Emblems of the Holy Spirit

Now, the bulletin gives away the title of the sermon. You may be surprised that it says, Emblems of the Holy Spirit Part 2. How many of you even remember Part 1? Are you sure? I have the notes. It was given six years ago. Sometimes I intend to get back to topics, and it takes me a while. But this latest Good News magazine, I was trying to get through half of it right off, and then I'm trying to get to the other articles. And here is an article by Victor Kubik on how can God's Spirit transform us. And he goes to some of these biblical symbols, emblems, that are used, physical emblems, to help us understand, comprehend what Spirit is. Because it was mentioned in the sermonette, Romans 1, verse 20, the invisible things in the world around us, the spiritual things of God are understood by the physical things that we have in the world around us. So we come to the anniversary, we come to the weekend, we come to the festival, actually, tonight, when we celebrate the giving of God's Spirit in a new way. We go back, we look to the Old Testament, and you have quite a number who were led by God's Spirit. We would certainly think that Joseph was led by God's Spirit. We have it mentioning Bezalil, some of the craftsmen actually working on the various kutrimans that went into the tabernacle worship service. They were led by God's Spirit in actually crafting and forming those items out of gold and other materials. We have, certainly, we would look at Moses, Aaron, and sometimes we have some we clearly know were led up, or more than led up, they were imbued with God's Spirit because David in his Psalm of repentance cried to God, don't take your Holy Spirit from me. So I want to continue this sermon because on that day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter referred back to Joel's prophecy that this is a beginning of the fulfillment of that time when God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. And again, you and I have by nature a problem in understanding Spirit because we can't see it, we can't hear it, we can't smell it, taste it, feel it. But God gives a number of emblems that help us put it into terms of everyday life to hopefully open our mind to understand how it works in our life. We can see what it does over time, slowly but surely, as we allow God to lead us through that Spirit. Some of the material I will share, I will refer to once again this book. I won't be reading from it, but just show it to you, The Emblems of the Holy Spirit by F. E. Marsh. Not a perfect book, but a lot of good material. Like any work you have to, you have to filter through some of it. But a lot of good ideas come from that. So, in Part 1, which one of us remembers, we looked at some of the more common emblems, and these are the ones Mr. Kubik refers to in his article. Wind. We think of wind because Acts 2, the sound as of a great mighty rushing wind, and weeks earlier Jesus had actually blown on them. When he spoke with Nicodemus, you know, the Spirit goes wherever it wills. It's like the wind. And so that's one of the great emblems that we find. We have fire, and he refers to that in this article. Fire is something we're very familiar with. It may be a campfire. It may be a Coleman lantern burning. It may be a propane or natural gas burner that is lit. We realize fire may burn up and consume. It may soften, make something pliable, workable. It may harden the tempering of steel.

It may give light. So he refers to that in this article, and we're pretty familiar with the topic of fire. And God used that different times back in Old Testament days. Moses was, well, God got his attention by this bush that was burning up but not being consumed. And then for 40 years he led them with this pillar of fire by night. We also have clothing. That was one that I mentioned. I don't think Mr. Kubik refers to that, but clothing. There are places in the book of Judges where Gideon and Samson, there were times when the Spirit of God, it would say it would clothe them and come up on them. And in Samson's case, he'd have this superhuman strength where he could just kill a lion with his bare hands. And Gideon was clothed with God's Spirit. So clothing protects us, adorns us, hopefully makes us more... just enhances our appearance in the Spirit of God works that way as well. Clothing is probably a large budget item. And so the Spirit of God is very expensive. It costs the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And it is something that protects us and that changes us over time into a more godly focused individual. Okay, wind I referred to. Let's see. We also, once upon a time, looked at water. And water. So those are the four that we covered once upon a time. Fire, clothing, wind, and water.

Water. Jesus more than once referred to how he would send the rivers of living water. And so oftentimes God's Spirit is likened to water. Of course, water is essential for life.

