Jesus promised authority within the boundaries of what God purposed, because the coming of the Spirit was the promise of the Father (verse 4). The events surrounding Judas death7were interpreted as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 69:25. A period of unity, one accord, fellowship, love for one another, treating people as equals, not in a completely socialistic manner that we understand from our modern context of socialism, or the welfare type of society. Many Christian denominations provide a special liturgy for this holy celebration. Having said this, our Lord ascended into heaven. Hymns sung at Pentecost take the Holy Spirit as their theme, and include: The symbols of Pentecost are those of the Holy Spirit and include flames, wind, the breath of God and a dove. They were looking for power from on high. Let me explain why I have reached this conclusion. And that power would be what would begin to banish the fear, the troubling, doubt, that they had, coupled with the Word of God that they were to have. Well, that's a sign that I should go here, take this job, do this or do that. But miracles, well, that just takes a little bit more work, but they were here in the midst of a very large miracle. In Revelation chapter 14, we are given an image of the firstfruits, called the 144,000 in this part of the Revelation. Even though they had seen miracles, again, another indication to us always to remember that miracles are important, miracles can be faith-builders, but miracles by themselves will not do it all. Read more. We can internalize that and think that through. During the Temple period, the first fruits of the harvest were brought to the Temple, and two loaves of bread made from the new wheat were offered . He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren. They saw it in different ways and understood it completely different from anything from our frame of reference and they were ascribing, would have been ascribing then even to Jesus something that was not of God, which in itself can be a problem. Finally, verses 15-26 are the account of the selection of Matthias as the twelfth apostle, a replacement for Judas. And a voice from heaven like many waters, and the voice of thunder, and the sound of harpers playing their harps, they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. He was just [snaps fingers] gone, He was there. And God will expose sin, ours to ourselves, sometimes to others. Pentecost is one of the Great feasts in the Eastern Orthodox Church, a Solemnity in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, a Festival in the Lutheran Churches, and a Principal Feast in the Anglican Communion. Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He understood that, and again, He is just laying it out that they were troubled and there was doubt. Why, then, does Luke include these verses? The search for Judas replacement was prompted, at least in part, by the consideration of some Old Testament Scriptures (Psalm 69:25; 109:8). The church, the body of Christ, began on the Day of Pentecost by the work of the Holy Spirit. We have a very involved, and very good, and a very detailed review process at many different levels of our writings, of our speaking in the United Church of God today. As the writer to the Hebrews constantly emphasized, the New Covenant is vastly superior to the Old. If we can make that decision and live with that reality that there is a God who lives, and before Him we stand every single day of our life and every major decision, every small decision of character, and the decisions that we make in the privacy of our own mind, and in our own actions that not everyone knows about, not even our mate, all are in accordance with righteousness and a desire for righteousness. But they were frightened and they thought that they had seen a spirit. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20, emphasis mine). And when they reached their decision, they made it clear that their decision was guided by the Holy Spirit. He had a lot to come back, he was at the back of the pack. The apostles then found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Greek word means "fifty" and refers to the fifty days that have elapsed since the wave offering of Passover. Today's Scripture reference comes mainly from Acts 2:12-21. And allows us to then grow, because the next few verses here of 2 Peter speaks to a process of spiritual empowerment and growth and development. And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.". A photo of the proverbial 90-pound weakling was followed by the after of an awesome, muscle-flexing Charles Atlas physique. Our text has much to teach us, which is why Luke designed this chapter as his introduction to the Book of Acts. Why did the apostles speak of the coming of the kingdom of God as its being restored? But she said, "Go ahead Ruth, you go home too," and Ruth says, "Your God will be my God, wherever you go, I will go." The apostles stayed in Jerusalem, as instructed, and they devoted themselves to prayer, along with those who were closely associated with Jesus in His earthly ministry. We should also observe that among this group were the brothers of our Lord (Acts 1:14). That's what the gift of the Holy Spirit is for us. We will handle them by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Two things we can summarize to show what was the key to bring about this scene that we see here at the end of chapter 2 in Acts. Fourth, the Holy Spirit is portrayed as the Author of the Old Testament Scriptures.He is the One who inspired the words of David in the psalms: 16 Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through David concerning Judaswho became the guide for those who arrested Jesus (Acts 1:16). When the Jerusalem Council met to determine what should be required of Gentile converts, they determined that Gentiles must not be placed under the law, and that they observe only a few restrictions. 13 ThenPaul and his companionsput out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:9-13, emphasis mine). He quotes Joel, he quotes Psalms and he gives interpretations upon those scriptures, here in chapter 1, no one had ever heard of before. Maybe they had their hands in their pockets kind of like this, thinking, "Wow, that was neat. If I were to summarize it, it would probably be like this: Your mission until I return is to preach the gospel to all nations. Peter's Life Before Christ. Between the Easter and Pentecost, there's a span of 50 days. In 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, Paul makes the same point, showing how much more glorious the New Covenant is to the Old and that New Testament ministry is to the old, because of the Holy Spirit. There was doubt. A firstfruit is one who follows Christ. 28 Watch out for yourselves and for all the flockof which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son (Acts 20:28, emphasis mine). 