November 16, 2025
Chosen To Pray
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Acts 1:4-5 NIV
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Throughout the book of Acts we see water baptism and Spirit baptism as connected events.
Acts 2:38 NIV
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 19:1-2 NIV
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Acts 19:3 NIV
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
Acts 19:4 NIV
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
Acts 19:5 NIV
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 19:6-7 NIV
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.
While different churches discuss the implications of these passages, I am convicted:
1. The normal pattern the apostles observed is that water baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit are connected events.
2. Normal doesn’t mean “always”. God refuses to be put in a box where we can control or manipulate Him.
- Did I receive the Holy Spirit when I prayed and asked Jesus into my heart as a child?
- Did I receive the Holy Spirit when I was sprinkled at 14 in a different church?
- Did I receive the Holy Spirit at that conference were I clearly heard from the Lord and prayed to receive Christ?
Romans 14:4 NIV
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
It is my conviction that each of us is saved by grace though faith and that we are to mark that decision in water baptism (immersion).
I assume that everyone who has done this has received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:6 NIV
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Acts 1:7 NIV
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”
Being a Christian means: Making peace with your own limitations.
Acts 1:8a NIV
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;”
Being a Christian means: Making peace with your own limitations, in order to deepen your dependence on God’s limitless power.
Ephesians 1:17 NIV
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:18 NIV
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
Ephesians 1:19-20 NIV
and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
Acts 1:8b NIV
“and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Being a Christian means: Making peace with your own limitations, in order to deepen your dependence on God’s limitless power, in order for you to be a witness for Him.
Acts 1:9 NIV
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Acts 1:10 NIV
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
Acts 1:11 NIV
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:14 NIV
They all joined together constantly in prayer, …
Prayer is the fuel that makes the Christian go!
Ephesians 6:18 NIV
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.