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Baptism in the Holy Spirit (Pentecost Sunday)

God gave the Holy Spirit so every believer in Christ may be filled with the Spirit.

Pentecost Sunday serves as a reminder and celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the early church, told in Acts 2. John the Baptist had preached that the Messiah would baptize people “with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11). Jesus had much to say to the twelve about the coming Holy Spirit on the evening before his crucifixion (John 14-16), telling them that the Holy Spirit would be sent to them by God the Father (John 14:16,26). After His resurrection, Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22), in effect commanding them to receive the gift of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).

Golden Text: Acts 2:39 “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

1. Baptism In The Spirit Foretold

A. The Command to Wait

1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

**Here we find Jesus meeting with his disciples after his resurrection and before his ascension. This is another example of Christ showing his disciples how important it was that they be baptized with the Holy Ghost. In Luke 24 Christ is teaching them of his death, burial and resurrection. He tells them that they should be witnesses of repentance and remission of sins to all nations beginning at Jerusalem, but then he tells them before they go and share that message to tarry in Jerusalem until they be endued with power from on high.

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

B. The Promised Empowerment

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

** A risen Christ is standing in front of His disciples and has just told them that the promise of the Holy Ghost, that they have heard so much about, is coming to them soon and their first question was, “Does this mean Israel is going to be Supreme over the kingdoms of the world again?” Isn’t that just like us at times? Christ begins to do a work in our lives that we feel like we have waited for some time for and our mind automatically goes to, “Finally, I got what I want” rather than what the Lord is doing in our lives. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not for OUR glory.

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

** They were looking for political change and governmental change, but Jesus wanted them to experience PERSONAL change. He is telling them not to worry about the things that are in the Fathers control, but to focus on the Promise that is coming on to each of them individually. Then, we see the purpose of the promise. The Holy Ghost did not come for just one place, one person, one church, but He came to reach and restore even the uttermost (greatest or most extreme) part of the earth.

2. Baptism In The Spirit Received

A. Filled With The Spirit

2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

**I know this has been preached over and over….. but this is a huge key in allowing the Holy Ghost to move across a body of people. To be in one accord means to do something together or at the same time because you agree about what should be done. If we could have that mind set on a consistent basis my what power we could experience.

2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

**Suddenly- quickly and unexpectedly. What if they would have given up on day 119? You may not realize how close you are to receiving your promise. These disciples had made up in their mind that they have been given a promise and that they were not giving up until they received that promise. Could you imagine the reaction when they began to hear that sound from Heaven? Then, not only could they hear it but they begin to feel it as it filled the house where they were.

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

**Now, they have heard it, they have felt it and now they can see it as appeared a flame of fire that sat upon each of them. Again, this is why it was important that they where all with one accord. What if one of these disciples would have lost hope and decided to throw in the towel? Would just that one person have missed out or would it have hindered the Spirit from coming to each of them?
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

**This is why we teach and believe that the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost is speaking in other tongues. After this initial evidence their should be an obvious change in their life as they continue to live a spirit filled life.

B. The Crowds Amazement

5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?

*In Jesus’ time, devout Jewish men from nations throughout the known world traveled to Jerusalem to attend the Passover, and many of them stayed until the Feast of Pentecost. Word began to spread about what had happened in the upper room. These Galileans were now speaking the languages of these devout men. Vs. 11 says, “Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God”. The fact that devout Jews from various nations heard the disciples of Jesus speaking the languages of their native lands, was not a miracle of hearing on their part, but rather a miracle of speaking by Jesus’ disciples.
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

**God is not the author of confusion! What He does will always be decent and in order!

12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

**Just because we have been Baptized with the Holy Ghost does not mean we will always see the immediate impact of what the Spirit has done, or that we are above persecution. Do not grow weary when you do not see the harvest immediately, but be confident that the Spirit that is within you will produce good seed.

3. Spirit Baptism For All Believers

A. Peter Proclaims

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

**Peter is the perfect example of the immediate change you will see in your own life and in others after the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Of course this was the person that had not long before denied Christ 3 times, and he is now standing before devout men and demanding their attention. Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

**Peter is now beginning the great commission that Christ had given them in Luke 24. They had tarried, they have been endued with power, and now Peter begins to deliver the message that Christ had told them to deliver to the world.

B. People Respond
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

**Now is when they begin to see the impact. What if they would have turned away when the first reaction was, “These men are drunk with whine”. What if they would have let their feelings get in the way and thought, these people will never understand, and left the crowd without standing with boldness and presenting the gospel message.
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

**We must not forget that this message is not for only a select few. The Baptism of the Spirit is for every believer, and it is our job to make believers of every man.

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