The Gifts are For The harvest

Lords Prayer

Before we begin today’s sermon would you join me in praying the words our Lord taught us to pray?

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: Amen

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Introduction

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.

Leviticus 23:15–21 NKJV

‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

This is the Word of the Lord, Amen? You may be seated

Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray

Today is one of the few holidays that I try to preach a special sermon on. Normally I don’t deviate from the book we are preaching through when we get to holidays, I don’t preach a mother’s day sermon or a father’s day sermon. I don’t preach a memorial day sermon, though I know tomorrow is memorial day… I, generally speaking, try to stay in the book we are preaching though except for Christmas, Easter… and today… because today, Pentecost Sunday.

As we just read in Leviticus, Pentecost happens 50 days after the end of Passover. I hope that many of you were able to celebrate passover this year, if not make sure not to miss it next year, it will deepen your faith and bless your family, I really believe God gave us these Holidays for our good and His glory, amen?

And I really desire for these Biblical holidays to be a part of Christian Culture… because they add so much prophetic meaning to the events we read about in the New Testament… God did not just forget the Holidays He commanded when Christ came around… He did not just erase the old Calendar and started a new one… in fact, most major events in the New Testament happened on a Jewish Holiday, and not just out of coincidence… but because all of these Holidays were ultimately about Christ…

So to understand the Jewish Holiday and now the Christian Holiday of Pentecost we need to understand the events that lead up to it… so I am going to teach for just a moment about the Spring Time Jewish Holidays, try to stay with me because understanding this will make the rest of the sermon make so much more sense… you guys ready?

Pentecost Time Line 1

Okay, if you celebrated Passover with us then you know that the Last Supper happened during the Seder meal, the big feast that is a part of the passover celebration.

For those who might not know, Passover is the holiday that celebrates that God’s angle of death passed over the Jewish people in Egypt if they had marked their home with the blood of a sacrificial passover lamb.

The final plague on Egypt, after they had brutally enslaved God’s people, was that the firstborn son in every house not marked by the blood of a lamb would be killed by God’s Angel of death. It was a brutal outpouring of God’s wrath, but because of the sacrificial lamb God’s people were spared and delivered from slavery… The angel of death “Passed Over” those homes marked by the blood, so we celebrate passover...

Now we we talk about the timeline of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, it all starts on Passover.

Passover started on Thursday at Sundown and ended on Friday at Sunday… so the Last Supper, the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, the trial, the flogging, and the crucifixion all happened within 24 hours of each other, all on the same Jewish day.

Now at the end of that day, as the sun began to set they took Jesus and buried him in Joseph’s tomb… because once the sun set it was a new Jewish day that started the feast of Unleavened bread.

The feast of unleavened bread is distinct from the feast of passover, though it is similar and happens the day after passover… and this is what passover kind of prepares for by removing all of the leaven from the house… while Passover remembers the miracle of being passed over by the Angle of Death, the feast of Unleavened Bread remembers the whole Exodus… the whole story of the departure of the Jewish people from Egypt… Passover starts the story and this feast is the rest of the story of the God freeing His people from Egypt.

And the big part about this feast… Absolutely NO leaven, no yeast, nothing that makes bread rise… you can’t eat it, you can’t have it in your house, you can’t go to a store that has it… NO LEAVEN AT ALL.

So the whole time Jesus was in the tomb was during the feast of unleavened bread.

Then of course Jesus rises again on Sunday… and that Sunday is a special part of the Feast of Unleavened bread called “The Feast of First fruits”.

This day marks the beginning of the harvest, and on this day the priest would take the very first bundle of grain harvested and wave it before the Lord as a wave offering, thanking God for the harvest.

Now between the feast of the First Fruits and the Feast of Pentecost is 50 days, that is why it is called Pentecost, which literally means 50th or 50th day.

It is the 50th day of the harvest. Pentecost is also called the feast of weeks because it is 7 weeks after the harvest has started.

Now Pentecost, as we read in our key scriptures this morning, is the feast of the completion of the harvest.

7 weeks earlier we thanked God at the start of the harvest with the feast of first fruits, now 50 days latter we thank God for a full harvest at the feast of Pentecost.

Okay, got our timeline down? Now let me show you the prophetic power of these feasts...

On passover Christ instituted communion proving that He was the Passover Lamb, and it was only by the affliction and breaking of HIs body, and the spilling of His blood that God’s wrath can be satisfied and we can be redeemed.