Water brings about growth. We've had a lot of rain. At least I suppose you've had a lot of rain up here as well. We've had a lot this week. And the gardens are looking great, but later on they'll start suffering. And they'll start showing the effects of not as much water. At least usually that happens. But water has to flow or it stagnates. And there's a beautiful analogy I've heard many times, drawing a contrast between over in the Holy Land the waters of the Sea of Galilee, where you have these headwaters that come flowing in. And out the southern end, the Jordan River flows out. And wherever that water goes down the Jordan Valley, you've got beautiful crops and a lot of production, fruit, grain. But then it flows into the Dead Sea. And nothing flows out of the Dead Sea. And that's where it stagnates. That's where it truly is, as it was anciently called, the Salt Sea. And the Spirit of God has to flow through us too. If it just comes to us and it goes nowhere, then it is of very limited value. It is intended to flow and to take life and blessing and health wherever it goes. Okay, so then let's go on to the fifth one, and that is oil. Oil.

Let's go to 1 John 2, where it talks about the anointing. Now, actually, in Marsh's book, he takes well, like in water, he takes it as water, but then he looks at it as rivers. He looks at it as dew. The same is true with oil. He looks at the olive oil, but then he also looks at the anointing. And then he looks at the holy anointing oil that God had Moses actually put together with different ingredients. So, 1 John 2, verse 20. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. Now, verse 27, but the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it taught you, you will abide in him. So, these speak of an anointing. Let's go back to Exodus 30. Exodus 30. This is the chapter where God instructed Moses in how to put together this holy anointing oil. Exodus 30, verse 22. Moreover, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take also for yourself quality spices, 500 shackles of liquid myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon, 250 shackles, 250 shackles of sweet-smelling cane, 500 shackles of cassia, according to the shackle of the sanctuary, and a hen of olive oil, and you shall make from these a holy anointing oil. For ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer, it shall be the holy anointing oil. And then he goes on, you anoint the tabernacle meeting, you anoint the arc of the testimony, the table, all of its utensils, lampstand, and it goes on and lists an altar-burnt offering. Everything was to be set aside with this holy anointing oil, a mixture of a number of items, as we saw. Verse 30, you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them that they may minister to me as priests. Okay, I think that's as far as we need to read there. But the base of it was the olive oil. And olive oil, as it explains from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, olive oil was obtained from the earliest times by pressing the fruit, the olive, in such a way as to filter out the oil and other liquids from the residue. It mentions that the greatest amount of oil comes from those olives that are allowed to fully ripen. And some oil comes from green fruit, but as the olive ripens, it turns black, begins to fall from trees, main crop is gathered with the first rains in November. And so anyhow, it goes on there. But actually it hearkens back to the bruising, the crushing, the pouring out of Jesus Christ. There's a symbolism there, because, you know, the Holy Days are all, they're all hands together. And we can't have Pentecost unless we first had Passover. And Christ was set aside, bruised, suffered, gave his life so that we can follow in these steps and live the unleavened life. And then later, as God's plan unfolded a little further, he began pouring out his Spirit upon a group of people. Now, the oil, notice a few characteristics about what it how it's used. First of all, it sets apart. It sets something apart. It sanctifies. Let's look at Leviticus 8.

Leviticus 8, here with Aaron and his sons, specifically.

Leviticus 8, verse 10. Also Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle, and all that was in it, and consecrated them. He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, anointed the altar and all its utensils, labor in its base to consecrate them. And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him.

Toward the end of the chapter, verse 30. Then Moses took some of the anointing oil on some of the blood which is on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons, on the garments of his sons with him. And he consecrated Aaron, his garments, his sons, and the garments of his sons with him. So it sets apart. And there are plenty of times in the Old Testament where one of the prophets would be sent to anoint, to ordain someone to come into a kingly office.

Remember how Samuel went to the household of Jesse, went through the various sons and then got impressed upon him when David came from out keeping the flock. You had Elisha, Elijah.

Those men were used. I forget which one thought his work was over, but God said, no, I've still got something for you to do. I want you to go and anoint J. Hugh and anoint someone else to become. So they were used. Oil was used in setting someone apart for the service of God. And the Spirit of God does that within our lives today. Oil is also used to facilitate healing. Now, if you, as you may remember from the story of the, we call it the parable of the good Samaritan, when the man finally came along who actually stopped to help this person who had been injured so terribly, notice just Luke 10 verse 34.

