Have you ever gotten the wind knocked out of you?

Genesis 2:7 Records that God breathed into Adam and he became alive. After the fall he died spiritually. He got the God-breath knocked out of him.

Humanity was been gasping for air for nearly 4,000 years until Jesus came and sent the Holy Spirit to fill our lungs again. This happened on the Day of Pentecost, nearly 2,000 years ago.

Today we are celebrating the birth of the church. The account is recorded in Acts 2

Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come…

What is Pentecost & when did it start being celebrated?
Pentecost means 50, and it was instituted at Mt Sinai after Israel was delivered from Egypt.

First fruits of the Wheat Harvest / Feast of Weeks (7x7= 49+1= 50)

Deuteronomy 16:10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.

Leviticus 23:15-20 Wave offering with 2 loaves of leavened bread, lambs, and a drink offering.

It was the only feast with leavened bread. Leaven represents sin.

2 loaves? Jews and Gentile both have sin, but Jesus as our High Priest presented us before the Lord and made atonement for our sin, so now whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

We are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and the Lord then shares with us the bread and the wine and we have… communion.

Jesus was God’s firstfruit freewill offering

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Isaiah 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

We were separated from the Father because of our sin, the Son paid the price for our redemption, and He sent His Holy Spirit so that we can know Him, walk with Him, talk with Him, and commune with Him.

Jesus did much more on the cross than to cleanse us of our sin. His body was broken Bread that was seed that produced many sons and daughters.

John 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

Jesus is the bread of life. Bread is made from flour, which is crushed wheat. Wheat or grain is an analogy for the word or revelation.

Jesus is the word made flesh, grain that was given to be crushed on the cross as a firstfruit of the harvest of souls through His church.

Pentecost means “the 50th day.” To really understand the power of Pentecost, we need to look at what it is 50 days after.

Pentecost (Hebrew- Shavuot): “The 50th Day” after Passover

Passover: Death of the first-born in Egypt. The angel of death passed over those who had the blood of a lamb on the door posts. Later, God would tell Moses in the Law that the sacrifice for sin would require the blood of a lamb.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said
John 1:29 “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus is our Passover Lamb!

Pentecost: 50

OT: 50 days from the Passover in Egypt, to Mt. Sinai and giving of the Law
NT: 50 days from the Jesus, our Passover Lamb on the cross, to the giving of the Spirit

2 Corinthians 3:6 The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

John 16:12-15 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

The Holy Spirit reveals the will, word and heart of Jesus to us.

Jesus said it was good that He went, so Another could come. Why? Because Jesus could only be in one place at a time during His stay here, but now He can be everywhere with everyone at all times by the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost is the celebration of the giving of the Holy Spirt to reveal Jesus to us and to empower us to be like Him.

Pentecost: 50 = 40 + 10
40: Cleansing 40 = 5x8 5: Grace. 8: New Beginnings / 10: Test

Acts 2:1-4 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

There is so much in these verses, but I want to focus on the Holy Spirit here. The first thing that it says is that before the Spirit fell, there was a sound of a mighty rushing wind.

I work on F-16 fighter jets, and they are loud. When one is flying overhead, the whole city knows about it. It can fly up to Mach 2, fire 6,000 rounds per minute, or 100 rounds per second. The flight controls move with 3,000 psi of hydraulic pressure. It can have be configured with many external tanks, bombs, missiles, rockets, etc.

As impressive as an F-16 is, it is nothing compared to the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent Holy Spirit that never runs out of ammo or fuel and with you through the fire, the storm, the valley, or the wilderness.

This Holy Spirit came as a mighty wind, and it got the attention of the whole city. We’ve heard of the fire, the tongues, and the preaching, but what was that wind about?

Remember Pentecost has to do with the wheat harvest. There were no factories or combines. Wheat had to be separated from the chaff – the inedible part. You would starve to death if you tried to do this by hand. So they would pile up the fresh-cut wheat and use a pitch fork or a winnowing fork to throw it up in the air to separate the grain from the chaff.

Jesus used the analogies of grain and bread a great deal during His ministry. It makes sense. He was talking to farmers or at least those familiar with it. John the Baptist also used this imagery in describing Jesus ministry.

Matthew 3:11-12 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The Holy Spirit is the wind that drives the chaff away. Wind brings change. Wind brings life. If there is no wind, there’s no way to separate the grain from the chaff. How do you know if your church or situation is stale and lifeless? There’s no wind and you are forced to eat the little grain that is there while chewing on a lot of dry ruffage that has no spiritual nutritional value.
We need the Holy Spirit to come and blow and breathe life into our lives, our church, our community, this nation, and the world.

Hebrews 12:25-27 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

The enemy is a liar, sometimes the storm isn’t there to drown you but to blow away those things that are keeping you from life and from your purpose.

Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

Peter did go through a shaking at the crucifixion, at Passover, but…

Acts 2:1-4 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come… suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:14-18, 21 Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy… And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’

Acts 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

Today we celebrate the birth of the church. The Father’s offering of Jesus so death could pass over us, the giving of His Holy Spirit so that we can now be laborers in the field of the world, gathering in a harvest of sons and daughter into the Kingdom.

If you need forgiveness of sin Jesus is here.
If you feel cold and stale, chewing on dry chaff and know that there’s got to be more, the Holy Spirit is here to blow away and burn up the chaff, to fill you with Himself, and to empower you.

Holy Spirit blow, revive us once again. Fill us!