 Psalm 78:1-7 [Accompanying scriptures: Lev. 26:9-12; Acts 2:17-21(Joel 2:28-32)] (Please note scriptures have been copied below) How does one understand Pentecost? We have such a limited understanding of how God has orchestrated His plans. The ritual offering to God for success of their food crop is so intimately intertwined with divine prophecy of God's gift for the success of His perfect plan for us. The old covenants were renewed yearly but this year there was a new covenant. Jesus had made this new covenant with His body and His blood and the prophecies concerning it were to be fulfilled. From Moses, (Num. 11:26-29) through Joel 2:28-32, God had a plan and this May 29, 30 AD it was to come into being. Why? So that a birth could take place. Not a conventional birth but the culmination of Jesus' work and the mandate of the church to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God throughout the world. This birth, like all births, was very small, but that day 120 grew into 3120 and today we sit here, small as church gatherings are counted, but woven in our spiritual fabric into the whole of Christ's church. Permit me to tell a story, disjointed perhaps but so connected, that the feast of First Fruits to the feast of Pentecost will evermore be connected and I pray understood. The dates I use are fixed only for reference, the actual dates are written by God and are His to determine. It is Sunday the first day of this week in April in the year 30 AD. It is the day after Passover, the sun hasn't yet risen and the priest leaves the temple to go to the fields nearby to look at the freshly planted ground. He arrives just as the dawn peeks over the horizon and the blush of light gently rains down on the field. He looks, stoops down and studies the earth and there it is the first shoot has broken the surface and the sprout appears, the first fruit of this year's crop. The priest carefully enfolds the sprout in his hands, at exactly this moment he feels the earth shake and he realizes that there has been a violent earthquake nearby. Instantly the sun breaks over the horizon. The priest quickly lifts the sprout from the ground and hurries back to the temple and there enacts the ritual of First Fruits (Lev.23:9-14). He holds the sprout in his uplifted hands and before the altar waves it back and forth before God. This age old ritual steeped in the mist of tradition and history is celebrated right after Passover. This day was different however, because there was a wild rumor that a young girt Mary Magdelene, went to the tomb and found it empty and that Jesus had come up out of the earth alive. It was on this note that the celebration of "The Feast of First Fruits" ended. The next great feast and celebration would be in exactly forty-nine days - seven weeks - but this time this celebration, called Pentecost, would be not observed but fulfilled. It is Sunday, May 29, 30 AD. Seven weeks have passed. The doors of the temple swing open and the priest exits to head for the same field he approached 49 days ago. It is early and still dark. He passes through the city noticing the masses of slumbering people packed into the city for the celebration of the next great Pentecost. The priest is not the only one who is up as a few of the Lord's disciples are wending their way to the second floor of a two story building no one knows why these disciples are up so early. Let us go back to the Passover and the ensuing 49 days. Christ was crucified during Passover and just about everyone meeting upstairs was an eye-witness to his execution. The bleakness of that time rested on them for two days and then on the third day Mary had found the tomb empty and she insisted that the Lord was alive. During the next five weeks He had appeared to all of these people. On the 40th day after Passover had met with a small group on the Mount of Olives and singling out twelve He looked them straight in the eye and said, "You are going to receive power." Then He said to all with them, go into Jerusalem and wait. These instructions so vague in content and yet so direct they decided that alarge room for them to stay in would be ideal and they met together to fast and pray. They had no idea what was coming but they went in obedience to Jesus. The days blended into prayer, questions, reminiscences, anxiety, and excitement sprinkled with perhaps a touch of frustration and boredom. The priest arrived at the field just as the sun's first rays were spreading across the land before him. Seven weeks ago he had sought a sprout, today before him flowed a rich, full very ripe crop of grain, ready for harvest. The priest stepped into the field and began cutting stalks, carefully he gathered two bundles and started back to Jerusalem, to the temple. The darkness waned and the day truly dawned as the priest entered the temple. The next important step of the Pentecost ritual was about to begin. The priest beat the seeds from the stalks, he took a smooth stone and carefully ground the seeds until They were crushed into a very fine flour. The flour was heaped up and water added in an exact amount and then the dough