Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Trent Cargill (May 31, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

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To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. So I am just so glad

to be able to preach this morning. What I'm going

to be talking about is Pentecost. And I know

for some of you that are aware of when Pentecost

is, it was a week ago, seven days from today.

Today is actually the day of Trinity. This is

Trinity Sunday. But a week ago was Pentecost.

But of course, we had a guest speaker. And Dr.

Meyer did an incredible job doing that and preaching

through that weekend. But I just, in time of

prayer and even discussing with Pastor Brad,

just felt such an urgency and such a zeal to

be able to come and to speak about Pentecost.

Because, you know, we actually, as Christians,

celebrate different holy days. Now, of course,

when I say holy days, Resurrection Sunday is

probably one of the biggest ones, or Easter Sunday.

There's a huge one that comes to mind. But there's

also Christmas, celebrating the birth of Christ.

You know, those are specific days that are like

really, really important. And Pentecost kind

of gets overshot a little bit because, I mean,

we don't give presents out on Pentecost Sunday.

We probably should. Maybe that would add some

more awareness for it. But there is a significance

about the day of Pentecost that's paramount actually

to the gospel. It's paramount to the work of

the church. impactful in your life and to understand.

And so when we celebrate days like that, we are

actually taking time to remember what happened

on those days. Even though they were thousands

of years ago, they are still so prominent today

because we are practicing actually a Israelite

form or principle of remembrance. We need to

remember the things that God has done so that

we can actually live out what God has done in

the past, but in a greater and deeper level in

today. So even though we, yes, we celebrate Resurrection

Sunday, but we remember it also because we see

the resurrection life of Jesus in our own lives

today. We celebrate the birth of Christ for Christmas

because we recognize him as the gift given by

the Father. So we also want to give gifts to

one another in thankfulness and gratefulness.

Because each generation that God is doing something

new, but also something old at the same time.

time. I don't want just the brand new thing.

I want something that's tested and proven. And

God likes to use things that are tested and proven.

So we see throughout the Bible multiple things

done in different ways. You see where the Israelites,

when they were brought from Egypt into the wilderness,

they crossed the Red Sea. Well, they did a new,

a different crossing with the with the crossing

of the Jordan when they went from the wilderness

into the land of Canaan. They still had a crossing

of a body of water. It's remembering that, but

done in a different way and in a greater way.

And what did God say to Joshua when they crossed

over? Build a memorial here so that every generation

after you will look upon this and remember or

at least ask, what is that for? Because God wants

to do something new in every generation, but

not new in the sense that he's never done it

before, new in the sense of a greater revelation

of what he's always done and who he's always

been. So when we look at Pentecost, we need to

look at what's really important about a day like

this, because Pentecost didn't start in Acts

2. You know, for some of us, you know, charismatics

or Pentecostals and stuff, we can just read Acts

2 and go, okay, that's the day when we started

having, you know, five hour long services and,

you know, everybody started doing cartwheels

around the church and stuff. That's actually,

Pentecost is an Old Testament thing. Pentecost

happened in the Old Testament, and we're gonna

discuss some of that. But what I want us to look

at is, I want us to look at how Jesus actually

discusses things like Old Testament. Because

God is the same God yesterday, today, and forever,

right? He's not a different God in the New Testament

than he is in the Old Testament. The same God

who is willing to grab the sheep who was lost,

and he goes out of his way, leaving the 99 to

save the one, is the same God that brought the

flood. Same God. So we have to be able to read

the Old Testament and the New Testament as a

unified story, which is redemption of the world.

God wants to redeem his creation, redeem humanity

for himself. So let's look at Luke chapter 24

Luke 24 · chapter mention

and verse 27. So Luke chapter 24, verse 27 says

Luke 24:27

this. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,

he... being Jesus, discussing to the disciples,

he's teaching to the disciples on the road, at

least two of the disciples, where he was already

resurrected in his resurrected body, but he concealed

his true form to them, but he was teaching them

the scriptures. Now, when we say the scriptures,

the New Testament wasn't around then. The scriptures

were the Bible of the Old Testament. That was

the Bible back then. That was the Bible that

Jesus preached from. It was the Bible that the

Apostle Paul preaches from. So for anybody who

thinks, well, the Old Testament, that's old news,

that's old school. We don't need that. We actually

need it very much to understand what's taking

place in the New Testament. And we need to understand

that it's actually the same Bible that Jesus

preached from. So we have to be able to just

read the Old Testament the way Jesus read it.

