Brand New: Holy Spirit Baptism

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. 

At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other. But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!” 

Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy. And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below—blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.’ Acts 2:1-21 (NLT)

The Holy Spirit is more than a sound or a language. He is God! The Holy Spirit is God!

Prophets foretold it, Jesus engaged and promoted Holy Spirit Baptism, then it happened, and the disciples received and promoted Holy Spirit baptism.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. Ezekiel 36:25-27 (NLT)  

“Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike. Joel 2:28-29 (NLT)

Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32

“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” Luke 10:18-20 (NLT)

That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again, he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” John 20:22 (NLT)

So, we can grasp the Holy Spirit chooses to dwell within those who have been forgiven by God’s grace and mercy through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

 In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

So, when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” Acts 1:1-11 (NLT)

1. Philip clearly proclaimed to them the good news of the gospel (v. 5) 
2. They believed and were baptized (v. 12,16)
3. They had “accepted the word of God” (v.14), an expression synonymous with conversion (Acts 2:41, 11:1; 17:11)
4. The laying on of hands by Peter and John was for them to “receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 17), a practice the New Testament writers never associate with receiving salvation.
5. The Samaritans, after their conversion, had an observable and dramatic experience of the Spirit (v. 18).

1. Ananias addressed him as “Brother Saul,” which probably indicates a mutually fraternal relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Ananias did not call on Saul to repent and believe, though he did encourage him to be baptized (Acts 22:16). 
3. Ananias laid his hands on Saul for both healing and being filled with the Spirit. 
4. There was a period of three days between Saul’s conversion and his being filled with the Spirit.

1. He was not a Christian prior to Peter’s visit; he was a God-fearer—a Gentile who had forsaken paganism and embraced important aspects of Judaism without becoming a proselyte, that is, a full-fledged Jew. 

1. Cornelius’s household believed and were regenerated at the moment Peter spoke of Jesus as the one through whom “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (v. 43). 

1. Simultaneously, it seems, they experienced an outpouring of the Spirit like the one on the Day of Pentecost, as Peter later told the leadership of the church in Jerusalem (11:17; 15:8-9). 

1. The expressions used to describe that experience do not occur elsewhere in Acts to describe conversion: 

“the Holy Spirit fell upon” (10:44; 8:16)

“the gift of the Holy Spirit” (10:45; 11:17; cf. 8:20) 

“poured out on” (10:45) 

“baptized with the Holy Spirit” (11:16).

1. Throughout the Book of Acts, every other occurrence of the word “disciple” [mathetes], with one exception, refers to a follower of Jesus. Luke’s reason for calling these men “some disciples” is that he was not sure of the exact number “about twelve men in all” (v. 7). They were Christian believers in need of teaching; like Apollos (vs. 24-27), they needed to have “the way of God” explained “more adequately” (v. 26).

1. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit, having believed?” (a strict translation of verse 2). He sensed among them a spiritual lack but did not question the validity of their belief in Jesus. Since in the Book of Acts the clause “to receive the Holy Spirit” refers to Spirit baptism (8:15,17,19; 10:47; 2:38), Paul is asking if they have had the experience of the Holy Spirit coming upon them in a charismatic way, as did indeed happen to them subsequently (v. 6).
2. Paul’s statements and activities agree with Luke that there is a work of the Spirit for believers that is distinguishable from the Spirit’s work in salvation. This encounter at Ephesus, as well as Paul’s own experience in Acts 9:17, affirms these thoughts.

1. Every time a person experiences salvation, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit occurs.

2. Holy Spirit baptism takes place after a person is saved.

3. Holy Spirit baptism never ceased in scripture.

4. Holy Spirit baptism is for everyone: no limits.

5. Holy Spirit baptism is the impartation of Holy Spirit power through the life of a believer.

You can receive Holy Spirit baptism everywhere and all the time!