Day of Pentecost

Welcome Statement

Good Morning everyone! Today is the Day of Pentecost in the Liturgical Season! My Hope is that so far you are feeling some sense either in your heart or mind of the idea of that warmth of the spirit today. If not, that is okay, everyone experiences today differently. We are going to be talking about what Pentecost is, and why it’s such an important day in Church History. If you notice around you, and if you’re not familiar with how liturgical season colors work, you’ll notice there is a lot more red than usual in church today. One of the largest symbols in Pentecost is the color red, to represent the flame of the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, I read that in some places, white was also used. In some sense, this makes sense because the Spirit is also represented as a dove, but the reason this was done was because in England during the Middle Ages, it had become a day for baptisms, as it was a great time of celebration of the Spirit entering people’s lives as they shed off their old clothes and old lives and entered their new, pure ones, donning on white clothes. So for the English it is sometimes called WhitSunday (Wits-uhn-day). To introduce it briefly, this is the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit being poured out for the first time ever, onto the apostles, as described in Acts chapter 2. We witness them prophesying words and proclamations to people who have come from all over the world from many areas, being able to seemingly speak to all of them at once, and all of them being able to understand their words. But before we begin to witness this, we need some more background. Why did Christ hand out this helper to the Apostles? We talked about him aluding to it in Luke and the beginning of Acts, but John’s Gospel explains more of why he does so.

1st NT Reading - John 15:26-27, John 16:4-15 ESV

John 15:26–27 ESV

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16:4–15 ESV

But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

It is to your Advantage

How is it to our advantage that Christ leaves to go back to heaven? What a strange statement to make. Not only that, but he tells them there are things they can’t know because in their present state they can’t bear it. I find this so perplexing. They’ve witnessed the power of resurrection, the power of the Messiah. But this is the problem, we have the full Gospel, they didn’t, they saw Christ as the Messiah, they didn’t understand him in the full context as we do today. They didn’t understand Christ was physically and spiritually restricting himself for the Father’s glory to be there with him. He needed to go to heaven to serve a larger stage. Until he did so, there would be no need for this helper. One might ask, why can’t we have our cake and eat it too? Why can’t we have the Spirit and Christ be with us physically? I don’t know how to entirely explain this, and I think this may be a mystery of choice on the part of Christ wanting us to lead the church, as for example Peter was given the keys to the kingdom as described in Matthew 16:19. But I think it also has to do with the fact that until Christ goes to Heaven, in some sense he is restricting himself in the human form, the spirit is what allows God to interact with each and every human on earth who accepts him, and in the same tone, because of the Trinity, this is how we also have access to Christ and the Father. I am no theologian, and if I committed a minor heresy I can get yelled at later, my point is its a mystery and God did it for a good reason to make sure he was there for all of his people. The ending of this too I find fascinating because I believe it supports our concept of the trinity: JOHN 16:14-15

John 16:14–15 LEB

He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and will proclaim it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he takes from what is mine and will proclaim it to you.

This is why we say Christ is born of the father before all ages, and the Holy spirit proceeds from the Father and from the son. Everything that is Christ’s is also the Father’s, and is also the Spirit’s, because they are all the same God. Alright, I know it’s not trinity Sunday, I’ll cut it out. I also find it interesting this idea that Christ tells them “you have been here with me from the beginning”. I think about this for a minute, and it’s not entirely true the apostles have been always there for Jesus, especially during his crucifixion, or how about them falling asleep when he asked them to keep watch as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane? But since they over the long haul stayed faithful, the same way Job arguably did, what one would call “Wrestling with God”, that name Israel, the name for Jacob, they were ultimately rewarded for it. And so, we witness, centuries of people, wrestling with God, reaching out for God, finally, witnessing a new thing in Act’s Ch. 2.

New Testament Reading - Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1–21 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

The Gift of Life has been Poured out like a Bucket of Fire

All of a sudden, a new gift of life was poured out on the Apostles, and everyone could hear in unison these utterances from the Apostles in their own languages. Tongues of Fire. Flames like lights on a candle sat on top of each persons head. It was as if a presence was upon each person at the same time, but it wasn’t a different presence. No, it was the Holy Spirit. It was something similiar to the Angel of the Lord, but something more spectacular, because instead of it being a face to face call with a distant God, it was not, God in the hearts of man. All of a sudden, every man, woman and child could now know God no matter where they went, no matter what place they worshipped, no matter HOW they worshipped! The temple was the human body. A Christian Metal artist I follow called Sleeping Giant has a song called Haunted, they do not call the song this in distain, but it’s to describe the feeling of even a distant call of the spirit. We can still feel the echoes of that day to this day! It talks about how Christ esentially followed the singer around in his life as he rejected him, until he eventually turned around and accepted him. The Holy Ghost hangs around everyone one, and keeps pestering until you let him in, God does not give up! That is the new gift that has shown up because of Pentecost, that is the new hope of life we are told of today! One image I imagine, not described here, but I imagine it for myself, is buckets of fire, being poured out on each of the apostles, as the fire burns over them, their old humanity is burned away, and the new humanity under neath the old is shown, the humanity that is only found in Christ, the one that shows compassion, love, and forgiveness. That is what we find in Christ. When we are in Christ, we become Christ-like, when we surrender to Christ. That is the absolute truth.

New Testament Point #2

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New Testament Point #3

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Closing Statement

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Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, We thank you that you Poured out your heart onto the Apostles, like a bucket of fire, transforming them into a new form of humanity, to feel that new hope, to be invigorated that there is something truly better for everyone. In turn, today, we share and multiply those tongues of fire over our lives to those around us who hear your word and accept it today. God, Almighty, help us to share and spread this Fire of Pentecost today and throughout our week, until next year, do not let this flame die out, let us stay invigorated, let us stay renewed, let us stay humble and fired up for your comission. Stay Beside us step in step Christ, please, we need you oh so desperately in our lives Christ. Oh Holy Spirit, renew our Hearts, make our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh once more, so that we can follow you wherever you call us. I now close my thoughts to you Oh righteous and passionate God with a prayer attributed to Saint Augustine to the Holy Spirit: Breathe in me O Holy Spirit that my thoughts may all be holy; Act in me O Holy Spirit that my works, too, may be holy; Draw my heart O Holy Spirit that I love but what is holy; Strengthen me O Holy Spirit to defend that is holy; Guard me then O Holy Spirit that I always may be holy.

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

As you go out this week, remember to call upon the spirit in your times of weakness. as it is written in Romans 10:13 KJV

Romans 10:13 KJV 1900

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That spirit is what keeps our hearts and our souls alive, when our bodies fail. It is how Jesus lives in and through us day in and day out. Even in times of spiritual dryness, do not allow yourself to ever forget this fact, it is how Job survived through even the worst possible pain possible. If he can do it, so can we. I now close you out with this Benediction from Romans 15:13:

Romans 15:13 NKJV

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!