WE’VE GOT THE POWER – 4
“It’s Time To Celebrate!”
Text: Deuteronomy 16:5,6,8-12
Introduction: Over the past several weeks I’ve been preaching a series of messages on, “We’ve God The Power”. The 1st message, “Where It All Began”, talked about when the New Testament Church actually began. We found, through Scripture, that it actually began at the ascension of Christ. The 2nd message, “What’s The Purpose”, talked about what the purpose of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is all about – individually and collectively. The 3rd message, “Wake Up Sleepy Head”, talked about how to wake up the sleeping giant, the Church. We do that through receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the dunamis power that accompanies it. J.B. Phillips said, “Anyone who opens his personality to the living Spirit takes a risk of being considerably shaken.” You wake up the sleeping giant through absolute surrender. Phillip Yancey said, “Like a victorious locker room, church is a place to exult, to give thanks, to celebrate the great news that all is forgiven, that God is love, that victory is certain.” Absolute Surrender – body, mind, spirit, soul, and strength. (Pray).
Our text this morning is found in Deuteronomy 16. The Jews, according to Deuteronomy 16:5, celebrated the Passover (a symbol of the blood of Jesus to take away sin), before they celebrated the Day of Pentecost.
[Pentecost]. Means fifty, because the day of Pentecost occurred on the fiftieth day. It was calculated from the second day of unleavened bread. In the Old Testament it is called the Feast of Weeks, and also the Feast of Harvest. Its primary object was to thank God for the blessings of harvest. Why am I covering this? Again, I think it is very important to understand that the New Testament Church did not begin on the Day of Pentecost, but it began at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Acts 2 experience had nothing to do with the beginning of the Church, but it had to do with and still has to do with the receiving of Power! That is what the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is all about. Passover (which symbolizes New Testament salvation) happened 50 days prior to Pentecost! The Passover celebrated salvation; Pentecost celebrated the harvest. (expound)
I. Pentecost is about celebration! Look at verses 10-12.
A. Deut. 6:10-12 says, "Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.” "You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. "And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.”
B. There are several key words found in these Scriptures. They are: Tribute, Freewill Offering, Rejoice, Before the Lord, and Remember. Let’s look at what the Hebrew language has to say about these words.
1. Tribute - miccah (mis-saw’); (in the sense of flowing); abundance, i.e. (adverbially) liberally: tribute.
2. Freewill Offering - nedabah (ned-aw-baw’); spontaneity, or spontaneous; also abundant gift: free (-will) offering, freely, plentiful, voluntary.
3. Rejoice - samach (saw-makh’); To rejoice, to be glad - to rejoice (arrogantly), to exult (at) to rejoice (religiously) - (Piel) to cause to rejoice, to gladden, to make glad.
4. Before The Lord - paniym (paw-neem’); the face; presence. To be in front of, before, to the front of, in the presence of, in the face of, at the face or front of, from the presence of, from before, from before the face of.
5. Remember - zakar (zaw-kar’); To remember, to recall, to call to mind
a) to be brought to remembrance, to be remembered, to be thought of, to be brought to mind; c) (Hiphil) 1) to cause to remember, to remind 2) to cause to be remembered, to keep in remembrance 3) to mention (4) to record 5) to make a memorial, to make remembrance.
II. Pentecost is about celebration! That’s how one receives this dunamis power! By prayer and praise – by focusing our whole, absolute attention to the face of God. (expound).
A. Acts 2:1 says, “Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”
B. They were in one accord – openly, nakedly, praising God for their salvation – celebrating the Passover!
III. It was during this time of absolute abandonment of praise to God, that He “filled” them with dunamis power!
A. Acts 2:2-4 says, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (expound)
1. Utterance was the sign; the filling was the power.
IV. This Baptism, gave them Power! – not salvation. This was the Power Jesus said they would receive in Acts 1:8. Supernatural power and supernatural ability to witness their faith!
A. Acts 1:8 says, “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." (NKJ)
B. This was the very last thing that Jesus spoke to them before He was taken up into heaven. Because of that, it has great significance. (expound)
C. Notice also that while they were waiting (in one accord) for this promise, there is no mention of repentance! Why? Because they were already saved! They had already been filled with the Holy Ghost; what they got on the Day of Pentecost was the Baptism – the over-flowing of the Spirit already inside of them. (expound).
D. Jesus said in John 4:14. "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." Then in the 23rd verse He says, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (NKJ)
1. True - alethinos (al-ay-thee-nos’); 1) real, true genuine; a) opposite to what is fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary, simulated or pretended; b) opposite to what is imperfect defective, frail, uncertain
2. Worship - proskuneo (pros-koo-neh’-o); (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); 2) among the Orientals, especially the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence; 3) in the New Testament by kneeling or prostration to do homage.
Conclusion: A. W. Tozer said, “God dwells in a state of perpetual enthusiasm. He is delighted with all that is good and lovingly concerned about all that is wrong. He pursues His labors always in a fullness of holy zeal. No wonder the Spirit came at Pentecost as a sound of a rushing mighty wind and sat in tongues of fire on every forehead. ... Whatever else happened at Pentecost, one thing that cannot be missed by the most casual observer was the sudden upsurging of moral enthusiasm. Those first disciples burned with a steady, inward fire. They were enthusiastic to the point of complete abandon.”
William Temple said, “Nobody can be indwelt by the Spirit of God and keep that Spirit to himself. Where the Spirit is, he flows forth. And where there is no flowing forth, he is not there.”
On June 6, 1981, Doug Whitt and his bride, Sylvia, were escorted to their hotel’s fancy bridal suite in the wee hours of the morning. In the suite they saw a sofa, chairs, and table, but where was the bed? Then they discovered the sofa was a hide-a-bed, with a lumpy mattress and sagging springs. They spent a fitful night and woke up in the morning with sore backs.
“The new husband went to the hotel desk and gave the management a tongue-lashing. "Did you open the door in the room?" asked the clerk. Doug went back to the room. He opened the door they had thought was a closet. There, complete with fruit baskets and chocolates, was a beautiful bedroom! Opening all the doors in a honeymoon suite is like obeying all the words of Jesus. Discipleship is the door to happiness.” - Cynthia Thomas, Leadership Magazine (expound)
The Day of Pentecost was about celebration! And it was during this time of celebration that power came to all that were there. (expound
You can e-mail me at: Sharing_Him_Today@msn.com
