Today is Pentecost Sunday!

The church began on the Day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:1-4, 47). In obedience to Jesus, one hundred and twenty of His followers were gathered in the upper room awaiting the promise of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 1:4-5, 15). 

When the Day of Pentecost was fully come, Jesus poured out His Spirit and they all began to speak in other tongues as His Spirit gave them the utterance. (Acts 2:1-4).

Filled with the Holy Ghost and with the keys of the kingdom of heaven given to him by Jesus, Peter preached the first gospel message. (Acts 2:4, Matthew 16:19, Acts 2:14-40). 

At the conclusion, he declared what we must do to be saved – “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38).

"For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 

“And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward [wicked] generation. 

“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls [3,000 were added to the 120 in the upper room that were already baptized]." - Acts 2:39-41 KJV

"And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers ... And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." - Acts 2:42, 47 KJV

*This chart is from the Bible Study, "Exploring God's Word."

Pentecost - Part 5

 Pentecost - Part 5

On Sunday May 28th we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost means "Fiftieth" and is 7 Sundays after Easter. The holiday of Pentecost is also called The Feast of Weeks and Shavuot.

On the Jewish calendar, Shavuot is celebrated this year from sunset May 25th to nightfall May 27th. It is a two-day holiday that commemorates the date over 3,000 years ago when God gave the Torah (the Law) to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai.

"Shavuot" means "weeks," occuring seven weeks after Passover. Shavuot is also the celebration of the wheat harvest and the ripening of the first fruits. It is called, "Day of the First Fruits" and also the "Harvest Festival."

Jesus, in His perfect timing, chose this day to pour out His Spirit upon His followers, beginning His new covenant with His church.

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." - Acts 2:1-4 

On Pentecost, Jesus wrote His law on believer's hearts, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah of the new covenant.

"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." - Jeremiah 31:33 

These believers would be the first fruits of the harvest.

Pentecost: An Acceptable Sacrifice Consumed By the Fire and Filled With the Spirit - Part 4

 

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." - Acts 2:1-4 KJV

When Solomon dedicated the first temple in Jerusalem with sacrifices, God accepted the sacrifices by consuming them with fire from heaven. They were acceptable sacrifices. And the glory of the LORD filled the Temple.

"Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house." - 2 Chronicles 7:1 KJV 

The hundred and twenty that were gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost were disciples of Jesus. Because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and their repentance and baptism in Jesus name, these disciples were acceptable sacrifices to God. (Leviticus 22:20, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Romans 12:1, Romans 15:16).

"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." - Acts 2:3 KJV

Then, the glory of the Lord filled their temple.

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." - Acts 2:4 KJV

Consumed by the fire of the Holy Ghost, filled with the Spirit, they became the newly dedicated temple of God.

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV

Pentecost - The Sound of the Spirit Part 3

 

Before He ascended up into heaven, Jesus commanded His disciples to wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 1:4-5) The baptism of the Holy Ghost is being filled with the Spirit of Jesus. (John 14:16-18).

Jesus had told Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, that except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5). Jesus compared being born of the Spirit to the wind.

Jesus said the wind blows wherever it wants. You cannot tell where it is coming from or where it is going but you can hear the sound of it. Jesus said it is the same as every one that is born of the Spirit. (Acts 10:45-46).

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." - John 3:8 KJV

On the day of Pentecost, when the one hundred and twenty in the upper room were born of the Spirit, there was a sound AS of a rushing mighty wind.

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. ... And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." - Acts 2:1-2, 4 KJV

Just as Jesus said, when those in the upper room were born of the Spirit, there was a sound as of the wind. The Bible says the sound came from heaven. This sound from heaven was the sound of those in the upper room speaking in other tongues (other languages) as the Spirit gave them utterance. With an hundred and twenty disciples all being filled with the Holy Ghost at once, it was the sound of a rushing mighty wind!

No one could see where the Spirit of Jesus came from, and where it went after it filled each of the disciples, but they heard the sound!

Pentecost Part 2

 On the Day of Pentecost, Jesus poured out His promised Holy Ghost on all those gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem.

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." - Acts 2:4

"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? ... We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." - Acts 2:5-8, 11

The disciples had just received the promised Holy Ghost. Peter was about to preach the Gospel of the kingdom. (Acts 1:4-5, Matthew 16:19).

In what language was the Gospel preached on the day of Pentecost?

The Jews that were gathered in Jerusalem that day not only knew their native language from the country they were from, but as Jews, they also knew the Hebrew language.

Because all those that were gathered were religious Jews, it is most likely Peter was preaching in the Hebrew language.

The gospel message on the day of Pentecost was preached by Peter, not by the hundred and twenty speaking in tongues. The Bible clearly records the preaching that day, and it was by Peter. (Acts 2:14-40)

“But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:” – Acts 2:14 

Peter’s conclusion at the end of his Gospel message:

“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” – Acts 2:38

Pentecost - Part 1

This coming Sunday, May 28, the Day of Pentecost is celebrated. It is called "Pentecost Sunday."

The Day of Pentecost was one of three holy days that all male Jews were to present themselves before the Lord at the Temple in Jerusalem. This is why there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven present in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:5). Pentecost is also called "feast of weeks," or "Shavuot." (Deuteronomy 16:16). 

Before Jesus ascended up into heaven, He spoke to His disciples:

"And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." - Acts 1:4-5 KJV

When the Lord poured out His Spirit, the Holy Ghost, on the hundred and twenty Jews gathered in the upper room, they all began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance. (Acts 2:4).

Tongues is another word for languages. (Acts 2:6). When they spoke in tongues, it was in a language which they had not learned. (Acts 2:7). God spoke through them as they allowed God to change their words into another language. (Acts 2:8). This was the beginning of tongues as the sign of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:4, Acts 10:45-46, Acts 19:6).

Because God poured out His Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, there were witnesses present from every country in the world to hear the hundred and twenty speaking in tongues. The disciples didn’t understand the words they were uttering, but those that were there from around the world did. (Acts 2:5-11).

What did they hear in their native language? They heard them speaking of the wonderful works of God. (Acts 2:11). This speaking in tongues was a sign to them that this was an act of God – pouring out His Spirit on these disciples. This signaled the fulfillment of Joel’s last days prophecy. (Acts 2:16-18). God’s promise had begun to be fulfilled. (Acts 1:4, Acts 2:33, Acts 2:39).

To be continued...

Church!

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24 KJV

I will "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." - Psalm 100:4 KJV

"For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations." - Psalm 100:5 KJV