“I Don’t Miss Jesus”

July 6, 2003

Pastor Dan Luebcke

This morning is the second part of a two-part/two-week emphasis on the person of the Holy Spirit in our Wind & Fire Series this summer. As Pastor Nelson said last week, we must not miss the fact that God is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit as we study Him this summer.

Today, it is my desire to share with you the story of Peter and his experience of the person of the Holy Spirit. We will look at his experience through his eyes this morning and hopefully feel what he felt with the prospect of losing the presence of Jesus and understand what he came to know about the person of the Holy Spirit and His presence.

Prayer of Invocation

It had been a long day for John and me. It feels even longer having to spend the night in prison. We had several opportunities to talk to multitudes of people and tell them the news of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. What a story to tell! Hundreds believed in the risen Christ that day. Little kids. Big kids. Adults. Grandparents. Many believed in the risen Jesus and the need for forgiveness of their sin against Him. Angels must have been singing all day in heaven. Their vocal cords have to be tired. The Lamb’s book of life received a couple of new chapters. Yes today, John and I had a front row seat to watching people enter into a relationship with God. They came to know Jesus personally today just like John and me. You know what’s amazing, is that Jesus lives inside of them in the person of the Holy Spirit. Amazing. They never saw Him, but they believed! And now today, Jesus lives inside them. The person of the Holy Spirit brought great glory to Jesus today!

Towards evening we found ourselves still going, we couldn’t stop sharing the Truth. We noticed some certain priests and the captain of the temple guard forcing their way through the crowd to get to us. They seized us and put us in prison for the night for “proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus.” I can think of no better reason to go to prison.

So here we sit. Stand. Kneel. John is sleeping and my mind is racing in a thousand different directions.

As my mind went in to several thoughts, there was one thought I couldn’t get out of my head. It kept pounding me right in the front. I found that thought scaring me, surprising me. It was the thought – I don’t miss Jesus. I don’t miss Jesus! I don’t miss Him. Was I all right? I hadn’t mourned His absence. Was I in trouble with God? I thought for a moment…no, it is okay to that I don’t miss Him, because He is right here. He is with me today. With me in this cell. With John as he sleeps. With all those who believed today. The Holy Spirit is here! I know the person of the Holy Spirit. To have the Spirit is to have Jesus. The Spirit mediates the very presence of Jesus in me today.

As I stand in this cell for the night I realized that I hadn’t always felt this way. I never thought I would ever have this kind of peace with Jesus being gone from my life. I used to think I was going to miss Jesus.

I will never forget those words on that scorcher of a day. My mouth sank to China. I was in disbelief. I could hear myself breathing. Jesus told us He was going to die. Everything was in slow motion. It felt like it took twenty minutes to look at how my friends responded to this news. John, James, all of us were picking our jaws off the ground. Jesus wasn’t just leaving. He was leaving, like, dying leaving.

I was so consumed with myself in that Upper Room I missed His point. All I cared about was myself. I remember saying to Jesus, “Where are you going?” I didn’t really care about his destination. I cared about His leaving. His leaving me! He was leaving me all alone.

I remember Jesus saying, “I will not leave you as Orphans…” Oh, what do ya call death? It’s not like your going to Nebraska on vacation and will be back when you have had enough of the heat and humidity. No, you will be gone. Death seals the deal. Adios. Via con dios! Wish you luck. Wish you well. Outta here. See ya! GONE.

Absolutely and utterly gone from this Earth and gone from my life. Great. Just great. God in a bod is leaving me to fend for my life by myself. To live life by myself. How can I possibly remember everything that you taught me about what it means to follow you? I learned most of what it means to follow you by watching you. You have been with me. I have been with you. You are my buddy, I am yours. How can I possibly live life with out you?

As buds, we have done and experienced so much together. We have laughed together, oh have we laughed. We have cried together. And when I saw you cry, I was convinced that you were 100% God and 100% man. I have walked behind you, beside you and in front of you from one town to another. I have had gourmet meals with you fit for the finest people in all of Jerusalem. I have served with you, and been served by you. When you washed my feet that night, I saw, I experienced the power of your love in a way that would change me forever. I wept over your example and my incapability of realizing that you came to serve and not be served.

You showed me everything to do. And know you’re leaving? What if my memory falters? You know, and I know you know, because you are God, but I am not getting any younger. Did you see me throw that net out to sea a couple of weeks ago? I bet I threw half as far as I did the day you called me to drop everything.

And that is what I did! Everything Jesus. I dropped everything for you. I will never forget those words, “Follow me.” I didn’t just set down my nets to follow you. I threw them. When you called me to follow you…that is what I committed my life to…follow you! Not any other god, I committed to follow you, to help establish the Kingdom of God on Earth.

I am all alone, all by myself. And now you are leaving me. Your presence will never be with me again.

And then He died. For 3 days I mourned your absence. I felt cold and all alone. Then Mary came. What? Jesus is out of the tomb. John and I ran. Thoughts ran through my mind as to who could of taken his body. So I ran faster. I ran like I had never had before. But much to my chagrin, John beat me. What can I say, half way there I pulled my hamstring! I darted into the tomb; there were the strips of linen and the burial cloth that had been placed around Jesus’ head. He had been taken. It didn’t make sense. Why would someone take His body. They hated Him. He died an innocent man. I left and went home bewildered.

