the ministry. He had been asked by his pastor, Dr. I. B. Loud, to read the Scripture lesson one Sunday morning. Zan read the Scripture and then settled back to listen to the sermon.
But Dr. Loud did something most unusual that morning. He stepped into the pulpit and said how proud everybody was of Zan Holmes and his efforts to become a minister. And he announced that it would be a good idea if "Brother Zan came to the pulpit and delivered the sermon of the morning!" Young Zan Holmes said he nearly died right on the spot! He was terrified as he walked from his chair to the pulpit. He says there are still fingernail marks gouged into the wood of the pulpit where he clutched it for dear life, as he tried frantically to think of something— anything—to say.
Finally, he remembered a sermon that he had been working on for preaching class. His mind raced, and he began to preach that sermon. He says it was pretty good, all three-and-a-half minutes of it. But then he ran out of steam. He felt so alone, so empty, so vulnerable, so defeated as he stood before that anticipating congregation. It was an awful moment because he could not think of anything to say. And Zan Holmes began to cry.
Then he heard the voice of an older woman in the congregation, saying, "Help him, Lord Jesus." Then came the familiar voice of a man from the bass section of the choir. It boomed out, "Come, Holy Spirit." Zan Holmes said he then looked down on the front pew and saw two precious little girls who suddenly began to clap their hands in rhythm and sing the spiritual "Amen." Before long, the entire congregation was clapping and singing, and Zan Holmes said, "I just stood there and watched God work!" Zan learned a valuable lesson that morning: "It is the Holy Spirit who finishes the sermon!"
If we do the best we can, God will do the rest. That's what happened at Pentecost. Peter did his best and let God finish it. He did his best and then stood back and watched God work. God does not ask us to be successful; God only asks us to be faithful. If we give our all, if we do our best, if we genuinely try to do God's will, then God will bring it out right. The Spirit of God can take a weak voice and make it a trumpet. The Spirit can take a defeat and turn it into a victory.
The Holy Spirit can redeem situations! That's a very important thing to know. Now here is a second thought.
Second, the Holy Spirit Reminds Us of the Truth
That's what happened at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit blew on that place and brought God's truth. Throughout the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is the "Truth giver." The Holy Spirit comes to reveal God's truth.
Dr. Fred Craddock is one of the great teachers of preaching in our country. He tells a moving story about something that happened to him in the early days of his ministry. He was helping with vacation Bible school. He said, "It used to last for two weeks, but there were so many casualties among the teachers that we reduced it to one week!" Fred Craddock said that he had a group of juniors who were "driving him up the wall," especially after ten or eleven days with them, and especially one boy in the class. Dr. Craddock described that difficult boy like this:
There was this one boy in the class who . . . well, let me put it like this. . . . Have you ever had somebody in class that was so bad that you were glad when they were absent? . . . He was that type! . . . And quite honestly, I had written him off. He's not paying attention, I thought. He doesn't care. He doesn't want to be here. He is not interested in the lessons. He is only interested in seeing how crazy he can drive me and in disrupting the class. He is hopeless!
Dr. Craddock said he had gotten so worn out with it all that he was now simply trying to think of things for the students to do to keep them busy and out of his hair, and he thought of something. He decided to send them outside on a nature study, a study of creation. He gathered them at the door and said, "Now listen, when I ring the bell, I want you all to go outside and scatter and find one of God's miracles. And then when I ring it again, come back and show us what you have and tell what it teaches us about God." Dr. Craddock rang the bell, and they scattered. He said that his plan was "not to ring it again."
But he did. After a while, he rang the bell, and they came back with God's miracles. "Well, what do you have?" Dr. Craddock asked. One young boy had a rock. He said, "This rock reminds us that God is stout and God made the world." One girl had a flower. She said, "Only God could make a flower like this. It's so pretty!" Another girl had a leaf that had fallen off the tree and had turned brown. She said, "God made the seasons of the year, summer, fall, winter, spring." Another boy stepped forward with some huckleberries. He said, "God provides for us. He feeds the animals, and he feeds us."
"Well, that's great," said Dr. Craddock, and then he looked over and saw that especially disruptive boy, standing off to one side, with nothing in his hands. Instead, he was standing there holding the hand of his little sister, who had been down in the kindergarten class. Dr. Craddock was exasperated, and he thought, What is he doing? Why won't he cooperate? I guess they have to leave early. Why didn't somebody tell me?
Then this conversation took place.
"Leaving early?"
"No, sir."
"Well, did you bring anything?"
"Yes, sir."
"What did you bring?"
"My little sister!"
"Your little sister?"
"Yes, sir."
"Why did you do that?"
"'Cause she's God's miracle. I prayed for a little sister, and God gave me one. She's the best miracle I know of!"
Dr. Craddock stood there stunned because he knew the little boy was right! And he knew that God was there in that room, in that moment, closer than breathing. Craddock said, "I don't know whatever happened to that boy, but I hope he's still doing that. He was the only one in the class (including the teacher) who got the point." The Holy Spirit touched that little boy's heart when nobody was looking and gave him the truth—the truth that God's greatest miracles are people! "You want to see one of God's miracles? I'll go get my sister!"
This is one of the greatest truths of the Bible. We—you and I—are made in the image of God. Talk about a miracle! God made the squirrels, the elephants, the giraffes, and the duck-billed platypus. God made the trees, the flowers, and the skies. God made all of it and said, "That's good! Now, that's good!" And to cap it all off, God said, "Now, for the masterpiece: I am going to create something like myself!" And God made you! And it is a sin for us to say, "Well, I'm only human." If you want to see one of God's miracles, don't gather the pine cones, don't capture the squirrel, don't find a picture of a trout stream; just look at the person next to you. There is God's miracle! There is the crown of God's creation!
Sometimes when we least expect it, the Holy Spirit reveals the truth. That's what happened in that Vacation Bible School classroom that morning. There's another lesson here: Don't ever write anybody off. And whatever you do, don't write off the Holy Spirit. That's what Pentecost teaches us. The Holy Spirit redeems situations. The Holy Spirit reminds us of the truth.
Third and Finally, the Holy Spirit Restores Our Strength
Peter was down, defeated, and embarrassed. He had failed. He had denied his Master at the critical moment. He had seen the Crucifixion and was devastated. He had met the resurrected Christ, but still he felt like a failure. He felt inadequate for the task. But then came the Holy Spirit, and Peter's strength was replenished. Empowered by the Spirit, Peter became a man of courage and a tower of strength! The Holy Spirit
