Category Archives: Passover to Pentecost

Passover to Pentecost – One New Man

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Passover to Pentecost – One New Man        Week 7 Day 7

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12: 27 (NIV)

His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two. Ephesians 2: 15 (NIV)

For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV)

From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Leviticus 23: 17 (NIV)

Tomorrow is Pentecost (fifty days since Passover) or Shavu’ot.  This feast as recorded in Leviticus 23; 15 – 22 would have meant traveling to Jerusalem, a sacred assembly, sacrifice, and a day of no work.  It would have been the end of the wheat harvest and a time of bounty with joyful celebration, a day of remembrance.  The “new grain offering” is the first part of the sacrifice that is talked about.  Actually the entire sacrifice for the Feast of Weeks seems like it is quite large; with some of the offerings being burnt and some going to the priest. The offering requirements are listed and explained, a little differently, in Numbers 28: 26 – 31 and Deuteronomy 16: 9 – 12.

The new grain offering is very interesting.  It is to be baked with yeast, which is not

to be burnt as a sacrifice to the Lord.  There are also TWO of the loaves of bread. This could be typology for two different things: the two tablets that the Law was written on, or as the above verses elude too, they represent Jews and Gentiles.  These loaves of bread would have been a wave offering and went to the priest (v 20).

For the Jew this is the day that they were given the Law at Mount Sinai, this story is in Exodus 19 and 20.  For the Christian this is the start of the Church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challah

Passover to Pentecost – The Parakletos

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Passover to Pentecost – The Parakletos        Week 7 Day 6

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?  Luke 11: 13

 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Ezekiel 36:27

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1: 8

 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them. Nehemiah 9:20a

For the Holy Ghost shall teach you. Luke 12: 12

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?           1 Corinthians 3: 16

 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14:26

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. John 16: 13a

 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Romans 8: 11

And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. Acts 19: 6

 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.  For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? Acts 10: 45 – 47

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. Acts 4: 31  (All references are KJV.)

Passover to Pentecost – Fruit of the Spirit

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Passover to Pentecost – Fruit of the Spirit        Week 7 Day 5

For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Ephesians 5: 9

The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. Isaiah 32: 17

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. Proverb 11:20 (NIV)

Gifts are given; fruit has to grow and mature.  Galatians 5: 22 list the nine fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Again we have a list that we get to prioritize or should we?  Personally, I had developed a teaching that for any given situation if you wanted to be effective in that situation you had to start with love and develop all nine gifts, in order, for that situation.  Then you get to start all over again, but at a higher level.  Then I realized that there were other list like the one 1 Timothy 6: 11.  Well, that took a lot of the edge off of my great teaching.  I am not sure that one of the fruits is more important than the next, we need all of them.

I suggest that you do a word study on the one you thinking you may be weak in and expect to be tested in it as you grow that fruit to maturity.

Observations:

  1. Hope is not in this list. Personally, I think the effects of all nine of the Fruits have a part in hope.
  2. The list that is in 1 Timothy 6: 11, that list six fruits, are for a church as a whole, while the list in Galatians is for an individual. (My interpretation.)

There are other lists that are worth including.  In 1 Corinthians 12: 28 Paul gives a numbered list of the parts of the body of Christ.  This starts with apostles and goes to those who speak in tongues. (This could be the prophetic gift of tongues or it is everyone else in the church that has asked for the power of the Holy Spirit.  I will go with the second one, because we all have a “numbered” place in Jesus.)  The second list is found in Ephesians 6: 14 and is known as the “Armor of God.”  If you try to rank or prioritize the armor as to most or least important I think you would soon find that life is out of balance.

Passover to Pentecost – Gifts from the Spirit

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Passover to Pentecost – Gifts from the Spirit        Week 7 Day 4

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. Romans 12: 6(NIV)    Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12:7(NIV)

Jesus ascended so he could send the Holy Spirit.  The disciples probably had a good idea of the workings of the Spirit because of the many things He did in the Old Testament.  The gifts of the Spirit are mentioned frequently in the New Testament.  Gifts are given to people and in the case of spiritual gifts the person receiving them is supposed to use them for the Church of the Living God, who by the way does not change.

