{"id":3099,"date":"2009-05-31T14:02:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-31T18:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=3099"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:03:23","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:03:23","slug":"spirited-stuttering-sermon-talkback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/spirited-stuttering-sermon-talkback\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirited Stuttering Sermon Talkback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermon Talkback<\/strong>— May 31, 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spirited Stuttering<\/a>–Acts 2:1-21<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origin of Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feast of Pentecost was originally an agricultural festival marking the first harvest of the growing season. Called in Hebrew Shevout<\/em>, or \u201cweeks,\u201d it is seven weeks past Passover, or roughly the 50th<\/sup> day after Passover. Eventually the original agrarian meaning of Pentecost was replaced with a commemoration of the giving of the land of Canaan to the Israelites, and even later it became associated with the observance of the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai (Post Luke\u2019s time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrival of the Holy Spirit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holy Spirit first comes completely auditory. It is a \u201csound like the rush of a violent wind\u201d from heaven. Like the theophanic wind in 1 Kings 19:12, the Spirit comes \u201clike a sound of sheer silence\u201d or \u201clike a gentle whisper.\u201d The resistance to directly describing God or God\u2019s Spirit is a very ancient phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the sound of the Spirit has descended, there\u2019s a strange visual appearance of \u201ctongues, as of fire.\u201d The image of the \u201ctongue\u201d of fire may be connected to a roundabout association between the spoken word and swords, which in Hebrew as said to have \u201cmouths. This image of the spoken word, specifically the \u201cword of God\u201d resembling a sword, is found in Hebrews 4:12, and if there was such a connection in Luke\u2019s mind, there is also precedence for swords made elsewhere in Scripture, specifically, in Genesis 3:24. Whatever the association, these objects, which seemed like tongues of fire, come to rest on each of those present, and soon their words are radically changed into the miraculous testimony of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xenolalia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most agree that Luke is not describing the whole community experiencing glossolalia but rather, xenolalia, the speaking of various intelligible forms of foreign languages. According to scholars, xenolalia is more likely because everyone in the crowd understands that it is the \u201cmighty acts of God\u201d that are being spoken of by the Christians. It is conceivable that Luke has been influenced by Paul\u2019s critique of the glossolalia in 1 Corinthians 14:2-19 comparing their incomprehensible sounds unfavorable with the edifying words of prophecy. This means that the miracle of Pentecost was more than just miraculous speech; it was an event of more lasting significance the beginning of a mission that would cross all language barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far-Reaching<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This view is also borne out by the range of nations that are represented by the Jews present in the scene. They are from points to the far east (Elam) and far west (Rome). They are from African nations (Egypt and Libya), desert nations (Arabia), as well as island nations (Crete). Miraculous witnessing to these gathered would spread the Word of God to most of the known world at the time. In addition to the significance of this event as a beginning of the spread of the Christian gospel to the whole of the Gentile world, the gathered crowd also represents the Jewish diaspora, gathered in Jerusalem as prophecy predicted by the fire of God and the power of God\u2019s might (Isaiah 66:15-20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Ponder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you speak of the \u201cmighty works of God?\u201d When have you felt the confidence of the Holy Spirit to share God\u2019s love with others?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermon Talkback— May 31, 2009 Spirited Stuttering–Acts 2:1-21 Origin of Pentecost The feast of Pentecost was originally an agricultural festival marking the first harvest of the growing season. Called inContinue readingSpirited Stuttering Sermon Talkback<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-3099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermon-talkbacks","tag-acts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3100,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3099\/revisions\/3100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}