“If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” – this is a well-known proverb advising us to be careful of what we say. Words can give life to people through love and spreading the Gospel, but words also have the power to condemn and hurt others. In a society where technology provides a global platform to spread our words to an even wider audience, we need to be even more responsible of what we say than ever before.

Continuing on from last week’s sermon, we know wisdom is rooted in Jesus first and foremost. But even as devoted believers of Christ, we can still find ourselves feeling very lost and confused in the face of difficult decisions, having a tough time asking for help or guidance.

We’ll be journeying into a new book: Proverbs. This book can easily be seen as a great choice for a monthly devotional (31 chapters), or with some of the letters containing wisdom from Solomon to his son, David. King Solomon was one with whom the Lord was pleased with, when Solomon’s one and only request was to have wisdom to rule over the Lord’s people well. This book serves as a reminder to us that by the grace of the Lord, we also have instruction on how to live and mature wisely in our lives.

In today’s passage, we see Mary Magdalene at the entrance to Jesus’ tomb. She expects to find Jesus laid down, but instead it seems like Jesus’ body has been stolen! As she is weeping, she encounters Jesus. Though she wants to hold onto Him, we see Jesus’ response is for Mary to not ‘touch’ or to not ‘hold’ onto Him. 

Jesus reveals to Mary His identity and His plans for her and the rest of us through His reply. 

What do you do in troubling or difficult circumstances that are beyond your own control? Do you try to resolve the issue by your own will and strength?

During Pastor John’s days in Chicago, one of the senior pastors at his local church had an interesting ministry philosophy. 

For any child who walks through his office, they would be blessed with a small gift. Candy, chocolates, or toys – there was a gift for everyone.

Similarly, as believers in the family of Christ, we are blessed not only with the presence of the Holy Spirit, but also with spiritual gifts by the Spirit. A spiritual gift is an expression of the Holy Spirit that empowers a follower of Christ to strengthen the body of Christ. These gifts have been given to us not for ourselves – but for the blessing of edifying the church and the world around us. 

Although God emphasizes the need for gentleness in the kingdom of God, this trait seems to help us go nowhere in a dog-eat-dog world. In a metropolitan city like ours especially – if you’re going to excel in life, you need to be aggressive at times. 

Knowing God does and can produce fruit in our lives. “Fruit” is God’s spiritual reference to what our lives produce out of walking with Him.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to be bold witnesses of the gospel. Whatever your role, wherever you are, whether you are a college student or working, whether young or old, strong or weak – God intends to fill all of us with the Spirit so we may partner with Him in the Great Commission (Matt 28:16-20).

These two questions assume that God is always up to something, and God is always inviting us to partner with Him.

But how many of us actually wake up with this mindset, morning after morning? We may not choose to embrace each day with this missional mind because we think God only moves within the four walls of a church or a Christian institution or organization (temple spirituality).

The promise of Jesus is finally realized as the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. This moment is remarkable as like the Old Testament prophecies, the promises of the Holy Spirit to come (the newness of life, the indwelling power of the Spirit, the cleansing power and power to live differently as empowered witnesses) has become a reality, not only for the disciples but even for us today.

It’s easy for us as the church to gather week after week in our great huddles. To make the huddles as big as we possibly can, but never actually do something for the Kingdom of God. But Jesus is calling us to more than just gathering in huddles on Sunday. Jesus is calling us to be Spirit empowered witnesses. The Holy Spirit didn’t simply come for the enjoyment of the church, but for the empowerment of the church. 

We all know just how important water is in our lives. Water is essential to our health, essential to our everyday living, and essential to life in general. 

And Jesus uses this image of water to help us relate to and grasp the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 

It's easy to appear like a Christian on the outside, but until you get taken up by the wind of the Spirit, you're not really living the life that God has called you to live. Just like a kite needs to be flown in the wind to do what a kite is meant to do, we Christians need to be caught by the wind of the Spirit to do what we are meant to do as Christians. 

In today’s passage, Jesus focuses on the central work of the Holy Spirit: to point back to Him (John 16:13b-14). 

There can be many spiritual signs of the Holy Spirit's presence in someone's life; many different signs of the Holy Spirit's presence within a church. While the Spirit’s power may bring healing, miracles, and more – the greater sign, or the most certain sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence is the centrality of Jesus. 

There are not many things greater than the longing for presence. Presents can only satisfy to a certain extent, but without presence – something remains deeply missing. All the gifts and presents in the world cannot replace the presence that we are to be with one another.

The theme of the year 2020 was See God is doing a new thing.  We have witnessed God doing a new thing in and through our church and our families during this challenging year. 

The theme of 2021 is The Unstoppable Work of the Holy Spirit.  The work of the Holy Spirit is unstoppable in any circumstance.