nlr.answers

A genuine salvation experience results in a changed life. Some change is noticeably
immediate, you know it and others notice the change. However, what is not seen so
readily by others and yet is so clear to you is what is happening in your mind. This is an
area that is very personal and often very private yet it's an area that we must give
serious attention to if we are going to enjoy God's peace.

An initial salvation experience is a powerful creative act of God in the heart (spirit) of the
person who has seriously turned to Jesus Christ to be set free from all former sin and
has received Him into their life as personal Lord and Savior. This is what takes place
when we are "Born Again". It is at this time that we receive God's life, His Holy Spirit
within us. At this point we are taken out of the kingdom of darkness and placed in to the
Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are now legitimate spiritual children of the Most
High God. He has become our personal Heavenly Father.

To be "Born Again" is to find new life in Christ. It's the beginning of our salvation
journey, during which time God's power will touch and powerfully effect not only our
spiritual heart but also our mind and emotions.

It's very important to understand that when a person is initially saved that this is the
begin of a spiritual journey into Christlikeness. Step by step God transforms us into the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Cor.3:18) This transformation is greatly determined
by our thinking that's why there must be a renewing of the mind.

Prior to salvation the human mind has been programmed by the old human, sin nature
and has been continually influenced and effected by the spiritual influences of darkness.
Without Christ the human mind is corrupted by sin and needs to be reprogrammed with
God's language. This reprogramming is called "renewing of the mind". Rom 12:2 - Don't
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that
you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Covenant Promise:
As a Christian it's good to know the New Covenant that God has made with you. It
always amazes me how few new Covenant Believers actually know it.It is found in
Hebrews 8:10 & Heb.10:16

        Heb 8:10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
        Israel. After those days," says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their
        mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God and they
        will be my people.

This is relevant to all Believers experiencing difficulties with their thought life. There is
hope and God is the solution. He has promised to write His Word into our mind.

God's "mind writing technique" requires our personal involvement in the Scriptures.
Don't expect to go to sleep one night and awaken in the morning thinking like Jesus
thinks. It's as we spend time with the Lord in His Word that He prints it in our mind. It's
not something that happens instantaneously but like Christian maturity it's positive and
progressive.

Exercising God Given Authority:
There definite times when Christians find themselves being spiritually attacked. How we
handle our thinking generally determines how effective the enemies onslaught will be.

Something was said in first sermon I heard after my initial salvation experience that
over the years has proven to be so true. The preacher said, "The battles of life are
fought and won right between the ears". The enemy has the unique ability to attack
us in our mind. Thoughts will come that we don't want. Thoughts that we know aren't right, thoughts that are negative, condemning, and critical. Thoughts that put you down!
Thoughts that want to convince you that you're no good and never will be! Thoughts
like, "God doesn't really love you".

What do we do when we're experiencing this vicious attacks of the enemy? We must
learn to exercise our God given authority. Jms .4:7 - Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. How do we do this when the battle is
raging for who is going to be controlling our thought life? 2 Cor. 10:4,5 - for the
weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing
down of strongholds, 5 throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted
against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ. God has given His people spiritual weapons and authority to
combat thoughts that contradict God's Word. This why it's so important to gain
knowledge of God's Word. When battling with the lies of the enemy we need to know
what truth to substitute in place of the enemies lies. This is something that I have
personally walked through in my early Christian life. Step by step we can learn to enjoy
God ruling and reigning in our thought life.

Most of God's people have or do struggle with some form of habitual sin, a habit that you just don't seem to be able to conquer. You believe in Jesus with all your heart, your genuinely grateful for all He did for you on the Cross and there's no question in your mind that you're a Christian but why can't you seem to get the victory over this thing? It's not what you really want in your life but you just seem almost powerless to say no!

Why are habits so devastating to our faith? Because deep in our heart we believe Jesus to be our Savior and we believe we should be saved from everything so it plays on our conscience and we live in varying degrees of self-condemnation. This condemnation hinders our relationship with Christ and often times keeps us from living in the freedom of transparency with God. Often times we subtly try to keep our habit or habits a secret from God and His people. There can be little confidence or true faith in this kind of bondage.

Jesus said we would know the truth and the truth would set us free. (Jn.8:32) The truth is Jesus wants us to live in absolute freedom from all forms of bondage. Gal 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (NIV) Understanding and believing this to be God's honest purpose for us is the foundation from which victory is launched.

Some habits are more sociably acceptable that others. It's a mistake for God's people to use society's gauge to calculate the severity of our personal habits. Things like drug and alcohol abuse for example are much less acceptable than say, lying is. Christians can have habits that are sociably acceptable yet are total contrary to the nature of Christ.

There is hope for all God's people regardless of what habit may be trying to control us. Isa. 51:10 - Are You not the same today, the One who dried up the sea, making a path of escape through the depths so that Your people could cross over? Let's just step back in time! Let's see what we can learn from Israel's escape from Egypt. Under God's direction and influence, they had escaped the judgment of the death angel and had started their journey out of Egypt. It seemed all was going so well. Wow, they were actually leaving this place of slavery! Then they came up against an insurmountable obstacle. The Red Sea! With this impossibility in front of them and the enemy hard on their heals seeking their destruction all seemed so hopeless. Without a miracle working God on their side, it was hopeless but these where God's chosen people. Things were different for them than for other people! God loves to do for His people what they can't do for themselves. He rescued His people from the powers that wanted to control and destroy them. He made a way where it seemed so impossible. The enemy may have you backed into a corner and is screaming in your ears, "there's no way out for you, you're done, you're mine." In these situations, we must hear from the voice of our Savior. We must hear what He has to say about our situation. We must listen to the Lover of our souls. We must listen to the truth. God what are you saying in this situation? This is what He says. 1Cor. 10:13 - The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Are you really looking for a way out? Do you really want to be free from the habit that has you so bound? I encourage you to read this verse again carefully seeking to hear the heart of the One who died to save you. Can you hear His heart? There is a way of escape for you. He is a faithful God. When you committed your life to Christ, he committed His life to you.

Escaping habits that bind may not be that easy. Some find it more difficult than others do. Remember though that God is no respecter of persons and he has no favorites. You're valued as highly as all God's people; you may however need to exercise great personal disciplines to overcome. You may be required to seek the Lord for greater grace, for grace from God that will cause you to see the reality of your sin more clearly and give you a greater desire and determination to allow the truth of God's Word to work in your life. You first have to want to be free and sometime that desire is lacking because we don't really see the pain our sin is causing Christ. He died that we would be able to live in absolute freedom. Surly He didn't suffer and die such a horrendous death for nothing. When He looks at your life, does He see the freedom He purchased with His blood? It's absolutely there for you. You can be free.

Prayer! It's almost a religious cliché! It's much more than a religious thing people do in time of need. It's my heart crying out to God's heart. It's the deepest and freest form of communications I can have with the God who loves me. It's there in the privacy of prayer that I can fully expose myself to the only One who truly understands and to the One who is fully capable of doing exceedingly more than I can ask or image. (Eph.3:20)

When we are being tempted to carry through with the habit we know is contrary to God's will for us and when the enemy of our soul is streaming his lies into our spiritual ears we need to turn to the Lord in all sincerity seeking His help. Notice the positive words of truth in Mt. 7:7 & 8. "Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. If you're serious about your freedom, you can be sure that Jesus is too. He will help you. He is the Savior. This is His specialty. This is what he does best and He wants to do it for you.

Humans, everyone of us, have our origin in this physical temporal world. This is our inherited kingdom. Everything about us is "this world" oriented. It's natural to us. It's home and without God it's all we know and understand. The problem is our world functions in very aggressive hostility towards God and His Kingdom. This is the result of sin. It has separated from God and put us under the wrath of God but because sin we live oblivious to this reality.

Jesus came to save people from sin. Mt.1:21 - And she will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." He came to same people from the wrath of God and He came to end the hostility between people and a holy, righteous God. The whole concept of salvation is to address the sin factor in peoples lives. Sin is what separates us from God. Col. 1:21 - This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions.

Forgiveness and the Born Again experience unites repentant Believers with God and ushers us into the eternal Kingdom of God. It is at this point that the words of Jesus in Jn. 17:16 become a personal reality to us - "They are not of the world even as I am not of the world." At the point of spiritual conversion sinners are taken out of the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 1:13 - For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.

The truly Born Again Believer now lives in and publicly represents the spiritual Kingdom of God. This is how Jesus lived while on earth. In Jn. 8:23 Jesus makes this statement, "I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world." To Pilot He said, "My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn't be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here." (Jn.18:36) Clearly Jesus came from and represents a kingdom whose origin is not of this world. It's not earthly or natural but spiritual and therefore is, for the most part, unseen to human vision.

