Pentecost Sunday

What is Pentecost?  This is a very special time in the Bible when the disciples and other Christians received the Holy Spirit.  Before I explain why and how this happened there is a few things you need to know first.

Pentecost occurred 50 days after Easter Sunday or 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead.  Jesus had already gone back to Heaven so the disciples and new believers of Jesus were waiting to receive the Holy Spirit because that’s what Jesus told them would happen.  Plus, since Jesus wasn’t with them anymore the Holy Spirit would help bring them closer to God.

Even more, he told them much earlier that the counsellor (or Holy Spirit) would be sent by the Father and that He would teach them all things and remind them of everything he said to them (John14:26).

So, the Holy Spirit is really helpful to us! When we’re ready to try to live a life pleasing to God the Holy Spirit becomes part of us so we have a part of God with us all the time.

On the day of Pentecost  the disciples and other Christians had come together to thank God and suddenly a sound like the blowing of a strong wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. I have a feeling the windows weren’t open either!

Next they saw tongues of fire that separated and came to rest of each of them. When the tongues of fire came they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in different languages.

It says that there were people of many different nationalities staying in Jerusalem from all over and many of them speaking different languages.  These people ran over to see what all the noise was about and were surprised to hear their own languages spoken throughout this group. The Bible even lists up to16 different places where people were from and all of them could hear their language spoken!

Things must have sounded crazy!  Imagine all these people speaking many different languages at the same time and shouting out praises to God excited that something amazing from God had just happened to them.

Nowadays the Holy Spirit actually helps us in many ways. He comforts, teaches, helps us grow in our relationship with God and gives us strength to get rid of the bad habits in our lives.  He also gives us power and helps us know when we’ve done something wrong.  Of course, we need to want to grow, learn and change to be more like God for the Holy Spirit to really work with us. In the YouTube clip below you can watch what happened to the Apostles when God sent the Holy Spirit.

First listen to a song which tells us all about how the Apostles were waiting for the Holy spirit

Then listen to the YouTube clip about what happened at Pentecost

Here’s a colouring sheet for you to colour in and some activities