Lessons from Pentecost.

Read Acts 2:1-13

By the thousands and from several nations, the people had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of First-fruits. Such feast was known as the Feast of the Weeks.

The Lord instructed the people to celebrate Passover on the 14th day of the first month. Two days later, on the 16th, they would come and present a sheaf (wave offering). That was part of the Unleavened Bread Feast.

He also instructed them saying,

Leviticus 23:15–16 NASB95

‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. ‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord.

During the times of Jesus, that day, the fiftieth, was called Pentecost; a Greek term which means 50th. Today is Pentecost! Fifty days after Resurrection.

After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared to His disciples for 40 days. Before ascending back to Heaven, He instructed the disciples to stay in Jerusalem to wait for what the Father had promised, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. With the coming of the Spirit, they would be empowered to testify of Him:

Acts 1:8 NASB95

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

They did not know that the coming of the Spirit would happen on Pentecost. They just follow the command they had received.

Today is the Day of Pentecost!

On that Day of Pentecost, there are a couple of things we find that are worthy of imitation.

When the day of Pentecost came:

The disciples were all together.

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.”

Their togetherness was more than physical:

Acts 1:14 NASB95

These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

They were united in mind and spirit.

“with one mind”: (homothumadov) a word that denotes the inner unity of a group engaged (comprometido, ocupado) in an external similar action.

One hundred and twenty persons united in heart and spirit!

During this quarantine, I have seen most on our church members having the same mind and spirit, being concerned for others, calling others and helping them.

Unfortunately, I have also seen some who, like Judas, are part of the group, but whose mind and spirit was not with the group! May the Lord have mercy on them!

They were united in action.

“they were continually devoting themselves to prayer.” 1:14b

Their inner unity was evident in the external action: prayer, in this case.

Those 120 believers, the seed of the Church, were united in prayer.

If this crisis did not awake in you the desire to pray, YOU ARE DEAD!

During this quarantine, for my wife and I, one of the best moments of every day happened between 7:00-7:30 PM. That’s the time when we connected with church members to pray.

But not all seemed to want to pray! We almost had to beg some to pray with us. If our calls to set a praying date were ignored, I did not insist! They simply did not want to pray or have other things to do they considered more important than praying.

As we celebrate Pentecost, my desire is that the Church may have learned the importance of being all united in action: praying, caring, sharing, giving, etc. Praise God for the generosity of a few who have been willing to give so others can have!

How could you see your brethren in need and do nothing about it?

When Jesus spoke about those who would enter Heaven, He said, “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you...” And then He added:

Matthew 25:35–40 NASB95

‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

How could you see the church in financial need and not being willing to give?

By the way, I want to express my gratitude to those who, united in action, did not stop giving to the church during the pandemia!

I understand if you did not give because you did not have any income, but I will never understand those who had income but did not share!

True disciples are all together in spirit and action!

All dared to preach the Gospel.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” 2:4

What did they speak of? “of the mighty deeds of God.” 2:11

The harvest is ready to be picked.

These were the same disciples to whom Jesus had said,

John 4:35 NASB95

“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.

Pentecost was the moment that the Lord, in His sovereignty, had prepared to give birth to the Church.

The multitudes were ready to hear the good news! Years of practicing a religion that did not satisfy their souls had prepared them.

The calamity we are going thru has prepared many to listen the message of hope and salvation. Those who have been in danger of death, those who have lost a beloved, those who, for the first time in their life, have faced the reality of death and the brevity of life, those who lost their job, your neighbor, your relatives, and your friends are part of the harvest that is waiting to be picked.

But how will they hear without preachers? The disciples understood that without preaching there is no harvest.

Without preaching there is no harvest.

The people had come from sixteen regions or nations. Although it is possible that all spoke Greek, they preferred their native language.

Since they were thousands, one disciple preaching was not enough to reach them all. They all were filled with Spirit and all of them were preaching.

When Jesus gave the disciples the Great Commission, He had in mind the participation of all the disciples to make disciples of all nations. Pentecost presented them the opportunity to do it.

Although Peter is given the credit for preaching the closing message, the main preaching task was done by all the men in the group.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4238 Preaching Everyday

Preaching Everyday

Lyman Beecher of Boston Church was once asked how he was able to accomplish so much in his church. He replied: “Oh, I preach Sundays, and four hundred of my church members preach every day.”

If you want to see the harvest being picked, do not expect the pastor to do all the preaching. You do your preaching work during the week and allow the pastor to preach the closing message on Sunday.

You will not see the church growing unless you are willing to do your preaching part.

They let the Spirit use them in the preaching.

The amazement of the crowds was that these men, who was obvious they were not educated in a rabbinic school, were preaching with such power. Their amazement was not strange since the majority of those preaching were fishermen, one publican, and one a revolutionary.

Not every member is a preacher, but we can all preach! For those who are afraid of preaching, Luther’s advice comes handy:

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4719 Luther on Preaching

Luther On Preaching

“Do your best. If you cannot preach an hour, then preach half an hour or a quarter of an hour. Do not try to imitate other people. Center on the shortest and simplest points, which are the very heart of the matter, and leave the rest to God. Look solely to His honor and not to applause.… Although I am old (he was 48) and experienced, I am afraid every time I have to preach.”

They were not trained to speak in public, but the key is here: they yielded to the Spirit and spoke “as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” 2:4

You do not need to graduate from a seminary to preach the gospel! But you need to be available, yield to the Spirit, and speak what He tells you to speak.

Matthew 10:17–20 NASB95

“But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

Take part in God’s Pentecost! Be a harvester! Yield to the Spirit! Do not be afraid of preaching the gospel! God is with you!