Pentecost 101 2023

PENTECOST 101

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WIH YOUR PALS ELLIE & ELI

INTRODUCTION Our Passover celebration is over and we had so much fun. We learned a bunch and praised the Lord. Ate yummy unleavened bread and talked about all the wonderful things our Savior has and continues to do for us. But don’t you fret. We have more celebrating to do.

What’s next you might ask?

Why Pentecost of course.

SPELL IT OUT!!!

Hmmm. Pentecost. That sure is a long word. Let’s spell it.

P-E-N-T-E-C-O-S-T You got it. Great job. Do you know what that word means? The word “pente” means 50. That’s right. 50.

Now why is that important? Did you know that Pentecost takes places 50 days after Passover. And this year we celebrate Pentecost on Sunday, May Sunday, May28, 23,2023 2021.

By the Way Pentecost is not the only name for this special day. It is also called……

• Feast of Harvest • Feast of Weeks • Feast of the First Fruits We’ll explain more about that later.

Get Those Calendars Out Here’s a trick to make sure you always know WHEN to celebrate Pentecost.

• To calculate the Day of Pentecost we always begin with Passover.

• Within every week of Passover is a seventh day Sabbath.

• We begin counting the Sunday after that seventh day Sabbath.

• Sunday is day number 1.

• Count 50 days.

• The 50th day will again be Sunday and that 50th day is…you guessed it…Pentecost.

• You may also count 7 weeks with week 1 starting after the seventh day Sabbath within the week of Passover, hence the name Feast of Weeks.

LETS COUNT Try it. For this year, the 3rd day of theSabbath week, Tuesday seventh day for Passover Tuesday happened to be the last holy day, which was April 11th Got it? Start counting, 3rd. beginning Wednesday Sunday, April 4th.

12th How did you do? Now that we know how to figure out when Pentecost starts, let’s talk about what it is.

Take It Away Eli! Hey Eli! Can you tell us WHAT Pentecost is?

“I sure can. It is a a holy feast day that God told us to keep every year.

Because it is holy we do not play or go to school like the other days of the week. Instead, we go to church to sing praises, pray, talk about God, have communion and so much more. Ooooh, yummy. I love communion bread. And since it is a feast, we also have a delicious dinner at the end where we all eat as on big family. More dessert please.”

Tell Us More Eli! Sounds great Eli but WHY do we keep the Pentecost?

“Because in the B-I-B-L-E, God tells us to. Don’t take my word for it. Let’s read.

Leviticus 23: 15-16 & 21.

Yikes! Sometimes it is hard to understand everything we read in the Bible. Don’t you worry. Even adults have trouble understanding everything in the scriptures.

Tell Us More Eli! But here are some key points.

Verses 15 and 16 explain WHEN we celebrate Pentecost by counting 50 days. Remember, we discussed that earlier. Verse 21 explains that Pentecost is a holy convocation. Do you know what HOLY means? What does CONVOCATION mean? It also states that it is a STATUTE. Now that is important. Statute means it is a law. That means we MUST OBEY it. That is WHY each year our church celebrates Pentecost.

Eli Knows!

The bible often talks about men, women and children that loved God and obeyed His laws like us. And like us, they also kept the Pentecost.

In the book of Acts, it talks about the day of Pentecost during the time of the apostles.

Who are they?

Eli Knows!

The apostles consisted of 12 men that followed and served Christ when He walked on this earth as a human being. They were all righteous with the exception of one. His name was Judas Iscariot. He was bad and betrayed Christ unto death and would later be replaced by Matthias.

Eli Knows!

After Christ died and rose from the grave, He had to return to heaven with His Father. Before He left, He told the apostles that they would receive the Holy Spirit so they could build the church and teach the truth to the people. Lots of people!

Eli Knows!

When the Pentecost came, there was a loud sound of rushing wind that came from heaven. It was so loud that the people could hear it throughout the entire house. The Holy Spirit then fell upon the apostles. So what happened next?

Eli Knows!

The Holy Spirit is so powerful.

