Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  2024  Day 36

February 5;        Acts 2:39;         91/260;        ‘A Gift For All’

Acts 2:39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

Peter who had denied the Lord Jesus three times, now baptized in the Holy Spirit, preaches boldly to multitudes on the Day of Pentecost.  He tells those he was preaching to, in verse 38, to repent and be baptized in the Name of Jesus for the remission of their sins.  This is becoming born again.  Peter goes on to tell the multitude that after becoming born again, there is another gift of the Lord, the gift of the Holy Spirit or the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  As Peter shared the Word of God with Cornelius and all of those in his house, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on those people.  The gift was the baptism in the Holy Spirit, because those who were traveling with Peter, heard all the Gentiles in Cornelius’ house speaking with other tongues (Acts 10:45-46).  There is something very important taught in the above verse.  The baptism in the Holy Spirit is promised to every believer.  Many Christians have been taught that speaking in tongues is a gift that only some will have.  I Corinthians 12:10 tells us that some will speak in tongues.  This is where the confusion has come from. I Corin- thians 12:10 is one of the verses teaching on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are given to only those the Holy Spirit gives them to.  Verse 10 is speaking about the public side of tongues.  In a church service, the Holy Spirit will prompt someone to give a message in tongues and then will prompt either the person who spoke in tongues or another to interpret that message in tongues to bless the church.  Tongues as a Gift of the Spirit, the public side of tongues is given only to who the Holy Spirit wills.  The gift of tongues in Acts 2:39 is for all believers for power, prayer and worship