The Word of God. 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. "And all who believed were together and they had all things in common. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren. Seventh, the saints of old experienced victory over fear by the presence of the Spirit. And so they didn't really think about that, and yet all of a sudden it came upon them. The NT first Pentecost was the demarcation point when the Holy Spirit first indwelled people. This makes it seem that the Disciples were astonished, but those who followed behind them were afraid. But that was a life lesson that I had to learn. Exodus 31:15 says, "The Lord said to Moses, 'See, I have called by name Bezalel . How was Simeon able to have the Holy Spirit upon him prior to Pentecost? Eighth, some OT believers were enabled by the Spirit to do extraordinary feats of power to help God's people. 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. Finally, the Holy Spirit gave some in the OT a gift of prophecy. Far more people than they could have ever imagined and Peter gets up and gives the sermon of his life. People should see God in us. My Spirit abides among you. It doesn't lie within man's own power to risk his life and stand up for the truth of God and denounce sin. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. "Let all things be done for edification" (1 Corinthians 14:26). And so Christ gives them teaching and He gives them understanding. As such, it requires a sabbath. 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. Copy. The man with the epileptic son initially brought his son to the disciples to be cured. They had hoped He would overcome the power of the Roman government and establish a new kingdom, and now their hopes of this vanished. Picture a huge dam for hydroelectric power under construction, like the Aswan High Dam on the Nile, 375 feet high and 11,000 feet across. 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. He was just [snaps fingers] gone, He was there. And what happened? 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. Christ did not leave His disciples as orphans. I didn't know how to read a board to tell me these things. Or: "The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him and the ropes which were on his arms became as flax" (15:14). Would it make any difference for our lives today if we knew the answer? Now, when we turn over to Acts chapter 1, and we look at, kind of summing up of this as it is. 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. The vision of the Church was coming together and the mission of the Church was being accomplished. And if those are the weapons of our warfare, then we can handle them. It was celebrated 50 days after Passover and was marked by pilgrims coming to Jerusalem from all over the world to celebrate the event. We give ourselves to that devotion, to that devoted study and the process of taking on the nature of God. We sometimes just kind of tail off when we get to the end of one of the Gospels and we know the events, Christ was crucified, Christ was risen, and we don't look at some of the details there. Well, the real answer is for you and I, the same things that are going through your mind right now, and my mind. 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? But they saw Him for a period of time, and that's how I like to imagine it. Old Testament saints knew then and Christians know today that victory over all threats and obstacles belongs to God. God not only designed how he wanted his tabernacle built, he also equipped the craftsmen to do it. And allows us to then grow, because the next few verses here of 2 Peter speaks to a process of spiritual empowerment and growth and development. Chapter 4 takes as its starting point the gift of speaking in tongues from the narrative of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-13. . Though a miracle had taken place in front of them, that still wasn't enough to remove the doubt and fear. Jesus was enveloped within a burning bush, but was not harmed. Peter says, "In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy." 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. It says, "The eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. "What do we do?" 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. When God wanted to encourage the people to rebuild the temple after the exile, he said, "Work, for I am with you . On that day of Pentecost, people who had been doubtful were moved to speak powerfully, to repentance, to belief, and to action. The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!. 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. And so two things create this vision and this mission. Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn't with the others when Jesus appeared to them. But after Pentecost the power of the Spirit spread out to light the whole world. 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." As we came here this morning, to services, and as we gathered here this morning ourselves, there is a very important lesson for us to learn as well. Did they experience fear, doubt, and disbelief as we sometimes do? Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. And it was the high priest and those people who had engineered His death, and they knew the power that they did have. 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. Everybody who gets up and gives a sermon in a congregation, that sermon before it's ever posted on a website, has been reviewed or at least approved by individuals within the congregation. That's how I imagine it and He was home, He was back at, He was at the third heaven. It is the ideal to which every subsequent church period has wished to be able to emulate, including ours today. 3. So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! 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. Jesus was enveloped within a pillar of fire, but was not harmed. He spent days and days, and weeks and weeks doing that, bringing new dimension of understanding to the Scriptures that they had never had. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 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. "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). 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. United Church of Godis a501(c)3organization. If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! The Day of Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter in Western branches of Christianity. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues a as the Spirit enabled them. And you have to understand that and realize that, that's what they were doing during that period of time as well. Trials hit us that will shake our faith, test our faith. None of the benefits enjoyed in the pre-Pentecostal days were taken away. etc.'. And so they had become a part of something that again, they were still trying to understand. https://www.bible.com/bible/392/JHN.20.19-29.CEV. Mark chapter 16, verse 9, now, "When He rose early on the first day of the week," speaking of Christ's resurrection. They weren't orphans, and we are not either in our life. And in the room of the house where they were gathered, it obviously became a little bit too small for all that took place, because as these other people take note of it, you get the impression they moved out into a more public location in Jerusalem. And therein, lies a key to the understanding of what had taken place with these individuals here. They had been told to be there, to wait in Jerusalem until that day. PrivacyPolicyTerms ofUse. And you will be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." It gives me a lot of encouragement, when I am called to go places where I feel insecure, to know that the Spirit is within to give me the words I need and that he is also already in the place where I am going to prepare the way and to hold me when I get there. I am not comfortable with that speculation. If you forgive anyone's sins, they will be forgiven. Otherwise how would they ever overcome their natural hostility to God? "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. Question 8. 