2 Corinthians 3:6
…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
This Sunday at New Creation Church we celebrate Pentecost! It’s the Powerful Day when The Church was Birthed!
As the Pastor Of New Creation Church my commission is given in Acts 20:28 "Be on guard for yourself and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseer, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Christ purchased His Church with His Own Blood! The first day of the week is The Lords Day- We come together to celebrate as Christ commissioned us to do- We Worship, We Pray, We Give, Receive His Holy Communion and Instruction from His Word- When We Worship it is Christ Centered Worship- We Pray In Spirit and in Truth- When we give we don’t ask how much of our money we are going to give, we ask ourselves how much of God’s money are we going to give back to Him- Yes; If you desire to walk in blessings you realize God gave you everything you possess and He Gave You His Best- 1 Cor. 15:23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first fruit of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised following...
God gave His first fruit (Jesus) and as a result we give our first to God before we give to ourselves- God declares, “When you come into the land which I give you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest” (Leviticus 23:10 ). -- This divine establishment of God’s order is actually the root, the foundation that governs the rest.
“For if the firstfruit is holy, (Jesus) the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches” (Romans 11:16 ). The first represents the total. All firsts belong to God!
“Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow…” (Proverbs 3:9–10
God promises to give seed to the sower- 2 Cor.9:10.
To understand Pentecost you must understand as believers in Jesus (Yeshua), Pentecost (Shavuot in the Hebrew) becomes a prototype of what happened seven weeks after the crucifixion and resurrection of Yeshua. Because of the great power displayed in the upper room at Pentecost, this is the day celebrating the advent of the Holy Spirit. But understand We read in John 20:22 that the risen Christ breathed on each of the disciples and filled them with the Holy Spirit weeks before Pentecost!
The event of Pentecost was the “birthday” of the Church as The Holy Spirit came upon the Church—the welding together of Spirit-filled disciples into one organism—the living body of Christ. You are apart of the Body Of Christ! At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit moved upon each of the disciples to bring about the united Unity of the Church. Just as the giving of the Law at Sinai formed the constitution of the spiritual commonwealth of Israel, so the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples signaled the constitution of the spiritual community of faith and salvation by Grace in Christ. In the first case, Israel was brought together by the law (rules of constitution), in the latter, believers in Christ were bonded together not by rules, but by the Holy Spirit within them.
Today, Pentecost should speak to us of the sowing of gospel seed and the harvest or ingathering of saved souls—redeemed people to become part of the Body of Christ.
God wants such a harvest from every kindred, tribe and nation. As we celebrate the birthday of the Church, we would do well to contemplate the fact that our primary purpose is to proclaim the gospel. As we, God’s people, remain faithful to this task, the harvest will grow and blessings will increase as we come together in Unity on The First Day Of the Week- In the Old covenant we gathered on Shabbat or Saturday but in the New we gather together on Sunday! The First Day Of The Week! I’m praying you are getting a glimpse of the picture here?
To the Jews, the feast of Pentecost is a celebration of the giving of God’s law. It takes place 50 days after the Passover feast. When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, it was 50 days after they had celebrated their first Passover and come out of slavery in Egypt.
But what happened after God gave them the law on the first Pentecost? Three thousand people died (see Exodus 32:28)! Contrast this with another Pentecost in the New Testament. In the book of Acts, it says that when Pentecost had fully come, God gave not the law but the Holy Spirit, and what happened? Three thousand people got saved (see Acts 2:41), which goes to show that “the letter [the law] kills, but the Spirit gives life!”
The law, which was “written and engraved on stones,” ministered death. It killed 3,000 people. That is why the apostle Paul calls it “the ministry of death” and “the ministry of condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:7–9). On the other hand, the Spirit ministered life—3,000 people got saved.
Remember when you come under the law by trying to keep God’s commandments in order to be blessed, it will lead to death. There will be deadness in your marriage, ministry, health, career…in your life. But when you depend on the Spirit of grace, it will lead to life. You will see breakthroughs and miracles (see Galatians 3:5), and manifest the fruit of the Spirit.
So if you want to be blessed, make sure that you are on the right mountain. The law was given on Mount Sinai, but the Spirit on Mount Zion. That is why the Bible says that “you have not come to the mountain [Sinai] that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest…But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:18, 22). The Lord blesses you out of Zion (Psalm 128:5), and not Sinai!
By grace you have been saved through faith (see Ephesians 2:8). Now, continue in the Spirit of grace. Remain on the right mountain and He will continue to supply miracles in your life! Seek first His Kingdom (MATT 6:33)
So, Come Just As You Are this Pentecost Sunday to Worship, to Pray in Unity In One accord to give of your first fruits as God Gave to you and receive His Abundance and receive Holy Communion-
Love in His Grace, Pastor Joe