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The Holy Spirit of Promise |
Dear Brethren,
Pentecost pictures us, God's spiritual people,
as the firstfruits of God's harvest, who are being prepared for the Kingdom of God.
Pentecost also pictures the beginning of the Church of God, the called out ones,
empowered by God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is the Life, Power, Love
and Mind of God the Father and Jesus Christ. "Holy Spirit" in Greek is
'Hagion Pneuma' meaning holy breath. "Jesus being full
of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness."
(Luke 4:1) When we receive His Spirit, God begins to impart to us His life,
and every Godly characterstic He possesses.
When we receive His Spirit, God becomes our Father. As we become His children, we also
begin to be like Him. We are being created in His Image. "God said, Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness." (Genesis 1:26) God chooses us
to be His children. He then gives His Holy Spirit to all who repent of their sins and
are baptized. "Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
(Acts 2:38-39)
Through the power of God's Spirit all believers will eventually be resurrected and changed
from mortal to immortal beings. "If the Spirit of [the Father] who raised up Jesus
from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Romans 8:11) "Now is
Christ [the Wave-Sheaf offering] risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits
of them that slept." (1Corinthians 15:20) We will be fully Spirit, in the Family
of God - just as "God is Spirit." (John 4:24)
What is the meaning of "firstfruits"? The Spiritual meaning of the term, "firstfruits"
is typical of the first agricultural produce to ripen each year. God uses the analogy
of the early harvest and the late harvest to demonstrate His plan of salvation. Ancient
Israel observed Pentecost - then, called the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of
Harvest - in late spring after the barley harvest. All of the early grain harvested
from the day of the Wave-Sheaf offering up to Pentecost was firstfruits. In the
same way, we brethren are a part of the early spiritual harvest - along with Jesus Christ, the
first of the Firstfruits. (1Corinthians 15:20)
"The feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field:
and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy
labours out of the field." (Exodus 23:16) "In the day of the firstfruits,
when ye bring a new meat offering unto the Lord, after your weeks be out, ye shall have
an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work." (Numbers 28:26)
Pentecost is also called the Feast of Weeks, referring to the seven weeks prior to the
fiftieth day. "And thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat
harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end." (Exodus 34:22) "When
the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
(Acts 2:1)
Pentecost represents the establishment of the New Testament Church with the coming of God's
Holy Spirit. God's Law was given on this day on Mount Sinai. The Holy Spirit
enables Christians to keep the Law of God - even in its expanded meaning and spiritual intent.
Old Testament Israel, without God's Holy Spirit, was unable to keep the commandments
as God desires we keep them.
On that first New Testament Pentecost, the Church to be
was waiting for the Promise of the Father. "And, being assembled together with them,
commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise
of the Father." (Acts 1:4)
"...Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all
the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of
fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."
(Acts 2:2-4) Peter later preached, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
(Acts 2:38-39)
Pentecost is our annual reminder of the Promise of the Father - His Holy Spirit which He has
given to us, making us His children - members of His family. "In whom ye also trusted
, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise."
(Ephesians 1:13)
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| Sermon: |
"A Light Shines in Darkness"
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