Leading With The Spirit
Keith McFarren
May 24, 2026
Numbers 11:24-30
    “I wish that all the Lord’s people were
prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them.”  That’s what Moses wishes would happen.  
    Wouldn’t that be something?  What if we were all prophets?  What if we all had a statement to make…or a
stand to take on God’s behalf?  What if
we were all driven by the Spirit of God to stand up and advocate for justice
and represent the marginalized of the world.
What if were were all driven by God’s Spirit to open our arms and
welcome the stranger into our lives?
    “What if all the Lord’s people could be
prophets,” says Moses with a little bit of exasperation.  Here is a guy who wants nothing more than for
God’s kingdom to grow here on earth…and yet at the same time here is a guy who
is wondering why God seems to be so stingy when it comes to sharing his Spirit
with others.  It could be that Moses is
wondering if maybe God doesn’t have enough of his Spirit to share with
everyone.
    But Moses friend Joshua is just fine with
the way things are.  Up to this point God
has ordered his Spirit to be shared with just a handful of other people…and
that was done in order to make life easier for Moses as he led Israel through
the wilderness while at the same time trying to teach the people about their
dependency on God.
    Let the leadership remain just as it
is.  That’s what Joshua says.  Don’t share God’s Spirit with anyone that you
don’t have to.  You can’t let everyone
have access to to God’s Spirit because someone might do some unauthorized
prophesying or say something about God and his wants and desires for us that
aren’t true or shouldn’t be said.  
    But Moses has different ideas about God’s
spirit and the leadership that goes with it.
Which means then, that Moses has a different viewpoint on sharing God’s
spirit.  Moses is more than happy to
share God’s spirit with others because it would bring people to God and change
their lives and then allow them to lead others and teach others about the ways
of God.
    The people of Israel have been wandering
around the desert for what seems like forever.
They are tired and they are thirsty and they never seem to have enough
food.  And now they are starting to
complain…not only about the food and the living conditions but about Moses’ leadership
as well.  So now is the time that God
determines that sharing his spirit with others is the right thing to do.  
    Moses and the Spirit of God have been
leading Israel since their escape from Egypt, since the beginning of their
journey in the wilderness, and it is now time to expand or to share that Spirt
with others so that those who receive it might help Moses and God with the
leadership needed to get them to wherever it is God is leading them.
    To be given the Spirit of God is exactly
what those new found leaders needed.  The
Spirit of God gives to those who receive it a new life.  It give to anyone who receives it the ability
to tell the truth about what God is doing in their world and at the same time
opens their hearts and minds and gives them the ability to have empathy and
compassion and grace and understanding for those around them.
    The Spirit of God causes us to care about
the needs of others.  It cause us to turn
our hearts and our minds outward and care about the well being of others and it
causes us to care about the relationships we form with others.  
    It’s the Spirit of God that causes us to
care about how we as a community of faith, how we as a church, survive.  While at the same time it is the Spirit of
God that causes us to care not only about our own faith journey but about the
faith journey of all those around us.
    Moses wasn’t mad or the least bit upset
because he had to share the Spirit of God with others because he knew that the
Spirit would bring others closer to God and help them better understand the
ways of God.  
   To Moses, the Spirit of God was all based
on God’s love.  It was as though the more
we love, the more we grow in that love and the more we grow the more we have
the capacity to share that love with others.
The more we care about the people around us, the more we are able to tell
them about God’s truth’s and about following God commandments.
    The Spirit of God causes us to open our
hearts and our minds, and allow us to know God’s truths and the more we
understand the ways of God the more we are going to understand that the leaders
in our lives who like to tout their power through lies and threats and bullying
are not leading us in the right direction because they are not leading with the
Spirit that was given to them by God.
    Moses’ biggest complaint was that there
weren’t more people out there leading with the Spirit of God.  “I wish that all the Lord’s people were
prophets” - prophets who tell the truth of God…prophets who care for other
people…prophets who are willing to stand boldly and claim the vision that comes
from God…the vision of a new way of living, both in this world and in the world
to come.  And as God always does, God
heard Moses prayers.
    On this incredible day of Pentecost, some
1400 years after Moses’ prayer asking to share the Holy Spirit with others,
Peter stood before the world and announced that Moses prayer had finally been
answered.  
    On this day of Pentecost, we remember the
prophet Joel who reminded us that God would someday pour out his Holy Spirit on
all people, empowering ordinary individuals, people like you and me, regardless
of our age, gender or social status, to prophecy, and dream dreams and see
visions (Joel 2:28-32).  On this day of
Pentecost, the Spirit that was once shared with just a handful of people now
becomes available to all who ask for it.
    Isn’t that something?  In churches that have struggled with women
being in leadership, God’s message from long ago and for us today, is that the
Spirit has been poured out on all people…men and women alike.  
    For the churches that often struggle with
young people being in leadership or for the churches that struggle with
listening to the wisdom of their elders, the message from long ago and for
today, is that age has no barrier in God’s kingdom.  
    In the church that has struggled with
accepting marginalized people and economically disadvantaged people and their
role in church and in society, the message from God, both long ago and for
today, is that even the poor and those bound by economic and racial systems of
oppression can speak the word of God and tell the truths of God and those
people should be listened to.
    Pentecost is the fulfillment of the
heartfelt hope of Moses as Israel wandered through the wilderness with little
knowledge about the truth of God.  What
was once a lack of access to the Spirit now becomes a moot point as God’s
Spirit is freely given and poured out on all people everywhere.  
    On this Pentecost Sunday, know that we are
encouraged and empowered to follow the unbounded Spirt of God to wherever it
leads us.  
    On this Pentecost Sunday we celebrate and
remember God’s mighty act of sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and among
us and to guide us and nurture us as we continue on our faith journey.
    On this day we remember the invitation to
follow the Holy Spirit so that we might be able to continue God’s work
throughout the world.  On this Pentecost
Sunday the unbound Spirit of God is here among us always working for the growth
of God’s creation and always inviting us to participate in God’s ever changing
world.
    Into a world where there seemed to be no
hope came a mighty rushing wind, and flames of fire, like a directive straight
from heaven…and all things that once looked hopeless are now changed forever.
    That same divine power is available to us
today!  We need that same power because
nothing can change this world and all its imperfections, nothing can give new
birth to the world we live in…but an intrusive power brought forth by the
kingdom of God.
    One
this day, several thousand years ago, God gave birth to his church when the
Holy Spirit came and changed not only individual lives, but changed the world
as well.  
    This becomes the challenge for all of us…and
to this church.  
On this Pentecost Sunday we should each ask ourselves
this question:  What am I doing to allow
the Holy Spirit to work its mighty acts upon me?  What am I doing, to allow the Spirit of God
to work in this church?  
    Pentecost ushers in new life for us as
individuals, for us as a church and for us as a world.  Are you willing to let God’s Spirit into your
life?  Are you willing to let God’s
Spirit be the foundation of your life?
Are you willing to step up and make a difference in God’s kingdom?