Luke 10 verse 34. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Now, that's as far as we need to read there. But he treated the wound with oil and wine. The wine would have a certain disinfectant quality to it. The oil would keep it pliable. A lot of times if you have a cut and you, you know, it's to the point where you need to cover it up, you might put some kind of antibiotic ointment.

You might put, well, I know people who put honey on it, apparently does a wonderful dub, or olive oil and then a bandage to keep the dirt out of it. But something to lubricate. And so it was used here to facilitate the healing. And the Spirit of God works that way in our lives and among us as the people of God. Because it seems there is by nature this friction. There is this braciveness of human nature where we rub shoulders with the lives of other people and there's this irritation sometimes that can be there.

But the Spirit of God works to smooth over these irritations. And when we have friction, we probably can trace it to the fact that the Spirit of God isn't flowing the way it ought to in our lives. We aren't acting like Christ the way that we should. So healing. Oil is also in one place referred to as being beneficial to give eyesight. And that would be third. So it has to do with setting apart healing. Number two, number three, eyesight or vision. And I'll just refer to the letters of Christ to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3.

And the last one was to Laodicea. And they were blinded. And he says, I would counsel you to anoint your eyes with this salve. And Laodicea was known for producing this oil-based salve that was instrumental in helping someone be able to see. And then obviously, speaking of oil, we can't help but think of the power to do the work. And we think of what Zachariah wrote, Zachariah 4 verse 6.

That it's not by might or power any human strength, but it's by my spirit, God says, that we're able to get up and go and do the work of God. And you know, we've got a number of places we could turn to there, not just Zachariah 4 verse 6, but then we have the parable of the ten virgins, you know, in the spirit of God.

And they all slept, but five had the wherewithal to recover, and five didn't. But the oil, again, repeatedly represented representing the spirit of God leading, working in our lives, and in this case, allowing us to do the work that God has for us. All right, let's go on to number six. Excuse me. Number six is the earnest, earnest, E-A-R-N-E-S-T.

And this is not really something we so commonly run into today, and yet we do, probably more than we realize. But, anciently, just think of, in fact, let's go back to Genesis 24. Genesis 24, and this is where Abraham sends his servant back to Haran, back to their own people, to find a wife for his son Isaac. And you remember the story, or you can reread the story of how the man traveled and all the particulars, but just notice Genesis 24, verse 53.

Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.

But, you see, this is an earnest. This is, maybe it would be better to call it a pledge.

You know, if you go and you're looking at a, you're going to trade vehicles, you're going to make a deal on a new vehicle, different vehicle, and you've got to go back home and, you know, get your financing together or go get your money out of savings or whatever. But you may write them this check. Maybe that check's a couple hundred dollars. But that is your pledge, that I'm going to come back and finish the deal. So the earnest is like that. The servant of Abraham gave Rebekah these things as her assurance of her pledge. It was the earnest money. It was, I suppose we could say, it was a down payment of the full covenant that would be entered into whenever she actually came and there was a marriage. Now, we have another type of an earnest would be when the twelve spies were chosen and they went over into the land of Canaan. And remember how they went and they traveled around and it talked about some of the figs and the grapes and the pomegranates that they actually brought some of it back to Moses.

And the people were able to see the fruit. And that's where you had Caleb and Joshua saying, it truly is a land of the boiling of milk and honey. It's ours. It's there. God's giving it to us. Let's go. But then you have the other ten. And you know the rest of that story. But they brought back a little actual earnest, a pledge of all that God was holding out to them if they just would have gone through. But of course, they got derailed for 40 years. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 1 because the Holy Spirit is referred to more than once as being an earnest. 2 Corinthians 1.

Could I get someone to bring me about a half cup of coffee? I have some kind of a phlegm that needs to be cut. Good and black? Oh, that's the only way to drink coffee.

It's not really that I'm about to fall asleep in, you know, just the little ways into the sermon.

I'm going to need this voice tomorrow, too.

The earnest. All right. Chapter 1. So 2 Corinthians chapter 1 toward the end.

Verse 21 and verse 22.

Thank you, sir. It's just water. It'll do.

