Feast of Weeks, Pentecost
1 Kings 3:9 - Where Wisdom is Found
Jeremiah 9:24 - To Understand and To Know
**Matthew 13:38 - Harvest Time
**Matthew 13:38 - Bow the Knee
Luke 21:19 - Solving the Puzzle
**Luke 24:49 - Clothed With Power (coloring page on next subtab)
**Acts 2:1 - Pentecost Synergism/Fruit
1 Corinthians 3:16 - Pentecost and God's Presence
**1 Thessalonians 5:19 - Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
**Hebrews 4:16 - Confident!
**James 1:17 - Every Good and Perfect Gift
Where Wisdom is Found
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9
There are some great wisdom quotes. Ron has a couple of them on the wall in his study:
Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age;
sometimes age shows up all by itself.
and:
Everyone is a fool for at least five minutes every day.
Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.
We find the subject of wisdom throughout the Bible too:
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. Psalm 119:98
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:22
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Romans 12:16
and
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge
according to the same Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:8
But what do these have to do with Pentecost?
There’s reason to believe that the Law was given to Moses and the Israelites from Mt. Sinai on Pentecost (Exodus 19). That law was not an arbitrary law; it was an expression of the very mind of our great God. That isn’t to say that our God is summed up in the Law; the Law is a reflection of His character, just as we say God is love (1 John 4:16) or He is our peace (Ephesian 2:14), the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). In the same way, 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that Jesus Christ is for us wisdom from God.
But how do we get that wisdom? There is a wisdom of man which ends in death (Romans 1:22). There is a pseudo-wisdom which God’s wisdom always trumps (Psalm 119:98). And then there’s a wisdom which comes from God because we are His, because we obey His law, and because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which was given on Pentecost (1 Cor. 12:8).
But there’s another tie between wisdom and Pentecost that you don’t “get” unless you’ve been looking forward to Pentecost, unless you’ve been counting down the days to Pentecost. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). I don’t know if Moses intended this psalm to be a foreshadowing of Pentecost, but, in reality, when we number our days (really considering the time), when we count down to Pentecost (more than just going through the superficial motions of marking days), when we’re seeking Jesus Christ with our whole heart, what we get is Jesus Christ who is for us wisdom from God.
So on this Pentecost, ask for wisdom as Solomon did (1 Kings 3:9); ask for Jesus Christ to be more powerfully present in your life through the gift of the Holy Spirit; and praise God for His Holy Days which remind us of God’s plan in our lives, giving us wisdom to number our days.
To Understand and To Know
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24
What is boasting? The dictionary defines it: to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities. We already talked about God not being impressed with man’s wisdom, power, and wealth. Neither can our steadfast love, justice, or righteousness compare with our great God who practices these things. So we’re back to the question we didn’t exactly answer yesterday: about what should we, or can we, boast?
Jeremiah 9:24 says that the person who boasts should boast that he understands and knows God. Let’s think about this for a minute. Count up all the people you know. That might take awhile. I suspect that you know a lot of people. I know a lot of people . . . or actually my list of acquaintances is quite long. There’s a huge difference between being acquainted with, knowing, and understanding - especially how these words are used in this verse.
“Understand” is the Hebrew word sakhal (Strong’s number 7919) and means basically “an intellectual comprehension or an intelligent knowledge of the reason for something.” The other word “know” is the Hebrew word yada Strong’s number 3045) and means “understanding or knowledge by experience or by the senses” and has the conotation of “desiring to be in the presence of.”
So look at your list of acquaintances again. How many of these people do you understand? For which of them do you have an intellectual comprehension? That is, can you pick out their favorite hobbies, clothes, places, foods, music, etc? O.K. For some of the people you have on your list, you might be able to do that. But can you guess how they are going to act in any given situation? That narrows down your list considerably! Do you understand why they make the choices they make? I suspect that your list is now quite short or, perhaps, empty. To understand why someone would choose to act in a certain way requires a very close relationship. Think about it. Let’s say you wanted to get to know someone famous. You could look up all kinds of facts about them: their birthday, their favorites foods, their favorite activities, etc. But you wouldn’t really know them; you’d only have a knowledge of a lot of facts about them. You could study someone for many years and if you knocked on their front door, they wouldn’t let you in. They don’t know you from Adam!
That’s where this Hebrew word for “to know” - yada - is so cool! In order to know someone in this sense, you have to experience them. You know what ripe strawberries taste like because you’ve tasted them. You know what the beach sand feels like under your feet because you’ve gone barefoot on the beach. You know how much water there is in Wyoming because you’ve traveled from one side of the state to other; you’ve lived there; you’ve experienced walking along the shores of Yellowstone Lake and Lake Jenny. Oh. You’ve never picked a ripe strawberry straight out of the garden and popped it into your mouth? You’ve never built a sand castle on the sugar white sands of Destin, Florida? You’ve never been to Yellowstone or lived in Wyoming? Then maybe you don’t really know, in the Hebrew sense, these things. You haven’t experienced them. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
It’s the very same thing with God. There are a lot of people who have a knowledge about God. They can quote scripture. They can recite Biblical history. But they don’t pray to God. They don’t talk about Him with others. They don’t have a desire to be in His presence. They really don’t know God. But they can fool you because they look like they know Him - they know so much about Him. But like that famous person you studied, if you knocked on God’s front door, would He know them from Adam - in a figurative sense? To understand God means to have an intellectual comprehension of Him. Do you comprehend why God does what He does? To know God means to have experienced Him because you’ve desired to be with in His presence. How are you doing with knowing God?
This is what God says we can boast about - that we understand and know Him!
How are you doing on having something to boast about?
Here’s where the incredible blessing of Pentecost comes in! It was on the day of Pentecost almost two millennia ago that God poured out His Holy Spirit on His people who were gathered that day in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4). It is the Holy Spirit which leads us into all truth (John 16:13). It is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that our spirits can testify with His Spirit that we are the sons (and daughters) of God (Romans 8:16). It is by the Holy Spirit that we are being changed from the inside out to have that desire for God and His ways (2 Corinthians 5:17-18; John 6:63; Gal 5:22). We want to know God. We want to be like Him. We want to understand His ways. And, we greatly desire to be in His presence.
But do we understand and know God? We’re learning about Him. We coming to understand and to know Him more and more every day - but we’ve barely scratched the surface of what there is to know about our great God.
So of what can we truly boast? Nothing.
