Today is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost literally means 50. We celebrated the Resurrection of Christ 50 days ago.
50 days after Jesus was raised from the dead we read about the Day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place (in one accord). 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. ESV
The timing of all of this is truly significant. 1,500 years before Jesus came Moses came as a type or shadow of Christ.
The king tried to kill him by ordering the death of all male children. Divine direction was given to hide and protect the boy. The context of Egypt protected his life. Long period of silence from childhood to adulthood. Went from a place of power to a place of poverty to become deliverer. Ministered to a woman at a well. Fasted and prayed for 40 days. Performed signs and wonders.
Moses did all these things. Jesus did all these things. There is more specific information on this with verses to reference below.
Jesus’ death took place on the exact day the Israelites were celebrating the Passover. For generations God’s people celebrated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai 50 days after celebrating the Passover.
Jesus shows up as the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb and fifty days later the Holy Spirit is poured out writing this New Covenant Law on our hearts.
Jeremiah 31:33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ESV
The Law brings death but The Spirit gives life. The day Moses came down from the mountain with the Law 3,000 people died. The day Jesus awakened his church in Mount Zion, 3000 were saved.
People longed for the day in which we have the privilege of living.
Zephaniah 3:9 For then I will restore to the people a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord. NKJV
Notice the language of restoring pure language and “one accord”. In Acts 2, fifty days after Jesus is raised from the dead, they were in one accord and God restored a pure language. We also read where people were in one accord speaking the same language in Genesis 11:8 at the Tower of Babel.
Pentecost is a blessed reversal where this curse was reversed into a blessing. In Babel the hearts were wicked and needed to be restored. God was purposing to one day send his Son to redeem our lives and restore what was lost in that day.
Passover was fulfilled when Jesus died. Pentecost was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit was poured out on all flesh.
Acts 2:39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. ESV
Clearly the Holy Spirit was not just for that generation. God’s plan was for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them, their children and for all who are far off. This was not merely salvation.
Acts 19:2 (Paul) asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ESV
Peter Lord shares the story of how he was a Christian who was not yet filled with the Holy Spirit. At salvation God came to dwell in his house but the Holy Spirit began awakening the desire for something more. God spoke to him saying, “Your mother-in-law came to live in your house a few months ago but have you received her?” He realized the timing of this analogy couldn’t have been more perfect to help him understand. Just because someone is living in your house doesn’t mean you have truly received them, intimately interacting with them.
You could have been born in Old Testament times but God chose for you to live in this day of his New Covenant and the power of the Holy Spirit is such an important part of your call in this generation!
God is awakening an apostolic ecclesia with greater clarity than ever before on what it means to be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” - Ephesians 3:19 “becoming mature attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” - Ephesians 4:13.
Pray this prayer today: Fill me with your Holy Spirit Lord. Holy Spirit I ask you to forgive me for allowing anything to keep me from truly cooperating with you exploring the fullness of God for which I was created to experience!
GP2RL: Practice praying this week as Paul describes in 1 Cor 14:15 I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding… NIV
MOSES / JESUS
An evil king/Pharaoh tried to kill him as a baby: Exodus 1:22
King Herod tried to kill baby Jesus: Matthew 2:16
He was hidden from the evil king/Pharaoh: Exodus 2:2
An angel said to hide the child from the evil King Herod: Matthew 2:13
Moses was sent into Egypt to preserve his life: Exodus 2:3-4
Jesus was taken into Egypt to preserve His life: Matthew 2:13-15
He was saved by women: his mother: Exodus 2:3; Pharaoh's daughter Exodus 2:5-10
Saved and helped by His mother, Mary: Matthew 2:14
Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses: Exodus 2:10
Joseph adopted Jesus: Matthew 1:25
Moses became a prince of Egypt: Exodus 2:10
Jesus is the Prince of Peace: Isaiah 9:5; Matthew 28:18; Luke 2:14
Long period of silence from childhood to adulthood
Long period of silence from childhood to adulthood
Moses had a secret identity
Messianic secret = Jesus the Son of God
He tried to save a Hebrew kinsman: Exodus 2:11-12
Jesus came to save His Hebrew kinsman first: Mark 7:26-28
Went from being a prince to a pauper: Exodus 2:15-19
Went from being God to being man: John 1:1-3; Mark 6:3
Saved women at a well: Exodus 2:15-19
Saved a woman at a well: John chapter 4
Became a shepherd: Exodus 3:1
He is the Good Shepherd: John 10:11
Moses' mission was to redeem Israel from slavery to Egypt
Jesus' mission is to redeem mankind from slavery to sin
Moses was loved and supported in his ministry by his sister Miriam [in Hebrew, Miryam]
Jesus was loved and supported in his ministry by His mother Mary [in Hebrew, Miryam]
He was often rejected by his own people
Jesus was often rejected by His own people
Moses will give God's law on the mountain of Sinai: Exodus 20:1-31:18; 34:1-35
Jesus will give the new law from the Mt. of Beatitudes: Matthew chapter 5
Moses spent 40 days fasting on the mountain: Exodus24:18; 34:28
Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert wilderness: Matthew 4:2
Moses performs signs/ miracles
Jesus performs signs/miracles
Moses offered his life for the salvation of his people after the sin of the Golden Calf: Exodus 32:32-33
Jesus offered His life for the salvation of the world: Isaiah 53:12; Romans 5:12; 6:10; 2 Corinthians 5:15-21; Colossians 1:19-20; 2:14-15; 1 John 1:7; 2:2; etc.
Moses is the prophet of the Old Covenant Church
Jesus is the prophet, priest, and King of a New and everlasting Covenant.
GO BE CHURCH- MOBILIZING THE TABLE
In His Power
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Click here for a downloadable PDF file of this guide.
UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON: A shared meal could be the activity most closely tied to the reality of God’s kingdom, just as it is the most basic expression of hospitality. It comes as no surprise that many significant stories of Jesus are centered around a dinner table.
When Jesus wanted to explain to His disciples what his death was all about, he didn’t give them an informative lecture. He gave them a relational meal.
In a society that has grown so relationally disconnected, an invitation to Biblical hospitality might be one of the most compelling and irresistible aspects of Christianity. The heart of hospitality is about creating space for someone to feel seen and heard and loved. It’s about declaring your table a safe zone, a place of warmth and nourishment.
Great encouragement comes from rehearsing God’s Word. It is God’s plan is for us to spend time drawing close to his heart and hearing his voice together as a family. This is why we start each meeting with this question first:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Ask each person in your group to answer the discussion questions below after reading the verses. Realize, there is great power in just reading the Bible together and allowing the Holy Spirit to awaken His conversational nature in the group.
Acts 2:14-18 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. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “‘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; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. ESV
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
2. DISCOVER: Have each person give a simple 60 second summary of what these verses are saying, Encourage people to try not to add insights or application yet. Just simply summarize.
3. DEVELOP: What do you sense God may be speaking to you personally as we focus on these verses?
4. DEPLOY: We are to be doers and not hearers only. What will you do this week in
response to what you sense God is revealing in this time together?
Everywhere we go, we bring...
GP2RL: Come to the table with the Lord this week practicing what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 14:15 “I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding…”