The Great Sending, Chapter 24

Reverand Dr. David Benke

In their song, “Holy Ghost Power,” The Grace Thrillers, a Caribbean Gospel group, sings about the Holy Ghost power moving like a magnet. It moves here, it moves there, just like it did on the day of Pentecost.

Frenzied movement like this is often viewed as a primary solution for day-to-day problems of life. The Internet provides instantaneous fixes: we can find maps, crossword puzzle clues, recipes, home repair instructions and advice about childcare. For those who grew up with memory verses and times tables, it can be disconcerting to watch young fingers skip over the phone screen and come up with answers literally in a heartbeat.

The heartbeat, of course, remains human. But the realm of the heart remains the domain of the Lord of Life. So, when Jesus speaks words of hope, help, and comfort to the disciples as He enters His week of suffering, death, resurrection, and eventual ascension, He speaks of the Divine Helper, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will “teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). The Helper does not need fact checking. The Comforter has nothing to do with fake news. In the words of our Lord, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13).

That is real help, isn’t it? In a world burdened with over- information and misinformation, truth matters. And the Holy Spirit brings only truth to the table. The truth he brings is everything that Jesus has said and done. Jesus’s primary commandment is to love – love one another as I have loved you (John 15). Jesus’ primary gift is life through the cross by which the world is drawn to Him and eternal life to those who believe (John 3).

The Holy Spirit enters human hearts by God’s grace alone, as a gift. And the Holy Spirit is designed by God for us to be of help in God’s mission task. What is that mission task? To communicate the power of divine love to the world.

Many feel ill-equipped to bring that message into their surroundings or find it hard in these days to deliver a Comfort- filled message when anxiety and discomfort seem to rule. But Jesus offers the divine solution for precisely that reason! The words, the witness, the message, and its power are the Holy Spirit’s gift in you. John wrote, “When the Helper comes, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:26-27).

As a result, we as Christ followers have a global reach. The witnesses come from all over the world and go out into all the world, including your personal here-and-now. Indeed, the Holy Ghost power moves here and there, on your lips and mine, in witness through deed as well as word. True Help, True Hope, True Comfort!

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