Here’s where another scripture complements Jeremiah 9:24 so well. Micah 6:8 says, He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? When it all comes down to it, we have nothing about which we can boast. And if that’s the case, then our reasonable attitude is humility! We must walk humbly with our God. And through the gift of Jesus Christ who reconciled us to the Father and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, given on Pentecost, we have been given that great blessing - to be allowed to walk with our God. As we come to understand and to know God more, to taste and see that He is good, we cannot help but walk in humility. Oh that we all would come to truly understand and to know God!
**Harvest Time
The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, Matthew 13:38
Materials needed: grasses
Do you know what has been happening in the fields over the past seven weeks? Planting and harvesting. Yes, really! We tend to think of spring as the time to plant, and it is - for some crops. But there are other crops which were planted last fall and they are ready to harvest in spring - like barley, oats, and wheat. Here in Missouri, there are already farmers out in the fields harvesting hay. We’ve had enough rain and warm temperatures to have a good crop of grass already! Seeing those big round bales in the fields means that cows and horses will have something to eat this coming winter.
But unless the farmer tilled and sowed alfalfa, the fields of grass are a mixture of grasses. There’s timothy, brome, alfalfa, clover, ryegrass, fescue, Bermuda grass, and orchard grass. And there’s usually a mixture of other plants too. We have daisies, plants that look like daisies, sunflowers, Queen Anne’s Lace which dot the pasture. And there are some weeds - thistles, stinkweed, etc. There’s a lot of variety.
So when Jesus said that the field is the world, this is something we can understand because we see it in front of us. Then He said (in Matthew 13:38) that the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one.
When I stand back and look at the pasture, all I see are green plants and a few white flowers. I can’t identify the really nutritious plants or the weeds from a distance. But I know they are there. In the same way, we live in a world where there are sons of the kingdom - Christians - people who belong to God. And there are evil people - people who reject God and do evil things.
And, it’s going to be that way - with good and bad people in our world - until the harvest, until Jesus Christ returns. It’s our job to grow where we are planted and produce fruit for the Landowner, the King, our God.
And we’ll talk about that tomorrow on Pentecost.
**Bow the Knee
The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, Matthew 13:38
Materials needed: grasses
Wheat and tares look very similar as they are growing. You can’t really tell which is which until the wheat produces fruit - the head of grain. Tares don’t produce a head of grain. They don’t produce any fruit. Do you understand why it’s a problem to have tares growing in your field of wheat? The tares use the nutrients in the soil, nutrients that could be used by the wheat, but then they don’t produce anything. There’s no reward for the farmer for having these weeds in his field!
In this parable in Matthew 13, the servants asked the landowner if he planted the weeds!!! When the landowner said that an enemy had done it, the servants wanted to know if they should go pull up the weeds. The landowner said that in pulling up the weeds, the wheat could be damaged. The weeds were allowed to grow with the wheat until the harvest.
Knowing that Jesus was using a parable, a picture, to describe what our world is like means that God allows evil people to live in the world with His people. Does that mean we should live like the evil people we see around us? No!! Does that mean we are excused from producing fruit for the kingdom? No.
In fact, we should be producing more fruit for the kingdom, for our Master and Lord, because we owe Him everything and we know that we do. He’s the One who called us by name and redeemed us. He’s the One who blesses us and helps us to grow. He’s the One who gives us hope and a future.
Have you ever seen an apple tree so loaded with fruit that the branches were breaking? Have you ever seen a tomato plant or a pepper plant so full of fruit that it looks like it’s going to fall over? Do you know what happens when a stalk of wheat is filled with fruit? The head, the top of the stalk of wheat, gets so full and heavy, that the heads bows over. Hmm. Isn’t that interesting?! One of the ways that you can tell, immediately, the difference between wheat and tares is that the wheat’s head bows; the tare’s head doesn’t because it has no fruit.
It’s a great visual reminder that we need to bow our head because of the abundance that God has blessed us with - even the ability to produce fruit for His glory.
Solving the Puzzle
By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:19
I have a little puzzle box. It’s not a difficult puzzle. There are only four pieces. But whenever I give it to someone, they always want to figure out so they can see what’s inside.
I have a nine-piece puzzle. It’s only nine pieces, but it’s very difficult. I know that it kept Steve and Jon busy for hours!
Whether you’re figuring out a hard puzzle or an easy puzzle, you have to work at it. You have to show some endurance. That means you don’t give up when you can’t figure it out right away! But the question is: Is it worth it? What do you get at the end? I have to tell you: I rarely keep anything in my puzzle box, and every time someone opens it, they are disappointed. You can see it all over their faces!
Our lives as Christians are a little like the puzzle box or the nine-piece puzzle. All of our lives are different. No one’s life looks just like the person next to them, just as none of your puzzles are the same. Some puzzles are harder than others. Some people have harder things to endure in their lives than others. Nevertheless, we all have a life to live, and today, you have a puzzle to solve. We all have a choice of which piece to put where. If it doesn’t work, we can try something else. But unlike solving the puzzle, sometimes the choices we make in our lives can have serious consequences. We want to make our choices wisely.
Like solving the puzzle, living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God requires us to persevere, to endure, to keep trying.
Sometimes people get frustrated with puzzles and they just give up. They don’t care if they get the puzzle figured out or not. Sometimes people get frustrated with life. They don’t want to put out the effort to solve the puzzle. They don’t care if they follow God’s laws; they’re going to live any way they want to.
If you don’t solve a puzzle, it doesn’t really matter. But if you don’t live your life trusting and obeying God, it can have eternal consequences.
Life is often hard. The choices we have to make are sometimes difficult. It’s like putting a puzzle together where it’s just a solid color. There’s no picture to help you figure out what the puzzle is supposed to look like.
The blessing of Pentecost is that God has poured out His Holy Spirit on all believers. The Holy Spirit teaches us (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit helps us pray (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit strengthens us (Ephesians 3:16). The Holy Spirit helps us to solve the puzzle of how to live right.
It’s kind of like God giving us a puzzle to solve - and then He gives us the picture, a few hints of how to solve it, and encouragement to keep trying.
You’re here right now because your parents brought you. You might not have any idea why we celebrate Pentecost. But your parents will teach you. All of the people in this room are willing to encourage you. And this day, Pentecost, is about God giving the Holy Spirit to people so they will endure, never give up, but rather become the people we should be to live forever.
By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:19
**Clothed With Power
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Luke 24:49
Materials: mini flashlights
How do these flashlights work? They have to have a power source - a source that is not part, exactly, of the flashlight. There’s a battery inside that flashlight which provides the energy, the power, to shine the light.
It’s an interesting analogy. You see, people think that they have power. They can do great things. There are contests and awards to celebrate great feats.
