Pentecost

Pentecost

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  Pentecost All NKJV unlessotherwise specified Acts 1 v4-14 4 And being assembled together with them, He (Jesus) commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. 13 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.  The disciples were to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. They had already undergone 3 years of training in the ministry of Jesus Christ. They were not yet to proceed without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The disciples were already aware of the word which Jesus spoke to them John 14 v15-18 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14v25-26 25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 15v26-27 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 “And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.  In the Old Testament, when God delivered His people the Jews out of Egyptian bondage, He led them by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire Exodus 13v21 21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.  His presence was also with them in the tabernacle (the dwelling place made by the Israelites according to the specification given by God to Moses) Exodus 29 v43-46 43 “And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. 44 “So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests. 45 “I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46 “And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.  God’s people were to follow Him. God always planned to live amongst His people. We see in the Gospels that Jesus lived amongst His people, and that He promised to send the Helper, the Holy Spirit to live with us and in us (see John 14v17 above).  We see in the above scripture in Acts that this was the point where Jesus was taken back up to be with the Father, and that they were to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit. This pattern is consistent throughout all scripture. God dwelling with us, and now God dwelling inside of us. Colossians 1v27 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  At this point we see the disciples returning to the upper room and continuing with one accord in prayer and supplication (petitioning). It is in the same vein that we should pray, petition and wait upon the Lord with great expectation for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon us.  In Acts 1v8 above we see that the receiving of the Holy Spirit brings POWER. But for what reason? To be WITNESSES for Jesus Christ to ALL THE EARTH. There is purpose in the anointing. We cannot be complacent. This power is needed because God said they were not to leave Jerusalem until they had received this anointing.
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  Acts 2 v1-21 1 Whenthe Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 “And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 “Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 “Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” 13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 “For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day (9AM). 16 “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.’ Acts 2v36-41 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.  The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is with power. The people began to speak in other tongues (not to be confused with praying in tongues – our heavenly prayer language). We know that the power of God was with those who were baptized, to do the very same miracles which Jesus performed. We can see this in Acts 3 v1-10 1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he
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  who sat beggingalms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.  Was the power to do the above miracle from Peter? Lets see what Peter says about this Acts 3 v11-12 11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?  Peter points to Jesus Christ Acts 3v16 16 “And His name (Jesus’ Name), through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.  Peter is saying that it is not because of ‘Peter’ that this man is healed. It is because of Jesus Christ that this man is healed. Peter by faith in the Name of Jesus Christ spoke healing over this man, and the Holy Spirit living in Peter (God with us and in us) performed the healing according to God’s will. And this very faith which Peter has, has its source from Jesus Christ in the first place. Hebrews 12v2 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. God’s plan includes purpose for you and me  God wants to use us in a mighty way for His kingdom purposes. He has given to those who receive Him, the Holy Spirit. He has promised that he will never leave nor forsake us Hebrews 13 v 5(b)-6 For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”  His plan includes you receiving the Holy Spirit, for He wishes to dwell with you and in you.  His plan includes you stepping out in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, and speaking the Word of God to a dying world. Jesus is the Word, and standing on scriptures in faith literally moves mountains Mark 11v22-23 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Sanctification – As can be seen from Acts 2v38 above “Repent…”, and from Acts 2v40 “Be saved from this perverse generation”, it is clear that we are to live lives of purity before the Lord. We are to separate ourselves from the contaminants of the world system, and seek the Lord’s face earnestly.  There was an eagerness, an expectation, which the disciples had when waiting for the Holy Spirit. They were in one accord, in unity, in prayer, in supplication. This expectation of the move of God leads to revival. Let’s get serious with God.  LORD BRING REVIVAL!!!