Now Jesus is crucified at 9:00 AM on Friday and He dies at 3:00 PM. It is still passover when Jesus dies… so on the same Jewish day that Jesus institutes communion and says this is my body which is broken for you and this is my blood that is poured out for you… on the same Jewish day Jesus body is physically broken and His blood physically spilt. It is on Passover that Jesus litteraly becomes our physical sacrifice...

But I want you to take not of this, because this is important… Isaiah 53:6 says that God put the sin of the world on Jesus shoulders when He was killed, and 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us… the imagery is that all of the sin of the world was put on Christ… He bore all the sin of the world, and all the sin of the world was nailed to the cross and killed…

Now that brings us to the feast of unleavened bread.

The feast of unleavened bread is the feast where you put away all leaven, all yeast, all rising agents that makes bread dough rise… and it is important to remember… Leaven represents SIN… so this was a feast about getting sin out of your house, out of your life, out of your community...

And here is Jesus, who has taken on all the sins of the earth… ALL THE SINS OF THE WORLD ARE ON HIS SHOULDERS… And He is put away in a tomb… the sins of the world was put away… and that is exactly what Hebrews 9:26 tells us.

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE… Because Jesus rises again at the feast of the first fruits!

So on the feast of the first fruits, the feast where you celebrate the very first part of the harvest, Jesus raises from the dead… and look what Paul has to say in 1 Corinthians 15:20 “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Jesus is the first fruits, the first to in the harvest of the resurrection… but for there to be a first there must be more… a greater harvest… Jesus is the first to be raised from the dead, but many more shall be raised from the dead and live again in glory, amen?!

Now 40 days latter Jesus gives us the great commission and rises again… we will talk about that in a minute… but on Pentecost Sunday something crazy happens…

On Pentecost, all of the disciples where in one place and all of the sudden a sound from heaven like a rushing wind filled the place, and tongues of firs fell down from heaven and sat upon the disciples and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were given power by the Holy Spirit.

Why were they given power by the Holy Spirit? They were given power by the Holy Spirit to bring in the harvest!

What is that harvest? Well the harvest is what Jesus was the firstfruits of… the Harvest is the resurrection, it is the new life… it is an eternal life without pain or sorrow or suffering or sin… it is the life that you and will be resurrected into after we die, we are brought into heaven not as the first fruits but as the latter fruits of the harvest.

But there is still more harvest to be brought in!

It has been 50 days, the harvest has matured, it is ready to be harvested… so the Holy Spirit comes down and gives his workers the tools they need to bring in the harvest… he gives them their sickles and their combines and says “GO AND BRING IN THE HARVEST”.

So what I intend to do this morning, this Pentecost Sunday, is to convince you, and to encourage you, and teach you and maybe even empower you, with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit… not for your own sake… not for our churches sake… but for the sake of the harvest.

The Gifts are For the Harvest

That is the sermon title this morning, and that is my only point… The gifts of the Spirit are for the harvest.

The Gifts Are For the Harvest

Leviticus 23:15–16 NKJV

‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.

Okay church… when is the last time you offered a NEW GRAIN offering to the LORD? And I am not talking about bread… not the kind you eat or the kind you spend…

I am saying when is the last time you said “God send me! God use me! God take my life that I might be used to BRING IN the harvest for your Kingdom! SEND ME LORD! I WILL GO! SEND ME AS A LABORER IN THE HARVEST! I WILL WORK FOR YOU TO SEE SOULS SAVED!”

Matthew 9:37–38 NKJV

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Now 10 days before Pentecost, 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus gives some final instructions and then ascends into heaven… Lets turn to those instructions… Luke 24:46-49

Luke 24:46–49 ESV

and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus, right before He ascends into heaven, says “You are going to go and preach in my name the repentance and forgiveness of sins… in my Name, He says, you are to preach the Gospel”.

Now let me ask you church… according to these verses… WHO are they to preach the Gospel to?

ALL NATIONS. Someone say ALL NATIONS.

Then Jesus says “But you need to wait in the city”… what are they to wait for? “What in the city until you are clothed with power from on high”.

And what is this power on high for? It is to help them preach the gospel to all nations! The gifts are for the harvest!

So Jesus says go preach to all nations, go make disciples and baptize them and teach them… but don’t go until you have been clothed with power… OH LORD THAT WE WOULD BE CLOTHED WITH POWER… wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high...

Now those were some of the final verses in the book of Luke… but Luke writes a second book, called the book of Acts, and he picks up were he left off… turn to Acts chapter one...

Acts 1:4–5 NKJV

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So Luke gives us a little more details about that conversation Jesus had before He ascends into heaven… and here it is called “baptism of the Holy Spirit”… so when we talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit we are talking about being clothed with power from on high… but why would God baptize us with the Holy Spirit?

