Introduction
In this Pentecost message, Daniel Pottier goes back to the agricultural roots of this feast: the Feast of Harvest, the Feast of Firstfruits, instituted by Moses and celebrated fifty days after Passover. Starting from Acts 2, he opens up three principles that run through Acts, Genesis, Galatians, Ephesians, and the Psalms: God works in the unseen, he creates divine appointments, and he sends a Holy Spirit who changes everything under his influence. The thread running through the sermon fits in one sentence: what you sow matters.
Outline of the Message
1. God Works in the Unseen
- Since creation, Genesis 8:22 lays down a principle: while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest shall not cease. There's a time to sow, a time when the work is invisible, and a time to reap.
- A seed buried in the ground isn't dead, it's alive and working beneath the surface. Just because you can't see anything doesn't mean nothing is happening.
- Picture the Chinese bamboo: five to seven years of watering an empty patch of ground, while the roots dig deep and spread wide, then in just a few weeks the bamboo shoots up several meters and a whole forest appears.
- God's "suddenlies" (like the sudden sound from heaven in Acts 2) are always the continuation of a long, unseen work. God never acts in a rush: he works through seasons and spiritual cycles.
- Galatians 6:9: let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap. Keep praying, keep believing, keep your integrity even when every outward sign says there's no hope left.
- The Holy Spirit doesn't just produce moments of fire: he also produces men and women who refuse to give up before the harvest arrives.
2. God Creates Divine Appointments
- Acts 2:1: "when the day of Pentecost had fully come." That phrase "fully come" tells us God had already prepared a day, a context, a season, a spiritual convergence, and people mature enough to live through the event and everything that followed Pentecost.
- God never improvises and never works on a whim. He works through appointments and successive convergences that culminate in a "suddenly."
- Some prayers aren't being refused (they need time to ripen. Some projects aren't cancelled), they're waiting for a spiritual convergence.
- Some responsibilities aren't entrusted to you because your character isn't ready yet; some blessings are waiting on an inner transformation first.
- Fruit pulled from the ground too early is unripe and unfit to eat. A responsibility accepted too soon becomes too heavy to carry, because the fruit isn't ripe yet.
3. An Influence That Changes Everything
- "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit": being filled with the Holy Spirit isn't so much about you having more of the Holy Spirit, but about the Holy Spirit having more of you.
- Ephesians 5:18: "Don't be drunken with wine... but be filled with the Spirit." The parallel is about influence: instead of being under the influence of a substance, live under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit inspires your actions, your reactions, your words, your decisions. He doesn't override the intelligence God gave you, he illuminates it.
- Picture a bag of cement: left out in the open air as loose powder, it scatters in the wind; mixed with water, it becomes a solid block. The Holy Spirit poured out on your life makes your inner being solid when the winds blow.
- As the evangelist Moody used to say: "when our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness, the Holy Spirit fills every corner of our heart."
- The Holy Spirit is a perfect gentleman: he doesn't force his way in where he isn't invited. He waits to be invited, which is why we pray, "Welcome, Holy Spirit."
Key Takeaways
- Pentecost is, first and foremost, an agricultural feast: you present God with the firstfruits, acknowledging that he is the source of everything and proclaiming by faith that the harvest is coming.
- Just because you see nothing doesn't mean nothing is happening: God is working beneath the surface, like the roots of Chinese bamboo.
- God's "suddenlies" are the outcome of long, unseen seasons and prepared convergences, never improvisations.
- Being filled with the Holy Spirit means letting him take more of you, not trying to get more of him.
- What you've sown in tears (in your family, at your job, in your studies), matters to God: there is a time for the harvest.
Personal Application
- Which cycle are you in spiritually right now: sowing, waiting beneath the surface, or reaping? What does that season call for from you?
- Is there an area where you're tempted to give up because "nothing is happening", prayer, marriage, work, studies? How does Galatians 6:9 speak to your situation this week?
- Is there a responsibility or role you might be trying to take on too soon, before the fruit is ripe?
- Where is the Holy Spirit seeking more room in you, your words, decisions, reactions, emotions? What needs to be emptied out to make room for him?
- Can you name one firstfruit, however small, to bring to God today as an act of faith that the harvest is coming?
Verses Cited
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is this feast called Pentecost?
The word comes from the Greek pente, meaning five: the feast fell fifty days after Passover. Instituted by Moses, it was an agricultural feast called the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Firstfruits: people went up to Jerusalem to present God with the first fruits of the harvest, even before the harvest itself was complete.
What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit, according to this message?
Daniel Pottier explains that being filled with the Holy Spirit isn't so much about you having more of the Holy Spirit, but about the Holy Spirit having more of you. Drawing on Ephesians 5:18, he compares it to living under an influence: instead of being under the influence of alcohol, the believer places themselves under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who inspires their actions, their words, and their decisions.
How do you keep going when you pray and see nothing happening?
The sermon points back to Galatians 6:9: let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap. A seed buried in the ground isn't dead, it's working beneath the surface. The Holy Spirit gives you the strength not to give up before the harvest comes: he produces men and women who refuse to quit.
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