Holy Spirit - Established Church

HOLY SPIRIT- ESTABLISHED CHURCH

Part nine of fourteen in Commanded Holy Days Importance Today series

 Acts 2:38-39: “Peter replied [to ‘What shall we do?’ question that people asked], ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.’”

 

            The Holy Spirit is transforming whoever has decided to follow Jesus into His likeness.  Right after the apostles received God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, crowds listened to Peter preach.  God’s Spirit inspired Peter and led the hearts of 3,000 people to obey his instructions to claim salvation for themselves.

            This began the Holy Spirit’s establishing the infant Church for God’s Kingdom.

            We can make our indwelling Holy Spirit feel at home with hearts of pure gold.

            God’s instructions for a holy container (the Ark) is found in Exodus 25:10-11.  “Have them make a chest of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half long.  (3 ¾ feet long, 2 ¼ feet wide and high).  Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it.”

            People judge each other from the outside, but God judges one’s heart.  Who we are beneath the surface must reflect who we appear to be on the outside.  Only a person who is pure gold through and through is a fitting vessel for God.  

            Yahweh chose acacia wood obtained from a living creation in Ark construction.  Trees change as they grow.  People must also change as we grow.  No one can become pure gold overnight.  We grow into our best selves only with constant cooperating with the indwelling Spirit’s transforming work.

Take Home Nugget

            Jesus joined the Old with the New Testament in the Bible with two great principles of love in Matthew 22:37-40.  “Jesus replied [to What is the greatest commandment? question], ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.’”

            Because God’s indwelling Spirit is alive, Believers-in-Christ can display pure-gold love as we grow.  (See the lesson linked below).

            God’s Spirit makes it possible for Believers’ growth to fully obey God’s love commandments.   Holy-containers (Believers) fill God’s Spirit-established Church to serve and worship Him. 

Holy Father, purify this holy container so that I can serve and worship You as a member of Your established Church! Amen.   

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 24-25.

Adapted from “Holy Containers” by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.  March 1, 2017.  www.HolyLandMoments.com.

J.D. Griffith

 

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Pentecost

PENTECOST

Part eight of fourteen in Commanded Holy Days Importance Today series

 Exodus 23:16: “Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the first fruits of the crops you sow in your fields.”

 

            Revealing His plan for human salvation, Yahweh established Holy Festival Days around the harvest season.  As His people harvested their crops, God harvests people for His eternal Kingdom.  These Feasts build upon one another.  Together, they reveal increasingly more about God’s awesome plan.   

            Passover showed His plan of Christ being the LAST Passover lamb offering His life as payment for human sin.  Every Believer-in-Christ is forgiven and offered eternal life.  The Feast of unleavened Bread teaches us to remove and avoid all sin.  We fill that sin gap with obedience to God.  Attitudes and actions begin supporting God’s will. 

            Obedience is obviously a choice.

            Pentecost builds a foundation upon this choice.

            Let’s investigate the many names God calls the Feast of Pentecost.  Coming from both meaning and timing, the Feast of Harvest represents first fruits.   (See lesson linked below).  The timing is May or June, around the harvest gathering spring grain in ancient Israel.  That’s why Jews wear green to celebrate this Feast. 

            Everyone who tithes knows that God only honors first fruits.  Peoples’ offering money that’s left after paying all the bills isn’t obeying the commanded tithe.  In fact, God HATES leftovers!

            Also called the Feast of Weeks in Exodus 34:22, this name comes from counting seven weeks plus one day, (50 in all), after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  This determines when it falls each year (Leviticus 23:16).  The original Greek for fiftieth is Pentekostos¹.  Jews prefer calling this Holy Day Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot.  This Feast marked a great event—when God revealed His Law on Mt. Sinai.  

            But more than giving the Law, Pentecost shows a great miracle.  The first Pentecost in the early Church after Christ’s resurrection was when God poured out His Holy Spirit on 120 Believers (Acts 1:15).  “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”  (Acts 2:3).  That’s why Christian Believers wear red on Pentecost.         

Take Home Nugget

            Leviticus 23:9-14 ends with, “This [Firstfruits] is to be a lasing ordinance for generations to come, wherever you live.”

            Those Holy Spirit tongues of fire enabled the Disciples to speak in the various languages of people who gathered from many nations to Jerusalem.  Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Galileans, those from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia could understand what was being said in his native language!   And no, they weren’t drunk, as some people accused them in Acts 2:13!

Holy Father, baptize me in Your Spirit with the sacred language of “Tongues”.  I’m asking this in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

   

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 23-27. 

¹ Vine, Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.  Vine, W.E.  1985.  

J.D. Griffith

 

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Unleavened Bread

UNLEAVENED BREAD

Part seven of fourteen in Commanded Holy Days Importance Today series

1 Corinthians 5:7:  “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are.  For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.”

            Immediately after Passover, God commanded the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasting seven days be celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month (Leviticus 23:5-6a).  This Feast is step one fulfilling God’s master plan after forgiving people of ALL sin. 

            Leaven [LEV-in], or yeast, represents sin.   People celebrate this Feast eating flat bread for seven days.  Each meal reminds people of their sin.   

            Sabbath Days bookend the feast.  Worship is first and last days’ event (Leviticus 23:7-8).  This reminder of Israelites’ flight from Egypt, AND Gentile Believers’ deliverance from sin glorifies God with praise and thanksgiving.  

            How do people live as God’s redeemed people? 

            A.)  We remove all malice and wickedness from our lives. 

            May we embrace all God’s commands living with sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).  Only by prayer and with God’s help can we recognize, flush out, and avoid sin.  God knows that we all sin, despite our best intensions. 

            Paul insisted on self-reflection during this feast (2 Corinthians 13:5).  “Do you not know that Christ Jesus is in you?”  Monitoring sinful thoughts, Paul recognized that life is an ongoing battle with sin.  “O wretched man that I am!” he admitted.  “Who will rescue me from this body of death?  (See the lesson linked below).

            B. “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25).

            Romans chapter 8 shows that we can be free from human weaknesses and sinful tendencies—the way of sin and death—only with Christ’s help through His Holy Spirit.  Flat bread represents Jesus’ sinless live.  This Feast showcases our need for Jesus’ help.

            Believers MUST choose something better! 

            Let’s stop gorging ourselves on food that perishes.  Why not eat food which Jesus is offering that endures forever?                  

Take Home Nugget

            “I am the bread of life. … I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will never go hungry, … If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”  (John 6:35, 51).

            The spiritual lesson of God’s commanding us to eat unleavened bread during this Feast is to rid our lives of sin.  We are to fill up on Jesus Himself! 

            That means that Jesus gets the final authority over our lives; that we hunger for Him more than we hunger for physical food.  We embrace the whole of God’s Word leading to daily repentance.

Empower me LORD, to obey You.  Amen. 

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 18-22. 

J.D. Griffith

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Glorious Eagles

GLORIOUS EAGLES

Part six of fourteen in Commanded Holy Days Importance Today series

Exodus 19:4, Isaiah 66:7-8, Jeremiah 16:14-15, 31:10, Ezekiel 4:3-6, 34:13, 37:10-22

 

Exodus 19:4: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.”

 

            The opening Scripture must have puzzled many Hebrew Israelites who walked or rode donkeys toward Canaan.  The Promised Land God promised them after leaving Egypt certainly would have been easier to arrive riding on eagles’ wings! 

            We all can learn protective care from eagles.  All other birds carry their young in their claws.  They wouldn’t dare perch precious babies on their wings where high-flying predators could easily snatch them. 

            But no bird flies higher than eagles.  Eagles’ only threat comes from people, below.  So, eagles put the young on their wings, placing themselves between the vulnerable and danger.  Any predator from below must deal with the eagle first.

            Nothing is higher than God.  Like an eagle, His protective care of the vulnerable is secure.  A “pillar of cloud” miracle of God’s presence led the Israelites by day.  A “pillar of fire” gave them light at night (Exodus 13:21). 

            While airplanes return God’s people to their ancient homeland today, He continues this protective care.  Exchanging pillars of miracles for “on wings of eagles” miracles, compassion, provision, and love care for the vulnerable.  Needy and persecuted Jews around the world yearn to return home to Israel and begin a new life.

The Scripture references under the title outline specific wonders prophesied over Israel.  Isaiah 66:6-7 prophesied that Israel would be born in one day (See previous Important Intermission devotion). 

