The Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot in Hebrew, was just starting in Jerusalem as the book of Acts begins. Psalm 139:710 says, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? So Jesus had to rebuke them. Pentecost was a Jewish festival fifty days after the Passover. And then there came a time, in verse 4, where they were assembled together with Him and 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.". Prior to Pentecost, the Apostles, though often zealous and willing to make sacrifices to follow Jesus, were also slow to understand and often confused. Not many days, we would look at it roughly 10 days from that 40-day period. 3. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Now, when we turn over to Acts chapter 1, and we look at, kind of summing up of this as it is. Their disbelief would extend not only to the idea that the dead could come back to life, as He did, but then they doubted the truth of these witnesses. "And fear came upon every soul," and this was a different type of fear. Fear not" (Haggai 2:5). These were redeemed from among men being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. In verse 14, it says, "Then later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and He rebuked them, rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen." They drank it, they washed in it, it watered their crops and turned their mill-wheels. It goes on, "When He had spoken these things," in verse 9, "they watched and He was taken up in a cloud, received Him out of their sight. A halo was seen glowing brightly above Jesus' head. They were going up against a lot, just as we go up against our world today, and ourselves, and what Satan might throw at us. When you look and you understand what was taking place, here are people who've been terrified, they had been doubtful, unbelieving to one degree or the other during this previous 50-day period. When He approached, they thought they saw a spirit and were afraid, and of course, Peter became afraid when he saw the waves and felt the wind, when he was attempting to walk on the waves to Jesus. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. When thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the ground.". Copy. Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Expand And the tomb was empty, and the disciples had seen Jesus, and the authorities were beside themselves trying to figure it out, looked for the body. When the disciples saw the Lord, they became very happy. That is what caused people to see something in those disciples and to want to be a part of it. Every generation of God's people have done that. Historically, Pentecost ( Shavout) is a Jewish feast celebrating the giving of the Torah and the summer wheat harvest. Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. Could it mean that apostles had just some spiritual gifts like healing before Pentecost, but after it they received gift of prophesy and gift of tongues? Jesus began to teach them, we read, from the Law of Moses, from the prophets, the Scriptures about Him, to explain to them what had happened. That's the famous road to Emmaus experienced from the book of Luke, "and they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either." He greeted them and showed them his hands and his side. He said He wouldn't and He didn't, even though there was a moment in time when they thought that they were orphaned, as they stood gazing up and looking and wondering, "What do we do next. And He leaves them on the Mount of Olives, which is a very, very significant geographic feature there on the east of Jerusalem across from the city, and through the Kidron Valley and up on this Mount called Olives. Some say that they wound up in the temple precincts; could very well be. From this point, they had only 10 days. And that power would be what would begin to banish the fear, the troubling, doubt, that they had, coupled with the Word of God that they were to have. As we have received the gift of God's Spirit, as those on that first day of Pentecost received the gift of the Holy Spirit were brought into the Church, they became, and so are we, partakers of the divine nature. The country folk downstream depended on it. We've just read it. The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!. Another reason, I suspect, is because they were overwhelmed with disappointment by Jesus' arrest. Thomas replied, You are my Lord and my God! Again Jesus in John 15 talks about Spirit that he will send it, does this mean they yet had no Spirit upon them? But on the day when the reservoir poured through the turbines a power was unleashed that spread far beyond the few folk down river and brought possibilities they had only dreamed of. As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. They saw it in different ways and understood it completely different from anything from our frame of reference and they were ascribing, would have been ascribing then even to Jesus something that was not of God, which in itself can be a problem. And I think there was and is today a special touch or filling of the Holy Spirit that elevates the work of an artist or a musician or a craftsman from mere technical skill to divinely empowered ministry that exalts God and builds faith. But if you don't forgive their sins, they will not be forgiven. That's how we live the Word, that's how we drink in the Word, and it changes our life and it banishes the fear, gives us confidence in who we are and what we are to do. The OT believers were saved the same way we are: they were born of the Spirit, they trusted in God's promises, and they followed his commandments in the obedience of faith. How was Simeon able to have the Holy Spirit upon him prior to Pentecost? All the gods of doubtand I say gods with a little g, because doubt, and guilt, and fear can really separate us from Godthe gods of doubt, and fear, and unbelief have all been shredded by Jesus Christ. PrivacyPolicyTerms ofUse. It was one of the three great pilgrim feasts that every Jewish male was required to attend (see Deuteronomy 16:16 ). And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, and it appeared to them, divided tongues as of fire. This was something that was spiritual in nature, that bound them together and they prayed, they studied the Scripture, and they praised God, it says, and because of that, their example caused them to have favor with people and others were drawn to their example at that time. They came together, in verse 1 of chapter 2, "On the day of Pentecost when it was fully come, they were with one accord in one place. They turned the world upside down because they fully understood two simple . Has 90% of ice around Antarctica disappeared in less