Pentecost, Shavuot & First Fruits
05-31-2009, 08:33 PM
The sun has set, the day is done; the omers have been counted, and the anticipation was well rewarded. Pentecost 2009 has been thoroughly celebrated in our congregation here in the greater Kansas City area, and what a celebration it was!
The pageantry team at Church of the King offered a piece to Paul Wilbur's rendition of "Let Your Fire Fall". It's been one of my favorites from one of my all-time favorite albums by one of my all-time favorite musicians for as long as the album has been around. Powerful stuff. Anointed music can be amplified by anointed visual interpretations, and today was no exception! The theme was, appropriately, FIRE! :fireball: Red in the garments, fire flags, fiery banner, fiery music, all for a God who is a consuming fire Himself! The music set was great, too. Included a song new to our congregation. Jennie Riddle wrote Revelation Song. There is a well-visited version of it on YouTube. The artist there is Kari Jobe. The video is essentially a concert type setting, replete with what could look like a Christian mosh pit crowding the platform. Again, concert style. If you play the video, try closing your eyes and just listen to the song. She sings it powerfully. Throne-focused and expectant. It's a wow. I will NOT go off on a rant about pained expressions on worship leaders' faces, but I will at least mention it for your consideration. What does the face of a leader tell us about the music and the impact of Jesus on their life?
The sermon was stellar, talking mainly about Revelation 5, and interpreting some of the scene there in that chapter. The lament over the sealed scroll and what that scroll was truly about. He sees that scroll as the eighth letter of the Revelation. He also made it very personal, asking if I (and each of those present) did not have a scroll that was my life and that was still in some measure sealed up. When I have my hand on my scroll, that puts me in control and I do not have the authority to break the seals and reveal what is to come and how I can prepare for and cooperate with those things. Similarly, when my scroll is in God's hand and held tightly because I have not yet surrendered to areas where God has asked for my surrender, He cannot/will not/dares not open the seal on the book for that season because I am not ready or able.
He also talked about Chapter 5 being "the" answer to so many of life's thorny questions as offered by scoffers, agnostics, and atheistic folks. Darwin suggested that there could be life without God. Why then would all that was created bow before Him in this chapter. The Creator of all things is ON THE THRONE. Freud suggested that there could be a soul without there being a God. Every created being above, on, and beneath the earth WILL bow the knee. Marx suggested that there could be government without a God. We all know how THAT turned out.
Pastor also reminded us about Pentecost, the apostle Peter, and prayer. They stayed in the upper room for the last 10 days of the 50 days between First Fruits and Pentecost. They PRAYED for that time as Jesus had instructed them to do, tarrying that they might receive power. They tarried for those days, praying long hard hours. Peter preached maybe 15 minutes, and 3000 were added to the church! The point of Pentecost was not the mighty rushing wind (Kansans would better understand a TORNADO!), the tongues of fire, or the tongues of the nations from uneducated men's mouths. The point of Pentecost was salvation and relationship and reconciliation with GOD! Sometimes Charismatics get side-tracked, IMO, even though we know in our knowers that we need to focus on Giver, not gift, on God's face and heart, not the hand that gives.
It was a powerful service with a lot of stuff going on in the prophetic realm. Visually, aurally. Just some very powerful services this day. We expected, and God provided in a marvelous way!
I'll share soon what I taught in adult Sunday school, too, talking about the Feasts of First Fruits and Pentecost and their evangelistic nature.
The pageantry team at Church of the King offered a piece to Paul Wilbur's rendition of "Let Your Fire Fall". It's been one of my favorites from one of my all-time favorite albums by one of my all-time favorite musicians for as long as the album has been around. Powerful stuff. Anointed music can be amplified by anointed visual interpretations, and today was no exception! The theme was, appropriately, FIRE! :fireball: Red in the garments, fire flags, fiery banner, fiery music, all for a God who is a consuming fire Himself! The music set was great, too. Included a song new to our congregation. Jennie Riddle wrote Revelation Song. There is a well-visited version of it on YouTube. The artist there is Kari Jobe. The video is essentially a concert type setting, replete with what could look like a Christian mosh pit crowding the platform. Again, concert style. If you play the video, try closing your eyes and just listen to the song. She sings it powerfully. Throne-focused and expectant. It's a wow. I will NOT go off on a rant about pained expressions on worship leaders' faces, but I will at least mention it for your consideration. What does the face of a leader tell us about the music and the impact of Jesus on their life?
The sermon was stellar, talking mainly about Revelation 5, and interpreting some of the scene there in that chapter. The lament over the sealed scroll and what that scroll was truly about. He sees that scroll as the eighth letter of the Revelation. He also made it very personal, asking if I (and each of those present) did not have a scroll that was my life and that was still in some measure sealed up. When I have my hand on my scroll, that puts me in control and I do not have the authority to break the seals and reveal what is to come and how I can prepare for and cooperate with those things. Similarly, when my scroll is in God's hand and held tightly because I have not yet surrendered to areas where God has asked for my surrender, He cannot/will not/dares not open the seal on the book for that season because I am not ready or able.
He also talked about Chapter 5 being "the" answer to so many of life's thorny questions as offered by scoffers, agnostics, and atheistic folks. Darwin suggested that there could be life without God. Why then would all that was created bow before Him in this chapter. The Creator of all things is ON THE THRONE. Freud suggested that there could be a soul without there being a God. Every created being above, on, and beneath the earth WILL bow the knee. Marx suggested that there could be government without a God. We all know how THAT turned out.
Pastor also reminded us about Pentecost, the apostle Peter, and prayer. They stayed in the upper room for the last 10 days of the 50 days between First Fruits and Pentecost. They PRAYED for that time as Jesus had instructed them to do, tarrying that they might receive power. They tarried for those days, praying long hard hours. Peter preached maybe 15 minutes, and 3000 were added to the church! The point of Pentecost was not the mighty rushing wind (Kansans would better understand a TORNADO!), the tongues of fire, or the tongues of the nations from uneducated men's mouths. The point of Pentecost was salvation and relationship and reconciliation with GOD! Sometimes Charismatics get side-tracked, IMO, even though we know in our knowers that we need to focus on Giver, not gift, on God's face and heart, not the hand that gives.
It was a powerful service with a lot of stuff going on in the prophetic realm. Visually, aurally. Just some very powerful services this day. We expected, and God provided in a marvelous way!
I'll share soon what I taught in adult Sunday school, too, talking about the Feasts of First Fruits and Pentecost and their evangelistic nature.
Blessings!
Dean
DeanZF
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