December 16, 2009
This season is hallmarked with so many people being blessed by their friend’s and family’s generosities. Indeed at least once a year, we look forward to unwrapping a bit of material happiness and worldly joy. However, these gifts are consistently imperfect and fleeting. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, the thrill inherent in a received gift is not confined to a particular season because God has given every Christian the greatest, most perfect gift ever given in the history of history.
In Acts chapter 2, God pours out this great gift on the very first Christians and in verse 38, we see how this present is unwrapped:
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 spirit.
Together with Romans 10:9-10, which says:
That if thou [the non-Christian] shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved [or made whole]. For with heart, man believeth unto righteousness and with mouth confession is made unto salvation.
As a human being confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and believes in his heart God truly did raise our lord and savior from the dead, that person is made whole because they receive the gift of holy spirit! God has this gift waiting for any person to open their heart and receive it. Yet holy spirit is not simply for decoration, but rather is a package containing numerous spiritual realities vital for true life.
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