JUST LIKE AN OLD RADIO

Praise Jesus, as I drink my first cup of coffee, that Christmas is around the corner and with it, the New Year. It is especially a gift for me to contemplate the year of 2025!

Let me share with you a time, back to 1982, when Debby and I were serving a two point charge at Buckhorn and Moncure by Lake Jordan. ??? (Lost on the meaning of the previous sentence) At the time, of course, we did not have cell phones to help us stay in touch, as I traveled the area visiting. Trying to figure out how I could keep in touch with her, a young mom with a toddler and pregnant with our next child, I spoke with my dad. Back home, I remembered my dad had an old tube radio that we used on a boat. That old tube radio was powerful! So I made an old fashioned phone call and asked dad if he still had it. He said, “Yes.” So I asked him if I could have it? He said, “What for?” So I shared my concern in keeping up with Debby while traveling. He understood and I shortly went home to get it.

Now, you need to understand our parsonage was right off the interstate. When I bought this old, tube, a huge radio home, a dear friend of mine helped me put it on the parsonage with a long, huge, steel pole that went at least 20 feet in the air, above the roof of the house. IF you’re wondering, yes, it was high and huge! So we set up the home base station for her, taught her how to use it and then purchased a car radio, for me to install, so we could connect during the day.

Now listen to our radio names: Debby was “Dairy Queen;” I was “Circuit Rider” and Jessica, “Honey Bear”…yes she picked her own nickname and loved talking with me on the base station!

Well, my idea WORKED GOOD, IN FACT, IT WAS GREAT! Our new base station, due to being by an interstate, with a long pole, powerful tube old radio, sent out a signal that, at night, went to many different countries. It was rather interesting who I could speak with or listen to at night.

However, I eventually found out that we had one major issue, especially in the early morning or late evening. Through the word, at our local country gas station, we heard that truckers, and a few others traveling through our area for many miles, were experiencing a void, a ‘walk-over’ of what they could transmit. They were perplexed and wondering what was happening in our area?

I am not sure of your experience with home radios. There are times when I wish I had this old tube radio! Too many Air Force moves pushed it to the side. Traveling, I see those antennas at times and smile. Sometime I even wonder that maybe it would be a good idea to set up another home station?

QUESTION: Pastor Jerry, this is quite interesting but what is this really about? A great question!

Here you go! That old, one tube, home radio station pushed a powerful signal that would travel for thousand of miles and block other signals from interfering with its projected receiver.

I sense, I ponder, and I wonder, that in some respect, the power of the Holy Spirit is so similar. HE is being sent from Heaven’s home radio station from God HIMSELF daily, throughout our world, throughout our Jacksonville community, throughout our Trinity church family, wondering who will hear HIM and who will receive HIM?

YES, somewhat like the signal, of that home radio station, HE is everywhere attempting to talk with us! Weird, maybe, right? The air around you is filled with the invisible noise of God’s voice, and like a radio, you were built to hear it and relay His thoughts to people through your own words and actions.

Sometimes, the Holy Spirit sounds like thoughts in your head. Sometimes, He drops in a mental picture. Other times, He gives you a dream that just feels different. Most often, He speaks by illuminating parts the Bible—reminding you of a verse you’ve read and helping you understand it in a new way.

When Jesus promised He would never leave us alone, the Holy Spirit was the fulfillment of that promise. When you become a Christ follower, the Holy Spirit moves in. We become His house. So, when He speaks, His voice comes from inside you. What, if all this time, you’ve been hearing His voice without recognizing it?

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.”

Psalms 139:1-4 NIV

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

Psalms 139:7-10 NIV

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”

Psalms 139:13-17 NIV

 ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”

Acts 2:17-18 NIV