Brown's Daily Word 5-24-10

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. Praise the Lord for His Church. Praise the Lord for the gift of the Holy Spirit that Lord sent upon His waiting disciples on the Day of Pentecost. Yesterday was the Day of Pentecost. The Lord blessed us with His presence in His House with His people.
Pentecost was a Jewish festival which was celebrated 50 days after the Passover. Originally it was the celebration of the first fruits of the wheat harvest but by the time of Christ it had come to celebrate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. So, for the Jews, it was the celebration of the Law and the renewal of the Mosaic covenant. It was no accident of history that this was the day that God chose to send the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, and subsequently upon His church. The coming of the Holy Spirit in the Bible is often accompanied by physical signs and on the day of Pentecost it was no different. In each of the three verses there is an accompanying sign or manifestation of the presence of God. We read the account of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in Acts 2.
Acts 2:2 – ‘SOUND LIKE THE BLOWING OF A MIGHTY WIND.’ It was a violent wind from heaven and it filled the whole house. It came from God, engulfing the whole place, like in the Tabernacle when the presence of God came. The people in the wilderness knew God’s presence because the earth shook and the place was filled with His presence. The disciples knew this wind was from God because it came with power from heaven and filled the entire house. When God comes in power He fills the place with His presence and no one is left in any doubt that He is present.
Acts 2:3 – ‘TONGUES OF FIRE.’ ‘it appeared like flames’. This was the only way they could describe the manifestation of the Holy Spirit upon them. Fire in the Scriptures often signified the holy presence of God. The burning bush, the pillar of fire, the consuming fire at Mount Sinai and the hovering fire over the tabernacle in the wilderness. The wind filled the whole house but the ‘tongues of fire’ rested upon individuals. The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and He also comes upon us, to purify us. That is why, when you become a Christian, you found that things were brought to the surface which needed to be dealt with. It appears, initially at least, that becoming a Christian has in fact turned your world and your life upside down. All sorts of past issues seem to come to the surface to be dealt with. The reason is the Spirit's purification of your life. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost upon individuals to purify them for service.
Acts 2:4 – ‘OTHER TONGUES’ It is written, that these ‘tongues’ were immediately understood by the crowd who had gathered at the hearing of the sound of the mighty wind. It is clear that the disciples' speech is clearly understood by a variety of people (verses 9-11). In fact, 15 countries are listed, depicting the nations of the world, who understood what the disciples were saying.
In Genesis 11 is recorded the story of the tower of Babel, when man in his arrogance and sin thought he could build a tower into heaven. In fact, when you read the passage closely, you see that God has to come down to the tower, so feeble is its height in relation to where God is. The lack of understanding that God is not physical and cannot be reached by physical means is only compounded by the arrogance of the human race at Babel. So, God confused the language of men at Babel, which resulted in the separation of nations.
Here, on the day of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit brought the nations together again as each man understood the message of the Gospel in his own language. The lesson here is simply that the Holy Spirit comes to unite men from all nations under the truth of the gospel of Christ. Rick Kirchoff says, “When God sends forth the Spirit amazing things happen: barriers are broken, communities are formed, opposites are reconciled, unity is established, disease is cured, addiction is broken, cities are renewed, races are reconciled, hope is established, people are blessed, and church happens. Today the Spirit of God is present and we’re gonna’ have church. So be ready, get ready. . . God is up to something. . . discouraged folks cheer up, dishonest folks ‘fess up, sour folks sweeten up, closed folk, open up, gossipers shut up, conflicted folks make up, sleeping folks wake up, lukewarm folk, fire up, dry bones shake up, and pew potatoes stand up! But most of all, Christ the Savior of all the world is lifted up.”
The poet William Blake wrote a poem about Pentecost. Part of the poem says:

Unless the eye catches fire, God will not be seen.
Unless the ear catches fire, God will not be heard.
Unless the tongue catches fire, God will not be named.
Unless the heart catches fire, God will not be loved.
Unless the mind catches fire, God will not be known.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmWVY4n_-wY