Category Archives: Passover to Pentecost

Passover to Pentecost – The Beta Program

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Passover to Pentecost – The Beta Program       Week 4 Day 3

 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.   When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.  Matthew 13: 45 + 46 (NIV)

I left a comfort zone on this post so I hope the terms and concepts are correct. I have helped to field test a new educational product line, and I see what the disciples did in Acts as being very similar.  All of the references will be from the Book of Acts.

  • Have a plan developed and present it to the staff. (1:7)
  • The staff needs an intense preparation period. (1:14)
  • Make sure you have the proper staff to start the project. (1:21)
  • Have a big “kick-off” to start the program. (2:2)
  • Play off of public interest, explain what is going on, and relate it to previous experiences thus showing how better your program is. (2:14-41)
  • Initiate the Beta test. In the case of Acts it was baptism, Apostle teaching’s, fellowship, communion, and prayer. (2:41-43)
  • Look for and validate results. There were awesome miracles, shared lives, God praised, people see a change and are favorable, and new growth. (2:44-47)
  • Take opportunities to spread the message and receive competition from the establishment. (3:1 -4:22)
  • First beta test passed. (4:23 – 31 especially verse 29)
  • Study the program and find highlights of the results. Spotlight people. (4:32-37)
  • Internal challenge to first Beta test. (5:1-42)
  • Implement the second Beta test. (6:1-7)
  • Go live with new program. (Chapters 7-12)
  • Next level of program Chapters 13 to 28.

Passover to Pentecost – The Basic Package

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Passover to Pentecost – The Basic Package       Week 4 Day 2

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Mark 12:34 (NIV)

The teachings of Jesus in the Gospels were geared to the crowds.  He was trying to pull them out and up from their circumstances and speak life into a very static religious experience.  Jesus using parables allowed every academic level of listener to get something from His public ministry.  He started shifting toward the end of His life from public to private time with His disciples.  Why?  He was training His leaders.  After the crucifixion it was all private time.  He had built the ground work for His Kingdom in their lives.  He upped the training before Palm Sunday and now He was fine-tuning His commanders.

Great training courses add material while connecting it to the basics.  Jesus’ base package was just two things: Love God and Love Your Neighbor (Matthew 22: 37, Mark 12:28).   The other things were still there but these two things were Jesus.  The Torah has 613 commandments; Jesus condensed that rich volume of information to just two commandments!

Go forward many years, how is this base package now looking?  Love God, love your neighbor, Jesus is Lord, and Hebrews 6:1 +2.   I think the training worked!

Passover to Pentecost – Class in Session

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Passover to Pentecost – Class in Session       Week 4 Day 1

He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.  Acts 1:3

We have looked at several of the recorded meetings Jesus had with the Eleven and the other disciples.  We are not finished with them yet, but I want to think about this forty-day seminar on the Kingdom.  To do this we will look at what the disciples taught, put into action, and how some of the churches lived out these teachings.  Jesus had actually promised this training time while they were in the Passover meal in John 16: 25 – Though I have been speaking figuratively, I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father (NIV).  I talk about His use of parables and other teaching styles in Jesus the Master Teacher.  A good parable would affect the crowd at many different levels and give them a lot to think on.  That can be good and bad for the understanding of because two people next to each other can take away two completely different ideas.  That is why the disciples would ask for clarification to lessons for the information they did not want to miss; Jesus would help them understand (Parable of the Sower).   This mini-session, however, would be different, no parables just straight talk and answers.  A great thing, there was no notes!  They would soon receive the Holy Spirit and He would help them remember the lessons.

In my current thinking mode, it is very easy for my mind to drift to Moses and two forty day sessions on Mount Sinai, and then the months of construction so the Ark and the Tabernacle would be finished for the second Passover.  All of these things and activities reflect the Teacher who is giving His last lessons here on earth.  Imagine the teaching that took place in Jesus’ last forty days.  Jesus and the disciples are in Galilee after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so with travel time that is about thirty days before they needed to be on the Mount of Olives.  They are sitting on Mount Tabor able to see “forever” in the clear blue sky and Jesus is ending His teaching just before the meal.  500 people are listening and he gives them the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:16 and Luke 24: 46, there is a version in Mark but that really reflects the doing of what was said).  He had trained and sent the Twelve, then seventy-two, and now he has commissioned a small army.  When Jesus actually gave the lesson from Acts 1:4 – Wait for the Holy Spirit; I have no idea.  I will, however, put it after the “second month Passover” which would have been three weeks from Thomas’ restoration.

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Passover to Pentecost – Other Contacts

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Passover to Pentecost – Other Contacts         Week 3 Day 7

The 500

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 6 is the only writer to mention this meeting.  Matthew may refer to it in his Gospel, but there were probably many unrecorded meetings.  Who could these five hundred have been?  How many had been part of the seventy-two missionaries Jesus had sent out?  Had they been part of the 9000 men who had been fed on those two special days by the Sea of Galilee?  Had they followed Him through Nain when He raised the dead son?  This list could go on for a while but several Gospels make the point that people still doubted when they saw Jesus during these forty days of the Resurrection.  Even in this doubt Jesus met with them, fed them, and taught on His Kingdom.

How many of these people joined the Apostles in the Upper Room for prayer and so were counted in the 120 on the day of Pentecost no one records that.  Were the other 380 in the crowd when Peter preached the first post-Jesus sermon?  We do know that people professed to having been there because Paul says most of them were still alive when he wrote to the Corinthians.  So His presence must have healed the doubt and strengthened their lives.  I cannot prove this but I like to think that this meeting took place on Mount Tabor and that it would have been after the second month Passover but before the Ascension. (A post on this will be available on May 10th, the next full moon.)

James

This should be Jesus’ half-brother James, the author of the epistle and the head of the Jerusalem Church.  Jesus knew he had a job to do, but the only mention of Jesus’ brothers was of them mocking Him about Passover or being with Mary trying to retrieve her “crazy” son.  Imagine having Jesus as an older brother!  What must the family thought when He turned water into wine and started having crowds of people following after Him to be healed.  This private conversation did the work because in those ten days from the Ascension to Pentecost Mary His mother and His brothers are listed as those present in the upper room constantly praying.  So for those living in the shadows of family members Jesus wants to meet you in the Resurrection and give you your job.

Most of this was posted in my blog called  Restorations With The Resurrection

Passover to Pentecost – Thomas

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Passover to Pentecost – Thomas         Week 3 Day 6

We have seen the Lord. John 20:25 (NIV)

Thomas the future apostle to India was not at Jesus’ first visitation at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  His story is set at the end of the Feast and would be the eighth day (the number of new beginnings).  In the first Passover the Israelites were out of Egypt on the other side of the Red Sea partying.   He, in true form of the other disciples refused to believe words that sounded like nonsense.  I hope he was with his family for the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread but the fact is that he had left the group during a time when you might have expected everyone to be together.  So Jesus shows Himself again (during the meal closing the Feast that celebrates His sinless life) proclaims “Peace” and sets about to restore a prodigal son and chosen leader.  His doubts and those of the other disciples could be linked with all of the complaining and testing the Israelites did in the first fifty days.   It must be noted here that they still have not left for Galilee.

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