouched.
So it will be, Joel says, with God’s Spirit.
It’s not just sons who will prophesy, but daughters as well. It’s not just those with resources or wealth, even slaves will be recipients of God’s spirit.
The Spirit will be poured out not just on priests, prophets, or leaders, but on everyone.
This is part of God’s plan and vision. God’s Spirit is always leading people forward and guiding them in how to be God’s people in a world that’s always changing.
We’ve been moving through the Bible for six months now. Throughout the Bible we see how people have to keep on adjusting and adapting to living as God’s people in new circumstances while being sensitive to and following the leading of the Spirit.
From Abraham and Sarah journeying by stages from their home into an unknown future, to the Israelites being enslaved in Egypt, to the uncertainty of the Exodus and life in the wilderness, to the prosperity of the Promised Land, to the heartache of exile, and the hope in returning, God’s people are having to constantly adapt.
You shouldn’t expect anything different in your life.
In the early days of the Exodus and life in the wilderness the people were following God flexibly and dynamically. The pillar of cloud provided a visible guide for the Israelites during the day, while the pillar of fire lit their way by night. In the days when there was a temple, God was seen as being more in one particular place. But God’s Spirit isn’t confined or restricted to any one place or location or people.
This passage in Joel is very significant in the New Testament because it’s quoted by Peter in his message on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
At this point in Acts, Jesus had been crucified, resurrected, and ascended into heaven. Before he departed, he (Acts 1;4-5) “ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Christ concluded by saying (Acts 1.8), “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The group of about 120 believers remained in Jerusalem praying and waiting for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them.
Then Acts 2 begins,
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”
People were amazed and astonished at what was taking place, and Peter, who had lacked the courage to speak the truth about his relationship with Jesus to a female servant on the night of Christ’s arrest, stands up boldly in the city where Jesus had been crucified and he begins his message by saying the coming of the Holy Spirit is the fulfilment of Joel 2:28-32.
While for Joel, “all flesh” meant primarily the Jews, we hear in Peter’s Pentecost sermon that all flesh means “all nations” (Acts 2.17).
The idea that God’s spirit will be poured out on all flesh without distinction or limits is a very broad and inclusive statement. The gift of God’s Spirit to all flesh and not just to chosen individuals is a mark of the Messianic age that Christ introduced.
Peter says this is the fulfilment of what was spoken. It’s seen in the outpouring of the Spirit which Joel prophesied would happen (Acts 2.16-21). It’s seen in the life and death of Jesus according to God’s plan (Acts 2.22-23). It’s seen in Jesus’ resurrection prophesied by David and accomplished by God (Acts 2.24-32). It’s seen in Jesus’ exaltation to Lordship, in his pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 2.33-36). Peter concludes by saying, (Acts 2.33),
“Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.”
It’s interesting but not surprising that Peter uses the same “poured out” language as Joel. The end purpose of all this is that people shall call on the name of the Lord and be saved.
That’s what Joel said and when people listening to Peter’s message ask, “What should we do?” Peter shares God’s call to repent and believe (Acts 2:38-39),
“Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”
God doesn’t like being fenced in or boxed in or limited to a particular place. God likes freedom.
In Acts 2, the pouring out of the Spirit is what enables the followers of the Way to take the good news about God’s love in Christ outside the temple and outside Jerusalem to the world. The outpouring of the Spirit and the power and gifts the Spirit gives to all believers is what turns the followers of Jesus from small group of mostly Jewish people in one tiny geographic area, to a multiplying force that spreads like a Spirit powered pandemic of love, grace, healing, compassion, and truth.
As people of faith, it helps to have the leading and empowerment of the Spirit guiding us and equipping us to have the vision to dream of new possibilities and to attempt things we may never have done before.
This is true for you as an individual and for us as a community of faith.
In our time, being God’s Spirit led and empowered people means the church brings God to the world in all kinds of ministries that share God’s love in practical ways.
