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The Holy Ghost! Fear of GOD also ignites the Gentiles
Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Acts of the Apostles 10:47 KJV

The Question of those ‘chosen’

Fact is that many religious men do NOT fear God.

It is true of many ‘christians‘ in this 21st century — it was true of all but a remnant of faithful ‘jews‘ in the first century in which the messiah Jesus lived, died and was risen — and it was true when His Apostles and disciples preached in the Spirit of God. Men and women do not naturally fear what we have been told about the LORD if we have not encountered Him personally.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Gospel of John 14:26 KJV

They certainly did not know what to expect when the Holy Ghost first came to various jewish disciples of Jesus.

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Acts of the Apostles 1:4 KJV

Peter, John and the Apostles have proclaimed Christ boldly, first in Jerusalem.

By the power of the Holy Ghost (KJV) many signs have accompanied the receiving of the Spirit among the faithful jewish followers of The Way of Jesus. Even Saul of Tarsus, zealous persecutor of The Way, has encountered the risen Lord Jesus personally and then retreated to Arabia to reconsider what the LORD has in store for him, returning to meet Peter some three years later.

Everything seems to be looking up for these remnant ‘chosen‘ followers of Jesus as they now obediently ‘GO INTO THE WORLD TO PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS!’

Beyond Jerusalem

The Apostles had encountered some internal ‘church‘ problems with their new disciples in Jerusalem.

And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Acts of the Apostles 6:1 KJ21

However this ministry problem seemed to resolve quickly in spite of jewish cultural differences between Greeks and Hebrew traditions of those whose fathers had returned to Jerusalem from exile to rebuild the temple. Furthermore, at least two of new disciples became powerful preachers of the truth of the Gospel – Stephen and Philip.

⁷And the Word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Acts of the Apostles 6:7

Like Gentiles (sort of)

Samaria (to some jews) and also Galilee, as part of Israel separated from Judah long ago, had an ‘unjewish‘ stigma to some religious Judeans.
Cities visited by Philip the evangelist

Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming the Christ to them. The crowds were paying attention with one mind to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. 7 For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice.. – Acts 8:5-6a NASB

Note this same sign of expelling UNCLEAN SPIRITS which Jesus had done! (Most 21st centuries don't quite grasp what to make of this, but think 'controlling ghosts' as real evil influences of behavior and you are on the right track. - RH
[KJ21] 9 But there was a certain man called Simon, who earlier in the same city had used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great..
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When Peter and John came to Samaria, Simon asked Peter for this same power the Apostles and some disciples like Philip had demonstrated. 

The Holy Ghost appears with more POWER than any force of darkness dictating the power of evil in mortal flesh.
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But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Acts of the Apostles 8:20 KJV – Peter’s response to Simon the Sorcerer

THEN Philip goes much further than this: He baptizes an Ethiopian (in Gaza) – a gentile!

Luke (our gentile physician) records in ACTS:

But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:40 NASB

Philip (the Hellenist deacon) & Peter (a Galilean Hebrew Apostle)

So WHERE in the WORLD does all of this converge?

Peter had come from Jerusalem to Samaria to meet with Philip when he also met Simon who wanted the power of the Holy Ghost. We have just learned that now Peter’s missionary journeys have brought the Apostle to Joppa, BUT a Roman calls the Apostle to come to the Roman (Herod-built) port of Caesarea.

Peter and John had remained in Jerusalem for two years after Christ’s resurrection. Once Stephen was martyred most disciples of Jesus fled for other towns. But after Saul met the Lord on the road to Damascus the Gospel began to spread in different directions.

And as we have just learned in the journeys of Peter to Lydda and Joppa, the Apostle now heads north to Caesarea where Philip has been proclaiming the Gospel for sometime now.

Peter, the Hebrew-raised rock anointed by Jesus to lead His church goes to Caesarea after wrestling with the Voice of God telling this faithful jew to obey this new vision which led him to follow these Romans back to Caesarea, where these GENTILES would have worshiped PETER!

Now that you have caught up on these long journeys and Peter is on his way back to Jerusalem you might think that all will go smoothly. It doesn’t.

