Pentecost SUnday

Pentecost Sunday (SHAVUOT)

Christians celebrate Pentecost Sunday today… We call it Pentecost - But in our bibles the Hebrew it is called Shavuot. "Weeks" known as the feast of weeks.

Christians call this Pentecost due to its timing after Passover, "pentecost" meaning "fifty" in Greek and Shavuot occurring fifty days after the first day of Passover.

Christians have assigned a way to make Pentecost Sunday land on a Sunday, but not land on the Shavout. - allowing us to celebrate the festival twice if we want to.

Shavuot occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, began Thursday, 25 May ended at nightfall on Saturday, 27 May 2023. (last Night)… Today we Celebrate it as Pentecost Sunday.

In Israel it is only 1 day long… but outside Israel it is 2 days long. - just to make sure they celebrate on the right day. the each Hebrew month aligns with the first sliver of the moon that can be observed in Jersualem. This could not be predicted in ancient times, and had to be physically observed in Jerusalem, and the message of what day the month had started on had to be communicated to Jew that lived in more distant places - they actully used signal fires, (like you see being used in the Lord of the Rings). to telegraph the news. But since it could not arrive fast enough with certainty they began celebrating all holidays outside israel for two days.. just to make sure they they got it on the right day!

What Jews do today…

Since the festival come without prohibitions (like fasting on Yom Kippur), or no yeast in bread - it is

the most widespread way of celebrating it is by eating cheesecake. Really. (nothing biblical about it)

Because it is so hot they celebrate with water guns and water balloons

they wear white, flower bouquets and straw baskets of fruit

night of Shavuot is traditionally dedicated to Bible studies.

Story of Pentecost last year

<<story: in our area, June normally has .10 inches of rain for the entire month. last year on June 11, we got .7” x7 more on one day. of a full 24 hours… starting at sunset on Saturday night, and ending on Sunday. I woke up Sunday morning noticing the unusual rain had lasted all night and already we were at .4” and no sign of stopping through the day. I felt in my spirit it was a sign and was very excited when I got to church. This was a sign That God would pour out his Spirit on our Nation. and Specifically CA, as our Prayer meetings these last 9 years have been focused on this.

It was a sign. it means something. God speaks through “Hand of Providence” - signs and circumstances.

I have a Sermon on one of the Many ways God speaks to us. I did not give last week. - Not sure If we will get to it today or not.

Get Empty

I am anticipating God can do something more for us today.

Lets prepare our Hearts for a special bless ing from God today.

Last week we spoke about how GOD needs us Empty.... If he is going to fill us.

That Our fears are part of what is “filling us up” and preventing us from being filled by the Holy Spirit.

Jamie Winship - the men’s conference.

What does a nation look like where everyone is afraid all the time?

We are afraid for our heath - to the point we allowed our government to do many insane things!

Professionals, rolled over and let the Woke Culture steamroll science.

We are afraid of what our government will do to us and their power over us.

The Christians of Jesus day were also tempted to fear the roman government.

list fears… fears we don't measure up. that we will fail, that our finances are not in order, that we are not safe,

Throw thos fears at the foot of the CROSS this morning. on the LORD this morning.

All through the bible we see the “Fear Not” message many times. I have heard pastors say it is listed 365 times, one for each day of the year, yet to get that number would require expanding the search beyond all the forms of “fear” to encompass some less direct forms of fear, and stories.

John 16:33 ESV

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:13 ESV

13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Matthew 10:31 ESV

31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

What if Ask the LORD for the Holy spirit and He does not give it to me?

Luke 11:13 ESV

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

What if your afraid this “more of the Holy Spirit “ is a strange or Bad thing? - some Christian denominations have made people afraid to ask because the Devil has imitated and counterfeited the Holy Spirit.

I don't stop using dollar bills, because there are counterfeits. If anything, we learn how to spot them and not accept them! right?

Acts 2:1–4 ESV

1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

You ready to have some CHURCH - time together with each other and GOD TODAY?

Prayer - I am gong to pray for you right now, So you can begin releasing any fears that the Holy Spirit will show you as you worship him in a few minutes.

We will end service with a time to receive more of the Holy Spirit. with the Prayer team.

Pentecost Sunday (SHAVUOT)

Shavuot was and is a Jewish Holiday that the followers of Yeshua celebrated. They understood that it represented the harvest and giving of the Torah, and as Jewish people and proselytes, they were observing it as such.

However, they would soon come to understand that it went much deeper than merely an agricultural harvest and the word of God written on tablets of stone.

God used the yearly biblical holidays like Passover and Shavuot — to highlights certain spiritual truths.

First it was a time to thank God for the Harvest

it starts back at the Passover celebration 7 weeks ago. Passover flows right into the Feast of Unleavened bread. On the day after the Sabbath during the Festival of Unleavened Bread (which has been in later times just simply called Passover), the first fruits of the barley harvest were offered in the Temple. Starting on this day, we are to begin a countdown, or really a count up, to the next festival (Lev. 23:15-16). It is called counting the Omer, a verbal counting of 50 days to the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). — We call Pentecost.

