While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
The Holy Spirit is a crucial part of our conversion
and of our Christian lives. Jesus pours the Spirit out upon us to give us new birth into a new life (
Titus 3:5-6;
Titus 3:3-7). We are forgiven (
Acts 2:38) as the Spirit cleanses us making us holy (
1 Corinthians 6:11). The Spirit comes to live in us (
1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The Holy Spirit is a crucial part of our coming to Christ. To leave out the Holy Spirit in sharing the good news is not sharing the full good news of Jesus. As the next few verses after today's passage show us, Paul baptized these followers in the name of Jesus. They had known only the baptism of John the Baptizer and didn't realize that the Holy Spirit was a necessary part of fully following Jesus (
Acts 19:3-7).
God, I thank you for the gift of Jesus who delivered me from my sin. I thank you for the Holy Spirit who lives in me and whom Jesus sent to me when I became a Christian. I find great comfort knowing that you live in me through your Spirit. I pray that I can live each day honoring you - Father, Son, and Spirit - in the way I live my life. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
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