Cool water. That will do. Thank you. Verse 21. Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God. So there's that emblem of the oil there. But then he goes on with another one. Who also sealed us. Now we're going to come back to the thought of sealing. That's another emblem. We'll look at that next. Sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Now, I believe this is the New King James. The old King James refers to it as an earnest. So the Spirit of God is given to us as an earnest, as a pledge of the coming full payment of eternal life, of being born of spirit, of being a part of the very spiritual family of God for all eternity. The Holy Spirit is that little beginning payment that assures us that God, that we are secured until God finishes the deal and completes it. Now the earnest is given by the Father. It is made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is given to those whom God calls now, those whom God invites. It is an earnest of our inheritance. Let's see, there was another scripture. Let's look in 2 Corinthians 5.

And verse 5. Verse 5, Now he who prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. Now marginal note in the New King James that I have says a down payment, an earnest. And so this too speaks of the same. But it is an earnest of our inheritance. Let's look at Ephesians 1 verse 14.

Ephesians 1 verse 14. It is just above, speaking of how we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians verse 14, who is the guarantee, again, down payment, earnest, of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession through the praise of his glory. So a lot of the word pictures involved there. To redeem is to buy something back. There is a sealing, a tamper-proof label. God says this person is mine. There is an actual giving of a little bit about inheritance, like the spies brought back some of the fruit, the produce of the land that God was giving to them, until we are redeemed of the purchased possession of the praise of his glory.

The earnest payment is of our redemption, as we read here. Now, Philippians 1 verse 6, I think we should also tie in, because the Spirit of God is our assurance that God will finish what he has started. Philippians 1 verse 6, to me, one of the more comforting scriptures in the Bible. There are many, but this is one of them. Verse 6, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you, well, we're sitting here today, so God has begun something in our lives, or we wouldn't be here.

He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

And so that Spirit of God is our earnest, that God will continue, and he will complete it. It is a pledge of the covenant that God will fully and completely establish with us. We're brought into a relationship with God. We're under that new covenant now, but we look to the full realization of it later on. But the earnest is a little part of the thing that has been bought or promised. A person working for, say, in the old days, a cowboy who signed on $30 a month, he might have a chance to go to town. He wants to take a draw. It's not time to give him that $30 yet, but he may want a draw. When he's in town, he can go and imbibe of an adult beverage somewhere. So it is a part of the fullness that will come. All right, that's the earnest. Let's go now to the seal. Back up to Ephesians 1.

That latter phrase I referred to, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

And then Ephesians 4, verse 30. Two different places here. In this book, Paul refers to us as having been sealed by the Spirit of God. 4, verse 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Now, we have a number of examples where we can see this actually play out in forerunners back in the Old Testament. The book of Esther, you had a story, of course, as it made its way through. And there would be times when certain decrees were made and came from the King. And there was this seal that was affixed to it. Let's look at Jeremiah 32. We have a little insight here into one example where Jeremiah purchased this field from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 32.

Excuse me, I think I said that the other way around. Jeremiah buying the field from Hanamiel. Jeremiah 32, verse 7. God's telling Jeremiah, the old Hanamiel, son of Shalom, your uncle, will come to you saying, by my field, which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. It goes back to the keeping of an inheritance within a certain family line. Then Hanamiel, my uncle's son, came to me in the court of prison, according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours, buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. So I bought the field from Hanamiel, the son of my uncle, who was in Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money seventeen shekels of silver. And I signed the deed, and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. Then I took the purchased deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open. And I gave the purchased deed to Baruch, son of Nereiah, his scribe who assisted him, in the presence of Hanamiel, my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchased deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison. So it goes on talking about this transaction, but I think that's as far as we need to go. We have here a public attestation to a transaction, and we have an actual sealing, firming up of the contract of the purchase, the selling and purchase of a property, in this case. And the Spirit of God is like that. It's the mark, it is the seal, that God has entered a transaction with respect to our ultimate salvation. And it is given to us to signify that transaction, that right now hasn't been fully completed, but we are given this assurance. Now, in the book of Esther, in fact, let me see if I can find that real fast here. Esther, I believe it's chapter 8.

