Lesson 1 - December First Week
The Gift of the Holy Spirit: Acts Chapter 2
Background Reading:
Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Romans 5:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:7; Hebrews 2:4
Devotional Reading:
Acts 2:29-42
Central Verse:
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:4, KJV
“And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them ability.” Acts 2:4, NLT
Key Terms:
Remission– The act or process of being released from the guilt or penalty of sin.
Formula– A set form of words for use in a ceremony or ritual.
Pentecost– A Christian feast on the seventh Sunday after Easter commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles.
Introduction:
A gift is something given willingly to someone without charge. It is a present. The Holy Spirit is a gift, who has a specific role. The Holy Spirit is not an “it.” He is a person. He is not something, but someone: He is the third person of the Godhead. “For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). There are three people in the Godhead known as the Trinity, which means three. Trinity is the foundational Christian belief that God is one being who exists in three persons. The word “Trinity” means three-in-one and it does not appear in the Bible, but the number three does.
Discussion:
Believers do not worship multiple gods. We worship God, who is comprised of the Father; the Son, Jesus Christ, who is God in human form; and the Holy Spirit, who lives inside believers that have accepted Jesus, helping us to grow closer to God.
Believers need to know who the Holy Spirit is and the power that He brings to their lives on a daily basis. Believers must learn to understand Scripture, which tells us about the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. This helps us to grow as human beings who love the Holy Spirit and want to know more about His role in their lives. To be strong in the Lord and do exploits, the believer cannot disregard the gift of the Holy Spirit. Seeking this gift is a decision every committed believer must make. Seeking the gift cannot occur unless there’s a desire, a hunger to serve God’s people.
The believer cannot be confused about the fact that when we receive salvation, we receive God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. But there is another step that we must take and that is receiving the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Every believer must come to realize that we need the Holy Spirit if we is going to fulfill God’s will in our life. He fills the believer with power, promise, and peace, and He gives fresh hope and faith to those who are weary.
For He is the best gift given to the believer after we receives salvation, which gives the believer a personal relationship. But, if the believer wants intimacy with the Holy Spirit, we must completely surrender our life to Him. We must know that this gift of the Holy Spirit is available to him simply by asking for it, believing it, and receiving it. If human beings even know how to give good gifts to their families and friends, then God knows how to give better gifts to His children who ask for them.
The writer Luke tells the believer that God will give this gift to those who ask for it. Matthew tells the believer to “ask and it shall be given.” (Matthew 7:7). The Holy Spirit has limitless power and wisdom, and He brings these attributes to any believer who invites Jesus Christ into our heart and allows Him to come and live in us.
As human beings, we love to receive gifts, but many tend to shy away from the Holy Spirit because they don’t know who He really is and what He might do. But if the believer would let Him into our heart, He will come with His power and change their life forever. This gift is for everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God; that He came and died to save sinners from their sins; and that He arose from the grave and is now seated at the right hand of His Father.
The gift of the Holy Spirit had been prophesized by the Prophet Joel in Joel 2:28-29. So, on the day of Pentecost, while the disciples were waiting in the Upper Room of the building they occupied, there came a sound from Heaven, sounding like rushing wind that filled the entire house where the disciples were sitting. Along with the sound of wind, cloven tongues that looked like fire appeared before them and sat upon each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit allowed them to.
Conclusion:
This caused much amazement among the men who were there in Jerusalem, because they heard the disciples speaking in their different languages. They knew that the disciples were Galileans and couldn’t speak all those different languages. The men from the different countries mocked them and said that the followers of Jesus must be drunk with wine.
This gave Peter an opportunity to address them, so as he stood up, the other disciples stood with him. Peter’s message that day on Pentecost contained a pattern for the proclamation of the Gospel. He preached such a powerful word with a Holy Ghost anointing that the Jews from the different places in Judea and from around Jerusalem became convicted in their hearts. These were Jews who believed in God, but they had not been ready to accept Jesus as the Son of God. They had been told that a Messiah was coming but they didn’t believe He was Jesus.
They were waiting and looking for the Messiah, but because Jesus didn’t come like they thought He would, they fell into the crowd that said, “crucify Him.” But now after Peter had preached and made them aware of who Jesus Christ was, conviction filled their hearts, so they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter told them that they must repent and be baptized – every one of them in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins and then they, too, would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Peter was there when Jesus gave the formula for baptism, so he was not given them a new formula. He was answering Jewish men who had rejected Jesus, and after hearing such a powerful anointed Word, they needed to know what to do to change things. Peter told them that they must repent. These men had to repent for the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ as the Son of God, for there is no other name given whereby men can be saved. So that these Jews could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit they had to accept Jesus and be baptized in His name for the remission of their sins.
Questions:
1. Who is the Holy Spirit?
2. How do you receive the Holy Spirit?
3. What did the men need to repent from?
Essential Thought:
The gift of the Holy Ghost is free,
but the believer must receive it.