The Pentecost Experience

Set The Stage

Today marks the birth of the Church Age. The descent and reception of the Holy Spirit on Planet Earth and the Last day of the Feast of Weeks. Pentecost is important to the Believer because it marks the final promise of Jesus being fulfilled post ascension. In order to understand Pentecost and its moving parts I believe that we must move backwards into Jesus’s Ministry and focus first on Miracles.

Without understanding the miracles recorded in the Bible certain parts of Acts 1 wont come into its full light. Allow me to explain

Throughout the 37 miracles recorded in the Bible we consistently see a thread of compassion for our human suffering and the power he contained within himself to change the trajectory of the lives that he came in contact with. His ability to perform wasn’t for show but was a conduit to connect our natural to his super and to recognize that the Kingdom of God was not far away but was being established with every step Jesus took and every word he spoke.

The foundation for every miracle was not too different from a perfect High School / College course. You had lecture and then you had lab. You were taught and then the lessons were put into practice. I told you that God can heal, so watch me heal, I told you that God has all power over creation, watch me calm the storm and walk on Water, I taught you the Kingdom through parables and cemented it with signs and wonders and before I sealed the deal on the cross I taught you that everything that I DID you would DO also but greater, not in power but in reach because of the totality of Jesus’s work and will bear lasting fruit. Miracles are Important.

It was the consistent witnessing of these Miracles that not only challenged but built the faith of his Disciples and subsequent believers. This sets the stage for not only his death, burial, and resurrection but also his ascension and even Pentecost itself. See Miracles are the stamp and sigil of the Believer. Miracles, signs and wonders shall follow them that believe.

Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes; if they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.””

He Got Up

So here we are. Jesus has risen from the grave, like he said he would, and has secured the power over Death, Hell, and the Grave. He now begins the final leg of his journey and does something we need to focus on. He returns to his Students to give them one final lesson and command.

Acts 1:1-7 “I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.”

The term “convincing proof” in its proper context here is not to be confused with them “witnessing” anything. In its proper greek context it means that they TOUCHED, SAW, AND FELT. It went past believing into experiencing. There was demonstrable evidence that Jesus was ALIVE and WELL. It the space of 43-50 days Jesus did exactly what he said he was going to do. Now he has to finish the mission.

Pentecost

Here we are. Jesus is back and for a span of 40 days he stays with is disciples and believers

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 15

3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians shows us that the same Jesus who performed miracles before can still draw a crowd and in this crowd of 500+ people they are given 2 instructions. Get to Jerusalem and WAIT.

We sometimes ask ourselves why did only 120 wait it out? What happened to the 380? I submit to you that Miracles produce patience.

Witnessing a thing and believing a thing are in two different arenas. One provokes emotions while the other produces faith, While one dies out the other remains.

Being told to wait for something that you can’t see tests the resolve of the believer. Those in attendance during the 3+ years of Jesus’s Ministry were able to SEE and experience who Jesus was and now for the FIRST TIME EVER all they have is a word and a wait.

I can imagine the thought process of the 500. The expectation in the Upper Room of something to happen immediately like it always did when he was on Planet Earth but all I have left is a Word. The difference between the 380 who left and the 120 who stayed is that they understood fully that If Jesus said it was going to happen IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. They weren’t concerned with the lack of a time period given, they were concerned with the promise. They KNEW it was going to happen more than they believed it was going to.

What was produced was a WEIGHT that anchored their WAIT.

They knew a second baptism was coming and time did not matter when it comes to the promise.

Time is subject to the Promise of God and not the other way around.

Pentecost was the pinnacle of their experience with Jesus and the beginning of ours.

Our Faith and belief system in Jesus and God is now based on FEEL and not just witness. We now carry the comforter with us and in us. What time wanted us to just believe we can now experience and that is the glory and the beauty of the Church!

NO longer would we just be a witness to the Works but we are HIS witness in the Earth

NO longer are we just witness to Miracles, Signs, and Wonders, but THEY FOLLOW US

Pentecost unlocked the true nature of the believer. A KNOWING and not just a belief.

I’ve seen him do it. I have felt his touch, I am grounded in the fact that the same of Creation walks with me daily and I WILL NOT BE SILENCED when God is HERE and alive.