Embracing the Fire: Understanding Pentecost and Shavuot

Well, you know, today is a special day because we celebrate Pentecost.

As a Christian church, we celebrate Pentecost, which of course was the outpouring

of the Holy Spirit on the New Covenant Church.

You know, when those disciples gathered together in the upper room and the Holy

Spirit fell, long promised.

And even now, as if and if we just be still for a minute, can you hear that wind blowing outside?

I reckon that was divinely appointed for us today. God was stirring something up yesterday.

And even today, that wind is blowing. So whatever's happening in the natural,

I believe, is happening in the spiritual.

And I do believe that that wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing this morning. It's blowing.

So as we pause, I just want you to listen to that. thank you Holy Spirit,

so God we thank you we thank you for today we thank you Lord for the word that

you've given me but Lord it's nothing to do with me it's just all about you this morning,

and so God we bless your holy name and we worship you Lord I thank you that

you would speak through me this morning I thank you that your Holy Spirit is here with me Father.

And I thank you in Jesus name Amen.

Well, this morning—,

sort of God has a sense of humor as we know. I got up, I was running a bit late

because I got up early to go back over my notes again and so I thought I'll

have a really quick shower.

And unbeknownst to me while I was in the shower I had left the tap running after

I'd had a drink of water in my

sink just next to the shower and I didn't realize that the plug was down.

So I had my shower and when I got out I was like oh it's all the water on the floor,

and the bathroom sink has had filled

it had overflowed outside of the bathroom sink it had gone down the cupboards

into both cupboards into every drawer all over the floor it had completely drenched

my other jeans that I was going to wear today my top the other top not this

top because I purposely wore red today.

And instead of being upset about that, I went, hmm, that's a good sign.

That's a good sign for today. Because I immediately thought to myself,

this is the river of God flowing.

This is the river of God. This is the river of God. It brings life,

power, forgiveness, healing.

And you know, when you read in Ezekiel, when the river was flowing out of the

temple, it was to heal the nations, to heal Israel.

And so I thought I had to add that into my sermon this morning because I thought

that that was a really prophetic sign for this morning, that the river of God

is flowing this morning.

It's in this church with us. And you can choose to step into that whenever you want.

So as I'm sure as we've said, it's Pentecost today, and it's an important day

in the Christian calendar, of course, when the promised Holy Spirit descended

upon those disciples gathered together in the upper room.

But did you know that Pentecost was celebrated by the nation of Israel long

before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church? Did everyone know that?

Pentecost didn't start when the Holy Spirit fell onto the disciples in that upper room.

So the name Pentecost is derived from the Greek word Pentecoste.

Am I saying that right, brother? How do you say it?

Pentecosti, meaning 50th. Now, so Pentecost just means 50th.

It was also the ancient Greek term for Shavuot and was held on the 50th day

after Passover on the Sabbath.

So as believers, we've all heard about Pentecost, but have you heard about Shavuot?

Has anyone heard about Shavuot?

Well, you're going to know about it this morning. So we celebrate Pentecost

as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church.

But the nation of Israel celebrated an important time in their history on Shavuot

or Pentecost, which they celebrated 50 days after Passover.

So Shavuot, also called the Festival of Weeks, and is one of the most important

Jewish pilgrimage festivals celebrating the day the Lord made Israel a nation,

giving them divine instruction through the law of Torah and the giving of the

Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.

So there is a very important connection between Shavuot and Pentecost that paints

a glorious picture of God's plans for us as the new covenant people.

So to understand Christian Pentecost, it's important to understand Shavuot.

So what's the difference? As I've mentioned again, you have to concentrate.

So Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Resurrection Sunday. It's Christians.

While Shavuot, which means Hebrew for weeks, is celebrated 50 days after Passover.

So Pentecost and Shavuot are not the same event, although they share the name

and a similar time frame.

So if you think back into the upper room when Jesus was at the Last Supper,

they were celebrating Pentecost at that time, but they were celebrating it was the Passover as well.

So what normally happens is, so Pentecost marks the coming of the Holy Spirit,

while Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.

So both these events normally don't quite line up on the different calendars

between the Jewish and the Christian calendar each year. So it's based on the sun and the moon.

So they can be slightly different those two times. But this year is special

because Shavuot and Pentecost collide.

They are at exactly the same time. So to me, that means today or this season, 2025.

