History Of The Pentecostal Movement In America
Pentecostal theology has its roots in the nineteenth-century holiness movement.
Charles Fox Parham is the leading figure in the history of the Pentecostal movement. He is the founder of the first Pentecostal church known as the Apostolic Faith Church. During the late 19th and early 20th century, he led a Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, where the baptism in the Holy Spirit was emphasized as a key factor in one’s walk of faith.
Over the Christmas holiday of 1900, Parham asked his students to study the Bible to discover the biblical evidence for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. A series of revival prayer meetings began on January 1, 1901, where many students and Parham himself experienced a Holy Spirit baptism accompanied by speaking in tongues. They concluded that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is expressed and evidenced by speaking in tongues. From this experience, the Assemblies of God denominationthe largest Pentecostal body in America todaycan trace its belief that speaking in tongues is the biblical evidence for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
A spiritual revival quickly began spreading to Missouri and Texas, where the African American preacher, William J. Seymour, embraced Pentecostalism. Eventually, the movement spread to California and beyond. Holiness groups all across the United States were reporting Spirit baptisms.
Why Do Pentecostals Not Put On Makeup
Dress Rules for Women The exposed body tends to arouse mistaken thoughts in both wearer and onlooker. To keep away from such problems, United Pentecostal churches set these modesty guidelines for ladies: No slacks as a result of they immodestly divulge the female contours of upper leg, thigh, and hip No make-up.
The Meaning Of Pentecost
Pentecost, that is, the fiftieth day , or Harvest Feast, or Feast of Weeks, may be regarded as a supplement to the Passover. It lasted for but one day.
The Pentecost was the Jewish harvest-home, and the people were especially exhorted to rejoice before Jehovah with their families their servants, the Levite within their gates, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow in the place chosen by God for his name, as they brought a free-will offering of their hand to Jehovah their God.
The typical significance of the Pentecost is made clear from the events of the day recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2. Just as the appearance of God on Sinai was the birthday of the Jewish nation, so was the Pentecost the birthday of the Christian Church.
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Pentecost Means That Gods Power Is Available To Enable Every Christian To Live The Christian Life And To Serve God Effectively
If you study the Lords pattern for Christian living and serving you will find that Christians are to be new people they are to be love-filled holy courageous willing to suffer they are to witness with power to take the gospel to the ends of the world . But how is this possible? – Zechariah 4:6!
Pentecost Is This Sunday Heres The Rundown:
Holiday: Pentecost
AKA: Birthday of the Church
Religion Represented: Christianity
Date: Fifty days after Easter.
Celebrates: The day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, causing them to speak in tongues.
On a Scale of 1 to 10: The importance of Pentecost depends on the person. My uncle, a Presbyterian minister, put it like this: To me personally, as religious observances go, Easter rates a 10, Pentecost a 7 and Christmas a 6. But the average member of my church would probably say Easter was a 10, Christmas an 8 and Pentecost a 3.
Stars of the Show: Jesus 12 apostles
Back Story: At his Last Supper, Jesus legendarily instructed his 12 disciples to go out into the world to minister and heal the sick on their own. It was at that point that they became apostles. Fifty days after Jesus death, as the story goes, the Holy Spirit descended onto the apostles, making them speak in foreign tongues. This Pentecostal experience allowed the apostles direct communication with God, which signaled a major shift in the religious landscape and laid the foundation for what would become Christianity. Youll notice that the disciples are always depicted in artwork as regular-looking men while the apostles are depicted with halos around their heads.
Although all the original 12 apostles are important, some get top billing. Heres why:
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Gods Plan For Being Glorified Among The Nations Was To Form The Church
To understand this event, we must understand the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. It was not by coincidence that God poured out His Spirit on the disciples on that day. There were three great Jewish feasts each year: Passover , celebrating Israels deliverance from Egypt, followed immediately by the Feast of Unleavened Bread Pentecost, also called the Feast of Weeks, which occurred 50 days after Passover and, Tabernacles . Pentecost was an initial harvest feast, where the Jews were to offer to the Lord the first fruits of the new grain. Among other rituals, they were to wave before the Lord two loaves of wheat bread, made with leaven .
This picture came to fulfillment in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Until this time, the Lords people consisted of Israel, along with a few Gentile proselytes. Not all in Israel were believers, but it was through that nation exclusively that God worked through His covenant promises to form a people for Himself. But now the Lord formed the body of Christ, the church, made up of Jews and Gentiles on equal footing. Paul calls this inclusion of the Gentiles in the church a mystery, meaning that it had not been formerly revealed , although it was typified in this Jewish feast with two loaves. That these two loaves were made up of leavened bread pictures the fact that although we are redeemed in Christ, we are still sinners who must learn to get along with those who, in the flesh, are very different than we are.
The Name Pentecost In The Bible
Pentecost is the Greek name of the feast that is called in the Hebrew Bible: the Feast of Weeks , of Ingathering or of First Fruits . This festival was to be celebrated seven weeks after Pesah or Passover, and was the most significant and festive of the agricultural year.
The historian Josephus wrote that for this feast enormous amounts of Jews trekked to Jerusalem. During times of upheaval, this massive gathering of Jews caused understandable levels of concern with the Romans.
In the New Testament, the feast now known as Pentecost is significant because on the first Pentecost after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was poured out . The apostle Paul, who wasn’t there at the first Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection, acknowledged the importance of the feast. Once he hurried to Jerusalem for it and at least once he celebrated it at Ephesus .
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Pentecost In The Old Testament
The word Pentecost 4comes from the Greek name for a harvest festival that is also known as the Feast of Weeks.
