Monday Morning Sermon Quarterback: Joel Thomas @ North Point Community Church. Series: Invisible God. Part 1: Present, Not Accounted For
First of all, as a former member of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, it was very surprising to see my mega church doing a series on the Holy Spirit.
Discussions of the Holy Spirit are few and far between. There is a huge emphasis on the work of Jesus and the role of the Father in our lives. But there is not much discussion of the Holy Spirit and His position in the Trinity or how He is a vital part of our faith journeys.
Joel Thomas addressed the tendency for some branches of the church to over-emphasize the role of the Spirit and for some to nearly disregard, almost replacing the Holy Spirit with the text of the Bible.
Both can lead down paths that aren’t helpful as we engage this world and grow in faith.
In the Beginning…
Thomas started there. Genesis 1:1. The first mention of the Spirit in Scripture. The Hebrew word ‘Ruach’. Breath. Spirit. Conscious. Mind. (I was getting a little nervous, but these are just ways in which that particular word is translated across the Hebrew Bible).
The main nugget I pulled from the discussion of how the earth was formless, void, wilderness through to creation was this: The Holy Spirit hovered and through God’s creative act, brought order out of the chaos.
Creation was all about order erupting out of chaos.
Left to its own devices, created stuff and created beings can tend toward disorder and chaos.
When You Run Things, Chaos Often Ensues…
His point was that when we leave ourselves to follow our own whims and desires, that chaos tends to rule the day.
But when we align ourselves through walking with the Holy Spirit, our lives become ordered and focused.
Some of us love the chaos, I know.
But live in chaos at all times, and reap the ‘benefits’ of it.
Allowing God to bring order through the work of the Holy Spirit allows us to walk through chaos in a way that brings order.
Powerful idea. One that I’ve not considered. It’s something I’m going to have to noodle on a little bit to see where it takes me.
I recommend checking out the sermon. He spent a lot of time in the astrophysics and quantum physics world. It was a fascinating approach that handled the idea of a Big Bang (or not) and the scientific support for a Creative Being managing creation.