That's a double anointing and a double a blessing because this is a divinely appointed time.

We don't forget about our Jewish heritage. We don't forget about Shavuot and

when Israel received the Ten Commandments and were birthed as the nation at that time.

So the giving of the Torah or the law and the Ten Commandments,

you can read about that in Exodus 19.

So it says, Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them

today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and let them be ready for the third day.

For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

And then reading a bit further on.

Then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings

and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet

was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp, they trembled.

And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God,

and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it

in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder,

Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.

Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain,

and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Now, if you read on into verse 20, this was when God spoke out the Ten Commandments,

the divine knowledge and instruction for the Israelites.

God imparted his holy ways to Israel so that by keeping them,

he could dwell near them.

Now, we fast forward to Acts at the time of Pentecost.

So on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out and filled those

in the upper room again with divine instruction for that next season, for the new covenant.

So just like at Mount Sinai, God's new covenant people were given more instructions.

Now I'm going to read to you, if that's okay, I'm going to read from Acts 2.

I changed my verses around this morning because I liked the Passion Translation

better. Just give me a minute.

So I'm reading from Acts 2. Hopefully it's behind me. Have you got it up there?

So it says, On the day Pentecost was being fulfilled, all the disciples were gathered in one place.

Suddenly they heard the sound of a violent blast of wind rushing into the house

from out of the heavenly realm.

The roar of the wind was so overpowering it was all anyone could bear.

Then all at once a pillar of fire appeared before their eyes.

It separated into tongues of fire that engulfed each one of them.

They were all filled and equipped with the Holy Spirit and were inspired to

speak in tongues, empowered by the Spirit to speak in languages they had never learned.

So that's Pentecost, the New Covenant, Pentecost.

So at Shavuot, God sent his law so his presence could dwell amongst the people.

In the tabernacle, you'll remember that back in Exodus.

And that at Pentecost, Christian Pentecost, God sent his Holy Spirit so his

presence could dwell in his people, inside us, forever.

You know, God's dealings with Israel are always connected to his desire for

relationship and to reveal that apart from his intervention,

we cannot be reconciled to a holy God.

Israel could not keep the law on their own and neither can we.

We need the Spirit of God to empower us to keep God's instructions.

The timing of those two events line up so perfectly, revealing more of God's

beautiful intention throughout His Word.

So both Shavuot and Pentecost happened 50 days after Passover and established a new covenant.

So on the same day that the Jewish people were celebrating God's giving of His

law, the Holy Spirit came and wrote His law in the hearts of Jewish believers,

and all to come after them, fulfilling prophecy.

And in Jeremiah, let me read from Jeremiah. Behold, the days are coming,

says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.

I will put my law in the minds and write it on their hearts,

and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother,

saying, Know the Lord, for they all shall know me, from the least of them to

the greatest of them, says the Lord.

So 50 days after sacrificing the

Passover lamb, the Israelites received a covenant from God at Mount Sinai.

And 50 days after the sacrifice of Jesus, our Passover lamb,

Believers in the upper room that day received the new covenant promise from God through His Spirit.

So do you see how those two collide?

Do you see? I know it's hard to get your head around it, but I thought it was amazing.

Both Shavuot and Pentecost happened to newly redeemed people,

accompanied by the manifest presence of the Lord.

They both occurred on a mountain or in the upper room.

Mount Sinai was the setting of the gift of the Ten Commandments,

and Mount Zion was the setting of the gift of the Holy Spirit in the upper room.

They were both powerful upper room experiences, powerful encounters at divinely appointed times.

In both those circumstances, we read that God's Spirit descended in fire.

The fire on Mount Sinai was one visible to all, whereas the fire in Mount Zion

in the upper room was represented individually.

One fire set on each person, representing the established covenant between each

individual person and God.

And this connection is really important because the new covenant did not replace

the old, but rather fulfilled the old, making it perfect through the work of Jesus Christ.

The New Testament is a continuation of the Old Testament.

We need both together to have a complete understanding of God's word.

So you need to understand Shavuot to understand Pentecost.

The Christian Pentecost, to see what that connection between the two is.

Anyway, I thought all that was very amazing, how God weaves together the old

with the new, how everything in the Old Testament leads to the New Testament.

And I think there's just so many treasures in the Word that we just need to,

the more you study, the more these things are revealed to you.

