Receiving the Gift
Acts 19:1-7
Intro: We like to talk about gifts around Christmas time. We think about what we will give to those special people in our lives, and sometimes we might even think about what someone is getting for us. As followers of Jesus, we remember that God sent Jesus as the greatest gift He had. And everyone who calls on God in faith receives the gift of God – forgiveness and eternal life with Him.
-Today we’re going to talk about receiving another of God’s gifts. This is a gift that will change us so that we can change our world. We cannot be effective world-changers, let alone family-changers, neighborhood-changers, or community-changers without this gift.
-Sometimes God takes us through situations that are uncomfortable for us. He does this, not because He is mad at us or wants to harm us, but because He wants to prepare us to do what He has called us to do. We may not always understand what God is doing, and we may not even like it. This clip from Evan Almighty (kind of a modern day Noah) helps illustrate this. [Play Session 4]
-God may take us on a journey over the next several weeks and months that doesn’t make a lot of sense to us. In fact we may not even like it. However, if we are ever going to make a difference for Him, we will need to do things His way.
Prop: The gift of the Holy Spirit is available for all who will receive Him.
Int. Sentence: How do we receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives?
TS: Let’s look at 3
I. God’s Gift Is Received by Believing on Jesus (Acts 19:1-2)
1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
-Why would Paul ask a question like this? He had met these disciples (learners) who apparently loved God and believed in Him. Since they had been baptized with John’s baptism, they had repented of their sins, and were most likely living in obedience to the Old Testament Scriptures. But if they knew anything about Jesus, it apparently wasn’t enough to bring about the transformation that comes with calling on Him and being totally forgiven based on what He did on the cross.
-Devout Jews, and even Gentile God-fearers, had a sense that a new age was coming which would begin when God’s Messiah (anointed & chosen One) was revealed. This new age would also be marked by the coming of the Holy Spirit. How did they know this? The prophet Joel was one source: Joel 2:28-29 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
-So, Paul was asking these disciples if they had received the Holy Spirit who had been promised a few hundred years earlier.
-Their response is a little bit confusing. The way it reads makes us think that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit: “We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." However, if they were disciples who had studied the Old Testament Scriptures, they would have come across several references to the Holy Spirit:
Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Psalm 51:11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Exodus 31:2-3 "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts--
Numbers 11:25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again.
Isaiah 11:1-2 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD—
Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
-There are several more references to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. So, I do not believe that these disciples were saying, “We have not heard if there is such a thing as a Holy Spirit.” Rather, as the Western text reads, they were saying in essence, “We have not heard that the Holy Spirit is being given so we can receive Him. We didn’t know that the Holy Spirit was here for us to receive.” By implication they may have been saying, “We have not heard that the Messiah has come” since the giving of the Holy Spirit was supposed to be a sign that Messiah had come. That is why Paul proceeded to tell them that John’s baptism pointed ahead to Jesus the Messiah. As disciples of John, they needed to listen to the rest of his message. John said, “I must decrease, but He must increase.” He also said that there was one mightier than himself who was coming after him, and He would baptize people in the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at one of the main elements of John’s message in vv. 3-4.
II. God’s Gift Is Received by Repenting of our Sins (Acts 19:3-5)
3 So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John’s baptism," they replied. 4 Paul said, "John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
-A sense of repentance may actually come before believing on Jesus, as it probably did for these disciples. In fact, it is the Holy Spirit who brings us to the point of repentance. The apostle John wrote about this: John 16:7-8 “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.”
-There are 3 distinct ways in which the Holy Spirit works in our lives. 1. He is with us before we ever call on the Lord. He convicts us of sin and draws us to Christ. In John 14:17 Jesus told His disciples, “The HS lives with you and will be in you.” So, the Holy Spirit starts working on us before it ever crosses our mind to call on Jesus and ask Him to forgive us. He brings us to a point of repentance. 2. The Holy Spirit lives in us. When we call on the Lord and repent of our sins, God forgives us, and the Holy Spirit moves in. Again, in John 14:17 Jesus told His disciples, “The HS lives with you and will be in you.” After our sins are forgiven and our hearts are made right before God, the Holy Spirit makes His home in us – in our heart – in our spirit. 3. The Holy Spirit comes on us. This will be covered more in our next main point, but it involves God giving us power to do what He wants us to do.
