Pentecost ~ Brave men facing the Fire of God
Acts 2:1-32
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven
a sound like a mighty rushing wind,
and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
And divided tongues as of fire
appeared to them
and rested on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them:
“Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that
everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.’
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
Moses and the unconsumed bush
I have a good friend, who watched on video an Exodus recreation through the wilderness, she felt discomforted because she said she would have been one of the people complaining. I pointed out the video did not show the cloud by day and the fire by night. Manna is contemplated as being a Gift of God created by the desert blooming. Not an explainable miracle of God due to nature, part of God's Good Creation, instead, many ways to contemplate the Word of God in drawing closer to Jesus Christ.
What the Disciples faced having betrayed their good friend, the Son of God, Messiah. The anger Jesus people have for Jesus being betrayed.... Being the Beloved of Jesus, in obedience, has rewards.
Numbers 11
Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord,
and when he heard them his anger was aroused.
Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down.
3 So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them.
Exodus 3:14
Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.
This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
We don't expect to fly to the Promised Land. The Children of Israel walked. Only Jesus Christ ascends. We find reasons to Trust the Lord and listen to Jesus fill every dot and iota. We cannot. We do not uphold the Universe. God upholds the Universe with the power of His Word.
Give The Lord the Awe of the blind see and the deaf hear. And decide, with Jesus, God has more wisdom than our few years of life on earth. As we seek to find His Love, we find His Love.
How would we justify God's actions. The Nation of Israel exists today. Even from 500 years of Egyptian slavery of the Hebrews found in the Tax Records of Thutmose III and the Ipuwer in the Netherlands Museum. Joseph's name inscribed on a Pharaoh statue.
Egyptian Topographical Lists of Cities and Records
Names | Tuthmosis III (1481 BC) | Amenhotep II (1440) | Amenhotep III (1386) | Seti I (1291) | Ramses II (1275) |
Jacob-El | yes | yes | |||
Joseph-El | yes | yes | |||
Asher | yes | yes | yes | ||
Yahweh | yes | yes | |||
Shasu | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
Hapiru | yes | yes |
See ANET, 242-3.
- In Ramses II's topographical list (ca.1275 BC) the place-name "Jacob-El" (#9) appears again (ANET 1969, 242; Simons 1937). The first appearance was in Thutmose III's list. This means that this city of Jacob has been around for two hundred years. Another interesting name that was found is yhw which is "Yahweh" in Hebrew (Horn 1953, 201; Giveon 1964, 244).
- It seems abundantly clear from all these topographical lists concerning Canaan that the Hebrews were in Canaan at this time, but they did not use the name "Israel" until there league of tribes was well formed by the time of Merneptah.
- On a statue-base of Amenhotep III at Kom el Hetan which is the funerary temple of Amenhotep III there is a topographical list with the place-name Yspir (Series a:1; Kitchen 1965, 2). This is the same name translated "Joseph-El" in Thutmose III's Topographical list (ANET 1969, 242). After Yspir in both lists the place-name Rkd appears (Series a:2 in Amenhotep III's list, and #79 in Thutmose III's list; Simons 1937, 112). Rkd is the same place-name as Ruhizzi in the El Amarna letters (EA 53:36, 56; EA 5426; EA 56:26; EA 191:2; Rainey 1982, 354). The ruler of Ruhizzi is Arsawuya who seems to be located in northern Palestine or southern Syria (EA 53:36, 56; Moran, 125)
On a statue of Amenhotep III at Kom el Hetan - Amenhotep’s funeral statue has a base and on the base of the statue is "Joseph-el". Joseph of God. Referring to Joseph who predicted the huge famine, and became Visor to Pharaoh. Joseph Messenger of God.
Amenhotep III has a mortuary palace in Kom el Hetan where it was only discovered in 2009. The papyrus at the bases of the statues have provided interesting clues to Joseph.
Today, Edward and I were completely blessed and speaking with this Sermon.
I have to say, I believe this is a Favorite Sermon of my life on Pentecost.
Is our Unity the same as the diversity of appreciation of God's Many, Diverse Gifts? Is the Unity of the Holy Spirit? Will we unify in the Word of God, Jesus Messiah, Only Son of God?
The Diversity of God has One Plan. To save the World in Jesus Christ. God of Love. God is Love.
The Plan of God is blessing us with Gifts.
To Upbuild the Body of Jesus in Love.
Our Celebrations and Worship
should be reflections of the Beauty of God.
Held high to bring others higher.
Ephesians 4
10 He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things. 11 And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ
We live in an era of elbows out. And collectively we want to heal our world from the Pandemic and fights-on-airplanes-brains historically seen after Pandemic. Being clear, on Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter and plain life, we find evangelists are mad at apostles, prophets debunked for their gift, teachers caught up in media and agenda, saints upset their ministry isn't first, the body of Christ told tennis lessons in news and facts and pandemics, pastors told not to move from the line. Even if you write a Blog reaching millions, told you don't do enough. We are all under fire from something. Our fellowship is in the harsh comment and difficult circumstance.
C'mon people now. Smile on your brother. Everybody get together. Try to love one another right now.
Be encouraged with a Word of sincerity. There is more kindness than we have seen before the Pandemic. The Pandemic Google searches were of hope in the Lord. We see new ground being handed back to us, gains in kindness. The Lord gives us the Blessing knowing when we ask more Heaven on earth, we are in His Favor. The Lord loves the Kingdom of Righteous love, justice, mercy and walk with the Lord allowing Him to be God. We are merciful to God and His people.
We have to have more of the daily adventure of Spain, the joy of seeing nature in Australia, double doses of the French tradition to bless with our words for the day or the, ' bless the journey' Bon journee, UK habits to gather together over tea or pint. The joy of Japan found collectively. The families of Mexico loving to get together and support one another. The Irish are grateful for their Nation. We need to know beyond the borders to see the real promises of God in His Good Creation.
1 Corinthians 12:3-14
3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord”
except in the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
One Body with Many Members
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
Abba, Father,
Help us to Fight the Good Fight
to be the Heart and Words of Love.
We sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord
they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green:
All of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.
Love the Lord so dear, so dear,
and
God’s love make us strong.
Follow right, for Jesus’ sake,
the whole of our good lives long.
One is a soldier, and one is a priest,
and one slain by a fierce wild beast:
and there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
why we shouldn’t be one too.
They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still;
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
in church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea;
for the saints of God are just folk like me,
and we want to be one too.
To You be the Glory.
Amen in Jesus, Amen.
Dwell in those we Love.
Help us always to seek You First.
In Jesus Christ, we will finish well.
We pray for Ukraine, times are difficult and hopeful.
We pray the violence will stop here and in Your Good Creation.
Lord Father, Lord Jesus, we pray the horrible heat waves will end.
We ask for the return of good weather.
And ask Your Love and Mercy on the
many difficult challenges of healing from the Pandemic.
In Jesus Christ Amen Amen Amen
In Jesus Christ Amen Amen Amen
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment