Receive the Gift.

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

Act 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost

What shall we do?  Their conscience was awakened to truth and the first thing they asked was- what shall we do?

Peter answered-

Repent and be baptized in the NAME of JESUS CHRIST-  why? For the REMISSION of sins.

If we repent and if we are baptized all in the name of our Savior so our sins are forgiven then we will receive a gift!  The gift we will receive is the HOLY SPIRIT.

All who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, accept His dying in their place for their sins. All receive the Holy Spirit, but what does that mean exactly?

What is the gift of the Holy Spirit?

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Love

Joy

Peace

Longsuffering

Gentleness

Goodness

Faith

Meekness

Temperance

We believe we have these things of our own accord but the truth is, we are given them as a gift.  Our natural person is not prone to these things. We may come across as being naturally nice- but often that is a façade we put on because inwardly we don't feel loving, joyful, peaceful, longsuffering, gentle, good, faithful, meek or temperate. 

I remember reading from a C.S. Lewis book- Mere Christianity where he mentions pretending, because when we pretend it often works out that the pretense becomes reality.  It can happen, a person can get into a situation where they have to pretend to be something- happy etc, and then end up being happy after all. Each of us has probably experienced this sort of thing in our life. So should we pretend, do we put on charity - making ourselves do acts of love in order to become loving?  Maybe we need to. What can it hurt to pretend loving others, to pretend love, as long as it isn't to hurt anyone at all in any way. To feign loving acts, not loving someone you don't love, but loving acts, a loving way of life, where is the wrong.

To seek all the fruits of the Spirit as if they are ours naturally this is a good thing.

Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance.

Where is the wrong in any of these things? Where?

We have had our conscience awakened against sin, we have accepted Christ Jesus as our Savior the only one who can save us from our sins, and we repent of that which would keep us from the love of our Savior. We have been baptized and we would now receive the Holy Spirit, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us constantly, endlessly, always.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior! Forever!