HAVE YOU RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT?
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ACTS 19:1-7
ACTS 19:1-7
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.
And finding some disciples 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.”
And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
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.”
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all.
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a denominational flag
It is not varsity and JV Christians
It is not an optional addition to the Christian life. It was never meant to be an option that some might say, I want this and others might say, “No thanks. That is not for me.” The Holy Spirit was never an option.
Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit required to make it to heaven? The only thing required to make it to heaven is to repent of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be born again.
The Bible tells us that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. You cannot receive righteousness without the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life. Righteousness is a gift given to you at the moment you repent and make Jesus the Lord of your life. It is the Holy Spirit who must draw you to Christ. The Bible says no one can come unless the Holy Spirit draws them. When you walk down the aisle or kneel and begin to pray a prayer of repentance, the Holy Spirit is there beside you holding your hand. At that very moment, you become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven and righteousness is given to you as a gift from the Father.
The Holy Spirit in your life is the source of joy and peace. If your life is void of peace and joy, you need to connect back to the source. It is not that He is not in you, it is that you have allowed yourself to become disconnected from His voice. So, if the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, how could we ever think we can make it through this life without Him or consider the Holy Spirit optional in our lives?
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit has become the thing that divides most of the Church. It is how entire denominations have separated from one another. The fact the enemy has used it to divide the body of Christ should tell us how important and how powerful it is. If the baptism of the Holy Spirit were nothing more than an emotional experience, Satan would not fight against it so hard.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not scary, or weird. People are weird!! It is the intended course for the Christian life and it is the source of power to live out the Christian life and to make an impact in the world around you.
Salvation is the greatest gift God ever gave a lost person. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift God ever gave the Church. Salvation is not the end of a thing, it is the beginning of what is meant to be a life lived in the Spirit that sets us apart from the world.
Holy Spirit Baptism is all about glorifying Christ. Jesus said in John 16, when the Holy Spirit comes he will not speak of his own authority but will only speak what he hears from the Father. Then he says, He will glorify Me by taking what is mine and declare it to you.
The Course
Holy Spirit Baptism was always meant to be a part of the course of the Christian life.
Acts 19:2–6 “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.” And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 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.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”
John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Why do so many today live a spirit-less life?
A. Not taught - Paul asked if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. They had not even been told there was a Holy Spirt.
John’s Baptism - Baptism of repentance
Paul preached Christ - received Christ and were baptized.
You cannot get to Pentecost without first going through Calvary. You must be born again.
Maybe you have never repented. What is different about your life now than before you were saved? Do you still talk the same, are you still sleeping with the same people that you are not married to, do you still drink the same things or smoke the same stuff, or hang out in the same places? If nothing about your life has changed, then what did you get saved from? If nothing changes, you did not repent, you just apologized.
There will be many people who stand before God who thought they were saved but hear him say, “I never knew you.” Jesus said there will be many who will say they have done mighty works in his name but never really knew Him.
Speaking in tongues will not save you. Falling out in the spirit will not save you. Casting out demons will not save you. Only the blood of Jesus applied to your life can save you. You can sit in church all your life and even serve in the church and still die and go to hell. Why? Because you never really knew Jesus. It is not about saying a prayer and living however you want to live. That is a lie.
Paul laid his hands on them and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
B. Been taught and convinced that they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.
If that is true, why do so many still live defeated, fruitless, and powerless lives even though they have been saved? They still walk around depressed, dejected, and defeated. They still battle the same things they have been battling for years.
3 Baptisms - born again, baptized by the Spirit into the family of God, a new creation. Disciples baptize other disciples in water, old self was buried and raised up in the new. Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit, empowered to live a new life led by the Spirit.
C. Don’t believe they are good enough
The gifts of God are not dependent upon you being good enough or doing enough. They are not earned.
If you cannot earn salvation, how could we ever think we could earn the gift of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
Have you asked Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit?
If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
He does not say you have to work or it or you can earn it. He does not say you have to beg for it. He says all you have to do is ask.
If you haven’t asked Him, ask yourself why?
D. Are you Getting in your own way?
Trying to figure it out or understand it?
