Pentecost Sunday is a celebration of power—the power of the Holy Spirit poured out on the church, the power of God’s presence dwelling within us, and the power to live transformed lives. But on this Pentecost, we looked at a darker kind of power: the power of sin to change us—and the greater power of God’s grace to redeem us.
Preaching from 2 Samuel 11, Pastor Hal Daigre brought a powerful and sobering word titled “Changed by Sin.” The focus wasn’t on the fire that fell in Acts 2, but the fire that flickered in David’s soul when he let down his guard. It’s a story many of us know well—David, once a man of fierce devotion and integrity, stays behind from battle, lets his eyes wander, and begins a chain reaction of compromise, deception, and ultimately, death.
Sin Changes Us—Bit by Bit
Pastor Hal broke the message down into three movements that trace the slow erosion of David’s spiritual life:
Sin Changes Our Convictions
David once refused to raise a hand against Saul, God’s anointed. He lived by deep-rooted convictions. But in 2 Samuel 11, he looks too long, sends too far, and steps over the Word of God to satisfy a passing desire. The Spirit convicts before we sin—but David ignored the warning signs.
Sin Changes Our Character
Once a man of worship and truth, David becomes a man of manipulation and cover-up. Rather than confess, he tries to engineer a scheme to make it all disappear. But character, Pastor Hal reminded us, is who we are when no one is watching—and David’s character had shifted.
Sin Changes Our Heart
In perhaps the most chilling moment, David writes Uriah’s death sentence and hands it to him. The man who once wept and sang before God now has a cold, calloused heart. The man after God’s own heart has lost his own.
But God…
And yet, this is not the end of the story. “But the Lord was displeased with what David had done” (2 Sam. 11:27). That single line opens the door to grace. God sends Nathan the prophet—not to destroy David, but to rescue him. And when confronted, David breaks: “I have sinned against the Lord.” Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 are the cries of a man returning home to God.
Pastor Hal shared vulnerably about how sin had once changed him too—how alcohol, anger, and pride had ruled his life until one night in Vicksburg, Mississippi, he knelt in a roadside park and surrendered to Christ. “I got up sober,” he said. Not just from whiskey—but from a life changed by sin. Since that night, he’s lived a life changed by grace.
The Spirit Still Speaks
On Pentecost, we remember that the Holy Spirit still convicts, still awakens dead hearts, still calls prodigals home. Whether you’ve never come to Christ or whether, like David, you’ve drifted far from your first love, the invitation is the same: “Return to me,” says the Lord.
Revival doesn’t come through hype. It comes through repentance. And revival begins when we let the Spirit search us and lead us to confession, surrender, and freedom.
Final Word
David didn’t go down in history as an adulterer. He went down as “a man after God’s own heart.” That’s not because he never fell—but because when he did, he got back up and turned back to God.
It’s not about where you’ve been. It’s about where you’re going.
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Let the Spirit of God restore your conviction, renew your character, and soften your heart.
