Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Welcome to the leaders notebook with Dr. Mark Rutland. Dr. Rutland is a world renowned leadership expert. He is a New York Times best selling author and he has served as the president of two universities. The Leaders Notebook is brought to you by Global Servants. For more information about Global Servants, please Visit our website, globalservants.org Here is your host, Dr. Mark Rutland.
[00:00:26] Well, let me give you an idea of where we're headed with this course on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. I want to deal Tonight we're making the bridge into the Holy Spirit's activity in the New Testament. We've been largely talking about the Holy Spirit, the theology of the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. Talked about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit in prophecy. We talked about the Holy Spirit through the symbolism, the flashcards, if you want, will forgive my analogy of that. And tonight we're making the bridge into the Holy Spirit in the in the New Testament, particularly, but not exclusively in the Book of Acts. I want to talk on next week. I want to talk about the Holy Spirit experientially, particularly the verbs that surround people experiencing the Holy Spirit. There are multiple verbs. It's not always the same. I don't know if you recognize that as you read the scripture. Some people talk about being some places the scripture. I'm not talking about us. Some people in the scripture use the word received, some say filled, some say baptized, some say poured upon. I want to know what all those mean.
[00:01:41] And I, I want to deal with some of the issues of phenomenology.
[00:01:48] In fact, I just talked with some folks over here in the aisle about it. What the, the, the, the occasional phenomena of the Holy Spirit, manifestations of the Holy Spirit and how do we think about that? What's a balanced and biblical view of the supernatural phenomena that sometimes accompany an outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
[00:02:15] And then I want to deal with the gifts of the Spirit.
[00:02:19] And then I want to take plenty of time with that. I want to go slowly. I want to deal with the gifts of the Spirit. And then I want to talk about your ministry in the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit in the life of the believer.
[00:02:34] We have as Pentecostals too often relegated the gifts of the Spirit as occasional outbursts in a worship service.
[00:02:41] What I want to know is what difference does the gift do the gifts of the Spirit make in a plumber at work?
[00:02:50] That's what I want us to deal with. But tonight we're making the bridge from the Old Testament into the into the New Testament.
[00:02:57] If you have your Bibles, if you'll take those, I want to begin with the verse that we just about ended with on last week, and that is if you'll turn to the gospel as John recorded it, the 20th chapter and the 22nd verse, John 20:22.
[00:03:17] Let's begin with, with verse 21.
[00:03:20] Then Jesus said unto them, peace be unto you. Pastor Jerry was talking about our, our time together in Israel. You understand what he said there? Shalom.
[00:03:29] So that, that's what, that's still the greeting to this day. So Jesus said to them, shalom. As my father hath sent me, even so I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, receive ye. It's a command.
[00:03:48] It's a command.
[00:03:49] Not just be receptive, be, but receive ye the Holy Spirit.
[00:03:56] Now, their entire doctoral thesis written on what John 20:22 means.
[00:04:04] But I, I'm going to share with you as I. This is where we ended on last week and I want to talk with you about it a little more. What, what happened in that room?
[00:04:13] So one prevailing understanding of that passage is that there he was imparting the Holy Spirit to them.
[00:04:25] There's.
[00:04:26] I don't subscribe to that and I want to tell you why.
[00:04:30] There doesn't seem to be any witness, manifestation, reaction, response.
[00:04:37] It's just, he says it breathes on them, but nothing immediate changes as far as I can tell, in any way.
[00:04:46] Remember, Jesus is prophet, priest and king here. I believe he is operating in the office of prophet.
[00:04:54] So he is saying to them, when the Holy Spirit comes, go back to the very first week. How many of, how many of you were here on the first Wednesday night? We began this series, the Real Veterans. There they are. And remember, we talked about the Holy Spirit as the wind, the holy wind, the holy breath, the Holy Spirit that brooded over the face of the abyss. In the lesson on the flashcards, what are the symbols of the Holy Spirit in the Bible? Wind, fire, oil, water and a dove. But the first is wind. And the same word is used in Hebrew and in Greek, by the way, for wind, breath and spirit. In Greek, ruach.
[00:05:36] In. I mean in Hebrew, ruach. In Greek, numa.
[00:05:40] So Jesus, I believe what's happening here, I think it's clear he is giving them a prophetic sign act. He's saying, this is going to happen.
