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The Ministry of the Holy Spirit Then and Now

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Submitted By proudmolly
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"The Ministry of the Holy Spirit then and now" The Annual Jewish Barley Harvest Festival was the setting for the initial out-pouring of the Holy Spirit. It was Israel's Thanksgiving Day. What the Jews celebrated on that day help us to understand the coming of the Holy Spirit. It signaled the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant. Covenants play a big part in the history of God's relationship with the people. God's covenants are formal statements describing his commitments to us. At that particular Pentecost it was the anniversary of the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit introduced a New Covenant (new terms for relating to God). It was the start of a new way to accept God, know and live with him. Today we relate to God through his Spirit who lives in everyone who trusts Jesus. God's Spirit living in us writes God's law into our minds and hearts and guarantees God's commitments will be carried out. (Corporation, 2002) It is the fiftieth day after the Sabbath of Passover week. It is called the Feast of Weeks. The people were bewildered that day because the disciples were present and they were Galileans and not known to be a well educated. It was the morning of the tenth day after Jesus was lifted to heaven; thousands of pilgrims moved through the streets of Old Jerusalem to the temple are for worship. The prayer of approximately 120 people was interrupted by a deafening roar, as if a tornado was there. The image of wind conveyed that God was being experienced as one who refreshes the chosen people, like water in the dry land they lived in. Wind is a symbol of the Spirit (breath) of God, the source of life, and cleansing judgment (McGrath, 2008). Then balls of fire suddenly appeared, exploded, separated into individual flames, and each person seemed to be on fire. You have embellished this a bit. The image of fire represented the presence

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