That's the important aspect. You don't read it

from the place of a practicing Jew. You read

it from the place of Christianity from how Jesus

read it. So look at this. In the beginning with

Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted

to them in all the scriptures the things concerning

himself. In other words, in every... Every book

of the Bible, there's a message that reveals

a person, and that person is Jesus. Always. No

matter what book you read, whether it's Leviticus,

whether it's Judges, Malachi, or everything in

between, it is always about Jesus, even in the

Old Testament. And so Jesus is revealing to them

all the things that actually were about him,

but they didn't realize it yet. They didn't understand

all the things that were about Jesus, but Jesus

then reveals. Not just the books of Moses, which

are the first five books of the Bible. He doesn't

just talk about the prophets, which of course

are all the prophetic books. He goes through,

it says all the scriptures. In 2 Timothy 3 .16,

it says all scripture has been breathed out by

God, right? So every verse, every chapter is

about one person. And who is that person? Jesus.

So now we go to Colossians 2, 16 through 17.

It says, therefore let no one pass judgment on

you in questions of food and drink or with regard

to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Now

this is really important, this second half. These

are a shadow of the things to come. But the substance.

belongs to Christ. So in other words, a shadow

or a type or a sign means that these things that

happen in the Old Testament, they're important,

but they're not the fulfillment of what is Jesus.

There is a type, it's a shadow. It's something

that has the figure or shape of what is the real

thing. And who's the real thing? The substance

of it, the fulfillment of it, it is Jesus. If

you're not tired by me saying the name of Jesus

already, you probably will be. Because this is

the message of the church. It's the message of

the gospel. It's the message of the scripture.

It is Jesus Christ. And so this is what we want

to read through the story of the Old Testament.

We want to look at Jesus throughout it. But also,

we need to go, all right, yes, what's so important

about that to Pentecost? in order for us to really

discuss the significance of the day of Pentecost

in Acts chapter two, we're gonna have to actually

go back to a different story in the Old Testament

and look at some different things. We're gonna

actually have to look at a couple different festivals

within the Bible. There are different festivals

all throughout in the Old Testament. When God

was helping the people of Israel after Egypt,

you're just like, okay, This is how you guys

are going to celebrate throughout the year. You're

going to have different offerings throughout

the year when you dwell in the land of Canaan.

And these are the things I want you to do. Did

you know in the festivals is the gospel? If you

look hard enough, the gospel is in pretty much

everything in the Old Testament. But in the festivals,

it's actually the message of the gospel. I'm

going to prove it to you. Let's go to the different

festivals here. I'm going to skip ahead in my

notes, but then I'm going to... rubber band right

back so these were the days of observation or

remembrance it was number one Passover which

for some of you guys you might know what Passover

is But Passover is essentially that day in Egypt,

the last plague where the angel of death was

sent and God gave the Israelites a solution to

this plague by saying you need to kill a lamb

that is without blemish, less than a year old,

and its blood has to be poured over or brushed

over the doorpost of your house. And when the

death angel comes and sees the blood of the lamb

on your house, He will then pass on. Over that

house. That's why it's called Passover. So when

we look at that celebration of Passover, we see

Jesus is the fulfillment of it. Because the Bible

says Jesus is the Lamb of God. And by his blood,

we are redeemed. And that now we are free from

sin and death. And so now, with the blood of

Jesus over us, death comes but passes over us.

That's an amen if I've ever heard one. Beautiful

fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the lamb. And not

only that, but there is not only a salvation

from death, but now a exodus or a breaking out

from slavery of Egypt into the promised land.

Well, guess what that means for us? By the blood

of Jesus, we are able to exodus from the slavery

of sin now into freedom in God and live in our

promised land, which is the presence of God.

That's our Canaan. That's our promised land is

God's presence, which is beautiful. It's amazing.

That's the story of Passover. And that's why

they celebrate Passover. So when we look at Passover,

we have to look at the cross. Then there's the

feast of unleavened bread. which represents the

sanctification of believers, which represents

the period of time between now and when Jesus

returns, that we are being sanctified. We still

need a lot of help. We still got a lot of work

to do. There is a lot of things need remodeling

in this house. There's some ugly things still

on this face. And there's some things that need

to go through some spiritual surgery through

the scalpel of God's word. And things like God's

love and his faithfulness, his character, his

nature gets implemented into me. And now I look

good. But it's not me who looks good. It's Jesus

in me that looks good. So there's this process.

Why? Because Jesus is coming back for a perfect

bride. Perfect means mature. We have to understand

that this time of unleavened bread represents

this time of sanctification being transformed.

Then we have first fruits. The Bible says in

the New Testament that Jesus Christ, the resurrection

of Jesus, is the first fruits. That him being

raised from the dead, he is the first fruits

to us. which represents what? We're in the season

of first fruits. This isn't something that just

started in the New Testament. It's been going

from the Old Testament on, but Jesus, once again,

is the fulfillment of it. Then we have, we're

gonna jump down to Pentecost, which Pentecost

represents the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

So first fruits and Pentecost actually go together.