While on earth Jesus was definitely in the world but was not of the world. His mannerism, His sense of values, His priorities, His vision, His goals, His purposes, everything about Jesus' life was definitely "other world" or "other kingdom". How Jesus lived everyday demonstrated the values of God's eternal and spiritual kingdom. This is the present call upon every Believer's life today! When we're not a living expression of God's Kingdom then sadly we're representing the kingdom of this fallen sin sick world, the kingdom of darkness.

For a Christian to be living a worldly life is to be representing the kingdom of darkness and is involved in a form of spiritual adultery. Jms. 4:4 - You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Clearly this is not the place for anyone who truly loves the Lord and is grateful for all that Jesus did for them on the Cross. We show love and respect to God by how we choose to live our life.

What does "this world" look like? What are the character traits of worldliness?
There's certainly no need to be theological here! We're told exactly what it is
in 1 Jn. 2:15 - Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when
you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the
world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we
see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the
Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with
everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live
forever. Let's just isolate the world into its true colors! Here the world has
been divided up into three basic avenues. One: cravings for physical
pleasure. Two: cravings for the things we see. Three: pride in our
possessions and achievements. These three avenues or points are what
motivate all who are born into the human family. Only by being "Born Again"
by the power of the Holy Spirit are we able to escape these natural
humanistic tendencies.

It's very interesting to note that Scripture tells us in Heb.4:15 that Jesus was
tempted in all points like we are. The three points listed in 1 Jn. 2:15,16 are
the three avenues through which temptations come into our life! The devil
(serpent) approached Eve through these three avenues in Genesis account of
Adam and Eves choice to disobey God. (Gen.3:1-7) Gen 3:6 So when the
woman saw that the tree was (1) good for food, and that it was (2) a delight
to the eyes, and that the tree (3) was to be desired to make one wise, (ESV)
When we consider Jesus wilderness experience in we discover that Satan
tempted Him through these same three avenues. (Lk.4:1-12) Jesus was
victorious and boldly proclaims to this very day, "I have overcome the world".
(Jn.16:33)

To be worldly is to actively live life controlled through one or more of these
avenues of sin. For the true "Born Again" Believer we are more then
Conquerors through Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can (like
Jesus) say yes to God and no to sin. Sin does not need to have dominion
over us! (Rom.6:14)

It's important that we understand God's love and commitment to His people.
He has placed a limit on Satan's power to tempt us. 1Cor. 10:13 - No
temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful,
and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the
temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to
endure it. Jesus has also fully committed Himself to helping us in our time of
Need. When we are being tempted to disobey the Lord we can turn to Him in
confident prayer. He will help us! Heb. 2:18 - For in that he himself has
suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

Heb. 4:16 - Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

What does worldliness look like? How can we identify worldliness in our own life? Here's a general list of worldliness character traits. It's not conclusive but it gives us a pretty good picture of Jesus died to save people from.

Mk.7:20-23; Rom.1:29,30; Gal.5:17-21; Eph. 4:19-22,31; Col.3:5-8

evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, gossip, backstabbing, hating God, insolent, proud, boastful, disobedient to parents, breaking promises, heartless, unforgiving, impure thinking, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild partying, greedy, rage, malicious behavior, slander, dirty language

When we are tempted to become engaged in worldly behavior we turn to the
Lord in prayer seeking His help and strength to overcome and if we discover
that we have been or are presently engaged in sinful behavior we turn to the
Lord seeking His forgiveness and help to turn away from such things as
would dishonor Him and inaccurately represent the Kingdom of God.
1Jn.1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Apostle Paul makes this statement in Gal. 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ,". What does this mean and does it relate to Christians of the 21st Century?

Crucifixion isn't something we're familiar with in our day, that's for sure but Paul's generation it was well understood in society. It was an extremely torturous means of executing the death penalty used from about the 6th century BC to 337 AD when Constantine the Emperor of Roman abolished it in his empire. It was the method used in Jesus' death and is inseparable from His suffering. Crucifixion is a suffer death and suffering with Christ and for Christ is not something that is well understood in Christian circles today. It's definitely a New Covenant Bible teaching that needs to be re-investigated and applied in our life today. I would like to encourage you to follow me through this short study. For our present purposes I'll be keeping it "bare bones" yet will be emphasizing the areas that I feel will help us understand crucifixion and how it applies to modern Christianity and our daily living as New Covenant Believers.

