Pastor Barry's "Chapter & Verse" Day 245

September 2;       Acts 2:38;       91/260(III);       ‘Both Gifts Together’

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It was the Jewish feast of Pentecost.  Jewish men were required to come to Jerusalem for three annual feasts.  Pentecost, or the feast of Weeks, was one of them.  Therefore, Jerusalem was crowded with Jews from all over.  On this feast day, the Holy Spirit came upon the 120 believers who were in the upper room and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.  Evidently, their speaking with tongues was loud enough for those in the crowded streets to hear them.  This caused great curiosity as to how the Jews from other countries heard these believers speaking in the native languages of the countries the crowd was from.  Others mocked them and said that they were drunk.  Peter, who had denied Jesus three times, now Spirit filled, boldly begins to preach to the large crowd.  The anointing of the Holy Spirit was upon Peter and when he was finished preaching, the crowd of Jews were convicted, crying out, “What should we do?”  When Peter told them to repent and be baptized in the Name of Jesus, he was telling them to be born again.  Peter did not stop there, but told them once they are born again, they can receive the ‘gift of the Holy Spirit.’  That means the baptism in the Holy Spirit.   Peter was advocating for those who believed to receive both gifts at the same time.  About three thousand were born again, baptized and presumably Spirit filled.  The Lord wants every believer to be Spirit filled.  Receiving both gifts together is Bible.