Friday: Further Thought – Pentecost
Further Thought: The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost revealed a crucial truth about what happened in heaven and about how God the Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of the world. The outpouring of the Spirit showed, too, that Christ’s work in heaven in our behalf, based on His sacrifice on earth, was now inaugurated.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
These astonishing events are more manifestations of the wonderful truth that heaven and earth are connected in ways that we just can’t fathom now.
“Christ’s ascension to heaven was the signal that His followers were to receive the promised blessing. . . . When Christ passed within the heavenly gates, He was enthroned amidst the adoration of the angels. As soon as this ceremony was completed, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in rich currents, and Christ was indeed glorified, even with the glory which He had with the Father from all eternity. The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration was accomplished. According to His promise He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers as a token that He had, as priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed One over His people.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, pages 38, 39.
Discussion Questions:
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Christ's resurrection instead of symbolizing a new day of rest seems more to say that was the day that the King of Kings Lord of Lord's chose to be back on the job . Blessings to you all .
Discussion questions:
1. The church today can expect what God has promised when the conditions of faith are met, as Pentecost proves.
2. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom", and "none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise(obedient) shall understand", etc. All the bible study one could carry out will avail nothing, as the leaders in Jesus' day prove. Without exercising faith, the meaning of scripture will be lost upon those blinded by sin.
3. Doesn't the promise of Jesus to the thief on the cross answer this last question?
Christ told Nicodemous that he must be baptized of the Spirit and of water, if not you cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5. Now we know the out come of Nicodemous, through the Holy Spirit inspired writings of Ellen Gould White. He went to the counsel of Pharisees, thorated many a plot to kill Christ, eventually as by Bible account, he ultimately was rejected. Nicodemous when he saw the Light of the Cross at Christ death he repented and I assume became baptized. A must read is Desire of Ages page 176 and 177, it is so heart warming. The theif on the cross Christ gave the exception under the circumstances. His heart was right. As many a preacher has said, if he were given the chance to come down from the cross, he would have stepped right into the waters and become baptized.
Step into the water
Wade out a little bit deeper
Wet your feet in the water of His love
Step into the water
Wade out a little bit deeper
Come join angels singing praise to the Lamb of God.
1. It’s time we, the people, stand up for what is right
It’s time we squared our shoulders back and raised our swords to fight
For the Bible is my weapon and the Spirit is my shield
The Church needs more of its members to be workers in the field.
2. There is victory for the Christian who walks the narrow way.
There has been a prize appointed for the soul who does not stray.
Though I want to live for Jesus, and be all that I can be
So that I can rest with Him forever, live eternally.
Apropos sermon in its own right by Kirk Talley.
A point to consider:
"Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then 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 Ghost." ACTS 2:37 & 38
Some/many preachers/teachers will say that the response question of the accused crowd is the typical legalistic way of getting out of a jam.
They will say that "it is not what we do, do , do.
It is what has been done done, done, on the cross by Jesus."
Notice that Peter..under the influence of the HOLY SPIRIT did not reply that way.
One of Satan's devices to sabotage the salvation of believers is to get teachers to OVEREMPHASIZE the purpose/significance of the cross.
Did your SS teacher do a guard/challenge against those who supposedly speak in tongues?
Notice: "So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. " 1 Cor 14:9 What about all of the ambiguous religious lingo & clichés usually mentioned in the church, yet spoken in English or your language? How about the bible verses, quoted, that have not been explained? For example...what does "Let go & let God" mean to you?
You have touched on a sore point with me Jim. Christians have developed a vocabulary and set of idea associations that may be meaningful to us, but incomprehensible to others. It's a bit like twins who develop twin communication skills that sound like gibberish to everyone else.
But it is worse than that. Even among ourselves, we use phrases and expressions so often that they have become like a mantra that we recite. how many times do we say that "we need to be led by the Holy Spirit" just because it sounds a good answer? Such expressions have lost their real sense of meaning.
Maybe the "speaking in tongues" that we really need today is the skill of learning to speak to others in a language that they can understand. I know that some readers will take exception to this, but a lot of our "Jesus talk" makes no sense and in some cases is unnecessarily offensive to unchurched folk.
Perhaps we could make a start by practising on one another. We could think about the comments that we write here, and every time we are tempted to write a Christian cliche, write the idea of the cliche in a way that is meaningful to a wider audience. How can we convert others if we can only be understood by ourselves?