1 Sam 10:6, Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man. 
We are continuing this reflection on the work of the Holy Spirit and the utmost importance of the ministry that He bestows upon those who seek and honor and cherish His wonderful work. We cannot be a Christian without His work in our lives, It all begins with His pre-salvation ministry to bring us to the place and the recognition that we need Jesus as our Savior and Lord. That is fully one of the functions of how God works, by His Spirit, in our hearts and minds and lives. 
The absolute importance of the work of the Holy Spirit was declared by Our Lord Jesus Christ to the disciples in the time before His ascension into Heaven. He was preparing them for all that was ahead of them in their witness and testimony of Who He was and what He had accomplished as the Gospel for those who would believe upon Him. This is recorded in Acts 1:4+5. Please open to that vital proclamation of the fact that Jesus would baptize those who believe in Him with the Holy Spirit. 
Acts 1:4+5, And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
Jesus compared this to the baptism of John in water. It is as vital a baptism for every Christian as is the action of the public declaration that we belong to Jesus Christ through the baptism in water that we so fully cherish and honor. 
Water baptism serves to proclaim to all of creation that we know and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father. He was crucified and then resurrected as the means of making the free gift of God’s salvation our new life. Through water baptism, we identify with Christ’s death and resurrection. We assert publicly, to all the heavens and the earth and everything within them, that we now fully and absolutely belong to God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! 
This need for a Christian to be baptized is not in dispute. It has been proclaimed and taught and practiced since Jesus was Himself baptized by John, the Baptizer, in the River Jordan. 
However, the need for the baptism with the Holy Spirit has not been as widely accepted. There are many differing considerations of what Jesus actually meant. Rather than getting into all the conflicting views, it would be best to look at what it meant for the ones whom Jesus so blessed with this promise. He told His disciples that they would be baptized and that they should wait until the Holy Spirit was so given by the Father upon and within them. 
Then, in Acts 1:7+8, Jesus made it known that His disciples would receive the power, by the Holy Spirit, which would sustain them in their testimony of the Good News throughout their missionary journey to the ends of the earth. It would be because of the Holy Spirit that they would be enabled to proclaim the work of Christ in legitimacy and in power.  
Acts 1:7+8, He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." 
This is the explanation of the reality that we are not able to live the true witness of Jesus Christ and be the visible expression of the difference that our living relationship with Him in life is without the indwelling Holy Spirit. He is the One Who makes the power of our salvation real and evident to all those who see the manner in which our lives give verification to the reality of Jesus Christ, crucified, resurrected and glorified in us! This is how we face all that this world hurls at us through the Omnipotence of the Holy Spirit abiding in us. He meets the every need for wisdom, for encouragement, for strength, for patience, for kindness, for gentleness, as the provision for our every need!
Then, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon those disciples who had been gathered together, waiting for that promise of Jesus to be fulfilled. They had sought for this baptism of the Holy Spirit as the course of their heart’s desire to witness to the truth of Jesus. All the scripture of the ancients was manifested as they were filled with the Spirit. He then led them forth to boldly proclaim the reality of the Messiah to all those multitudes from the far reaches of the land. The variety of languages present was met by the words uttered by the Holy Spirit through the mouths of those willing servants of God. 
This indicated the power of God upon these disciples. They were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were partakers of His eternal life. At the same time, they were gathered together, basically hiding themselves away until they received this promised gift of their Lord and their Christ. 
Then, once they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, their witness and their testimony was transformed into those who were empowered to go as the Spirit directed. They preached the Gospel message even as the Spirit gave them the variety of words that would reach the ears and the hearts of those who were gathered from around the various countries and languages of the time. 
They went forth from that upper room with the instilled desire to proclaim the truth of the risen Christ to as many as would listen. This they did in the manifold expression of speaking in the native tongues of those who needed and wanted to hear the Truth of the Messiah. 
This was in power by the very authority and expression of God! It was such an amazing outpouring that Peter had to declare to the masses what had taken place by the power of God invested into them through His Holy Spirit. Please turn to Acts 2, verses 15-24 as we read together of this account. 
Acts 2:15-24, "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 'And it shall be in the last days,' God says, 'That I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; Even upon My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 'And I will grant wonders in the sky above, And signs on the earth beneath, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 'The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 'And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. "And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 
This passage highlights the aspect of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit with which we would be loathe to skip over. It is something about which we have not here to for made opportunity to formally address. Yet it bears tremendous value in the life of every Christian who desires to have this gift of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which includes the matter of speaking in tongues. 
Dependent on the manner in which one has been brought up, there can be so much controversy surrounding this gift of the Lord upon those who are so led to desire to have this endowment. Now as a quick aside, does every Christian, who is truly saved need to speak in tongues? The reason I pose this question is that there are those to whom speaking the language of the angels, as some term it, is the litmus test of true Christianity. They claim that if you are not baptized by the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues that your salvation experience is suspect. 
They often use the account of Simon that is detailed in Acts 8:9-24, as the basis for that belief. The outward evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit through speaking in tongues is erroneously declared as the way in which God proves those who are His from those who are border-line in their faith. 
Acts 8:9-24, Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, "This man is what is called the Great Power of God." And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts. But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. And even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip; and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, "Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! "You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. "Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. "For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity." But Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me." 
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that one must desire on a personal basis with God. It is evident, in this account that the people of Samaria were Christians by their belief in and their faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were baptized in water in the name of The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They were faithfully following the way of the Lord. Even Simon was declared to be a believer. His was the guilt of trying to blend his Christianity with the ways of this world which will never succeed! 
There was in evidence that earthly bondage to the desires of the flesh with which every believer needs to have dealings before the Lord. This is the matter of that death to self and self desires and self will which needs to be daily the work of God in all of us.
There is a maturity in Christ which is necessary in us to show the vast difference that seeking the will of God makes as opposed to the will of ourselves. This is exceedingly evidenced in the manner of our conduct and behavior and attitude and desires.
In the course of that maturity and in order to make that confirmation the reality of our lives, we need the indwelling power of God, through the obedience to the Holy Spirit day in and day out. That is one of the reasons that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is such a necessity. This was evidenced in the sending of Peter and John for the sake of those believers to receive this vital baptism. It was recognized, by those who were baptized in the Holy Spirit, that for these converts to come into the fullness of the life that is given in Jesus Christ, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is vital! 
The same is true of each of us. We are to be fully desirous after the heart of God which is put into place within us as we are manifestly recipients of the gift of God’s outpouring of His Spirit. This is often evidenced through the wondrous speaking forth in the language of praise and adoration as prompted and guided by the Holy Spirit’s ministry within our hearts as He guides our voices, as was apparent on the Day of Pentecost. 
Please recognize that the wonderful gift of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit does not require the manifestation through the means of speaking in other tongues. That is only one of the ways in which this outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit is evidenced. Many may never speak in tongues, but that does not mean that they are not the wondrous recipients of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is, however, such abundance in this heavenly language that we should not just pooh-pooh it, as have some denominations. It is a bed-rock assurance to those in whom the Holy Spirit resides and prompts this verbal expression of His presence. 
Lord willing, we will go forward with this consideration as we share together in His Word. Please keep it all in prayer as to that which God would have us know in regard to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit upon us, His people, His Church, His beloved children, His saints and His witnesses. So be it!  
Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Isa 11:1+2. Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Amen.