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An essay about the work of the Holy Spirit in The Book of Acts
Describe the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts
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These supernatural acts of the Spirit are not relegated to Acts or the New Testament. The same acts of the Spirit is evident in the New Testament as well. Mark D. McLean instructs us to put out of our minds completely the impression that the Holy Spirit did not come into the world until the Day of Pentecost. Possibly the most direct empowerment connection in the Old Testament is Joel 2:28-32. The connection from Old Testament to New Testament is drawn by Peter in Acts 2:17-18. Here Peter sees the fulfillment of the promise of God that He will “pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.” This verse was the bridge that brought the history of Israel to Pentecost.
Luke stays very consistent with his treatment of the Holy Spirit as empowerment. That’s not to say that there are references to
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What’s more, they very obviously have a gift or an aptitude for evangelism or for teaching the Word of God. How can this be? They have not been “baptized with the Holy Spirit” according to Pentecost in Acts 2, so how is it that they have a propensity toward evangelism? Even though someone only exhibits the indwelling of the Holy Spirit without experiencing the empowerment of the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that God will prohibit them from evangelization. Many people have great abilities and gifting given to them by God to do great things, but that gifting would be even more potent empowered by the Holy Spirit. Those who have experienced the empowerment of the Holy Spirit must never think they have a corner on the market of spirituality, they simply have an experience and empowerment that is available to every believer. It is the observation of this researcher that whenever someone earnestly longs and asks for more of God, God gives them His Holy Spirit and
In the film “The Holy Ghost People,” right away we get individual accounts of what the “Holy Spirit” is to certain individuals. One woman says the Holy Ghost guides her and keeps her going. The people are very intense about their beliefs, which comes from the religion Pentecostalism, which has a hyper focus on personal experience with God and baptism with the Holy Spirit. We see them in their church, we hear the sermon, and see the ritualistic dances and the way the prayer overcomes them, and causes seizure like motions. We see and hear the prayers for the healing of one woman’s eyesight, and another woman’s back pain. One man, seemingly the pastor, says that “if God is not doing what they ask, people aren’t believing hard enough.” Later we get an account from a woman of how she was nursed back to health as a little girl brought her nutrients, and she believes it was
In the Bible’s New Testaments the book of Acts is of Narrative genre and is also called the Acts of the Apostles. It is written by Luke who happens to be the author of Gospel of Luke. This book tells a story of first Christians. After the death of Jesus (as mention in “Matthew”) as he went to heaven the Christians waited in Jerusalem. After Holy Spirits were sent by God, the first Christians were given the power by them. And they end up telling the people about Jesus. It was the Christians who explained t...
In Luke 4: 18-19 it says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
This Revival occurred as an expression of social and theological discontent among the nation’s lower and middle-class groups. Advocates for holiness disapproved of the impiety in forefront denominations and were alienated by the growing wealth and grandiosity of their churches. With dissatisfaction in these principal churches, they formed new religious communities devoted to the theological doctrine of perfectionism. These previous Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists believed they were experiencing a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit which bore a resemblance to the early church experience as described in the book of Acts in the Bible. The Holiness Revival produced zeal for "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" (a heavenly enablement for believers) and for other gifts of the Holy Spirit such as healing and prophecy (Dieter, 1996). Holiness leaders such as John Alexander Dowie, Charles Cullis, and Albert B. Simpson set up healing missions across the U.S. They, like other holiness advocates, believed a new, miraculous era of the spirit was taking place which would end in the second coming of Christ (Dieter,
In a survey conducted in 2012, LifeWay.com inquired about the importance of evangelism among members of the Christian faith. The results of the survey showed that 80 percent of people who claimed to follow Jesus Christ and had openly devoted themselves to the teaching of Christianity, felt that they had a “personal responsibility to share their religious views and beliefs about Jesus Christ with non-christians” (Wilke, LifeWay.com). Surveys such as this reflect the Christian doctrine of evangelism and the weight it holds within the Christian faith. As can be seen back in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ commanded His followers “to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).” However, Jesus never told His followers how doing this.
The Church as a whole debates many concepts that are in the Bible, in both theology and in practice. One of these debates surrounds the gifts that are spoken of in the Bible. In one corner are those who believe that charismatic gifts are alive and well in the church today. The Continuationist view believes that the gifts have continued on through Biblical times and are still relevant for today. In the other corner are those who believe that particular gifts have ceased to be used in the modern church and that they were only given for a particular reason in Biblical times. This view is called the Cessationist. Today each view, and other views in between, and the practice of the gifts in the current culture will be examined for truth, validity, and application by searching through each view and holding fast to the scripture as the final word of authority.
This occurs when one is stripped of the ability to choose (Allender 1992). Their circumstances were never wanted or invited. Given, in some cases, individuals were aware of what they were getting themselves into albeit, driven by their desperate circumstances. Not only are victims often powerless over their prevailing circumstances before trafficking, they are also powerless once caught in the clutches of trafficking. In addition to this, there is the relentless pain of the soul they have to endure. Many trafficked victims report an emptiness of the soul that cannot be filled by anything no matter how hard they try. The result of this is an internal downward path of doubt, despair and deadness. With this powerlessness comes a loss of a sense of pain, where individuals just don’t feel pain at all by denial, splitting and loss of memory. This is often accompanied by a loss of self and loss of judgment. They cannot help but tend to re-entangle themselves with people that are not trustworthy, faithful or loving.