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. For example, in the life of Samson we read, "The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him and he tore the lion asunder as one tears a kid" (Judges 14:6). In light of Acts 10:44-48, were the disciples in Acts 2 praising/exalting God in tongues (contrary to the view that they were "preaching" in tongues)? Was Galileo expecting to see so many stars? Jesus showed Himself for 40 days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3). Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 7:50; 19:9). This is the dimension that was given on Pentecost, and what this day is all about for those of us who are the firstfruits. The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders, and on the evening of that same Sunday they locked themselves in a room. Synopsis: When Jesus walked on the water to join the disciples in their boat, the Gospel mentioned that they were afraid - twice. The difference between a historian and a preacher is that the historian says, "Was it so?" And perhaps like you and I would today, we might look at it as a little bit odd. 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. What was on their mind? 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. We can take on that nature and we can live. I want to show you ten ways the Old Testament saints experienced the Holy Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. We've just read it. So there is going to be a gap. 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 one of the three great pilgrim feasts that every Jewish male was required to attend (see Deuteronomy 16:16 ). 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. This then begins to be the anchor and the soil into which they can anchor a life of faith that they were to have and to develop. Learning and labor which do not lead people in love to God are not prompted by the Spirit of Christ. This was a healthy fear of respect and awe and wonder at now what had happened. The disciples had to walk a week away to get to Jerusalem (Acts 1:12). Pre-Feast of the Origin of the Fair Trees of the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord. I don't think it was an intergalactic tour that He was on to get to the third heaven. 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. And you can begin to imagine how this dynamic begins to must have been being set up within the disciples, because when you begin to doubt one another, you begin to lose trust. And we have by and large absorbed their mechanistic view of things. Week 8 to Pentecost. Thomas replied, You are my Lord and my God! These were not terrified, doubtful people. 1. Every now and then in extraordinary circumstances of need the Spirit enables ordinary Christians to perform amazing feats of rescue far beyond their ordinary capacitylike lifting a car off of a pinned husband or escaping from a raging rapist. After Pentecost, a radical transformation took place. Today the Spirit still instructs us by the Word of Scripture and we ought to pray earnestly for an outpouring of God's enlightening Spirit so that the Scriptures really live for us and become intensely personal. Hadn't He told them that He'd come back to life again? Go, therefore, make disciples of nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded, and lo, I am with you, always, even to the end of the age.'" And Peter thence begins to quote Scripture. It's an encouraging sermon, it's very pointed and direct, that includes a dramatic call to repentance. What is the difference between "receiving the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:14-20; 19:1-7) and "being filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 9:17; 4:31)? The NIV adds the word "disciples," saying, "The disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid." But the word "disciples" is not in the Textus Receptus Greek text. We often think a miracle would be just what we need. And yet some doubted. We can accomplish the work of God, and we can then be the firstfruits who follow the Lamb and who know their God and do mighty deeds and mighty exploits. answer choices. Thus, the Pentecost is the culmination, the ultimate gift of Spirit, when the apostles get Him to such an extent and intensity that they can already be emboldened by Him to preach to all corners of the world, withstanding all calamities and opposing powers. And it is also the mission of the Church, we see right here, it has begun. But on that 50th day, from the morning after Christ's resurrection, a lot had happened. Is the promise of "power" in Acts 1:8 only for the apostles or for Christians in all ages? But they were frightened and they thought that they had seen a spirit. He was the one who was the leader of that doubt and fear and terrified approach, because he denied Christ three times, and he had to be pointedly taught by Jesus. 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. 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. The Spirit gives that courage. Fourth, OT believers experienced the Spirit of God as their Counselor or Teacher. 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? The second power that they'd run up against was that of the Jewish authorities. However, of course, the apostles had smack of the Spirit even before, for even before Spirit was present in them to a certain degree and intensity; they possessed the Spirit-ual gifts even before the Pentecost, however the gifts of the Infinite Spirit are also infinite and at the Pentecost they got a greater share of this graceful infinity, so as to totally be absorbed in it. They were with Him and they asked Him in verse 6, "Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" Micah 3:8 says, "As for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin." 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." These are the ones who are not defiled with women, they are virgins, spiritual virgins. People should see that in us. The world sees a mechanical process of evolution and natural selection. 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. That Christianity grew, after such a brief inception, into the world religion we know to today is testimony to the power of the message Jesus preached. Afterwards, though, they go about with the boldness described here. It wasn't there and so a lot had happened in that 50-day period that brought them to that morning of Pentecost. It only takes a minute to sign up. Now all of a sudden, as Peter steps forward, and of course, you know the story of Peter. With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later! And it is Christ in us that is that hope of glory. That's what this day is all about as a firstfruit. When did the disciples become born -again? Thanks for contributing an answer to Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange! Again, I think that is an example of using an . About 10 days earlier, Christ had finally ascended for the final time and they were left alone. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.". And . rev2023.3.1.43269. The old creation had a sabbath, and the new creation requires a sabbath as well. So it's something for us to examine in our own way, see how much of that is being demonstrated in our life. And yet, they had not been able to completely separate the fact that now what they were part of was the real, the real thing, because Christ had died. But all of this in the midst of a troubled, terrified, frightened mindset that they were having to work through, during these days between the resurrection and Pentecost. They were looking for power from on high. But they did so no more." I was standing there gazing, not quite knowing what to do. As I got up this morning, prepared to come over here, go through the day, same things that will be in my mind tomorrow, and next Thursday, and a month from today. Colossians 2:15 Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.American King James Version, tells us that He disarmed the powers with His death. I think it will make a difference. Most people believe the disciples were assembled in the "upper room" when the holy spirit of YEHOVAH God descended upon them during that Pentecost of 31 A.D. First, and most basic, the OT believers were conscious of God's Spirit as the Creator and Sustainer of their natural life. She went and told those who had been with Him as they mourned and wept." 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. 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