Lectionary
Readings
(Acts 2:1 NKJV) When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were
all with one accord in one place.
(Acts 2:2 NKJV) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a
rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting.
(1 Cor 12:3 NKJV) Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking
by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that
Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
(1 Cor 12:4 NKJV) There are diversities of gifts, but the same
Spirit.
(John 20:22 NKJV) And when He had said this, He breathed on them,
and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
(John 20:23 NKJV) "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven
them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
The Day of Pentecost falls on the Jewish harvest Festival of
Shavout, marking the 50th day from the Passover or the feast of
Unleavened bread. The feast of the Passover marked the escape of the
Jewish nation from Eygpt where the Jews marked their door post edge
with the blood of a lamb signifying the blood of Jesus Christ and
the door post representing the Cross of Calvary. The Passover was a
foreshadow of the Cruxifixion of Jesus Christ. The bread was to have
no yeast, which was symbolic of the inherent sinful nature of
mankind. The bread represented Jesus Christ, who was sinless.
The Day of Pentecost stood in contrast to the passover where it was
featured "two loaves of bread baked with yeast", made from the first
fruits of the wheat harvest. As in the passover, the lamb was
sacrificed.
(Ezek 36:26 NKJV) "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and
give you a heart of flesh.
(Joel 2:28 NKJV) "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will
pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see
visions.
(Gen 6:3 NKJV) And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with
man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one
hundred and twenty years."
The Holy Spirit came only upon the prophets of the OT, and they
spoke as the Spirit came upon them. It didn't stay upon them nor dwell or abide with mankind.
However, the Spirit of
God once dwelt with mankind at the Garden of Eden. He was there even
after the fall of man. The separation came when there was such evil in mankind
as a whole exemplified by the giants in the lands which were the
offsprings of between mankind and demons. The intermixing of
mankind with the demons caused the Holy Spirit to retract
from the affairs of humanity.
The Law of Moses was given as a guideline to reflect God
and not any other deities, the sacrifices given a foreshadow of the death
of Jesus Christ for their sins knowing that the Jews would fail miserably in
keeping their covenant with God.
Even under Covenant, the Holy Spirit did not abide with
the Jews individually, but separately in the Holy of Holiest, the temple of God that
contains the Ark of the Covenant which was brought along with the
Jewish people wherever they went into the promised land.
The Holy Spirit even though omnipresent chose to limit
Himself in the affairs of man on the account of the stuborness of
men to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. In Exe 36:26, we
have a heart of stone that is so contrary to the ways of God. The 10
commandments were so explicit so that their sins against God could
not be denied because they weren't going to obey the rules and kept playing the harlot by worshipping other
gods. It was a literally playing the harlot as they were having sex,
anal sex with the temple priests of Baal/Ashteroth so that they can
join themselves with the demonic spirits. Their sin was not
homosexuality.
(Acts 1:8 NKJV) "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Before Jesus finally left the disciples 40 days after resurrection, Jesus asked
the them to wait in one accord for the promise of the baptism
of the Holy Spirit which was separate from the Baptism of water unto
salvation. The Baptism was not meant as the restoration of the
Kingdom of God on earth, but for the purpose of receiving power to
be a witness of God in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then to the
rest of the World.
Hence, the baptism of the Holy Spirit as prophesised by Ezekial and
Joel finally came to past, and the change of heart was necesarry
from a heart of religious law governed by good works to a heart that
believed by faith through God's grace in the forgiveness of sins
through Jesus Christ. The true heart of faith is a soft heart,
always loving and full of grace, versus the Jewish religious heart
always condemning, self righteous, and hypocritical. Religion was
about the fear of eternal punishment of not following the religious
laws rather than a love relationship with God.
God chose the day of Pentecost, a celebration of harvest time. There
was to be two bread (instead of one), and the bread was to have
yeast in it. God is indeed Queer. Through the Pentecost, all
peoples were made to be included:-
a) The two bread signifies Gentiles and Jews, thus in Christ there
is no more Jew and non Jew, only in Christ. The bread is with yeast,
for the Holy Spirit is now able to reside in mankind that is not
perfect, having sin within, but a changed heart of faith in the
forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ.
b) I believe that God also included the natural Eunuchs which were
gays. There were three types of Eunuchs in the Jewish tradition,
those physically castrated, those who were born as such from their
mothers womb and those who were thus because of religion (for the
Baal/Asteroth temple priest actually castrate himself as part of
religious worship).