Then there's the summer harvest, which represents

the church age. That's where we're in right now.

It's all things summer until God comes back.

And then when God does come back, this is now

the fall time. Remember, these are all feasts

that are listed in the Old Testament that had

a natural significance. They were a shadow, but

Jesus comes and fulfills them. Now we're gonna

get to the last three. The first one is the Feast

of Trumpets, which is what? God gathering his

people together. for his return. Then there's

the Feast of Atonement, which is the final cleansing

of God's people. Just as I said, we're all going

through sanctification, cleansing. Well, it's

not going to get the full stamp of approval until

Jesus comes back. At that moment, we will be

raised up, resurrected, having a body that is

like Christ, that is perfect and without any

form of selfishness, any form of sin, any intention

or any direction, led to self, but is 100 % focused

on God, unified with God, and in perfect relationship

with God. That is going to be when Jesus returns,

and that's going to be a pretty awesome day.

Once again, that deserves an amen. Come on, we

await that day. We have hope in that day that

as I'm in process, that's why Paul says, I have

been saved, being saved, and will be saved. That

will be saved is that final moment where we join

in the resurrection of Christ and are brought

into our perfect bodies where our sin nature

has completely been done away with. And then

finally, which is another one you guys are probably

very familiar with, which is the Feast of Tabernacles.

Who here knows what the Feast of Tabernacles

is? Perfect. The Feast of Tabernacles is the

last feast because it represents the actual return

of Christ. And not only the return of Christ,

but actually when When Jesus returns with fire

in his eyes, riding on a white horse with his

name that is above every name that is only known

to him and the Father and a sword coming out

of his mouth, he comes with the armies of heaven

and he defeats the woman of Babylon. He destroys

Satan and the dragon and he completely eradicates

sin over the whole earth and brings everything

into judgment. And then we are brought into what

is Revelation chapter 21 and 22, which is the

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

new heavens and the new earth where we now get

to dwell with God in peace. Perfect creation

forever. That's a good amen. That right there,

did you know the reason why it's called tabernacles

is because in John 1, it says, and the beginning

was the word, and the word was with God, and

the word was God, and then later it says, and

the word dwelt among us. That word dwelt is actually

in the Greek the word tabernacle. God, Jesus

himself, the word, came and dwelt tabernacled

among us. So we have this partial tabernacling

presence that's not, once again, in its fullness,

but in a partial gift. And then when Jesus comes

back, oh boy, we get a whole new world, whole

new bodies, full extreme home makeover, and God

says, Jesus, move that bus, and then there is

all this new stuff. And God is with us and we

get to dwell with God forever and eternity in

perfect unity with God and one another. That's

the Feast of Tabernacles. Now in the midst of

Passover and Tabernacles. So once again, what

you're looking at is the gospel story. Passover

is Jesus on the cross. The unleavened bread is

the sanctification of believers through the Holy

Spirit. The first fruits is the resurrection

of Jesus. Pentecost is the pouring out of the

Holy Spirit, which implemented the church age.

Then you have the trumpets, which is the gathering

of his people upon his return. You have the atonement,

which is the final cleansing of God's people.

And then you have the tabernacle, which is the

eternal fellowship with God. That's the gospel.

That's the gospel. That's what Jesus dies for.

And in the midst of that, you have this holiday

or this holy sacred space called Pentecost. Pentecost

is significant because, and this is what I hope

to help us with, is to understand that in the

midst of Passover and tabernacles, these incredible

feasts, that Pentecost is not less than either

of those days, but equal to and significant even

with Passover. Yes, Jesus Christ dying for our

sins was an incredible thing. But if the Holy

Spirit didn't come on the day of Pentecost, we

would not be having church today. The ministry

of Jesus would have ended with the 12 disciples

there. But it is Pentecost that takes the...

The blessings that occurred and were made available

to us because of Passover and the unleavened

bread. And now bring us into a time where we

are continuing the ministry of Christ. Pentecost

is not some day that we need to brush over to

get between Easter and Christmas. We are talking

about the birthday of the church. Happy birthday,

by the way, as of a week ago. Late birthday.

But before we can get to the teachings on the

Holy Spirit in the book of John from Jesus and

even Acts 2, we have to go to the Old Testament.

I gotta try and preach like Jesus did. We're

gonna start with Moses and we're gonna move from

there. So would you turn with me please to the

book of Genesis chapter 11. Book of Genesis chapter

Genesis 11 · chapter mention Genesis 11 · chapter mention

11, verse one through nine. And so. we're gonna

talk about really quickly the Tower of Babel,

which is a contrast to the day of Pentecost.

