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 should also be our focus before Pentecost and before Jesus Christ's return. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Church services on this day are marked by red robes and banners signifying the fiery winds of the Holy Spirit. Now it has become popular to carry this theme over to homes, where pitiful or plain houses are transformed into palatial homes. 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. I was going to get on a Greyhound bus. After seeing how God works through His Spirit in Acts 2 and beyond, who would ever want to go back to the old? What do I do about calling a priest father at my Catholic University? What do we do now? 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. 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. 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. On the Day of Pentecost prophecy was fulfilled. ), Two angels suddenly appear near them. We've just read it. But I had to go to St. Louis about 100 miles north of my hometown and pick up what they called an express bus, that would go through the larger cities. He certainly became one of the boldest witnesses for the faith. Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's an interesting way that they did. So if I can come back to the question that I asked, what was going through their mind on that morning of Pentecost? Unmistakable. 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. We know that unified prayer preceded this process (1:14); indeed prayer was a part of the process (see 1:24-25). Articles that are published in our magazine or scripting for our television programs goes through a very, very thorough review process. 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. Pentecost is one of the Great feasts in the Eastern Orthodox Church, a Solemnity in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, a Festival in the Lutheran Churches, and a Principal Feast in the Anglican Communion. Bold, Men and brethren, he begins to explain what's happened. The English word "Pentecost" is a transliteration of the Greek word pentekostos, which means "fifty.". 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. He explained Pentecost to the people of Jerusalem. And then they had seen that He was resurrected. The apostles did as the angels implied; they returned to Jerusalem to wait. That's what this day is all about as a firstfruit. So He begins to teach them from the Scriptures that they might understand, and that they might comprehend what He was and how He had fulfilled everything that they would have understood to one degree, and then even more they had begun to develop a fuller understanding of the prophecies of Isaiah, or Joel, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, the statements about the Messiah. 8We do, however, find a reference tothe twelvein both Acts 6:2 and 1 Corinthians 15:5. 28 Watch out for yourselves and for all the flockof which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son (Acts 20:28, emphasis mine). That is what caused them to banish their fear, trouble, doubt, and unbelief: Christ in them through the Holy Spirit. Jesus began to teach them, we read, from the Law of Moses, from the prophets, the Scriptures about Him, to explain to them what had happened. It had been organized quite well and in that remote backwater of Judea, the Roman government kept things in order. What we read about back in Matthew 28:19 of the gospel being taken to the world. And it is also the mission of the Church, we see right here, it has begun. I don't think it was an intergalactic tour that He was on to get to the third heaven. And it brings it down to the end of the chapter. Show them otherwise what had been done, rebuke their unbelief, as it goes along here. "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. And so two things create this vision and this mission. It is not my purpose here to allow these matters to sidetrack our consideration of the argument of this text. This makes sense, given both their impulsiveness and their lack of faith. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. They watched Him rise until a cloud obscured their vision. And this dramatic miracle took place, of wind, and fire, and language, and hearing, and people took notice. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. They had a very life is now, living in the present mindset that this was all going to happen in their lifetime, which is something that pertains to every group of people from that time forward, that looking for the appearance of the Kingdom, the return of Christ. He quotes Joel, he quotes Psalms and he gives interpretations upon those scriptures, here in chapter 1, no one had ever heard of before. Let us seek to answer this question by observing what happened. Find the date for Pentecost 2014 in the multifaith calendar. My point here is that Luke links the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of our Lord in the Gospels to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church in Acts. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other disciples following the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2), and it marks the . Acts 2 states early Christians were "filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them . Pentecost is regarded as the birthday of the Christian church, and the start of the church's mission to the world. They call attention to references tothe twelveafter this (Acts 6:2; 1 Corinthians 15:5). That is what caused people to see something in those disciples and to want to be a part of it. Lukes Great Commission (unlike those in the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, and John) was given just prior to His ascension. Jesus persuades them to leave what they are doing to travel with him and help to share . Volume 1 the Gospel of Luke is the description of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after he had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen(verse 1b-2a). 5In this regard, it is similar to the words of the two angels to the women at the tomb, as seen in Luke 24:4-7. But they saw Him for a period of time, and that's how I like to imagine it. We just get a few snippets from the gospel accounts, at least, of this 40-day period. This should come as no surprise because the Great Commission of Matthew also referred to all three members of the Godhead: 18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And so I made a certain few inquiries, I got on the bus, didn't miss it. We're no different than them. Jesus informed them that they had (or would have) all the knowledge they needed. Shavuot, also called Pentecost, in full ag Shavuot, ("Festival of the Weeks"), second of the three Pilgrim Festivals of the Jewish religious calendar. And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures.". 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives (which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath days journey away). The Cross And Our Response to Trials (1 Peter 4:12-19), 8. The Cross And Christs Suffering For Sins (1 Peter 3:18-22), 6. Before Pentecost: What Were They Thinking. 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? The. "And fear came upon every soul," and this was a different type of fear. It is the day, 40 days after the Resurrection, when Jesus returns to his Father. 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. "And they looked steadfastly in toward heaven," verse 10, "as He went up, and behold two men stood by them in white apparel." The feast has been celebrated 40 days after Easter in both Eastern and Western Christianity since the 4th century. Fourth, the Holy Spirit is portrayed as the Author of the Old Testament Scriptures.He is the One who inspired the words of David in the psalms: 16 Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through David concerning Judaswho became the guide for those who arrested Jesus (Acts 1:16). But they were terrified, and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit." And so she was the first to see the empty tomb and have that appearance, and she goes and tells them. 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. 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. They were with Him and they asked Him in verse 6, "Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" But isnt Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit really a matter of authority, a legitimate matter of authority? 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. The apostles stayed in Jerusalem, as instructed, and they devoted themselves to prayer, along with those who were closely associated with Jesus in His earthly ministry. But it was a very intense period of time of Jesus appearing to them both in Galilee and Jerusalem, teaching them from the Scriptures, appearing to them in larger groups, perhaps even, more smaller groups, and in some of the ways they're talking like He did to Peter, on the Sea of Galilee, having meals with them.
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