[Continued from article 1]

Now let’s look at verse 17 in the Amplified.

• John 14:17 AMPC

17 “The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you”

Notice that he is the Spirit of Truth and the world can’t receive the Spirit of Truth because they are not born again. Only born again believers can receive this Spirit of Truth. The world can receive Jesus. Once you have received Jesus, you have received life. Then you can receive all that Jesus has provided for you. The first thing he provided was life – eternal. After we receive Jesus, we become a member of the family of God, and we are a child of God. Then we can receive all that God has provided for us in Christ Jesus. Every promise in him is YES. Jesus promised when he left, he would send the promise of his Father which is the Holy Spirit. I am conscious of the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit – Are You? He is in you but the evidence that one has received the Holy Spirit is stated in Acts chapter 2. Note that in the bible there is no record of anything like this happening until the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came.

• Acts 2:1-4 KJV

1 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”

2 “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”

3 “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”

4 “And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Some would like to say that the Holy Spirit just fell on the 12 (disciples). It’s a strange thing to me that the Holy Spirit just fell on the 12 when there was 120 people in there. I once said to someone many years ago – “It’s a strange thing if the house gets full of smoke and its 120 people in the house and only 12 of them get affected by it”. The Holy Ghost came and all 120 of them got filled with the Holy Spirit.

A sound came from heaven like a wind. It wasn’t the wind but a sound. They could hear it. It filled ALL the house. That means the house was filled with this sound. The house was filled with his presence. The next thing it says “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,”. It moved them like as fire would move them. Have you ever been around fire? You get pretty wild when fire starts burning. You will move.

Jesus promised he would send him( Holy Spirit) and on the day of Pentecost he came. He sat upon EACH of them. Lets see what happened when he sat upon each of them. We will look in the Amplified.

• Acts 2:3-4 AMPC

3 “And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them.”

4 “And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words].”

Now here is where some people receiving the Holy Spirit have a problem because they think the Holy Spirit is going to do the speaking. No, because if you look at that closely they did the speaking. The other people at Pentecost HEARD them. It wasn’t the Holy Ghost speaking; they heard them speaking in different languages. You just have to speak and it will come out of your spirit when you get filled with the Holy Ghost.

We are going to read further in this particular chapter because I want it to be clear in your heart and mind what happened on the day of Pentecost. Notice there were different people there from different places that had come to Pentecost. We will start at verse 14.

• Acts 2:14-15 KJV

14 “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:”

15 “For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.”

The people there thought they had gotten some new wine and gotten drunk and that they were just out of control. Peter said, they are not drunk as you suppose. He never said they wasn’t drunk; he just said they are not drunk on what you think they are drunk on. Now look what the prophet Joel had prophicied.

• Acts 2:16-17 KJV

16 “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel:”

17 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:”

It says he will pour out his spirit upon all flesh. It doesn’t matter whether you are light flesh, not-so light flesh, dark flesh, or in-between. If you are a human being and you receive Jesus, God says this spirit is for you. Jesus said I’m Sending you another comforter; I’m sending you a friend. He will dwell with you forever.

• Acts 2:18-21 KJV

18 “And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:”

19 “And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:”

20 “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and noble day of the Lord come:”

21 “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

When the presence of God comes in like a cloud, you can see in the realm of the Spirit. When God’s presence is known, the Holy Spirit has been given to you and me that receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be a strong witness of the Resurrection of Jesus, so men can be saved. You have the ability to do it, and the power is manifested because we have an advesary. Why is it that men are not being born again? Something has a hold of them, and unless we tell them and take the Name of Jesus- the Word of God – unless we interceed for them, they will never know the truth. Satan will hold them in bondage. This is what it is all about. First of all he is here to help you to live like God called you to live. Then help you to be a strong witness. Didn’t he say “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:” Power means ability. He helps you to pray in a way where your mind doesn’t understand how to pray about that istuation but the Holy Spirit does. He gives you the ability – he infuses you – he empowers you – he enables you- because he is your Comforter. He is your Conselor. He is your Helper. He is your Strengthener. He is your Standby. He is your Advocate. He is your Intercessor. What is he doing? He is doing whatever you need to help you do what you have been called to do.

Peter preached this to them in verse 37

• Acts 2: 37-38 KJV

37 “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Here is what the apostles did. The Holy Spirit came, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke with tongues. If we read the whole chapter we will find out that 3,00 people got born again. Throughout the whole book of Acts they followed this same pattern.

• Acts 2:39 KJV

39 ” For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

Has He called every man? Timothy 2:4 tells us that it is God’s will that every man be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth. That means he called you. If you answer that call the Holy Ghost is for you. This promise is for you and every born again believer. You have all kinds of stuff going on and this is why the body (the church) needs to know this dear friend – this mighty power of God. The Spirit of God who Jesus promised to send to the church. This dispensation that he will empower and enable us to do all that God has called us to do.

If you don’t think there is a mean world out there, I don’t know where you have been. There is a dark world out there filled with cruelty, evil, destruction, and violence seeking to destroy you. To hold you and keep you from the truth. This loving God has given you, me, and all that come to him everything we need. If it pertains to life and godliness, He has given it. The Holy Spirit is our friend and there is nowhere I go that He is not with me. Not only is he with me, he is in me. Not only is he in me, he is there to help me. I have to be willing to yeild, listen to him, and let him guide me. He is in me to help others – to pray for them because the bible tells us to pray.

Now listen to what it says in Acts 8

• Acts 8:5-8 KJV

5 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.“

6 “And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.“

7 “For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palises, and that were lame, were healed.“

8 “And there was great joy in that city.“

Skip down to verse 12

• Acts 8:12 KJV

12 “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

[Continued in next article]