Category: Pentecost

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What is Pentecost Sunday?

Here is the bad news: Pentecost will likely not have the prestige of Christmas and Easter. In some ways, we are still trying to persuade evangelicals of the need for the Church Calendar. But we move on with our agenda. It is crucial to know that we are talking only about Classic Reformational and Lutheran celebrations, which include Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. In other words, these are conspicuously Christ-centered feasts. These feasts exalt the work and name of Jesus.

Some may say, “But we celebrate Easter all year long. Why do we have to set time aside to celebrate it in particular?” While this comment is noble, it is important to note that you can’t say everything all the time lest you say nothing at all. In other words, there is simply no way to celebrate all these events all the time. Hence, the Church has developed a way of celebrating, remembering, and internalizing the life of Jesus throughout the year.

So, what is Pentecost, and what are some ways we can celebrate this Feast?

Pentecost means the fiftieth day because it is the 50th day after Passover. This was also the Feast of the Harvest. In fact, we can say that Pentecost is the great fulfillment of all previous Pentecosts. The Old Testament Feasts led us to this fiery moment of redemptive history in the first century. The Great Harvest Feast is now being fulfilled, and God is harvesting the nations. Christ is sitting at the Father’s right hand, and the nations are being given to Jesus Christ as an inheritance (Ps. 110).

This year, Pentecost is from May 19th to November 30th.

How can I celebrate this Feast?

One way to be liturgically self-conscious is to practice a few things.

First, you should wear something red this Sunday. Remember the promise of Acts 2 that the Spirit would be poured out like fire. Pentecost is the re-birth of the Church. Red symbolizes the fire that came from heaven and empowered the Church as they moved from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Secondly, use this time to talk to your children about the Holy Spirit. The Third Person of the Godhead is often set aside as the forgotten Person of the Trinity, but he should not be. We must remember that Jesus refers to the Spirit as our Comforter (Jn. 14:16). Reading Acts 2 and other passages about the work of the Spirit is a healthy way of bringing recognition to the One who is truly God.

Thirdly, allow this feast, which celebrates the reversal of Babel, to be a reminder that God has made a new humanity through his Spirit. We are no longer a divided ethnos; we are one new creation of Jews and Gentiles. Live out gospel reconciliation in every possible situation.

Fourthly, educate yourself about other Church traditions. As a Reformed pastor, I can honestly say that I have learned much from my Anglican, Lutheran, and Baptist brothers and sisters. Pentecost is a reminder that our differences should never cause us to divide from other Trinitarian believers.

Finally, do not be hopeless in this season. God has not left us orphans. The absence of Jesus’ physical body on earth means his presence at the right hand of the Father in heaven, ruling and reigning by his Spirit, forming a resurrected creation under his reign.

Christ is Risen! Rejoice greatly! The Spirit is among us!

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Pentecost Notes: The Boisterous Spirit

God’s Pentecostal fire brings with it jubilant praise. The timid church becomes as tongues of fire which melts the hearts of unbelievers. Peter Leithart notes beautifully:

For Paul, the Spirit doesn’t make us placid and mild, quiet and retiring. When we’re filled with the Spirit, we cannot not speak, and our speech breaks out in boisterous psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Being filled with the Spirit means being filled with music, in our mouths and in our hearts. A marriage filled with the Spirit is full of noise, harmonious and melodious noise, joyful noise. C.S. Lewis wrote that a Christian society would be a joyful society, rollicking, lighthearted, exuberant. Paul agreed.

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What is Pentecost?

Many Christians know little about the Church Calendar, which means that many evangelicals will  treat this Sunday like any other day. This Sunday marks the beginning of the Ordinary Season (not in the mundane or common sense, but the term comes from the word “ordinal,” which probably means “counted time”). This season is composed of 23-28 Sundays, and it fleshes out the mission of the Church. To put it simply, Pentecost is the out-working of the mission of Jesus through his people.

Some pastors–myself included–usually take these few months to focus on passages and topics pertaining to the specific life of the Church, and how the Church can be more faithful and active in the affairs of the world. The Pentecost Season emphasizes the unleashing of the Spirit’s work and power through the Bride of Jesus Christ, the Church.