than a decade? And every breath you take ought to be a prayer of thanks that you live and move and have your being in the Spirit of God. And they did, and thousands were added to the Church that day. Every minister's dream, to give one sermon and thousands of people get baptized and join the Church in one day, every minister's fantasy. Surely we have need today of men and women filled by the Spirit to expose and denounce evils in our society that are hardly blinked at any more: the exploitation of women's bodies and debasement in advertising, the unconscionable destruction of human life through abortion on demand, the maneuvers of our own country to destabilize other governments, the gross waste and gluttony of American life, the cavalier attitude to divorce and remarriage which God hates, and the multi-million dollar promotion of alcohol and cigarettes as anything less than family-destroyers and body-killers. He greeted his disciples and said to Thomas, Put your finger here and look at my hands! That's what the gift of the Holy Spirit is for us. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43years. Otherwise how would they ever overcome their natural hostility to God? It's God's Spirit that is the only thing that we can have to overcome those fears, because really, it's all the Church of God has ever had. Luke 1:15 says that John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womband he got his head chopped off for denouncing Herod's unlawful marriage. Peter was quoting Scripture and applying it to something that had happened and that is Jesus, His death and His resurrection. Instead, they turned the world upside down. 1 Samuel 11:6 When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. The same things were going through their minds that go through our minds. As I was sitting there gazing around, nobody came. And we must live knowing that way. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues a as the Spirit enabled them. '", And so Luke's account gives us a very specific instruction, how He told them, You wait in Jerusalem and then you will receive the power from on high. And that is what they were doing as they waited for that period of time to come about. Jesus continued: "Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. Does anybody care? And so Christ gives them teaching and He gives them understanding. And again, He gives, through Mark's account here, He gives the same commission to go. Beginning with Easter Sunday (e.g., Luke 24:32,45) and most likely throughout the forty days before ascending, the Lord instructed and formed the Apostles in the Gospel. She went and told those who had been with Him as they mourned and wept." Far more people than they could have ever imagined and Peter gets up and gives the sermon of his life. And this express bus took Route 66 out of St. Louis all the way to Los Angeles, my first time to get on that fabled highway, Route 66. It is a remarkable period of church history, because right here we have a vision being fulfilled that Jesus Christ has for His Church. I happen to think that they, no doubt during this period of time, as the days go on they talked and they read. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. An eyewitness account, there was a lack of belief that put them in the situation here that they did not understand and didn't believe that had actually happened. And if those are the weapons of our warfare, then we can handle them. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. If we can learn to take on the divine nature and drink that in, in our lives, then we can banish doubt, uncertainty, and fear, unbelief, that will creep in at various times as we go through our lives, and stages in the developments of life. 20:22), which also tends to disrupt the theology of some! And it just caused them to proverbially tear their clothes and rush at them and ultimately to the point of Stephen and they stoned him. Read the Bible, discover plans, and seek God every day. And then going on here, in verse 44, "He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms concerning Me.' Jesus was enveloped within a pillar of fire, but was not harmed. Mt., 47 counts, XII, 30-37)<br> <br> Gospel Reading (Matthew 71 ch., XVII, 10-18)<br> <br>10 And his disciples asked . And it is Christ in us that is that hope of glory. It is the Word of God and it is the Spirit of God that did it for them, and will do it for you and for I today as we live our lives, as we go about our lives. We take that for the story that it is, and the gift of tongues, and the speaking of tongues that the Scriptures talk about but we don't see that as what we need to be doing in practice or in faith, but it is a dramatic story. And you have to understand that and realize that, that's what they were doing during that period of time as well. A period of unity, one accord, fellowship, love for one another, treating people as equals, not in a completely socialistic manner that we understand from our modern context of socialism, or the welfare type of society. And I was going to go out to California, my first trip to California, visit my brother for about three weeks. The Sadducees were more focused on the Five Books of Moses than the history and prophets. Although John does not say this is the point when the disciples were born again, or that was when the New Covenant started, Erwin takes it to mean both: "it marks the transition from the terms of the old covenant to those of the new covenant" (p. 20). If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." . Why are you standing around gazing? They were kind of like this, and like this. 157 views, 3 likes, 4 loves, 3 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Mora Grace Lutheran Church: Music used with permission from CCLI Again, nothing like this had been a part of their frame of reference before. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. INTRODUCTION Jesus told the disciples to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit before doing ministry. They had not been a part of anything like that before. He went on to show that, "It's not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to Gods law; indeed, it cannot. That's how I imagine it and He was home, He was back at, He was at the third heaven. This means that all the saints of the OT who trusted God and followed his ways in the obedience of faith were born again by the Spirit and indwelt by the Spirit. They were with Him and they asked Him in verse 6, "Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" , Debbie, have served in what were the disciples afraid of before pentecost temple precincts ; could very well be a wind. 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