Lessons for June 4, 2006 – Pentecost Sunday The first lesson Ezekiel 37:1-14 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. 2He led me around among the old, dry bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground. 3Then he asked me, "Son of man, can these bones become living people again?""O Sovereign Lord," I replied, "you alone know the answer to that." 4Then he said to me, "Speak to these bones and say, 'Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! 5This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to breathe into you and make you live again! 6I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.' " 7So I spoke these words, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as they had been before. 8Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. 9Then he said to me, "Speak to the winds and say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so that they may live again.' " 10So I spoke as he commanded me, and the wind entered the bodies, and they began to breathe. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army of them. 11Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, 'We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone.' 12Now give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. 14I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord. You will see that I have done everything just as I promised. I, the Lord, have spoken!" (NLT) Psalm 104:25-35 L. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both great and small. C. See the ships sailing along, and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea. L. Every one of these depends on you to give them their food as they need it. C. When you supply it, they gather it. You open your hand to feed them, and they are satisfied. L. But if you turn away from them, they panic. C. When you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust. L. When you send your Spirit, new life is born to replenish all the living of the earth. C. May the glory of the Lord last forever! L. The Lord rejoices in all he has made! C. The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains burst into flame at his touch. L. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. C. I will praise my God to my last breath! L. May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for I rejoice in the Lord. C. Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth; let the wicked disappear forever. L. As for me—I will praise the Lord! C. Praise the Lord! (NLT) The second lesson Acts 2:1-21 On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. 5Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time. 6When they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. 7They were beside themselves with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" 12They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13But others in the crowd were mocking. "They're drunk, that's all!" they said. 14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! It's much too early for that. People don't get drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, what you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel: 17'In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18In those days I will pour out my Spirit upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy. 19And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke. 20The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn bloodred, before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. 21And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' (NLT) The Gospel Lesson John 15:26-27, 16:4-15 "But I will send you the Counselor—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me. 27And you must also tell others about me because you have been with me from the beginning. 4 I didn't tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer. 5"But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and none of you has asked me where I am going. 6Instead, you are very sad. 7But it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Counselor won't come. If I do go away, he will come because I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will convince the world of its sin, and of God's righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9The world's sin is unbelief in me. 10Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11Judgment will come because the prince of this world has already been judged. 12"Oh, there is so much more I want to tell you, but you can't bear it now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. 15All that the Father has is mine; this is what I mean when I say that the Spirit will reveal to you whatever he receives from me. (NLT)