-In Luke 3:16-17 “John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
-So, John’s message, in a nutshell, was repent. Why? Because someone greater than him, Jesus the Messiah, was coming. Why did this call for repentance? Because Jesus was bringing 2 distinct kinds of baptisms: 1. Baptism in the HS, and 2. Baptism in fire. These 2 baptisms provided both a positive and a negative motivation. If you wanted to be included in the baptism in the HS, you needed to repent and prepare your heart for God to baptize you. However, if you didn’t repent and turn to God, the baptism in fire was the only baptism you would know.
-I know we Pentecostals like to talk about the fire, but in this context, the fire is something you don’t want. It is judgment. For those who reject Jesus as the Son of God who forgives our sins, there is nothing left but a baptism in fire – judgment. However, those who repent and call on the Lord will be forgiven. The HS will come and live in them, and then can come on them when they are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
-So, as we’ve discussed, there are different levels or measures of the HS in our lives. We can call on Jesus, and be water baptized in His name, and the HS will come into our hearts and lives. He will begin to change us from the inside out. But let’s spend just a few more minutes talking about the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
III. God’s Gift Is Received by Open and Willing People (Acts 19:6)
6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
-As we just explained, the Holy Spirit had been with these men in the past, revealing God to them and convicting them of sin, righteousness, and judgment. They feared God and had repented of their sins. After Paul came and told them about Jesus, they believed on Him and were baptized in the name of Jesus. At that point, the Holy Spirit came into their hearts and lives, and they were changed and made holy. However, there was still more to come. That is why Paul placed his hands on them.
-Now, what’s up with putting your hands on people when you pray for them? In the Old Testament fathers would place their hands upon the heads of their sons to bestow a blessing. That appears to be what is going on here. There are some instances where people were filled with the Holy Spirit even when nobody had laid hands on them, so it is not a necessary formula. It is just a point of contact, and maybe a good picture of passing on a blessing to someone else.
-Regardless, Paul placed his hands on these men, and the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There was more life, more power, more blessing available to them than they had previously dreamed of.
-Folks, we all need more of the HS, but we need to let Him say, “When!” We might be comfortable with just a little bit – just enough to get by. However, God wants to fill us with His Spirit! How full is full? Is ½ a glass full? Is ¾ a glass full? No! All the way is full! God wants to fill us so full of His Spirit that we are overflowing, and spilling on every-body around us. And He will do that if we are open and willing to receive all that He wants to give us. Receiving is not about having. Receiving is really about giving. If we are to have something to give, we must receive it in full from the Lord.
Conclusion: I know we keep coming back to this theme of the baptism in the HS, but I cannot apologize for revisiting something that God wants to do in us that will help us reach our world! If we settle for only part of what God wants to do in us, we will only be partially effective in carrying out His will. This word is not given to offend anyone, but it is meant to unsettle us a little. Perhaps God will use these words to show us how much we need His HS. And if we sense how much we need the HS, perhaps we will begin seeking God until He fulfills His promise and baptizes us with His HS. And when that happens, we will be better equipped to reach our world.
-The first step is to repent and believe on Jesus. That opens the door for the HS to come in. The next step is to ask God to baptize us completely in His HS, and not give up until He does. After He fills us, we need to keep on being filled, daily asking God for His power and presence to lead us to people who need to hear about Him.
-Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? Are you ready to say YES to God’s gift of the Holy Spirit? Are you willing to let the Lord say, “When?” If you are, and if you want someone to pray with you, please come to the front after we close in prayer. God wants to give you what you need today.
