New Series begins this weekend

This weekend we are going to start a new series on the Holy Spirit.
I want to tell you a little story about it ...

Last week, we heard a great sermon from Russ Bennett (download it if you missed it). I was still struggling with what to preach from now until summer, and I thought I would take my week off from preaching to pray about it. By week's end I still hadn't gotten clarity, and I really sensed that the Lord was going to speak to me through Russ' message.

For those of you who weren't there, Russ took a moment at the beginning to thank me and gave me a package with some books in it. During his sermon, I felt the Lord speak to me about doing a series on the Holy Spirit. (or, should I say, the Holy Spirit told me, "you should do a sermon on me.) My next thought was that one of the authors I read and listen to, Francis Chan, had just released a book on the Holy Spirit called, "Forgotten God." I thought, "I need to get that book and read it this week."

When I got in the car after church, I opened the package of books from Russ and there on the top was ... you guessed it ... "Forgotten God."

Just made me smile.

THEN, I made the announcement last night after church about the sermon series. Two people in the congregation lit up (I literally noticed their expression). They told me afterward about their previous night's conversation on some questions about the Holy Spirit. One of them said, "you need to email Russ these questions."

They never emailed me. Apparently, the Holy Spirit beat them to it.

As if THAT weren't enough, I was meeting on Thursday morning with my good friend, Peter. I had my back turned to him when he walked in and said, "have you heard of this book?" Before I turned around, I thought, "there is no way ..."

Apparently, the Holy Spirit was wanting to make sure I got the message.

Anyone who knows me knows that I could care less about the latest fad book in Christian publishing, so this series is not about this book. I am, however, totally ripping off Francis' book title because of how it speaks to two different "camps" of people:
There are those who have stayed at arms-length regarding things of the Spirit out of fear, questions, or just lack of understanding. And He truly has been forgotten. Then, there are those of you (like me) who have come from a "charismatic" background and think you have this whole thing figured out, and yet there seems to be no real evidence of His power at work in your lives. For you too, He can be forgotten.

Regardless of which camp you belong to, or what your background is, I invite you to jump in for the next 7 weeks as we look at the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Come expectant!
--Pastor Russ