Destiny Grow · Foundations
Lesson 07 of 10Receiving the Holy Spirit
The promised gift and baptism of God’s Spirit
DESTINYAPOSTOLIC CHURCHPastor Travis
Jesus did not save us merely to leave us attempting Christian life alone. He promised that we would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon us. In this lesson, we will let Acts define the experience and language. Receiving, being filled with, and being baptized with the Spirit describe the same initial gift of God’s own Spirit. — Pastor Travis Morgan
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Receiving, being filled with, and being baptized with the Holy Spirit describe the same promised initial experience by which God gives His Spirit to believers, witnessed in Acts with Spirit-inspired speech.
Read the Word
Key Scriptures
records Jesus’ promise of Spirit baptism and power.
shows the promise fulfilled and offered to all whom God calls.
distinguishes believing and water baptism from receiving the Spirit.
shows Gentiles receiving the Spirit with observable evidence.
identifies the Gentiles’ reception as baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Promise and fulfillment
Jesus told His disciples to wait for the Father’s promise: they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, that promise was fulfilled when they were all filled with the Spirit and began speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance.
Peter explains the event through Joel’s promise and the exaltation of Jesus, who poured out what the crowd could see and hear. The gift is not reserved for apostles. It is promised to the hearers, their children, those far off, and as many as the Lord calls.
Different expressions, one reception
Acts uses several phrases: baptized with the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, received the Spirit, the Spirit fell upon them, and the gift was poured out. Acts 10–11 joins these descriptions. Peter watches the Spirit fall on the Gentiles and later remembers Jesus’ promise of Spirit baptism.
We should not divide what Scripture joins into unrelated initial experiences. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the believer receiving God’s Spirit. Later fillings and empowerments may occur, but the promised initial reception is one reality.
An observable biblical pattern
At Pentecost, Spirit-inspired tongues made the outpouring audible. In Cornelius’s house, Jewish believers knew the Gentiles had received the gift because they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. In Ephesus, the Spirit came upon disciples and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
The focus is not human performance or learning sounds. The Spirit gives utterance. Tongues function as an immediate, God-directed sign that the promised gift has been received, while the enduring evidence of the Spirit will also appear in transformed character, power for witness, worship, and spiritual fruit.
Receiving with faith
The Spirit is a gift, not a reward for emotional intensity. We respond through repentance, faith in Jesus, hunger, prayer, surrender, and expectation. We cannot manufacture the Spirit, but we can yield our voice and whole person as God fills.
Some receive quickly; others wrestle with fear, distraction, misunderstanding, or attempts to control the experience. The church should teach patiently, pray without manipulation, and direct every seeker toward Jesus the giver.
Grace Revealed
Grace does not hide truth. Grace reveals and enables.
The Holy Spirit is gift and promise. God does not merely forgive from a distance; He gives His own Spirit. We receive, not earn. Even the utterance is supplied by the Spirit as the person yields in faith.
Knowing Him
Doctrine leads toward intimacy.
Through the Spirit, God comes to dwell within His people. The Spirit makes communion present, teaches us to cry to God, opens Scripture, forms worship, and draws us into the life of Christ. This is intimacy from the inside.
Why this matters for salvation
Every truth belongs within God’s saving purpose.
Jesus said one must be born of water and Spirit. Peter includes reception of the Spirit in the gospel promise, and Romans teaches that those without the Spirit of Christ do not belong to Him. The Spirit is essential to new-covenant life, not an optional spiritual upgrade.
Lesson notes
Remember these truths.
- Spirit baptism and receiving the Spirit describe the same initial gift.
- Pentecost fulfills Jesus’ promise.
- Acts repeatedly presents an observable reception involving Spirit-inspired speech.
- The Spirit is received by grace through faith, not manufactured.
- The Spirit empowers witness and begins an indwelling life with God.
Respond to the Word
Reflect and apply.
- Have you personally received the Holy Spirit as in Acts?
- What fears or misunderstandings need to be surrendered?
- Why must Jesus remain the focus of seeking?
- How should the Spirit affect daily communion with God?
- Where do you need fresh yielding to the Spirit?
Lord Jesus, thank You for the promise of Your Spirit. I open my heart and yield myself to You. Remove fear, pride, and control. Fill me according to Your Word, give utterance by Your Spirit, and empower me to know You, witness, worship, and live a transformed life. Amen.
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