Like the Father and Jesus, He is God. He gave the apostles great faith, strength and the power to perform miracles. They also had the ability to preach the gospel in all languages.

After the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, it began to fall on others, causing them to repent for their sins, to be baptized and to join the church. Wow! That’s amazing.

Ellie Take it Away!

Ok Ellie. It’s your turn.

“Sure thing. The Pentecost of the apostles serves as a preview of what’s to come during the end of time. “

Ellie Can Tell You The apostles represent a very special group called the 144,000.

This is a group of saints, 144,000 to be exact. HeHe. They all will come from the 12 tribes of Israel. 12,000 from each tribe. How about that math.

That’s right, I’m smart!

Ellie Knows They will be the very first of God’s children that will receive the Holy Spirit. Why? Because they are the best of the best.

They are very devout and strong in the Lord. Sin and death will no longer be in their hearts, minds or bodies. They will be perfect, powerful and beautiful in every way. They will live forever. This will not be done in secret. The entire world will know it!

Ellie Knows Not only, that, they will have the power to teach the word of God to other saints and perform healings and miracles just like the apostles but on a much larger scale. See the connection? Cool right?

Ellie Knows Because the 144,000 will be the first of God’s saints to receive the Holy Spirit, they are also called His first fruits, which of course are the best. Sound familiar? Yep. That is why Pentecost is also known as the Feast of First Fruits.

Ellie Knows You see God compares His children to crops planted in the ground. Can you tell me what crops are? Did you know that crops mature and become fully ripe at different times of the year? Hold up. Tell me what mature is? Tell me what ripe means? Once a crop has fully ripened it is ready to be taken out of the ground, which farmers call harvesting. That is why the Feast of Harvest is another name for Pentecost.

Ellie Knows Ok. So let's take what we just learned about crops and apply it to people.

When a child of God is fully ripened, this is a person who has repented for their sins and obeys the commandments of God. Because of their obedience, the Holy Spirit falls on them to remove sin and death from their hearts, minds and bodies. This means they are ready to be harvested from this earth so that they can go to heaven with God. Just like crops, not all saints will be ready to be harvested at once. Yep. It’s process.

Before we go on….can you tell me what repentance means?

Ellie Knows Like the apostles, the 144,000 will receive the Holy Spirit and begin teaching the word of God to other saints.

The word will spread like wild fire. The Holy Spirit will then start to fall on the other saints so they too can be prepared to be harvested.

Like I said…..a process.

Ellie Knows IMPORTANT FACT. The Feast of Pentecost points to the time of harvest for the 144,000. I repeat.

The Feast of Pentecost points to the time of harvest for the 144,000.

REMEMBER. DON’T FORGET!

Ellie Knows So what if you are not in the 144,000, is Pentecost still important? Well of course silly goose. Remember, first fruits are the best. Our actions and our obedience to God also represent fruits. These are our works. To make God happy, we have to do our very best for Him. I’m talking A+ effort, 100%. Whoa.

Pressure! Don’t worry. That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in.

Ellie Knows The Holy Spirit is a great teacher. He helps us to understand what we read in the bible and teaches us how to be like Jesus. For example he gives us the fruits of the spirit, these are traits or characteristics that help us act like Christ. We will learn about that later by Teacher Tam!

Ellie Knows He is often compared to water that nourishes us so that we grow and He also cleanses us with the word.

He is also compared to fire that can purge away everything that is bad in us so that we change and remain forever perfect. We will learn about that in more lessons to come by Teacher Liz.

Ellie Knows HOW do we celebrate Pentecost? We decorate the church and dress in colors of orange, yellow and gold to represent the fire of the Holy Ghost and white to represent purity. We have songs of praise, prayer, communion, testimonies and a special wave loaf ceremony led by our minister. The wave loaf ceremony is what Israel of ancient days were commanded to do for this feast so we do it as well. These loaves represent the 144,000. Plus the bread is quite tasty! We of course end with a feast.

Ellie Knows The wave loaf ceremony is what Israel of ancient days were commanded to do for this feast so we do it as well. These loaves represent the 144,000. Plus the bread is quite tasty! We of course end with a feast.