Holy Spirit: Unsettling Presence That Sets Us Free

Devotional

Day 1: When Guitars Were Called Unholy

The Holy Spirit often disrupts our assumptions about what is sacred. A church once rejected a guitarist as "ungodly," clinging to tradition while missing God’s movement. Worship preferences can become idols that blind us to the Spirit’s creativity. Like those who dismissed the guitar as unholy, we risk shutting out God’s work when we equate holiness with familiarity. True worship requires humility to recognize God’s presence in unexpected forms. The Spirit’s work transcends our comfort zones, inviting us to listen beyond our biases. [46:55]

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.”
(Psalm 96:1-2, ESV)

Reflection: What tradition or practice have you elevated as “holy” that might unintentionally limit how God speaks? How could embracing discomfort deepen your worship?

Day 2: Clapping for God, Not Ourselves

A sulky teen learned clapping isn’t about personal enthusiasm but honoring God. Worship isn’t a performance shaped by our moods but an offering shaped by obedience. When we fixate on feeling “authentic,” we risk making worship about us rather than the One we serve. The Spirit calls us to participate even when our hearts feel heavy, trusting God transforms our actions into praise. True worship begins when we release our need to control how devotion “should” look. [51:47]

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”
(Psalm 150:6, ESV)

Reflection: When has worship felt like a chore rather than a gift? How might shifting your focus from feelings to faithfulness change your next act of praise?

Day 3: The Unsettling Dream of Unclean Animals

Peter’s vision of “unclean” animals shattered his assumptions about who God loves. The Spirit confronted his prejudice, pushing him to share the gospel with Gentiles. Like Peter, we cling to categories of “clean” and “unclean” that exclude those God calls beloved. Holiness isn’t a boundary to police but a table to expand. The Spirit still startles us awake, challenging us to see sacredness in places we’d labeled profane. [59:16]

“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
(Acts 10:15, ESV)

Reflection: Who or what have you unconsciously labeled “unclean”? How might the Spirit be inviting you to widen your circle of belonging?

Day 4: Rainbows After Storms

Rainbows appear not in clear skies but amid storms, reminding us God’s promises shine brightest in disruption. The Spirit’s work often feels like chasing a rainbow’s end—unreachable yet drawing us forward. Floris’ shift from orphanages to family reintegration mirrors this: a holy discomfort that birthed deeper freedom. The Spirit’s “new thing” isn’t about arriving but journeying toward justice, healing, and inclusion we can’t yet fully grasp. [01:09:49]

“I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
(Genesis 9:13, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you sense God inviting you to embrace a “journey without arrival”? What storm might hold an unexpected glimpse of promise?

Day 5: Spirit-Led Generosity Beyond Orphanages

A church’s shift from building orphanages to reuniting families reveals the Spirit’s disruptive grace. What began as generosity became a lesson in listening—to the Spirit and to those being served. The Spirit doesn’t just bless our plans but often redirects them, trading our “good things” for God’s better things. True freedom comes when we release control, letting the Spirit redefine what love looks like in action. [01:08:06]

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”
(Isaiah 55:8, ESV)

Reflection: When has God reshaped your “good idea” into something unexpected? How might the Spirit be asking you to listen before acting today?

Sermon Summary

The Holy Spirit stands not only as always present, but as always at work, doing things that bewilder and bless. At Pentecost, the text shows the Spirit bridging languages so that many peoples hear one voice, while Peter reads the moment with Joel’s promise, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,” signaling that God is doing something no one expected. Yet Acts 2 gathers a dispersed Jewish crowd; the wider opening arrives in Acts 10 when the Spirit interrupts Peter while he is still speaking and falls upon Gentiles. Peter’s rooftop vision and the voice, “Don’t call what I have cleaned unclean,” reframe holiness and pry open a door for Cornelius and, in time, for everyone who once stood outside.