Worried about what what you will do? Dance, speak in tongues, fall out, shout? He will never force you to do anything. The ones from the Upper Room spoke in tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them the utterance, that just means he gave them the ability, not he forced them to.
Stop worrying about what you will look like and start thinking about how you will live.
Have you fully surrendered to Christ? Or are you holding back part of yourself?
If your tongue is full of slander, malice, deceit, anger, and gossip, you are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
Are you hungry for more or are you satisfied and comfortable?
They that hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled. Some of us are just too comfortable where we are at and have no desire to move deeper into our relationship with God. If we get closer to Jesus, He might want to change some things about us that we do not want to let go of.
Jesus wants all of you, not just the parts you want to give Him!!
2. The Source
Do I need the Holy Ghost to get to heaven?
Why would you want to go through the trials and troubles of this life without him??
The Holy Ghost is the source of a life lived to the fullness of God’s design for your life. He is the source of spiritual power in your life
There are times when I don’t have the answer. There are times when I do not know what to do in a certain situation. There are times when I don’t even know how to pray or what to pray.
Romans 8, Paul tells us that when we do not know what to pray or how to pray, we pray in the Spirit. The Spirit knows the mind of God. The Bible says the Spirit searches the deep things of God. Paul says we do not know how to pray so we pray in the Spirit who knows all things. Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Speaking and praying in tongues is not just to look spiritual. It is not something weird or strange or scary. Praying in the Spirit is the secret to accessing the mind of God. It is the source of the power that keeps you from losing your mind when all hell breaks loose in your life and you do not know what to do or how to even live through it.
You can go into your prayer closet, get your mind on Jesus and begin to allow the Holy Spirit to pray through you. Then when you get up and come out, you can say it just like Paul says it, “Now I know!!!! I did not know when I went in but coming out, now I know that all things work together for my good according to His purpose.”
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the source of power to live an emboldened life as a witness to Christ.
Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Jesus said you are witnesses to all that has happened and all I have taught. Now go wait until you are endued with power. Why did they need power and why do we need power?
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The word witness means a person in a courtroom who testifies of all they have seen, heard, and experienced. Jesus said, “You will receive power to be able to testify of all you have seen, heard, and experienced of ME.”
The purpose of the power of Pentecost is not to make you dance, shout, fall out or even speak in tongues. I am thankful he moves in those ways but they not the purpose.
He told them the power would help them spread the gospel to the entire world. Within a few short years, these men and women, without a microphone, the internet, a marketing strategy, or a social media platform, would turn the entire known world upside down with the power of the gospel.
Only 50 days earlier, the disciples were all hiding in fear for their lives while Jesus hung on a cross and stayed hidden until He arose and revealed himself to them. He walked with them for 40 days then told them He was leaving and for them to go wait until they received power.
They did not preach a sermon, they did not lay hands on one sick person, they did not cast out devils. They waited and prayed and prayed and waited until something happened.
And the Bible says while they were praying, Suddenly there came a sound like a mighty rushing wind that filled the whole house.
We give up praying and waiting too soon. Most of us would have missed the coming of the Holy Spirit because we could not wait 10 days for God to send the answer to our prayers. We think God should operate on our timeline instead of us operating on his. But if you will hold fast and keep waiting and praying, you will experience your suddenly.
Because they were willing to wait and pray, they were filled with power from on High.
They walked out, and began speaking in other tongues and preaching the gospel. It was not a pretty, polished, and dignified display. The people standing around said, “They must be drunk.” If they thought they were all drunk, they must have been acting in a way that seemed foolish to all those around. We are too afraid of what people might think! We are worried we might wrinkle our suits or mess up the knees of our jeans, or our hair or makeup might get messed up. That is one reason I feel like we need to let some of that stuff go. We are too dignified to let God have his way!
3. Pentecost is for today
It is for you!!!!
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Holy Spirit in you means you have direct access to the throne of God. You don’t need to call the pastor or deacon when your child is sick or someone needs salvation. You can lay hands on your sick child and speak healing and you can pray with someone needing salvation.
Closing
Are you comfortable and satisfied or do you want more?
Fix your eyes on Jesus
Pray that the Father would fill you with the Holy Spirit in Jesus name
Open your mouth and allow the heavenly prayer language to flow out of you