So I'm gonna try and get through this quickly

in the time that I have, but it says here, now

the whole earth had one language and the same

words. And as people migrated from the east,

they found a plain in the land of Shinar and

settled there. And they said to one another,

come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.

And they had brick for stone and budamon for

mortar. And they said, Come, let us build for

ourselves a city and a tower with its top in

the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves,

lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole

earth. And the Lord came down to see the city

and the tower, which the children of man had

built. And the Lord said, Behold, they are one

people. And they have all one language. And this

is only the beginning of what they will do. And

nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible

for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their

language so that they may not understand one

another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them

from there over the face of all the earth. And

they left off building the city. Therefore, its

name was called Babel. because there the Lord

confused the language of all the earth. And from

there, the Lord dispersed them over the face

of all the earth. So why is that so important

for us to read this? How is it significant and

attached to Pentecost? What we have to look at

here is that there is a, it's a part of God's

mission for mankind, which was to fill the earth.

Fill the earth, to fill the earth and have, to

subdue it. So automatically they are being rebellious

to God's command of humanity to fill the earth.

They said, listen, let us stay together and let's

build a city and let's build a tower and let

us do this together because then we will disperse.

So they knew that it was a part of God's plan

to disperse. So this is an act of rebellion to

God to all gather together and say, we're gonna

build this city and this tower and stay in one

place. It's rebellion because God said to go

and fill all the earth. And this is something

that's really important to understand as well.

We're gonna break this down a little bit. Notice

how they came from the east and they picked a

place that's in the east. They found a plain

in the land of Shinar, which is in the east.

Did you know that east, going east, represents

moving away from God? So in Genesis 3, when Adam

and Eve had sinned, they left the Garden of Eden,

they went east. Then when you have Cain, when

he had slain Abel and he was driven away from

God's presence, he went east in Genesis chapter

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

4. So going east represents a journey away from

God. So when they gathered in this land of Shinar,

which is in the east, the author Moses is trying

to communicate to us that what they are going

to do is going to be in rebellion and draw people

further away from God. Then you have the name

of the tower, the Tower of Babel, which Babel

is connected to the name Babylon. If you understand

what the word Babylon means, it was an ancient

city back in the Old Testament, but it becomes

a symbol or a type of a shadow of what represents

everything that is in opposition to God's will.

It represents the deification of self -will.

And what do I mean by deification? It means I'm

gonna make myself God. I'm going to make my desires

God. I'm going to make what I want God in my

life. This is the God that I will serve, self.

That's what it means. And so this nation of Babylon,

which actually becomes this nation that conquers

Israel many, many years later, and then through

the rest of the scriptures, there's so many references

in the prophets, and then all the way up until

Revelation 18, where Babylon is the enemy of

God. And it started with Babel. It started with

this evil power and symbol of self -glorification.

Then you have four falls that take place. Do

you know in the first just few couple chapters

of the book of Genesis, there are four falls

that happen? The first fall is the fall of Lucifer

from heaven. That was the fall of the heavens.

Where Lucifer falls, Jesus says, I saw Satan

fall like lightning. That was the first one.

That was before creation. Then you have the fall

of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But then

you have a third one, which is the sons of God,

which represent the fallen angels coming and

mating with the women of men in Genesis chapter

six. Then you have the fourth fall, the final

one. Fall of the Tower of Babel. So you have

the fall of the heavens, which is Lucifer. You

have the fall of mankind, which is in the garden.

Then you have the fall of the family and the

creation and the form of creation, which is because

of the sons of God, which represents the fallen

angels that would come and create beings through.

with the daughters of men that would create these

giants or Nephilim that were these unredeemable

beings. Then you have the last one, Babel, which

represents the fall of the nations. Even though

they were one people, they represent all the

nations of God or they represent all the nations

of the world. Each fall declares independence

from God. Lucifer said, I want to be God and

I need to be independent from God. Adam and Eve

says, I want to have knowledge of good and evil,

independent from God. The daughters of men decided

they wanted to be independent from God and how

to create life. Then you have the Tower of Babel,

which is the nations to say, we want to build

a world independent from God. And what were they

building? To build a city means to build a civilization.

Now, this is really interesting because before

the flood in the days of Noah, there was immense

wickedness in the world. The Bible says that

they were so wicked that every form of their

thoughts and intentions were for evil. Nothing

good in them. It was all bad. But back then in

the time of Noah, it was chaotic. It was everybody

for themselves. It was everybody just killing

everybody and betraying everybody. It was total

nonsense. But now after the flood, you have a

form of evil that's even worse. Organized evil.