This unique feast occurred 7 weeks after Passover , culminating with the actual feast on day 50 . Its the fourth of the spring feasts that marked the end of the barley harvest and the start of the wheat harvest . Its also called the Day of the Firstfruits, the Feast of Harvest, or in Hebrew , Shavuot .
Of the seven feasts, the Feast of Weeks is one of three that God commanded Israel to celebrate at the temple after it was established in Jerusalem and so was a pilgrimage feast.5
In Jesus day, Jews who didnt live in or near Jerusalem often had to travel long distances to keep the festival according to Gods instruction.6
The details about the Feast of Weeks are found in Leviticus 23:1521:7
You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.
Study 7 The Meaning Of Pentecost
STUDIES IN ACTS by Francis DixonStudy verses: Acts 2:1-21
In verse 12 of this section of scripture a very important question is asked: What does this mean? If we had been in Jerusalem on that day we would have asked the same question, for something amazing had happened. Jerusalem was packed with people, many of whom were there to present the first-fruits of the harvest for the year they would have come from many different places. The Lord Jesus had completed His earthly ministry, having died, risen and ascended but before going back to heaven He had given a command and a promise to His own disciples – Acts 1:4-5. In simple obedience these disciples met together to wait upon the Lord, and they did this for ten days – look up Acts 1:13-14 Acts 2:1-3. Then something very wonderful happened – Acts 2:1-3 and in the opening part of verse 4 we read of the essential thing which happened – All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. These disciples of Christ then began preaching the gospel in known languages so that people from foreign countries heard Gods message in their own native tongue – see Acts 2:4-12. But what did all this mean? What does Pentecost mean? Here are some straightforward scriptural answers:
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Peter’s Sermon At Pentecost
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know–
What Is The Day Of Pentecost Is It Significant For Us Today
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Pentecost is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks which was a prominent feast in the calendar of ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai . The Greek word Pentecost means fifty and refers to the fifty days that have elapsed since the wave offering of Passover. The Feast of Weeks celebrated the end of the grain harvest and pilgrims would come to Jerusalem from all over the world to celebrate the event.
Today, Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after Easter Sunday and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and early followers of Jesus Christ, as described in the Acts 2:131. For this reason, Pentecost is sometimes described by some Christians as the Birthday of the Church. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was prophesied in the Old Testament in Joel 2:832 and in the New Testament by Christ in His last words before His ascension into heaven .
The 12 apostles were gathered together praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit when a terrific wind came from heaven and filled the place. They saw tongues of fire that came down on each of them. After they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they received the gift of speaking in other languages enabling them to give the message of the gospel to people from various language groups.
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In His service,
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What Does Pentecost Mean In Greek
Pentecost holds an interesting distinction among Gods commanded holy days. Of all the annual observances given by God to the ancient Israelites, this is the only one that has been commonly known to Christians since the first century by its Greek namePentecost, meaning the fiftieth day .
The fiftieth day is related to the name of the festival in the Old Testamentthe Feast of Weeks and the way the date of its observance was determined. Gods instructions were to count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath and that day was to be proclaimed a holy convocation .
The Feast of Weeks was also called the Feast of Harvest in Exodus 23:16, because it was associated with firstfruitsthe early part of a harvest and the first harvest of the year in Canaan.
As Numbers 28:26 says, Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.
The Fellowship Of The Believers
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. ~ Acts 2:42-47
Read the full Bible account of Pentecost from Acts 2 in the scripture below and find related articles about the importance of Pentecost today:
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What Is Pentecost Sunday
Pentecost Sunday is the Sunday that many Catholic and Protestant congregations observe as the beginning of the New Testament Church and as the day the Holy Spirit was given. Unfortunately, they do not always do so on the biblically authorized date.
As previously noted, the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, was to be determined by countingbeginning with the day after the Sabbathfifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath .
Since the biblical Sabbath has always been and continues to be on Saturday, the 50th day after counting seven Sabbaths will always be a Sunday.
Although mainstream Christianity gets Pentecost Sunday on the right day of the week, it does not follow the biblical instruction to begin the 50-day count to Pentecost with the Sunday that falls during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Instead, mainstream Christianity begins its count from Easter. Some years these dates coincide, but many years they do not.
About the Author
David Treybig
David Treybig is a husband, father and grandfather. He and his wife, Teddi, have two grown children and seven grandchildren. He currently pastors the Austin, Texas, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He has served in the pastoral ministry for over 40 years, pastoring congregations across six states.
Pentecost Is This Sunday What The Heck Is Pentecost
From a historical perspective, Christianity didnt start with Jesus birth, his death or even his storied ascension to heaven. It started with Pentecost the day the Holy Spirit entered a room holding Jesus apostles and entered each of them, an event which as my minister uncle tells me makes the church the church.
Although Pentecost is chock full of religious significance, it is a holiday not widely celebrated. Sort of the opposite of Hanukkah, which is widely celebrated but not religiously important. Pentecost is a bigger deal in liturgical churches, which follow a formal, standardized order of events . Non-liturgical refers to churches whose services are unscripted .
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Pentecost Means That The Holy Spirit Who In Old Testament Times Came Upon Gods Servants To Empower Them Has Now Come To Live For Ever Within Every Christian
In many of His sayings, the Lord Jesus anticipated the coming of the Holy Spirit . He promised that He would come to indwell all Christians, and at Pentecost that is exactly what happened – All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit . Since that day, immediately someone becomes a Christian the Holy Spirit takes up residence this is the distinctive mark of a real Christian look up and compare Romans 8:9 1 Corinthians 6:19.
What Are Pentecostal Beliefs
Pentecostalism is a form of Christianity that emphasises the work of the Holy Spirit and the direct experience of the presence of God by the believer. Pentecostals imagine that religion must be powerfully experiential, and not something discovered merely via ritual or thinking. Pentecostalism is full of life and dynamic.
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