[00:05:53] This is going to happen.
[00:05:56] When it happens, don't close off, receive.
[00:06:01] So this is the illustration I used on last Wednesday and I'll use it again. Suppose I Said to you, pastor, pastor Jerry Brackett is going to be at your house at 3 o' clock this afternoon and he's going to knock on the door. It'll sound like that when he does receive him.
[00:06:20] I believe that's what Jesus is saying right here.
[00:06:23] When, when you feel the wind blow, when you hear the wind blow, receive the Holy Spirit.
[00:06:32] Now this, this whole issue of a common outpouring of the Holy Spirit is so shocking to the Jewish people.
[00:06:45] Joel, remember said in Joel Chapter two, after the coming of the just one, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams even on handmaidens. I will pour out my Holy Spirit. So in other words, he says there's going to be a general outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
[00:07:07] But that the idea of that, that passage, Joel Chapter 2 was known, wasn't like it was hidden from, from Old Testament Judaism. They knew it, but it was like a clipping on the clipping room floor. They knew it. Nobody's. Everybody just kind of said, well, who knows what it means? Because it was so bizarre an idea that, that everything would be turned topside down. Old men don't dream dreams.
[00:07:34] We have memories.
[00:07:35] Old men remember stuff. We don't dream things about the future.
[00:07:38] Young people don't have words of prophecy.
[00:07:42] Young people listen to prophets. Prophets should be old, gray beards.
[00:07:46] He says, when the Holy Spirit comes out, turn everything upside down. Young people will have the authority of prophets. Old people will dream dreams of a future yet unrealized.
[00:07:57] He says, not only that, this is not as shocking to us as 21st century Protestants. You have to hear it.
[00:08:04] 850 BC Jews. He says, I will even pour my Holy Spirit out on women who.
[00:08:14] But you have to remember they're sitting in synagogues where they don't even sit together.
[00:08:18] In some synagogues, the women weren't even allowed to sit on the main floor. They sat in the balcony.
[00:08:23] And so he's saying, not only that, he says, even your servants, who may or may not have been Jews, the servants in your household, will receive the Holy Spirit. So there it was. Joel, chapter two. Everybody knew it. I mean, they knew of it, but it didn't make any sense to them.
[00:08:46] So Jesus now is reaching back to Joel, Chapter two. And he says, when that happens, receive, receive the Holy Spirit.
[00:09:01] John John Baptist put it this way. He says, I indeed baptize you with water, but one cometh after me the latchet of his shoes. I'm not worthy to Loose. And he shall baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost. Yet another of the symbols of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of fire.
[00:09:21] We talked about this on last week. I'm just sort of bringing you up today.
[00:09:26] So we talked about that.
[00:09:28] What is the concept of fire baptism? It's sanctification, purity.
[00:09:33] So John says when Messiah comes, he's going to bring a purifying fire that will burn through you, burn out all of the bugs and the parasites that were in the tree before the burning bush. Before the fire came in the burning bush, it'll all be gone. The purifying fire of the Holy Spirit. So all of these symbols and concepts are all pointing to a future moment.
[00:09:56] Now, what did that moment look like? Turn to Acts Chapter two, if you will.
[00:10:02] There can't be a more familiar passage of Scripture in the entire world of Pentecost than Acts chapter two. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord, in one place.
[00:10:14] And suddenly there came the sound from heaven as a rushing, mighty wind.
[00:10:24] When you hear that Jesus said, receive, I think he was pointing them to this moment.
[00:10:32] And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire.
[00:10:36] I indeed baptize you with water. But another cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoes I'm not worthy to lose. And he shall baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
[00:10:49] And it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Pause it. Verse five, if you will, for just a moment. And let me just give you a sort of a cool. By the way, how many of you have ever traveled to Israel as Jerry and I have? Will you raise your hand? You've been to Qumran where the. Where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, right? Raise your hand where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. In the cave. And do you remember those people that buried those caves or hit that hid those scrolls? They were called the Essenes. They were a highly religious sect of deeply devoted people.
[00:11:38] There was an Essene community down at Qumran in by the Dead Sea.
[00:11:44] There were Essene communities elsewhere around Israel. And there was also an Essene community in Jerusalem.
[00:11:53] It is felt, and I agree that that is what is referenced in John in Acts chapter 2 and verse 5. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem devout men.
