Acts 1:1–5 

My Dear Theophilus, I have already given you an account of all the things that Jesus began to do and to teach, right up to the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had, through the Holy Spirit, given his instructions to the apostles whom he had chosen. In the days that followed his sufferings, he also showed himself living to them by many proofs, for he was seen by them on various occasions throughout a period of forty days; and he spoke to them about the kingdom of God. While he was staying with them, he told them not to go away from Jerusalem but to wait for the Father’s promise, ‘which’, he said, ‘I told you about; for I told you that John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit before many days have passed’. 

Without Pentecost the Christian Church could not have become the foundation of the hopes and promises of God spoken to us by His son Jesus Christ. Pentecost is important to Christians because it is at the very heart of of the God given gift that sustains and strengthens the faith and leads us to our salvation. Pentecost comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. The festival of Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem. In the Christian tradition, this event represents the birth of the early church. 

Pentecost represented the beginning of a new age where the Holy Spirit made salvation available to the Gentiles. Those Jews that had accepted the resurrection as that of the Son of God, Jesus Christ but still held that conforming to Jewish Law was still necessary. Pentecost changed that. It was the beginning of a new age where the Holy Spirit made salvation available to the Gentiles. The symbols of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost are Flames, wind, the breath of God and a Dove. There are seven other things that are associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit. They are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. The Holy Spirit’s function is vital in both resisting the temptation to sin and also the conviction of sin, once it has been committed.

 It is Christian teaching that Christ physically departed from Earth by rising into Heaven, in the presence of eleven of his apostles. According to the New Testament narrative, the Ascension occurred forty days after the resurrection. It was thenTen days from the Ascension to Pentecost. During those forty days prior to His ascension Jesus appeared to the Apostles and shared the”Good News” that He died on the Cross and as promised risen, all to save us from sin. 

Acts which many consider to be the second chapter of his book Luke one of the four gospels, which told the story of Jesus’ early life now writes in Acts the second volume of a story without and end. In book of Acts and the day of Pentecost we are assured that the immortality and power of Jesus goes on in his church… It is through those events on that day of Pentecost when the Church was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the tasks Jesus commanded us to do, that Christianity has endured and has been infused with the brave heart of faith. The Comforter that they waited on has given the disciples and those in that room the courage and strength needed…‘And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20). Keep the Faith… Pentecost … The beginning that has no end.

Life is Good

jk