Before that the Holy Spirit came on people for specific gifts and purposes. It is a remarkable period of church history, because right here we have a vision being fulfilled that Jesus Christ has for His Church. Chapter 4 takes as its starting point the gift of speaking in tongues from the narrative of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-13. . About 10 days earlier, Christ had finally ascended for the final time and they were left alone. If we can make that decision and live with that reality that there is a God who lives, and before Him we stand every single day of our life and every major decision, every small decision of character, and the decisions that we make in the privacy of our own mind, and in our own actions that not everyone knows about, not even our mate, all are in accordance with righteousness and a desire for righteousness. Of course, on the day that He died there had been an earthquake, the sun had turned to dark at midday, people had come out of their graves and it had set Jerusalem all abuzz. And I was going to go out to California, my first trip to California, visit my brother for about three weeks. 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. Jesus was enveloped within a burning bush, but was not harmed. Before or after this instance. Or is it? The second obvious change in the lives of the disciples was in their spiritual strength. What was the doubt that was nagging away at them even as they saw Him, and even worshiped Him, knowing that they as they did know that He had died, and yet there was doubt? Jesus was enveloped within a pillar of fire, but was not harmed. When people are filled with the Holy Spirit, they do not blink at evil. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren. This was just three and a half years, and in really a few weeks, seven weeks and a day of intense thought, emotion, that they had to grapple with and deal with as they came into the presence of one another on the morning of Pentecost. The indwelling Spirit permanently dwells in the believer. Every generation of God's people have done that. And you have to understand that and realize that, that's what they were doing during that period of time as well. So the Word of God is what Jesus took and explained, it is what the Church went to, to explain what was happening, and then, it is the Spirit of God. How can I explain to my manager that a project he wishes to undertake cannot be performed by the team? Why were Jesus' disciples so disheartened and fearful after His death? And I sat, and I sat, and I thought somebody will come along and tell me what to do. The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. And as we've seen, even when they were confronted with the miracle of Christ's resurrection, and they recognized that they still had to deal with the hostility of the world around them, in a kind of a two-pronged government called the Roman Empire and the Jewish society, plus their own human nature, and themselves. Even as the reservoir was filling, part of the river was allowed to flow past. Week 8 to Pentecost. "Also for this very reason, giving all diligence into your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, the divine nature. INTRODUCTION Jesus told the disciples to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit before doing ministry. I didn't know how to read a board to tell me these things. We all have signs, we take certain things as signs. That is what caused them to banish their fear, trouble, doubt, and unbelief: Christ in them through the Holy Spirit. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.". The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!. Put your hand into my side. And this dramatic miracle, but beyond that, 3,000 people being added to the Church, and then a community being developed. It was celebrated 50 days after Passover and was marked by pilgrims coming to Jerusalem from all over the world to celebrate the event. It was true then. And because both were working together, the mission and the vision, there was a remarkable picture being described here by Luke, of the Church at peace. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. These accounts of like what we have read in the gospels and others for a 40-day period. rev2023.3.1.43269. "He appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom He had cast seven demons. Friday. ; 39:29) and Joel (2:28) prophesied and longed to see. Christ Is Risen - An Easter plan by Matt Maher, The Essential 100 Bible Challenge14The Cross Of Christ. Jerusalem was swelled with pilgrims, at this point in time, and this added to the drama of the moment. But how could the various prophecies found in Ezekiel, Joel and Zechariah be fulfilled if this were true? And all the others came right in and were a part of it with him. These were not terrified, doubtful people. Some say apostles got Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And . When I got off the bus from my hometown, I was in this large room, this large terminal, it was as larger, even larger than this room here, which for me, from my small town was a pretty big thing to walk into, and I did, first time I had ever traveled. Prior to Pentecost, the Apostles and disciples gathered in fear, behind locked doors. Really. That power would come in the form of the Holy Spirit. And then they had seen that He was resurrected. But it is also due to a much simpler and . So there is going to be a gap. Our sins will find us out. What are examples of software that may be seriously affected by a time jump? In other words, Peter says, we have entered the last days: the Messiah has come, he has accomplished redemption on the cross, he has risen and ascended to the right hand of God, and the interval before he returns in glory will be marked by an incomparable outpouring of the Holy Spirit on men and women, old and young, slave and free, near and far. 60 seconds. Life, that a doubt every once in a while creeps in, sometimes an unbelief, fear, bonds of trust might be tested. And so Luke's account brings this together. That's what this day is all about as a firstfruit. But after Pentecost the power of the Spirit spread out to light the whole world. And speaking about the deep things of the Kingdom of God to prepare them for what they were to take part in, and what they were to be a part of. And therein, lies a key to the understanding of what had taken place with these individuals here. Then I finally figured out, "Oh, I got to do this myself. Luke 24:49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. The difference between a historian and a preacher is that the historian says, "Was it so?" We have a very involved, and very good, and a very detailed review process at many different levels of our writings, of our speaking in the United Church of God today. And those days you didn't fear getting on a Greyhound bus, and you could go all over the country on a very cheap pass. 