Consider this question, with what we have just read: how could people filled with doubt, even a measure of unbelief, fear, general fear, intense fear, heightened fear, abject fearfear takes many different forms and guises; sometimes we can control our fear, sometimes it overcomes us and we're just shaking in our bootshow could a people dealing with all of these emotions during this 50-day period of time be expected to do what Jesus told them here in verse 8, they would do, when they have problems figuring it all out at that particular moment? He certainly became one of the boldest witnesses for the faith. The bonds of trust among the disciples were beginning to be frayed. God's Word and Spirit give us power to overcome and to change to accomplish the work of God. When the apostles asked Jesus regarding the timing of the coming of the kingdom of God, they appear to indicate that they know the kingdom will be set aside for a time: So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6). This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. 13 When they had entered Jerusalem, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. It's an encouraging sermon, it's very pointed and direct, that includes a dramatic call to repentance. It was originally an agricultural festival, marking the beginning of the wheat harvest. Pentecost was the celebration of the beginning of the early wheat harvest, which meant that Pentecost always fell sometime during the middle of the month of May or sometimes in early June. 4 So Barnabas and Saul,sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus (Acts 13:1-4, emphasis mine). And that power would be what would begin to banish the fear, the troubling, doubt, that they had, coupled with the Word of God that they were to have. But by doing so, when you read the account, you understand that they knew the Scripture, and they applied Scripture to their choice and their decision to replace Judas. 3 And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. What Happened on the Day of Pentecost with Respect to the Holy Spirit The English word "Pentecost" is a transliteration of the Greek word pentekostos, which means "fifty.". '", And so Luke's account gives us a very specific instruction, how He told them, You wait in Jerusalem and then you will receive the power from on high. And that is what they were doing as they waited for that period of time to come about. So Jesus had to rebuke them. People should see that in us. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. The second power that they'd run up against was that of the Jewish authorities. Let us give thought to the way Luke prepares us for what is yet to come. Pentecost is the festival when Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the ideal to which every subsequent church period has wished to be able to emulate, including ours today. I've got to find out where that next bus leaves, and what time." But some doubted." If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. The empty tomb and the absence of a body is further evidence of our Lords resurrection, and to this the Holy Spirit will bear witness. And this small group of people who had signed on to what they thought was a remarkable, gifted rabbi, and followed Him around and soon learned that they had fallen into something quite different than anything they could have ever imagined, as they witnessed miracles of loaves and fishes, and people being brought back to life, and dramatic healings. The ministry has had those two themes for the past two conferences. Because Ruth saw in Naomi, God, an example that she wanted to be a part of. It is rooted in the Word of God. Again, nothing like this had been a part of their frame of reference before. There's a lot of information in the details that we are given in chapter 28 verse 16. That's what the gift of the Holy Spirit is for us. Only Paul matches Luke in the proofs he supplies for the resurrection: 3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also receivedthat Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. This truth is buttressed by John 14-16, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, and 2 Peter 1:20-21. 2Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. People should see God in the firstfruits. In Acts 13 while those at the church in Antioch were fasting, the Holy Spirit indicated that Barnabas and Saul should be set apart and sent out as missionaries. I don't think it was an intergalactic tour that He was on to get to the third heaven. And so they didn't really think about that, and yet all of a sudden it came upon them. The Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that is the way Christians understand God. Of course, on the day that He died there had been an earthquake, the sun had turned to dark at midday, people had come out of their graves and it had set Jerusalem all abuzz. . A period of unity, one accord, fellowship, love for one another, treating people as equals, not in a completely socialistic manner that we understand from our modern context of socialism, or the welfare type of society. Maybe they had their hands in their pockets kind of like this, thinking, "Wow, that was neat. Let me explain why I have reached this conclusion. It is not my purpose here to allow these matters to sidetrack our consideration of the argument of this text. I believe that this upper room became headquarters for them during the entire 50-day period after our Lords resurrection.