And had they seen anything near that type of an ecstatic demonstration, it might have been in a form by someone doing something by their form of religion that they didn't identify with. Pentecost is the festival when Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. What Really Happened at Pentecost? - Christianity.com And over a three and a half year period they had had their lives transformed and then they'd watched Him die. Many Christian denominations provide a special liturgy for this holy celebration. And then the 50th day came, the morning of Pentecost, and they were gathered together. Find the date for Pentecost 2014 in the multifaith calendar. Two things we can summarize to show what was the key to bring about this scene that we see here at the end of chapter 2 in Acts. Behold I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarryor waitin the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. In the context of Acts (and the Epistles), we should see that the Holy Spirit is a significant part of the enablement we need. And Peter thence begins to quote Scripture. In Eastern branches of Christianity, the Day of Pentecost is one of the Great Feasts. If Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, then the Spirit is the sap equipping us for the Christian life. Furthermore, He no longer comes and goes but rather remains permanently. Where do we go from here? We take that for the story that it is, and the gift of tongues, and the speaking of tongues that the Scriptures talk about but we don't see that as what we need to be doing in practice or in faith, but it is a dramatic story. It's an informed sermon. 13 ThenPaul and his companionsput out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:9-13, emphasis mine). About 10 days earlier, Christ had finally ascended for the final time and they were left alone. A Church that was grounded in the Word of God. It is the day, 40 days after the Resurrection, when Jesus returns to his Father. Pentecost is regarded as the birthday of the Christian church. The Roots of Pentecost . During those 40 days, He provided them with many convincing proofs that He had indeed risen from the dead. 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." What Happened at Pentecost, and Why Does It Matter? - Truth For Life 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit . And second, the replacement of Judas is carried out in a way that is very Old Testament.. 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. 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. Then follows a marvelous after photo, which displays a beautiful person, so different from the before photo. He was just [snaps fingers] gone, He was there. It is regarded as the birthday of the Christian church. How do we handle them? Why, then, does Luke include these verses? We are further told that the Great Commission was an order given to the apostles who Jesus Himself had chosen. We get on to verse 40, the wrap-up: "With many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, Be saved from this perverse generation, that those who were, who gladly received his word were baptized; about 3,000 souls were added to them. 2 While they were serving the Lord and fasting,the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. 3 Then, after they had fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them, they sent them off. That is what we shall seek to discover in our study. But by doing so, when you read the account, you understand that they knew the Scripture, and they applied Scripture to their choice and their decision to replace Judas. When the Jerusalem Council met to determine what should be required of Gentile converts, they determined that Gentiles must not be placed under the law, and that they observe only a few restrictions. I was standing there gazing, not quite knowing what to do. Transcript Darris McNeely Beyond Today Presenter As the passover feast celebrated the exodus of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, so Pentecost celebrated God's gift of the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. 8 Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. What Is Pentecost - History and Importance in the Bible - Crosswalk.com Things will only get better from here. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.". Not many days, we would look at it roughly 10 days from that 40-day period. We often think a miracle would be just what we need. Verses 40 to 47 is a summary of one of the most remarkable periods of the church experience. BBC 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. What is Pentecost? And that is of people led by the Holy Spirit, knit together, everyone providing that which they can toward a community of faith, power, and love, sharing, looking out after one another and caring for one another. There they encountered the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.". 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. Apostle Peter explains the meaning of what was happening on the Day of Pentecost. We can take on that nature and we can live. This is implied in Acts 1:3, but it is clear in particular instances, such as when Jesus appeared to the disciples who went fishing with Peter in John 21. 4 So Barnabas and Saul,sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus (Acts 13:1-4, emphasis mine). What they needed was power, power to proclaim the gospel so that men would believe and be saved. