God's Holy Fire: 'Jesus Will Baptize with the Holy Spirit'

Jesus was and is directly involved in sending the Holy Spirit to his followers. He did it when initiating the dawn of the church with the coming of the Spirit that first Pentecost (Acts 2:33-39). Jesus also poured out the Spirit into the hearts of everyone who came to him in faith and baptism (Titus 3:4-7). Paul taught that the gift of the Spirit is the seal of our belonging to God and of our salvation (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14) and the proof that we are God's children (Romans 8:16). The presence of the Spirit is crucial, as evidenced by the fact that Paul re-baptized people who had not received the Spirit when they were baptized (Acts 19:1-7). The Spirit is the promised blessing of belonging to Christ (Acts 2:33; Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 1:13-14). The blessing comes from Jesus' own promise that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to those who asked for the Spirit to be given to them (Luke 11:13). The Spirit's presence is our source of "living water" flowing from within us (John 7:37-39). We live as followers of Jesus because the Lord has given us this great gift of grace!