Setting the Stage for Pentecost

We’re beginning a new series - Meeting the Holy Spirit. We’ll be going through sections in the book of Acts and looking to see what we discover about the Holy Spirit - who is He, what does He do, and what difference does He make for us as Christians? It is my pleasure and privilege to start us off in this series this week, and we’ll be starting by exploring the beginning of the book, verses 1-8 of the very first chapter. If you’ll turn with me to that passage, let’s read together.

Acts 1:1–8 NASB95

1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. 4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Wait for the promise - the baptism of the Holy Spirit

The promise is power - that power will help them witness.