Esther 8. And this is well into the story, and you've got Haman and the king, and you've got Esther and the plot to destroy all the Jews. But just notice here, Esther 8, verse 8, You yourselves write at Echreek concerning the Jews, as you please in the king's name, and seal it with the king's signet ring, for whatever is written in the king's name, and seal with the king's signet ring, no one can revoke. Now, that shows, gives a little insight into how it was done then. Whether it may have been done a number of places, a number of ways, but probably the melting of wax onto it, and then this signet ring, there's an imprint where it is put into it until it cools, but that imprint remains there. Now, we see it in society around us. You may have a truck line that loads of valuable shipments, and the doors on that truck trailer are closed, and then you have this seal that is put there, and they may drive 1500 miles, and when it gets to where it is its destination, that seal can be clipped off, but that assures that what we put on that truck gets there, and the seal secures it. Now, let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and the last two verses, verses 19 and 20. Because in the sense that we read in Ephesians where the Spirit of God is like a seal that God gives to us. Verse 19, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price, therefore glorified God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You see, we made a covenant with God. We gave our lives to God. We were baptized, which symbolizes a death and a burial and a resurrection. But it's a new life, buried in Christ, but we walk in newness of life, as Paul wrote in Romans 6. And there is this seal, the Spirit of God is this seal that God gives to us. Now, think back to the old days, the days of the Old West. In fact, actually, I remember when branding took place, but it's not done so much anymore. Today, they'll have the tag, and it's in the cow's ear. Oh, thank you.

Tastes like mine. Oh, just, I'm sorry, I had, this morning, some kind of crud flowing there in my voice box.

Where was I? Branding. Yes, thank you. See, I don't know if you were paying attention, but we lived seven years out in West Texas at Lubbock and up above us in the Texas Panhandle.

You had the old XIT Ranch, and that was their brand, X-I-T. And that was their brand, and the size of that, I mean, around Dalhart, those areas, the size of that ranch, it was larger than New England states in some cases. One ranch. And then down in South Texas, you've got the King Ranch, around where we were, from Lubbock. There's one way, one direction I could go and get over and off the cap rock in the broken area, and you had the four sixes, and you had the spur.

And it was like this U at the little bar, and then the little, looks like an asterisk, but the rattle from a spur, and that was their brand. And when they'd work the calves, whenever they'd round them up, and they would, generally as they had the calf down, they'd have these heated branding irons, red hot, and come and hit them on the rump for just a few seconds. And that brand implied ownership. And of course, then you had, who was it, old Samuel Maverick?

He is the one that came along and said, well, my cattle are the ones that don't have any brand on it. And that's where this term, the Mavericks, came along. Which is a pretty good deal for Samuel Maverick. But you had this brand. Now, generally, it couldn't be tampered with, but it could.

Some of the rustlers, they take the D-ring off of the saddle, heat them, use pliers, and they could rework certain brands into something else. You know, an H and change it into a B. Something like that.

But anyhow, you had the running W of the Wagner Ranch. And so, but you know, that denoted ownership. But God has given us a seal. We were bought and paid for. Bought with a price. And God has placed His identifying sign upon us. And it says to the enemy, hands off, these are my people.

And God reminds us, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. But we do have to stay close to God. And that seal, you know, kind of like the king's signet ring back in Esther, that ring in print was in the wax on that document, scroll, letter, whatever. And it is the identifying mark. It identified with the king. And the Spirit of God comes, of course, from God. It is a bit of God's nature. It is a bit of Christ's mind. And we are to reflect that in our lives. We are to live by the fruits of that Spirit. And again, when the Spirit of God is there, it says, hands off, they're mine. Don't tamper with them. Number eight. This is the last one. Number eight is the dove. The dove. A sermon took us right there at the beginning of Genesis 1. And then it has that. You look at the Hebrew there where the Spirit of God was hovering all over the face of the waters. And it is, the word picture is as a hen, a dove, some type of a female, of the fowl, hovering over its eggs, over its little ones. And so in one sense, from the very beginning, the Spirit of God is likened to that. But as we well know, let's go to Matthew chapter 3. We very clearly have that with the baptism of Jesus Christ. And in a very dramatic manner, God likened the Spirit of God descending, coming upon Christ as being like, viewed as being like a dove. Matthew 3 verse 16. When he had been baptized, Jesus came immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. But the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting upon him.