Liturgically, many congregations wear red as a symbol of the fiery-Spirit that befell the Church. The Season brings with it a renewed emphasis on the Church as the central institution to the fulfillment of God’s plans in history. As such, it brings out the practical nature of Christian theology. Joan Chittister defines Pentecost as “the period of unmitigated joy, of total immersion in the implications of what it means to be a Christian, to live a Christian life” (The Liturgical Year, 171).

Pentecost as Spirit-Work

There is a Spiritlessness in Reformed teaching and worship today. Pentecost exhorts us to be spiritual (Spirit-led) while emphasizing the titanic involvement of the Third Person of the Trinity in beautifying the world to reflect the glory of the Father and the Son.

Calvin was known as the “Theologian of the Spirit.” This is hardly manifested in many of his followers who tend to flee from the implications of a Spirit-led anything, choosing a mental overdose of theological categories. However, the Spirit is crucial to the forming and re-forming of any environment. It communicates our thoughts, emotions, and prayers to our Meditator. The Third Person of the Trinity emotionalizes and intercedes on our behalf in the midst of our ignorance (Rom. 8:26-30).

Further, the Spirit draws individuals (John 6:44) to enter into one baptized community of faith. The Spirit, in the words of James Jordan, is the “divine match-maker.” He brings isolated individuals into a Pentecostalized body, a body that has many parts, but one Head.

So, let us embrace this Season! Let us join this cosmic Pentecostal movement and embrace the mission of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

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Exhortation: Resurrection and Conquest

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have been at Providence for at least a year, you are beginning to see the progression of our calendar. Jesus, the Resurrected Lord is beginning to make Himself known to His disciples. The disciples are planning a strategy to proclaim the Name of their Risen Savior to the nations. They were left as orphans when He died, but now they renewed hope in His resurrection. But as Spurgeon once said, “man makes plans, but God has a plan of His own.” And the divine plan was for Jesus to rule from heaven, while the Spirit would indwell man on earth. The divine plan was for the disciples to receive power from on high; power that falls like fire; Spirit-sent fire.

As we come to the end of the Easter Season, we are approaching the Season of Pentecost; the day when God’s people were filled with strength and might to conquer the Nations. We need Easter to begin the work, but we need Pentecost to take that work to all the nations of the earth. This is our cycle. First, resurrection. Then, conquest.

Let us pray: We thank you, O Father, that you have promised your Son that all the nations of the earth will be His. We look to that day when nations submit to the authority of the Only True King of all creation, King Jesus, in whose Name we pray. Amen.

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One Mind

In Babel they were of one mind, together in the same place pursuing a mission of their own. In Acts, they are of one mind, together in the same place pursuing the mission of God.

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Pentecost Sermon: Acts 2:1-21, The Prophethood of All Believers

Providence Church (CREC)

Pentecost Sunday

May 31st, 2009, 18th sermon

Sermon: The Prophethood of all Believers

Text: Acts 2:1-21

Pastor Uriesou T. Brito

Text: Acts 2:1-21

Prayer: Our Lord and God, You have ascended to heaven, so Your Spirit would be sent to fill Your Church with power and might. May Your church declare your praises and may we ascend into the heavens to feast in Your presence. Amen.

Sermon: People of God, it is safe to say that sometime around the year AD 30, the promise of our Great Lord was fulfilled. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people and thus introducing a new age in human history. Jesus’ physical presence was now departed from the presence of the disciples and the Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity, would now take a more preeminent role in the life of the New Israel, the Church.

Pentecost was the most spectacular sign to the Jews and to the other nations present that there would be no more exclusivity when it comes to the effects of the gospel message. It was a sign that the promise was not only to you and your Jewish children, but to all those who are afar off.

Pentecost was a Feast Day for the Israelites in the Law of Moses. It was the 50th day after Passover.[1] This was also the Feast of the Harvest. What we are considering in this Pentecost Sunday is the Pentecost of all Pentecosts. In fact, we can say that Pentecost in Acts 2 is the great fulfillment of all previous Pentecosts. The Old Testament Feasts lead us to this exact moment of redemptive history in the first century. The Great Harvest Feast is now being fulfilled and God is harvesting the nations, and since Christ is sitting at His Right Hand, the nations are being given to Jesus Christ as an inheritance.

