It's Time To Celebrate Series

WE’VE GOT THE POWER – 4

“It’s Time To Celebrate!”

Text: Deuteronomy 16:5,6,8-12

Introduction: Over the past several weeks I’ve been preaching a series of messages on, “We’ve God The Power”. The 1st message, “Where It All Began”, talked about when the New Testament Church actually began. We found, through Scripture, that it actually began at the ascension of Christ. The 2nd message, “What’s The Purpose”, talked about what the purpose of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is all about – individually and collectively. The 3rd message, “Wake Up Sleepy Head”, talked about how to wake up the sleeping giant, the Church. We do that through receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the dunamis power that accompanies it. J.B. Phillips said, “Anyone who opens his personality to the living Spirit takes a risk of being considerably shaken.” You wake up the sleeping giant through absolute surrender. Phillip Yancey said, “Like a victorious locker room, church is a place to exult, to give thanks, to celebrate the great news that all is forgiven, that God is love, that victory is certain.” Absolute Surrender – body, mind, spirit, soul, and strength. (Pray).

Our text this morning is found in Deuteronomy 16. The Jews, according to Deuteronomy 16:5, celebrated the Passover (a symbol of the blood of Jesus to take away sin), before they celebrated the Day of Pentecost.

[Pentecost]. Means fifty, because the day of Pentecost occurred on the fiftieth day. It was calculated from the second day of unleavened bread. In the Old Testament it is called the Feast of Weeks, and also the Feast of Harvest. Its primary object was to thank God for the blessings of harvest. Why am I covering this? Again, I think it is very important to understand that the New Testament Church did not begin on the Day of Pentecost, but it began at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Acts 2 experience had nothing to do with the beginning of the Church, but it had to do with and still has to do with the receiving of Power! That is what the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is all about. Passover (which symbolizes New Testament salvation) happened 50 days prior to Pentecost! The Passover celebrated salvation; Pentecost celebrated the harvest. (expound)

I. Pentecost is about celebration! Look at verses 10-12.

A. Deut. 6:10-12 says, "Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.” "You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. "And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.”

B. There are several key words found in these Scriptures. They are: Tribute, Freewill Offering, Rejoice, Before the Lord, and Remember. Let’s look at what the Hebrew language has to say about these words.

1. Tribute - miccah (mis-saw’); (in the sense of flowing); abundance, i.e. (adverbially) liberally: tribute.

2. Freewill Offering - nedabah (ned-aw-baw’); spontaneity, or spontaneous; also abundant gift: free (-will) offering, freely, plentiful, voluntary.

3. Rejoice - samach (saw-makh’); To rejoice, to be glad - to rejoice (arrogantly), to exult (at) to rejoice (religiously) - (Piel) to cause to rejoice, to gladden, to make glad.

4. Before The Lord - paniym (paw-neem’); the face; presence. To be in front of, before, to the front of, in the presence of, in the face of, at the face or front of, from the presence of, from before, from before the face of.

5. Remember - zakar (zaw-kar’); To remember, to recall, to call to mind

a) to be brought to remembrance, to be remembered, to be thought of, to be brought to mind; c) (Hiphil) 1) to cause to remember, to remind 2) to cause to be remembered, to keep in remembrance 3) to mention (4) to record 5) to make a memorial, to make remembrance.

II. Pentecost is about celebration! That’s how one receives this dunamis power! By prayer and praise – by focusing our whole, absolute attention to the face of God. (expound).

A. Acts 2:1 says, “Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”

B. They were in one accord – openly, nakedly, praising God for their salvation – celebrating the Passover!

III. It was during this time of absolute abandonment of praise to God, that He “filled” them with dunamis power!

A. Acts 2:2-4 says, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (expound)