Then Apollos wanted to go to Achaia especially Corinth so the Brothers at Ephesus wrote for him a letter of recommendation to the disciples there. What a great help he was to the church in Corinth. he also refuted the Jews in public debate proving from the Jewish Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Application:
Let the Gospel be propagated, not by force, but by fair argument, meeting the reasonings of sinners with ready answers from the Scriptures. It is always our duty to testify with all solemnity to Christ’s deity, especially where men speak reproachfully of Him, thus making ourselves clean from the blood of their souls. Those who have Christ with them need not shrink from pleading the cause of heaven with boldness. S.B.
Acts 19 Paul arrives at Ephesus from Antioch in Syria. The Holy Spirit Poured out on 12 disciples there.
After he had walked right across Asia Minor visiting the churches, (we are not told how long this took), as the trip is covered in one verse Acts 19:1.
Paul’s Great Question to the Disciples in Ephesus.
Act 19:2 he said to them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said to him, We did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit is.
Act 19:3 And he said to them, Then to what were you baptized? And they said, To John's baptism.
Act 19:4 And Paul said, John truly baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe into Him coming after him, that is, into Jesus Christ.
Act 19:5 And hearing, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? or Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
Have you received the Holy Spirit? - Have ye received the extraordinary effusions and miraculous influences of the Holy Spirit? Paul would not doubt that, if they had “believed,” they had received the ordinary converting influences of the Holy Spirit - for it was one of his favorite doctrines that the Holy Spirit renews the heart. But, besides this, the miraculous influences of the Spirit were conferred on many societies of believers. The power of speaking with tongues, or of working miracles, was imparted as an evidence of the presence of God, and of their acceptance with him, Act_10:45-46; 1 Cor. 14. It was natural for Paul to ask whether this evidence of the divine favour has been granted to them.
Act 19:6 and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.
Act 19:7 They numbered in all about twelve men.
Notes
a) After Baptising them in Water in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Paul laid his hands on them.
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| Paul Laying hands on the Ephesian Disciples |
b) They spoke in tongues and prophesied
“Latter Rain” Falling in the East: Early-Twentieth-Century Pentecostalism in India and the Debate over Speaking in Tongues
Gary B. McGeea1
a1 professor of church history and Pentecostal studies at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.
Looking back at the events that led up to the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, California, the foremost revival of the century in terms of global impact, eyewitness Frank Bartleman announced that the “revival was rocked in the cradle of little Wales … ‘brought up’ in India” and then became “full grown” in Los Angeles, California. To the Pentecostal “saints,” as they commonly called themselves in America, the appearance of “Pentecostal” phenomena (for example, visions, dreams, prophecy, glossolalia, and other charismatic gifts) in India confirmed that what the Old Testament prophet Joel had foretold about the “latter rain” outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the end times (Joel 2: 28–29) was being fulfilled simultaneously in other parts of the world. As one songwriter put it, “The latter rain has come, / Upon the parched ground … The whole wide world around.”
Gary B. McGee (1999). “Latter Rain” Falling in the East: Early-Twentieth-Century Pentecostalism in India and the Debate over Speaking in Tongues. Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture, 68, pp 648-665. doi:10.2307/3170042.
Application
My Question to you is “HAVE YOU RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT SINCE YOU BELIEVED?
Ask someone who is Spirit filled to lay hands upon you for the Baptism. Acts 2:1-4
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