[00:12:06] I think it was Essenes.
[00:12:08] And out of every nation under heaven. Now, when this was noised abroad.
[00:12:13] Okay, Noised abroad is a King James translation. It means when the word of its guests spread. It doesn't mean it was loud enough to hear. It blocks away. The word of that went out. People, run. Something's happening. Something's happening. Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? Now look at verse eight. And how hear we, every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born. Now pause again, and I'm going to show you something, if you'll stay with me.
[00:12:53] The commoner understanding of what happened when people began to speak on the day of Pentecost was that they were speaking in all these languages. Thirteen languages. This, Mead, Elamite, Mesopotamian. All of these different languages that are listed there, you can read them.
[00:13:11] Cretan, all the others. Is that those people were speaking in those languages.
[00:13:16] But that is not what it says.
[00:13:18] I'm not saying that didn't happen. I'm saying if we only go on the exact word of Scripture. That's not what it says. It says how here we, every man in our own language, wherein we were born.
[00:13:35] So let me just show you something. Let's take the people on these first three rows on both sides of the main aisle. Just first three rows. Now, when I count three, what I want you to do is just begin, not shouting or anything like that. I just want you to begin to tell me what you did since you got up this morning.
[00:13:57] Just write out loud. Just start talking. Not shouting or anything like that. Just start telling me what you did since you woke up this morning. Look right up here at me, and when I say three, just start talking to me. About what? In English, please. Irrespective of what your native language is. I want it in English. Okay? Listos. All right, here we go. One, two, three.
[00:14:18] Come on, talk to me.
[00:14:20] Okay, a little bit louder.
[00:14:24] All right, stop.
[00:14:25] Stop.
[00:14:26] Now, sir, what did this lady do since she got up?
[00:14:30] Weren't you speaking English? I asked you to speak English.
[00:14:34] Do you speak English?
[00:14:36] Okay, look, they're nine feet apart. She's speaking English. He speaks English. He can't hear a word she's saying. What did it sound like to you all? It just sounded like a murmur of noise, right?
[00:14:49] What it says is how here we, every man in our own language who are born. So I think that what's happening was they were all Speaking in tongues.
[00:15:00] But this guy says, wow, I'm from Parthia, they're speaking Parthian.
[00:15:09] And this guy says, that's not Parthian, I'm from Mesopotamia. That's my language they were all hearing. So what's happening is in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
[00:15:23] The supernatural touch is on both the speaker and the hearer.
[00:15:29] So the phenomenon of supernatural communication is happening at two different levels.
[00:15:36] There is, there is no indication, not literally in the text that those people were speaking all of those languages.
[00:15:44] It's that the hearers were hearing every man speak in our own language where we were born. So they're all hearing their own native language.
[00:15:54] I'm just saying, if that's not your theology, I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to mess with your brain. I'm just saying, just look at the words. Okay, now.
[00:16:06] Now skip down, if you will please, to verse 13.
[00:16:16] Others mocking, said, these men are full of new wine.
[00:16:19] New wine, cheap wine, Popsicle wine.
[00:16:23] These men are full of new wine. They're just drunk.
[00:16:26] But Peter, standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice and said unto them, ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my words. These are not drunken as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day, as Jews reckon time. Third hour of the day be nine o' clock in the morning. Good old practical Simon Peter, no highfalutin theology here. He just says, look, it's nine o' clock in the morning.
[00:16:51] Think how much wine it would take to get 120 people so drunk they can't talk plain by 9 o' clock in the morning says, there's not that much thunderbird in all of Jerusalem.
[00:17:04] These are not drunken as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But here is the reach back to the Old Testament. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now he begins to quote, or more precisely Paraphrase Joel, chapter 2. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit on. Upon all flesh. That was the confusing.
[00:17:32] That was the confusing passage 850 years earlier.
[00:17:36] Of the 120 people in the upper room, they weren't rabbis.
[00:17:41] They were 120 of both genders of untrained lay people.
[00:17:48] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy meaning like old men. Your young men shall see visions. And your old men shall dream dreams. And on My servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy and I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs in the earth beneath. Blood and fire, vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord shall come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[00:18:22] So Peter, spontaneously, we do not know, maybe Jesus referenced this.
