Return to Pentecost
Leviticus 23:1-2, 15-21; Acts 2:1-6, 17-18; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; John 7:38; Luke 11:11-13
Christians are powerless without the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit. We need to return to Pentecost.
The feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23 were prophetic events. The Pentecost feast was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. God had a plan for fresh oil to be poured out. We need to return to Pentecost to experience Pentecost.
- Who is the Holy Spirit for? – The simple answer is that the Holy Spirit is for everyone who follows Jesus. Paul says in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us when we believe. But in Acts 19 the believers needed to be baptised in the Holy Spirit. In Acts 4 the believers were filled again with the Holy Spirit. There is a difference between the Holy Spirit being in us and being on us. We need to be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to continually recieving fresh oil. It was revolutionary for all believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There is significance in the being two lambs and two loaves for the feast of Pentecost. It symbolises that God want to bring in all people, not just the Jews. God wanted to create one new people. The Holy Spirit is for ALL people. There was a progression from Jesus choosing twelve male disciples, to sending out 72 male followers, to filling 120 men and women in Acts 2, to filling Gentiles with the Holy Spirit in Acts 10.
- How do we recieve the Holy Spirit? – We need to be connected to the power source. We need continually filling because we leak. We need to connect with God in prayer. Pentecost teaches us that God’s power comes through prayer. A prayerless people are a powerless people. A. W. Tozer said “Does it not seem strange that the generation with the most advanced technology and the easiest-to-read Bible translations is the weakest generation of Christians in the history of our country? Church attendance has never been lower, and the Christian influence in our culture never weaker.” We need to fight to be a people of prayer. Jesus told His disciples to wait and pray before they went out into the world. Leonard Ravenhill said, “Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer…We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few prayers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere…The two prerequisites to successful Christian living are vision and passion, both of which are born in and maintained by prayer. The ministry of preaching is open to few; the ministry of prayer-the highest ministry of all human offices-is open to all.”
- What happens when the Holy Spirit comes? – When the Holy Spirit comes in response to prayers we know about it. A biblical revival is a loud one. When the Holy Spirit comes people’s lives are changed.
- When the Holy Spirit comes people don’t understand us anymore – “They must be drunk” was the accusation in Acts 2. Do we want people to ask, “Why are you so happy?” To experience fresh oil God wants us to give up control. We can sip on the Holy Spirit and remain in control or be drunk in the Holy Spirit and allow Him to be in control.
- When the Holy Spirit comes things grow – We are still works in progress. In Pentecost the bread had leven in it. There is symbolism in this. The church grew at Pentecost from 120 to over 3,000.