Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Joel 2:28-29 (NIV)
The Day of the Lord
28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Another echo of the past captured in the gospel reading from Sunday. John the Baptist calls people to repent and baptizes them with water, but he eagerly awaits the one who will bring the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8). This holy expectation is rooted in the prophecies of old. Today we see it in Joel Chapter 2. In this passage we see God’s desires to be central in the lives of his people, to be their provider and protector. In the midst of this intimate relationship, God will use his Holy Spirit, his presence, to gift and guide his people. We live in a time where this outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit has begun. On the day of Pentecost, God poured out his Holy Spirit on all those gathered. At our baptism, we too are covered by this same Holy Spirit. As you walk through this day, consider what it means that you are clothed with the Holy Spirit. Does it affect your day? How so? As you ponder, also praise God for all he has done in your life.