[00:18:30] But doesn't it seem of all the wonderful teachings that Jesus gave, if he gave him a prior upfront indication that on the day of Pentecost that they were going to see the realization of Joel, chapter 2. If Jesus taught them that, don't you think somebody would have recorded it?
[00:18:50] I don't think he did.
[00:18:52] I think he showed them a flashcard.
[00:18:57] But when the Holy Spirit falls on Peter, inside him, this Jewish man, he remembers Joel Chapter two, that he heard in synagogue as a boy. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Jesus says when this happens, it's the Holy Spirit. And inside Peter, by the illumination and revelation of the Holy Spirit, he says, I know what this is.
[00:19:26] Now, this is not a rabbi, this is a fisherman.
[00:19:30] He says, I know what this is.
[00:19:33] This.
[00:19:35] Now is that so? He is pointing backward to the prophetic statement of the coming of the Holy Spirit and standing in it experientially.
[00:19:51] Now I just want to say something.
[00:19:54] Wow.
[00:19:57] I mean, so since the Holy Spirit brooded over the face of the abyss, the Holy Spirit that dwelt between the cherubim in the tabernacle as fire and inhabited the shrubbery on the side of mount of the mountain of God, the Holy Spirit that filled Isaiah and Jeremiah and anointed King David, the Holy Spirit that they have lived waiting on, seeing with exceptional grace upon exceptional people, believing that someday, in some way nobody could understand, there would be a general outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. Suddenly in a room on that particular day, Peter says, this is it.
[00:20:46] This is it that we've heard about for hundreds and hundreds of years.
[00:20:53] This is it.
[00:20:55] That's a stunning moment.
[00:20:58] It is, in my view, actually one of the fulcrums of the bridge between the Old Testament and the New. Certainly Jesus is the fulcrum, but this vaults the church forward from prophetic expectation into personal experience.
[00:21:20] Now it's no longer this is that which was prophesied. It's not prophesied anymore.
[00:21:28] This is that.
[00:21:31] Now there, there are a few things about that Outpouring of the Holy Spirit that I'd like for us to investigate a little bit. We're going to talk. Let's, let's think about this.
[00:21:42] What is happening here?
[00:21:45] What is happening at Pentecost? What's going on?
[00:21:49] Okay, first of all, what is happening corporately?
[00:21:55] Something is coming on into the earth that has never been before.
[00:22:01] The corporate body of Christ.
[00:22:05] The body of Christ was localized into the body of Jesus until he died. But what did Jesus say?
[00:22:12] As long as a seed pod remains into itself, it can't bring forth a harvest. But if it will go into the ground, into the grave, it will be raised up a great harvest.
[00:22:28] So Jesus is saying, as long as I'm walking around in this body, I'm localized, I'm here. How many people can touch me? I may heal a thousand or ten thousand. But what about the people in England in first century that are painting themselves blue and worshiping rocks?
[00:22:46] What about them?
[00:22:48] What about, what about the rest of the world? I'm here. How many people? If I touch everybody in Israel, I haven't touched a corner of the world.
[00:22:55] But he says, if this physical body, this seed, will go into the ground, I'll be raised up a harvest. The corporate body of Christ. So what happened at Pentecost is, first of all, the primary reality of Pentecost is that the corporate body of Christ began in the upper room.
[00:23:17] So, I mean, we may call ourselves Pentecostals, but in this sense there is no such thing as a non Pentecostal church.
[00:23:29] A church without the Holy Spirit is a body without breath.
[00:23:33] So, and I'm not talking about Pentecostal culture. I'm not talking about how we sing or worship or any of that. I'm talking about that the church was created at Pentecost.
[00:23:45] The further away from the upper room we get, we lose our own sense of self definition apart from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the upper room. The church may be a wonderfully redemptive presence in a community, sponsor little league teams and have a good youth program and aftercare and all kinds of things, but it's nothing but a glorified Kiwanis club.
[00:24:15] It is the Holy Spirit that came and created the body of Christ in the upper room that now continues to define the body of Christ.
[00:24:24] In other words, who we are in the Holy Spirit cannot be understood apart from fully, completely apart from the experience of the Holy Spirit.
[00:24:36] That's what created the church.
[00:24:40] So many years ago, I was preaching in a revival service at a Methodist church in this Very state, as a matter of fact.