Gay people were not allowed into the Holy of Holiest. At Pentecost,
this was broken as the two bread represents the straight and gay people.
God is queer in that He chose the least to include everyone. The Jewish nation was chosen starting from Abraham, because they
were the weakest and smallest nation on earth. Jerusalem was a small
city and the Jews hated and despised (that was why Hitler killed the
Jews to exalt his nation). God could
have chosen the Romans or the Chinese, the greatest nations on
earth, yet He chose the smallest and the least so that it is not by
works but by faith.
The blessings of the Pentecost, overflowed from the upper room and
spilled over to the crowds below where all the nations were gathered
to worship in the Jewish Festival of Shavout. The Holy
Spirit fell on the first Jewish Christians who were a Jewish sect on the margins of society. They could no longer
go back to the Jewish temple after being excommunicated for worhsipping
Jesus. Yet, they were afraid and knew not how to move on because the
dictates of the Jewish faith they had used to, now being totally
reconstructed by the events of the last 3 years.
The Holy Spirit of God fell not only on the weakest nation on earth,
but the weakest religious minority/sect of the weakest nation. God
used the least that all glory goes to Him alone. God was inclusive,
He chose the very least for in doing so, all are included. The Holy
Spirit also fell on the non-Jews, the God fearers, visiting
Jerusalem for the harvest. Hence, they brought back the good news to
the nations.
The Holy Spirit didn't come so that Christians can declare that they
have the Holy Spirit, for no one owns the Holy Spirit of God. He
comes and goes like a mighty wind. As Christians
we are the temple of God where the Holy Spirit is able to reside when
previously He fell only on the prophets but did not linger on
nor abide with them.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit comes when our hearts desire is to welcome
Home the Holy Spirit into our lives to be used mightly for the
harvest work. The baptism is queer, because anyone can be baptised.
All can commune with the Holy Spirit irrespective whether they
were gay
or straight by having faith in Jesus Christ and having a willing
heart to be used mightily by God.
When the Baptism of the Holy Spirit came, the tongues of the people
was just totally liberated - the Spirit of God controlling their
tongues (instead of their minds) to the extent that to others
outside from around the world coming to Jerusalem they were speaking
their own language proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
Thereafter the church "exploded" in numbers in a mighty display of
the power of miracles. It is the Holy Spirit that was doing the
witnessing and the talking which bypasses our carnal mind.
The purpose of the baptism was for harvest, the harvest of souls,
for the witness of the Gospel message throughout the world with
supernatural power, signs and wonders. The witness of the Gospel is
inclusive to all nations and peoples on earth irrespective of their
religious faith.
We are reminded 5,000 years prior of the tower of babel where the language of
men were confused by God, in contrast to the Pentecost where
Christians are now given a new language of prayer, prophecy and Word of
Wisdom giving us a common platform and power to witness the Gospel
message. At Babel, mankind
went their various ways because of the different language. At
Pentecost, all spoke one language, a spiritual and heavenly language
unting all peoples to the Holy Spirit of God.
God is moving in a new way to the last people group
on earth - the GLBT tribe. The early Christians were of a Jewish
religious sect, hence were the least of the least nation of earth.
Likewise, In the 21st century, the GLBT people is the
least amongst the peoples on earth, rejected by society, family and
religion.
The day of Pentecost is coming where the Holy Spirit will fall on
the GLBT Christians like never before in the days of the latter
rain.
When the Holy Spirit captures
and renew our hearts and minds again, we will never be the same. The streets
will be pink all over. It is starting. The gay pride in Tel Aviv,
Israel, not too far away from Jerusalem, had over 100,000 people.
The rumblings of the sound of fire and rush of a mighty wind is getting
stronger and stronger. Can you hear, the Holy Spirit is coming Home.
Come Holy Spirit. The Harvest feast beckons.
Come Holy Spirit. We need your revival,
power, and annointing. Let your presence fall on our people.
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