Sermon at Pentecostal

 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

In John  Jesus speaks about sending The holy Spirit to his disciples. I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— He calls Him a Helper, or Comforter. That means that the work of the Spirit is to comfort people in their troubles and needs. 

On this feast of Pentecostal the question that asks for an answer is, what is your need?

When my wife asks me to go to the shop, my question is: what do you need? And the answer can be as easy as: Can you bring a package of coffee?  The question comes up again and again. Everybody knows about this question.

If somebody has a severe illness his answer will be: that I may become healthy again.

If somebody has no work, or no house. He can tell what he needs. But sometimes things happen so life-shuddering that it makes your whole world coming upside down. We are together in this service as people from Holland and from Ukraine. Your arrival in our midst made us clear again that peace is not something self-evident, we can’t take peace for granted. It is a grace if we can live in peace. Your fears were maybe there already since 2014. We heard about it, but we took peace for granted. This cannot happen to us. But now we know, although …..

But what is our answer to the question, what do you need? Well, Peace of course! Peace. Stop the bombing. Let the war come to an end and let people live in peace again. 

So if we pray for peace to God and ask Him to send us comfort, help, and the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. Our answer would be: He has to start with a big operation, and He should interfere in the war. Let us have more weapons and more possibilities to overrule our opponents. And OH yes, that is our prayer that the war comes to a halt. OH YES! We can’t believe this is what is good for people. Not for Ukrainians and not for the Dutch people. And it is also no good for Russians. The Bible is overly clear about this. Blood shedding is a crime. And a sin for God.

But… would that mean peace has come? The worldly people think peace is something between people. Something that comes when weapons are laid down and people live together in peace.

We know better. Peace is there where mankind bows for the Lord of Lords and the King of kings! Peace is there where people love God and live from His grace. Peace is that we are in total harmony with the Creator, our Father in heaven.

What is the reason of this all. That you can only understand when your are before God. If we are people standing in front of the Word of God. And then we are going to understand that every war in the world started in paradise. Where Adam violated Gods command. His command: Be my children! Walk with all your heart before me as my children. Listen to my Word. Do not trespass my command. And there it started. The war of all wars. The war against heaven, the war against God.

And as the Lord has said, then it was there. Sin gave birth to death. If you eat from that tree, if you are unfaithful to my Word: You will die. And the ordeal came on mankind. All men shall die and be lost for ever. He will be outside the communion with God, the Source, the Well of life.

A world without God is A world full of hate, a world full of opposition and revolution against God. A world full of war.

And so if weapons are laid down, and bombing stops. We know it will start again. Because the war is in our hearts and minds.

If you have been under the Word of God and learned to hear the voice of God, you know this is true. You have come to confess before God that he is  honest when He says to us you are a sinner. 

And what if we ask Him to comfort us. To help us? He sent us His beloved Son. And we killed Him on the cross of Calvary. But in His mystery way of doing, He made Him for us to His Lamb that carries away our sins, and died our death. He took our sins upon Himself so we could be children of God again.

And now if we ask Jesus, Lord Help us, Comfort us. His answer is: I sent you the Holy Spirit. He will comfort you. He will be there in your heart and in your mind. When He gives you the Word of God to believe in Him and to cling unto Him. 

Oh what an abundant Joy and Happiness. The war with God is over. Jesus made peace for us. He is our Peace! Tears are on our faces. Lord what love did you show us in giving your Son. And what regret and repentance is born in our hearts. It brings us to Jesus time after time. We need Him day after day. And He is always there. The Holy Spirit stays with us and He brings us Jesus, day after day.

And we read in this last chapter of the Bible what is coming to be heart from these people who love Jesus. People expecting their hope and prosperity from Him. They call for Him! The Spirit is making them call and say: Come, Lord Jesus Come. We cannot without your entrance in our lives and in our world.

And hear! His last words are: “Surely I am coming quickly.”

Oh that is our hope and future. Jesus is coming as He promised. And the book of revelations is full with what is happening when Jesus comes to this world. We experience it, day after day. The war against God and his Lamb goes on and on. We see it happening. We recognise it from the rebellious urges in our hearts. We understand what it is that happens in the world. It is war against God. And today We hear from Him, who gave his life to pay the price that brought the cease-fire between God and mankind. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

And now we wait for Him. We long for His coming. He who can only make an end to all the warfare from mankind to God, and all the warfare in this world between people born from Adam. 

And so we have solid ground to pray that He makes an end to the wars all over the world, and also in Ukraine, because it would be a sign that the end of all wars is coming. That Jesus is coming. 

So for us there is this question? What do you need for help. What do you need comforting with. 

And let we be clear. The war in the war, that is our distress. The opponent of God, who goes around in this world, seeking whoever he can slaughter and take with him in everlasting condemnation. That is where we need help from the Lord.

And when your answer on this question is: I need Jesus and his atoning blood, You will understand that this God is really comforting you. You will experience his consolation I all your heartaches, the pain and sorrow. And we will get hope, also for your country and your people. Because the Lord loves that people come to Him and give Him their hearts and lives.

And he Jesus our Lord is surely coming. And when He comes He brings all we need. He brings new heaven and earth. The city of God, Jerusalem coming from above.

Soon and very soon,

We are going to see the King,

No more crying there,

We are going to see the King,

No more dying there,

We are going to see the King,

Should there be any rivers we must cross,

Should there be any mountains we must climb,

God will supply all the strength that we need,

Give us grace 'til we reach the other side.

We have come from every nation,

God knows each of us by name.

Jesus took His blood and He washed our sins,

And He washed them all away.

Yes, there are some of us,

Who have laid down our lives,

But we all shall live again,

On the other side.