Again we are told… verse 8

Acts 1:8 NKJV

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

We are baptized with the Holy Spirit, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit so that we can go and bring in the harvest in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and all the ends of the earth...

Now they were in Jerusalem… if this had happened here Jesus would have said “You will be empowered by the Holy Spirit so you can be my witnesses in Cedar Rapids, In Iowa and the Midwest, and to all the ends of the earth”.

The Gifts are for the harvest, church… THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRITI, THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT… It is not for our own benefit, though we certainly benefit… and it is not for the benefit of our church… though our church is much better with the gifts of the Spirit than without… no the Gifts are for the harvest… the gifts are so we can reach the lost in Cedar Rapids… so we can reach the lost in America… so we can reach the lost in all nations… The harvest is ripe, but the workers are few… so let those few be given supernatural power to do more to bring in the harvest then 10,000 could do without God’s help… The gifts are for the harvest!

And so Jesus ascended into heaven, and the disciples waited for 10 days...

Acts 2:1–13 NKJV

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

So on Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down like fire on the disciples and gave them power to speak in new tongues… and as they began to preach a crowd formed from all these different nations… but all the people in the crowd, no matter what language they spoke, they heard in their own language...

Note it does not say the disciples were speaking in other languages, but instead they spoke “as the Spirit gave them utterance”… it does say that the people were amazed and marveled that everyone could HEAR in their own language...

Even still, some try to sterilize these verses and say “no no no, they weren’t speaking in ‘tongues’, God just gave them the supernatural ability to speak in other languages… one was speaking Egyptian, the other was speaking Hebrew, Another yet was speaking Arabic… We don’t need that today because we have translators...

And to that I say… Okay, fair enough… God certainly can and does give the ability to speak other languages to people as needed… But hold on, there is something here that kind of crushes that argument… look at the last verse here...

Acts 2:13 NKJV

Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

Now listen, I have traveled the world, I have been to parts of the world were English all but doesn't exist… but wherever I go there always seems to be someone who sees me in a crowd and comes up to me to start talking to me in English… and when I am in a foreign nation that doesn’t speak English and someone speaks English to me… I don’t go “You are speaking English? Here? AT THIS TIME OF DAY?! YOU MUST BE DRUNK!!!!”

No for me to think someone is drunk they have to be acting REALLY PECULARE… some strange things must be happening…

Ephesians 5:18 NKJV

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

Listen… when people get filled with the Spirit… some strange things can sometimes happen… people fall down… people shout… or the laugh… my daughter Hannah cried tears of joy… she just wept joyfully… for like an hour when the Spirit came upon her… she went to a revival meeting saying “Dad I want to pray in tongues… I am not leaving till I pray in tongues… and she fell out in the spirit… and cried and cried joyfully for an hour… and it looked strange… it was peculiar… but she left praying in tongues...

Listen when you look at a man in a wheel chair and tell him to stand up, AND YOU MEAN IT… you are either drunk or you are full of the Spirit… or you are Kanye West…

But the point is, people who are full of the Spirit have the boldness to do things, to say things, to pray for things, to believe for things that other people don’t have… they don’t have that boldness...

And so when you see some doing these things, and acting these ways… screaming, crying, laughing, falling… praying… prophesying… praying in tongues… believing for miracles… speaking to things that aren’t as if they are...

When you start seeing these kinds of things, if you are not thinking scripturally, you might think that people are drunk...

They are not drunk, they are clothed in power… and the reason they are clothed in power? To go out and preach the Gospel.

The very next verse has Peter defending the Disciples… that they are not drunk… and then he goes into prophecy from Joel… I want to close with this and a time of ministry and we will see what the Lord does… if people want to come and minister with music as we go into this...

Conclusion

Turn On Children’s Class Lamps

Acts 2:14–21 NKJV

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’

Before I go any further… let us dwell on that last line… whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved...

Does anyone need to call on the name of the Lord?

Gospel Call

Prophetic ministry time… baptism of the Spirit… For the Harvest not for ourselves… Call up Cainen… Call out others you know have been gifted.

Aaronic Blessing

יאר יהוה פניו אליך ויחנך ישא יהוה פניו אליך וישם לך שׁלום

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

You are dismissed from this place but not from His Presence

ye·va·re'·khe·kha' · Adonai · ve·yeesh'·me·re'·kha

ya·eir · Adonai · pa·nav · e·ley'·kha · vee·khoon·ne'·kah

ees·sa · Adonai · pa·nav · e·ley'·kha · ve·ya·seim · le·kha · sha·lom

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

You are dismissed from this place but not from His Presence