9 For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! Long before modern advertising, the Bible had its own versions of "before" and "after." Based upon Pauls words in Ephesians 3, I am inclined to assume what a portion of this conversation may have been: 4 When reading this, you will be able to understand my insight into this secret of Christ. It is regarded as the birthday of the Christian church. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). It is available on the Internet at:www.netbible.org. And then going on here, in verse 44, "He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms concerning Me.' Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. Transcript Darris McNeely Beyond Today Presenter Now it has become popular to carry this theme over to homes, where pitiful or plain houses are transformed into palatial homes. And when they saw Him they worshiped him. Its commencement is found in the Gospels. And it just caused them to proverbially tear their clothes and rush at them and ultimately to the point of Stephen and they stoned him. In the context of Acts (and the Epistles), we should see that the Holy Spirit is a significant part of the enablement we need. Verse 41, "But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, 'Have you any food?'" Makeover programs turn proverbial ugly ducklings into swans. The feast has been celebrated 40 days after Easter in both Eastern and Western Christianity since the 4th century. This should come as no surprise because the Great Commission of Matthew also referred to all three members of the Godhead: 18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. The Cross And Separation From The World (1 Peter 4:1-6), 7. I would like to look at Acts 1 in three segments: Verses 1-11 From Christs Resurrection to His Return, Verses 15-26 Filling the Vacancy left by Judas. And all the others came right in and were a part of it with him. Our sins will find us out. The second power that they'd run up against was that of the Jewish authorities. 11 Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time! Immediately mistiness and darkness came over him, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand. Their disbelief would extend not only to the idea that the dead could come back to life, as He did, but then they doubted the truth of these witnesses. 4This is much like Adam and Eve, who sought knowledge outside of the boundaries of their authority. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. John has another set of accounts, and then he kind of ends and he leaves it wide open. If Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, then the Spirit is the sap equipping us for the Christian life. [Darris McNeely] On the morning of Pentecost 31 AD, what do you think was going through the minds of the assembled disciples in Jerusalem? He was the one who was the leader of that doubt and fear and terrified approach, because he denied Christ three times, and he had to be pointedly taught by Jesus. As I got up this morning, prepared to come over here, go through the day, same things that will be in my mind tomorrow, and next Thursday, and a month from today. Jesus persuades them to leave what they are doing to travel with him and help to share . 10 For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.". So He begins to teach them from the Scriptures that they might understand, and that they might comprehend what He was and how He had fulfilled everything that they would have understood to one degree, and then even more they had begun to develop a fuller understanding of the prophecies of Isaiah, or Joel, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, the statements about the Messiah. He made it clear that the Holy Spirit played a key role in their appointment. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives (which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath days journey away). The ministry has had those two themes for the past two conferences. In Eastern branches of Christianity, the Day of Pentecost is one of the Great Feasts. "And fear came upon every soul," and this was a different type of fear. What we read about back in Matthew 28:19 of the gospel being taken to the world. Put another way, the same Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus as He gave the Great Commission is the One who will empower the apostles (and the church) to carry out this command. Consider this question, with what we have just read: how could people filled with doubt, even a measure of unbelief, fear, general fear, intense fear, heightened fear, abject fearfear takes many different forms and guises; sometimes we can control our fear, sometimes it overcomes us and we're just shaking in our bootshow could a people dealing with all of these emotions during this 50-day period of time be expected to do what Jesus told them here in verse 8, they would do, when they have problems figuring it all out at that particular moment? This is the dimension that was given on Pentecost, and what this day is all about for those of us who are the firstfruits. What do we do now? From Psalm 69, they recognized that Judas betrayal was part of the divine plan. 3 And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. 9. Pentecost comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. What did they do during that 10 days? That's how we live the Word, that's how we drink in the Word, and it changes our life and it banishes the fear, gives us confidence in who we are and what we are to do. It's always fun to try to imagine how this happened. And I was going to go out to California, my first trip to California, visit my brother for about three weeks. They determined that others needed to be appointed to oversee this ministry. We are going to be taking giant steps toward creating that kind of Church that we read about here in the book of Acts, that has been imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit, and changes are being made. We are not, however, given any indication as to just what things Jesus taught them. They had been told to be there, to wait in Jerusalem until that day. 28For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to usnot to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: 29 that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. The apostles were all Galileans (see Acts 1:11; 2:7; see also Matthew 26:73), so they could not stay in their own homes. And so she was the first to see the empty tomb and have that appearance, and she goes and tells them. "And all who believed were together and they had all things in common. And He leaves them on the Mount of Olives, which is a very, very significant geographic feature there on the east of Jerusalem across from the city, and through the Kidron Valley and up on this Mount called Olives. But then two angels appeared and they said to them, in verse 11, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven?
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what happened before pentecost