A Personal Appeal and a Personal Response (Acts 2:14-41)

What occurred at Pentecost and continues to this day was and is Jesus baptizing people in the Holy Spirit, so that they might receive the necessary power for witness and mission in our community, city, nation and world, and to live genuinely Christian from now till the end of the last days.

Inasmuch we are to be watchful, guarded, informed and prepared in these last days we can have absolute confidence that in the midst of great stress, global trauma, natural disaster, persecution, and yes moral decline, Pentecost was this great event, but the Holy Spirit will be poured out again and again on the faithful, mission-oriented church of Christ, until every people and tribe and tongue has seen the light of the gospel.

The Bible gives a pretty clear picture of the sorts of things we can expect to see in these last days. The love of many will grow cold; there will be, and is unbelief; a greying of biblical truth, a forsaking of faith, fellowship and focus on Jesus. There is no more vital and important thing than for you to keep your eyes on Jesus! What, shall we do?

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Peter did not hesitate to bring about conviction of personal sin, because dealing with sin through repentance and water baptism is the key to receiving the Holy Spirit, a promise for all. There was no skirting over the fact of sin in the lives of the hearers and being confronted with its consequences.

Truth, for the world, is relative to whatever a person wants the truth to be. Truth, for the world, has no absolutes. Black and white truths are simply too stark in a world that wants moral freedoms. But arguably at the same time, our world still believes in rights and wrongs and wants morality.

Even in religious terms, people want the love, the empathy and the hung-out-with-sinners part of Jesus, but not the “go now and leave your life of sin” Jesus or the didn’t come to bring peace but a sword, Jesus. God is not weak and morally wishy-washy, he is holy!!

What does it mean to “receive the gift of the Spirit”? What did Peter mean by the gift of the Spirit? Who do we receive at conversion? The Spirit indwelling us? Baptism in the Holy Spirit? Filling with the Spirit? Being empowered by the Spirit? I don’t think we need to choose any of these, rather all of these. Because it’s all of these the Holy Spirit wants to do.

What shall we do? What are we prepared to do, to see God move how he wants and wills to? Are we prepared to be “cut to the heart”, and responsive to his word & what Christ has done for us? I can only encourage you to be prayerful. Study this for yourself to be certain. Don’t be afraid of what is genuinely of God.