PENTECOST

SHEPHERD TO SHEEP

PENTECOST

(Acts 2:1) When the Day of Pentecost had fully come...

Wow! What a day!! Have you ever had an exciting day when so many great things happened in one day? That was the day of Pentecost. It's the day the Spirit fell upon the believers as they were gathered in the upper room. Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit. He told them to wait for this power to fall so they could fulfill their call to win the world to Jesus (Luke 24:46-49). It had been ten days since the Ascension and they were praying and waiting on the Lord. Then it happened! Wow!! What a day!!!

The Feast of Pentecost (Lev. 23:15-21) was the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. It was a joyful time of thanksgiving over the bountiful harvest. Greek for Pentecost was pentekoste, “50th”, from where we get the word Pentecost. This is the New Testament term for the Feast of Weeks. It was celebrated seven weeks plus one day (50 days) after the wave offering of the barley sheaf during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was also called the Feast of Harvest. The purpose of this feast was to commemorate the completion of the grain harvest. Its distinguishing feature was the offering of “two leavened loaves” made from the new corn of the completed harvest, which, with two lambs, were waved before the Lord as a thank offering. It was one of the three major feasts along with Passover and Tabernacles where the Jewish males were to appear before the Lord.

Isn't it interesting that the Lord chose this day for the promise of the Father to be fulfilled? What is the significance? It has to do with the harvest. This was the day the Spirit was poured out on the Church and the day there was a large harvest, or ingathering, of souls. And it foreshadowed the harvest of souls during the whole New Testament era of which we are presently in. Joel predicted it centuries earlier (Joel 2:28-29) and now came to pass. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit fell on the believers, Peter preached with power, and three-thousand souls were saved. Wow! What a day!!

Now everyday can't be like the day of Pentecost for the believer. But it does go to show you that we need the power of the Spirit to live that Christian life victoriously and to share Christ effectively. The fire of the Spirit was on the heads of all who were in that upper room. There were demonstrations of the Spirit and eventually the "on-fire" believers poured out onto the streets of Jerusalem. People took notice and asked what was going on. Peter took advantage of the opportunity saying it was a fulfillment of scripture. He then exhorted all to receive Jesus Christ and many responded and were baptized. Harvest!!

Have you gone fifty days or more in that dry spell of the Christian life? Then you need a Pentecost! Go up into that upper room of your heart and pray and ask for what Jesus promised to every believer: (Luke 11:13)...how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Maybe you and your Christian friends are as dry as Ezekiel's bones (Eze 37; 47). Go up together and be united in prayer for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit on your lives. Stop bringing each other down as carnal believers. Start building each other up in the Lord as Spirit receivers! Then there will be that overflow to others and you will see a harvest! (Psa 23:5)...You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. (See also John 7:37-39; Eph 5:18-19)

Good Friday...Resurrection...Ascension...but don't forget Pentecost. If the early church couldn't launch without it then how successful will we be as we seek to win our world for Christ? See you in the upper room!!

Louie

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