We can look at the characteristics of a dove, and I think we can get some insight into the very nature and the working of the Spirit of God. A dove is a clean bird. I think we would notice that first off. It was as a clean bird, it could be used in the sacrifices. But it is a clean bird. It is, I think, emblematic of the fact that the Spirit of God comes upon us and cleanses us, so to speak, for the service of God. For God to work through us sets us aside to bear the fruits of the Spirit of God in our life. A dove is a symbol of being gentle, being gentle by nature. And certainly the Holy Spirit, we have a listing of different gifts of, fruits of, rather, the Holy Spirit. And one of those is, in more modern translation, gentleness. Jesus walked the earth. He was gentle in his dealings with people. The Spirit of God within us hopefully brings about a gentleness that some of us need. I don't know. We men. We turn into grumpy old men. And I think as we get older, I mean, there are things that take place hormonally, but we just become crabby and grumpy. And I asked Mr. Cordle, you at camp, I said, please don't don't let me be counselor coordinator again. I'm just grumpy. And I'm tired. And if anybody gives me a lip, I want to say, go home. And they deserve better than that. So anyhow, I have a good bride who's helping me to realize whenever I come out as a grumpy old man. I love those movies. Oh, grumpy and grumpier old men.

Matthew 10. Matthew 10. Jesus sent out disciples. And he warned them, you're going to go out into a hard world. But in dealing with it, be mindful of how you come across. Matthew 10 verse 16. Therefore, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents. And we have to always remember that.

We have to keep the mind engaged. But then he says, be harmless as doves.

Has anyone ever been attacked by a dove? I don't think so. And I've known a lot of them. Hundreds. Maybe a couple of thousand of them.

I was looking at them down the barrel of a shotgun. But anyhow, good eating. We'll get back to that later. Verse 19. When they deliver you up, don't worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given you in that hour when you should speak. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Well, when Jesus got down to the very end, when he was going through the so-called trial, he was examined, beaten. He was spit upon. He had this crown of thorns. But as Peter refers to it in his first epistle, he said when he was reviled, he didn't revile back. He was gentle. And the Spirit of God can provide the same within us.

A dove is very careful in its diet. A dove, anytime you take the dove's craw or crop right there at the base of the throat above the breast, it will be filled with grain or seed. It's very careful in what it eats. Generally, at least my experience has been shooting them around wheat or milo maize fields, and their crop is full of those grains. There will be other grass seeds as well, but they are extremely careful. Remember when the ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat, and the time came the window was opened?

Well, what kind of birds were sent out? The dove was one, yes, but what else was sent out?

The raven. The raven didn't come back. The raven, thank you, appreciate that. The raven will live, and I'm sure could have lived quite well at that time, on carrion. Dead carcasses everywhere, but the dove came back, and it came back. And then it came back as a sign, with a little green life in its beak. But they're very careful in their diet, and the Spirit of God I think should lead us the same way, that we be very careful. You know, the old saying, garbage in equals garbage out. Or as Proverbs 23 verse 7 says it, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. We become what we eat. And I mean that physically, and I mean what we take in as far as into our mind. So as a dove is very careful, we need to be very careful about some of the attitudes, the ideas, and influences that are out there that are inconsistent, should be inconsistent, with the Spirit-led mind. A dove is swift. They are among the fastest of birds.

The breast muscles, if you dove hunt, the only thing any dove hunter I've ever known keeps is the breast. Because the legs, they're just not any meat on them. But you've got the breast, dark meat, and you can easily... well, I shouldn't be too graphic anyhow.