Evil decided to get organized and say, let's

all get together and let's build a city and build

a tower. So you have this organized chaos and

organized evil that is man -centered and not

God -centered. It's a form of humanism. That

man is the solution to everything. And then this

is the other thing. They were building something

that was a refusal to expand the kingdom of God.

God says go into all the world and fill it. Why?

Because God wants his kingdom over the whole

earth. But man said no. We don't want to spread

your kingdom. We want to build ours. So they

began to build their own civilization and their

own tower. Not only that, but they were trying

to build something that was... Because a city

points to a civilization. A tower is actually...

In modern day, we think, okay, a tower is like

a skyscraper or something like that. Just a really

big building with multiple floors. You can do

more things in it. No, actually, a tower in ancient

civilization is through a lot of history. A tower

was a religious place. It was a temple. So the

Tower of Babel wasn't just this skyscraper. It

was a temple built for themselves, for the worship

of self and to gods of their own making. That's

what they're building. So they're building not

just a civilization and how to do community.

Listen, the world and evil knows how to build

community and how to have fellowship. Evil has

its own idea of how to have family, how to have

businesses, how to have a civilization, how to

have laws, how to have a hierarchy. But evil

is still evil, whether it's organized or not.

The same thing goes for the tower that's there,

which represents this temple dedicated unto the

Lord. It is evil unto God because it's in rebellion.

And I want you to imagine this. I want you to

imagine a teenager who lives in your house, eats

all your food. Uses all your stuff without asking.

Drives your car, doesn't fill it up with gas,

leaves it on empty when you need to go to work

the next day. And some of you don't have to imagine

very hard. Listen, imagine telling that teenager,

hey, listen, can you take out the trash? And

they say to you, no, I don't have to do what

you tell me to do. If I said that to my dad,

I would not exist today. That is something that,

how could you say that to the person who is giving

you all the blessings you're taking advantage

of? This is essentially what the Tower of Babel

is. It is them saying, I want to have the blessing

of God without following your instruction. I

want to do things my way, but I still want your

hand and your blessing from it. And God is not

going to bless it. Because you have to, in order

to experience the blessing of God, you have to

live according to his commands and his instructions.

So this is something that they were building

by saying, God, just keep blessing us. We're

gonna keep multiplying, but we're all gonna stay

here. We're gonna do things our way. We're gonna

build this tower. Now, they said, we're gonna

build this tower to the heavens, which to you

and I, the heavens, what does that even mean?

It's the sky, which represents the upper atmospheres

of the world. But to them, it's the realm of

the spirit. And so whether they meant this literally

or figuratively doesn't matter. Their heart and

their posture was, we are building something

that's going to affect the spiritual realms.

And it will influence it and rule it. And so

what were they saying? We want a tower that goes

to the heavens. So that when we get there, we

will define the spiritual realm. our way. So

we're not just going to do life on earth our

way. We want the things of the spirit done our

way. So this is a, this is something that they

are unified in wickedness and evil to not only

have influence of a physical place without God,

but I want heaven without God. But here's something

that's really interesting about the tabernacle

that God has Moses build and David and even the

temple of Solomon. Listen to this. Yes, the tabernacle

in heaven, the tabernacle of the Lord, according

to Hebrews, is on a hill in the place of Mount

Zion. We don't have time to really go into that,

but essentially this is what you need to know.

Look at the difference between how God wants

his temple built and how man wants their temple

built. Man wants their temple built up. God has

his temple built forward. There's the outer court,

the holy place, and the most holy place. That

doesn't go up. It goes forward. That once I get

into the presence of God, it's about getting

closer to him this way. Because that's how God

works. He loves. The Bible says he came down

and humbled himself to dwell in flesh. He came

to our level and made a way for us to come to

him. Man is always going to want to build something

to go up. And so with all the work, all this

building, all this celebration of self, who gets

the credit when a tower is built like that? But

who gets the credit when God comes down to and

makes himself available to us? He does. He gets

the credit because it's him coming to us. So

what does God do? What does God respond with

all of this? Well, he says that he looks down

and he's looking down. The picture I got in my

mind when I read this, it almost looks like God

the Father. He's grilling on the barbecue and

everything and he looks over. Oh my goodness,

what's that over there? Michael, come look at

this. They're building this tower in this city

and they're coming to invade heaven and mess

us up. God is not threatened by this at all.