Human hands often try to close that door. A guitar is slapped as unholy. An elder storms off when the Lord’s Prayer is missed once. A teen refuses to clap until a mother’s line lands with weight, “You’re not clapping for yourself. You’re clapping for God.” These moments reveal how a cherished practice can harden into a filter that screens out what God is doing. The Spirit meets that instinct with a nudge, sometimes gentle and sometimes jarring, to loosen the grip.

The Spirit, then, often makes people uncomfortable, but the Spirit always sets people free. Discomfort rises where lived experience contradicts settled judgments; in friendships marked by Scripture-fed faith, prayer, and kindness, holiness shows up where it wasn’t expected, and conscience is unsettled in a holy way. Wesley’s quadrilateral names the tools the Spirit uses: Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. Experience is not a rival to Scripture but a place where the Spirit confirms, corrects, and makes Scripture’s scope visible.

Freedom looks like wide welcome, belonging, and healing. Acts 10 becomes the hinge on which Gentiles enter the household of God, which is why this congregation exists at all. Locally, that same pattern has already surfaced in hard, Spirit-led conversations like One Church for All and the shift from building an orphanage to reuniting children with families in Sierra Leone. Liberation sounded like listening, repentance, and bolder love.

A rainbow names the journey. Storms come, beauty arcs across the sky, and the church starts walking. The end cannot be caught, but the walking opens rooms of mercy no one could have planned. The Spirit is already at work; the live question is whether hearts will move with that work into the freedom God is giving.

Key Takeaways

1. The Spirit disrupts sacred preferences. Preferences can masquerade as holiness and end up shrinking the room where God is moving. The Spirit exposes that confusion by confronting habits that have started serving the self rather than the Lord. Letting go may feel like loss, but it is often the first mercy in a longer freedom. [47:58]
2. Pentecost stretches into Gentile welcome. The miracle of hearing becomes the mission of including, as the Spirit falls on those who were once called outsiders. The church exists because God did not stop with familiar people in familiar spaces. To resist that widening is to resist the very breath that birthed the church. [57:56]
3. “Do not call unclean” redefines holiness. Peter’s vision does more than change a menu; it changes a map of who belongs to God. Holiness is not a fence that keeps people out, but a cleansing word that brings people in. Where God has cleansed, the church is called to recognize and rejoice. [59:16]
4. Experience becomes a site of truth. Wesley’s quadrilateral honors experience as a place where the Spirit confirms or corrects understanding. When the fruit of the Spirit shows up in unexpected people and places, that fruit bears witness to God’s work. Honest attention to lived grace can refine doctrine without diluting conviction. [64:58]
5. Discomfort is the doorway to freedom. The Spirit’s unsettlement is rarely an end; it is an invitation to larger love. On the other side of surrendered certainty waits belonging, healing, and mission that fits the wideness of God’s heart. Freedom comes when control gives way to trust. [61:48]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[43:04] - Series recap: Spirit present
[44:37] - Why the Spirit feels confusing
[46:36] - Guitar called unholy story
[49:06] - Lord’s Prayer walkout
[51:47] - "Clapping for God" correction
[53:12] - Pentecost gathering explained
[55:14] - Peter quotes Joel
[57:56] - Spirit falls on Gentiles
[58:50] - Vision redefines unclean
[61:32] - Discomfort and freedom named
[63:26] - Experience unsettles assumptions
[66:18] - Freedom of inclusive love
[69:49] - Rainbow journey metaphor
[71:00] - Ready to walk with Spirit

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Acts 2:1-21 (ESV) – The Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost, enabling diverse languages to hear the gospel.
Acts 10:9-48 (ESV) – Peter’s vision and the Spirit’s outpouring on Gentiles.
Joel 2:28-29 (ESV) – God’s promise to pour out His Spirit on all people.

