[Darris McNeely] In Acts 2:38 is a well-known passage of scripture that shows how one is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit. The apostle Peter gives a sermon and at the clenching moment of the sermon he says "Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Sometimes people ask, "How do I receive the Holy Spirit, how is it received?" The book of Acts really gives us detailed instruction to show us how one does receive the Holy Spirit. It's a very critical question to know the answer to. I was just going over it today in class, teaching it here at our Ambassador Bible College to students about the laying on of hands and all that must be done prior to that, but essentially through that matter of laying on of hands. Peter talks about repentance.

Repentance is a matter of faith and change from our habits, from our sins, turning our life around, going a different way, beginning to obey God. He tells this group of people who are confronted with the fact that they have been responsible for the death of Jesus Christ here at Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. And they say, "What do we do?"

He says, "You have to change. You have to have faith in that resurrected Jesus of Nazareth who is now Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. You must have faith in his sacrifice and his life and in his shed blood for the remission of your sins. And, if you do that and then you are baptized," which the true meaning of the word means to be immersed in water. Paul will later show, in Romans 6, that is a type of a watery grave from which coming out of that water, baptism, it is like being resurrected to a new life. The past life is forgiven. It is washed clean. It is in a watery grave. And then, Peter says, "You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." The gift of the Spirit.

Now, there are several occasions in the book of Acts where it is very clear that it is by the laying on of hands, of an elder of Jesus Christ, a minister of Christ that one receives the Holy Spirit. Probably the classic example is in Acts 8, another reference here, beginning in verse 14 where a disciple, Philip, had gone down to Sumeria and he had baptized some individuals and then later John and Peter had to go down to confirm what he had done. And they lay hands upon people, and their people receive the Holy Spirit. And in this passage, it says that they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-39).

And there's another example in Acts 19 where the apostle Paul baptizes a group of 12 and lays hands upon them and they receive the Holy Spirit as well (Acts 19:1-6). So this act of a minister baptizing people who have repented, shown the faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, believe in his name are baptized to show that inner change and then, with the laying on of hands they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit teaches us that the way by which we receive God's spirit after repentance and baptism is then through the laying on of the hands and then that change begins to take place.

We then receive the very power of God in our lives to imbue us with a power and love and the beauty of a sound mind that the apostle Paul will talk about in 2 Timothy 1:7. We receive a spirit of power, love, and of a sound mind. And it's by that power that we begin to change our lives and to live a different life with God in us now. And we begin to take on the very mind of God and partake of the divine nature. Make sure that that is how you are baptized when all the conditions are met, and that the laying on of hands is something that is done in your life to ensure that you receive God's spirit in a proper way. After repentance and a proper baptism, that's how it is done and that's how the scripture teaches it.

That's BT Daily, join us next time.