Reaching Canada – Touching Lives
With our lives disoriented by Jesus to the world and reoriented to the kingdom of God, we are now ready to talk about the fuel source for our airplane.
Old Testament Pentecost is the Jewish harvest festival. Exodus 34:22
22 “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.”
New Testament Pentecost is also a harvest festival. Acts 2:5-12, 41
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Old Testament Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) celebrates the giving of the law to Moses. Exodus 19:16-19
16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain [b]trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
New Testament Pentecost celebrates the giving of the Spirit to the Church. Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
The following, by Dr. Joe Fuiten, shows the relation between Sinai and the Upper Room.
“These early preachers made the connection because the evidence was so obvious as to be inescapable. Acts 2 looked and sounded like Exodus 19-20. The comparisons are so striking that only God could have planned it.
The cloven tongues of fire reminded them of Sinai where the words of God divided into 70 tongues of fire, representing the tongues of the 70 nations. In Jewish thought, the world is divided into Jews and 70 Gentile nations.
According to the tradition there were literally tongues of fire at Sinai which sat upon the people of Israel like a diadem or crown. On the day of Pentecost, when the tongues of fire sat upon the 120, this came as no surprise to those present. Israel had seen it before. By seeing it again, they clearly made the connection that what God had done at Sinai, he was doing again. God had made a covenant with Israel at Sinai. Now he was communicating the terms of the new covenant with Israel and those who would believe, the Covenant that Ezekiel and Jeremiah had foreseen.
The great sound that accompanied God’s speaking at Sinai was echoed at Zion. Again, it was not just that a sound was present, but it was a sound that reminded them of God’s presence on Sinai and communicated that this was an event of equal significance.
The speaking in tongues reminded them that at Sinai, God’s words came first as flames of fire which then became words and voice. When God spoke, they could both see and hear his words. They could see them in stone, but also hear God speak in their language. At Zion, this was how God manifested himself. First came the sound, then the fire, then his Spirit speaking through the believers in words which could be heard. The glory of God has spoken by the Spirit in the tongues of those who were to observe. The spoken languages were a physical evidence that God had spoken. God spoke to Israel on Sinai with physical evidences. Now he speaks to the world, also accompanied by evidence that it is God and not another who is speaking. “
There is no doubt!
• The Upper Room is the New Sinai.
• The Gift of the Spirit is the New Law.
What did Jeremiah prophesy? Jeremiah 31:33
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
What Jeremiah prophesied, Paul attested as a genuine experience.
2 Corinthians 3:3
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Our Superintendent, Pastor Lorrie, is proclaiming, “We need a fresh harvest in Canada.” Reaching Canada and Touching Lives.
This proclaimed fresh harvest of souls in Canada requires that you and I have a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:8 declares, ”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
As I look around the world today, I wonder if we care enough to seek a fresh outpouring? In the book of Lamentations we have a lament for a city.
1 [a]How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.
2 Bitterly she weeps at night,
tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
3 After affliction and harsh labor,
Judah has gone into exile.
She dwells among the nations;
she finds no resting place.
All who pursue her have overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she is in bitter anguish.
5 Her foes have become her masters;
her enemies are at ease.
The LORD has brought her grief
because of her many sins.
Her children have gone into exile,
captive before the foe.
6 All the splendor has departed
from Daughter Zion.
Her princes are like deer
that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled
before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and wandering
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
there was no one to help her.
Her enemies looked at her
and laughed at her destruction.
8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly
and so has become unclean.
All who honored her despise her,
for they have all seen her naked;
she herself groans
and turns away.
9 Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
she did not consider her future.
Her fall was astounding;
there was none to comfort her.
“Look, LORD, on my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed.”
10 The enemy laid hands
on all her treasures;
she saw pagan nations
enter her sanctuary—
those you had forbidden
to enter your assembly.
11 All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they barter their treasures for food
to keep themselves alive.
“Look, LORD, and consider,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
If it is something to you and you refuse to simply pass by, you are a candidate for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God for the Canadian harvest God intends for you.
Canada needs you to have a fresh outpouring.
Your children need you to have a fresh outpouring.
Your Grandchildren need you to have a fresh outpouring.
Habakkuk 3:2
LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.