Pastor Bart started his message Sunday with the statement that God wants to give us gifts that only He can give. It really sticks with me. The mundane, what we eat, what we wear, where we live are temporarily important and He provides those things. We even see in the “Lord’s Prayer” that we are to ask for our daily bread. We rely on Him for those things but our Father wants to give us extraordinary gifts, gifts that this world cannot give. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is one of those gifts.
This gift is crucial to life in Christ. There is one story we read in Acts that emphasizes this. Paul and Silas meet some believers in Ephesus and my guess is they felt something was off because they ask “Did you receive the Holy Spirit?” The gift of the baptism in the Holy Spirit makes a visible change in us. With the baptism comes an empowering that transforms us. God wants us to be transformed into mighty witnesses and the gift of the Holy Spirit does just that.
I always go back to the day of Pentecost and Peter. Look at the change in Peter. Before Pentecost, he is a man so afraid of a little serving girl and others around a warming fire that he vehemently denies even knowing Jesus. After being baptized in the Holy Spirit he is transformed into the man standing in front of a huge crowd mocking the believers and preaches a powerful message of Good News that Jesus saves. God wants that transformation for each and everyone of us.
Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to people far in the future—all who have been called by the Lord our God. -Acts 2:38-39
Have questions? Pastor Bart wrote a great article for us to answer many of them.
