The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Acts 19:1-7,
“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 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.’ So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’ ‘John's baptism,’ they replied.” 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.’ On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.”
This is a fascinating account of something Paul encountered in Ephesus. These “disciples”, it turns out, were not acquainted with the Holy Spirit and had to be told about the need to put their faith in Jesus Christ. They had experienced John the Baptist’s ministry and had even been baptized into his “baptism of repentance” but they didn’t know the Lord yet, as evidenced by Paul having to introduce them to Jesus. This resulted in them experiencing their own “mini-Pentecost”.
The account reveals that Paul ascertained who needed to hear the gospel message by whether a person had received the Holy Spirit, even if they appeared religious, e.g. to be a disciple. The foundation for this approach is given throughout the New Testament. In Romans 8:9 we read, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” In Ephesians 1:13-14 he says, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.”
It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that evidences whether we belong to God. He sends his Holy Spirit to dwell within us when we become his. We become a “new creation”, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and the Holy Spirit begins to change us from the inside out, Galatians 5:16-26.
This is how we can tell who a child of God is and who is not, 1 John 3:10: has a person’s life been impacted by the Holy Spirit? To me this is one of the mystical and wonderful things about our new life in Jesus Christ! God gives us his Holy Spirit!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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