Jesus has gone on high; He is exalted above all. Pentecost tells us that though Jesus’ earthly ministry may be done, His public work continues through His chosen vessel, His Church. This work is being done through the power of the Spirit. Pentecost is a mighty moment in history. It shall never be repeated again, but the consequences of that day will unfold and will continue to unfold until the coming of our exalted King in the end of Human History.

What Pentecost brings to our attention is a shift from Israel-centricity to Ecclesio-centricity. In other words, a shift from Israel as the means to bringing the world to right to the church as the main vehicle God uses to bring sinners to repentance. This is an introduction to an entirely new era in Redemptive History.

We see that when Pentecost arrived, there were both visible and audible signs. In verse 2 there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and that it filled the entire house and tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on them.  These signs serve to tie together the OT imagery with Pentecost as the great sign of the newness of this empowered Church. The Church always existed from the days of the Garden of Eden, but on the day of Pentecost it received power from on high. The Church follows the pattern of Messiah. Messiah was baptized with the Spirit to launch his public ministry to Israel; now the Church is baptized with the Spirit to launch her ministry to all the nations of the earth. We see this as a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies that God would baptize the nations. We see that in Acts 2 the Spirit is like a rushing wind. Throughout the Scriptures, we see that the Spirit and Wind are the same word. In John 3, the work of the Spirit is like a wind that blows wherever it wishes. Here is a description of the work of the Spirit in bringing to life that which was dead. The Old Covenant was dead in its unfaithfulness. Israel was dead. They had killed the prophets. Israel needs to be re-made into a new creation. The Old World needs to die, so that a new world can be made alive. Continue reading “Pentecost Sermon: Acts 2:1-21, The Prophethood of All Believers”

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Why Celebrate Pentecost? By Peter Leithart

Why celebrate Pentecost?

Because the Spirit is the hovering wind that forms the formlessness, fills the void, brightens the darkness.

Because the Spirit is the breath that gives Adam life.

Because the Lord comes into the garden in the Spirit of the day to breathe out judgment to Adam and Eve.

Because the Spirit strives with flesh.

Because the Spirit equips Bezalel and Oholiab with wisdom to make furnishings for the tabernacle.

Because the Spirit blows back the waters of the flood, and the waters of the Red Sea, and the nations of Canaan.

Because the Spirit is the armor of Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Saul, David, and Jesus.

Because the Spirit was not taken from David.

Because the Spirit filled Solomon’s temple so that the priests could not stand.

Because the Spirit of Elijah came upon Elisha, and lifted Ezekiel to carry him to the temple in Jerusalem.

Because the Spirit renews the face of the ground, and makes dry bones live.

Because God has put His Spirit in us so that we can walk in His statutes, commandments, and laws.

Because the Spirit descends like a dove, and He is the finger of God that casts out demons.

Because the Spirit brings good news to the poor.

Because the Spirit enables sons and daughters to prophecy, see visions, and dream dreams.

Because it is by one Spirit that we have access to the one Father.

Because the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death.

Because we are baptized and sealed by one Spirit into one body, to produce His fruits.

Because the seven Spirits are the eyes of the Lord that range to and fro throughout the earth.

Because the Spirit and bride say, Come.

Lest we grieve the Spirit.

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Pentecost Hymn

Round the Lord in glory seated is a glorious Pentecost Hymn that we will be singing this Sunday at Providence to the familiar tune Ebenezer. You will recognize this tune if you have sung the beautiful hymn O, The Deep, Deep, Love of Jesus.

Round the Lord in glory seated,
Cherubim and seraphim
Filled His temple, and repeated
Each to each the alternate hymn:
“Lord, Thy glory fills the heaven,
Earth is with its fullness stored;
Unto Thee be glory given,
Holy, holy, holy Lord!”

Heav’n is still with glory ringing,
Earth takes up the angels’ cry,
“Holy, holy, holy,” singing,
“Lord of Hosts, the Lord most high.”
With His seraph train before Him,
With His holy church below,
Thus conspire we to adore him,
Bid we thus our anthem flow.

“Lord, Thy glory fills the heaven,
Earth is with its fullness stored;
Unto Thee be glory given,
Holy, holy, holy Lord!”
Thus Thy glorious Name confessing,
We adopt thine angels’ cry,
“Holy, holy, holy,” blessing
Thee, the Lord of Hosts most high.