Instead of competing, the disciples were now cooperating. Joh 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but . I think it will make a difference. [Darris McNeely] On the morning of Pentecost 31 AD, what do you think was going through the minds of the assembled disciples in Jerusalem? Pentecost was a Jewish festival fifty days after the Passover. 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. And what was the key to that? I kind of think that He kind of, you know, elevated, and rose, and they saw Him, and they saw Him and the clouds, and the clouds, and then all of a sudden just like that, [snaps fingers] He was gone, kind of like in a "Star Trek" just a flash of light. I am not comfortable with that speculation. And we can be about the work that we see that the Church did then and has always done, of taking the message of salvation and of repentance to life, to people who need that message. 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." Finally, please know the disciples did receive the Spirit when Jesus breathed on them BEFORE Pentecost (Jn. 60 seconds. So Jesus had to rebuke them. Jesus continued: "Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. It is a remarkable period of church history, because right here we have a vision being fulfilled that Jesus Christ has for His Church. What we are seeing here is again, the power of the Word of God. The world sees a mechanical process of evolution and natural selection. and the preacher says, "So what?" Again, the answer is yes. "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). Such notions have always struck me as profoundly atheistic. Again Jesus in John 15 talks about Spirit that he will send it, does this mean they yet had no Spirit upon them? They had hoped He would overcome the power of the Roman government and establish a new kingdom, and now their hopes of this vanished. Acts 1:8 is the vital point about Pentecost. And let's look at it beginning in verse 36, this is after His resurrection, "As they said these things," this is the two that He had appeared to on the road to Emmaus, "Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, 'Peace to you.' We all have signs, we take certain things as signs. 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. "And He said to them, 'Thus it is written, thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and the remissions of sins would be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things. 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. It's an informed sermon. And . 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. On the day of Pentecost Peter said that in these last days "your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts 2:17). 1. They drank it, they washed in it, it watered their crops and turned their mill-wheels. "Let all things be done for edification" (1 Corinthians 14:26). None of the benefits enjoyed in the pre-Pentecostal days were taken away. Not only apostles, but even the prophets of the Old Testament, who are lower than apostles, had a degree of presence of Spirit in themselves, through Whom they prophesied (needn't to give references, for they are so numerous!). Joh 1:11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. Even before the dam was completed and the reservoir was officially unleashed on the day of Pentecost, the OT saints downstream enjoyed stupendous benefits from the river of God's 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. Did they doubt that it was real? 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. What happens?". How Believers Experienced the Spirit Before Pentecost, John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. After Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream about the coming famine, Pharaoh says, "Can we find such a man as this in whom is the Spirit of God?" I like that phrase. And then even when we see in the days after Jesus' final ascension, a roughly 10-day period, when they came to make a decision to replace Judas, they read Scripture, they applied it properly, God blessed the decision. They thought that Jesus Himself didn't actually know that asleep people wake up? This is what He does as He moves them through the Law of Moses, the Psalms, and the prophets, and opening their understanding. . (1 Cor., 148 pp., XI, 8-22). The vision of the Church was coming together and the mission of the Church was being accomplished. Now, it was all beginning to come together. And we have by and large absorbed their mechanistic view of things. Well, Pentecost is like the dedicatory opening of the Aswan High Dam. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Christ Is Risen - An Easter plan by Matt Maher, The Essential 100 Bible Challenge14The Cross Of Christ. How can I explain to my manager that a project he wishes to undertake cannot be performed by the team? And a voice from heaven like many waters, and the voice of thunder, and the sound of harpers playing their harps, they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. About 10 days earlier, Christ had finally ascended for the final time and they were left alone. Before or after this instance. 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. Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. So at 9:00 on Pentecost morning, while the disciples were praying, "a sound came from heaven like a rush of mighty wind . The Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot in Hebrew, was just starting in Jerusalem as the book of Acts begins. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. They turned the world upside down because they fully understood two simple . Now, when we turn over to Acts chapter 1, and we look at, kind of summing up of this as it is. After Pentecost, a radical transformation took place. In other words, I'm not teaching or requiring anything new. And they're seeing that, and it's the final time. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 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 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. That is what caused people to see something in those disciples and to want to be a part of it. Was the power they received in Matthew 10 different from the one they received in Acts 2? But we do not debate and discuss biblical topics. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. And so she was the first to see the empty tomb and have that appearance, and she goes and tells them. And this small group of people who had signed on to what they thought was a remarkable, gifted rabbi, and followed Him around and soon learned that they had fallen into something quite different than anything they could have ever imagined, as they witnessed miracles of loaves and fishes, and people being brought back to life, and dramatic healings. 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. The appearance of Jesus' face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. The country folk downstream depended on it. ", A church begins to develop. 