PREPARED BY – Prophet Dwayne Howard
INTRODUCTION – The Season, The Spirit & His Significance
Shavuot/Pentecost = Known also as the feast of weeks (Deut 16:10) / Festival of reaping (Ex 23:16). Here there was the celebration of the giving of the Torah and Israel becoming a nation committed to serving God (Ex 19-23). The descent of the Holy Spirit would of occurred while the Apostles and the others were celebrating the Jewish day of Shavuot, as they prayed in the upper room. It is also connected to the season of the grain harvest in Israel, which lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness and harvest (Jer 5:24, Deut 16:9-11, Isa 9:2).
Passover Then Pentecost – The Symbolic Purpose
John 12:24 (NKJV): Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
Jesus goes to the cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and is resurrected on the third day during the Passover. However, the 7 weeks following after Passover was the festival of reaping or Harvest time for grain and barley. Is is therefore no mistake Jesus uses the imagery of the grain of wheat to describe His death in John 12:24, and prophesies about the “much grain” (coming of the Holy Spirit and birth of the church) which would come as a result. It was perfectly aligned with the seasons of Israel’s festivals and celebrations.
The word “Pentecost” comes from the Greek for “the fiftieth day.” Therefore, in the church calendar it comes fifty days after Easter (including Resurrection Sunday itself). This celebration links back to the Jewish festival of Shavuot or the Festival of Weeks, which falls fifty days after Passover. This was kept as a commemoration of Moses receiving the Divine Law on Sinai (Exodus 19). The Christians understood that as the law came down from heaven to Moses for the people of God, so the Holy Spirit came down on the church. The age of the Mosaic Law was therefore fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-20) and completed by the new age of Spirit and Grace (Romans 6:14).
Significance of This Season- THE BAPTISM OF HIS SPIRIT | PROMISES REAPED | REVELATION RELEASED | season of gladness, release and increase!
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Key Verses
Acts 1:8 (read from verse 4) – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Acts 2:1-4 – When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
RESULTS OF DWELLING WITH THE INDWELLING SPIRIT OF GOD
A. ENLIGHTENMENT – He guides us into all truth
JOHN 16:12-15 – “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you (pronoun here is singular and personal).
SECONDARY VERSE – 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 (Spirit searches all things and reveals all things, knowing the thoughts of God). He is not like a computer that stores and retrieves information, rather He knows it! The process of knowing is personal, emotive and sentient.
- Attenuation (reduces the noise – aircraft manufactures use of special materials for engine noise attenuation)- Removal of distractions in our lives- Clarity to hear the Voice of God
- Acceleration (Things are done faster and less time is wasted)
- Accomplishment (We meet our goals and have a finisher’s anointing)
B. ENGAGEMENT – He delivers us from an orphan spirit
JOHN 14:16 – And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Romans 8:14-17 (Spirit of Sonship/adoption)
Romans 8:26 (intercedes for us and bears us up. Helps in our weaknesses)
Characteristics of an orphan spirit
- They cannot settle but are shifty in their relationships, especially those of an accountable nature.
- They project themselves as being invulnerable, and struggle to be open as they live in fear of rejection and people’s opinion.
- They are overly emphatic and sensitive to the point that their perceptions of rejection become their perceived reality and truth.
- They carry a spirit of assumption.
- They carry unrealistic relational expectations of others, which if not met, leaves them very wounded and offended.
- They are constantly moving from church to church, especially due to incidences of offense and rejection.
- As they advance, they quickly disregard those that have invested in their spiritual and practical development.
- They despise the potential God has put around them, and sees others’ success as a threat to their own.
- They struggle to synergise with other leaders and being consumed by their own burdens, they find it difficult to bear those of others.
- Their admiration quickly turns to competition, which then leads to accusation and assassination.
HIS ENGAGEMENT AS HELPER ENABLES US TO ENGAGE OTHERS AS HELPERS
Romans 5:5 – Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
C. EMPOWERMENT – He enables us to function like Jesus
IN CHARACTER – GALATIANS 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
IN CHOICE – ACTS 1:8 – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
- The word witnesses here is the greek word martys which means a witness for Jesus who dies. Imagine how the disciples felt when they heard this. However remember who they were beholding. A RISEN LORD. God is able through the power of the Holy Spirit, to raise to life the things we put to die for Him.
IN CHARISMATA – 1 CORINTHIANS 12:7-11 – But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
