Acts 19:1-7 (NRSV)
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Chapter 19While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. Verse 2He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Verse 3Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism." Verse 4Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." Verse 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Verse 6When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied- Verse 7altogether there were about twelve of them.
Devotion
“We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit," those disciples said to Paul. The same could be said most any time after the Middle Ages, with some exceptions.
But early in the 20th century there were pockets of people who claimed to have experienced the Holy Spirit "just like the disciples in Acts," tongues and all. This movement grew. David Barrett provides these statistics: Globally, in 1965 there were 50 million Pentecostals/charismatics. In 1975 there were 96 million. In 1985 there were 247 million. In 1991 there were 392 million. The Pentacostals/charismatics population continues to grow all over the world.
For 2,000 years the church has been saying what Peter said on Pentecost: "In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh." And now, in our time, this is happening much more than ever before. Praise God!
Prayer
God, Our Father, and Jesus, Our Savior, send us the Holy Spirit to equip us for the sowing of the Word and the reaping of the Harvest. Amen.