The HOLY Ghost
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Before we return to Jerusalem with Peter, I thought it important that we consider the NOW-INCREASING ROLE of THE HOLY SPIRIT.
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The "HOLY SPIRIT" AND the "HOLY GHOST" ARE the SAME, translated in New Testament from the SAME words in Greek: ἅγιος πνεῦμα [hagios pneuma]
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- HOLY – ἅγιος hágios, hag’-ee-os; from ἅγος hágos (an awful thing) (compare G53, G2282); sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing), saint.
  - I remind 21st c. christians of the AWESOMENESS of the SPIRIT of Almighty God by referring to the Holy Ghost here) – RH
ἅγιος, -α, -ον, (from τὸ ἄγος religious awe, reverence; ἄζω, ἅζομαι, to venerate, revere, especially the gods, parents [Curtius, § 118]), rare in secular authors; very frequent in the sacred writings; in the Sept. for קָדושׁ;
1. properly reverend, worthy of veneration: τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ, Luke 1:49; God, on account of his incomparable majesty, Revelation 4:8 (Isaiah 6:3, etc.), equivalent to ἔνδοξος.
- Ghost πνεῦμα pneuma From πνέω (G4154)
  - – The KJV translates Strong’s G4151 in the following manner: Spirit (111x), Holy Ghost (89x), Spirit (of God) (13x), Spirit (of the Lord) (5x), (My) Spirit (3x), Spirit (of truth) (3x), Spirit (of Christ) (2x), human (spirit) (49x), (evil) spirit (47x), spirit (general) (26x), spirit (8x), (Jesus’ own) spirit (6x), (Jesus’ own) ghost (2x), miscellaneous (21x).
  - the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son
    Click here for MORE
ACTS of the Holy Ghost

ACTS: KJV – πνεῦμα pneuma
- 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost G4151 had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
- 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost G4151 not many days hence.
- 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, G4151 and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit G4151 gave them utterance.
- 2:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; G4151 and they shall prophesy:
- 4:18 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,^G4151 and they spake the word of God with boldness.
- 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. G4151
- 8:39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit G4151 of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
ACTS 10:

You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses of all the things that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
Acts of the Apostles 8:38-39a NASB

38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power,
Acts 10:38 KJ21

43 To Him all the prophets bear witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.”

44 While Peter was yet speaking these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all those who heard the Word.

And the Messianic Jews who had come with Kefa were mishpoyel (standing in awe) that also upon the Goyim the matnat HaRuach Hakodesh has been poured out.
Gevurot 10:45

Orthodox Jewish Bible

46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.

Peter Baptizes the Roman Gentiles

Then answered Peter,

47 “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we?”

48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.

Then they entreated him to tarry certain days.

Gevurot 11 – Orthodox Jewish Bible

And the Moshiach’s Shlichim and the Achim b’Moshiach, the ones throughout Yehudah, heard that also the non-Jews received the dvar Hashem. But when Kefa went up to Yerushalayim, those of the faction of the Bris Milah were taking issue with him, 3 Saying, “You entered into a bais of anashim arelim (uncircumcised men) and you sat at tish with them.”
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Acts of Peter welcoming the Gentiles - To be continued...
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May 13, 2022
The Heart-piercing POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT!
The POWER of the Holy Spirit in ACTS

What have we observed most in Luke’s early accounts of Acts?

Clearly, the further power of the Holy Spirit, which Luke also notes in his Gospel as having descended on Jesus.

And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased… And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil.
Gospel of Luke on the Holy Ghost 3:33, 4:1-2b KJV
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"Holy" AND "Spirit"
occurs 111 times in 53 verses in your custom selection ' in 'Luke-Acts'' in the NASB20.
Source: BlueLetterBible.org
READ ALL fifty-three verses recorded by Luke and you will be convinced not only of the Trinity, but also of the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT of the Lord God.
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https://talkofjesus.com/acts-of-the-holy-spirit/

ACTS 1 opens with Jesus’ Promise of the Holy Spirit.

Acts of ALL with one accord

Before Jesus ascends to the Father, He commands the Apostles to WAIT for the power of the Holy Spirit

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

Pentecost – a narrative of the fifty days fulfilled

On the day of Pentecost the crowds in Jerusalem witness with wonder the AWESOME power of the Holy Spirit!

Although the HEADING for ACTS 2 in one of my Bibles refers to The Coming of the Holy Spirit, from the next HEADING, Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost, we learn of the convicting POWER of the Holy Spirit in Peter’s words.

Miracles, Wonders & Signs: Peter’s Amazing Answer

NOW, we will look to the POWER of the Holy Spirit to pierce the hearts of Peter’s audience.

‘I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND‘

“This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
ACTS 2:32 NKJV

ACTS 2 – Peter’s Sermon continues

Lord and Christ

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Acts 2:36 NKJV

A pall of silence most likely falls upon many in the massive crowd listening to Peter as he stands with all the Apostles and preaches Christ crucified and risen from the power of death.

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart,
and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
“Brothers, what are we to do?”
Acts 2:37 NASB

J.B. Phillips paraphrases this passage following Luke’s account of Peter’s sermon:

When they heard this they were cut to the quick, and they cried to Peter and the other apostles, “Men and fellow-Jews, what shall we do now?”