Observation questions

In Acts 2, how did the Holy Spirit bridge differences among the crowd gathered at Pentecost? What immediate reaction did this provoke?
What specific phrase did Peter repeat from Joel’s prophecy to explain the Spirit’s work, and why might this have surprised his audience? [55:14]
How did the Jewish believers react when the Holy Spirit fell on Gentiles in Acts 10? What did this reveal about their assumptions? [57:56]
What examples from the sermon showed how “sacred preferences” can hinder openness to the Spirit’s work? [47:58]

Interpretation questions

Why did Peter connect the Pentecost event to Joel’s prophecy about the Spirit being poured out on “all flesh”? How might this have challenged his listeners’ expectations?
In Acts 10, why was the command “Do not call unclean what I have cleansed” about more than just food? How did this redefine belonging in God’s family? [59:16]
How might Wesley’s quadrilateral (Scripture, tradition, reason, experience) help believers discern when the Spirit is correcting their assumptions? [01:04:58]
The sermon described discomfort as a “doorway to freedom.” How does resisting the Spirit’s unsettling work limit our ability to participate in God’s mission? [01:01:48]

Application questions

What “sacred preferences” (e.g., worship styles, traditions, or cultural norms) have you or others treated as non-negotiable? How could holding these too tightly close doors to what the Spirit is doing? [47:58]
When have you seen God’s work in someone or a group you initially dismissed as “outside” holiness? How did that experience challenge or refine your understanding of belonging?
The sermon shared a story where a teen resisted clapping until reminded, “You’re clapping for God.” When have you prioritized personal feelings over participating in God-centered community? What helped you refocus? [51:47]
The church shifted from building an orphanage to reuniting families in Sierra Leone. Where might God be calling you or your community to surrender a “good plan” for a better, Spirit-led one? [01:08:06]
How could you create space this week to notice where the Spirit is unsettling your assumptions (e.g., through relationships, prayer, or serving others)? What would it look like to lean into that discomfort?
The rainbow metaphor invites us to walk toward God’s unexpected beauty even if we never “reach the end.” What step could you take this month to join the Spirit’s work in a way that requires trust over control? [01:09:49]

Sermon Clips

72s

“``Of course, you can never actually get there. Right? You can never actually reach that pot of gold or that destination. And I think the Holy Spirit is off is works in similar ways. It it might be in the midst of storms, things that are unsettled, and yet we see the beautiful new thing that shows up, in our midst, we walk towards it. Maybe we drive towards it. And we don't necessarily always quite get there, but that journey the spirit moving us all along, doing things new, opening up opportunities that we never expected. And though we might not reach the end of that rainbow in this lifetime, that journey, when we look back, has created so much opportunities of love, so much opportunities of healing and inclusion, so many opportunities of people being set free from the things that oppress and burden.”

34s

“mom, like, wouldn't wouldn't God prefer that I clap because I feel like clapping? Why why would he care if I'm clapping and I'm in this sulky mood? Right? Wouldn't God prefer that I'm clapping with enthusiasm? I thought I had a good point. That sounded pretty logical to me. Right? And she responded to me, and I still remember to this day. She said, you're not clapping for yourself. You're clapping for God.”

51s

“John Wesley kind of, showed us that, you know, when or at least articulated that when we approach our faith and we read scripture, we know that that guides us, of course. But our faith is shaped, right, by our traditions, the very things that are taught to us. It's shaped by our reason, our ability to think and make rational arguments, our faith seeking understanding. Right? But that our faith is also informed by our experiences. The very life that we live each day encountering this world, that experience is also what will shape our faith, and also where the Holy Spirit shows us where God is at work.”

38s

“And soon after, he realizes, that Cornelius, a Roman centurion, he comes by and he's someone who is they say is God fearing, but, but he's he's not particularly, Jewish or anything. And but he's he's he's had received a vision to say to to find Peter. And so he goes to Peter, and it was in that moment and that interaction he realized, oh, God was the one that brought him to me. And here is this person who is a gentile, wow. So that's what that dream was about.”

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