The reality is that the power people have is nothing compared with the power of our great God. God illustrates the vastness between man’s power and God’s power when he begins to ask Job questions, starting with, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4) “Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?” (38:35) “Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?” (39:27)
Knowing that our great God is so incredibly powerful, what do you think the disciples thought when Jesus said, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” This was after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The disciples had just seen a phenomenal display of God’s power. Now Jesus was telling them that they would be clothed with power from on high.
Yesterday we talked about the Living Water (which John 7:39 says is the Holy Spirit). Water is what gives life to all things. Where there is no water, there is no life. But here’s another picture of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:1-3, the disciples heard a mighty rushing wind. Then they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire which separated and came to rest upon each of them. Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit, which enabled them to speak in tongues. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples now had an ability that they had not had before. They had power from on high.
Pentecost is the memorial of that day, the empowerment of the Church, when 3000 people were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:41).
The little flashlight is very much like what happens to believers. We live in this physical body. We can do some things. But to shine the light of Jesus Christ to people around us, to have the power to live lives which glorify God, we must have the Holy Spirit living in us - just like the flashlight can’t shine unless it has the battery inside it. We can’t buy this power of the Holy Spirit. We can’t earn this power. It only comes from having a close relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Day of Pentecost is a truly great Holy Day, one in which we celebrate the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit, His power, on those who believe in Him.
**Pentecost Synergism
The day of Pentecost came. The believers all gathered in one place. Acts 2:1
Materials: markers and paper
The word of the day today is synergism. Do you know what synergism is? It is when the collection of the whole is stronger than the sum of what each individual can do independently. It’s the idea of a cord of three strands is not easily broken. It is the difference between one tiny spark here and there vs. many tiny sparks all in the same place - causing a roaring fire. In art it’s called pointillism - a revolutionary painting technique pioneered by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in Paris in the mid-1880s. One dot all by itself doesn’t make the picture; it’s all of the dots together. Try it. One dot doesn’t make too much impact, but lots of dots together can create a beautiful picture.
How does that work with people? Well, if you are trying to accomplish something, several people working together towards a goal are more effective than one person here, one person there - the same number of people - but all working on their own instead of in concert.
And there’s another place where we see synergism - a concert. If I take an orchestral piece and play each individual part, I probably will not like the composition. But if every instrument plays their part, the combination is pleasing and I may listen to it over and over again.
So what about Christians? If we are serving God, that’s good. We’re supposed to be seeking His will and seeking to please Him. But what if several Christians work together to do His will all at the same time for the same goal? Then a much greater impact can be made. It’s like what Camp Outreach was able to do for years and years. One or two teens working in Indianapolis wouldn’t have had the impact that the entire group had for one short week.
So on that day of Pentecost, described in Acts 2, the disciples of Jesus were all gathered in one place. What kind of impact would they have? We’ll talk about that tomorrow.
**Pentecost Fruit
The day of Pentecost came. The believers all gathered in one place. Acts 2:1
Materials: helium balloons, unfilled balloons
Yesterday we talked about the word synergism and how so much more can be accomplished by a group of people than by each individual working on their own. But there’s one other very important component that is needed if a group is going to be an effective force for good: structure, guidance, rules, discipline - and in the case of a group of Christians, the guiding force of the Holy Spirit.
Think of it this way: Imagine you have two groups of dogs. One is just a wild pack, doing whatever they want to do, eating, barking, killing, biting. They can kill an entire flock of sheep just for the love of killing, not because they’re hungry. But the same number of dogs who have been trained and love their master can be harnessed and pull a sled over incredible distances. Dallas Seavey’s 10 dogs did the 938-mile Iditarod Race in Alaska in 2021 in just over 7 days 14 hours.
or Imagine you have a pile of wood. If it’s set on fire, it could catch the surrounding trees on fire and burn millions of acres. On May 20, 2023 there were 25 wildfires out of control in Alberta, Canada which had burned 2,080,627 acres. That’s over 3250 square miles! But if that same wood was burned as fuel in a furnace, you could heat homes for a very long time!!
or Think of it this way. I have a whole pile of balloons here. Until they’re inflated, they’re just a pile of latex. You can inflate them by blowing them up by mouth - which is just hot air. Or you can put helium in them. People are like that too. You can just be full of hot air or you can rise to the top because you are filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
Each one of us has incredible potential as willing servants of our Great God, but we must have the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we want to rise above our carnal nature and be useful vessels for God’s glory, we need His Holy Spirit. Praise God for this Holy Day which celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the church. Remember what we said about the synergism of working together. We can be a pack of people satisfying our own desires, or a team working together to accomplish a fantastic goal. We can burn through our lives destructively, or we can be used for God’s purpose in warming this world. We can be a bunch of hot air bouncing around, or we can rise above sin and our carnal natures, uplifting the people around us. With God’s Holy Spirit, we can work together as a team to accomplish great things for our Great God.
Pentecost and God’s Presence
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
There have been some remarkable instances when God’s presence was evident in His house. Exodus 40:34-38 - When the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. No one, not even Moses could enter. However, God did tell Moses (and it’s recorded in Exodus 25:22) that God’s Presence would be over the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant between the outstretched wings of the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. The Presence of God was so tangible that Moses pleaded with God, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15).
Later at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the glory of the LORD so filled the temple that, again, no one was able to enter, not even the priests (2 Chronicles 7:1-3). We’re not simply talking about a brightly shining light like the Sun; we’re talking about the Presence of the LORD - a spiritual essence that you could feel that came with fire.
Later in Judah’s history, they strayed so far from a relationship with God that when God’s Presence left the temple, they didn’t even notice (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:23).
So Paul’s assertion that believers are the temple of God and that God’s Spirit dwells in them would likely have evoked a strong mental image and remembrance of God’s Presence in the tabernacle and the subsequent temple.
And it may have reminded them of the events on the first Pentecost following Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even if they hadn’t been in Jerusalem, they almost certainly would have heard the stories of the tongues of fire (Acts 2:3) coming to rest on believers and how the believers began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4) and how people heard Peter’s message each in their own language (Acts 2:8). They might have remembered the presence of the Holy Spirit being so strong that 3000 souls repented and were baptized that day (Acts 2:41). They would’ve recalled Peter’s assertion to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Upon repentance of their sins, acceptance of Jesus as their Savior, and baptism, God would give them the Holy Spirit to dwell in them, to lead them into all truth, and to provide strength, comfort, and guidance.
The idea of the Holy Spirit dwelling within a believer is a startling concept. But Paul couples it with the logical partner. Think about it. If God’s Presence, His glory, dwelled in the temple, and if the Holy Spirit now dwells within believers, what are the believers? They are the temple of God.