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Indeed, Acts 2:1 literally reads, "As the Day of Pentecost was being fulfilled." What was fulfilled was the prophecy given by both Jesus and John the Baptist concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit. Think of it! On that day of Pentecost, people who had been doubtful were moved to speak powerfully, to repentance, to belief, and to action. What Did Christ Teach the Disciples Before Pentecost? The Chapel believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of Gods Word. That they're not drunk, that this is of God. They gave him a piece of broiled fish and honey comb, He takes it and he sits down and eats in their presence. And what happened? Verses 15-26 immediately precede Pentecost, but do not appear to have any profound impact on the apostles or on the community of believers. Pentecost: The Descent of the Holy Spirit - Orthodox Church in America I would like to look at Acts 1 in three segments: Verses 1-11 From Christs Resurrection to His Return, Verses 15-26 Filling the Vacancy left by Judas. Third, Luke makes it emphatically clear that the power to carry out the Great Commission is the power that the Holy Spirit will bestow (1:4-5, 8). We are told in verse 2 that Jesus gave orders by the Holy Spirit. No lots were cast here, nor did they need to be. When you read what Peter said about these prophecies from Joel and the Psalmstrust me, folks, Peter's sermon would not have passed doctrinal review by the Jewish doctrinal committee of that day. What happened after the Resurrection? - Grapevine Studies I think it was because Jesus had revealed the mystery of the church to them. The second power that they'd run up against was that of the Jewish authorities. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. First, I note the wording of the first part of verse 13: When they had entered Jerusalem, they went to the upstairs roomwhere they were staying(Acts 1:13a, emphasis mine). Having said this, our Lord ascended into heaven. Even though they had seen miracles, again, another indication to us always to remember that miracles are important, miracles can be faith-builders, but miracles by themselves will not do it all. They left the selection of these leaders to the people, but they did set the qualifications. But as Christ begins to give them the teaching from the Scriptures, of how He had fulfilled literally, in every way, the scriptures about the Messiah. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. "And they looked steadfastly in toward heaven," verse 10, "as He went up, and behold two men stood by them in white apparel." I must tell you that the most problematic passage in Acts 1 is the final paragraph which describes the selection of Matthias as the twelfth apostle. The Holy Spirit will come upon you shortly to empower you to carry out this task, so wait in Jerusalem until you receive this power.. In the Great Commission of Matthew 28, Jesus claimed all authority, and He based His command to proclaim the gospel to all nations on this authority: 18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And so Christ gives them teaching and He gives them understanding. Verse 41, "But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, 'Have you any food?'" Thus, whether it was the selection of leaders or making important doctrinal distinctions, the Holy Spirit played a key role from Pentecost on. They'd likely not seen it. Somewhere along the line, the apostles were enlightened by our Lord concerning the mystery of the church. It is rooted in the Word of God. Luke chapter 24. In Revelation chapter 14, we are given an image of the firstfruits, called the 144,000 in this part of the Revelation. Jerusalem was swelled with pilgrims, at this point in time, and this added to the drama of the moment. The apostles sought greater knowledge. At the end of the 40 days, Jesus was taken up into heaven. Now it has become popular to carry this theme over to homes, where pitiful or plain houses are transformed into palatial homes. And not for the reality that the 1st century world would have known and experienced, that other dimension. 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. That He had to rebuke them and teach them. The Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - which is. "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. Think about that among our own relationships with each other. No, He said wait till, wait in Jerusalem, and so they were there and they continued. Its commencement is found in the Gospels. And they're seeing that, and it's the final time. A photo of the proverbial 90-pound weakling was followed by the after of an awesome, muscle-flexing Charles Atlas physique. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.". And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. 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. Pentecost comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. It says, "The eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 28For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to usnot to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: 29 that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. (2 Corinthians 3:4-11). Because Ruth saw in Naomi, God, an example that she wanted to be a part of. They need to see within us, Jesus Christ. The religious leaders were quick to take note of the limitations of the apostles, and yet had to reluctantly acknowledge something powerful about their ministry: 13 When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus. And it is in that, we reach the real nexus, the real critical point of our life before God, where we recognize that, with the Holy Spirit, we are taking on the very nature of God, the divine nature. The Feast of Weeks celebrated the end of the grain harvest. They stood there, transfixed. He understood that, and again, He is just laying it out that they were troubled and there was doubt. Our sins will find us out. It was a mighty, powerful machine, the most powerful that the world in that day had ever seen. 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." 2Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. 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. 