Come and join us for PENTECOST SUNDAY. Pentecost means 50 days and is one of the 3 festivals that all Jewish males were to attend each year, in the old testament times. The Jews call it “Shavuot” and it is referred to in Jewish scripture as the Festival of Weeks because it is 7 weeks (or 50 days when you read the detail) after Passover. It was on Pentecost Sunday that the Holy Spirit came to live in the hearts of the new believers, soon after Jesus ascended from their sight into heaven.
Jesus, the Lamb of God, was slain during the Passover festival. Just as the lamb’s blood saved the people from slavery in Egypt, Jesus’ blood saved His people from slavery to sin, by paying the full price for sin and freeing people to live as God’s children, free from guilt.
Then, 50 days later, during the Festival of Weeks, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in the hearts of all who would believe in Him. Just as the people celebrated the first fruits of the new wheat harvest, these new believers were the first fruits of a harvest of ripe hearts for the Kingdom of God.
You can read about the Festival of Weeks in Deuteronomy 16, and you can read about Pentecost in Acts 2. Today, Pastor Gavin brings us a message of hope from John 14:15-21, because Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to live in every person who believes in Jesus. We are never alone, because Jesus’ spirit is in us. He guides, comforts, teaches, strengthens, until “…it’s no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me.”