They were ‘cut to the quick,’ ‘pierced to the heart.’

Sounds painful, reminding us of reference to Jesus’ gruesome crucifixion on a Cross preceding the previous Passover ‘festival’ of the Jews.

Yet one of the soldiers pierced His [Jesus‘] side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Gospel of John 19:34

Perhaps some of these Jews hearing Peter’s sermon were sadly present during the storm of Jesus’ death and the piercing of His side with a Roman spear.

The Prophet Isaiah had said (as the Jews well knew):

But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
וְהוּא מְחֹלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ מְדֻכָּא מֵעֲוֹנֹתֵינוּ מוּסַר שְׁלֹומֵנוּ עָלָיו וּבַחֲבֻרָתֹו נִרְפָּא־לָֽנוּ׃
Yeshaiya (Isaiah) 53:5 NASB20 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

Luke uses a word for ‘pierced‘ which implies ‘wounded in conscience,’ a conviction of the power of the Holy Spirit in Peter’s preaching from the word of God which the crowds in Jerusalem knew well. Later, the letter written to the Hebrews reminds the faithful:

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 NASB20

YES, Peter’s sermon pierces their hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

HOLY SPIRIT POWER

Because the HOLY SPIRIT is so important to Luke’s continuing account in Acts of the Apostles, before we proceed with Peter’s brief answer I would like to quote the powerful nineteenth century English preacher, Charles Spurgeon.

The Power of the Holy Ghost

Charles Haddon Spurgeon June 17, 1855 Scripture: Romans 15:13 From: New Park Street Pulpit Volume 1

Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Please note Spurgeon’s brief outline about the Third Person of the Trinity.

One. Comforter

When Christ was on earth, He must have been the consolation of all those who were privileged to be His companions.
Spurgeon – Holy Spirit Power opening paragraph

This certainly would include Peter and the eleven now at his side on Pentecost – RH

In speaking of the Resurrection, from John 16 & 14, Spurgeon relates:

He would not leave those few poor sheep alone in the wilderness. He would not desert His children and leave them fatherless. Before He left, He gave soothing words of comfort.
Spurgeon then goes on to introduce the paraclete or comforter

Jesus had told them that the Father would give them ‘another comforter‘ [helper or advocate] to be with them forever.

Peter, our Pentecost preacher today, certainly felt this comfort once Jesus asked him if he loved Him AFTER the Lord once again appeared to them. Jesus commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, with His Power to convict.

First, God the Holy Spirit is our very loving Comforter.
C.S. Spurgeon

Two: THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
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Our focus for Peter's Pentecost Sermon response
Quoting Spurgeon Chapter 2, pg. 27
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All power is the special and peculiar prerogative of God and God alone.

(Quoting Psalm 62:11 KJV)

God is God, and power belongs to Him alone.

He delegates a portion of His power to His creatures, yet it is still His. (Quoting Psalm 19:4-5)
C.S. Spurgeon – Holy Spirit Power
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Just take this in for a moment .. before we return to the crowds converted by Peter's Pentecost Sermon. - RH
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Spurgeon goes on to explain three ways he will look at the Power of the Holy Spirit.
1. The outward and visible displays of it,
2. the inward and spiritual manifestations of it,
3. and the future and expected works of it.
Three: THE HOLY SPIRIT – THE GREAT TEACHER
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We will not get there today as we observe the crowds of Pentecost, but the teaching of the Apostles will become immediately evident as the church grows throughout Acts.

To READ HOLY SPIRIT POWER click here to order.
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Repent!

“Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Acts 2:37b NKJV

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is for you and for your children,
and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Acts 2:38-39 CSB

IT’S AN AMAZING PROMISE!

But this is not the promise of Peter, nor is it an appeal to those who have NOT ASKED ‘What shall we do?’

Peter’s promise of the Holy Spirit is from the Holy Spirit Himself.

Next: We will see evidence of the Spirit growing the Church from the moment of Peter’s sermon on Pentecost.
October 15, 2021
Acts of the HOLY SPIRIT
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
Gospel of John 3:8 – Jesus Christ teaching on the Holy Spirit
Introducing the Third Person of the Trinity:
Acts 1:
Ascension of the Lord Jesus
The Holy Ghost – In AWE of the Spirit!
The Holy Ghost in Acts – KJV
ACTS in the Spirit
Introducing the Third Person of the Trinity:

Acts 1:

Luke tells us that his first book, the Gospel, was about Jesus Christ and that this second account, Acts, will be about what Jesus accomplished through the Apostles AFTER His ascension into heaven.

We look for the actors (so to speak) who Luke records doing the crucial early works of the Church. Peter immediately comes to mind as well as Paul.

