The Power of Pentecost
Pastors Rodney & Adonica Howard-BrownePublish date: 05/19/2024
Foundation Scriptures:
Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-4
1. Feast of Weeks.
a. The Feast of Weeks (later called Pentecost) was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover.
b. It was counted 49 days—seven weeks—plus one day, after Passover.
c. Leviticus 23:15-16 AMPC –– And you shall count from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths; [seven full weeks] shall they be. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a cereal offering of new grain to the Lord.
d. The day after Passover, they brought a wave offering to the Lord—bringing sheaves of the first fruits of the grain harvest.
e. For the next seven weeks they brought in the grain harvest and on the fiftieth day, they brought loaves that they baked as an offering to the Lord.
2. Pentecost.
a. The Law was given to Moses on the fiftieth day after Passover.
b. It is called by the name, “Pentecost,” in the New Testament, because it is the Greek word for “the fiftieth day.”
c. The first Pentecost was the fulfillment of God’s promise to establish a new covenant with His people—writing His Law on their hearts (Jer. 31:31-34).
d. Hebrews 8:9-12 AMPC –– It will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers on the day when I grasped them by the hand to help and relieve them and to lead them out from the land of Egypt, for they did not abide in My agreement with them, and so I withdrew My favor and disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 And it will nevermore be necessary for each one to teach his neighbor and his fellow citizen or each one his brother, saying, Know (perceive, have knowledge of, and get acquainted by experience with) the Lord, for all will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.
3. Harvest.
a. The harvest the Lord most desires is the harvest of souls.
b. John 4:35 AMPC –– Do you not say, It is still four months until harvest time comes? Look! I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields and see how they are already white for harvesting.
c. Jesus—the Passover Lamb—was sacrificed so we could be born again through His blood and made a new creature through His resurrection (John 3:3-7; 1 Pet. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:17).
d. Pentecost marked the beginning of a great harvest of souls, that continues to this day.
4. Empowered.
a. Acts 1:8 AMPC –– But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
b. On the Day of Pentecost, the Church was empowered with the Holy Ghost and Fire.
c. They were baptized in supernatural, dunamis power, and empowered to preach and demonstrate the Gospel and win souls.
5. Prayer Power.
a. Acts 2:4 KJV –– And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
b. When you are baptized in the Holy Ghost, you receive the gift of tongues.
c. This is your supernatural prayer language.
d. And when we have received this language, we can pray in tongues anytime we want.
e. When we do not know what or how we should pray, we can pray in the Spirit.
f. Romans 8:26-27 NKJV –– Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
g. When you pray in tongues, you are praying the perfect will of God into any and every situation.
h. You pray in your spiritual language from your spirit, not your mind.
i. The mind of man does not understand or comprehend it.
j. Neither does the devil.
k. 1 Corinthians 14:2 NKJV –– For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
l. When we pray in tongues, we build ourselves up spiritually.
m. Jude 20 NKJV –– But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
6. Special Gifts.
a. In addition to our prayer language, there is also the gift of tongues and interpretation and prophecy, etc.
b. 1 Corinthians 12:7 NKJV –– But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.
c. These gifts operate through us as the Spirit wills—not merely as we will.
d. 1 Corinthians 12:10-11 NKJV –– …to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
e. But we are to desire the gifts and yield to the Spirit of God to be used by Him for His purposes.
f. 1 Corinthians 14:39 NKJV –– Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.