Wow!! God’s temple! O.K. So what? How does that affect my behavior? God’s temple was dedicated to the service of God. If we have claimed Jesus as our Savior, then we have been bought with a price. We belong to God to do His service. The temple was where God met with the people (Exodus 29:43). As God’s temple, we become God’s hands and feet, His ambassadors, to the people around us, those people who desperately need a relationship with the Great God of the universe. We also comfort others with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted (2 Corinthians 1:4).
It’s a huge event - that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on so many! The effects of that incredible gift reach farther than just our relationship with our God. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us also impacts the people around us - when we choose to let out light shine.
And that’s an interesting thought too, isn’t it? Jesus told his disciples to let their light shine (Matthew 5:16). What light is that? Could it be that the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, God’s glory is the light we’re supposed to shine for others to see?
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
If God’s Spirit dwells in you, then His Presence should be obvious in your life! People around you should have no doubt that you are the temple of God. That’s one of the lessons seen in the Day of Pentecost.
Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Materials needed: large wine glass, oil, water, effervescent tablet, food coloring (Set up the demonstration while presenting the lesson: Fill the glass 85% with oil. Then pour in water - which will sink to the bottom of the glass. Put in a couple of drops of food coloring. Drop in a tablet. The effervescent tablet will bubble in the water, rise to the surface, and then sink again. The Holy Spirit works inside each of us. The outward actions that everyone sees can be genuinely motivated by the Spirit inside or they can be just an outward show without the inward reality. But God knows. And over time, the consistency of our actions will demonstrate the authenticity of our Christianity and the indwelling of God’s Spirit.)
The holy day, Pentecost, brings to mind the giving of the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit was given only to a select few, now God’s Spirit was poured out abundantly on His people (Acts 2; Titus 3:4-6). What an incredible gift!
The apostle Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the downpayment, the pledge, of what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:16-17). It is a guarantee of our inheritance, our adoption into the family of God.
For those who belong to God, who are His people, the Holy Spirit dwelling within us causes a change from the inside out. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit teaches us (John 14:26).
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (John 16:7-8). As we listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we who love God turn away from sin, choosing God and God’s ways.
As we seek God’s ways more earnestly, the Holy Spirit within is the source of wisdom, revelation, and power (1 Corinthians 2:10-11; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 1:17-20). We are empowered to speak God’s words to others, to show His ways in our lives, and to understand more fully His ways and His plan.
The Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak and struggling with a temptation to sin. And the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t know the words to pray to our Father (Romans 8:26-27).
The Holy Spirit working in our lives is the means by which we become holy and sanctified and able to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Knowing how very important the Holy Spirit is in our lives as followers of Christ who are pursuing holiness, it would behoove us to realize that we can quench the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Otherwise, the apostle Paul would not have felt a need to warn us!
Here’s the gift of God, guiding us, empowering us, teaching us, giving us wisdom, helping and comforting us - and we can choose to turn away from the leading. We can choose to ignore the convicting within. We can give in to fear or doubt. We allow our wants and desires to dominate over God’s will and plan in our lives. We can choose not to get as close to God as we possibly can be. And that would be such a shame! God has given us such a gift, such an opportunity through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
On this day of Pentecost, I pray that each of us will allow the Holy Spirit to work fully in our lives, that we would stir up the Spirit within (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
**Confident!
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, Hebrews 4:16
Materials: collection of “things” your dad might agree that you can have (balls, stickers, crayons, notebook) and things you probably can’t have (balloon, bell, popgun)
Do you know what it means to be confident? It means you are comfortably sure of something. If you are confident that you can go ask your dad for something, you wouldn’t hesitate. But if you’re not confident that he’ll like your request, or if you’re not confident that now is a good time, you will probably be hesitant or reluctant to go ask your dad for what you want.
But here’s a scripture that talks about being confident when we go before God’s throne! How comfortable are you in going to God to ask for what you want?
It’s a curious thing. God has given us the privilege of coming before Him with our concerns. He wants to hear from us. But we humans can get off track too far on either side of the road. Our daily prayers can start looking more like a grocery list of things that we want - almost treating God like He’s a genie in a bottle. Then when we don’t get what we want, we doubt God and His goodness for us. That’s not right. He loves us so much.
On the other hand, we can think that God doesn’t want to be bothered by our little problems. That’s not right either. God is the One who graciously gave us His Son; what could be bigger than that? (Romans 8:32) But if we need the confirmation that God loves us and that we can go to Him to find help in time of need, God also gave us His Holy Spirit.
As we talked about yesterday, the Holy Spirit teaches us, warns us, keeps us safe in Christ, intercedes for us when we pray, and testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. (John 16:13; Acts 20:23; Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8:26-27; Romans 8:16) This last one should resonate with anyone who has had a good dad. We are confident that we can go to our Heavenly Father with our request because we’ve had that experience with our earthly fathers. We are confident going to our earthly father because our relationship with him; we are confident going to our Heavenly Father because of our relationship with Him. Pretty cool that we get to celebrate Pentecost on Father’s Day this year.
**Every Good and Perfect Gift
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17
Materials: Small gifts
We all like receiving gifts. Something new, something useful, something beautiful, something that lets us know how much someone likes us - there are many good reasons for liking gifts.
On the day of Pentecost, the first Pentecost after Jesus Christ had been crucified and then resurrected from the dead, God gave His believers a gift: the Holy Spirit was poured out. What an incredible gift!!
It was something new - or at least, it makes us into something new. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. John 16:13 says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” I like knowing that, for those who believe in God, the Holy Spirit helps us make the right choices.
The Holy Spirit also helps us pray to God. When we don’t know what to say, the Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” It’s very nice to know that we don’t have to have exactly the right words - that the Holy Spirit goes before us in God’s presence.
The Holy Spirit gives us hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13
And hope is just one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit! Having the Holy Spirit working in your life means that as you grow closer to God the more you will exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
And the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. We are in this world where we will have trouble, but the Holy Spirit gives us hope, shows us God’s love, helps us make good decisions, and the Holy Spirit within us assures us that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16 - The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,)
What a good and perfect gift God poured out on the believers on that first Pentecost in Jerusalem!!!
Note: I had the parents pick out the gifts to give to the children, just as the Father gives us gifts; we don't choose.