Crucifixion and suffering are inseparable in the death of our Lord Jesus. What is important for us to understand is that God's has called us to suffer. Ph. 1:29 - For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake (ESV) It can sound quite morbid and even sadistic but before we through it out let's determine under God to understand His heart in all this. What kind of suffering could possibly be apart of God's loving, caring purposes for for our life.

Jesus' suffering and crucifixion are clearly identified with His physical death. 1Pe 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Christ suffered physical death when He took our sins in His physical body when He was crucified. Jesus' suffering and crucifixion are related to abolishing sin for all who put their trust in Him.

How does trusting Jesus abolish sin in my life today? How does trusting Jesus help me to be free from the various sin issue that I must deal with everyday. All Believers are in a perpetual struggle against sinning. For example if someone bad mouths us we're tempted to retaliate with bad mouthing them. We're tempted to render evil for evil. We might really struggle with the concept that instead of lashing out at our enemies God would have us bless the. Definitely there's just something unnatural about that. Unnatural for sure! It's life on a higher plain! It's the God life! It's God's Kingdom being manifest in a world being dominated with sin.

Prior to the genuine salvation experience of being "Born Again" there is no battling against sin. Humans are born sinners. Dogs bark because they're dogs. Cats meow because they're cats. People sin because they're sinners. People simply do what comes natural to them. Jesus' blood bought salvation changes this whole scenario. To be "Born Again" by the power of God changes us. We are given a new nature a nature equal to that Jesus Christ. Eph 4:24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God―truly righteous and holy. (NLT)

When are been "Born Again" we enter an entire new arena of spiritual battle, we start experiencing the struggle against sin. From God's Word we learn who He wants us to live and we begin purposing to do that. As we do begin experiencing an inner resistance, the old nature seems to step to the forefront demanding control. Sin wants to rule us as it did prior to receiving Jesus into our life. Now what? How do we handle the situation? As "Born Again" Believers what is our position/ What should we expect and whose voice should we listen? Romans 6:14 says, "Sin is no longer your master,". In other words sins that ruled and controlled us in the past have lost their power. They scream out for dominion yet through Christ they no longer have the authority to rule over us. Jesus is the only One who has that right. He purchased that with His blood when He died in our place on the cross. He has the right rule us however He leaves the choice to us. At times it's battle real battle Gal 5:17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

When we want to obey God's Word and live pleasing to Him then the battle starts. Here is where suffering for Christ enters the picture. It's can be hard to say "no" to certain sins that so freely ruled us, sins that we might even have enjoyed. Choose to say, "no" to sin   initiates the "crucifying" process of that particular sin. We can called God to "put off" the old nature, the old sinful ways. We are called to allow the sinful nature to be crucified.

Peter was being inspired by the Holy Spirit when he penned 1Pe 4:1,2 - Forasmuch then as Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin; 2 that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. (WEB) I want to encourage you just to back up and read slowly though these verses again. There's an awful lot being said here. The concept of "particle sanctification" (living free from sinning) is exposed to us. Holiness isn't something that just happens in our life. It requires our personal involvement. It requires that we constantly choose God's "holy ways" rather than sin.

The concept of "suffer for Christ" needs to seen in the light. We need to understand our position and spiritual authority while at the same time understanding what we can expect for God during these spiritual battles. Without getting too involved here with spiritual warfare, (that a subject requiring its own attention) we need to learn how to suffer for Christ.

1)        We are the victors
         Ph. 4:13 - For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

2)        God is faithful
3)        God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our capacity
4)        God will always make a way for us to escape the temptations
        1Cor. 10:13 - The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.
        And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When
        you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.

5)        Jesus will help us when we ask Him.
        Heb 4:15,16 - This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of
        the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our         gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we
        need it most.

Jesus could not have been raised from the dead without having first been crucified. For us today
when ever we choose to allow the old sin nature to suffer cruxiftion we experience the resurrection
power of God being leasted in our new nature. Step by step we become more like Christ. Step by
step the Jesus nature within us shine throgh whith greater intensity. 2Cor. 3:18 - So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord-who is the Spirit-makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

I'd like to start answering this question by stating that the Bible, God's Word, remains the Christian's final authority for all that we believe. Our feelings, personal preferences, and human understanding must never be permitted to supersede the truth of Scripture. So let's see what we are able to discover about "speaking in tongues" from the Word of God.