1. Pentecost - Wikipedia As you read on in Acts chapter 1, one of the main things they did was to choose a successor to Judas. We should also observe that among this group were the brothers of our Lord (Acts 1:14). We have to live as well, knowing that there is a God, and to live our life that every day counts. John had earlier said of Jesus. Sunday Before Pentecost. Trials hit us that will shake our faith, test our faith. What Is the Day of Pentecost? Bible Story Study Guide - Learn Religions This process will never be seen again in the rest of the New Testament. The apostles then found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit. They looked upon them then as liars, charlatans, or fools, maybe a bit delusional. Then what looks like tongues of fire rests on the followers of Jesus, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And then this dramatic miracle takes place, festive occasion. This was a healthy fear of respect and awe and wonder at now what had happened. First, there was an unmistakable "sound like a mighty rushing wind" that "filled the entire house" where the believers had gathered. She went and told those who had been with Him as they mourned and wept." [Darris McNeely] On the morning of Pentecost 31 AD, what do you think was going through the minds of the assembled disciples in Jerusalem? The Holy Spirit would internally indict sinners regarding the righteousness of Christ because He cannot be seen any longer. He certainly became one of the boldest witnesses for the faith. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. An eyewitness account, there was a lack of belief that put them in the situation here that they did not understand and didn't believe that had actually happened. It sounded like a very strong wind, and it looked like tongues of fire. And so I made a certain few inquiries, I got on the bus, didn't miss it. What we read about back in Matthew 28:19 of the gospel being taken to the world. Well, the real answer is for you and I, the same things that are going through your mind right now, and my mind. Unmistakable. We are going to be taking giant steps toward creating that kind of Church that we read about here in the book of Acts, that has been imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit, and changes are being made. After Pentecost: Every believer has received the Holy Spirit. That is how the mission of the Church is done and that is how then that vision of a community, of a Church, of a people who are rooted in the Word of God, who actually do care for one another, is accomplished; by no other means, by no other means. These were not terrified, doubtful people. 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. 9He does not forbid taking any action until Pentecost; He merely forbids the apostles to leave Jerusalem (in carrying out the Great Commission) until after Pentecost. People should see that in us. From this, we can infer that Jesus unbelieving brothers (John 7:5) had come to believe in Jesus, no doubt largely due to His resurrection. Back in Mark's account, chapter 16 of Mark, we see that the same thing lingered among the wide group of people there. It is celebrated on the Sunday 50 days after Easter (the name comes from the Greek pentekoste, "fiftieth"). 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 they were terrified, and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit." Before Pentecost: What Were They Thinking. Here,the twelveaddressed a problem of inequity in the care and feeding of their widows. So it's something for us to examine in our own way, see how much of that is being demonstrated in our life. So that when they came to that morning of Pentecost and this mighty event takes place, they were ready then to move into the experience provided, and that extra dimension of power that the Spirit of God would give them and did give to them, and Peter takes the lead to give the sermon of his life. 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. This unique feast occurred 7 weeks after Passover (49 days), culminating with the actual feast on day 50 (hence, the New Testament term "Pentecost"). A sermon for Pentecost - Durham Cathedral. The Feast of the Ascension ranks with Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost in the universality of its observance among Christians. When the apostles3press Jesus to tell them the time when the kingdom of God will be established, Jesus graciously refuses by informing them that this information is outside their authority there is no need to know so far as they are concerned. They sold their possessions, they divided among them, they shared among those who had need. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. They sought authority that was outside the boundaries God had established. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. Let us give thought to the way Luke prepares us for what is yet to come. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Luke then tells his readers that these two men were sent out by the Holy Spirit. After Pentecost, the selection of leadership (as well as the seeking of divine guidance) is heavily dependent upon the presence and power of the Holy Spirit: But carefully select from among you, brothers, seven men who are well-attested,full of the Spiritand of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this necessary task (Acts 6:3, emphasis mine). Let us eagerly look forward to the changes Pentecost will bring for the better.. Though the emperor, a man named Tiberius, had been holed up on an island called Capri or Capri for a number of years in absentia, the empire was running quite well on its own. That is what caused them to banish their fear, trouble, doubt, and unbelief: Christ in them through the Holy Spirit. . We can internalize that and think that through. 1 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned (John 16:7-11, emphasis mine). And then going on here, in verse 44, "He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms concerning Me.' And so they didn't really think about that, and yet all of a sudden it came upon them. This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven (Acts 1:1-11).