[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: Feast of Pentecost (First Fruits of God's Harvest)

Sun May 16 18:55:55 UTC 2021

From: Larry Perry [mailto:larryperry at performancepress.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of Larry Perry
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2021 12:10 PM
To: mmoore11 at kent.edu
Subject: EXT: Feast of Pentecost (First Fruits of God's Harvest)

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Letter from Larry

Sunday

May 16, 2021

Good Sunday Afternoon Everyone:

Today, May 16 is the Feast of First Fruits in Biblical times and 

in today’s times. The following is an excerpt from my new book due

out later this fall, Larry Teaches the Children, and explains this 

celebration. Hope you read and understand it.

Feast of Pentecost 

(First Fruits of God’s Harvest)

“Mizzur Perry,” said Lucas, one of the children visiting Eloise and

I one day after school. “My friend in school was talking about 

Pente.. something in the Bible. “What is Pente...something and

First Fruits?” he asked.

“Oh, your friend was probably talking about the Feast of Pentecost

or the Feast of First Fruits,” I said. Continuing, “the Feast of Pentecost 

or First Fruits is celebrated 50 days from the day Jesus was crucified 

each year.”

“Whatiszat,” asked Julie another of the children.

“Well a long time ago most of the people were farmers or sheep herders.

As farmers they planted the seeds of vegetables and fruits in the spring 

so that they would grow for the summer and fall,” I explained.

“You mean like the farmers in our country do today?” asked Lucas.

“Exactly,” I replied. “In the Bible days there were 7 Feasts or we 

would call them celebrations today.”

“Oh, you mean kinda like Christmas or Easter?” asked Julie.

“Why?” asked Michael another of the children.

“These festivals were reminders of the people of important events

in history. Kinda like a link between the past and the present,” I 

explained. “In the Bible, God told everyone to celebrate these 

Festivals.”

“Why, are they important today?” asked Michael again.

“ Some people today believe these Festivals were only meant for the 

early Biblical times and that the need for them stopped when Christ 

was crucified on the cross. Believe it or not the Bible itself clearly 

contradicts this view,” I said.

“Whatdoya mean?” asked Julie.

“Well, these festivals are called God’s Holy Days and He wants us

to celebrate them, because He wants us to know about our future. He 

tells us his great purpose for our lives and reminds us how to live them.

When we celebrate God’s festivals He explains His plan for our future.

The biblical festivals and the Holy Days within them fall during three

harvest seasons of the year…early spring harvest, the late spring 

harvest and the late summer to early fall harvest in the biblical 

countries of a long time ago,” I explained.

“Then why do we need to celebrate these today?” asked Michael.

“We need to celebrate these today to show God’s spiritual harvest of 

all of us to eternal life by Jesus Christ,” I said. Continuing I said,

“ God’s Holy Days help us to understand His master plan…the way

to truly become His people and to be with Him when we die and 

go to heaven.”

“Hey,” asked Lucas, “you said there were 7 festivals in the Bible. 

What are they?”

“Good question, “ I said, “They are Passover, Feast of the Unleavened

Bread, Pentecost that we are talking about today, Feast of Trumpets, 

Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day. 

We’ll talk about the others later, but for now let me try to explain 

Pentecost.”

“Why 7,” asked Michael. “Why not 10 or 12 or some other number?”

“Seven is a very strong biblical number meaning ‘complete,” I explained. 

“Anyway these Holy Days have meaning that build upon each other. 

Together they reveal how God works with us and guides us to be 

with Him when we die.

Let me tell you a story,” I continued. 

“This is a story about a great miracle that happened on the first Pentecost 

Festival way back in bible times. Remember Jesus was crucified and

rose from the dead, but He didn’t go straight to heaven. The Bible 

teaches is was 50 days from when He rose from the dead. During

these 50 days His disciples or students started telling people about

Jesus and all that He did and said. In this period the Bible tells us there 

were 120 believers that His disciples had taught and who believed in 

Jesus. But on this 50th day Jesus wanted to pour out His Holy Spirit 

to these new believers before He went to be with His father in Heaven. 

So these new believers from all over the biblical world came together

in one place, even though many spoke different languages and could

not understand each other, they joined together in celebration of 

Jesus. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing 

mighty wind and it filled the whole house where the 120 were sitting.

They were filled with God’s Holy Spirit and began to speak with 

other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them that ability. The interesting

thing was that the people who were speaking in different languages 

were gathered together hearing and understanding the speech of the 

disciples. This demonstrated the presence of the Holy Spirit.

At first the people who saw this miracle were astonished and some 

thought the statements made by the disciples as being drunk. Then one

of the disciples named Peter, now filled with the Holy Spirit, explained

the event to the crowd as a fulfillment of the prophet Joel’s prophecy,

when he said, ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, 

that I will pour out My Spirit on all.’

God used these miracles and Peter’s preaching to add 3,000 more 

people to His Church in one day! These people were converts and 

were all baptized and received the Holy Spirit! The day of Feast of

Pentecost is an annual reminder that God poured out His Holy Spirit

to establish His Church, the group of believers who are led by His 

Spirit.”

“Whoa,” said Lucas. “What is the Holy Spirit?”

“The Holy Spirit is how God talks to us or His power if you will. Think

of the wind. Can you see it? No. Can you taste it? No. But you can feel

it, right? That is how God talks with us, through the Holy Spirit. We can’t

see it, we can’t taste it, but when we read the Bible or learn from a 

religious leader we can feel it. So it is one way that God guides us,” 

I answered.

“Remember that God’s way of thinking makes peace, happiness and 

concern for others. Jesus once complimented a religious scholar who 

correctly quoted the basis of God’s law: ‘You shall love the Lord your 

God with all your heart, and with all your soul,, with all your strength 

and with all your mind’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ The man 

quoted from two books in the Old Testament, Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

Jesus confirmed in the New Testament book of Matthew that the Old

Testament scriptures are based on these two great principles of love. 

Because after Jesus’ resurrection, God lived in the Church, its members 

could express genuine love for one another. Jesus said, ‘ A new 

commandment I give you…that you love one another as I have loved 

you…’ . By this all will know that you are My disciples, ‘if you have love 

for one another.’” 

“So what does all this mean the Festival of First Fruits or Pente…what 

did you call it?” asked Lucas.

“Well remember that Pentecost or First Fruits are the first farm products

to mature and open. Throughout the Bible, God uses stories of the harvest---

particularly on First Fruits or Pentecost to give examples of His plan 

to get us to heaven. This spring harvest of wheat and barley was the

first fruits of the yearly agricultural cycle. One of the first harvest lessons

of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ ‘is risen from the dead, and 

has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ Pentecost 

serves as an annual reminder that God still works miracles, granting His

Holy Spirit to those called to be the first fruit of His spiritual harvest, 

giving them the power to carry out His work in this world. In this world

we are simply at the beginning of the harvest for the Kingdom of God.” 

“So-o-o-o-o what you are saying is that God wants us to love each other 

as we love Him, and that He talks to us through the Holy Spirit and we

celebrate that on First Fruits or Pentecost to remind us of all that.” 

said Julie.

“ I think you’ve got it,” I said, “now lets get some milk and cookies 

Eloise has made for us.” 

*****

May God Bless and keep you and yours!!!

Larry

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