Living In Pentecost Everyday

This message was brought by Navaz DCruz on May 25th 2020 at Word of Grace. To listen to the audio please click here

LIVING IN PENTECOST EVERYDAY

“‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men, and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and the glorious day of the Lord.
²¹ And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’^[c]

 INTRODUCTION

We know that Jesus had instructed the disciples: Acts 1:4-5“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with^[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with^[b] the Holy Spirit.”

So they knew something was about to happen. Something supernatural.  There were 120 gathered in this room. Scholars estimate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred 10 after Jesus’ accession. How do we know this? Jesus walked on the earth for 40 days after his resurrection. Pentecost, the Jewish festival is celebrated 50 days after Passover. Jesus was crucified just before Passover.

PENTECOST

Jewish tradition also taught that Pentecost marked the day when the Law was given to Israel. The Jews sometimes called Pentecost shimchath torah, or “Joy of the Law.”

Interesting to note is on the Old Testament Day of Pentecost, Israel received the Law; on the New Testament day of Pentecost, the Church was birthed and received the Spirit of Grace.

The disciples were not complete strangers to the working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathed upon the Holy Spirit. They went out two by two in the power of the Holy Spirit and saw signs, wonders, and miracles take place.

I think we have to admire their patience. Ten whole days!!  One hundred and twenty in a room. Imagine that. It was a kind of locked-in situation. They knew not to disobey Jesus’ final instructions and they knew this must be worth waiting for. In addition, they knew without that power they would not be able to face the world.

How did they make sense of this? It was a supernatural act that everyone could hear. “The sound of a might wind” “Tongues of fire” They all saw it. They could have related it with John, the Baptists telling them “I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with fire” (Mat 3:11)

JOELS PROPHECY

Peter after he was filled with the Holy Spirit,  is filled with supernatural boldness. Luke makes a point to mention it probably because Peter was visibly sacred before that.

Last Days – One has to look at this as the era post-resurrection. This time period i.e A.D is always referred to as the last days in the Bible.  A day is a 1000 years and vice versa for God. So we are still in the season of the Last Days.

Peter is quoting Joel 2:28- 32

The Jews who knew their scriptures were familiar with this text.  However, they needed to see that this is what was prophesied by one of their own prophets. They had to make the connection to see this as an act of God before they could then be open to hearing the gospel.

This was different in many ways to the Old Testament understanding of God’s Spirit.

In the Old Testament, the spirit came upon a particular person for an event. Usually a recognized prophet. What was happening now broke all Old Testament grids to understand this? What we see here is it was multi-generational, gender-neutral; it cut across social and economic classes.

Joel was prophesying into the New Testament. God was going to His Holy Spirit to all who call on Jesus' name and without measure. Joel was prophesying about One New Man in Christ.

Visions and Dreams – speak of heightened supernatural activity. Pouring speaks of abundance. The latter rain will be greater than the former rain.

The Holy Spirit was going to break every diving wall between Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, and every ethnicity. We need to make sure that we are always inclusive.

What is our take away from this passage?

Joel is talking about the time you and I are living in. WE are in the last days. Expect God to speak to you in dreams and visions. It should be a Christian’s normal. Hunger for it. His spirit is there to guide and lead us into all truth. To give us wisdom and to warn us.

We need to keep walking in step with the Holy Spirit. Imagine this same Peter is stand up to explain Joel’s prophecy is the one who has problems with One New Man in Christ. So God speaks to him in a vision in Acts 10:9-16. He has a disagreement with Paul on this and they argue. What I learn from this is I need to keep my dependence on the Holy spirit fresh. I need to depend on him and listen to his voice or else I can fall into old ways of thinking.

What old ways can we fall into?

PRAY – for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pray that we will see vision and dreams.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.