Sermon Central
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The Impact Of Pentecost
Contributed by Bruce Howell on May 30, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: To call believers to the realization that it is God’s will that they all experience their own personal Pentecost.
The Impact of 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.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
THE GREATEST EVENT in human history is undisputed. It is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! It is the keystone of the arch of salvation. Remove it and the whole structure of the plan of salvation crumbles in the dust.
The good news of the gospel is that Christ died for our sins and that He rose again . The resurrection of Christ is the proof that His death atoned for sin. The wages of one single sin is death. One sin brought the curse of death upon all mankind (Rom. 5:12-15). If Jesus had paid for all the sins of mankind except one, He could not have risen, for one sin would have been enough to keep Him in the tomb.
When Jesus arose, it was proof that He had completely met redemption’s price. When He cried, "It is finished!", the work was fully done. God was satisfied and then proved the completeness of the work by raising Christ from the dead.
Because Christ did not remain in the tomb but conquered death by rising again, we can live in the joy of the full salvation provided by a risen, living, coming Redeemer.
That event we celebrate a few weeks ago. Now we come to the SECOND GREATEST EVENT in the history of the Church, namely, Pentecost—the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church.
Shortly after rising from the dead, Jesus went up to heaven to rejoin His Father. Then the Holy Spirit came down upon the people of God.
Now the reason that Pentecost is so important to the church is that without His presence and power, the church would have died out long ago. It is He that gives us the anointing to accomplish that which is impossible in the flesh.
There are two kinds of SPECIAL DAYS that the church recognizes: (1) secular days, (2) holy days.
Secular days are those that are a part of our culture, such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, etc.
Holy days are those that flow from biblical events, such as Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost.
Perhaps no event has been more misunderstood and maligned than Pentecost. Some folks equate it with “holy rollers.” Others equate it with emotional extremism. Still others view it as a denomination or movement. And then there are many who have no idea at all whit it is all about.
Illus.: “The Boy Who Believes in the Holy Spirit Isn’t Here”
A children’s catechism class was learning the Apostles Creed. Each child had been assigned a sentence to repeat. The first one said, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” The second child said, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son…” When he had completed his sentence, there was an embarrassing silence. Finally, one child piped up, “Teacher, the boy who believes in the Holy Spirit isn’t here.”
I believe that every pastor has a responsibility to carefully explain the meaning and significance of Pentecost. We don’t want to miss the power of God in our lives, do we?
The literal meaning of Pentecost is “50 days.” In the Old Testament it was positioned on the Jewish calendar seven weeks after the Passover. It was the Jewish Feast of Harvest and was equivalent to our Thanksgiving Day.
The high point of the celebration was the bringing of two loaves of bread, made from the newly harvested wheat, which symbolized the dedication of the harvest to God.
As the loaves were presented to the priest, so the disciples’ lives were offered completely to God in the Upper Room. Listen to the words of Acts 1:14” “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer.”
