Acts 8:1-40.
Jerusalem?  Samaria?  The ends of the earth?  Check.Check.Check.  The mission of God, the kingdom of Jesus, is succeeding; spreading throughout the world.  And that’s just by Acts 8!
How does God’s glory spread?  By the Holy Spirit.
What do we learn about the Holy Spirit here?  We want the Spirit to bring God’s goodness into our lives, so how does that happen?
The Spirit, we learn, can only be received.  The Spirit cannot be earned, worked for, traded for.  The Spirit is the gift of God, the life of God purchased by the death of God.  There is nothing that must be done by us to receive it, nor that can be done by us to earn it.  It is Gift.
The Spirit, also, can only be related to.  That is, we must treat the Spirit as a person.  And only by relating to the Spirit do we truly receive the Spirit.  The Spirit is not an insurance policy, or a jar of miracle ointment, or a double-barrel shotgun hung over the fireplace, or a special sauce.  The Spirit is a person; the third person of God, to be exact.  And so we must relate to the Spirit.  If we are not relating to the Spirit, then in what sense have we received this Person and the relationship receiving a person implies?

Sermon Audio: Acts 8:1-40.

Advertisement