A photo of the proverbial 90-pound weakling was followed by the after of an awesome, muscle-flexing Charles Atlas physique. Behold I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarryor waitin the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. The decision to proceed with the process of replacing Judas was seen as obedience to Psalm 109:8, thus leading to its fulfillment. He was the one who was the leader of that doubt and fear and terrified approach, because he denied Christ three times, and he had to be pointedly taught by Jesus. The apostles were celebrating this festival when the Holy Spirit descended on them. And we must live knowing that way. Did they doubt themselves? 24 Then they prayed, Lord, you know the hearts of all. If we can learn to take on the divine nature and drink that in, in our lives, then we can banish doubt, uncertainty, and fear, unbelief, that will creep in at various times as we go through our lives, and stages in the developments of life. 9. In the midst of all of the gnats, let us not miss the camel of this text, namely that the Holy Spirit was soon (not many days from now, verse 5) to come upon them, empowering them to carry out the Great Commission. Acts 1, consistent with the rest of the Book of Acts, reminds us that it is not about us; it is about God. In 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter writes, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. And it brings it down to the end of the chapter. Pentecost is the festival when Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. These accounts of like what we have read in the gospels and others for a 40-day period. The mystery of this paragraph is to explain why Luke went to so much effort (and space) to describe an event which appears to have little impact on the events that follow Pentecost. She went and told those who had been with Him as they mourned and wept." First, there was an unmistakable "sound like a mighty rushing wind" that "filled the entire house" where the believers had gathered. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Every generation of God's people have done that. Number one was the Roman Empire. And so I made a certain few inquiries, I got on the bus, didn't miss it. Acts is the record of how our Lord is fulfilling the Great Commission by using weak and fallible men. I believe that this upper room became headquarters for them during the entire 50-day period after our Lords resurrection. In verse 38, after everyone has calmed down, they realize theyve been involved and they were responsible for the death of Jesus. They remind us that most of the twelve apostles disappear in Acts and the Epistles, and not just Matthias. It's an informed sermon. Everybody who gets up and gives a sermon in a congregation, that sermon before it's ever posted on a website, has been reviewed or at least approved by individuals within the congregation. Between Easter and Pentecost: 50 Forgotten Days the - ChurchLeaders He had a lot to come back, he was at the back of the pack. I would like to look at Acts 1 in three segments: Verses 1-11 From Christs Resurrection to His Return, Verses 15-26 Filling the Vacancy left by Judas. We often think a miracle would be just what we need. And when they reached their decision, they made it clear that their decision was guided by the Holy Spirit. He made it clear that the Holy Spirit played a key role in their appointment. And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures.". We are further told that the Great Commission was an order given to the apostles who Jesus Himself had chosen. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Verses 40 to 47 is a summary of one of the most remarkable periods of the church experience. It goes on, "Jesus came and He spoke to them saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Verses 15-26 immediately precede Pentecost, but do not appear to have any profound impact on the apostles or on the community of believers. This process will never be seen again in the rest of the New Testament. Jesus informed them that they had (or would have) all the knowledge they needed. This information, this timing, is something that falls entirely within the Fathers own authority. 2. Preparation for Pentecost (Acts 1:1-26) | Bible.org What was the doubt that was nagging away at them even as they saw Him, and even worshiped Him, knowing that they as they did know that He had died, and yet there was doubt? You ever been in that type of situation where you don't know what to do next? Pentecost: Everything you need to know | Catholic News Agency 30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Pentecost was the occasion which God chose to bestow this power on His apostles. Jerusalem was swelled with pilgrims, at this point in time, and this added to the drama of the moment. Not only the wording of verse 13, but also what we know of these 40 days, suggests that this is where the apostles had been staying since our Lords death. And you can begin to imagine how this dynamic begins to must have been being set up within the disciples, because when you begin to doubt one another, you begin to lose trust. Did they doubt what they were seeing? 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God (1 Corinthians 15:3-9). "Pentecost" is actually the Greek name for a festival known in the Old Testament as the Feast of Weeks ( Leviticus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:9 ). Why are you standing around gazing? They were kind of like this, and like this. The empty tomb and the absence of a body is further evidence of our Lords resurrection, and to this the Holy Spirit will bear witness. On the Day of Pentecost prophecy was fulfilled. We can internalize that and think that through. The ministry has had those two themes for the past two conferences. If we can make that decision and live with that reality that there is a God who lives, and before Him we stand every single day of our life and every major decision, every small decision of character, and the decisions that we make in the privacy of our own mind, and in our own actions that not everyone knows about, not even our mate, all are in accordance with righteousness and a desire for righteousness. The bonds of trust among the disciples were beginning to be frayed. You remember what Ruth said to Naomi when Naomi, in the book of Ruth, had lost her husband and children, and these two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, tried to follow her away from Moab, and Orpah decided to leave. Send inquiries regarding the operation of this Web site to webmaster@ucg.org. And then going on here, in verse 44, "He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms concerning Me.' I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Show them otherwise what had been done, rebuke their unbelief, as it goes along here. 6We can easily deduce this since Pentecost was 50 days after Passover. I wonder if more people came to Jerusalem for Pentecost in that year because of what had happened 50 days earlier, plus three, and they had heard about that. We, again, don't necessarily always pause and think about this, in these hours and days following Christ's resurrection. Before Pentecost: What Were They Thinking. Up until this point, Paul (known as Saul until now) was clearly Barnabas assistant. 3You will note that I do not use the termdisciplesto refer to the eleven here, or the twelve elsewhere in Acts. He also is a residentfaculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. But let's go back, let's look at a few of these scriptures in a little bit more detail and see exactly what had been taking place among the disciples during this period of time, that brought them to that morning of Pentecost. At the end of John, you remember, John says, there were so many other things that He did in his life and no doubt probably part of that 40-day period that it would take volumes to teach it, and to record it during this period. in 1971. It goes on, "When He had spoken these things," in verse 9, "they watched and He was taken up in a cloud, received Him out of their sight. That's what this day is all about as a firstfruit. The Feast of the Ascension ranks with Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost in the universality of its observance among Christians. The same Jesus who's been taken up will come in a like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." In Colossians chapter 1, Colossians 1:27, Paul writes, "To them, God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." The church, the body of Christ, began on the Day of Pentecost by the work of the Holy Spirit. This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven (Acts 1:1-11). We give ourselves to that devotion, to that devoted study and the process of taking on the nature of God. So He begins to teach them from the Scriptures that they might understand, and that they might comprehend what He was and how He had fulfilled everything that they would have understood to one degree, and then even more they had begun to develop a fuller understanding of the prophecies of Isaiah, or Joel, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, the statements about the Messiah. I believe that when the Spirit came upon the apostles, they received the authority they needed to carry out the Great Commission. The same things were going through their minds that go through our minds. Consider this question, with what we have just read: how could people filled with doubt, even a measure of unbelief, fear, general fear, intense fear, heightened fear, abject fearfear takes many different forms and guises; sometimes we can control our fear, sometimes it overcomes us and we're just shaking in our bootshow could a people dealing with all of these emotions during this 50-day period of time be expected to do what Jesus told them here in verse 8, they would do, when they have problems figuring it all out at that particular moment?
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