Happy Birthday Church

Scripture

Acts 2:1–21 CEB

When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak. There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages. They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!” They were all surprised and bewildered. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?” Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!” Peter stood with the other eleven apostles. He raised his voice and declared, “Judeans and everyone living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen carefully to my words! These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning! Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young will see visions. Your elders will dream dreams. Even upon my servants, men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will cause wonders to occur in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and a cloud of smoke. The sun will be changed into darkness, and the moon will be changed into blood, before the great and spectacular day of the Lord comes. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Intro: Pentecost

Jewish Holiday

Shavout- Festival of Weeks

50 days after Passover

by the first century it was celebrated as a dual festival

Shavout (or the Festival of weeks) and the commemoration of the giving of Torah at Mt. Sinai. 50 Days for their release from Egyptian slavery..

Exodus 19:16–18 CEB

When morning dawned on the third day, there was thunder, lightning, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast of a horn. All the people in the camp shook with fear. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord had come down on it with lightning. The smoke went up like the smoke of a hot furnace, while the whole mountain shook violently.

The Correlation between the two Pentecosts

God people gathered at the Mountian—Jesus’ followers were gathered

God descended on the Mountain in fire—the Holy Spirit descended in Fire

The people at Sinai heard the sound of rushing wind—the people at Pentecost heard a sound of rushing wind.

Law and Letter became Spirit and Truth

Law was written in stone—Love was emblazoned on our hearts

WHo

The Holy Spirit

Spirit of Comfort

Spirit of life ;

Spirit of grace ;

Spirit of prophecy

Spirit of adoption

Spirit of wisdom ;

Spirit of counsel

Spirit of might

Spirit of understanding

Spirit of knowledge

Spirit of the fear of the Lord

Spirit of truth ;

Spirit of holiness

Spirit of LOVE

Galatians 5:22 CEB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Conclusion:

Bishop Michael Curry:

French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was arguably one of the great minds, one of the great spirits of the 20th century. A Jesuit, Roman Catholic priest, scientist, a scholar, a mystic. In some of his writings, he said from his scientific background as well as his theological one. In some of his writings, he said as others have, that the discovery or invention or harnessing of fire was one of the great scientific and technological discoveries in all of human history. Fire to a great extent made human civilization possible. Fire made it possible to cook food and to provide sanitary ways of eating which reduced the spread of disease in its time. Fire made it possible to heat warm environments and thereby made human migration around the world a possibility, even into colder climates. Fire made it possible, there was no Bronze Age without fire, no Iron Age without fire, no industrial revolution without fire. The advances of science and technology are greatly dependent on the human ability and capacity to take fire and use it for human good....

de Chardin said that fire was one of the greatest discoveries in all of human history. And he then went on to say that if humanity every harnesses the energy of fire again, if humanity ever captures the energy of love, it will be the second time in history that we have discovered fire.

Dr. King was right, we must discover love. The redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world.

We discover this love and its redemptive power only through the fire of the Holy Spirit.

It is because of the Son and through the Spirit that the fires of holiness and love will FLOW through us and “make this old wold a new world”