Acts 2:4 – And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
It seems apparent to me that the beginning of the church and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost has not been given the attention and place of preeminence that other important events have. Of course we honor the day that Christ was born, the day He died, and the day He was raised from the dead; and rightfully so. But shouldn’t we honor the day that the third person of the the Trinity began to visit all mankind in a very personal way? Many Christians have no awareness of that day but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit marked the day that the Lord came down and began to live among His people, it doesn’t get much better than that. The outpouring of the Spirit is closely associated with speaking in supernatural tongues. This manifestation intentionally carries the offense of Biblical Christianity. Here is how the Fire Bible describes it.
“Speaking in tongues is the outward sign, or physical evidence, of the baptism in the Holy Spirit when the experience first comes. When a Christian speaks in tongues through the inspiration of the Spirit, that individual’s spirit and the Holy Spirit join together in verbal prayer, praise and/or prophecy (i.e., messages that honor God by foretelling, warning, challenging, encouraging or inspiring believers). God linked speaking in tongues with the baptism in the Spirit from the very beginning (Ac 2:4), so that the 120 believers at Pentecost–and all of Christ’s followers after that–would have an experience to confirm that they truly received the baptism in the Holy Spirit (cf. Ac 10:45-46). Throughout the history of the church, whenever the sign of speaking in tongues has been denied, abandoned or forgotten, the truth and experience of Pentecost has been misrepresented or ignored entirely.”
The Baptism in the Spirit is not essential as far as being saved is concerned, it is essential in living the dynamic Christian life the Bible describes and the Lord intends for us to experience. As we reflect again on that day of all days when the Spirit of God began to be poured out on all mankind maybe we should all reevaluate our relationship with the Holy Spirit. I believe being filled and filled again and again with the Spirit is exactly what we need in today’s world in order to live a supernatural life and effect the world we live in.