was fashioned into two loaves and which were gently thrust into the very hot over prepared, as always, for this ritual. The oven being very hot the bread would soon be finished, taken out of the oven it would be presented At the altar before the Lord. The offering would be the high hour of Pentecost - and that hour was at hand. The prayers in the upper room were totally authentic and very bold and the presence of the Lord permeated the whole room. The tension and anticipation were as a covering like warm oil flowing over the whole room and all those in it. Suddenly there was a loud sound, it seemed to be coming from the heavens. It was a mighty, deafening roar that grew louder and closer. Then it happened right there among them, the sound of the wind from heaven entered that room on earth. The reality of Jesus' words, the reality of the closeness of Jesus' presence, that which they had experienced only when they sat with Him here on earth, that glorious presence filled the room. The awesome sense of his divine authority was there. Suddenly everyone knew! The priest pulled the loaf from the oven. He took it to the altar and lifted it to God. The high hour of Pentecost had come. The loaf was complete. The divine seed had come up. That divine life that had dwelt in only one man now dwelt in many. Those in whom it now dwelt were more, not greater just more, as they now became one body. The Holy Spirit had come. The priest lifted the bread before the Lord. The day of Pentecost had come. No! This day, the day of Pentecost had been fulfilled. The scriptures were real. They were true. What God had decreed had happened. What was it that had just happened? As of that day, that moment, in the city of Jerusalem, the rule and the kingdom that until then only heaven had known - at last - had invaded the earth. The kingdom of heaven touched earth. What had happened? The most awesome event in human history. A seed had become a loaf. What does this day mean? Why do we celebrate this event? The monumental birth that took place was the birth of the church. We today, here, now, have the same awesome presence in our midst. We here, now, are the recipients of that same power and majesty. Here as in every Christian church where this service is being recognized the church is born from the seed, a loaf is made, Jesus the Bread of life. The Spirit of God rests in each believer and we are formed into one body, the church, prophecy has been fulfilled and Christ's Church, the Kingdom of God is here May we praise and thank almighty God for His sacrifice, His love and His blessings. Amen!  
Leviticus 26:9-12 New International Version (NIV) 9 “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place[a] among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. Psalm 78:1-7 New International Version (NIV) Psalm 78 A maskil of Asaph. 1 My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old-- 3 things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. Acts 2:17-21 New International Version (NIV) 17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Joel 2:28-32 New International Version (NIV) The Day of the Lord 28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.  "For me, Thomas was the most interesting of the disciples as he was a skeptic"
Norm "I Am The Man Thomas" I am the Man, Thomas I am the Man Look at these nail scars Here in my hand They drove me up the hill, Thomas I am the Man They made me carry the cross, Thomas I am the Man I am the Man, Thomas I am the Man Look at these nail scars Here in my hand They crowned my head with thorns, Thomas I am the Man They nailed me to the cross, Thomas I am the Man I am the Man, Thomas I am the Man Look at these nail scars Here in my hand They pierced me in the side I am the Man I died on the cross, Thomas I am the Man I am the Man, Thomas I am the Man Look at these nails scars Here in my hand They buried me in the tomb, Thomas I am the Man In three days I rose, Thomas I am the Man I am the Man, Thomas I am the Man Look at these nails scars Here in my hand http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics *************************************************************** "By The Mark" When I cross over I will shout and sing I will know my Savior By the mark where the nails have been By the mark where the nails have been By the sign upon His precious skin I will know my Savior when I come to Him By the mark where the nails have been A man of riches May claim a crown of jewels But the King of Heaven Can be told from the prince or fools By the mark where the nails have been By the sign upon His precious skin I will know my Savior when I come to Him By the mark where the nails have been On Calvary's Mountain Where they made Him suffer so All my sin was paid for A long, long time ago By the mark where the nails have been By the sign upon His precious skin I will know my Savior when I come to Him By the mark where the nails have been I will know my Savior when I come to Him By the mark where the nails have been http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics
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