19 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.”
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 in
the name of the Lord Jesus. 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.
Paul goes back to Ephesus where he had only made a brief
stop before. It is here that Apollos had
spoken boldly and so well regarding Jesus, but only knew the baptism of
John. When Paul gets here he speaks
directly regarding the Holy Spirit. There
is no mention of Aquila and Priscilla here.
It sounds as though Paul randomly walks around looking for and finding
some disciples. Then he teaches them
about Jesus and they are saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Christians in America do way too little regarding the
critical importance of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is God’s presence in our life once
someone is saved through faith. Having
an intellectual knowledge of God, the stories of the Bible, the concept of
repentance and the church will keep you just as lost as someone who has no
knowledge of God. It is crucial to be
willing to submit your will to God and ask Him to come into your heart. Without the presence of the Spirit, it is
impossible to know where or what good actually is, to discern if what a person
is saying comes from a pure heart even before their words come out, to silently
see someone and know that they also have the Spirit within them, to pray
earnestly and know without a doubt that God hears and acts on that prayer, and to
be comforted in your doubt when no one is around.
God’s presence through the Holy Spirit in our life can do
anything God can do and He is our most intimate relationship. Believing in Jesus as the Son of the only one
true Living God as the compensation for all of our sins is incomplete without
the rushing of the Holy Spirit into our hearts.
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