[00:24:48] And Sunday morning had great service. Sunday afternoon we went to the pastor's house to have lunch. And then the little Methodist parsonage was right next door to the church like this. And so we went there and had lunch. And then we're going to watch a ball game. And he said, I'm going in the backyard and burn some yard trash I collected on yesterday. On Saturday, his wife said, I don't think that's a good idea. It's too windy. And he did it anyway. How many men know that that's an open invitation to unmitigated disaster?
[00:25:20] The sparks from that big fire. He built the fire too big. The sparks went up into a dry.
[00:25:27] It was fall, blustery fall day. Got into the dry leaves in a massive oak tree and set it on fire.
[00:25:35] So they called the fire department. They came. They reached up with big things that had hooks on them and rope and they sliced off limbs and all kinds of stuff like that. It was very exciting.
[00:25:50] And they left. Then we had the night service. Sunday night service, and the music department.
[00:25:58] Every hymn had something to do with fire.
[00:26:02] They. They mocked that poor pastor to scorn.
[00:26:08] Until suddenly, about three hymns into the service, somebody yelled, the tree's on fire.
[00:26:15] We all went back out the same tree. Now it was too late. It was in full blaze.
[00:26:22] I don't know if you've ever seen a massive oak tree burn, but it was. It was in blaze. And suddenly, every now and again, it would just explode down in the trunk like a. Somebody hit it with a French 88. Boom. And sparks go everywhere. The fire department came back again. This time they cut the old tree down, chopped it up in pieces, sprayed it all with some kind of foamy stuff like that. And I talked to the young man who was running the whole show, and I said. I said, let me ask you something. What. What happened here? I thought you had it out. He said, well, we thought we had it out.
[00:26:53] I said, what? What happened? Some mischievous Pentecostal come and set it on fire again? Is that. I said, what happened? He said, all right. He said, I'll tell you what happened. We thought the fire was confined to the extremities, but he said we did not know the fire had gotten down into the heart of the tree, where there.
[00:27:15] We don't know what exact recipe of thyme and SAP and whatever it is until it burst into flame and the flame came onto the outside.
[00:27:29] But this is not a new flame. He said, it's the same fire.
[00:27:34] Just that for Seasons of time, the fire disappeared on the outside.
[00:27:40] I said, son, that's the best sermon on the Holy Ghost I've ever heard.
[00:27:46] He just stared at me, of course. But you see, so when the Holy Spirit inhabited, filled, defined and empowered the church on the day of Pentecost, for the next 2000 years, there may be seasons where the fire seems to disappear from the extremities through persecution. Somebody lops off a few branches, some of the. Some of the leaves seem to lose the flame, whatever it is, but it. It's down in the heart of the tree.
[00:28:20] And then there come these seasons.
[00:28:24] Martin Luther, John Wesley, the. The holiness movement of the late 1800s, Azusa street, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the creation, all these things, these are eruptions, right?
[00:28:37] But it's not a new Holy spirit that the 21st century didn't invent. The Holy Ghost, the Pentecostal community, the Church of God and the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ and all the Pentecostal community, we didn't invent the Holy Ghost.
[00:28:55] It's not a new Holy Spirit.
[00:28:59] It is the same Holy Spirit that came in the upper room has never departed from the heart of the church.
[00:29:06] It may. May be long seasons when through whatever it is, backsliding or confusion or whatever that is not visible on the outside, but this, it's the same Holy Spirit.
[00:29:22] The second thing that happened at Pentecost, the first thing is the church is created, inbreathed, the living, breathing body of Christ. The second is that the church was birthed into the arena of supernatural ministry from the very beginning.
[00:29:39] The empowered grace of God upon that church.
[00:29:44] That church was birthed in power.
[00:29:47] Thousands of people converted to the first Pentecostal sermon.
[00:29:52] 5,000 men.
[00:29:54] And remember, first century Jews didn't even count women and children.
[00:29:58] 5,000 families converted to the first message.
[00:30:05] And who preached it?
[00:30:07] Peter, you'll see that's all wrong.
[00:30:12] Don't you see that?
[00:30:14] You tell me the truth. You were Jesus. Would you choose Peter?
[00:30:19] No. Not me.
[00:30:21] Say no. No. 50, 50 days ago, you denied me and cursed.
[00:30:30] So sit over there and shut up.
[00:30:33] John gets to preach now. Why specifically? Certainly there's the primary choice of Peter as sort of the executive leader of the primitive church. But beyond that, why Peter?