1 Kings 3:9 - Where Wisdom is Found
Jeremiah 9:24 - To Understand and To Know
**Matthew 13:38 - Harvest Time
**Matthew 13:38 - Bow the Knee
Luke 21:19 - Solving the Puzzle
**Luke 24:49 - Clothed With Power (coloring page on next subtab)
**Acts 2:1 - Pentecost Synergism/Fruit
1 Corinthians 3:16 - Pentecost and God's Presence
**1 Thessalonians 5:19 - Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
**Hebrews 4:16 - Confident!
**James 1:17 - Every Good and Perfect Gift
Where Wisdom is Found
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9
There are some great wisdom quotes. Ron has a couple of them on the wall in his study:
Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age;
sometimes age shows up all by itself.
and:
Everyone is a fool for at least five minutes every day.
Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.
We find the subject of wisdom throughout the Bible too:
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. Psalm 119:98
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:22
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Romans 12:16
and
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge
according to the same Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:8
But what do these have to do with Pentecost?
There’s reason to believe that the Law was given to Moses and the Israelites from Mt. Sinai on Pentecost (Exodus 19). That law was not an arbitrary law; it was an expression of the very mind of our great God. That isn’t to say that our God is summed up in the Law; the Law is a reflection of His character, just as we say God is love (1 John 4:16) or He is our peace (Ephesian 2:14), the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). In the same way, 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that Jesus Christ is for us wisdom from God.
But how do we get that wisdom? There is a wisdom of man which ends in death (Romans 1:22). There is a pseudo-wisdom which God’s wisdom always trumps (Psalm 119:98). And then there’s a wisdom which comes from God because we are His, because we obey His law, and because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which was given on Pentecost (1 Cor. 12:8).
But there’s another tie between wisdom and Pentecost that you don’t “get” unless you’ve been looking forward to Pentecost, unless you’ve been counting down the days to Pentecost. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). I don’t know if Moses intended this psalm to be a foreshadowing of Pentecost, but, in reality, when we number our days (really considering the time), when we count down to Pentecost (more than just going through the superficial motions of marking days), when we’re seeking Jesus Christ with our whole heart, what we get is Jesus Christ who is for us wisdom from God.
So on this Pentecost, ask for wisdom as Solomon did (1 Kings 3:9); ask for Jesus Christ to be more powerfully present in your life through the gift of the Holy Spirit; and praise God for His Holy Days which remind us of God’s plan in our lives, giving us wisdom to number our days.
To Understand and To Know
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24
What is boasting? The dictionary defines it: to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities. We already talked about God not being impressed with man’s wisdom, power, and wealth. Neither can our steadfast love, justice, or righteousness compare with our great God who practices these things. So we’re back to the question we didn’t exactly answer yesterday: about what should we, or can we, boast?
Jeremiah 9:24 says that the person who boasts should boast that he understands and knows God. Let’s think about this for a minute. Count up all the people you know. That might take awhile. I suspect that you know a lot of people. I know a lot of people . . . or actually my list of acquaintances is quite long. There’s a huge difference between being acquainted with, knowing, and understanding - especially how these words are used in this verse.
“Understand” is the Hebrew word sakhal (Strong’s number 7919) and means basically “an intellectual comprehension or an intelligent knowledge of the reason for something.” The other word “know” is the Hebrew word yada Strong’s number 3045) and means “understanding or knowledge by experience or by the senses” and has the conotation of “desiring to be in the presence of.”
So look at your list of acquaintances again. How many of these people do you understand? For which of them do you have an intellectual comprehension? That is, can you pick out their favorite hobbies, clothes, places, foods, music, etc? O.K. For some of the people you have on your list, you might be able to do that. But can you guess how they are going to act in any given situation? That narrows down your list considerably! Do you understand why they make the choices they make? I suspect that your list is now quite short or, perhaps, empty. To understand why someone would choose to act in a certain way requires a very close relationship. Think about it. Let’s say you wanted to get to know someone famous. You could look up all kinds of facts about them: their birthday, their favorites foods, their favorite activities, etc. But you wouldn’t really know them; you’d only have a knowledge of a lot of facts about them. You could study someone for many years and if you knocked on their front door, they wouldn’t let you in. They don’t know you from Adam!
That’s where this Hebrew word for “to know” - yada - is so cool! In order to know someone in this sense, you have to experience them. You know what ripe strawberries taste like because you’ve tasted them. You know what the beach sand feels like under your feet because you’ve gone barefoot on the beach. You know how much water there is in Wyoming because you’ve traveled from one side of the state to other; you’ve lived there; you’ve experienced walking along the shores of Yellowstone Lake and Lake Jenny. Oh. You’ve never picked a ripe strawberry straight out of the garden and popped it into your mouth? You’ve never built a sand castle on the sugar white sands of Destin, Florida? You’ve never been to Yellowstone or lived in Wyoming? Then maybe you don’t really know, in the Hebrew sense, these things. You haven’t experienced them. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
It’s the very same thing with God. There are a lot of people who have a knowledge about God. They can quote scripture. They can recite Biblical history. But they don’t pray to God. They don’t talk about Him with others. They don’t have a desire to be in His presence. They really don’t know God. But they can fool you because they look like they know Him - they know so much about Him. But like that famous person you studied, if you knocked on God’s front door, would He know them from Adam - in a figurative sense? To understand God means to have an intellectual comprehension of Him. Do you comprehend why God does what He does? To know God means to have experienced Him because you’ve desired to be with in His presence. How are you doing with knowing God?
This is what God says we can boast about - that we understand and know Him!
How are you doing on having something to boast about?
Here’s where the incredible blessing of Pentecost comes in! It was on the day of Pentecost almost two millennia ago that God poured out His Holy Spirit on His people who were gathered that day in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4). It is the Holy Spirit which leads us into all truth (John 16:13). It is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that our spirits can testify with His Spirit that we are the sons (and daughters) of God (Romans 8:16). It is by the Holy Spirit that we are being changed from the inside out to have that desire for God and His ways (2 Corinthians 5:17-18; John 6:63; Gal 5:22). We want to know God. We want to be like Him. We want to understand His ways. And, we greatly desire to be in His presence.
But do we understand and know God? We’re learning about Him. We coming to understand and to know Him more and more every day - but we’ve barely scratched the surface of what there is to know about our great God.
So of what can we truly boast? Nothing.
Here’s where another scripture complements Jeremiah 9:24 so well. Micah 6:8 says, He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? When it all comes down to it, we have nothing about which we can boast. And if that’s the case, then our reasonable attitude is humility! We must walk humbly with our God. And through the gift of Jesus Christ who reconciled us to the Father and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, given on Pentecost, we have been given that great blessing - to be allowed to walk with our God. As we come to understand and to know God more, to taste and see that He is good, we cannot help but walk in humility. Oh that we all would come to truly understand and to know God!