And, you know, this year, as I've been speaking all year, you're probably sick

of me saying it now, but, you know, I've been sensing the need for us to get

our hearts and our foundations right with God.

And in more recent weeks, I've been sensing that there's a new thing that the

Lord is bringing in, a new wave of His outpouring.

And, you know, last week as we worshipped, I saw, you know, I saw embers glowing in a field.

And even this morning as we worshipped, I felt in the spirit angels coming in here with great coals.

Are you confirming that? Thank you, Dorothy.

Sometimes I think I'm ridiculous.

I saw angels marching into here, the small, carrying great coal buckets,

silver coal buckets filled with coal embers, ready for the Holy Spirit to blow

on and ignite in this place this morning.

Now, a couple of weeks ago, can you show my picture? the tree.

I went out the back, and it probably doesn't do this justice.

This is called the October glory, but I call it God's glory because this reminded

me of the fire of God and the God that we serve,

a glorious God who's powerful, who wants to empower us, who loves us,

who has good things for us.

And so I thought, I'm taking a picture of that for my preaching one day.

So there it is, the fire of God, the fire of God.

So I just think there is a holy fire coming to our church, but we need to be

ready, and I'm going to explain why.

So fire is one of the most powerful and vivid symbols used throughout the Bible.

It appears both as a literal force of God's power and as a rich metaphor for

His presence, His judgment, and His purification.

From the consuming fire of God's wrath to the refining fire that purifies our

hearts, Scripture uses fire to convey deep spiritual truths about God's character

and His work in this world.

And in a nutshell, I've got a little paragraph. In the Old Testament,

fire often represented God's holiness and judgment.

God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. Everyone knows that story in Exodus.

Demonstrating his presence in a fire that burned without consuming the bush.

Fire also descended from heaven to consume offerings, showing God's acceptance

of sacrifices in the Old Testament.

Yet fire was also a symbol of God's wrath and destruction, such as when he rained

down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. You can read about that in Genesis.

And even in Numbers, you can read when fire consumed those who opposed the Lord.

You know, after the tabernacle was built, the fire, God's presence,

hovered over the holy of holies, always in view.

Now, in the New Testament, fire makes a more symbolic role in representing purification,

the Holy Spirit, but also judgment.

John the Baptist spoke of Jesus baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire.

And that really stood out to me because, you know, signifying a refining work

that the Holy Spirit was going to bring that burned away sin.

Jesus promised his disciples that they would soon receive power when the Holy

Spirit had come upon them, and that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem

and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

At Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus, about 120 in all, were waiting in prayer.

So they were waiting in prayer.

They were already celebrating Pentecost and the Feast of Weeks and what the

Lord had given them at Mount Sinai.

But all of a sudden, something happened.

That pillar of fire which had hovered over the dwelling place of God in the

tabernacle now came and divided tongues appeared on each believer and rested

on them, empowering them to spread the gospel.

That pillar of fire that came, that was the same pillar of fire that led Israel

from bondage into the promised land.

The same fire of God manifested here was to initiate a new beginning from dead

religious structures into the powerful life of the Spirit to individually equip

and empower each believer, you and me,

to lead us throughout our life.

And of course, you can read in Revelation about the lake of fire,

which symbolizing eternal judgment, which is prepared ready for the devil and his followers.

You know, we need the fire of God. The fire of God gives us direction.

It equips us. It empowers us.

And even reading about that pillar again in Exodus, a cloud by day and a pillar

of fire by night covered the tent of the meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the glory of the

Lord filled the tabernacle.

Throughout all their journeys, wherever the cloud was taken up,

the people of Israel would set out and follow the Lord. If the cloud was not

taken up, they did not set out.

Isn't that amazing that they were able to follow that?

What direction God gives us in our lives when we yield to Him?

You have to yield to Him to follow Him.

The fire of the Holy Spirit creates a burning passion that moves us forward, aligning us with God.

And when you allow Him, the Holy Spirit will bring conviction.

He will lead you. He will comfort you. And He will purify.

And what happens in the church when the Holy Spirit is present?

What happens in the church? Let me read Acts 3 for you.

So they've, you know, the new church, the new covenant, the new church has been

born, the community of believers.

And let me read, this is from Acts 3, verse 42. Every believer was faithfully

devoted to following the teachings of the apostles.

Their hearts were mutually linked to one another, sharing communion and coming

together regularly for prayer.

A deep sense of holy awe swept over everyone and the apostles performed many

miraculous signs and wonders.