God is not intimidated by this at all. God, I

love how the wording is. God came and looked

down, which shows you the position he's in. He's

going, what is happening down there? Not that

he's surprised. He knows all things. I'm not

trying to give a, it's a crude image. But what

I'm trying to help you understand is that the

Bible says that the nations of the world rage,

but God laughs at them. Doesn't matter how bad

the world gets. Doesn't matter how much the world,

if every nation on earth came together to come

against God and destroy him, God is not intimidated

in the slightest. He's not scared one bit. He

goes, man, this is hilarious. So what does he

do? He says, well, he diagnoses the problem and

he provides a solution to that problem without

destroying them because he promised to Noah that

the last time that they got this bad, he just

used the flood and took them out and started

over with one man. But what he did this time

was because of that covenant to say, I'm not

gonna do it like that again. What he's gonna

do is instead of pouring out a flood, he's gonna

bring something else that's gonna cause them

to disperse. So remember, this is a place that's

a civilization dedicated to their own gods and

idolatry and the deification of their self -will

and a tower built up, a temple built for themselves.

This is why we have so many different religions

in the world. Because God accomplished his task

of filling the world with humanity, but they

took their religion of self and self -glorification

and created their own gods. That's why every

nation has different gods, but kind of all look

the same. Because they all come from the same

place. The Tower of Babel. say almost very similar

origin stories almost very similar hierarchies

and all these things why is that is because it

comes from this place where they were unified

and God caused them to disperse to accomplish

his will but it wasn't done the way God had intended

so now you have a world filled of different nations

different gods but they they and they're all

serving themselves and so this is what God does

he says you know what I want to redeem these

nations but I can't I can't do it through just,

I'm not gonna be able to do it like how I tried

before. I'm going to bring one man forward that

whom all the rest of the nations would be blessed.

So now you jump from Genesis 11 to now Genesis

12 where the author Moses skips ahead a little

bit in time and he stops here and he begins to

discuss one man. And this is so important. Why

do we remember these things? Because God has

a system in how he does certain things. Remember

with Noah, the whole world was evil, and so what

did he do? I'm gonna save the world through what?

One person. The nations are against me, so I'm

gonna bring out one person. Now in Babel, you

see the same thing. All the nations are against

me, so guess what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna bring

out one man, and his name is... Abram. The same

thing happens. When all the world and all the

nations are fallen into sin or against me, what

does God do? He sends one man, Jesus, through

whom the whole world would be reconciled and

saved. Remember, this is all pointing to Jesus.

He's the fulfillment of all of this. So now let's

go to Genesis 12, one through three. It says

this. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your

country and your kindred and your father's house

to the land that I will show you. And I will

make of you a great what? Nation. Now this nation

is the nation that we call Israel, the Jewish

people, the sons and daughters of Abraham. That

now we see that this God will now, I will create

my own nation. He says, go out from your house

of moon worshipers and I'm gonna make you, one

man, into a new nation. Do you know what God

also did with Jesus? He made a nation out of

the lineage of Christ who is the nation of the

church. A nation that is no longer about who

your mommy and daddy is, but it's about who is

your savior. Who saved you? Who adopted you?

Just as Paul says in Romans that you would no

longer have a spirit of slavery, but now you

may cry out, Abba, Father. To who? The Father

of your salvation. The same God of Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob. You are no longer separated from the

covenant blessing that was given to Abram, but

now you have been grafted in as the Bible...

As the Bible says, you've been grafted in to

the root of Jesse, who is Jesus, who is the descendant

of Abraham. This is incredible. This is how God

redeems his world. So now we see that Pentecost,

as the people of Israel, are formed and shaped

from the lineage of Abraham, and now they're

a huge nation, but they're in slavery to Egypt,

and then they've been exodus out, and now they're

in the wilderness. And so God is like, okay,

let me teach you how you're going to live in

this new land. So this is where Pentecost comes

up in the Old Testament, is in Leviticus chapter

Leviticus 23:15–18

23, verse 15 through 18. Let's read this together.

You shall count seven full weeks from the day

after the Sabbath. From the day that you were

brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall

count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath.

Then you shall present a grain offering of a

new grain to the Lord, and you shall bring from

your dwelling place two loaves of bread to be

waved. As in, that's it. God was specific, you

gotta wave. There's different forms of offerings.

There's offerings you gotta barbecue. There's

offerings you just gotta wave, then barbecue.

Some just wave, but then you get others. So there's

different kinds of offerings that are there.

But God is saying, okay, you're gonna take these

two pieces of bread and you're gonna wave them.

This is significant, I promise. And then it says

that they shall be made of two -tenths of an

ephah. They shall be of fine flour and they shall

be baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord.

This is... The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. Pentecost

is the end of first fruits. We've been in a season

of first fruits. And now here in this time, we're

talking about Pentecost, which is at the end

of first fruits. And it's right after seven exact

weeks after Passover. And do you know what the

word Pentecost means? 50. because the term Pentecost

is actually not a Hebrew word, it's a Greek word,

but it was translated from Hebrew into Greek

with the Greek Septuagint, which was translated

into the modern Old Testament back in the time

of Jesus, which was a Greek Old Testament called

the Septuagint that Jesus and the disciples would

have preached from. So they would have preached

Pentecost and this day in Leviticus of Pentecost

where there were now two loaves being offered.

