PentB24.  Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11.   For Jesus’ disciples “there appeared to them tongues of fire.” “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”  The Holy Spirit was empowering them to communicate both the news of and the heartfelt goodness of Jesus.  The devout Jews visiting Jerusalem were enabled to “hear them speaking” “of the mighty acts of God.”

John 20:19-23 & 15:26-27; 16:12-15.  Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  As God the Father commissioned Jesus to bring the love of God to believers, so too Jesus commissions and empowers his believers with the Holy Spirit.  They administered the forgiveness of sins to enable believers to relinquish and dissolve the barriers that separated them from the love of God.  So too God the Father sends the Spirit to enable us to live with Jesus as the love of our lives.

1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 & Galatians 5:16-25.  “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’, except by the Holy Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit empowers us to live spiritually, which is beyond our earthly bodily capabilities.  The “Spirit of truth” reveals the fullness of the reality that is eternal; whereas our bodies only enable us to see the earthly realities that end in the grave.  Living in the Spirit enables us to live beyond the demands of our bodies.  The Spirit gives to each individual “different forms of service” or special capabilities to bring Christ to the world.  “To each individual, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” to the Church.