The doctrine of the Holy Spirit begins with examining biblical witness to the work of the Holy Spirit in the history of Israel, as well as the ministry of Jesus, and in the life of the church. During the creation account it was the breath of God that grave life to all creation. The Holy Spirit has been a primate actor sin the beginning of time. While the Spirit was present prior to the ministry of Christ, the New Testament speaks in greater detail of the Spirit because it empowered Jesus. From his conception to the day of Pentecost the Sprit was present and active in the life of Christ and the believers. We see in ...
The statement by John, “Baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” has an undertone which is connected to a theme which intertestamental Jews held. This idea was not related directly to the Holy Spirit and the work He would have at Jesus’ baptism or in Jesus’ ministry. A question such as, why would an unrelated belief have a connection to the Holy Spirit who was to come in the baptism of Jesus? This belief was the idea that a time of affliction or anguish would take place before the coming of the messiah. This was referred to as the birth pangs of the messiah. One reference which is used to support this is from the prophet Daniel, where in one of his visions he refers to war being made against the saints and until the ancient of days would come there would be judgment upon the saints (Dan. 7:21-22). The fire which john speaks about could be a fire of judgment for the people as well as a fire which would purify the saints. Various OT prophets confirm this idea of judgment by fire (Amos 7:4; Mal. 4:1) which the people would have to experience. Another reference to fire as judgment 2 Peter 3:6-7 where the fire is being stored up for the heavens and the earth until the day of judgment. The imagery of this fire in Jesus’ baptism is seen as a river or stream of fire (Dan. 7:10). Another element of this early held view of the fire of Jesus’ baptism was also dual purposed in its nature. As the fire would destroy the wicked it would also purge and cleanse the righteous. These references to fire help clarify the possible understanding of the differences between John’s and Jesus baptisms. This was not the sole purpose of His baptism; he was preparing the way (Matt. 3:3) for Jesus. One way the baptism of Jesus could be seen,...
The Book of Acts was written to provide a history of the early church. Acts emphasis the importance of the day of Pentecost and being empowered to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. Acts sheds light on the ministry gift of the Holy Spirit, which empowers, guides, teaches, and serves as our Counselor. When reading the Book of Acts many of the readers will be enlightened and encouraged by the many miracles that were being performed during this time by the disciples Peter, John, and Paul. The Book of Acts emphasizes the importance of obedience to God’s Word and the transformation that occurs as a result of knowing Christ. There are also many references to those that rejected the truth that the disciples preached about in Jesus Christ. Power, greed, and many other vices of the devil or evidenced in the book of Acts. Acts 1:8 serves as a good summary of the Book of Acts. Acts records the apostles being Christ's witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the rest of the surrounding world.
The Holy Spirit gives us power to make things possible. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The power enabled the apostles to heal the sick (3:1-10, 5:15-16, 9:32-35) and raise people from the dead (9:36-43). The power also enabled them to speak the truth boldly (4:1-14, 7:1-53,
When becoming a christian when you accept God as your savior and are ready to serve him you will need the holy spirit, without the holy spirit its going to be really hard. Holy spirit keeps you safe, keeps you out of doing bad thongs, makes you want to do good things for God. The bible refers to Gods holy spirit as his “hands” or “fingers”(Luke 11:20). Just as craftsman uses his hands and fingers to do his work, God has used his spirit to produce such results as the following: The universe, The bible, The miracles and the preaching he did for his people. By referring to Gods spirit as his “hands”, “fingers”, the Bible shows that the holy spirit is not a person. A craftsman 's hands cannot function independent of his mind and body likewise, Gods holy spirit operates only as he directs it. The Bible also compares Gods spirit to water and associates it with such things as faith and knowledge. From the Bible, Stephen was given a miraculous heavenly vision, he only saw two people, not three but he was filled with holy spirit he gazed into heaven and saw Gods glory and Jesus standing at Gods right hand. The holy spirit was Gods power in action, enabling Stephen to see the vision. To get the holy spirit you have to pray about it, its a gift from god so you have to want it to get it so then god will fill you with holy spirit. You receive Christ by faith. You live by faith. Everything you receive from God, from the moment of your spiritual birth until you die, is by faith. Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? You can be filled right now, by faith. You receive Christ by faith. You receive holy spirit by faith when you believe you will get, God will give it to you. Though you are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith and faith alone, it is important to recognize that several factors contribute to preparing your heart for the filling of the Spirit. First, you must desire to live a life that
The biblical book of Acts is an interpretation of the early discoursing regarding Jesus Christ, the development of the ancient Christian people, and sharing the good news of the Christian message. When Jesus was raise from the dead he went to see his disciples to my understanding, respiring on the disciples and stating, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22, NKJV). On the contrary even though the disciples had obtained the Holy Ghost after Jesus respired on them, my studies revealed that Jesus expressed to the disciples to pause for the satisfying or fulfillment of the Holy Ghost that was in Jerusalem.
In the first case, the apostles experience the Holy Spirit in the same way that Jesus experienced
Evangelism is one of the key component for changing people’s lives. McRaney states, “The word evangelism comes from a combination of Greek words for “good” and “messenger.” Evangelism involves bringing the goods. Kent Hunter reminded us that “when Christians witness, they tell how Jesus Christ has changed their own lives. The change in their own lives gives them the desires to share the Good News with others.” Christians must share their testimony to people and spread the gospel so that they can bring lost souls to Christ. God has commissioned every Christian to evangelize so that people will learn about Jesus Christ and accept Him as their personal savior. Matthew 28:19 states, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Christians are required to spread the Gospel throughout the world and can no longer just attend church. Christians must plant seeds and water the seeds so that lost souls will be saved.