**Harvest Time
The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, Matthew 13:38
Materials needed: grasses
Do you know what has been happening in the fields over the past seven weeks? Planting and harvesting. Yes, really! We tend to think of spring as the time to plant, and it is - for some crops. But there are other crops which were planted last fall and they are ready to harvest in spring - like barley, oats, and wheat. Here in Missouri, there are already farmers out in the fields harvesting hay. We’ve had enough rain and warm temperatures to have a good crop of grass already! Seeing those big round bales in the fields means that cows and horses will have something to eat this coming winter.
But unless the farmer tilled and sowed alfalfa, the fields of grass are a mixture of grasses. There’s timothy, brome, alfalfa, clover, ryegrass, fescue, Bermuda grass, and orchard grass. And there’s usually a mixture of other plants too. We have daisies, plants that look like daisies, sunflowers, Queen Anne’s Lace which dot the pasture. And there are some weeds - thistles, stinkweed, etc. There’s a lot of variety.
So when Jesus said that the field is the world, this is something we can understand because we see it in front of us. Then He said (in Matthew 13:38) that the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one.
When I stand back and look at the pasture, all I see are green plants and a few white flowers. I can’t identify the really nutritious plants or the weeds from a distance. But I know they are there. In the same way, we live in a world where there are sons of the kingdom - Christians - people who belong to God. And there are evil people - people who reject God and do evil things.
And, it’s going to be that way - with good and bad people in our world - until the harvest, until Jesus Christ returns. It’s our job to grow where we are planted and produce fruit for the Landowner, the King, our God.
And we’ll talk about that tomorrow on Pentecost.
**Bow the Knee
The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, Matthew 13:38
Materials needed: grasses
Wheat and tares look very similar as they are growing. You can’t really tell which is which until the wheat produces fruit - the head of grain. Tares don’t produce a head of grain. They don’t produce any fruit. Do you understand why it’s a problem to have tares growing in your field of wheat? The tares use the nutrients in the soil, nutrients that could be used by the wheat, but then they don’t produce anything. There’s no reward for the farmer for having these weeds in his field!
In this parable in Matthew 13, the servants asked the landowner if he planted the weeds!!! When the landowner said that an enemy had done it, the servants wanted to know if they should go pull up the weeds. The landowner said that in pulling up the weeds, the wheat could be damaged. The weeds were allowed to grow with the wheat until the harvest.
Knowing that Jesus was using a parable, a picture, to describe what our world is like means that God allows evil people to live in the world with His people. Does that mean we should live like the evil people we see around us? No!! Does that mean we are excused from producing fruit for the kingdom? No.
In fact, we should be producing more fruit for the kingdom, for our Master and Lord, because we owe Him everything and we know that we do. He’s the One who called us by name and redeemed us. He’s the One who blesses us and helps us to grow. He’s the One who gives us hope and a future.
Have you ever seen an apple tree so loaded with fruit that the branches were breaking? Have you ever seen a tomato plant or a pepper plant so full of fruit that it looks like it’s going to fall over? Do you know what happens when a stalk of wheat is filled with fruit? The head, the top of the stalk of wheat, gets so full and heavy, that the heads bows over. Hmm. Isn’t that interesting?! One of the ways that you can tell, immediately, the difference between wheat and tares is that the wheat’s head bows; the tare’s head doesn’t because it has no fruit.
It’s a great visual reminder that we need to bow our head because of the abundance that God has blessed us with - even the ability to produce fruit for His glory.
Solving the Puzzle
By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:19
I have a little puzzle box. It’s not a difficult puzzle. There are only four pieces. But whenever I give it to someone, they always want to figure out so they can see what’s inside.
I have a nine-piece puzzle. It’s only nine pieces, but it’s very difficult. I know that it kept Steve and Jon busy for hours!
Whether you’re figuring out a hard puzzle or an easy puzzle, you have to work at it. You have to show some endurance. That means you don’t give up when you can’t figure it out right away! But the question is: Is it worth it? What do you get at the end? I have to tell you: I rarely keep anything in my puzzle box, and every time someone opens it, they are disappointed. You can see it all over their faces!
Our lives as Christians are a little like the puzzle box or the nine-piece puzzle. All of our lives are different. No one’s life looks just like the person next to them, just as none of your puzzles are the same. Some puzzles are harder than others. Some people have harder things to endure in their lives than others. Nevertheless, we all have a life to live, and today, you have a puzzle to solve. We all have a choice of which piece to put where. If it doesn’t work, we can try something else. But unlike solving the puzzle, sometimes the choices we make in our lives can have serious consequences. We want to make our choices wisely.
Like solving the puzzle, living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God requires us to persevere, to endure, to keep trying.
Sometimes people get frustrated with puzzles and they just give up. They don’t care if they get the puzzle figured out or not. Sometimes people get frustrated with life. They don’t want to put out the effort to solve the puzzle. They don’t care if they follow God’s laws; they’re going to live any way they want to.
If you don’t solve a puzzle, it doesn’t really matter. But if you don’t live your life trusting and obeying God, it can have eternal consequences.
Life is often hard. The choices we have to make are sometimes difficult. It’s like putting a puzzle together where it’s just a solid color. There’s no picture to help you figure out what the puzzle is supposed to look like.
The blessing of Pentecost is that God has poured out His Holy Spirit on all believers. The Holy Spirit teaches us (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit helps us pray (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit strengthens us (Ephesians 3:16). The Holy Spirit helps us to solve the puzzle of how to live right.
It’s kind of like God giving us a puzzle to solve - and then He gives us the picture, a few hints of how to solve it, and encouragement to keep trying.
You’re here right now because your parents brought you. You might not have any idea why we celebrate Pentecost. But your parents will teach you. All of the people in this room are willing to encourage you. And this day, Pentecost, is about God giving the Holy Spirit to people so they will endure, never give up, but rather become the people we should be to live forever.
By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:19
**Clothed With Power
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Luke 24:49
Materials: mini flashlights
How do these flashlights work? They have to have a power source - a source that is not part, exactly, of the flashlight. There’s a battery inside that flashlight which provides the energy, the power, to shine the light.
It’s an interesting analogy. You see, people think that they have power. They can do great things. There are contests and awards to celebrate great feats.
The reality is that the power people have is nothing compared with the power of our great God. God illustrates the vastness between man’s power and God’s power when he begins to ask Job questions, starting with, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4) “Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?” (38:35) “Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?” (39:27)
Knowing that our great God is so incredibly powerful, what do you think the disciples thought when Jesus said, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” This was after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The disciples had just seen a phenomenal display of God’s power. Now Jesus was telling them that they would be clothed with power from on high.
