Acts 2:38 -Reply

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>>I have had a run of people lately all saying the same thing about Acts
>>2:38 to me.  That is, they say, 'I've repented and been baptised, so I
>>*will* recieve the Holy Ghost. It's not something I have to worry about'.
>>Then they assume that they have the Spirit at that point (c/f Acts
>>8:12-17), or that they inevitably will recieve.
>
>I read in the Book of Acts about two ways to receive the Holy Ghost. 
>The first one is after being baptized [i.e., Paul received the Holy Ghost
>after he had been baptized] and the other way is receiving the Holy
>Ghost _before_ being baptized in Jesus' name [i.e., Cornelius].

Correct. What I see to be the main difference between the two instances is
that in the first case the church was willing to baptize the individuals,
and in the second it was not. (Even Peter needed to hear tongues to
convince him)

Since the church would not work with God fully, He sovreignly acted, filled
those Gentiles with the Holy Ghost, which shook the church out of their
false belief and led to baptism.

I do not believe God desires to move outside the Acts 2:38 pattern, since
baptism is an act of obedience to God indicating repentence, and should
come before baptism.


God will move outside of the church if (and only if) we force Him to.

>In both of
>these instances the people had to ****receive the word****.  The disciples
>who had been with Jesus had **received** the word as evident in the
>prayer Jesus prayed in John 17:6 and 8 so that on the day of Pentecost
>they were of one mind and one accord ***waiting*** for the promise
>Jesus told them about.  How did they wait, they prayed, they praised and
>they waited **expecting** it to come. 
>
I must say, I like what I heard from Jack Cunningham at the Nova Scotia
campmeeting A week or so ago. It is the church's responsibility to be in
one accord concerning people receiving the Holy Ghost. Expecting a
repentent individual to shoulder the responsibility of receiving the Ho;y
Ghost is like expecting a baby to deliver itself.

The church needs to be filled up and prayed up so that it has something to
impart (like Peter in Samaria with Philip) to those seeking the Holy Ghost.

>Tongues is a sign of having the Holy Ghost but the _most_ significant
>sign is the changing of one's heart which will manifest itself in the
>changing of one's life style.  If an individual is saying they have the Holy
>Ghost but yet they are living the _same_ life they had _before_ they
>received the Holy Ghost then the tree is bearing the fruit of what has
>been sown.  The good seed is the Word and it will bring forth fruit which
>is holy, anything else is thorns and thistles.
AMEN!!

Sorry if I've rambled, I just know my church is coming to this realization,
which is making it easier for people to receive. So I felt it would be good
to share this.

p.s  I am travelling 2 hrs tonight to see Bro. Teklemarian (from Ethiopia)
down in Saint John, N.B. I am very excited!!!

God Bless

Frank


Frank Vandenburg
BKM Research and Development
438 Paul St.
Dieppe, NB
Canada E1A 4Z5
Tel: 1.506.857.9620
Fax: 1.506.852.3728
email: frank@bkm.ca

"You will always get what you need when you help enough others get what
they need."