It is an exercise that builds anticipation for the upcoming wheat harvest.

In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (Jer. 5:24, Deut. 16:9–11, Isa. 9:2). It began with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, an offering of two loaves of bread from the wheat harvest was made on Shavuot according to the commandment in Lev. 23:17 “17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.”

Therefore: Shavuot is a harvest festival.

Second it was a time to commemorate the day God gave for Torah

Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire Israelite nation assembled at Mount Sinai, although the association between the giving of the Torah (first 5 book of the bible) and Shavuot is not explicit in the Biblical text.

we just saw the movie - “the search for Mt Sinai - Part 2” - and were overwhelmed with evidence for Mt. Sinai being a real place Near the Land of Midian. we were impressed by the fact that if the Mountain is real, and verified that the Story of the Bible that tells us what happened there is also real. God gave them his Laws.

How does this help us better understand the Acts 2 story of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Shavout (Pentecost)

What does GOD have for us today with Pentecost?

Acts 2:1–4 ESV

1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Consider those divided tongues of fire…

Listen to the description by Philo, a first century Jewish philosopher, of God’s words at Sinai: “...Then from the midst of the fire that streamed from heaven there sounded forth to their utter amazement a voice, for the flame became articulate speech in the language familiar to the audience, and so clearly and distinctly were the words formed by it that they seemed to see them rather than hear them.”2

2Yonge, C. D. with Philo of Alexandria. (1995). The works of Philo: complete and unabridged (p. 522). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson

Concerning the giving of the Torah, Rabbi Johanan said: “Every single word that went forth from the Omnipresent was split up into seventy languages so that all the nations should understand… so every single word that went forth from the Holy One, blessed be He, split up into seventy languages.”

1IBID. Loc 916

The Rabbis believed that 70 represented all the languages of the earth. So, in Acts, we see God-fearing Jews from every nation as well as Gentile proselytes to Judaism. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken.

So the splitting of the fire into tongues was a symbol of God giving the Church the Mission that the Jews had to be a light to the Nations, but now Christians were to take the message to the nations. — but with the enabling power of the Holy SPirit!

Consider the Harvest significance of Shavout!

Note in Acts 2 Jew and Gentile were worshiping together. On Shavuot, the first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented to the Lord (Adonai) in the Temple. The offering consisted of two loaves of bread baked with leavened flour (Lev 23:17) as first fruits for Adonai. Since Shavuot is a harvest festival, one can see the imagery of the harvest of Jew and Gentile in presenting the two loaves of bread.

Jesus had told the disciples…

Matthew 9:36–38 ESV

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

This time between Passover and Shavuot is the period of time that Jesus (Yeshua) spent with His disciples after His resurrection to prepare them for what was to come.

why was this gift sent? to empower the Church to spread the news of Jesus.

They were instructed to wait till they received this promise.

These times do more than prompt us to remember historical events, but rather encourage us to embrace what God wants to do today to change the world and save the lost. Therefore, as we approach Shavuot, we should be expectant for a great harvest and express our gratitude to God for His saving grace.

Knowing the Jewish culture and history of Shavuot deepens our understanding of Acts 2 today.

So we see that the Miracle of Acts 2 is one that is clearly communicating at various levels a harvest for a world-wide Harvest of souls. That is what the spirit filled church is for. spreading teh gosple of Jesus to the rest of the WORLD.

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 As the tongues of fire were seen, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and received divine empowerment to advance the Kingdom of God through the declaration of the gospel. The Spirit (Ruach) was given to empower them to declare the Word of God to all nations of the earth and to bring in a harvest of souls!

The sound and the tongues speaking to them in every language.

Occurring on a day when the harvest celebration occurs with the Wheat being bakes and presented to God in the form of TWO LOAVES

Matthew 24:11 (ESV)

11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

The message must go out into all the world … till the full measure of Gentiles are

The outpouring of the Holy SPirit is for every generation… not just that first Pentacost!

Act

harvest - great harvest in our future? why? are we ready?

Interestingly… We know from extra biblical sources — Qumran Scrolls (many were found in in the dead sea scroll caves). the “Temple Scroll”. show that at the time of Jesus there were some extensions to the festival of Shavuot ... which celebrates the New Wheat." All three festivals are calculated starting from the first Sabbath following Passover, by repeatedly adding exactly fifty days each time: first came New Wheat (Shavuot), then New Wine, and then New Oil.[32][33] (See also below, at "The Book of Jubilees and the Essenes".) Wheat, Wine and Oil.

[32] Press release based on work by Dr. Eshbal Ratson and Prof. Jonathan Ben-Dov, Department of Bible Studies (January 2018). "University of Haifa

[33] Researchers Decipher One of the Last Two Remaining Unpublished Qumran Scrolls". University of Haifa, Communications and Media Relations. Archived from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.^ Sweeney, Marvin. "The Three Shavuot Festivals of Qumran: Wheat, Wine, and Oil". The Torah. Retrieved August 14, 2022.

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