What Now? (Continued)

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.”