18/03/: WIND & FIRE
DEFINITIONS
Before we look at the Day of Pentecost, we need to examine the word
PENTECOSTAL
Cultural
Let’s explore the cultural definition for a moment.
Biblical
If your definition of Pentecostal means “someone who understands and appreciates the historic fulfilment of the Feast of Pentecost as described in Acts 2,” then I would answer, “Yes, the Holy Spirit is Pentecostal.”
THE DAY OF PENTECOST
. (Acts 2 verses 1–4)
This sentence reveals 3 critical elements, a time, a location, and an attitude.
The Greek word translated “tongues” is glossa, which is the root of our English word glossary. It means “language.”
THE HISTORY OF PENTECOST
These three holidays are the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
WHAT HAPPENED AT PENTECOST?
This is the setting for the events of Pentecost Sunday. We read how the sound of a hurricane filled the room and a visible manifestation of a tongue of fire rested upon each of the 120 individuals present.
Acts 2:7-13
The multitude was bewildered “because everyone heard them speak in his own language.” Two miracles seem to be at work here.
First, 120 people suddenly begin speaking in various heavenly languages they’d never before known.
Second, thousands of people hear these individuals speaking in their own native languages.
What’s more, the crowd heard the followers of Jesus “speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God” (verse 11). Is it any WONDER? “they were all amazed and PERPLEXED”?
WHAT PENTECOST MEANS TO US
However, when the Holy Spirit fills a person’s life, amazing things happen. A previously dead human spirit is regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit writes a new law upon the heart of that believer.
This law isn’t the Ten Commandments; rather, it’s the “Law of Love.” Anyone who fulfils this law will never be guilty of violating the Ten Commandments or displeasing God in any way.
“Love God with all your heart,” and, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” and “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (verse 1)?
Romans 7 – For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.… What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (verses 18–19, 24, NIV)
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (verse 5).
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body; you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CHANGES EVERYTHING
The transformation brought by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was nothing short of astonishing. That brings us to the next logical questions: Can we still experience the miracle of Pentecost Sunday today?
