19:1 And it happened,
while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper
regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did
you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
So they said to him,
“We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said to them,
“Into what then were you baptized?”
So they said, “Into
John’s baptism.”
4 Then Paul said, “John
indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they
should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
5 When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid
hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and
prophesied. 7 Now the men were about twelve in all.
So to summarize the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a big deal
in the New Testament. It is so important that it is always accompanied by some
kind of supernatural event. It is so evident to those "in the know"
that they can quickly tell those who have not received the Holy Spirit.
In spite of all this, we seem to live and move in a Christian
world today where these realities/truths seem all but forgotten. The only
Christians who do seem to talk about it manifest behaviours completely foreign
to Peter, John, Paul, or any of the other followers of Jesus in the New
Testament. In short we either seem to have the wrong spirit or no spirit.
Perhaps the worst part is that we haven't really noticed
either. Let me share a quote that I believe is telling:
"The lapse of time
has wrought no change in Christ's parting promise to send the Holy Spirit as
His representative. It is not because of any restriction on the part of God
that the riches of His grace do not flow earthward to humanity. If the
fulfillment of the promise is not seen as it might be, it is because the
promise is not appreciated as it should be. If all were willing, all would be
filled with the Spirit. Wherever the need of the Holy Spirit is a matter little
thought of, there is seen spiritual drought, spiritual darkness, spiritual
declension and death. Whenever minor matters occupy the attention, the divine
power which is necessary for the growth and prosperity of the church, and which
would bring all other blessings in its train, is lacking, though offered in
infinite plenitude..." (Acts of the Apostles, pg 50)
So to review, and I truly hope you will study this out for
yourself:
1, God wants to fill us with His Holy Spirit
2, Jesus promised He would come and we would be better
off with His Spirit than if He stayed in person.
3, Jesus was baptized by the Holy Spirit immediately
following His water baptism evidenced by a dove like presence and a voice from
Heaven.
4, The disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost with tongues of fire on each head and a mighty wind. The preaching
that followed had each person in the crowd hearing in their own language. Their
water baptism was long before.
5, Saul/Paul was baptized with the Holy Spirit at his
water baptism. The supernatural event was the healing of his blindness.
6, Cornelius and his household were filled with the
Holy Spirit by God. There was no laying on of hands and it happened before
their water baptism.
7, These believers in Ephesus received the Spirit and
spoke with tongues (languages) and prophesied after Paul rebaptized them in the
name of Jesus and laid his hands on them.
As you can see there is no pattern. There are no set rules.
The one common thread is that we need His Spirit and with that filling comes
gifts or healing as God determines we need.
We'll continue tomorrow...
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