If we had to give up the celebration of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter or Pentecost, which one would seem the least crucial?
John 14:15-18
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
17 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.
18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
John A. Huffman, Jr. said in a sermon.
Most of us, myself included, would have a tough time picturing a year with no Christmas, no Good Friday or no Easter. Many Christians, because of the congregational and cultural emphasis of the first three, would probably say, “Well, if I must choose, I can do without Pentecost.”
Absolutely not! The bottom line from the Bible today is that without Pentecost the other three would not be celebrated at all!
There could not have been a Good Friday without the advent of Christ’s coming which we celebrate at Christmas. Good Friday would have been meaningless without the victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ which we celebrate at Easter. But it is Pentecost that enables the gift of faith by which you and I can know that the birth, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ are for us! Jesus was not finished when He rose from the dead and ascended to be glorified. He came back to give the greatest gift of all — the gift of His own Spirit to live in us.
Because of this we are excited today to celebrate the Day Of Pentecost
1. The Promise
In verse 16 Jesus says that He will pray to the Father and He will give you a helper
In verse 17 Jesus says the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because they neither see Him or knows Him. Then it goes on to say you know Him He dwells with you and will be in you.
Verse 17 says He dwells with you which is in the present tense. Then it says He will dwell in you which is the future tense (the Day Of Pentecost).
2. The Meeting
Then there was the meeting that took place in the upper room.
Acts 1:4-8
4And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [a]witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus show up and says "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
That power that we receive when we are filled with the Holy Spirit comes from God.
3. The Prayer
This is where the faith to receive what Jesus said would come from the Father.
Acts
2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
How often do we get in one accord and in one place. We spend too much time being mad at someone or upset because something did not go our way.
If we could pray in one accord what it the possibility that we could touch heaven and see results.
4. The Promise Fulfilled
If we can be in one accord and in one place praying for the same goal then the results will be exactly what we are looking for. Sometime we are so busy occupying our mind with other things that we never receive our promise.
Acts 2:2-4
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
You see it takes a promise, a process, and a commitment to receive.
If you want to receive everything God has for you, then you have to commit to the cause and seek it out. In that upper room there were 120 people that received the baptism of the Holy Spirit because of their commitment to receive what they were after.