What most Christians may have missed in Luke’s chronicles of the first three decades of Church history is that mysterious Person we first met in the Gospels, the ungraspable Image of God in the Holy Spirit.

Luke tells us that during forty days after His resurrection Jesus appeared to many (in addition to the Apostles).

4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, …

Here, mentioning the Father and the Person of the Son, Luke records the words of Jesus to the Apostles as they must have testified to our author of Acts:

“Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water,

but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts 1:4b NASB
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God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – Gospel of John 4:24 ESV

Baptism

And I remind us that baptism [baptizō] ‘produces a permanent change.‘

The Apostles and others are about to be overwhelmed by a permanent change of the Spirit, a baptism receiving the third Person of God, the Holy Spirit. Luke records this cleansing baptism like no other, more that a baptism of water for repentance only.

Ascension of the Lord Jesus

The palpable tension of the Apostle’s encounters with the risen Christ, their beloved friend and Master which concluded Luke’s Gospel now builds once again. Luke records what happens next with this risen Jesus (who they could touch, who shared bread and wine with the Eleven), even the same Jesus who now continued to teach them more for the past forty days.

Christ Jesus again establishes the providence and authority of the Person of God the Father.

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
Acts 1:7 CSB

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses^G3144 ..
Acts of the Apostles 1:8a NASB20

μάρτυς – Witness – (to the ACTS which Luke is about to unfold)
- martys [gk.] [Strong’s 3144] Definition:
- a witness
  1. in a legal sense
  2. an historical sense
    
    one who is a spectator of anything, e.g. of a contest
  3. in an ethical sense
    
    those who after his example have proved the strength and genuineness of their faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death
Luke is witness through the Apostles not only of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, but a convincing witness to the Holy Spirit as Luke records God’s great acts of power only possible by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God.
Roger@talkofJESUS.com

Jesus was taken up as the Apostles watched!

Luke records that this Son of Man, risen in flesh and blood from the grave, had been with them — forty days — and then powerfully and mysteriously Jesus rises into the clouds as they look on (actually, up) in awe!

The Holy Ghost – In AWE of the Spirit!

How would your have reacted to this powerful, yet unexplainable rising of the Lord Jesus into the clouds?

You may find Luke’s account from the King James Version of the Bible helpful in describing your FEAR and AWE of this historical event which also includes angels of God.

The Holy Ghost in Acts – KJV

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Luke records what fear and expectation Jesus planted in their hearts prior to the Lord’s ascension. Jesus compares this power with what they had received from John the Baptist.

For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Acts 1:5 KJV – Jesus promising the Apostles a baptism of the Spirit of God (the Holy Ghost)

ἁγίου πνεύματος – hagios pneuma – the Holy Ghost

Unless you have a question for me by way of comment, we cannot get into some of the more mysterious depths of discussion about that which we cannot see and understand even less, the Person of the Holy Ghost. For to speak of the Spirit yields little fruit in the hearts of those ‘christians’ who have not yet received the Holy Spirit.

So allow me to define BOTH GREEK WORDS and you can take it from there.

hagios – HOLY
- from ἅγος hágos (an awful thing) (compare G53, G2282); sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing), saint.
pneuma – spirit

KJV translate this as:

GHOST
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(May I just add that our imagery of the Holy Spirit descending sometimes obscures the awesome power of the third Person of the Trinity, that is, the Holy Ghost.)

READ just some of these definitions from Strong's G4151 for Pneuma below:
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Outline of Biblical Usage
1. the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son
  1. sometimes referred to in a way which emphasises his personality and character (the “Holy” Spirit)
  2. sometimes referred to in a way which emphasises his work and power (the Spirit of “Truth”)
  3. never referred to as a depersonalised force
2. the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated
  1. the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides
  2. the soul
3. a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting
  1. a life giving spirit
  2. a human soul that has left the body
  3. a spirit higher than man but lower than God, i.e. an angel
    
    used of demons, or evil spirits, who were conceived as inhabiting the bodies of men
    
    the spiritual nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ
4. the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one
  1. the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.
5. a movement of air (a gentle blast)
  1. of the wind, hence the wind itself
  2. breath of nostrils or mouth
ACTS in the Spirit

Luke will have much more to say about this mysterious Person of the Trinity and crucial character in his historical account of Acts.
- And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
  - Acts 4:31
And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
Acts 5:32
- And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us
  - Acts 15:8
- And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
  - Acts 19:6
Although contemporary ‘christianity‘ characterizes the Holy Ghost less fearfully, in order to see his emphasis on the Person of the Holy Spirit let’s close Luke’s AWE–filled [awesome] introduction to ACTS from the KJV:
- 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. – Acts 2:38
to be continued..

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
September 21, 2021