We have seen one example of this in the lives of Sharon and Andy Palmer. The Palmers opened their hearts and home and began serving as foster parents about five years ago. That experience began a journey that has changed their lives in ways they couldn’t have foreseen when they began. Just like Joel and Peter expressed, having the Spirit in their lives opened them to dreaming dreams and a vision of how the Lord could use them to make a difference in the lives of far more than the children they could have in their home. We’re delighted they can be here today to share what God has been doing through them as current example of what Joel was prophesying in their work with the Cape Cod Foster Closet.
Andy Palmer shared:
Over the past 5 years, my wife Sharon and I have been blessed to have had 27 foster children in our home for varying periods of time. Many of you have met, held and/or played with these precious children. Through this experience, we came appreciate that folks raising other people’s children including foster parents and relatives of these children – especially grandparents, often need goods and services that are not adequately provided by state and local agencies. To help with this problem, we started last February, in our garage and home, the Cape Cod Foster Closet to collect new and gently used items for these children including diapers, car seats, clothes, footwear etc. for summer and winter, for newborns to teenagers. Many of you have personally supported this ministry and all of you have supported us through the generosity of BBC. In 2021 approximately 150 children benefited from these generous donations.
In March, we moved the closet from our home to a store front location in Orleans near the Bowling Alley where these collected items could be sorted, stored and given away to the families by Sharon and trusty volunteers. As word spread about the mission of the “Closet”, we quickly outgrew our rented space necessitating renting satellite storage units. By late summer, these storage units were also filled. We prayed to find additional space near our store front location.
This past fall, we were blessed to meet the owner of space adjacent to the “Closet” that just happened to have been vacant and unused for the past 10 years. She liked the vision of the Closet and agreed to let us renovate the space and lease it for a number of years at a very reasonable rate. I expected to renovate the space with the help of friends over most of 2022. Then along came Tim Kautz – the contractor, Bill Harwood – the organizer and their band of 20 plus BBC workers seen pictured in the slide show you have been watching. Most of the materials used have been donated or paid for by the support we have received from BBC i.e. all of you. As work progressed, I realized that although I knew most of these individuals from interactions at the church, I hadn’t always appreciated their gifts. They are talented, gracious and fun-loving individuals. Renovation of the Foster Closet Annex has been a blessing for Sharon and me as welI as, I dare say, all the workers. Thank you.
Many of you ask us: What can I do to help the Closet? The answer, help us get the word out that the Closet is fully stocked and eager to serve foster and caregiving families. Presently, we are not accepting donations except for selected items that families have expressed a need for. These needs are posted from time to time on our web site. You can learn more about this by picking up a brochure from Sharon in the Narthex after the service.
In closing, we thank each of you individually and as part of BBC for your love, interest and support of this ministry and the children it serves.
Thank you.
Andy Palmer – Cape Cod Foster Closet
What might the Lord be wanting to do in and through you? If you pray and open yourself to the Holy Spirit, there is no telling what dreams or visions the Lord may give you for how God wants to work in and through you to be the heart and hands and feet of Christ in your relationships, in your community, and in the world today.
Questions for Discussion or Reflection
- Throughout the Bible, we see God’s people having to adapt to new circumstances and situations. What new circumstances are you needing to adapt and adjust to and how is your faith helping you do that?
- At this point in your life, is there something you’re dreaming or hoping of doing? If so, can you name it? What steps are you taking to pursue it? Where do you need faith in moving forward?
- If you can’t identify a dream or vision, can you begin to pray to ask God’s Spirit to reveal to you what God might have you do? What might happen if you prayed for a month in this way?
- God says through Joel that the Spirit will be poured out upon “all flesh.” Why is it significant that God’s Spirit will be poured out not just on leaders, prophets, or prophets, but on all people regardless of gender, class, or other distinctions?
- Peter says in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2 that the giving of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. Read Acts 2:1-47. What happens when the Spirit comes? How do people respond? What happens in a community led and filled by the Spirit (see verses 38-47 especially)?
- In the New Testament, we often see the Holy Spirit leading the way in breaking down barriers that human beings construct to distinguish or separate themselves from other people (see the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10, and Paul’s statement in Galatians in 3:28). What can you do (through habits, disciplines, or practices) to open your heart and spirit to being led more by the Holy Spirit in your daily life?