Jeremiah 16:14-1 predicted that the second Israel (born on May 14, 1948) would be more impressive than the first (when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt roughly 3,400 years ago).   Ezekiel 4:3-6 promised that Israel would be re-established!    

Note: 1945 marked the end of World War Two—six million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. 

Whew!  

Ezekiel 37:10-19 foretold that Israel would come back to life.  Verses 21-22 say that she would be re-established as a united nation.  Ezekiel 34-13 promised that Jews would return to their “own land”!  Jews returned to Israel from the United States, China, Russia, and South Africa. 

            Jeremiah 31:10 broadcasts: “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations; proclaim it in the distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over His flock like a shepherd.’”

Take Home Nugget

            Important Intermission devotion and this one are included in Commanded Holy Days Importance Today series to show the readers God’s compassionate protective care.  Not only does Yahweh care for His Israelites, but also for ALL His kids worldwide.   

You’re too wonderful for me, LORD!

Adapted from “On Wings of Eagles” by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.  February 15, 2017.  www.HolyLandMomentsDaily.com.

Adapted from a prophesy by Bible Scholar Grant Jeffrey.  Downloaded from Google February 10, 2017. 

J.D. Griffith

 

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Important Intermission

IMPORTANT INTERMISSION

Part five of fourteen in Commanded Holy Days Importance Today series

Isaiah 66:7-8, Jeremiah 16:14-15, 31:10, Ezekiel 4:3-6, 34:13, 37:19-22

 

Isaiah 66:7-8: “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon   her, she delivers a son.  Who has ever heard such a thing?  Who has ever seen such things?  Can a country be born in one day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?  Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.”

                                                                                                    

            Intermission [in-ter-MISH-on] is a break.  We’re taking a break from God’s Commanded Holy Days to understand what a sovereign God—whom we serve—can do.

           

            The Jewish people finally arrived in Canaan after being slaves 430 years in Egypt (Exodus 12:41).  It took 40 years to go less than 300 miles to their promised land.  The most direct route was through Philistine country.  God detoured His kids so that Philistines wouldn’t capture and return who they’d think were runaway slaves.  Besides,   Israelites needed to learn belief and trust in God.  That would take an entire generation.  

            Sigh.

            Then, the Israelites messed up again and lost their homeland.  But, good news! Israel was reborn not too long ago.  The opening-Scripture prophecy is an awesome story!

            But first, world history: Year era suffixes’ were added either BC or AD.  BC stands for Before Christ, as history’s split point between ancient and modern times.   AD means “in the year of our Lord”, or Anno Domini—NOT After Death.  

            Year suffixes may change, trying to eliminate religious designations.  BC/AD is the same as BCE/CE, Before Common Era and Common Era.  Yet, the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ still separates the eras.   Go figure.  Year 100 AD=100 CE, just so you know.

 

            This short history will explain why and for how long the Jewish race was again slaves—this time in Babylon.  Ezekiel 4:1-9 predicted Israel would be enslaved 430 years (390 for the house of Israel + 40 for the house of Judah) because they turned away from God.

            Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BC and released the Jews to return to their homeland around 536 BC.  But only a few returned.  Israel had already served 70 years in bondage to Babylon by 536 BC.   Because most of the exiles chose to remain in Babylon rather returning to the Holy Land, God multiplied by 7 their remaining 360 years of enslavement.  (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, and 28). 

Take Home Nugget

            So, the Jews were away from their homeland 2,520 (430-70=360 x 7) lunar years (calculated according to 360 days in a year).  Adjusting the time to modern solar years having 365 days in a year changes that number to 2,484. 

            Now the best news: There are exactly 2,484 years from 536 BC when Israel was released from Babylon to May 14, 1948 AD when Israel was reborn as an independent nation in ONE DAY!

What an awesome God we serve!

           

Adapted from a prophesy by Bible scholar Grant Jeffrey.  Downloaded from Google February 10, 2017. 

J.D. Griffith

 

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Important Intermission

 

For FREE Online Bible Study Resources click here.

                   Written for http://www.Biblestudyforkids.com  

The latest Christmas eBook by J.D. Griffith:

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