But they have those huge breast muscles, and it provides strength in flight. They can sustain flight for hours. Hopefully the Spirit of God will work the same within us to bring about a certain endurance. On that day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came right on time, and it came quickly, rapidly, like the sound of a great rushing wind. And they saw, as it were, these cloven tongues of fire lighting upon each person. And the Spirit of God works within us to impress upon us what is right and what should be done. Okay, dove is also a beautiful bird. Beautiful bird. They're generally white and silver and gray. Sometimes you'll have some other coloration there as well. But they really are beautiful. I thoroughly enjoy them. I was watching some yesterday, a pair of them there. Right now they're pairing off for nesting. Normally they are social, and in the fall, if you're sitting out by the field hunting, they may just come in literally by the droves, just by the hundreds, it seems. But they are beautiful. They are beautiful, and the Spirit of God, as it works in us, the more it works and the more it smooths over some of the imperfections, there should be a beauty of character that comes. Moses spent weeks up on Sinai with God, and when he came down, the Israelites were actually kind of stunned because there was this glow emanating from him. But over the years, there should be this beautiful manifestation of the Spirit of God working within us, changing us into different people. I mentioned a dove of social. They group together, again, except in nesting. And hopefully God's Spirit leads us to do the same, to prefer one another. Think of some of the phrases Paul used when he wrote to the churches in honor preferring one another. When one suffers, we all suffer. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. But the idea of the thought is that we're doing it together, and that we should want to be together with each other. That love that is poured out by the Spirit of God leads us to want to share, give, and serve one another. Love is to God, but love is also to follow man. And it understands that we want to be in the presence of others. Dove, one more thought on a dove. Dove is migratory. Dove, there are migratory patterns. And it removes, travels, goes where instinct sends it. Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. You know, a lot of us, growing up on this little wheat farm in north central Oklahoma, growing up there, I could not envision ever going and living anywhere else but there.

Well, I don't know how many addresses ago that was, but God had some other things in mind. And until just recently, you know, I'd sit down and ponder, you know, one of these years when I'm 93 and I'm able to retire, where would I want to go? I used to always say, I want to go back to the farm in Oklahoma. But, you know, we've lived a lot of places and now what's more important is where we have kids and grandkids and that's where I want to go. I mean, that's assuming I can never retire. But anyhow, I was going somewhere with that thought. It was very profound.

Well, anyhow, the calling of God has a way of changing those things for us.

We never know what the calling of God is going to take us. I mean, God goes to Abraham and He says, all right, get up, get out of here, go where I'm going to tell you to go. And the rest is history. And even then down the land of Canaan, He was kind of a pilgrim, moved around different places.

Acts chapter 1, Acts chapter 1, verse 8, verse 8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You know, He's telling these disciples, a lot of them are Galilean fishermen, you're going to start here, you're going to cover Judea, and you're going to go down there toward the novice down there of Samaria, and you're going to end up at the end of the earth. Can you imagine what those Galilean fishermen were like? I mean, we read Peter's Epistles, and there he's writing to Samaria there in modern Turkey. You've got Paul, and of course, he was from the southern part of Turkey, Tarsus, Cilicia, and he was down in Jerusalem, but look at where all he went. Possibly between his two imprisonments, even all the way to Britain.

These men traveled far and wide. Thomas, you've got areas in today's India where they say Thomas, the apostle, was there. So they went all over the world, and so are we. We go where the Spirit of God sends us, and go and have an impact. Let's turn to 1 Samuel chapter 10, and we'll wrap it up back over here. We celebrate this weekend the gift of the Spirit of God. Once upon a time, Israel told God, we want to be like the world, we want a king. They were not at liberty to choose their own, but God selected one for them, since that's what they insisted on having. It's interesting here in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1, then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head. Now, just above it, speaking of Saul, Samuel said, Is it not because the Lord has anointed you, commander, over his inheritance?

Well, let's drop on down.

Verse 5, After that, you shall come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is, and it will happen. When you come there to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine flute, harp before them, and they will be prophesying. Verse 6, Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

Well, we can question that with the rest of life of Saul, but we can take that and apply it to our own life. The Spirit of God came upon us. We can't see it, smell it, taste it, touch it, etc. But we can see what it does over time. The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. And when we look at the biblical emblems for the Holy Spirit, we see that the Spirit of God can work in our life like fire, soften some of the hard edges, maybe. It can work in our life like clothing to protect us, work in our life like wind. What a wonderful, soothing breeze sometimes that comes on a cold or on a very hot and muggy day. It comes like water, bringing life, taking life wherever it goes, and oil and earnest and seal and dove. So we come tonight and tomorrow to the anniversary of the giving of the Spirit of God. Let us appreciate that and cherish that. And we look forward to seeing many of you or some of you down at Lake Gunnersville. The rest of you have a wonderful Pentecost. And see you then next Sabbath.