Now look at this, that God, This is how God works.

He redeems nations and he works in the details.

God works in these small little details. Even

just two loaves. Because you gotta remember this,

that there was a, there is a, Jesus defined his

body as being a, as being the bread. Yes, we

agree with that? Jesus says that I am the bread

of life. Okay? When we think about communion,

we take of communion, we remember communion,

we take of the cup and the bread. The bread represents

his body. When we are saved and brought into

the church, do you know what else is described

as the body of Christ? The church. So you now

have two loaves which represent two different

people groups. The first loaf is the loaf of

the Jewish people. God's promised descendants

from Abraham to receive the blessings of Abraham.

But through the Old Testament, we see that they

also rebelled against God and chose other gods

over him. And so what does God do? There's also

this other people group. Everybody else. from

that time of Babel, are called Gentiles. Anybody

other than a descendant from Abraham is called

a Gentile. Those are the only two people groups,

according to Judaism, is you're a Jew or you're

a Gentile. There's no in between. There's no

middle ground. You are one or the other. So how

does God save this problem, solve and redeem

this issue of a scattered people, of different

people groups? What does he do? How does he answer

the issue of God? You said that you're gonna

save the world through the descendants of Abraham

and through his nation. What does Jesus do? Well,

Jesus is now the fulfillment of Abraham, the

fulfillment of Israel, and he now makes a nation

of what? A nation that is made up of his own

body. So now we go from two loaves to one. We

go from two separate peoples to one people under

Christ. That now it is no longer the two loaves

of the Jew and the Gentile, but now we're brought

into perfect unity of sonship and daughtership

into the family of Jesus because of what? The

Holy Spirit. Think of this. On the day of Pentecost,

The Feast of Pentecost was a mandatory attendance

day. Do you imagine if we started having some

of those today in church? How many emails Pastor

Scott would get? Same church as mandatory. But

it's a mandatory day, which means like, unless

you were dying, you had to go. Unless you, I

mean, Bob, I have this cannonball wound. I don't

know if I'm gonna make it to Pentecost. You can

still talk to me. You're fine. If you're able

to say that, then you're good. Listen, if Mary

can get around on a donkey nine months pregnant,

you can get to Pentecost. Let's go. It was mandatory.

So I want you to think about this. In Acts 2,

we're now gonna jump ahead to Acts 2. Acts 2

is where the 120 are in the upper room. They're

waiting for the prophesied. gift that Jesus gave

in John and in the very beginning of, in chapter

one of the book of Acts. The paraclete, the helper,

the advocate, the comforter, the one whom Jesus

says that without him, you can't have me. Before

the church starts, before you can preach the

gospel, before you can continue this ministry,

you gotta have me. The Holy Spirit. You have

to have the paraclete. And so look at this. A

festival where there were Jews scattered across

all these nations of the world. Think about this.

They all come back to the temple in Jerusalem.

And you have this 120 that are either in a room

that is actually attached to the temple or they're

right outside of the temple, but they were in

a really public area as people were on their

way to the temple of God where they were able

to be seen and heard. You have now the Holy Spirit

pouring out on this 120 and now you have all

of these Jews which represent all these other

nations together in one place that when the Holy

Spirit comes out and 3 ,000 people get saved,

guess where they're going to go? To the nations.

They're going to go out into the rest of the

world from where they came, but they're going

to go back different than how they were when

they came. It's interesting how these two loaves

in the Bible, in Leviticus, Judaism later down

the line actually began to celebrate this as

something of representing the two tablets that

Moses came down with. It's supposed to represent

the word of God. Now, There's partial truth to

that. However, what we have to understand is

that, listen to this. When the holy tablets came

down, the 10 commandments of God came down and

there was a rebellion and because of the golden

calf and the big Oreo that occurred there, you

had 3 ,000 people that died. How many people

got saved after Peter's sermon? That's God redeeming

his people. That is God coming and saying, listen,

where the law came and these old things came,

there were 3 ,000 that died. But when now the

Holy Spirit comes, there are 3 ,000 that are

saved. So you have this picture of God redeeming

now. The nations where he says, listen, you're

going to not just keep things here in Israel.

You're going to go out into the world and redeem

the nations that were scattered at the place

of Babel. And now we're going to be brought together

and fill the earth. But because of the Holy Spirit,

it will be done right. This is why we remember

Pentecost. Because it's the day that God redeems

the nations. It's the day that God makes his

spirit available for everyone who calls on Jesus.

