Happy Sunday! Happy Pentecost! Welcome to afaithtalk.com, I’m glad you’re here. We’re taking a walk through a few Scriptures today and seeing if it might grow our faith. Come with me. It’s going to be fun.
First, a quick review from the hand of Paul in the first letter he wrote to the church in Corinth.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 NIV
The Resurrection of Christ
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, He ascended into heaven. There’s a post about that here too. Ten days after His Ascension we reach Pentecost. That very first Pentecost after His resurrection, past the intervening time and now it’s the Feast of Weeks, when we find ourselves in Acts 2.
Acts 2 NIV
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
… Peter is speaking to the crowds…
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
An interesting and illustrative fact for you here is that on the day the law was given at Mount Sinai, in Exodus 32:28, 3,000 people lost their lives. Here, at Pentecost, 3,000 people gained their lives. That illustrates how the Law brings death and the Spirit brings life. Both events were on the same day in the Feast of Weeks because these festivals are God’s festivals they do not disappear. You would do well to read Leviticus 23 and remember them. Jesus Himself will fulfill every one of the fall feasts He has yet to fulfill because He’s already fulfilled all the Spring feasts. Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Pentecost. And He is Always, Always, Always Faithful.
Here’s another fun fact for you, the Feast of Weeks marks the wheat harvest. And it’s called Weeks because it’s seven weeks after Easter Sunday. The barley harvest is during Festival of Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread to First Fruits. Really it’s fun to read about. The way God introduces these in Leviticus 23 is really fun to read. So precise. Yet our calendar is different than His so the Festivals move around on our calendars. That’s why Easter moves. All of them do. And Easter is First Fruits.
Just because we did not live back on that first Pentecost does not mean we don’t also get the Spirit. Because we’ve been told in Acts above and in Ephesians here that when we believed…
Ephesians 1:13 NIV
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
And we’re told all over the New Testament that faith is all we need to have to get the gift of God which is promised by the Holy Spirit’s presence with us. Here in Ephesians 1, if you finish the sentence Paul started here, he will tell you, the Spirit is the guarantee that we will be saved and more than saved, rewarded for our faith. We just have to wait until every one of God’s people are redeemed. Yet the time is short. There is no way to know when all of us come to believe.
So pray, share your faith, grow your faith.
He is coming.
It’s guaranteed.