Holy Spirit

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A debated issue throughout the Christian world since the early church has been the issue of baptism of the Holy Spirit. Questions of when does a follower of Christ actually receive God’s Spirit have been in dispute and scrutinized with very different understandings of the scriptural references to this splendid transformation that takes places in the life of a Christian. In both the Old and New Testaments, The Holy Spirit is a constant person that works in and amongst God’s people. In Numbers 11:24-25, the Spirit of God is displayed when “the Spirit rested on them”, referring to the seventy elders that were appointed to aid Moses. 1 Samuel 16:13 states that the mysterious Spirit of God rushed upon David during his coronation as the King of Israel. In Joel 2:28, the Spirit is promised by the prophet. “And it shall come to pass, afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” These are only a few of the references that appear in the Old Testament to the Spirit of God, but there is a very active present of the Spirit of God. John Stott writes, “In the Old Testament days, although all believers were indeed regenerate, the Holy Spirit came upon special people for special ministries at special times.” The differences in the Old and New Testament inner workings of the Spirit seems to be for temporary appointment in the Old Testament and permanent indwelling in the New Testament.
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him not knows him. Y...

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...he Reformed believer on many levels in regards to Acts 2.They would not say that the first 120 original believers at Pentecost were not actually saved, nor would they discredit the miracle of God’s saving grace to the 3,000. The difference seems to lie in how the Spirit actually interacts with the believer. Stanley M. Horton writes, “Pentecostals and other Charismatics agree ‘this deeper experience of the Holy Spirit in no way refutes or denies any experience the Christian may have had before. It simply opens unto us a whole new realm of spiritual possibilities.’ ” Following this idea, the understanding can be drawn that Pentecostals do not discredit someone’s ability to accept Christ as Savior and they also believe that someone can have the Holy Spirit. The difference is the limitations that seem to be on the believer without having the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

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