Like, guys, we have it so good. Did you know

that the Holy Spirit was limited in his operation

in the Old Testament? That he could only dwell

on a couple people? He could only dwell on limited,

only kings, prophets, and priests? and he was

able to operate in them. Do you know how much

the Holy Spirit was waiting for the day that

the prophet Joel's prophecy could be fulfilled,

that I would be poured out on all flesh? He was

so eager for the day of Pentecost. Because that's

what he loves. He wants to fill the earth. That's

what he does. It's what he did before the earth

was even formed. He was hovering over the face

of the deep and now he hovers over the saints

and the believers who fill the earth. This is

why we remember Pentecost, because it's not just

a day for us to start hooting and hollering.

It's a day for us to start hooting and hollering

that Christ and the Holy Spirit have now redeemed

us and have empowered us, Acts 1, 8, for the

Holy Spirit will come and empower you to be martyrs

or witnesses for me and my namesake in Jerusalem,

in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of

the earth. This is why we remember Pentecost.

How beautiful of a day that is. You got God the

Father in heaven going, man, I love it when a

plan comes together. I love it when a plan comes

together. The fact that, listen, they brought

two loaves to one priest. Now there is the loaf

that is brought to the one priest who is Jesus.

There is the... The Passover that happens at

the cross, which tore the veil and allows us

access. It's the Holy Spirit who takes us from

one place into the point of access with him.

Pentecost is what brings the nations into the

presence of God. And it's what brings the presence

of God to the nations. God is building his city

and his temple. Just as humanity tried building

their own version of civilization, their own

version of worship, their own version of religion,

God builds his civilization within his church.

He builds his temple within his church. He is

establishing his way of society, but not through

the brick and mortar as they did before, but

through the uncut living stones of you and I

that are joined together with the cornerstone

who is Christ himself. I'm preaching. Come on,

somebody. And not only that, I'm gonna end with

this. God confused the languages of the people

of Babel. What was the first manifestation that

happened on the day of Pentecost of the Holy

Spirit operating through the believers? A form

of communication that would not divide, but unify,

that would break every linguistic barrier, cultural

barrier, that they were literally, in the Greek

it says that they gave utterance, that they were

able to speak the foreign language perfectly.

Accent and all. Because of the Holy Spirit. The

Tower of Babel was that place where now their

communication is cut off, and now Pentecost is

the day where their communication is restored.

But it's not a language of human making. It is

a heavenly language that operates through faith

and faith alone. What empowered them to build

their civilization of wickedness and their religion

of wickedness was their communication. What empowers

us to build the church and to build and expand

the kingdom of God here on the earth is the Holy

Spirit. who allows us to communicate in perfect

unison together with God and with one another.

I got about halfway, so we're just gonna stop

there. Holy Spirit, we remember what you have

accomplished through human history, through the

redemptive story of The scriptures. Holy Spirit,

we ask for boldness and for assurance and for

a empowerment. God, when you fell upon, in the

book of Acts, you fill continually. The word

fill in the Greek is a continual word. It is

progressive. It is not just a one and done. but

a continual. So Holy Spirit, we ask for you to

fill us. Fill us that we would help be your vessels

to bring the nations to you. Bring our workplaces

to you. Bring our families to you. You are the

one that draws people to you. So Holy Spirit,

we ask now. for your sanctifying and your incredible

empowerment to help us deliver the gospel, even

in the midst of Babylon, even in the midst of

where the world seems chaotic and the world seems

completely out of order. Let them see that we

are a church that is unified by the Holy Spirit.

Lord, we thank you, God. This is what our world

needs. The nations need a unified church, a unified

under the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.

So help us, God, because if we're gonna get unified

with churches around the world, Lord, we need

to get unified within ourselves, unified with

you first and unified with one another. So Lord,

every place of division, we cast it aside and

say, Lord, it's not worth it. It's not worth

the kingdom of God being halted. It's not worth

the power of God not flowing through me. It's

not worth it. I'm gonna lay these things down.

As you taught the disciples to pray, forgive

our sins as we forgive our debtors. Holy Spirit,

teach us to forgive. Teach us to live in unity

because when brothers dwell together in unity,

it is like the oil that is poured out. Oil representing

the Holy Spirit. We thank you, God. Let us be

in one accord. Let us be as one people. As Philippians

2 even says, let us have one mind, the mind of

Christ, in all humility, not counting himself

greater than anybody else, but humbled himself

to be in human flesh. Let us have that mind.

Let us have your love. Let us have your heart.

Let us have your will in control of our own.

In Jesus precious and mighty name. Amen. Thank

you for taking the time to listen to this week's

message. We are so grateful for those who tune

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