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. 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." And perhaps like you and I would today, we might look at it as a little bit odd. 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. As such, it requires a sabbath. 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. Psalm 139:710 says, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? We often think a miracle would be just what we need. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up," and this is through the account here in Luke, then, would be the final bodily appearance of Jesus to them. 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." A: Yes, repeatedly Jesus assured them that although He would be put to death by His enemies, He would come back to life by the power of God. The hated Samaritans and the occupying Romans were both shown to be within the reach of the grace of God. And all the others came right in and were a part of it with him. We can deal with them. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. They thought that the body had been ferretted away by the disciples, someone had stolen it. Third, the OT believers enjoyed the constant presence of God's Spirit. From this point, they had only 10 days. But Thomas said, First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. Fear not" (Haggai 2:5). For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.". PTIJ Should we be afraid of Artificial Intelligence? Some say apostles got Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It wasn't there and so a lot had happened in that 50-day period that brought them to that morning of Pentecost. The disciples had seen Jesus reach out across ethnic and religious divides birth in His parables and in real life. They were looking for power from on high. The same Jesus who's been taken up will come in a like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." The gospels and the book of Acts tell us that would-be zealots and messiahs had come and gone. Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. People need to see that Spirit within us. Peter was quoting Scripture and applying it to something that had happened and that is Jesus, His death and His resurrection. Consider this question, with what we have just read: how could people filled with doubt, even a measure of unbelief, fear, general fear, intense fear, heightened fear, abject fearfear takes many different forms and guises; sometimes we can control our fear, sometimes it overcomes us and we're just shaking in our bootshow could a people dealing with all of these emotions during this 50-day period of time be expected to do what Jesus told them here in verse 8, they would do, when they have problems figuring it all out at that particular moment? This is the dimension that was given on Pentecost, and what this day is all about for those of us who are the firstfruits. "What do we do?" 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. And the people of God in this period are to be a people born of the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." And so it was very key that His final ascension would be from this mountain. But it is also due to a much simpler and . And then it came to an end, it came to a close. Read the Bible, discover plans, and seek God every day. They didn't know. People should see that in us. That's a little-understood part of what was taking place. 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. When did the disciples become born -again? They had come up against the two most powerful authorities of their day in their world. You know, before we ever get to that rushing wind that came in, it's good to think about this question, because it has a direct application to you and I today. Stop doubting and have faith! Eighth, some OT believers were enabled by the Spirit to do extraordinary feats of power to help God's people. Again, nothing like this had been a part of their frame of reference before. This was a healthy fear of respect and awe and wonder at now what had happened. 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. 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. On that day of Pentecost, people who had been doubtful were moved to speak powerfully, to repentance, to belief, and to action. And it was the high priest and those people who had engineered His death, and they knew the power that they did have. Thanks for contributing an answer to Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange! Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. 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? LISTEN NOW. Which again points forward to the last days inaugurated at Pentecost. This morning let me close simply by returning to the Aswan High Dam for a moment. 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 disciples met in the upper room after the ascension, but ten days elapsed between the ascension and the events described in Acts 2. Ninth, the Spirit enabled some OT believers to interpret God's revelation in dreams. The Day of Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter in Western branches of Christianity. 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). Probably the Spirit was their instructor in two senses. The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. 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. Being mentally separated from other people (because of being ashamed of lost of their 'cause') made them being afraid of people. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Expand The NT first Pentecost was the demarcation point when the Holy Spirit first indwelled people. Yet until the spirit was poured out at Pentecost, the disciples were a homogenous bunch. Copy. Jesus said, Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. 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)? Where is it being manifested in the church today? . We live in the days that Isaiah (44:3) and Ezekiel (11:19; 36:26f. And over a three and a half year period they had had their lives transformed and then they'd watched Him die. Surely for a Christian the only reason to study or be artistic is for God's sake. We've just read it. But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! 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. 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. How was Simeon able to have the Holy Spirit upon him prior to Pentecost? 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. Really. 157 views, 3 likes, 4 loves, 3 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Mora Grace Lutheran Church: Music used with permission from CCLI As you read on in Acts chapter 1, one of the main things they did was to choose a successor to Judas. The disciples had to walk a week away to get to Jerusalem (Acts 1:12). The Disciples' Sprititual Strength. But they did so no more." 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