I would like to ride piggy-back on Pastor Jeff’s message last week, so you may hear a couple of similar thoughts.
Pentecost is one of 7 seasonal feasts the Hebrew people observe.
Also called “Feast of Weeks”
Pentecost begins on the 50th day after Passover
Believers rendered thanks to YHWH for the blessings upon their fields, especially wheat fields.
They presented:
Two loaves of bread, as the “first-fruits” of the wheat harvest
One bull
Two rams
Seven lambs
Sin offering of a male goat
Peace offering of two male lambs
The first sheaf of the barley harvest was offered to YHWH on the first day after Passover,
The first sheaf of the wheat harvest was presented 50 days later.
Passover and Pentecost marked the beginning and the end of the grain harvest.
So, you say “great DelRay, what does that matter, or have to do with me”?
I’m glad you asked!
First off, the Passover that Jesus had with His disciples, was the establishment of the New Covenant.
Secondly, the New Covenant includes all people, not just the Jewish people.
Thirdly, we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant.
I’d like us to examine those last two reasons this matters to us.
Acts 2:5 “And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.”
Here comes the butchering part of today’s sermon, bear with me as I pronounce these names:
Acts 2:9–10 “Parthians and Medes (meedz) and Elamites(EElamites), those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia(cap-uh-dough-shuh), Pontus(paan-tuhs) and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia(pam-fill-e-uh), Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene(sigh-ree-nee), visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,”
Acts 2:11 “Cretans and Arabs”
Acts 2:41 “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”
So, who can receive the Holy Spirit? All who believe!
Now, for the 3rd of those three parts we will get to in just a few minutes.
Just as in the OT the first fruits of the wheat were presented to YHWH, the new Pentecost first-fruits were the Holy Spirit.
Check this out:
The OT first-fruits were man’s offering to God.
The NT first-fruits are God presenting the Holy Spirit to man, through Jesus.
So instead of first-fruits being lifted up to heaven by man, God is raining down the first-fruits from heaven to the people of earth.
Isn’t that beautiful?
Not only that, but He will continue to rain down on us who the first-fruits of the Spirit are present, until the “full harvest”!
As Christians, I’d like us to consider what that Day of Pentecost means to us:
Holy Spirit:
Draws us by His grace to the Father
He intercedes with us, and within us, helping us to pray
He teaches and admonishes us when we read scripture (illustration of Robert Morris)
He gives us the gift of discernment, so we might have the mind of Christ!
He applies and nurtures the fruit of the spirit in our lives (I know I need that!)
He assures us of our forgiveness, and our adoption as children of God
Have you ever thought about this?:
We cannot make ourselves Holy.
The Holy Spirit is the One who makes us holy.
These are but a few things the Holy Spirit does on our behalf.
Now, back to that 3rd point of why this should matter to us.
Go with me to Acts 1:4–5 “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.””
Consider these 3 amazing facts:
Waiting
Hearing from Jesus
The Promise of the Father
Waiting: Illustration of Aptitude Test
Hearing from Jesus:
Can you imagine being among the Apostles as Jesus taught them?
I’m sure I would have been just as thick-headed, hard to convince, and impulsive as any of them.
But in this verse Jesus says “as you have heard from me”.
I see two things here:
“Wait” as you have heard from me, and I will send forth the Promise of my Father.
Luke 24:49 ““Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.””
What exactly is that Promise that Jesus speaks of here?
Found in:
Joel 2:28–32 ““And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.”
This is such an amazing scripture for several reasons.
I’d like to touch on a couple of thoughts:
A couple of weeks back, I encouraged you to read Matthew chapter 24.
I can’t help but tie in the last of verse 32 of Joel chapter 2 with Matthew 24. God’s word is right there for us to read.
Also, as Christians we may tend to take presence of the Holy Spirit for granted. Mainly because we’ve had the privilege of the NT all our lives.
But we need to put this passage into context.
Although we see God’s Spirit fall upon people throughout the OT, His Spirit only stayed for awhile. Long enough to complete the task required to bring God glory.
Don’t believe me? Go back and check it out for yourself. Pretty amazing stuff.
This scripture tells us God will pour out His Spirit on everyone who calls out on the name of the Lord!
We further learn that His Spirit will dwell in us, not just come upon us for a time, then leave. No, He will remain so we can do countless miracles to His glory!
Sounds kind of far-fetched to some, but it’s true!
What is this Promise Jesus is speaking of?
The Holy Spirit.
But why did Jesus command the disciples to wait?
Here’s my challenge to you today:
Spend time in God’s word this week, and learn more about the time from Passover to Pentecost, and tell me what The Holy Spirit said to you!
Earlier, I mentioned that first-fruit rained down on us from Heaven.
Listen to this:
Joel 2:23 “Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the Lord your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you— The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month.”
It is easy to understand this as the seasonal rains, but this is a prophet, they never speak in ways we can understand, unless we have discernment given to us by the Holy Spirit!
When you are studying this time of Passover to Pentecost, pray about what Joel 2:23 means to you.
I’d like us to read together part of Peters’ sermon on that Day of Pentecost.
I am amazed every time I think about Peters sermon, and that only weeks before, he was filled with fear as he denied Jesus 3 times. He not only denied, but within one of those denials, he cursed. Matthew 26:74 “Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed.”
Now, listen to the Holy Spirit indwelled Simon Peter.
He begins by quoting 2nd chapter of Joel verses 28-32.
Then he continues:
Acts 2:22–24 ““Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.”
-Ask others what their bible says verse 24-
This week I asked myself:
“Am I the fear filled, Spirit void Peter; or the Holy Spirit-filled Peter.”
You see, I can’t be both! I can’t be both...
Some might have you believe in cessationism. That is the belief that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing ceased with the Apostolic Age.
I love this quote by A.Z. Tozer:
I do not believe in a repetition of Pentecost, but I do believe in a perpetuation of Pentecost—and there is a vast difference between the two.
A. W. Tozer
Here’s my scripture evidence:
Acts 2:38–39 “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.””
Again, I refer you back to Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.”
What now?
The rest of the fishing story...
I want to go back to:
Acts 1:4–5 “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.””
Those disciples were probably asking “What now?”
Then in verse 8 Jesus says this:
Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””
What now?
We are to be witnesses. Our Jerusalem, can be the living rooms in our homes! To those closest to us, we are to be witnesses.
I always think of the ripple affect of tossing a pebble into a smooth body of water, and how each ripple gets wider and wider. From Jerusalem to the end of the earth...
So, let’s wrap this up today.
When we consider Pentecost, let us take this with us:
Pentecost is:
A time to offer to God Leviticus 23:16
A sound from Heaven Acts 2:2
Harvest Matthew 13:8
Unity John 17:20-26 so
As we think about the Holy Spirit, remember that He:
Draws us by His grace to the Father
He intercedes with us, and within us, helping us to pray
He teaches and admonishes us when we read scripture
He gives us the gift of discernment, so we might have the mind of Christ!
He applies and nurtures the fruit of the spirit in our lives
He assures us of our forgiveness, and our adoption as children of God
Have you ever thought about this?:
We cannot make ourselves Holy.
The Holy Spirit is the One who makes us holy.
Hopefully, today we’ve had a fresh look on the importance of Pentecost, and how and why the Holy Spirit came,
-or, at the very least it causes you to dig deeper in your walk with Jesus.