[00:30:48] Because God wanted to prove in that moment, he will take unlikely instruments. And by the indwelling empowerment of the Holy Spirit, they will be completely different. This is the same cowardly little guy, never heard of Jesus, never heard of Jesus and his message. He says this same Jesus whom You crucified God hath raised him up.
[00:31:12] You want to say, whoa, where did that come from?
[00:31:17] So the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of power.
[00:31:23] So the church is created in an atmosphere of supernatural power. But he is the empowering executive, the empowering executive agent of individuals within the church.
[00:31:35] The Holy Spirit inside the church cannot be fully comprehended apart from the issue of power.
[00:31:41] Luke 11:13.
[00:31:43] If I. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.
[00:31:51] Now that was a shocking thing for Jesus to say.
[00:31:55] Didn't ask anybody.
[00:31:57] What about, like, women, young people, children to them that ask him. He doesn't say to men that ask him. He doesn't say to rabbis that ask him. He doesn't say to prophets that ask him. A general and empowering outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the experiential context of supernatural grace, that is the church as God ordained it, as God meant for it to be a powerless, compromised, backslidden, effete and impotent church is a monstrosity.
[00:32:34] What God intended was for there to be supernatural power. An upper room experience.
[00:32:40] An upper room experience that in that context of the upper room experience, the church was created.
[00:32:48] When the church backs away from that fire, it loses to a certain extent, it's its own reality.
[00:32:58] That's where we were created and that's what we were created for.
[00:33:02] God doesn't want his children to be impotent. In the face of the. Of the adversarial culture in which we live.
[00:33:14] He expects us to walk in power.
[00:33:17] Now let me just conclude with this outlet.
[00:33:20] So why on the day of Pentecost?
[00:33:23] Why on the day of Pentecost? We talked about this a little bit on last week.
[00:33:30] I do not believe for one minute that the disciples woke up on the day of Pentecost and said, oh man, this is it.
[00:33:39] Acts chapter two.
[00:33:43] I don't believe for one minute, five minutes to nine. They were not saying, oh man, five minutes. Everybody get ready.
[00:33:53] They had celebrated Pentecost for centuries.
[00:34:01] Remember what I told you. It's the celebration, the joy, the pouring out of the, the water, the grace, the celebration and harvest.
[00:34:15] So when that Holy Spirit is poured upon them, and the Holy Spirit filled them, came upon them, in the context of Pentecost, God is reiterating the fulfillment of a Jewish feast that's been celebrated for generations.
[00:34:34] So we, we didn't invent Pentecost. Pentecost is not a Christian word.
[00:34:39] Pentecost is a Jewish word.
[00:34:42] It was a Jewish feast.
[00:34:44] Everybody in the upper room was a Jew.
[00:34:47] Everybody in the upper room was a Jew. We've got to get this in our heads.
[00:34:52] God is pouring out the Holy Spirit that brooded over the face of the abyss. That was prophesied by a Jewish prophet in an upper room in the capital of Israel on 120 Jews on the day of Pentecost.
[00:35:08] You just. There is nothing more Jewish than that.
[00:35:15] So what does it mean?
[00:35:16] It means then that that is the beginning of the launching pad of the worldwide harvest.
[00:35:24] Meats.
[00:35:25] Elamites, Parthians, Mesopotamians, Cretans, Romans, Greeks, all saying, the church is speaking to me. The church is speaking to me. The church is speaking to me because God said, I'm beginning here in this room with 120 people for the worldwide harvest.
[00:35:48] And that harvest will never end until I return.
[00:35:51] There's no way to understand Pentecost apart from harvest. So I'll close this one word. Here it is.
[00:35:58] I hear some Pentecostals say, we're just not that into soul winning.
[00:36:04] What we're about is worship. We like celebration. Well, we're just not that into soul winning.
[00:36:10] I just want to say to you, a Pentecost apart from soul winning is incomprehensible to the God who set them both up.
[00:36:20] It is a harvest celebration. Amen.
[00:36:24] Amen.
[00:36:29] You've been listening to the Leader's Notebook with Dr. Mark Rutland. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review today's podcast. You can follow Dr. Rutland on Twitter @Dr. MarkRutland or visit his website, Dr. MarkRutland.com join us next week for another episode of the Leader's Notebook.