The first New Testament mention of "speaking in tongues" is found in the second chapter of the Acts. Act 2:1-4 - When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Clearly something very unique occurred on the first day of Pentecost following Jesus'
resurrection. Let's first establish the origin of this strange phenomena. Verse four
unmistakably tells us that the people who had been gathered seeking God in prayer for ten days were "filled with the Holy Spirit" and it was the Holy Spirit who enabled them to speak forth in languages that were foreign to them. The first record of Christians speaking in tongues is credited to the power of the Holy Spirit, not the devil. Over the years I've heard some people giving the devil credit for something that really originated with the Holy Spirit. Just because we don't fully understand "speaking in tongues" or may not have experienced it, is no reason to give Satan the credit for something that was birthed from the heart of God is it?

The "speaking in tongues" mentioned in Acts 2 was the result of a direct visitation of the Holy Spirit. Prior to Jesus' ascension to the right hand of the Father in Heaven He had instructed His disciples to wait in the city of Jerusalem until they had been received special power from the Holy Spirit.

Lk. 24:46-49 - And He said, "Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: 'There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.' 48 You are witnesses of all these things. 49 "And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as My Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven."

Jesus made it very clear to His disciples that the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower them would in fact be a fulfilling of God's promise. On the day of Pentecost Peter stressed this point as he was explaining to the onlookers what exactly was happening.

Act 2:12-17 - They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13 But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, "They're just drunk, that's all!" 14 Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this.15 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o'clock in the morning is much too early for that.16 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: 17 'In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out My Spirit upon all people…

Clearly the events that occurred on the day of Pentecost, including "speaking in tongues" was a direct fulfillment of the prophecy given by Joel in Joel chapter 2.

I feel that's its an important point that we understand the origin and source of this very unique phenomena. In Peter's explanation of the Pentecostal experience he links it to the resurrection of Christ. The events of Pentecost are evidence that Jesus is alive. Act 2:32,33 - "God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. 33 Now He is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God's right hand. And the Father, as He had promised, gave Him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. The Believers who had obeyed the Lord and waited for outpouring of the Holy Spirit were the first to experience the Holy Spirit Baptism. It was John the Baptist who prophesied that Jesus would the One to baptize people with the Holy Spirit. Lk.3:16 - John answered their questions by saying, "I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am-so much greater that I'm not even worthy to be His slave and untie the straps of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Clearly what these people experienced on the day of Pentecost was a legitimate "God encounter".

Some argue that the Pentecostal experience was isolated to the first generation New Covenant church and that it's not something we should expect to experience or even seek to experience. All we need do here is to backup onto the premise of the authority of Scripture. What does the Bible say? Acts 2:17 states that "in the last days I will pour out My Spirit upon all people". The "last days" are the "Church days". The days between the ascension of Christ and His return to earth. It's interesting to note that in Peter's explanation of Pentecostal events he also makes it very clear how long we could expect this out pouring to last and to whom the promised Holy Spirit baptism is available to. Act 2:38,39 - Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles-all who have been called by the Lord our God." The Lord is still reaching out to people, calling them to repentance and inviting them into His eternal family. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit has been promised to all Believers of all generations. It's for us today.

The "speaking in tongues" happened on the day of Pentecost among Jewish Believers and it was this phenomena that alerted the onlookers that something very unique and strange was happening. People from various countries and language groups were in Jerusalem that day and they heard these "Holy Spirit Baptized" Believers praising God in various languages (Acts 2:6-11). This would definitely "freak you out" and cause you to really look for answers to this phenomena. That is, if you were at all an honest seeker of truth. What was the evidence that these Believers had in fact been Baptized with the Holy Spirit? They were speaking in "other tongues"!

This evidence that they had indeed been Baptized with the Holy Spirit was also experienced for the first time among Gentile Believers who had gathered to heard Peter at Cornelius' house in Acts 10. The Jews who had accompanied peter were absolutely amazed that the Gentile Believers had received the same experience they had on the day of Pentecost. The defining feature that made it unmistakable to them was the "speaking in other tongues" that they heard. Act 10:44-47 - Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked, 47 "Can anyone object to their being baptized (in water), now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?" Speaking in tongues was the evidence then, why should we think it's not the evidence today?

The Holy Spirit Baptism is an experience, a promised gift from God given to all Believers who will reach out and receive it from Jesus Christ. It's not of devil and it's not to be feared. It like all other "God gifts" is good and profitable. Enjoy!