Paul was a great list writer and sometimes those lists seem to change form epistle to epistle.  The problem with list is how people handle them.  The first thing in the list is the best, or you will “receive” them in that order, or any number of things that can be turned into hard and fast rules.  I have used two different lists from Paul’s writings, both are list of gifts.  Paul just put the word spiritual in front of the ones to a more gifted Corinthian church.  Brother Joseph Prince groups the nine gifts into three groups in order to help you learn/remember them easier:

  • Vocal Gifts – Prophecy, Interpretation of Tongues, and Tongues (personal prayer language)
  • Knowledge Gifts – Words of Wisdom, Words of Knowledge, and Distinguishing of Spirits
  • Power Gifts – Faith (for special things), Healing, and Miraculous Powers

The gifts in Romans I divided into two groups:

  • Building Up Gifts – Prophesying, Teaching, Encouraging, and Showing Mercy
  • Building Out Gifts – Serving, Contributing, and Leadership

These gifts are for the Church.  In the Old Testament when the Holy Spirit “came upon” someone it was for the good of the Nation or God was protecting someone in the Nation.  The phrase “came upon” is translated from several different words that might suggest different levels of anointing. (I will study this topic out in a later post.)

The judges Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson are noted for having the Spirit “come upon” them so they could lead the Nation in times of trouble.  Several people are sited for prophesying because of the Spirit.  Moses operated in several gifts in the course of leading and freeing the People.  Bezalel is “filled” with knowledge for doing the Ark.  David also has several gifts: leadership, knowledge (plans for the Temple), and prophesy.  Yes, spiritual gifts are real and should be part of the believer’s life as well as part of the church service.

I have heard many positive and negative things about the gifts over the last forty years.  But I will go back to the words of Jesus in Luke 11 where He is teaching on prayer.  In verses 11 to 13 He makes the point that if you are asking the Father for something He will not give you a snake if you are asking for an egg.  He ends the session with, “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11: 13b (NIV)

In both Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 Paul shares about spiritual gifts and workings and then follows with a teaching/reminder on love.  I think the point is clear; love God and your neighbor, and part of that will be by using the gifts the Holy Spirit gives you for good.

Passover to Pentecost – Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

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Passover to Pentecost – Holy Spirit in the Old Testament        Week 7 Day 3

And will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.  John 14:16 + 17 (NIV)

I am telling on myself.  My paradigm had been the disciples were “in the dark” about the coming of the Holy Spirit and what that would mean to them (possibly because I don’t remember anyone ever teaching on this).  THEN I studied the topic.  There is so much about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament that I will finish my study after Pentecost, I will try to stick to the season and the things that relate to this Feast.

Isaiah writes in chapter eleven that the Spirit that will rest on the Branch, will bear fruit is one of wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.  This is a mixture of what we now call the fruits and gifts of the Spirit.  The Spirit is talked about approximately seventy times in the Old Testament. We will look at the times He is referred to in connection with those first two years of the Exodus.

In Exodus 31 and 35 He has “filled” Bezalel and Oholiab, the men who were to do the work on the Ark and Tabernacle.  The verb indicates they were “running over” with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the work.  The next mention is in Numbers 9 when the Lord gave the Spirit from Moses to elders of the people.  Even though it is never talked about Moses was filled with the Spirit, because He went from him to the elders.

The next three references are commentaries about the Spirit and Israel in the desert.  Isaiah 63: 10 -14, Nehemiah 9: 20 -30, and Psalm 106: 33 tell how the people acted toward what the Spirit was doing with them in the desert and His reaction to them.  He was teaching and testing, and they did not like it.

In looking at the references in my concordance I noticed that the Spirit is mentioned by Moses in Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers, but not in the Books that “cover” the Law – Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  I will let you ponder the relationship between the Spirit and Law.

Just because he is a topic in the sermon on the day of Pentecost by Peter I will mention that King David had a “forceful” relationship with the Spirit.  The King James Version says in 1 Samuel 16 that the Spirit was with David his whole life.  So the Spirit was very busy and mentioned many times in the Old Testament.