Acts 2:1-13
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
Romans 8:9-11
God's Spirit Dwells in Christians
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
John 15:1-17
Fruit of the Vine
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Jesus had promised His disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 16:5-15)...On the Day of Pentecost (weeks after His ascension), a violent wind came from heaven and filled the house where the disciples were sitting...Peter was in the house with one hundred and twenty believers (Acts 1:15)...We are not told if all one hundred twenty people were filled with the Holy Spirit or if only the Twelve Disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit...One might assume that all those in the house were followers of Jesus and God, and felt His Presence, or at least felt something...That feeling was the Holy Spirit was in their house...What we are told is that all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit (and all the believers were in the house)...The descent of the Holy Spirit were on the Disciples now, just as their Teacher had told them...
The experience of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit had now taken place...This would be on the first Christian Pentecost...The Spirit of God lives in us now, because of His Son...The Spirit makes us alive and gives us righteousness...The Holy Spirit always does His best to guide us towards the Truth...The Holy Spirit wants us to do the right thing...The Holy Spirit nudges us toward righteousness, Truth, and in being just...The One who raised Jesus from the dead, and gives life and death to mortal bodies, now lives and is indwelt in all of us...God is with us...
Jesus had started His fellowship and like a small church -He started with only twelve members...The first members were the original Twelve Disciples...This day at Pentecost, the Christian movement and His church fellowship would grow...Those who were filled with the Holy Spirit would spread the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ...The church would grow to three thousand on that day (Acts 2:41)...The Holy Spirit moved many people that way towards Jesus...God would send the Holy Spirit and give those filled with the Holy Spirit the ability to speak different languages, shows that God and His Son were ready to have the word spread around the world and to all people and nations...When the Twelve received the power of the Holy Spirit, they were to spread the word not only in Jerusalem, but also in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth...This process had started on the Day of Pentecost...
The Old Testament Pentecost is called the Festival of Reaping and the Festival of First Fruits...The First Christian Pentecost in the New Testament is linked with the Old Testament Festival...Jesus had ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9)...After His ascension on this Day of Pentecost, the first fruits of the Christian movement had happened...A large number of Jewish believers would have been in Jerusalem on this Day of the Pentecost, and the Pentecost in the years following His ascension...The fruit has to remain in Him...The Disciples would go and bear more and more fruit -this fruit would last and last...The Teacher who taught them about love were in their first chapter of spreading His gospel...God was pruning His followers and every branch was being properly pruned and cut...More and more fruit would be produced (John 15:2)...The Master Gardener had started His pruning...The Twelve Disciples (and the fruit that they bore) would change and convert the Roman Empire to Christianity over the next three hundred years...Constantine would legalize Christianity in the year 313 a.d....