All the believers were in fellowship as one body and they shared with one another whatever they had.

Out of generosity they even sold their assets to distribute the proceeds to

those who are in need among them.

Daily they met together in the temple courts and in one another's homes to celebrate communion.

They shared meals together with joyful hearts and tender humility.

They were continually filled with praises to God, enjoying the favour of all the people.

And the Lord kept adding to their number daily, those who were coming to life. Amen.

See what happens when the Holy Spirit hit the church.

It was the Holy Spirit that started to add to their numbers.

There was a massive explosion in that Christian church at that foundation back at Pentecost.

The Lord loves his church. The Lord loves his church.

He grows the church. The Lord grows the church.

One by one, he adds to the numbers. He adds to his numbers daily. Amen.

Not only does God's fire empower us, but it also purifies us for his glory.

And I'm going to read Malachi 3 to you. And it says, Behold,

I am going to send my messenger, and he will prepare and clear the way before me.

And the Lord, the Messiah, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple,

the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight.

Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of

his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner's fire,

and like launderer's soap, which removes impurities and uncleanliness.

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons

of Levi, the priests, and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may

present to the Lord grain offerings in righteousness.

God desires to purify us. This can be through trials.

This often happens through trials and hardship, and it's not because God sends these.

This is not what I'm saying. But God will use every trial and hardship and pain

that you go through, every adversity, every sickness, God will use that to refine

your heart, to draw you closer to Him.

You know, when we are tested, we go into that fire, but we come out refined

if we are willing to yield to God.

We are not consumed in the process, but only refined.

Now, I have a picture here about, I really like gold.

I don't have a lot of gold. I have some gold, but can you put my picture of my gold?

Now, this is the gold refining process.

So the gold process requires several things to get through from A to B.

So it goes from extraction to refining, goes from crushing and grinding the

ore, separating the gold from the waste material and then purifying the gold.

The gold ore is typically processed using methods like cyanidation,

so they use cyanide solutions, or flotation using chemicals that float the gold-bearing

minerals to the surface.

The extracted gold is then further refined by methods like smelting,

electrolytic refining, or chlorination. Look at all those steps.

Crushing, milling, leeching, vacuum de-aeration, pregnant leech liqueur,

pressure, precipitation, tailings, smelting.

He sometimes feels, that's where life has been like.

I saw that and I thought, he sometimes feels that through a trial or hardship,

God is refining you and you've been crushed and milled and tossed around and

had chemicals thrown upon you.

But just to show you that refining process, it's quite the process.

But the point being that God wants us to refine our hearts so that we are made

holy in His image but we are not destroyed.

Out of that process comes gold. It doesn't look like gold when it goes in.

It just looks like a heap of dirt but out of that process comes gold and you are God's gold.

You are His precious children but to Him, you are like precious gold.

So if you are truly seeking that presence of God and His holy fire in your life,

you must be prepared to be refined by this fire. You must be prepared.

In fact, I was thinking, I don't believe you can be or live in God's presence

and not experience the refiner's fire because His presence is holy.

That nothing can withstand in his holy presence.

We can't hide our sin from God. We can't hide our unforgiveness.

We can't hide our stubbornness and our rebellion in things which we refuse to

surrender because we will be judged.

And it's not that God is unkind or cruel, but it's because He is holy.

And those things can't withstand His presence. They can't stand in His presence.

And even, you know, when you bring, you come when we're sick and you stand in

his presence, sickness can't even survive in that presence of God when we truly

see that fire of God. And even as I say that, I feel the anointing.

You know, so in that nutshell, fire is just,

Josh, if you could come up, that symbol of fire throughout the Bible to demonstrate

God's power, his holy presence, and his role as both judge but also as our refiner.

And I just thought as we shared communion together, just like that early church

did, that, you know, even now, if you wait, just, Lord, I'm just going to pray.

Lord, I just thank you that you are here right now. Holy Spirit, come.

Fire of God, come. Fill this place.

Holy Spirit, I just pray that you're blowing on those embers,

those coal embers now, that you're fanning them into flame, Lord Jesus.

Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit.

Thank you, God, for your refining fire here with us this morning.

Thank you for your holy fire.

Thank you, God, that you want to empower us this morning, Deliver us,

heal us, refine us, move us into this next season.

And so we thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit. Thank you, God. Thank you, God.