<html><head></head><body><div><div><div>Acts 19;5-7<div><br></div><div><b>5. &nbsp;On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.</b></div><div><b>6. &nbsp;And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.</b></div><div><b>7. &nbsp;There were about twelve of them in all.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>The gift of the Holy Spirit may or may not be accompanied by&nbsp;speaking in tongues. &nbsp;</div><div>We have many baptismal&nbsp;accounts where no tongues were reported.</div><div><br></div><div>In the case of Peter’s preaching to Cornelius and his family and friends, the gift of the Holy Spirit also&nbsp;with the gift of tongues actually came while Peter was still speaking, before water baptism even was received.</div><div><br></div><div>The Holy Spirit must not be forced&nbsp;into some sort of mechanical process. &nbsp;He is the Third person of the Trinity and he acts in the wisdom, love,&nbsp;and&nbsp;freedom of God according to the needs of both the hearers who are being baptized&nbsp;<u>and</u>&nbsp;those who proclaim God’s living Word and do the baptizing.</div><div><br></div><div>We may only say, that with every Baptism into the Lord Jesus, using <span>&nbsp;Trinitarian formulation which Jesus himself commanded, there is also the gift of the Holy Spirit. &nbsp;The Holy Spirit accompanies the Word, indwells the Word, and gives us newness of life in Christ. &nbsp;</span><i>“It is the Spirit that gives Life, the flesh is of no avail; the Words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life.” &nbsp;</i><span>(John 6;63)</span><span>&nbsp;</span></div><div><br></div><div>Baptism contains the Word of God, <i>“In the name of the&nbsp;Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”</i></div><div>The power of Baptism is the Word of God, used in connection to the water. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>In the case of the Ephesians whom Paul baptized, the receiving of the Holy Spirit came with their Baptism, <u>then</u>&nbsp;the Holy Spirit <i>“came upon them, and they spoke with tongues.” &nbsp;</i>This was for the comfort and assurance of both the Ephesians and also Paul. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Once more the essential point is the one made yesterday, namely that we can desire to do the will of the Father, but we can not do it in the power of the old man, the carnal nature, the flesh. &nbsp;Walking in newness of Life must and can only be done by faith, and in the power of the gift of the Holy Spirit.</div><div>This we receive as we die with Christ in our Baptism and are raise with Christ to newness of life.</div><div><br></div><div>This is what Jesus meant when he said to Nicodemus, <i>“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is&nbsp;born-anew, he can not see the kingdom of God.” &nbsp;</i>(John 3;3) &nbsp;The need of the Ephesians was to understand this divine truth and not think they could be disciples following Jesus without denying themselves and carrying&nbsp;their crosses. &nbsp; This is what baptism into the Lord Jesus empowers us to do. &nbsp;Without death to self with Jesus,&nbsp;there can be no newness of Life.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, in our Baptism you have given us the ‘place of escape’ from the power of temptation. &nbsp;Temptation has no power over the dead. &nbsp;Bless us to abide in both our Baptismal death and our new resurrected Life. &nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation.”<br><br><img title="Inline image" alt="Inline image" src="cid:9c151393-abee-b1db-a46e-3388c3202be2@yahoo.com" draggable="false" data-id="<9c151393-abee-b1db-a46e-3388c3202be2@yahoo.com>"><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>

Acts 19;5-7
5.  On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.6.  And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.7.  There were about twelve of them in all.
The gift of the Holy Spirit may or may not be accompanied by speaking in tongues.  We have many baptismal accounts where no tongues were reported.
In the case of Peter’s preaching to Cornelius and his family and friends, the gift of the Holy Spirit also with the gift of tongues actually came while Peter was still speaking, before water baptism even was received.
The Holy Spirit must not be forced into some sort of mechanical process.  He is the Third person of the Trinity and he acts in the wisdom, love, and freedom of God according to the needs of both the hearers who are being baptized and those who proclaim God’s living Word and do the baptizing.
We may only say, that with every Baptism into the Lord Jesus, using  Trinitarian formulation which Jesus himself commanded, there is also the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit accompanies the Word, indwells the Word, and gives us newness of life in Christ.  “It is the Spirit that gives Life, the flesh is of no avail; the Words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life.”  (John 6;63) 
Baptism contains the Word of God, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”The power of Baptism is the Word of God, used in connection to the water.  
In the case of the Ephesians whom Paul baptized, the receiving of the Holy Spirit came with their Baptism, then the Holy Spirit “came upon them, and they spoke with tongues.”  This was for the comfort and assurance of both the Ephesians and also Paul.  
Once more the essential point is the one made yesterday, namely that we can desire to do the will of the Father, but we can not do it in the power of the old man, the carnal nature, the flesh.  Walking in newness of Life must and can only be done by faith, and in the power of the gift of the Holy Spirit.This we receive as we die with Christ in our Baptism and are raise with Christ to newness of life.
This is what Jesus meant when he said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born-anew, he can not see the kingdom of God.”  (John 3;3)  The need of the Ephesians was to understand this divine truth and not think they could be disciples following Jesus without denying themselves and carrying their crosses.   This is what baptism into the Lord Jesus empowers us to do.  Without death to self with Jesus, there can be no newness of Life.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, in our Baptism you have given us the ‘place of escape’ from the power of temptation.  Temptation has no power over the dead.  Bless us to abide in both our Baptismal death and our new resurrected Life.  In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation.”



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