After a short time, Mary came again and her demeanor completely changed. She said she had seen Jesus. He was alive! Yes! My first thought – I wasn’t alone anymore. Jesus was here. Later that evening I saw Him. I saw Jesus. I was overjoyed. I was more excited than a six year old on Christmas morning looking at their stocking touching the ground waiting eagerly to see what was inside. I was with Jesus! He showed us His side and His hands.

You know what they first words out of His mouth were to us…? I can tell you, they weren’t, “Hey, it’s been a long trip, can I get a hug?” No, Jesus told us twice, “Peace be with you.” I should have got it. Peace was with me with the presence of Jesus. Then and now. I know that peace today here in prison. The peace of His presence in that room that night is the peace I have today in this cell. For to have Spirit is to have Jesus.

Man was I excited to see Him. We spent time together. My needs were being met. I was no longer alone! He spoke into my life powerfully. He asked me three times if I loved Him. He reinstated me. He told me he would build the church on me. He told me I would be crucified. My mind was spinning…I was looking at the dead Jesus; He was going to build the church on me, my death.

All of this was surreal. I couldn’t think straight. I was with Jesus again. Yes!

A short time later, we were all with Him eating when he told us to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He told us we would receive power when the Holy Spirit came. He was referring back to the Paraclete (one who would be exactly like Him), the Helper, and the Counselor he spoke about in the Upper Room. I had forgotten. He told us we would be His witnesses everywhere! After he said this he was gone! A cloud him from my sight as He went to the right hand of God the Father.

The eleven of us returned to Jerusalem. What we were going to experience would change the way people experience the presence of God. It changed mine!

Then it came. 50 days after the Sabbath of the Passover week. We were all together. From out of nowhere, I mean nowhere. A sound like a blowing, ragging wind came from heaven and filled the house. We weren’t sitting in the house trying to make something up or make something happen for the Spirit to come. It just did. And did it come! What came would change they way God relates to His people until Jesus returns. That change, was being full. I was full. Full of what? Full of God. Full of the Holy Spirit. Full of Jesus! Filled with the Holy Spirit. Wow!

People were speaking in tongues. It was unbelievable. The power of God was there in a way unlike I had ever experienced. Not in the tongues, but in His presence. The power of God was there in His presence. The tongues just happened. The Holy Spirit cam to mediate the presence of Jesus in me and everyone and it was undeniable!

What was crazy is that His presence was not visible. It was invisible. It wasn’t unknowable. It was knowable. The person of the Holy Spirit was not an impersonal force in that room, but an intimate, knowable person, that brought great power and closeness to God, unlike anything I had ever experienced. God didn’t just come near that night, He came in. Right inside each of us and took up residence. The presence of Jesus was no longer next to me in the form of a person; it was inside me in the form of a person – Christ in me through the person of the Holy Spirit.

I noticed off in the distance that there were some who were making fun of us. Like we were drunk. Not wanting this cantering to continue, I stood up and addressed everyone. “We can’t be drunk, it’s only nine in the morning!” This is what is supposed to happen. All this scripture filled my mind. I proceeded to share with them what Joel said, “I will pour out my Spirit in those days, says the LORD!” Those days had arrived. The Spirit was poured out.

One proof of the Spirit was that I kept preaching. I told everyone…this was supposed to happen. The Holy Spirit was to be poured out. The presence of Jesus now resides with everyone in the person of the Holy Spirit. He has risen from the dead and is alive.

I kept speaking. I proclaimed boldly the gospel of Jesus! I used David as a great illustration that brought the point home. I could hear John in the background, “Give it to em’ Peter! Lay the gospel on them! Amen! Amen!” Jesus was not just with me in person. He was inside me in person! In the person of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit had come. Jesus was inside of me.

What a great memory.

As I stand here watching John sleep. I don’t miss Jesus. Why? Because He is with me. Right here with me in the person of the Holy Spirit.

It’s funny how hindsight is 20/20. I freaked out and only saw myself, my wants, and needs through Jesus’ death. Praise God I was wrong. Jesus told us it was to our advantage that He go away. He told us he would never leave us, not forsake us. He said He would be with us to the very end of the age…Always! He said he wouldn’t leave me as an orphan. He would send us the Paraclete – essentially the exact same thing as Himself. We would have help, comfort and His presence with us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

What a privilege I have had, I have walked with Jesus, and now have Him living inside me. I never would have thought that Jesus’ absence would of brought more peace, but it did. Now I know what it means to continue to follow Jesus. I need to know the person of the Holy Spirit. Who mediates the presence of Jesus everywhere I am.

Those people who believed today are better off than I was a couple of years ago because they have the presence of Jesus!

I don’t miss Jesus. No, His absence brought the person of the Holy Spirit to live inside of me and all the people that believed today. Wow! I don’t miss Jesus because the person of the Holy Spirit is here and will be in everyone who claims to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, until He returns. I love the Holy Spirit!

Amen!

Communion