The Spirit of God in Creation, Salvation, and Community: Three Beginnings

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The Spirit of God in Creation, Salvation, and
Community Three Beginnings

• Pastor John Hatcher
• July 3rd, 2005

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Creation

• The Holy Spirit occupies a prominent place in
  scripture
• His living presence is at work among us
• Three texts speak significantly of the Holy
  Spirits influence in our world, and all three
  mark beginnings

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Creation

• Ex nihilo (out of nothing)
• Created by divine fiat
• And God said

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Creation Genesis 11-3

• In the beginning God created the heavens and the
  earth. Now the earth was formless and empty,
  darkness was over the surface of the deep, and
  the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
  And God said, "Let there be light," and there was
  light. God saw that the light was good, and He
  separated the light from the darkness. God called
  the light day, and the darkness he called
  "night." And there was evening, and there was
  morningthe first day.

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Creation Isaiah

• In Isaiah, Create or Creator is mentioned 17
  times
• Speaking life into things
• We think only of Genesis, when in reality, the
  Creation is really still continuing on in our
  lives today Its not what he did, but what he
  does

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Salvation

• God begins again
• The Holy Spirit hovers (descends)
• Like Genesis, God speaks
• Death and sin had become major factors
  Anti-creation

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Salvation

• Death
• Sin
• Rebellion
• Iniquity
• Lawlessness

• Love
• Hope
• Obedience
• Faith
• Grace
• Salvation

Jesus is the only antidote to a sin-damaged,
decimated world.
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Salvation Mark 19-11

• At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee
  and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus
  was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven
  being torn open and the Spirit descending on him
  like a dove. And a voice came from heaven "You
  are my Son, whom I love with you I am well
  pleased."

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Community

• Exact opposite of the Tower of Babel
• 120 of Jesus followers waited (tarried) ten days
• Continued on in a God-breathed way of life

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Community Acts 21-6

• When the day of Pentecost came, they were all
  together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the
  blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and
  filled the whole house where they were sitting.
  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that
  separated and came to rest on each of them. All
  of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and
  began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit
  enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem
  God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
  When they heard this sound, a crowd came together
  in bewilderment, because each one heard them
  speaking in his own language.

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Tongues of Flame/Fire

• Fire representative of the altar fire, which is
  associated with the presence of God
• Abraham at Mt. Moriah
• Aaron in the Tabernacle
• Elijah at Mt. Caramel
• This fire was different as it was distributed

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Tongues of Flame/Fire

• Each person received a tongue of fire, each
  became an altar
• Visibly on fire with the presence of God
• And the tongues of fire became tongues of speech
• 16 or 17 separate, acknowledged languages were
  spoken by redneck Galileans
• The effects of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11
  had been REVERSED