Power of Pentecost
We’ve all anticipated events in our life. Graduation. Wedding. Birth of a child or grandchild. Attending a sporting event or concert. In the New Testament, the apostles also were anticipating a great event. Jesus told them in Mark 9:1, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” That day arrived on Pentecost in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles with great power and
Patience
Our God is a patient God. And because this virtue of patience is so deeply woven into the character of God, we, too, must weave it into our character. But that’s hard to do living in a society that doesn’t value patience. We live in a world that values speed — a world that conditions us to want things right now. Time is money, and we’re willing to pay a pretty steep price to avoid being patient: Amazon Prime, high-speed internet, fastest phone, etc. But patience is a virtue b
Self-Control
Let’s get this out of the way: practicing self-control is hard. Jesus says in Matt. 26:41 that the “spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Being a Christian doesn’t mean we’ll never have to deal with impulses, emotions or immediate reactions. But it does mean I can learn the right way to hold on to my integrity, even in the face of temptations, impulses and emotions. That means I must have control over my temper, my speech, my thoughts, what I put into my body, and
