Bible Verse of the Day Thursday June 1st , 2023

 

Acts 1:5  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

It was only ten days later that Jesus fulfilled His promise. His faithful followers obeyed His instruction to wait in Jerusalem for the Promise of the Father "were gloriously baptized by the Spirit of God into the Body of Christ, which is the Church." John the Baptist was the first to mention the Holy Spirit baptism. Jesus repeated this promise only days before He went to the Cross of Calvary. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised is a one-time event in the life of a follower of Christ Jesus, at the heartbeat of salvation. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit happens when a poor, lost sinner receives salvation by God's grace in and through their faith in Jesus as their savior. At that very instant, the new believer is born into the family of God and receives a permanent indwelling of God's Holy Spirit and is positioned in Christ, placed into the family of God, and permanently in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit of truth.

However, the movement of the Holy Spirit happens to a believer repeatedly after regeneration, and the believer is walking in spirit and truth. God fills us with the Holy Spirit throughout our Christian walk. Peter not only received the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, but in the fourth chapter of Acts, we find him once again filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking confidently to some Jewish leaders concerning someone that Jesus had just healed. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to the 'Rulers and elders of the people... know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified but Whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed." (Acts 4:8-13).

Peter again challenged the Jewish rulers and leaders, reflecting on the crucifixion of Jesus. He boldly proclaimed that Christ Jesus rose from the dead with the power of the Holy Spirit of God. This truth cemented the messianic claims from the Apostles verified through the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul also encouraged all believers to obey God's Holy Spirit. As every day passes, we are also called to be filled with the Holy Spirit and continue in the knowledge of God, found in His Holy Word.