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. But she said, "Go ahead Ruth, you go home too," and Ruth says, "Your God will be my God, wherever you go, I will go." None of the benefits enjoyed in the pre-Pentecostal days were taken away. We do well to read about these things, and ask ourselves the simple question: if they experienced so much of God's Spirit which was but a trickle of the reservoir, how much more should we enjoy under the dozen turbines of Pentecost? 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." Is the promise of "power" in Acts 1:8 only for the apostles or for Christians in all ages? The second power that they'd run up against was that of the Jewish authorities. How does a fan in a turbofan engine suck air in? A firstfruit is one who follows Christ. The Roman Empire was not anything to fool around with. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:24). 38Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. The Victory over Fear On the day of the Pentecost, The Spirit of God came to them, filled their minds and their hearts and their entire being. And we must live knowing that way. At the end of John, you remember, John says, there were so many other things that He did in his life and no doubt probably part of that 40-day period that it would take volumes to teach it, and to record it during this period. How can I recognize one? No, He said wait till, wait in Jerusalem, and so they were there and they continued. Pentecost was a Jewish festival fifty days after the Passover. Psalm 104 celebrates the wonder and variety of all living things and says (vv. Centering layers in OpenLayers v4 after layer loading. It goes on, verse 12, "After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country." It was the Roman soldiers that had carried out the death of Christ and had sealed the tomb and a Roman guard had been placed there. Did they doubt that it was real? Luke chapter 24. There was doubt. In 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter writes, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. He spent days and days, and weeks and weeks doing that, bringing new dimension of understanding to the Scriptures that they had never had. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. 2930), "When thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 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 answer is not Pentecost. At least part of the answer to that is found in the teaching on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 1214, which we will soon begin to study in an evening series. Stop doubting and have faith! They looked upon them then as liars, charlatans, or fools, maybe a bit delusional. What is this gift of prophecy? Mark chapter 16, verse 9, now, "When He rose early on the first day of the week," speaking of Christ's resurrection. By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. And so they didn't really think about that, and yet all of a sudden it came upon them. Instead of competing, the disciples were now cooperating. How Believers Experienced the Spirit Before Pentecost, John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. Think about that among our own relationships with each other. But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! And yet Peter does, and he gives a bold sermon. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped corruption that is in the world through lust." It is the ideal to which every subsequent church period has wished to be able to emulate, including ours today. The elixir, the antidote to our faith, to every one of our problems, if we could see a miracle; and we like signs, but miracles, well, they're a little harder to come up with. And you will be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." LISTEN NOW. Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration. Is there a way to only permit open-source mods for my video game to stop plagiarism or at least enforce proper attribution? It was by God's Spirit that the prophets spoke to the people God's Word (Nehemiah 9:30), and it was by the Spirit that the people were enabled to grasp and apply the Word. We often think a miracle would be just what we need. For example, Numbers 14:24 says of Caleb, "My servant Caleb, because he has a different Spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into this land." We know in Acts chapter 2, when we turn there and look at the story alluded to in the sermonette here this morning, that they were gathered together. 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. That He had to rebuke them and teach them. The man with the epileptic son initially brought his son to the disciples to be cured. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. And God will expose sin, ours to ourselves, sometimes to others. Which again points forward to the last days inaugurated at Pentecost. 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. Just think, if Jews returning from God's judgment in Babylonian exile can take heart that God's Spirit will protect them, how much more fearless should we be who have the overwhelming assurance of God's love and power in Jesus' death and resurrection!
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