The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Acts 10:44-48
I am concluding Acts 10 with its 8th sermon. There are many things that seem to be impossible in the Bible and our lives. And this stereotype goes on. However, the Holy Spirit visited Cornelius people, the Gentiles, whom the Jews could not even think of standing with. Let us think about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, personalized for the Gentiles.
First, the Holy Spirit came during the sermon. The crucifixion was the Lords sacrifice as a peace offering for us to be cleansed and to have the Holy Spirit. But we do not understand how God could be a man to bleed and die on the cross. It is hard to understand anothers sacrifice for us unless we are in pain. We cannot understand this without the Holy Spirit. We have to know about the Lords cross and realize that we are terrible sinners with the grace of forgiveness to have the Holy Spirit help us effectively. This is the Gospel of peace, and the Holy Spirit came to everyone who listened to it. The coming of the Holy Spirit happened unexpectedly according to Gods will in whole. No one can do anything before the Holy Spirit comes. Today, while the Word of God is being proclaimed, while we listen to the Word, the Holy Spirit could come down. The effective help of the Holy Spirit comes when we take up the cross. The Holy Spirit comes down in the Word because the Word was written with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Word work through the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit works in the Word. The Holy Spirit has to come down. The passionate heart of God which had persuaded Peter now bears the fruit of mission of the Gentiles.
Second, God broke the prejudice. The Bible said that the Holy Spirit came on them. This shows that God is the subject of this work. 'The circumcised believers' are the Jews who believed in the Lord first. They were astonished how the Holy Spirit came on the Gentiles whom they thought to be lowly while Peter was giving the sermon. Peter and the circumcised believers still are surprised even after the testimony of the Holy Spirit was given. The prejudice is clearly the biggest obstacle in the process of sanctification. Therefore, we have to constantly break the prejudice, and I think that is the theme of holiness. There are so many people that they are the best because their experiences and knowledge are acquired while they went through the hard times. There are also many people who think that they have found the perfect truth based on their objective perspectives and stubbornness. Peter gave a sermon about not showing favoritism according to appearances, but he still is discriminating. This is our problem. It is in our nature to think that the handsome and the beautiful would be kind and the smart would be pious. However, only Gods Word is the truth, the absolute truth. We have to break the prejudice and make discernments. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot know if we are making discriminations or discernments. That is the reason I want you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Third, God gave signs. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was given because God wanted to show that there was no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles anymore. I pray that you would speak in tongues. However, when one does not set an example while speaking in tongues, other would be scared to hear what he has to say. We cannot overdo the common sense. In todays passage, the people praised God while they spoke in tongues. Our language will be circumcised. We will be able to say, 'I love you' to someone we cannot love. This is actually the best tongue. The language of love, kindness, and cleansing praises God and solves problems in relationships. Every problem in life is a problem of relationship and the language affects it greatly. Since Jesus who died on the cross sent the Holy Spirit, we have to receive the Holy Spirit. If the water baptism given in public could be seen as the wedding, we have to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the essential love, to start a journey with Him. And to keep it, we have to be full of the Holy Spirit. A water baptism is given to the one who repents and decides to be a part of the Church. We need an essential joy of loving each other in marriage because the wedding ceremony itself does not guarantee an everlasting joy. We could have an essential love before we have a wedding ceremony, of course. The Holy Spirit does not appear for the first time in the book of Acts. He has been there before the creation, and He came on the day of Pentecost. He is here now, and He will be here in the future. The Holy Spirit is the power to give us a new life He starts the changes in our life. However, the Holy Spirit is transcendental, and He does not work in mens way. It is easy for us to be baptized by the Holy Spirit in tough sufferings. Therefore, we need to long for the baptism of the Holy Spirit when a suffering comes.
People and many of the Assembly Men do not fully understand the real meaning of the word sexual orientation that is mentioned in the anti-discrimination law. So they ask what is wrong with anti-discrimination. However, this law cannot be passed if we are to keep our families together. There are no morals and ethics when people do not praise the Lord. We all have to go back to the Lord. If we, the believers, repent and turn back, we will experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit we could speak in tongues that would surprise others, praising the Lord by proclaiming that an act of homosexuality is a sin. The comprehensive anti-discrimination law is the shortcut to destruction of the country. We have to stop this even though you do not like to hear this. I pray that the Assembly Men would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. I pray that they would discover the true identity of this law. We have to evangelize others to stop this law. When we show the signs by speaking in tongues, others would speak in tongues too and praise the Lord.