Yesterday we talked about the Living Water (which John 7:39 says is the Holy Spirit). Water is what gives life to all things. Where there is no water, there is no life. But here’s another picture of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:1-3, the disciples heard a mighty rushing wind. Then they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire which separated and came to rest upon each of them. Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit, which enabled them to speak in tongues. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples now had an ability that they had not had before. They had power from on high.
Pentecost is the memorial of that day, the empowerment of the Church, when 3000 people were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:41).
The little flashlight is very much like what happens to believers. We live in this physical body. We can do some things. But to shine the light of Jesus Christ to people around us, to have the power to live lives which glorify God, we must have the Holy Spirit living in us - just like the flashlight can’t shine unless it has the battery inside it. We can’t buy this power of the Holy Spirit. We can’t earn this power. It only comes from having a close relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Day of Pentecost is a truly great Holy Day, one in which we celebrate the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit, His power, on those who believe in Him.
**Pentecost Synergism
The day of Pentecost came. The believers all gathered in one place. Acts 2:1
Materials: markers and paper
The word of the day today is synergism. Do you know what synergism is? It is when the collection of the whole is stronger than the sum of what each individual can do independently. It’s the idea of a cord of three strands is not easily broken. It is the difference between one tiny spark here and there vs. many tiny sparks all in the same place - causing a roaring fire. In art it’s called pointillism - a revolutionary painting technique pioneered by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in Paris in the mid-1880s. One dot all by itself doesn’t make the picture; it’s all of the dots together. Try it. One dot doesn’t make too much impact, but lots of dots together can create a beautiful picture.
How does that work with people? Well, if you are trying to accomplish something, several people working together towards a goal are more effective than one person here, one person there - the same number of people - but all working on their own instead of in concert.
And there’s another place where we see synergism - a concert. If I take an orchestral piece and play each individual part, I probably will not like the composition. But if every instrument plays their part, the combination is pleasing and I may listen to it over and over again.
So what about Christians? If we are serving God, that’s good. We’re supposed to be seeking His will and seeking to please Him. But what if several Christians work together to do His will all at the same time for the same goal? Then a much greater impact can be made. It’s like what Camp Outreach was able to do for years and years. One or two teens working in Indianapolis wouldn’t have had the impact that the entire group had for one short week.
So on that day of Pentecost, described in Acts 2, the disciples of Jesus were all gathered in one place. What kind of impact would they have? We’ll talk about that tomorrow.
**Pentecost Fruit
The day of Pentecost came. The believers all gathered in one place. Acts 2:1
Materials: helium balloons, unfilled balloons
Yesterday we talked about the word synergism and how so much more can be accomplished by a group of people than by each individual working on their own. But there’s one other very important component that is needed if a group is going to be an effective force for good: structure, guidance, rules, discipline - and in the case of a group of Christians, the guiding force of the Holy Spirit.
Think of it this way: Imagine you have two groups of dogs. One is just a wild pack, doing whatever they want to do, eating, barking, killing, biting. They can kill an entire flock of sheep just for the love of killing, not because they’re hungry. But the same number of dogs who have been trained and love their master can be harnessed and pull a sled over incredible distances. Dallas Seavey’s 10 dogs did the 938-mile Iditarod Race in Alaska in 2021 in just over 7 days 14 hours.
or Imagine you have a pile of wood. If it’s set on fire, it could catch the surrounding trees on fire and burn millions of acres. On May 20, 2023 there were 25 wildfires out of control in Alberta, Canada which had burned 2,080,627 acres. That’s over 3250 square miles! But if that same wood was burned as fuel in a furnace, you could heat homes for a very long time!!
or Think of it this way. I have a whole pile of balloons here. Until they’re inflated, they’re just a pile of latex. You can inflate them by blowing them up by mouth - which is just hot air. Or you can put helium in them. People are like that too. You can just be full of hot air or you can rise to the top because you are filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
Each one of us has incredible potential as willing servants of our Great God, but we must have the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we want to rise above our carnal nature and be useful vessels for God’s glory, we need His Holy Spirit. Praise God for this Holy Day which celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the church. Remember what we said about the synergism of working together. We can be a pack of people satisfying our own desires, or a team working together to accomplish a fantastic goal. We can burn through our lives destructively, or we can be used for God’s purpose in warming this world. We can be a bunch of hot air bouncing around, or we can rise above sin and our carnal natures, uplifting the people around us. With God’s Holy Spirit, we can work together as a team to accomplish great things for our Great God.
Pentecost and God’s Presence
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
- If I took you to a chicken house, what would you expect to find inside? A chicken - or two perhaps.
- If I took you to the monkey house at the zoo, what would you expect to find inside? Perhaps a monkey or an ape or an orangutan.
- If I took you to a fire station, what would you expect to find inside? No, not a fire! You’d expect to find a fire truck or a fire engine.
- If I took you to a school, what would you expect to find inside? Scholars. Students. Kids and teachers.
- So if I took you to God’s temple, what you expect to find inside? You would expect to find God there. 2 Chronicles 7: 2 calls the temple of the house of the LORD. Jesus called the temple “God’s house” (Mark 11:17). So you would expect that the temple is where God dwells.
There have been some remarkable instances when God’s presence was evident in His house. Exodus 40:34-38 - When the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. No one, not even Moses could enter. However, God did tell Moses (and it’s recorded in Exodus 25:22) that God’s Presence would be over the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant between the outstretched wings of the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. The Presence of God was so tangible that Moses pleaded with God, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15).
Later at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the glory of the LORD so filled the temple that, again, no one was able to enter, not even the priests (2 Chronicles 7:1-3). We’re not simply talking about a brightly shining light like the Sun; we’re talking about the Presence of the LORD - a spiritual essence that you could feel that came with fire.
Later in Judah’s history, they strayed so far from a relationship with God that when God’s Presence left the temple, they didn’t even notice (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:23).
So Paul’s assertion that believers are the temple of God and that God’s Spirit dwells in them would likely have evoked a strong mental image and remembrance of God’s Presence in the tabernacle and the subsequent temple.
And it may have reminded them of the events on the first Pentecost following Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even if they hadn’t been in Jerusalem, they almost certainly would have heard the stories of the tongues of fire (Acts 2:3) coming to rest on believers and how the believers began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4) and how people heard Peter’s message each in their own language (Acts 2:8). They might have remembered the presence of the Holy Spirit being so strong that 3000 souls repented and were baptized that day (Acts 2:41). They would’ve recalled Peter’s assertion to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Upon repentance of their sins, acceptance of Jesus as their Savior, and baptism, God would give them the Holy Spirit to dwell in them, to lead them into all truth, and to provide strength, comfort, and guidance.
The idea of the Holy Spirit dwelling within a believer is a startling concept. But Paul couples it with the logical partner. Think about it. If God’s Presence, His glory, dwelled in the temple, and if the Holy Spirit now dwells within believers, what are the believers? They are the temple of God.
Wow!! God’s temple! O.K. So what? How does that affect my behavior? God’s temple was dedicated to the service of God. If we have claimed Jesus as our Savior, then we have been bought with a price. We belong to God to do His service. The temple was where God met with the people (Exodus 29:43). As God’s temple, we become God’s hands and feet, His ambassadors, to the people around us, those people who desperately need a relationship with the Great God of the universe. We also comfort others with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted (2 Corinthians 1:4).
It’s a huge event - that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on so many! The effects of that incredible gift reach farther than just our relationship with our God. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us also impacts the people around us - when we choose to let out light shine.
And that’s an interesting thought too, isn’t it? Jesus told his disciples to let their light shine (Matthew 5:16). What light is that? Could it be that the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, God’s glory is the light we’re supposed to shine for others to see?
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
If God’s Spirit dwells in you, then His Presence should be obvious in your life! People around you should have no doubt that you are the temple of God. That’s one of the lessons seen in the Day of Pentecost.
Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Materials needed: large wine glass, oil, water, effervescent tablet, food coloring (Set up the demonstration while presenting the lesson: Fill the glass 85% with oil. Then pour in water - which will sink to the bottom of the glass. Put in a couple of drops of food coloring. Drop in a tablet. The effervescent tablet will bubble in the water, rise to the surface, and then sink again. The Holy Spirit works inside each of us. The outward actions that everyone sees can be genuinely motivated by the Spirit inside or they can be just an outward show without the inward reality. But God knows. And over time, the consistency of our actions will demonstrate the authenticity of our Christianity and the indwelling of God’s Spirit.)
The holy day, Pentecost, brings to mind the giving of the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit was given only to a select few, now God’s Spirit was poured out abundantly on His people (Acts 2; Titus 3:4-6). What an incredible gift!
The apostle Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the downpayment, the pledge, of what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:16-17). It is a guarantee of our inheritance, our adoption into the family of God.
For those who belong to God, who are His people, the Holy Spirit dwelling within us causes a change from the inside out. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit teaches us (John 14:26).
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (John 16:7-8). As we listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we who love God turn away from sin, choosing God and God’s ways.
As we seek God’s ways more earnestly, the Holy Spirit within is the source of wisdom, revelation, and power (1 Corinthians 2:10-11; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 1:17-20). We are empowered to speak God’s words to others, to show His ways in our lives, and to understand more fully His ways and His plan.
The Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak and struggling with a temptation to sin. And the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t know the words to pray to our Father (Romans 8:26-27).
The Holy Spirit working in our lives is the means by which we become holy and sanctified and able to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Knowing how very important the Holy Spirit is in our lives as followers of Christ who are pursuing holiness, it would behoove us to realize that we can quench the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Otherwise, the apostle Paul would not have felt a need to warn us!
Here’s the gift of God, guiding us, empowering us, teaching us, giving us wisdom, helping and comforting us - and we can choose to turn away from the leading. We can choose to ignore the convicting within. We can give in to fear or doubt. We allow our wants and desires to dominate over God’s will and plan in our lives. We can choose not to get as close to God as we possibly can be. And that would be such a shame! God has given us such a gift, such an opportunity through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
On this day of Pentecost, I pray that each of us will allow the Holy Spirit to work fully in our lives, that we would stir up the Spirit within (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
**Confident!
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, Hebrews 4:16
Materials: collection of “things” your dad might agree that you can have (balls, stickers, crayons, notebook) and things you probably can’t have (balloon, bell, popgun)
Do you know what it means to be confident? It means you are comfortably sure of something. If you are confident that you can go ask your dad for something, you wouldn’t hesitate. But if you’re not confident that he’ll like your request, or if you’re not confident that now is a good time, you will probably be hesitant or reluctant to go ask your dad for what you want.
But here’s a scripture that talks about being confident when we go before God’s throne! How comfortable are you in going to God to ask for what you want?
It’s a curious thing. God has given us the privilege of coming before Him with our concerns. He wants to hear from us. But we humans can get off track too far on either side of the road. Our daily prayers can start looking more like a grocery list of things that we want - almost treating God like He’s a genie in a bottle. Then when we don’t get what we want, we doubt God and His goodness for us. That’s not right. He loves us so much.
On the other hand, we can think that God doesn’t want to be bothered by our little problems. That’s not right either. God is the One who graciously gave us His Son; what could be bigger than that? (Romans 8:32) But if we need the confirmation that God loves us and that we can go to Him to find help in time of need, God also gave us His Holy Spirit.
As we talked about yesterday, the Holy Spirit teaches us, warns us, keeps us safe in Christ, intercedes for us when we pray, and testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. (John 16:13; Acts 20:23; Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8:26-27; Romans 8:16) This last one should resonate with anyone who has had a good dad. We are confident that we can go to our Heavenly Father with our request because we’ve had that experience with our earthly fathers. We are confident going to our earthly father because our relationship with him; we are confident going to our Heavenly Father because of our relationship with Him. Pretty cool that we get to celebrate Pentecost on Father’s Day this year.
**Every Good and Perfect Gift
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17
Materials: Small gifts
We all like receiving gifts. Something new, something useful, something beautiful, something that lets us know how much someone likes us - there are many good reasons for liking gifts.
On the day of Pentecost, the first Pentecost after Jesus Christ had been crucified and then resurrected from the dead, God gave His believers a gift: the Holy Spirit was poured out. What an incredible gift!!
It was something new - or at least, it makes us into something new. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. John 16:13 says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” I like knowing that, for those who believe in God, the Holy Spirit helps us make the right choices.
The Holy Spirit also helps us pray to God. When we don’t know what to say, the Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” It’s very nice to know that we don’t have to have exactly the right words - that the Holy Spirit goes before us in God’s presence.
The Holy Spirit gives us hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13
And hope is just one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit! Having the Holy Spirit working in your life means that as you grow closer to God the more you will exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
And the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. We are in this world where we will have trouble, but the Holy Spirit gives us hope, shows us God’s love, helps us make good decisions, and the Holy Spirit within us assures us that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16 - The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,)
What a good and perfect gift God poured out on the believers on that first Pentecost in Jerusalem!!!
Note: I had the parents pick out the gifts to give to the children, just as the Father gives us gifts; we don't choose.